The air around the ruined church thickened as Kafé, Taye, and Imade hurried through the back gate, feet splashing through puddles left by the earlier rainfall. Streetlights flickered overhead—sometimes burning bright, sometimes dimming as if something invisible passed beneath them.
Kafé kept glancing at Taye, unable to stop himself. Same eyes. Same walk. Same pulse beneath the skin. It was like walking beside a living mirror.
Taye noticed his stare and muttered, "You fit look front small. I no go disappear."
Imade snorted. "Abeg leave am. The boy dey try understand how you take manage resemble am like photocopy."
Their uneasy humor evaporated as a low hum rolled through the air. Not thunder. Something worse.
The rooftops trembled; dust fell from gutters. A wave of cold wind rushed across the street, drowning all sound for a heartbeat. Taye froze. Kafé grabbed his wrist.
"He's close," Kafé whispered. "The sorcerer."
A shape appeared at the far end of the street—first a blur, then a tall figure stepping out of the shadows. A cloak dragged across the ground behind him, whispering like dry leaves. His face was hidden, but the aura around him made the air ripple.
Imade whispered, "Omo… na real problem be this."
The sorcerer (known as Orunmare meaning the "red shadow") lifted one hand. Shadows rolled along the buildings like black smoke forming tendrils.
Kafé pushed Taye behind him. "Stay close."
Taye's jaw tightened. "I no go hide."
The sorcerer's voice echoed through the night—smooth, cold, ancient.
"Reunion is beautiful. Two halves… one prophecy."
A pause.
"But the dawn belongs to only one. And I intend to choose it myself."
Imade stepped forward, iron rod clenched in her fists. Her voice shook, but her stance did not.
"You think say na only magic dey rule this world? I grow for streets wey shadow no fit swallow. If you wan touch them, you go pass through me first."
The sorcerer tilted his head, amused. "Ah… the stray girl. The one who fights without destiny. I should have ended you long ago."
Imade spat on the ground. "Try am."
The sorcerer's laugh rolled through the street, low and cruel.
"They call me the Red Shadow. Do you know why?"
His cloak rippled, and the air grew colder.
"Because I leave no survivors. Villages burned. Elders silenced. Children taken. I do not conquer—I erase. My shadow is the last thing they see before the blood stains the earth red."
He stepped closer, voice tightening.
"I was once a man of the Order, sworn to protect balance. But balance is weakness. I chose power. I chose fear. And fear gave me a name that even generals whisper in silence."
Imade's grip tightened on the rod. Her knuckles whitened, but she did not step back.
The sorcerer's eyes glowed faintly. "You fight with scraps of iron. I fight with the abyss. That is why they call me Red Shadow. And that is why you will kneel."
He thrust his hand forward. A blast of dark force hit the street. Ground cracked. Dust exploded upward. Imade stumbled but swung her rod anyway, striking at the shadows. They hissed, dissolving briefly before reforming.
Kafé dug his heels into the dirt, struggling to hold the wind barrier he had unintentionally created. His mark flared.
Then—
A sudden glow burst from Taye's chest.
The sorcerer paused.
"…Ah. So the other one awakens as well."
Kafé turned sharply to Taye. "You—glow?!"
Taye looked down, shocked. "I no dey do anything!"
The light flickered, then dimmed. But the sorcerer had seen enough. He smiled.
"This changes everything."
With a sweep of his cloak, the shadows retreated, pulling back into the night like a tide going home.
Imade blinked. "He… withdraw?"
Kafé exhaled shakily. "No. He's repositioning."
Taye stepped beside him, eyes sharp. "Why e no collect us now?"
Kafé swallowed. "Because he saw something he wasn't expecting."
Imade whispered, "Both of una dey wake…"
The twins exchanged a long, tense stare.
The chase was no longer quiet.
No longer hidden.
War had begun.