Although the forest had the path to Adiekela, merchant city, people rarely went there because of the old rumors around it. It is said that something strange happened long ago, and since then the forest doubled in size and is ruled by odd rules and entities. Animal noises could be heard at times, but they sounded distorted. A moment of carelessness and you’d be pulled into the trees with no way back.

  Only experienced hunters dared to go near it; and even then, only the outskirts. The merchant caravans crossed it three times a year, following a secret path. They always arrived in town heavily guarded, sometimes with blood on their carts. That alone kept villagers away.

  This time, a loud noise rolled from the forest and turned every head north.

  Yassena was still chatting with a friend in the market when—

  BOOM!

  A thunder-loud crack shook the stalls.

  “Ahh, my ear!”

  “What was that?”

  “From the forest!”

  “Ehh, who angered the spirits ohh! don’t let them come here!”

  “At this time of year? What kind of bad omen is that?”

  The whole town buzzed with fear and questions. Yassena’s dark amber eyes flickered gold. She hesitated, then calmed, and finished her groceries before hurrying home.

  At the same moment, the sky over the north treeline seemed to split.

  After lifting his eyes, Kazeem only had time to see Zokou’s punch meet old Meza’s purple walking stick.

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  BOOM!

  Light blew out. The thunder hit first; the hot shockwave flung him back and a tree stopped him; he hit earth with a dull thud.

  Wtf just happened…?

  When the ringing eased, he forced his eyes up again. The scene he witnessed looked like a nightmare.

  His dad still stood where he’d been, sweating a little, the sun set light making his skin shine. The golden strands had filled the tattoos on his right arm, and a golden-brown haze bled off his skin. The air around him went unnaturally still; the insects fell silent and even the wind stopped. His brown eyes seemed darker, and the ends of his braids were floating around.

  Where Meza had stood was a crater over five meters across. She was gone, thrown back into the forest.

  “ZOKOUUU! YOU WILL REGRET THIS!” her voice crawled out from the trees, from everywhere at once.

  “Shut the fuck up if you don’t want me to chase you. I promise you’ll never need that walking stick again,” he said.

  “YOU—!”

  “What did I just say?” His voice stayed calm, but colder. His aura thickened once again and this time so intense that it pressed against the treeline. Even thirty meters away, Kazeem felt a weight settle on his head and push him toward the ground.

  After a moment of silence, Zokou let the pressure go, letting the forest breathed again.

  “She’s gone,” he said, turning back to his son and walking over. “You good?”

  “COUGH COUGH! What do you think, paa?” Kazeem managed a bitter smile. His body hurt, his mind hurt, his pride hurt. He usually shrugged things off. But not today, he wanted to lean on someone. Well he was about to be disappointed.

  “See? That’s why I told you to train.” Zokou hauled him up with one hand. As Kazeem wobbled, the man gave his shoulder a quick squeeze, “Keep up.”

  “…” Kazeem’s smile went more bitter.

  Seriously, what did I expect? thought Kazeem.

  “Ok. Let’s go home.”

  “…paa, can you give me a piggyback?”

  Zokou looked him over. Dust in the new twists, clothes torn, he son was extremely pitiful right now. “Nope. Look how dirty you are. We’re walking. And tomorrow we’re training, properly.” He stepped past him, steady and unhurried.

  Sigh … Please, may this day end quickly.

  Kazeem was so physically and emotionally drained he just wanted the sun to drop. But even a normal wish like that turned slippery under the curse chewing his soul. He wanted tomorrow to change? Then he had to make it change.

  He was spirit was so clouded all this time that he didn’t notice something wrong on the ground.

  His shadow was pointing in a weird direction. Right before Zokou apparition, for a short period of time his shadow seemed to have reacted to something and were pointing at the opposite direction, as if defying the sun, scoffing at the obedience of the of its pairs. But since then it has been slowly returning to its position.