Two rivals. One fate. The path forward is not strength, but unity.
The roar of the Iyi Aja Falls thundered long before the maidens arrived at its foot. Mist clung to the air, turning sunlight into streaks of gold and silver. A rainbow shimmered across the cascade—a beauty that belied the danger it veiled.
Uzoaru stood still, staring at the drop. Her breath caught in her throat.
"Do you feel that?" she asked Obim, who now walked with a limp from a twisted ankle earned days earlier.
"The pull of the spirit world?" he murmured. "Yes. This place is sacred. And angry."
The legends said the falls were once a path to the ancestral realm—a place where water spirits tested those who sought forbidden truths. At the heart of the cascade lived a creature born from rage and grief: the Ogbunike Guardian, protector of the nkume ndụ root.
Hidden in a crevice behind the waterfall, the root was said to glow like embers, nourished by generations of tears.
As the group approached, the temperature dropped. The air thickened, and their steps slowed as if walking through memory itself.
Nwanne stopped. "We are being watched."
Before anyone could respond, a low growl echoed through the cliffs. The ground trembled. A figure stepped out from the mist.
It had no true form—just the shape of terror. Horned like a ram, cloaked in thick, wet fur, and eyes that burned with ancient fire. It was part beast, part spirit, and entirely pain.
Obim stepped in front of the maidens, arms wide. "Stay behind me."
The creature did not charge. It sniffed the air, then spoke—in a voice that scratched like stone on bone.
"You come for the root. But what do you offer in return?"
Uzoaru swallowed hard. "We offer our strength… our truth."
It sniffed again, eyes locking on her.
"You carry kindness—and sorrow. That is a worthy beginning."
It turned to Nwanne.
"And you… you reek of hunger. Not for food, but for validation. For glory. The root will poison you."
"I came to save the prince," Nwanne said quickly.
The beast bared its fangs.
"No. You came to be chosen."
Obim raised his staff. "Enough. If they must prove themselves, let them be tested."
The creature growled—and the mist thickened.
Suddenly, the three were separated. Each one stood in a different place, alone.
Uzoaru's Trial
She stood in the palace, but it was burned and broken. Prince Nwabueze lay on a mat, bleeding from his eyes, his skin pale as the moon.
"No!" she screamed, rushing to him.
But each time she tried to reach him, the ground crumbled away. The spirits whispered: You are not enough. He will die.
She fell to her knees. "Then let me die with him."
The whispers stopped.
And Nwabueze's eyes opened. He smiled faintly.
You have given all you have to give.
The vision faded.
Nwanne's Trial
She stood before a mirror. But the reflection was not her—it was Uzoaru, crowned and radiant. Prince Nwabueze stood beside her, smiling.
"No!" she cried, smashing the glass.
The shards fell like snow, and in them she saw her mother's face, her father's, all turning away.
"You chose power over love," they said.
"I did what I had to do," she whispered.
"You envied the light and invited darkness."
"I am not evil," she said, shaking.
"Then prove it."
She dropped to her knees, surrounded by shards.
"I will walk the path, even if I walk it alone."
Obim's Trial
He stood in a hut with his wife, long dead, and a child he'd never held. The spirits offered him a deal: abandon the maidens and return to his family.
He wept.
But he turned away. "Their lives are still unfolding. Mine… has passed."
They all awoke together, soaked in sweat.
The beast stood aside now, watching.
"You have faced yourselves. And yet you walk forward."
It stepped aside, revealing the crevice behind the falls. "The root is yours. But know this—healing him will cost you more than memory. The curse is not lifted by roots alone. It is entwined in destiny."
Uzoaru stepped in, found the glowing root nestled in stone. She plucked it with reverence.
As they turned to leave, the creature spoke one last time:
"When the prince is healed… the true trial begins."
The trio left Iyi Aja in silence, the sound of the falls behind them replaced by the growing storm in their hearts.
The prince's body awaited the cure.But so did his crown.And all the ancient shadows it carried.