3 . Sons Of The Wise god.

Ebidon is a very big place. The biggest I've lived in. Everybody is always running and rushing towards something or something is running after them.

The city has always been a scary place for ignorant newcomers and unfortunate old-timers. A city of over 21 million people and a very high crime rate. People disappear all the time, but Mohammed reached out to me a few weeks ago about a potential story. Children had been missing all over the city and nobody was ready to do anything about it.

Mohammed was a secondary school mate of mine who is now a policeman. Fortunately for me, he is one of the very few honest people in the force. We met at the Kaja underpass. Mohammed chose this place because he didn't want any of his police to know he was talking to the press, it could get him fired or even killed.

"Hello, Abike, the heroin of our time." He said in his funny Hausa accent as he smiles to reveal his cola nut stained teeth.

Mohammed is one of the most handsome men I've met and we dated in secondary school for a while. We had to break up because of the attention he was getting from the other girls even then. He is a slim, tall man with the light skin typical of the Fulani people of northern Nigeria.

"Hello, Mohmoh. I see you finally managed to gain a little bit of weight." I replied with a smile.

He lit a cigarette and started smoking. He looked into the moonlit sky and laughed.

"Do you remember when we locked that short English teacher of ours in the classroom and he had to get out through the window?"

"Yes, I remember. His name was Mr. Afolabi. We got everybody into trouble and we all had to serve punishments for over a week." I replied and joined in the laughter.

We laughed and talked for about thirty minutes and I had to ask him why he had invited me.

"Something weird is going on in this city and nobody is doing anything about it." He said and check the packet of cigarettes he had been smoking but it was empty. He opened his car door, looked for a while, and emerged with another packet.

"You do know these things are going to kill you, right?" I asked, pointing to the packet of cigarettes.

"Something is definitely going to kill all of us anyway, Abike." He said as he lit another cigarette and started to smoke it.

"Children have been missing all over the city. More than ten cases were reported at my precinct this week alone and when I reported to my boss he didn't do anything about it." He complained.

"Children miss in this city all the time, Mohmoh. It's probably the child traffickers again?" I asked.

"Oh but this is no child trafficking case, several of my trusted friends on the force reported the same thing to their bosses but they all swept it under the rug. That's not a coincidence. They only do that when they're conniving to let criminals operate on purpose." He declared.

The police force is known to be corrupt. Finding honest cops in the city is a very difficult endeavor but the thought of what he said filled me with doubt.

"I'll take this to my boss, see what I can find out, and also try to get some first-hand information on the situation," I promised. I grabbed his shoulder and looked into his eyes.

He smiled, hugged me, and whispered "be careful, babe. These bastards don't play around."

"I'm a big girl Mohmoh, I'll be careful," I replied and smiled as I let go of him.

I got into my car and started driving home. The thought of the missing children and how sad and confused their parents would be filled me with anger and disgust. It brought back the memories of the park, the girl that got slaughtered by those two bastards.

"Can the two cases be connected?" I thought to myself. If all the police captains are trying to cover the disappearances, then the politicians must be involved. They're the only ones with that much power."

My head started to ache. This had been happening since the park. I have constant headaches and then loss of breath sometimes. My doctor said it was panic attacks.

I parked in the garage and made my way to my apartment. I opened the door and discovered that the light was out. "Oh, not again!" I complained. The light had been acting up for weeks now. It's a common thing, especially during the rainy seasons.

"I have to go get my neighbor, Joba to help me put on the generator now." I thought.

I was making my way to the door when I heard "Hello." I froze and couldn't even make myself to turn and look the direction the voice came from.

"Who are you and what are you doing in my apartment?" I asked, shivering.

"Do not freak out, child. I wish you no harm." The husky voice replied.

It immediately came back to me.

"This is it, this is the same voice from the park," I whispered.

"Yes, it is I, Esan. We met some months ago."

Movement returned to my body and I slowly turned to my back. As I turned the light came on and it was greeted by the numerous yelling "of Up NEPA" by the whole street.

There he was, sitting on the couch cross-legged but he looked different. He looked human.

He wasn't as tall as he was but he retained his muscular feature. The golden part of his face wasn't there and his eyes were blue without the red part.

"What do you want, why are you in my house." I stammered.

He wanted to say something but he was cut short by another voice that came from where my back was turned.

"We need your help, girl." Said the thick angry voice.

I quickly turned in the direction and there he was, clad in an all-black suit, white shoulder-length dreadlocks on his head and black sunshades, looking so angry.

"We don't have much time, human girl. As much as it saddens me, my brother thinks you can help us." He said as he walked past me.

"Oh brother you done gone made her scared now." Esan lamented.

Those were the words I heard before my headache got so intense and I felt myself fainting. I heard one of them say

"Oh, she's going to lose consciousness now."

And I did.

When I regained consciousness it was already the next day. I woke up in my bed and there he was, standing without a shirt on.

"Oh, so It wasn't a bad dream. They're really here." I thought to myself.

He extends his hand to me and I froze again. I stood there staring at him in wonder.

"I believe coffee is best taken hot." His husky voice whistled past my ears.

I took the mug from him but couldn't drink it. He looked more human than the first time I saw him but was still large, muscular and his dark skin was shining, reflecting the morning sun.

I kept thinking about his look when another voice interrupted my thoughts.

"She fancies you, Esan."

The voice sounded like that of a kid and when I turned my head to see who it was, a kid not taller than 56.4 inches tall stood at the door, smiling radiantly.

"Meet my brothers. The little one is Ogbon and the angry one is Iku. I am..."

"Esan." I interrupted him.

"She means to lay with you, brother." Ogbon blurted and started to laugh.

"Stay out of her head, Ogbon. It's disrespectful."Esan yelled at him.

"We have no time for this balderdash!" Iku snapped as he walks into the room.

"There is something terribly wrong with this one." I pondered.

The word Iku means death in the Yoruba language and Ogbon means wisdom. If these are actually spirit warriors in charge of the protection and continuation of human existence like my uncle said, then that explains the bad attitude and the gloomy ambiance around Iku.

"We need your help to find our brother, Abike. He's been taken by dark forces in this city because it is our sworn duty to stop them from destroying all of humanity."

It all sounded made up, but then Ogbon started to float in the air with his legs in the lotus sitting position. His large eyes started to glow white, but he maintained his smile.

"What is he doing now?" Iku groaned.

"I need to show her that we are who we say we are. Humans don't believe what they don't see anymore." Ogbon explained.

I noticed that my headache had stopped and I felt better.

"Yes, I fixed the headache. The human brain is not really designed for seeing us in our true form, you see. When Esan exposing himself to you caused the headaches, but you're all good now..."

He would have continued talking but I interrupted him. I managed to let out the words.

"How can I help you, and why me.?

"Because you are the only human I know and trust... And something led me to you."

"That's because she's Ogun's weapon." Ogbon interrupted him and started laughing.

"Ogun's what now." I asked as both Iku and Esan shouted "what!"

"Oh, I received a revelation from my father earlier. She's the weapon and only she can help save my brothers Imo and Oye."

This started an argument and the other two started to blame Ogbon for withholding information from them. Then another argument broke out when Iku accused Esan and Ogbon of wasting time. I sat there and watched it all happen until I got tired and screamed. "Enough!"

"And who do you think you're barking orders at, girl. We give the orders, and you follow!"

Iku shouted me down and started walking towards me when Esan stepped in front of him. He shook his head in disapproval.

"Abike, we need your knowledge of the city and its happenings to find our kin, please." Esan pleased.

"Unbelievable!" Iku murmured and started pacing the room.

"He fancies her too," Ogbon said and smiled mischievously.

"But if you're the spirits you claim to be, why can't you locate your brothers' yourselves?" I asked.

"We are limited in our abilities at this stage, and the ones who took them are masking them from us somehow." He replied.

"This state, what do you mean by that," I asked.

"Ogbon used his magic to transform us to look humanlike so that we can walk and operate amongst you, and that reduces our abilities. Also, the one who could have located anybody anywhere is among the two captured."

"So they all have different abilities then," I thought.

"I'll help you but I have to get a bath and dress up." I declared as I got out of my bed and started walking to the bathroom.

"Thank you, Abike," Esan whispered and smiled.

"Your life depends on it, human," Iku growled.

"Thank you, Abimeke," Ogbon said, resting his jaw on his palms and smiling dreamily.

"Pay no attention to my brothers," Esan said as he shook his head.

"Okay, you can all get out now. I need to take a bath and dress." I signaled then to leave the room.

"You do know we can see and walk through buildings, right?" Ogbon murmured and floated out of the room.

"Sorry for that," Esan said as he left the room followed by Iku who kept murmuring something I couldn't hear.