Ayomide stood frozen as the strange woman emerged into the moonlight.
She was tall and lean, every movement a dance of deadly precision. Her cloak billowed like living shadow, her hair bound tightly with silver rings. Her eyes were a haunting violet, glowing faintly in the dark. The air around her shimmered like reality twisted in her presence.
Orunfelu clenched his staff. "I know you."
The woman smirked. "Then you know I don't answer to ancient trees or priests of memory."
Ayomide swallowed hard, feeling the pulse of power radiating from her.
"Who are you?" he asked, voice steadier than he felt.
She turned to him slowly. "They call me the Reaper of Amethyst. I once served the last king who bore the Third Mark. I held the blade that killed a god. And I have come to test you, Ayomide of Odanjo."
Tayo groaned from behind, half-awake. "Oh great… another mysterious warrior lady with a cryptic message. How original."
The woman raised a brow. "Should I kill the jester first, then?"
Tayo sat up quickly. "I'm awake! Fully awake. And very respectful."
The Challenge
She stepped into the stone circle. Her twin blades gleamed under the moon.
"I will not train a prince who cannot withstand the sting of true war," she said. "If you want the next path, you must earn it."
Orunfelu moved to stop her, but she gestured, and the ground at his feet cracked.
"She's no ordinary warrior," Orunfelu warned. "She is bound to the Covenant of Blades. Her power is"
"I accept," Ayomide interrupted, stepping forward.
The Reaper smiled.
"Good."
In a blur of movement, she unsheathed her right blade a sword etched with purple runes and lunged.
Ayomide barely had time to draw the dagger Orunfelu had given him. Sparks flew as metal met metal. The impact sent him skidding backward, but he stayed on his feet.
She was faster. Stronger. But Ayomide remembered something from the vision the way his ancestor moved. The power was in the flow, not the force.
He shifted his weight, letting her strikes slide past, redirecting her momentum. The dagger trembled in his grip, but he pressed on.
Clang. Slash. Duck. Pivot.
Their battle was not just physical it was a test of will, of memory, of blood.
Finally, she drove her blade toward his chest but Ayomide twisted, caught her wrist, and flipped her over his shoulder. She landed in the pool with a splash, laughing.
"Well done," she said, standing soaked but impressed. "You learn quickly, Prince of Curses."
A Glimpse Into Her Past
That night, the woman sat by the fire, sharpening her blades. Tayo kept his distance, nibbling nervously on dried meat.
Ayomide sat beside her.
"You served my ancestor," he said. "Ayọdele."
"Yes," she replied, not looking up. "He was a stubborn man. Brave, but blinded by love."
"Love?"
She nodded. "He loved peace more than power. That was his downfall. Kasim his brother used that against him."
Ayomide looked down at the pendant on his chest. "I saw it in the vision. The betrayal."
The Reaper sighed. "There is always a betrayal, Ayomide. That is the curse of kings."
He turned to her. "Why did you come back? After all these years?"
She finally looked at him, eyes softening.
"Because you broke the cycle when you didn't strike back in the woods. When you chose to save, not kill. The Echoes have changed."
She pulled a scroll from her satchel and handed it to him.
"This map leads to the Shrine of the Forgotten, hidden in the Ruins of Uru. There, you'll find the third test the one only true heirs can survive."
Tayo groaned. "Why is every location in this world cursed, hidden, or forgotten?"
"Because anything easy to find is rarely worth the journey," the Reaper replied with a grin.
The Bone Riders Approach
As they made preparations to leave the Temple of Echoes, Orunfelu's expression darkened.
"The forest trembles," he said, placing a hand on the ground.
Tayo leaned in. "Bad tremble or good tremble?"
"Only death makes the trees shiver," Orunfelu murmured.
Moments later, a horn echoed through the woods. Low, hollow, and full of rot.
"Bone Riders," the Reaper whispered. "They found us."
Ayomide felt his skin go cold. The same Bone Riders from his vision. Half-dead warriors wrapped in armor stitched from skin and bone, led by a faceless general mounted on a beast made of ash.
They burst into the clearing like a storm of ghosts.
The Reaper and Orunfelu stood fast, flanking Ayomide as he raised his dagger.
"We can't fight all of them," Ayomide hissed.
"We're not here to fight," the Reaper said. "We're here to flee."
She pulled a crystal from her cloak and shattered it.
Light exploded.
The Escape Spell
The world twisted, spun and reassembled in a new place.
They landed in a ruin, surrounded by fallen pillars and broken statues. Moss and time had consumed the old city. Above them, the stars swirled in chaotic spirals.
Tayo clutched his stomach. "I think my soul's still spinning."
The Reaper coughed blood into her hand. "We don't have long. That portal spell took everything I had."
Ayomide rushed to her side, catching her as she slumped.
"You need healing"
"No," she said firmly. "You need to find the shrine. Alone. Only the heir may enter."
"But"
"You've faced memory and survived," she said. "Now face truth. And become who you were born to be."
Ayomide rose, heart pounding. The wind howled through the ruins, as if warning him away.
But he stepped forward.
He had to know.
The Shrine of the Forgotten
The shrine was hidden beneath the ruins down a spiral staircase carved into the earth itself. Torches flickered on their own as he passed, lighting a path into the past.
At the end of the tunnel was a chamber filled with mirrors.
In each reflection, a different version of himself stared back.
A child crying in a burned village.
A prince holding a broken crown.
A man dying in chains.
A god, crowned in fire.
"What is this place…" he whispered.
The chamber pulsed with light, and a voice echoed his voice, but older.
"This is the heart of your soul, Ayomide. The place you buried your pain."
He turned to see a reflection step out of the mirror himself, but taller, fiercer, scarred.
"I am the man you become if you embrace the curse," the reflection said. "I burn kingdoms to ash. I bow to no god."
Ayomide stepped back. "That's not me."
"Not yet," the reflection growled. "But every step you take… every death you cause… you draw closer."
Ayomide's hands shook. "I didn't ask for this fate."
"No king ever does."
The chamber split open.
The ground cracked, and from the center rose a sword wrapped in chains, glowing with violet flame.
"This is the Blade of Burdens," the reflection said. "Touch it, and your fate is sealed. You will carry the curse forever. But you will be strong enough to save Odanjo."
Ayomide stared at the blade.
He could feel it calling to him.
Power. Pain. Promise.
Behind him, the voices of his ancestors whispered. Some cried. Some laughed.
"Pick it up," the reflection urged. "Become me."
But Ayomide stepped away.
"No," he said. "I'll forge a new path. One that remembers but doesn't repeat."
The sword flickered and transformed.
Its flame turned golden.
The chains fell away.
Ayomide stepped forward and took it.
The chamber exploded in light.