2030: Forces

The Dibia's Story

     "My father was a priest. When I was a kid, I only heard stories about the city and civilization. Everything in the village was normal to me... Priests were treated like gods because we could see with the eyes of the gods and they could speak through us. We were placed on a golden pedestal and they seemed to worship us rather than the gods."

       "The priesthood; does it belong in your family or people are randomly chosen by the gods", Alex asked Odogwu, as everyone was listening attentively.

      "It's a pretty long story. My great grandfather was an ordinary man. He was ordinary in all things, according to the history books. He was poor and he had no special skills. Almost everyone counted him as insignificant or dispensable. He was poor and extremely desperate to have money. His desperation led to his fall.

    None of my forefathers had been a priest in the kingdom. The priesthood was in another family. That was when the priest betrayed the laws of the land. My great grandfather sought to be rich by all means and the priest offered to help, readily breaking the sacred rules just to earn some money.

          He abandoned the family and left his wife to cater for his only son. He saw them as a burden which would slow him down on his path to success so he fled. Then, his desperation increased and he found a trustable infirmity of the priest which he manipulated; greed.

     The priest told him to work hard and bring a certain amount from his earnings. In addition to that, he was asked to provide a virgin and a new horsewhip.

     My great grandfather was ready for the rituals. He was ready to shed blood and he didn't waste time in producing the requirements.

    Then, he was asked to continuously beat the virgin with the horsewhip, after she was made unconscious. He did just as he was told. He ignored the screams from the girl. He ignored the deep cuts and gory injuries. All he had in his mind was money.

    My great grandfather had contemplated evil and taken a step in the darkness. The tails of the devil kept pulling him in and he could no longer turn back. He whipped the virgin till she stopped breathing. She died.

   Then came the worst part which wasn't initially explained. He had to speak with a demon."

    "I'm guessing this is where he turned", Alex said.

    "No, he didn't turn. The lamps around him went off and the demon appeared. The glowing eyes were visible in the dark. The demon told him to ask for anything which will be delivered to him, every night. He asked for money. The lamps came back on and the demon had disappeared. Not only the demon disappeared, the virgin and the whip. A plate of fresh meat was left behind and, as required of him, he ate the raw meat. That was the end of the ritual processes. My great grandfather became instantly rich and no one questioned his riches but that wasn't the end to his suffering. A day after the rituals, he returned to the priest with cuts and scars in his back.

    He had been screaming through the night as the same virgin he had killed returned in three bodies to give him the worst beating he had ever had. When the sun rose, the demon delivered a bag of money to him.

      The priest revealed that the beatings are the consequences of the rituals and it would continue till the day he died. The pain was a lot to endure but he no longer had a choice; there was no going back for him. Every night, the beating began by 12am and stopped by 6am. By dawn, he enjoyed himself to the fullest.

     At first, he would bother himself with the thoughts of the beatings that must happen through the night, but he got over the feeling. He stopped letting the thoughts prevent him from enjoying himself so he endured as long as he could, though he was getting weaker.

     His son, my grand father, found his way back to him but not before his wife died. My grand father needed money to invest in a business and he heard of his father's wealth so he returned home.

    My great grandfather was too weak to reject him and, even if he wasn't so weak, he'd still accept his son with open arms. My grandfather was willing to sleep over at his father's house and my great grandfather was ready to accommodate his son for as long as he had to live on Earth.

    That night, the two were not able to sleep. While my great grandfather was getting beaten for 6 hours, my grand father had his sleep disturbed by the screams from his father's room. The door was locked so he wasn't able to get in and check what was happening.

   The day broke and the screams stopped so he peeped to check if his father was already okay. He saw fresh cuts on his father's back. It was so brutal that he couldn't keep looking. His father caught him staring and eventually told the story to his son, advising him against desperate acts for money. My grand father refused to take any money from him and, out of compassion, revealed the secret to the elders, seeking help for his father.

    Ritual killing was one of the intolerable offences which led to death sentences and my great grandfather was a culprit. After a short questioning, the priest was brought into the story and the secrets got exposed. My great grandfather was locked in a cage without food or water till he got beaten to death. The priest was stripped and beheaded.

   When it was time to choose a new priest, they would speak to the gods. The gods would lead a person to a multitude of people and a bell would be jingled. Everyone who heard the sound of the bell would collapse. Only the chosen priest would stand unaffected and the bell would be placed in his hands as a sacred possession. The moment he held the bell, no one can touch the bell again. The moment another person touched the bell, the current priest has been rejected by the gods. Whoever dares to touch the bell must not jingle it unless he is the new chosen priest or he has been temporarily empowered to find the new priest.

    That was how my grand father was chosen. My father inherited the bell and became the priest. I also inherited the bell from him.

    As a priest, one could see with the eyes of the gods; the secrets, the future, intentions and virtually everything.

      The king died and a new king was crowned by the elders, against the will of the gods. I warned them but I was personally detested for unclear reasons; I knew their secrets. It made me wonder if I was the only priest with the gift. The gods got angry for their defiance so they ceased to reveal themselves. I could no longer see with the eyes of the gods or communicate with them. The bell and other sacred items stopped working.

     They readily replaced me with the belief that I had been rejected. They were fooled by a rich man who planned his ordination. Believing the bell to be fake, he bribed people so the 'gods' would point to him and his mates would collapse at the sound of the bell while he remained standing.

     The new priest cooked up false visions and ordered fake sacrifices to keep himself on the pedestal. Eventually, the gods spoke to me. I was able to hear the future from their mouths and, at times, I'd lose my senses and they'd speak directly through me. I lost it, recently. I don't know if I've done wrong again or-"

    "No", Joe interrupted. "the two godmodes are not working. The dibia no longer sees. Everything that should see the future no longer tells us the future because it is already known. The eyes of the gods are to help you see tomorrow but what if this is tomorrow? What if this is tomorrow, the end of the road, and we're living it already?"