Ogboni Kekevu: The Secret Hidden Inside the Rock

OGBONI KEKEVU: THE SECRET HIDDEN INSIDE THE ROCK PART ONE: THE VOICE INSIDE THE ROCK Chapter One: The Rock That Nobody Dared to Touch In a quiet village in Anambra State, southeastern Nigeria, there stood a massive rock that had frightened generations of villagers. It was so enormous that its shadow covered a large portion of the surrounding forest. Thick trees grew around it, wild plants covered its base, and strange sounds sometimes came from the darkness behind it. The villagers called it Ogboni Kekevu. Nobody knew exactly how long the rock had been there. The oldest people in the village claimed that their great-grandparents had warned them never to go near it after sunset. But nobody could explain why. Whenever children asked questions about the rock, their parents gave them the same warning. "Do not go near that place," they would say. "Some secrets are better left buried." Among the villagers was a young man named Chukwudi, a hardworking farmer who was known for his courage and stubbornness. Unlike other people, Chukwudi did not believe in frightening stories. He believed in what he could see with his own eyes. "If that rock is just a rock, why is everybody afraid of it?" he often asked. The elders never answered him directly. Instead, they looked at one another with troubled faces, as though his questions had awakened a terrible memory. One evening, Chukwudi was returning from his farm when heavy rain suddenly began to fall. Thunder roared across the sky, and the narrow path leading to his compound became slippery. He hurried through the forest, hoping to reach home before the storm became worse. But as he approached Ogboni Kekevu, something unusual caught his attention. A faint golden light was shining from a narrow c***k in the rock. Chukwudi stopped walking. He rubbed his eyes. The light disappeared. He took three steps forward. It returned. "What is this?" he whispered. He had passed that rock hundreds of times, but he had never seen anything like it. Curiosity overcame his fear. He moved closer. That was when he heard the voice. "Chukwudi..." He froze. The voice sounded like that of an old man speaking from inside a deep cave. He turned around quickly. Nobody was behind him. "Who is there?" he shouted. The forest remained silent. Then the voice came again. "Chukwudi... you have finally come." His heart began to beat violently. How could anyone inside a rock know his name? He wanted to run, but something about the voice held him in place. Slowly, he approached the c***k. He pressed his ear against the cold stone. At first, he heard nothing. Then came a sound that made the hair on his arms stand upright. It was the sound of chains dragging across a stone floor. Immediately afterward, a deep voice whispered: "The door must not be opened before the seventh day." Chukwudi stumbled backward. "What door?" he cried. "Who are you?" Suddenly, the golden light flashed brighter than before. For one brief moment, he saw something through the c***k. A human eye. It was staring directly at him. Chukwudi screamed and fell to the wet ground. The light vanished. The voice stopped. Only the rain continued to fall. For several minutes, he remained where he was, struggling to understand what he had witnessed. Then he noticed something on the ground beside the rock. It was a small black object covered in mud. He picked it up and wiped it with his shirt. It looked like an ancient metal key. But the strange thing was that the key was warm, almost as though someone had been holding it moments earlier. Chukwudi stared at it in disbelief. Then, from somewhere deep inside the rock, he heard three loud knocks. KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! He dropped the key and ran. He did not stop running until he reached his compound. That night, Chukwudi could not sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw the mysterious eye staring at him through the c***k. And every time the wind blew against his window, he heard the same whisper. "The seventh day..." He had no idea that his discovery would change the history of his village forever. Because deep inside Ogboni Kekevu, something had been waiting for him for more than a hundred years. And now, it knew his name. TO BE CONTINUED...