Chapter Nine: The Gate Of The Forgotten
1120 Words
Chapter Nine: The Gate of the Forgotten
“When the sky turns red and the rivers run dry, know that the gate has been touched.” — Oracle of Ife
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🔥 Oro-Meta Trembles
The Sacred Bell of Oro-Meta rang with a tremor that cracked the sky.
Its sound wasn't just noise—it was memory. Ancient warriors stirred in their slumber. Statues wept ash. Across every hidden shrine in Nigeria, hunters stopped mid-step, eyes widening as they heard it in their souls.
In the council chamber, the Baloguns had gathered again, armor glinting under sacred flame. Balogun Ekene’s eyes blazed as he slammed his obsidian hammer to the ground.
“The Forgotten Gate has awakened.”
The youngest among them, Balogun Nkiru, barely whispered, “But that’s just legend. Sealed long before even Obatunde’s time…”
“No.” John entered the hall, voice calm but heavy. “It’s real. I’ve seen it. In dreams. In fire. In blood.”
Zara walked beside him. Kemi, Uduak, and Nuru followed, fully armored.
“I know where it is,” John said. “In the ashlands east of Nsukka. Beneath the ruins of the old kingdom of Igede. It was sealed by Obatunde himself.”
Balogun Enitan nodded grimly. “Then we must ride. Tonight.”
“But this isn’t just another nest of beasts,” John added. “It’s something more. The king they serve—he’s trying to break through.”
Ekene stepped forward. “And if he does?”
John looked them all in the eyes. “Then the world as we know it ends.”
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🛡️ Into the Ashlands
The journey to the ruins was not a march—it was an exodus.
Ten Baloguns rode, each with their elite hunters. Skybeasts screeched overhead, flaming wolves padded beside them, and at the center of it all flew John—not on wings, but in a constant stream of fire and air, like a comet on the move.
The land darkened the closer they came.
Trees bled sap that smelled like sulfur. Birds were silent. Rivers hissed as if boiling from beneath. The earth itself trembled—quietly at first, then with more defiance.
On the fourth day, they saw it.
The Gate of the Forgotten.
A vast obsidian structure rising from a pit of bone and soot. Chains thicker than trees wrapped around its pillars. Symbols written in ancient Yoruba, Igbo, and Hausa spiraled across its face, glowing red-hot. At the center stood a figure in tattered robes—his skin peeled, his mouth stitched, but his eyes wide with unholy fire.
The Beastholder.
An ancient priest who had once betrayed the gods to serve the beasts.
“He’s not alive,” Nuru whispered. “He’s something else.”
And then they attacked.
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⚔️ Battle at the Broken Gate
It began with a shriek.
From behind the Beastholder, the ground erupted. Hundreds—no, thousands—of beasts clawed their way out of the soil like cursed children from the womb. These weren’t like those John had fought before.
These were elite.
Wearing bone armor. Eyes burning red. Each wielding weapons fused with beast blood and spirit iron.
John didn’t hesitate.
He soared upward and came crashing down like a meteor, his Soulfire Blade igniting in a burst of gold and crimson. The first wave of beasts disintegrated in the heat of his impact.
Around him, the Baloguns unleashed their fury.
Balogun Enitan summoned chains of lightning from the sky, wrapping around ten beasts at once and frying them into black smoke.
Balogun Ekene charged through a hundred enemies, his hammer singing with each swing, breaking bones and burning souls.
Uduak and Kemi fought back-to-back, their synergy flawless. Uduak’s dual daggers danced like vipers, while Kemi hurled glowing spears that pierced multiple beasts in a single throw.
Zara, ever the storm, spun in midair, unleashing winds sharp enough to slice steel, her voice chanting incantations passed down by the Wind Mothers of old.
But the Beastholder raised his hand—and the Gate began to open.
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🩸 The Shadow King Rises
A c***k split the gate down the center. From within came a sound that wasn’t sound at all—just a presence. A crushing weight. A scream inside the mind.
John faltered midair. The Soulfire Blade pulsed violently.
“What is this?” he gasped.
From the gate emerged a hand—black as midnight, claws as long as spears. Then another. And then, from the void, the creature stepped forth.
Ten feet tall.
Wreathed in smoke and whispers.
Eyes like burning galaxies.
It was no mere beast.
It was the King of the Forgotten, the first of their kind. Obatunde had sealed him away during the First Blood War—at the cost of his own soul.
“He’s returned…” Enitan murmured.
John stood in his path.
“You’re not going to escape this time.”
The beast-king didn’t speak. It only roared, and the sky turned red.
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🔥 The Flame Unleashed
What followed was a storm of battle.
John soared into the heavens, clashing with the beast-king in the air. Their blows shattered clouds. Energy rippled across the sky. For every strike John landed, the beast-king retaliated with shadows that sliced the very light.
John’s blade met claw. Fire met darkness.
Below, the battle continued. The Beastholder summoned shadow copies of fallen Baloguns—illusions that mimicked their strengths. Enitan fought her own spectral double. Ekene was overwhelmed by a mimic of Obatunde himself.
Zara flew to help John—but a whip of shadow yanked her from the sky.
John felt it.
His rage exploded.
He screamed—a sound that split the world—and flames poured from his body in waves. A ring of golden fire erupted beneath him, suspending his enemies in midair, then incinerating them.
The beast-king lunged—but John caught him mid-air.
“This is for Obatunde,” John whispered.
And then he drove the Soulfire Blade straight into the king’s heart.
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🕯️ Aftermath
The gate sealed itself with a deafening snap. The Beastholder shrieked and disintegrated, the curse broken.
The battlefield fell silent.
Bodies of beasts faded into smoke. The land began to breathe again. Trees slowly uncurled their branches. Rain—real rain—fell for the first time in months.
John collapsed.
Zara caught him.
“You did it,” she whispered.
He smiled weakly. “No... we did.”
Ekene and the others gathered around. For the first time, they knelt—not just in respect, but in allegiance.
“You are no longer the last Balogun,” Enitan said. “You are the First Flameborn.”
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