Gods of the earth -Chapters 35 & 36

Chapter 35

The winds howled and raged, screaming obscenities as the huge trees bowed low before its anger. It was a very dark night and they had all been told to remain indoors tonight by the Elders of the Seven Tribes…for tonight was the Crossing Over.

Witch Mother had often told them stories about previous Cross Overs…there had been two that she had told them about…the gods had been at war with the mortal race and had come down then in their thousands…the entire world had been engulfed in war on both occasions.

Karinna watched from behind the safety of the wooden window that was framed in the sturdy mud wall. She saw the shimmering shapes that constantly changed form as they sped on their way into the far away cities beyond the mountains that shielded the Seven Tribes…they were headed for one particular city…the gods were about to take vengeance on them for some reason that she didn’t know.

She saw the huge shrine of her Tribe far in the distance, glowing with an eerie light as the Familiars came through in their hundreds. She had said her goodbyes to her little brother Bulawa…who was not so little anymore…she had never known the full extent of his powers, but she knew he was very important to the gods…so important that when he was about to leave…the Protector of the Tribes had appeared beside him and held his hand as they vanished slowly together.

She had known it was the Protector because of the way her mother and Witch Mother had fallen prostrate on their faces, not daring to look up. Quickly she and her sisters had followed suit. This greeting was only accorded to the Protector…for all the other gods; they merely bowed their faces to the ground on their knees.

Karinna’s sisters came to join her at the window to watch the spectacular sight of Familiars speeding away through the wind that gave them their shapes…they were grateful for their gifts for they knew that only witches and warlocks could see what they now watched.

“That city must have grievously offended our Protector,” said Saranta.

“Yes, I heard Witch Mother and our mother discussing it two nights ago at the back of the house,” answered Sarinya.

“What did they say?” asked Karinna, curiously.

“That most of the city worships another god in the city, and that this god is very powerful and has been stealing away our people to serve in their own shrines. There is going to be a full scale war between our Protector and this god; and our people and theirs,” answered Sarinya.

“And Bulawa and Witch Mother will fight for us all in this battle,” finished Karinna, nodding her head in understanding.

Witch Mother and their mother were saying their final goodbyes too…but they didn’t want to see them…mother was weeping and it would make them weep as well…best they give them some privacy.

Somehow Karinna felt that something was wrong somewhere…why would their mother cry so much as though Witch Mother would not return to them after the war…unless she knew she was not returning…but she kept her thoughts to herself.

The night was far spent when the light from the Shrine slowly began to dim from its fiery red colour to a dull reddish brown colour, and then finally it faded away, signifying the closing of the Gateway from the spirit realm.

Witches were nocturnal creatures who were active in the nights and slept in the mornings till late in the afternoon…no one dared disturb them. Karinna and her sisters went to their mother’s room as soon as they heard her shutting the door…she had come back from seeing Witch Mother off...they hoped that their presence with her would give her some sort of comfort, for they had never seen their mother weep before…she had always been a very strong woman.

“I’ll be fine,” said their Mother with a sad smile as they entered her room.

“Then why were you weeping?” asked Karinna boldly.

“Because I do not know if I will see my older sister again,” sighed Mother as she lay down on the mat.

Her daughters sat beside her…Sarinya tentatively stretched out her hand and grasped her mother’s hand, and squeezed it.

“She will return to us mother,” said Karinna, a deep sinking feeling of foreboding suddenly filled her in the pit of her stomach. 

“Thank you my daughters, now you too should go to bed before the dawn breaks and saps away your powers with the early morning sun.”

Michael had deployed his Hosts all around the city so that they formed a tight circle; but they remained hidden under the Shadow of the Spirit’s Wings. He had never thought he would see the day when he would need the Spirit’s protection…he chuckled to himself…he had always thought that His protection was reserved for mortals…but now, he saw that without the Spirit’s protection he and his Hosts would not only be hopelessly outnumbered, but also severely at a disadvantage.

Lucifer had not spared any pains in organising this Battle…there were three of his arch angels here and so many Powers and Wicked Spirits!

He watched the armies of the Familiars arrive into the city just before the break of dawn when the night was still at its darkest…they were followed by their Commanders – the Powers…fallen angels just below the rank of Princes.

He had not yet seen Lucifer but knew he would be around somewhere…Belial was busy deploying his Commanders around the city among their Hosts.

Janut and Baal were doing the same with their Commanders…for the first time; Michael began to see the magnitude of the huge war that Lucifer was planning to wage against the city…he wanted to destroy its mostly Christian population even though most were purely nominal Christians.

Suddenly it came to him where Lucifer would be…he will be at the church waiting for the Enemy of Darkness to arrive!

Michael thanked the Spirit for the information…his orders were not to interfere with the battle at the church…it was meant to be between the church and Lucifer and his chosen warriors…The Majesty intended it show the manifold wisdom of God in the Church for all time.

Gideon’s battle was not won by force of numbers…neither will yours…Majesty had told him before he left the Throne Room. 

Dawn was breaking when the Familiars finally found their targets…mortals of like minds with them…they began trooping out in their numbers…to burn and loot and rape mindlessly…the spirit of lawlessness had come upon them…the mystery of iniquity had begun its cold and deadly work.

Adebajo had been informed by his foster father that the entire cult would be needed in this battle and Adebajo had begun preparing himself accordingly…there was a certain church that he had been ordered to go to…it was there that he would play his part and contend with the ones his foster father had named the Fifteen.

He knew what he had to do…there were charms he had to prepare and take to the church before their Sunday Service. The charms were debilitating to mortal flesh…for it brought on small pox to whoever sat on them…they were prepared from rare herbs that only the initiated knew where to find.

He had other charms prepared, but the strongest of them all was the one that brought on insanity…he had reserved those for the ones his foster father had mentioned…Wunmi and Mary…those names were indelibly imprinted in his mind.

He closed his eyes and brought mental images of them to his mind…he had never seen them before physically…but he had travelled at his father’s behest to their homes one night…each of them…and had watched them pray…their prayers had built a hedge around them that became so thick, it obscured them from his view…but at least he had seen their faces and would remember them forever.

“I’m coming for you,” he whispered in his mind to the mental images before dismissing them.

Ade looked around him helplessly…he had no idea of what had transpired…he had only woken up to find himself on the floor of the bedroom with two dead women…the women he had given to Baal and Janut. The fallen angels must have taken the babies with them, for there was no trace of them.

A thought occurred to him and he tried out some of the new found abilities Janut had given him…none of them worked…Janut had deserted him! He was totally on his own…a sure indication that he had been marked for death.

He had only a little space of time left to prove that he was still relevant; otherwise he would face a most horrible death. Swiftly he summoned his Familiars to help dispose of the bodies…none responded…he didn’t sense them anymore within or around him…it was too late…he had been terminated…and even as he thought on it…he felt his life starting to ebb away…a most horrible pain started from his heart region and began spreading to the other parts of his body…it was a fire in his bones…he was burning inwardly…it didn’t consume his flesh but it burnt his very soul…

He felt his mind melting…his very thoughts were being erased by the pain…in the dim light of his eyes, he saw the Reality of the spirit realm now superimposed on the physical realm…it was getting more solid while the physical realm was slowly fading…far in front of him, what looked like ancient Egyptian slave masters stood afar of waiting for him…they cracked their long whips and smiled evilly at him. 

Chapter 36

Wunmi and Kola were up before 4am to prepare for the Service that morning. Both their children had been taken to their paternal grandmother far away in another city until the danger was past…school was still in session, but their parents deemed their safety more important than the classes they would miss.

The couple had been praying and fasting for the whole week…it had been so hard on Kola who wasn’t used to it, but he was very determined…if his wife could do it, he wondered why he couldn’t too.

“Sometimes these things need some getting used to,” Wunmi had said to encourage her husband when she saw how weak he was getting by the fourth day.

“I know, but our lives may depend on this,” he had replied bravely.

Wunmi had been hopeful that the Spirit would give them some instructions concerning the day. Pastor Adewusi had been so certain that the battle would take place today in church.

But as they had prayed and fasted, a little disappointment began to creep into her heart…the Spirit wasn’t going to say anything to them about the battle ahead…He wanted pure blind faith on their part.

As they got ready for Service, Kola held her hands suddenly…

“Whatever happens, I want you to know that I’ll always love you darling,” he said looking deeply into her eyes.

“I love you too darling, but we are both in God’s hands now. If he decides to take us…we know where we are going and that our children will be well taken care of right?” replied Wunmi.

Kola nodded his head, unable to speak…several kinds of emotions began to flow through him…he wished he could see his children one more time…

You are beginning to let fear creep into your heart…fear has no place in this battle…you will let the others down…you should pull out now…

He heard the words clearly in his spirit...just like when the Spirit had called him ‘Son’.

He turned back reluctantly to Wunmi…

“I don’t think I will be fighting in this battle, the Spirit just told me to pull out…I have allowed fear into my heart and I will only be a liability to you,” he said with downcast eyes.

Wunmi went to him quickly and held his hands.

“It’s okay my dear, you are still relatively a babe in the Lord Jesus Christ…to be honest I have had my doubts…please don’t feel bad, as a matter of fact, I am rather glad because I was beginning to worry about you,” she said, planting a kiss on his cheek.

“I don’t know why I feel so nervous…I have seen a fallen arch angel before and I thought it was about the fear of seeing so many horrible looking creatures; but it isn’t that at all…I have gotten used to the powers that Janut gave me and now that they have gone, I feel so naked without them. I don’t have any powers, and I am yet to develop my faith like you and Mary,” said Kola, finally voicing out his innermost fears.

“You can still be involved in the battle from here you know…you can simply keep praying in the spirit for us right here without being at  the church…your physical presence is not required to be a part of the battle.”

“That is true!” Kola said, suddenly realizing that spiritual warfare did not necessarily involve physical presence. He felt relieved that he wasn’t out of it entirely after all. Yes he would stay back and pray fervently…many lives were at stake…he would trust the Holy Spirit to help him pray.

As Wunmi drove off to church, he felt a sudden impression to pray for her safety on the road.

“What is it Lord, what is wrong?” he asked quietly, trying to figure out the uneasiness that had suddenly come upon him…it wasn’t there a moment ago when he stood with his wife outside…

He began to pray…pacing around the large living room…he felt a definite sense of urgency to pray…his heart beat faster as though he was in deep trouble…

As Wunmi reached the turning to the street where her church premises was, she noticed a crowd of people burning tires. They had blocked the road and had set fire to a pile of tires right in the centre of the road. Several cars were parked by the road side and people were running helter skelter. There was no sign of any police officers which was very strange as a police station stood no more than 400 metres away.

A man and his wife were being battered on the ground with sticks by a bunch of thugs…Wunmi parked her car some distance away and stepped out, trying to see the couple on the ground…it was Mr and Mrs Ogbunike from church!

Wunmi’s first thought was to run to them and try to rescue them from the beating they were getting, but she knew that they would probably pounce on her too.

“Holy Spirit, what do I do?” she asked quietly as she felt cold fear begin to trigger off panic in her heart. Blood was streaming out of multiple wounds from the couple and she could hear their screams from where she stood. Everyone else had abandoned their cars and fled.

Wunmi stepped away from her car feeling confused…she wanted to run but something kept her rooted to the ground.

Can you take a beating for me like Paul did?

She knew exactly what she had to do now, but she didn’t have the courage to do it…her flesh was weak even though her spirit was willing…she saw now that she still had a lot to learn…sometimes physical opposition and pain will come in to intimidate…to get one to compromise under torture…she saw that now…

Someone spotted her standing alone near her car and raised the cry…several thugs began running towards her…only a couple of hundred metres…Wunmi panicked and began to run…then slowed down…she turned around, her heart beating fast. She still felt the cold hands of fear tightening even more around her heart…yet she stood her ground and waited for them, not knowing why.

Someone knocked her to the ground and kicked her in the stomach…the next few minutes were filled with pain that she had never thought she could bear…she felt blood sliding down into her eyes…a stick battered her repeatedly as she thrashed around on the ground, screaming and writhing in pain.

At length someone pulled her to her feet and began dragging her to where the couple lay motionless.

“You are a Christian aren’t you? One of those who put fear in people’s hearts about a coming judgement, like these fools lying on the ground,” a tall man whose eyes were red stood towering over her and staring down at her with deep hatred.

“I will kill you all; today the streets will flow with your blood. Never again will you try to make others believe that your god is superior to others,” he roared before beginning to rain down blows upon Wunmi with a long jagged whip.

From a long distance away, a siren began to blow…then two and then several at the same time.

“Move out!” shouted their boss…the police were coming. His boys ran in different directions but the boss remained where he was. He took out a long knife from his belt and raised it to stab Wunmi.

Kola was praying in the spirit when he felt tears rolling down his cheeks…he didn’t know why he was feeling so sad…he felt like someone dear to him had died. He dropped to his knees and began to cry, but his weeping turned to groaning…he found himself under a great burden that pressed him almost into the ground…he groaned and he felt the pain…something was pressing hard on his stomach, but he knew it wasn’t physical. He felt bruised and battered all over his body and there was great pain over his right eye…Kola gasped for breath and passed out.