Bí ẹ̀mí bá wà, ìrètí ńbẹ.

As long as there is life, there is hope.

Some years ago, he had once watched a documentary about soldiers and the trauma they faced in the battlefield. One of the soldiers, an amputee, mentioned that life after war was almost unbearable. He said something curious, though, he said that even though his left arm was gone, sometimes he could still feel a sharp pain in it from time to time. Odion had asked his father at the time about this curious phenomenon, he still remembered the warm smile on his face, a smile born out of one's amusement at his son's unbridled curiosity. His father was in the study at the time, working on a paper. He wore his faded nightgown that was surely older than Odion by then and his reading glasses were fastened onto his head. On hearing Odion's question, he patted his lap for his son to sit on it and explained what he wanted to know. "It's called Phantom Pain, Didi. It's—how do I explain this now—the pain you feel once a part of you has been cut off from the whole. Nobody is really sure why it happens, but it just does."

Odion felt like that now. His parents, an integral part of his life, were gone but the loss still hurt him. He had always found it funny how emotional pain could manifest itself physically, but now he definitely wasn't smiling.

His chest hurt, it felt like there was a huge gaping hole in it and he wasn't sure he could close it. When he was growing up, he made a mental list of all the weird things he had encountered in his everyday life. One of them was time, it did this funny thing depending on whether or not you were focusing on it. When you're paying close attention to it, like staring at a clock or a wrist watch, it seemed to slow down and stretch interminably. But when you weren't paying attention, like when you were crying on a cold iron lunch table, grieving your dead parents who you just found out you killed because you have an evil demonic side to you, time seemed to move impossibly fast. Odion raised his head up, finally, to find that it was now noon. People were now walking in and out of the shops, eager to beat the mall's rush hour.

Odion loved observing people, it gave him something else to focus on, a distraction from his own dark plight. Odion watched a couple walk out of a store with a brightly lit sign on the top that said, "GAME." The woman was brightly dressed and appeared to be in her early twenties. She had a small afro and circular glasses were perched on her round nose. Beside her stood a tall lanky man dressed casually in a shirt and a pair of jeans. What really caught Odion's eye, though, was the little girl that was tottering between them, she looked about two or three years old dressed in a little pink pinafore. She smiled with her rosy cheeks and Odion could see barely the little white teeth that had just begun to peek out from her light pink gums. Odion smiled faintly at the small family. They reminded him of a better time, a peaceful time. A time when his parents were still alive. A time when he was happy.

Okay, enough of that. He had to compartmentalise these feelings and push on, that's what he'd been doing all these years, after all. But one thing was for sure, he was going to find who was behind all this. He was going to find who cost his parents their lives and the person who robbed him of a normal one. They would not die in vain.

And if the world was in danger, he'd probably save it along the way. Probably.

"Are you quite done?" The green eyed boy asked in exasperation. Odion jumped, he'd almost forgotten about him. There was something strange about him, though. He looked a bit tired after all this time, it was like the magic he was exerting to keep them both hidden had suddenly begun to take its toll. Beads of sweat were coming down his face and his fists were clenched, his palms already turning red. Huhn, Sango did mention that the gods were getting weaker, so maybe this was a—.

"You're a god aren't you?" Odion asked while pushing the food away from him. Play time was over, he needed to start moving. "You don't look like one but you are, aren't you?"

The boy rolled his eyes and placed his two legs on the table and crossed them. "Well, it took you long enough, you've been moping for gods know how long." He took a grape from their table which was overflowing with food and popped it in his mouth. "And to answer your question, yes, I am a god. An amazingly dressed one at that." He said this as he gestured to his clothes and then Odion realised that he had somehow changed his clothes into a bright green kaftan, adorned with golden orbs and trousers that were black and made of a dark material Odion couldn't quite identify. His shoes were bright green and shone with a somewhat ethereal glow.

"And how are you doing this?" Odion asked as he gestured towards the glimmering green hemisphere surrounding them, obscuring them from view.

"Amazingly," the boy answered as he flashed a toothy grin, the same one a predator would give to a nice juicy prey. Odion didn't know what happened then but something in him suddenly tingled, his whole body seemed to be saying, Danger, danger, run away. Now that he was alert, he could feel it all over his body, whoever this guy was, he was bad news.

Odion began to stand up. "Thank you for the meal and company but I have to go now, I have a que—"

An invisible force knocked him back into his seat. He looked over at the boy and he had two outstretched fingers in the air and as he gestured, the force pushed Odion down even more.

"I didn't tell you we were done," he said calmly. "I have a proposition for you."

"Who are you?" Odion asked, fear creeping into his voice.

But then, something happened, a voice from inside of him answered, a deep baritone voice that Odion knew was familiar.

He is Eshu, a dangerous cunning being, be wary of him.

The boy or Eshu, tilted his head sideways as he stared thoughtfully at Odion. Odion was almost scared he had heard but Eshu just continued. "I've been following your journey since you were a child. The easy life was really not the path that you were meant to have. But I can give it to you, I can give you the peace you so clearly want."

Eshu waved his hands and it was like a green fog rose from the earth and obscured all of Odion's senses, it smothered him until he welcomed the oncoming blackness.

Odion woke up and his whole body felt sore, it was like he'd walked ten miles. He groggily opened his eyes, tried to sit up but failed. He looked around and he then realised that he where he was. It wasn't possible, there was no way this was happening. He summoned the strength to stand up from the Spider-Man customised bed, went to the bathroom and his heart stopped.

He was twelve years old again.

He was in his old house again.

Then, did that mean—

A soft knock came from his door and Odion whipped his head around, he looked down at himself and he was clad in grey pyjamas. This was getting weird.

The knock came again.

"Come in," Odion shouted.

A man walked in, he seemed to be in his early forties and some grey hairs were peaking from his afro already. He had a small managed beard but he was quite tall. He spoke with a deep, cheerful voice. Odion splashed water on his face quickly and left his brightly lit bathroom to meet his father. When he came out, his dad was already sitting on the bed. For such a large man, he looked nervous, scared even.

"Odion," he said, "I'm about to show you something and you absolutely cannot tell anyone."

"Even Mum?" Odion asked. His voice had also changed, he sounded a lot younger and more cheerful.

"Especially her," he replied. Then with the caution of someone revealing a dangerous weapon, he brought out a rectangular box. He opened it and Odion gasped as he saw the beautiful translucent pearls. "Today's our fifteenth anniversary and I got this for her. Do you think she'll like it?" He looked at Odion carefully, he clearly wasn't used to buying jewellery especially for women and was unsure of the gift he had gotten his wife. Odion nodded fiercely and his dad let out a gasp he probably wasn't sure he was holding in.

"Breakfast is ready, boys," a feminine voice called from downstairs.

His father quickly got off the bed and composed himself, he gave Odion a sideways look before he left. "Brush your teeth and come downstairs quickly, so she won't think anything is odd."

Odion stared at the door for some time after his father had left. Both of his parents were alive? What was going on?

He went to the bathroom, brushed his teeth and made his way to the door of his room. He took a deep breath and turned the knob, then made his way downstairs. He dragged his hand against the white walls, something his mother always chastised him over. On the staircase, pictures of his family were arranged in chronological order. He peeped one where he was still a baby and he sat, droopy eyed between his smiling parents. Another one was with his mother holding him, beaming as if to say, "Look, I made this." He smiled, these were better times.

Before he even entered the kitchen, he could smell the bacon frying on the pan and his stomach rumbled in response. He took a right turn and pushed the double doors into the kitchen to find his mother, busy behind the cooker while his father was busy setting the cutlery and plates on the kitchen table. They both did their jobs without bumping into each other, working in unison like the gears in a machine. He had always find it odd, there was a dining table beside the sitting room yet they never ate there. Starting to think about it, did Nigerians ever all eat on the dining table?

"Good morning mummy," Odion said as she dished food on a plate. She turned around and her face made Odion's chest clench. Her face always had his natural glow in the mornings. This day, her long dark hair was hung in a ponytail that accented her round brown face. She had a war radiant smile as she looked at Didi, saying, "Good morning Didi," she said, "I hope you slept well." She said as she sat down and gestured to Didi to sit with his parents. Didi sat down and looked at both of them, it had been years since he had seen their faces like this. Not marred in blood and darkness in his memories but just them, in their brightest forms. Didi saw his father fumble through his pocket as he looked at his wife nervously. "Honey, I, uh, go you some—"

Didi didn't know what his father was just about to say because at that moment, everything paused. The whole world seemed to be at a standstill. Didi looked around, alarmed. "Mummy, Daddy, what's wro—"

"Nothing is wrong, Didi," a smooth voice said from behind Didi. He looked behind and almost fell off the chair. A large bald man in a dark green suit had suddenly appeared behind him. He looked unfamiliar apart from a striking feature. His eyes were a striking green colour. The same colour of leaves in the early morning, except from the fact that leaves didn't look at you menacingly.

Eshu stalked towards his father and plucked the rectangular box from his father's frozen fingers. He opened the box and brought out the pearls as he playfully displayed them. A malevolent smile on his face.

"Look at all this," Eshu said as he gestured around him to the now frozen world, "I can give you all of this and more. I can keep you in this frozen world while your body will be in a dream state. I can give you your parents."

He walked towards Didi, the heels of his shoes calmly hitting the tiled floor. He came behind Odion, his cold fingers brushing against Didi's shoulders. He leaned in and whispered into his ear. "You can have it all. You can live out your days here and all you have to do is sleep forever. So pick, young warrior. Would you rather rest in endless sleep and stay here with your parents or would you rather wake up and welcome that mundane and harsh reality you call your life." With that, he crushed the pearl necklace between his fingers and the pearls clattered on the floor.

The sharp sound filling the air.