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ILLUSION

Exactly an hour after the blackout, the comet landed. It was a terrific event in all the places where the solar body landed.

Comet is an icy, small solar system body that releases gases known as outgassing when warm and passing close to the sun. Comet nuclei range in size, from a few hundred meters to tens of kilometers across.

The one that landed on earth, fortunately, is about 20 million megatons, yet still, it had produced calamitous events, filled with fireballs that kill anyone who sees it.

The sky was filled with gazillions of meteors, showering particles that burn up in the atmosphere on their way down. The sky had caught fire, the heat and fire unleashed burned up the forest and cities. Suddenly, the world had transformed from a beautiful, garden to a place filled with horrors. In a few hours, nature had destroyed what had been taking humans to build for ages.

Yet humans are still lucky, had the Comets held more energy, they would have caused a global firestorm ignited by back falling impact debris, forming a global pall of darkness that would have lasted many months. The dust would have been suspended in the stratosphere from such combustive energy.

Humans are lucky this time around, but for how long will their luck last?

"Every hooray ready?" Zuri asked the battalion in front of him.

"Yes sir," they replied in perfect English.

"We will be landing in a few minutes, this is the opportunity we have all been waiting for, and am sure we will take the bull by the horn and destroy any obstacles that may stop this invasion." Zuri paused and walked through the middle of the prepared invaders. "Remember the hooray code of honor," you must never be captured alive. on your body is a chip that you need to press immediately for self-annihilation whenever you are captured. Is that clear enough?"

"Yes sir," the invaders replied.

Zuri looked at the screen of the table in the center of the ship. In one hour he will be the possession of the scepter but he can't wait. Underestimating humans is the greatest of all mistakes. Why not teleport there now?

He quickly commanded the awaiting hoorays to press the teleporting mode on their bodies. Immediately, the space was empty except for the two ship pilots and the codebreaker.

Kira and Akira lay on a bed beside each other, deep in a trance. For a minute, they laid transfixed, eyes opened, lips partly moving and whispering strange incantations.

A few seconds passed, both twins stood from the bed and walked hand in hand towards a circle drawn in the middle of their room.

In the circle is a popular symbol. The eyes of Horus.

"We called on the elements of fire and water, of air and sand.

Let the power in the scepter draw us to wherever it is."

Both twins shouted at the top of their voices.

Suddenly, the room was filled with smoke that seemed to come from nowhere, few seconds later, the smoke cleared and the room is empty. Kira and Akira had just disappeared.

The invaders appeared inside the church of Shango, a magnificent building covering an acre of land.

The inside was well adorned with 3D tiles and decorations. The chairs are well arranged as they faced the altar a mile away. The invaders walked boldly toward the altars as each step bring them more confidence. Few more strides and the scepters will be destroyed forever.

Zuri walked rapidly towards the scepter, ten more steps, nine, he doubled his space. A step more, he raised his humanlike arms and stretched them towards the scepter. Suddenly, a blinding light flashed in his head, he immediately see himself in a strange iced land filled with mystical creatures and beautiful birds. It happened within a twinkle of an eye, then it was gone. So also the scepter.

what had just happened!

He looked into the eyes of his fellow hoorays and immediately realized they had all been tricked. Without wasting more time, he pressed the button below his wing and called his code breaker inside the ship somewhere safe. Instructing him to rewind time to know who has the scepter and where it is.

Of course, he knew where the scepter was heading and have divided his team into five units of ten hoorays, four units will be transported to all the strategic locations where the scepter may pass.

Failing at the first mission is a bad omen, one he is ready to rectify at the cost of his life.

When they landed on the ground from the boat, Brenda had thanked the two men who came to rescue them.

"We are indebted to you," she said after introducing herself and his members.

All through their time in the boat, all her teams had been silent, reminiscing about their near-death experience.

Except for Bobby, the predictable hulks of flesh had been chattering with the two men, asking questions and satisfying his curiosity. He had asked about the river where their jet had crashed and the men had narrated a beautiful history of the town and the mysterious myth surrounding the river known as Osun/Osogbo river.

Originally settled by the Ijeshas; a subtribe of the Yorubas from Ibokun, twelve miles east. It remained a small town subservient to the Ijeshas kingdom of Ilesha. By the late 18th century, the influx of Oyo- Yorubas who fled from the Fulani conquerors brought amazing changes to the quiet town. In 1840, a battle in Osogbo became a turning point in the history of the town. The Infantrymen from Ibadan, armed with European rifles bought from coastal tribes were able to defeat the Fulani invaders.

With the construction of the railway in 1906 from Lagos to Osogbo. Oshogbo now a town became a major collecting point for cocoa and palm oil produced in the surrounding areas.

In the town of Osogbo lies the river where Brenda's jet had landed when the blackout occurred.

Osun/Osogbo river flows southward through central Yorubaland in southwestern Nigeria into the Lagos lagoon and the Atlantic Gulf of Guinea. It's one Of the several rivers elucidated in local mythology to have been women who turned into flowing waters after some traumatic event that frightened or angered them. The river, named after the most popular and venerated Orisha, Osun.

The annual traditional worship at the Osun shrine near the Osun river at Osogbo has become a popular pilgrimage and important tourist attraction.

Osun, who was reported as one of the wives of Shango, the Yoruba

God of thunder. The river goddess is noted for providing for the needs of the people, giving babies to barren women, and changing the lives of many people.

Been one of the most popular and venerated Orisha's, she is the goddess of divinity, femininity, fertility, destiny, beauty, and love.

The river has its source in Ekiti State, Where the Osun-Osogbo sacred groove, the principal sanctuary of the deity is located. Osun is one of the 401 Yoruba gods.

When they landed on dry ground, Brenda thanked the two men again.

"Thanks again," she said to the tall handsome-looking man in a strange uniform.

The man responded with a nod and a bewitching smile.

Brenda offer her hand to the other black tall and huge well-shaped man who seemed to be drooling after the other man.

"I'm Brenda." She said.

"Zuma is my name," he responded.

"This is my colleague, Bobby, our two pilots; Andrew and Roland, and our priest; Sebastian," Brenda mumbled

"What's happening over here?" "Has the comet landed?"

"Yes," Elenu replied, Offering his hand for a shake. "Everything is not working anymore. Planes, cars, guns, electricity, phones, computers, I mean everything." "It's a miracle you survived the crash.

Bobby grinned, "yeah, we are used to such " he replied.

"How to get to this location?" Brenda asked, bringing out a map and pointing to a location in the western region of Nigeria.

"Ile Ife?" Zuma asked.

"Yes," Bobby replied.

"Quite easy," Elenu said, "if cars or train is working then it's just twenty minutes journey." Elenu paused and thought for a moment. "Why heading there?"

"Abit classified," Brenda replied.

"I see," Elenu said, "did it have anything to do with all this?

Brenda nodded, " you bet."

"Then you need a bicycle and weapons. This place had gone crazy immediately after the blackout." He smiled and said, "I have a place in mind."

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