Obi watched as the Priestess stood in front of the elders and the warriors, facing the masked figure that had broken out of the mist.
"Who are you!?" She bellowed, her voice rising into the night sky.
The masked figure was still levitating above them, making the Umu-miri Priestess to frown. Levitation or flight was not something that came easy in this world, except you were of the Umu-ife clan or any other clan related to the skies, of which, this figure clearly was not.
Nneka looked around him, searching for a Totem, at least something that could give out his clan or faction. And she found it. And it was just as she expected.
The Totem was worn backwards, slung across his neck. It had a dark aura around it, its pitch black color even darker than the night sky.
She clicked her tongue in annoyance.
She didn't need any other evidence, that was a forbidden Totem, wielded only by the Ancient Ncheta-oji faction, the biggest terrorist group of their land.
"What are you doing here!?" Nneka asked again, her face was stern, her totem spinning slowly. She didn't need to ask 'who' again.
It was clear. The Ncheta-Oji had come out of the shadows again.
The masked figure slowly descended, its leg touching the floor.
The warriors behind Nneka lowered their stance, preparing to attack or defend, whatever the situation called for.
Nneoma stared into the mask's eye. "I asked you a question... what do you want?"
"The Tenth has risen..." the masked figure began to speak. "This land shall be set back to its primal state!"
Its voice was low, evil and cold. The common folk shuddered while the warriors frowned, cold sweat dripping out of their forehead.
Nneka furrowed her brows. Setting the land back to primal...? "You plan to erase all Totems?"
The masked figure nodded. "Of course... And resurrect our first Ancestor... the founder of the Ncheta-Oji."
Nneoma frowned, her fists clenching. "Resurrect the founder of the Ncheta-Oji...?"
"We'll never let that happen!"
The masked figure chuckled slightly. "Watch as it unfolds…Priestess. We'll be back!" With that, he burst into the black mist again, integrating with the atmosphere.
Nneka frowned deeply, her composure disturbed.
The elders, nine of them, representing the nine clans, walked up to her side. But Nneka spoke first. "Stop the festival. We all meet at the town hall right away!"
The elders nodded quickly, dispatching the information to the warriors who controlled the crowd and put an abrupt end to the festival.
Obi stepped back as the water around him collapsed, taking the stall down with it. "Follow me," Nneka said to him.
Obi nodded, running after her.
***
Fifteen minutes later, the nine elders and the priestess had converged at the town hall, which stood at the heart of the village, below the full moon.
"That boy..."
Ichie Okoye began, but he was immediately cut off by Ichie Nnamdi, the Umu-Oka elder.
"We have a lot more to worry about right now than one lonesome orphan."
"Okoye was about to say something else when Nneka cut in, speaking.
"Ichie Nnamdi is right, the Ncheta-Oji has come out of the shadows again. They pose more threat to the Igbo kingdoms than that little boy can ever pose."
Okoye snorted, but he kept quiet, he knew they were right. Seeing that they were all on the same page now, she grabbed her totem which was on her wrist. She placed her hand together, closing her eyes. Then she placed the totem on the wall.
Water poured out of it, acting like a live hologram. The elders watched intently as the water billowed around.
Nneka continued relaying news of the Ncheta-Oji to the elders.
"The Ncheta-Oji is a terrorist group that was founded by a man called Esu. It was founded on the belief that mankind didn't deserve the amount of power the Totems were granting them, So they wanted to erase it."
As Nneka spoke, the water acted like a live coverage of her story, adding visual details for the elders. The elders were mostly familiar with this story, but as the Priestess, it was her job to make sure that no one was missing any information.
"The Ncheta-Oji almost succeeded in their plan. Waging war against our Igbo kingdom. But a hero rose, the birth of the first Priestess of our land. She communed with the gods and ended up sealing Esu, but it came at the cost of her life, that was all she managed to do. Esu was too powerful."
She paused, making sure that everyone was following her. "After that, his followers scattered and the Ncheta-Oji was believed to have dissolved, until a hundred years ago, they attacked again. That was the last time the Tenth Totem had appeared."
The elders nodded, watching her water intently. Most of them had heard the story from their parents.
"The Tenth Totem possesses infinite powers, the ability to seal, unseal, awaken the dead, you name it. It was just the perfect tool the new Ncheta-Oji needed to awaken their sealed founder."
Nneka paused, allowing the water to hover in the air.
"But they failed, the bearer of the Tenth Totem suddenly disappeared. We had initially thought they had gotten a hold of him, but clearly, they hadn't. The Tenth Totem has reappeared, and undoubtedly, they would make their move again. We just don't know when."
Ichie Nnaoma, the clan leader of Umu-Nnunu spoke first. "All these years, they have always moved in secret. Striking when we least expected it. Why would they suddenly come out into the open now?"
Nneka looked around them, willing anyone to answer the question.
Ichie Ikedi, the Umu-Ala representative spoke. "It could be to stir the public, carrying out such a show in front of the entire village would shake the village up, and can potentially divide us."
Nneka nodded. "That's right. Or maybe because they have something powerful with them... Or someone powerful... that makes them so confident."
Ichie Nnamdi added, "It's either one of those two. Or maybe they have a grand plan to achieve their aim..."
Ichie Emeka stared out into the open sky. "Let's notify the other villages first. Let us know if they have experienced the same thing. After all, all the six villages are also holding their festival of Nine today."
Nneka nodded, it made sense.
She quickly grabbed a scroll and placed her hand together, closing her eyes. She placed her hand on the scroll and water flooded it.
The water seemed to go inside of the scroll and stop there. But it didn't wet it.
Nneka opened her eyes and passed the scroll to Ichie Nnaoma, the Umu-Nnunu clan representative. Nnaoma nodded, then he took the scroll from her.
Nnaoma used his forefinger and his pinky to create a sort of triangle shape, then he blew into it, creating a sharp screeching sound.
Few moments later, an owl flew through the window, landing on his shoulder. He passed the scroll to the owl who grabbed it with its talons and flew straight back out.
Nneka nodded, "The other villages should receive the news by morning. Let's adjourn the meeting for now. By dawn, all our warriors would be summoned and the town crier would brief the village on our current predicament."
Nneoma clicked her tongue as she thought to herself. "That's what those damned Ncheta-Oji lunatics are after, we would have to notify the villagers of our every action, no matter how risky it is…"
Nneka's anger and concern was not baseless, there were certain things that had to be hidden away from the public. Right now, with this public appearance of the Ncheta-Oji, there was no way they could hide it from the villagers, they would require an answer.