The elders deserted the town hall while Nneka sat there, alone.
She sighed. "I never thought I would see this day, grandma..." She raised the totem, staring at it.
The title of the Priestess of the land was something accorded only to the females of the Umu-mmiri clan. And it had originated from the legendary female who had been able to commune with the gods and seal Esu.
However, her hardwork was about to get shattered, thrusting the Igbo land into a great war.
And if they lost, their adversaries were sure to spread out, attacking the Yoruba and Hausa kingdoms too. They would expand, stretching their conquest to the rest of the world.
"Seems like we might be needing extra hands this time."
"The Igbo kingdom didn't have a ruler, unlike the other kingdoms around it. It was made up of six villages. Out of which each held nine clans each. Each member of the clan had their own representative in the elder's council, making it nine members in the council, and then there was the Priestess of Umu-mmiri, making it ten members in the elder's council.
However, the post of Umu-mmiri Priestess was only exclusive to the Ohandu village, where they were.
Even at that, all the six villages had taken part in the first Totem war, so her influence was not limited to the Ohandu village alone, it spread out to the other five villages. With that being said, a lot of pressure was on her shoulders.
Nneka pulled a scroll from the shelve in front of her. She opened it, revealing a map. She stared at it, tracing her hand along its lines and drawings.
The six villages of the Igbo kingdom were shown in the map. The Ohandu; her own village.
Ndiume; a village that was well versed in fighting wars and mostly controlled war materials.
Then there was Umu-Onwa; the land that was mostly made up of seers and people who could use moon magic.
The fourth village on the map was the Agbaja; mostly made up builders and those who wield earth powers.
The next village was Akonauche; this was where most books about history were kept, its indigenes were mostly sages and wizards.
Then the last village on the list was the Njemaze. These were mostly trackers, scouts and voyagers. Most sensory type beasts were trained here and exported to the other villages.
Each of these six villages worked with each other, fending off enemies and protecting their heritage.
Nneka stared at the other lands in the map, the evil forest, lying on the far west, near Ohandu and Ndiume borders.
"That's possibly their hideout..." Nneoma muttered to herself, touching it on the map.
The evil forest was a very vast and forbidden land where the Osu(outcasts) were banished into. It was rumored to be filled with evil spirits and possessed animals, cursed totems and forbidden seals.
The villages were all connected by the six great roads, paths which lead the villages into each other.
Nneka sighed, closing the map. They had sent a message to the other villages, they should all be getting ready. And that's if, they too, didn't experience this same showdown from the Ncheta-Oji.
She suddenly remembered Obi and she opened the door, walking out of the town hall.
Obi was still where she left him, just a few metres away from the entrance. He was dozing.
Nneoma stared at him, her cold eyes warming up a little. He was just a kid...
Obi noticed her presence and his head immediately jerked, acknowledging her.
"Ezenwanyi..." he greeted, bowing slightly. But before she could respond, she saw something.
Out of the moonlit dark, something spiraled behind Obi. Something dark, like a portal, except it was pitch black. Nneka frowned, "that looks like a transportation technique... but why is it so dark...?"
Her answers came in a flash."
Obi was unsuspecting as a masked figure crept out of the portal behind him... A cold eyes stared at him from underneath the mask.
Nneka frowned. She understood it immediately, Ncheta-Oji, they didn't wait till morning to strike, they were doing it now.
"Obi, behind you!"
The masked figure smiled. "I told you... the Tenth Totem shall be ours!"
Obi's pupils constricted as he felt a cold hand land on his shoulder. They held come for him.
"Get away from him!"
Nneka roared, blitzing forward, as fast as lightning. She clutched the totem tight as she moved, water pouring from it.
The water solidified instantly, taking the form of a blade. She slashed it at the hand that held Obi.
The hand dropped off, plummeting to the floor. She quickly grabbed Obi and jumped a few metres backwards immediately. Then she paused, glaring at the masked figure.
"I won't let you take him."
Nneka said, her hand firmly wrapped around the blade. The masked fellow fully came out of the portal now, he bent, picking up his chopped off arm.
"You can't stop the Ncheta-Oji. We must bring peace...unity…to this world."
Nneka's eyes widened. "P-peace!? You call this peace?"
He reconnected his arm, and to Nneka's greatest surprise, dark blood seemed to pour out, sewing it back cleanly. He flexed the arm at her, smiling out of the bone mask. "We're unstoppable."