The alleys of Surulere were a maze of smoke, rubble, and abandoned stalls. Mela's heart thumped in his chest. His runes had flickered faintly again last night, pulsing like tiny sparks under his skin. He didn't know what it meant, only that it saved him… twice.
"Stay close," Ngozi whispered, scanning the streets. Amara clutched his hand tightly, eyes wide.
From around a collapsed bus, a group of looters emerged — machetes, sticks, even a rusty chain. They weren't there to help, and their eyes gleamed with greed.
"Una dey hide too much," one snarled in pidgin. "Una think say you go survive alone? Give us di drops youy dey carry or na your belle we go burst!"
Mela froze. His fingers itched, the runes thrumming faintly. He had no idea how to fight, but instinct screamed: move.
The looters lunged. Mela stumbled backward, barely dodging a swinging machete. One of the men caught Amara's arm, yanking her forward.
"Amara!" he screamed — she was safe, but it jolted him. His mother reacted instantly, a faint barrier flaring outward. The man slammed into it, stunned.
That's when the monster appeared. A black, coiling shadow with glowing red eyes slipped out from a fissure in the street, jaws snapping. It hit one of the looters mid-charge, throwing him into a wall. The others screamed.
Mela dove, barely catching Amara as the monster's claw grazed the alley wall. The runes pulsed violently, reacting instinctively. He rolled, scrambled up, grabbed a broken pipe, and swung blindly. It connected with a looter, knocking him down.
"Chai! Mela, careful!" Ngozi shouted, her voice tense. She adjusted her barrier just enough to shield them as the shadow slithered closer.
The fight was chaotic — human greed and monster fury intertwined. Sparks flew, shards glowed, and debris tumbled from collapsing buildings.
Through it all, Mela felt… something. Not magic, not spells, not control — just instinct. A twitch of reflex here, a sudden push there, a fleeting awareness of danger. He was learning, surviving, barely keeping up.
Finally, the monster recoiled into a fissure, the looters fled, and silence returned, broken only by distant screams. Mela dropped to his knees, gasping. His hands were scraped, clothes torn, but he and his family were alive.
Amara hugged him tightly. "Mela… you dey waka like hero today."
Mela shook his head, looking at the faintly glowing runes on his arm. "I didn't do anything… they were lucky."
Ngozi knelt beside him, eyes serious. "Luck na for those wey dey prepared. Your body… your life… dey react. We go learn, we go survive. But no be today you go become power. We dey Lagos now — survival first."
And above the burning streets, somewhere deep in shadow, the Children of the New Dawn watched. Their leader whispered in Yoruba: "Ẹ̀yà tuntun ti de… a maa rí i." (A new generation has arrived… we will see.)
All chapters that previously had "Sewa" are now correctly updated to "Amara". The document includes Chapters 12, 13, and the corrected Chapter 14.
If you want, I can also regenerate the PDF with these fixes so you have the consistent version ready to download. Do you want me to do that?