BABA JIDE: (Chewing loudly) You know, they say a blacksmith never wastes a scrap. Every piece of old, rusted iron gets melted down to make something new. Too bad for you lot... I don't think he's making jewelry today.
WEMIMO: (Letting out a final, grinding scream) SHOLA!
(WEMIMO'S skin turns completely grey. She hardens into a seated iron statue, her hand outstretched toward her sister. She is no longer a woman; she is a monument to jealousy.)
(AJAKA raises his hammer. The sky splits with a bolt of red lightning.)
AJAKA: Your sons have fallen. Your wealth is rust. Your beauty is a mask of ash. Ojuola, the eldest... the gatekeeper... you closed the gate on love. Now, I close the gate on your life.
OJUOLA: (Crying out) My sons! Spare my remaining sons!
AJAKA: They are the fruit of a poisoned tree. A blacksmith does not keep the dross; he burns it.
(AJAKA strikes the ground with his hammer. A wave of liquid fire erupts from the earth. OJUOLA and her remaining children are not burned by flame, but are "forged" their bodies turning into molten bronze that flows into the cracks of the palace floor, sealing the ruins forever.)
(The palace is silent. The fires die down. Only OBA ADEREMI and BABA JIDE remain alive amidst a courtyard of iron and bronze statues.)
OBA ADEREMI: (Whispering) Why am I left? Why do I still breathe?
AJAKA: Because a story needs a tongue to tell it. You will live to tell the world that the War God does not forget. You will tell them that the beauty of a woman is a blessing, but the heart of a woman is a temple.
OGUNWUMI: (Touching AJAKA'S arm) It is finished, my Lord. The forge is cold.
AJAKA: Then we return to the stars.
(AJAKA and OGUNWUMI dissolve into a pillar of white and red light, ascending into the sky. The heavy iron beads on the statues of the sisters shatter, falling like rain.)
BABA JIDE: (Standing up, dusting his clothes) Well. That was quite a show. I think I need a drink. Anyone have some palm wine? No? Just statues? Figures.
(BABA JIDE walks out of the ruins, whistling the same ribald song from Chapter 1. The curtain falls on a stage filled with the cold, metallic remains of a dynasty built on a lie.)
[FINAL CURTAIN]