[The camera is shaky, handheld by Bisi. They are parked in a dark clearing. Tade is sitting on the tailgate of the SUV, staring at his hands. He looks exhausted, the dark circles under his eyes proof of the sleepless nights spent translating ancient Ayanfe dialects.]
Bisi: "Tade... look at me. The readers—the people—they see the gods. They see the fire and the waves. But you're the one holding the compass. How does it feel? Being the 'bridge' between us and them?"
Tade: [He looks up, a weary smile tugging at his lips] "It feels like standing between two tectonic plates, Aunt Bisi. One side is 500 years of history that doesn't want to stay buried, and the other is a modern world that isn't ready for the truth. Sometimes I feel like the only person in Nigeria who can hear the world screaming."
Bisi: "Is it hard? Dealing with them? Ina's temper, Omi's grief, Irin's... whatever Irin is?"
Tade: "It's terrifying. You're talking to a man who can melt a city block if he gets a headache. But then you see Omi cry over a flower, or Irin try to understand a smartphone, and you realise they're just... displaced. They're refugees of time. My job isn't just translating their words; it's translating their humanity so they don't lose it in this loud, neon-lit century."
Bisi: [The camera stays still for a long moment] "Tade... we have to talk about Tunde. The DIA files say he was 'collateral.' But you were there. You lost your uncle, guardian and best friend because of this."
Tade: [His face hardens, and he looks away into the trees] "Uncle Tunde wasn't collateral. He was a good man who believed in me when I told him a fairy tale about ancient guardians. He died because he was dragged into a war he didn't ask for. Every time the earth shakes now, I hear his voice. Every time Ile speaks, I remember that Uncle Tunde will never speak again."
Bisi: "Is that why you're still doing this, helping the Ayanfe track down Ile? Revenge?"
Tade: "No. Not revenge. Hope."
Bisi: "What do you mean?"
Tade: "I've been reading the older texts, Aunt Bisi. The ones even the Ayanfe forgot. The Source Stone isn't just a battery for power; it's the 'Heart of the World.' If it can calcify a village—if it can turn life into stone—then the resonance must work both ways. It's a loop of energy."
Bisi: "Tade... are you saying...?"
Tade: [He looks directly into the lens, his eyes burning with a quiet, dangerous intensity] "I'm saying that once we take that Stone back from Ile—once we fix the Imbalance—I'm not just going to put it back in the ground. I'm going to use the Shard to find Uncle Tunde's frequency. I'm going to pull him back from the silence. I don't care what the 'laws of nature' say. If the Ayanfe can defy death for five centuries, then they can help me bring back the one person who deserved to live the most."
Bisi: "Tade, that's... that's a lot of power to play with."
Tade: "Ile wants to use the Stone to make a world of statues. I'm going to use it to bring one man home. After that... the gods can have their Stone back."