Lagos by night is a creature of many faces.
It can be a carnival of lights, loud music, the smell of suya and cheap perfume.
Or it can be something else—dark, dangerous, and full of secrets that no god wants to admit they see.
Tonight, it was the second kind.
---
Ajani's eyes refused to close.
He checked his phone again.
No calls. No message.
> Kemi, where are you?
He knew her routine. She sold her groundnuts, came home straight. Sometimes with extra change, sometimes without. But never this late. Never this silent.
He paced in front of the house.
The streetlights flickered like they were afraid to shine.
Tayo slept inside, curled around Mama like a kitten, unaware that something had shifted.
---
Kemi sat on a velvet couch, staring at the untouched juice on the glass table in front of her.
Chief Olowonmi's house was the size of a small palace—marble tiles, art everywhere, and the faint scent of imported air fresheners.
The man himself lounged in his white agbada, sipping wine like it was blood.
> "You didn't drink your juice," he said, smiling.
"You don't like it?"
Kemi smiled politely. "I'm okay, sir."
> "Kemi, Kemi," he said, standing. "Why do you still call me 'sir'? Am I not like a father to you now?"
Her smile tightened. "Yes, sir."
He stepped closer.
> "Your beauty is wasted in the streets, my dear. You deserve better. A better life. Better clothes, better dreams…"
His eyes moved down her body.
> "Better hands to touch you."
Kemi's blood went cold.
---
Ajani was already in his vulcanizing overalls when he rushed into the police station near the roundabout.
> "My sister is missing," he said, breath short. "She went to meet Chief Olowonmi. She hasn't come back."
The sergeant raised an eyebrow.
> "Chief Olowonmi? The Chief Olowonmi?"
> "Yes. She's sixteen. Please, I need your help."
The officer looked him up and down—sweaty, poor, angry.
> "Go home, vulcanizer. Don't bring your poverty here to disturb big men."
Ajani slammed his fist on the table.
> "She's my blood!"
> "And he's our boss's boss's boss. We can't touch him."
Ajani's chest rose and fell like a beast inside him was scratching to be free.
> "I'll find her myself."
---
But by the time he got the location, it was too late.
The house was empty. Security gone. Lights out.
Kemi's phone—dead. No trace.
Three days later, her body and Tayo's were found in a swamp near Badagry.
Drained. Mutilated.
Ritual signs carved into their skin.
Ajani screamed until his throat tore.
Mama Ahmed, when she saw them… she just stopped breathing.
She died that same night.
---
Ajani buried three pieces of his soul under the red sand of Lagos.
He stood alone at the funeral, no one beside him.
No priest.
No tears left.
Only scars.
---
That night, he stood in front of a mirror in the darkness of their home.
Sweat ran down his chest. His breathing was low, heavy.
His body still bore the marks of work—hard calluses, deep cuts, and tire grease that never washed out.
But this pain? This rage?
It was new.
> "I swear by the blood they spilled," he whispered,
"I will become something they'll fear."
He dropped the cross Mama once hung above the mirror.
Picked up a rusted cutlass from the backyard.
And began to train.
---
Two years passed.
Ajani vanished from public life.
He worked during the day, but at night… he became a myth.
The newspapers whispered of a vigilante in Mushin who didn't show mercy.
Gang hideouts destroyed. Rapists hung from power poles. Thieves found buried alive.
People called him "Omo Ogun"—Son of War.
No one knew who he was.
No one lived to tell.
---
One day, while chasing down a ritualist priest hiding near Third Mainland Bridge, something happened.
The sky darkened—not like rain.
Like something was tearing open above them.
A hole.
Floating. Glowing. Breathing.
A dungeon.
---
> SYSTEM ACTIVATION DETECTED...
Compatibility: 99.98%...
Releasing Interface Protocol...
Loading AI Construct: A.L.I.C.E...
Ajani's eyes widened as a glowing blue screen flashed in front of him mid-fight.
He fell to the ground, heart pounding.
> [WELCOME, AJANI AHMED.]
[YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN.]
[SYSTEM ONLINE.]
> "What… the hell…?"
> [INITIAL TITLE UNLOCKED: DEVOURER.]
Effect: Absorb Skills of Evil-doers upon Kill. Passive.
---
That night, Ajani dreamt of four figures glowing in divine light:
One held a hammer of lightning (Sango).
One carried a blade of iron flames (Ògún).
One wept rivers of healing waters (Osun).
One sat in calm white, wisdom flowing like air (Obatala).
Ògún stepped forward and said:
> "The gods cannot fight this war directly. But we can give you the power… if your body can handle it."
> "Why me?"
> "Because you were forged by pain, not privilege. Because unlike the others, you are not afraid to kill."
> "Will it be enough to kill Èṣù?"
Ògún's eyes burned.
> "If you live long enough… maybe."
---
Ajani woke up with a start.
Scars glowing faintly across his chest.
Alice's voice whispered:
> [New Quest Unlocked:
"Become the Weapon."]
Reward: Attribute Unlock + Power Surge (2% Divine Fragment Access)]
He stood. Shirtless. Weaponless.
But for the first time since they died…
He had something more than anger.
He had purpose.