A long time ago, three villages—Aniọma, Alaeze, and Ezi eze-naachị, were at war. From the names of the latter two, it was clear what the bone of contention was.
These villages were founded by three brothers, born of one father but different mothers. When they came of age, their father, who was a king, divided his properties and lands among them and sent them off to forge their own paths. Thus, their respective villages came to be.
However when the division first occurred, Nwaeze the youngest son wasn't present.
He was a child born out of wedlock and was hidden from the world until his father fell ill. His mother wasn't married to his father but was instead a secret mistress.
Before he died, Nwaeze's father gave him his remaining properties and the land he ruled as king. This enraged his two eldest sons. They felt betrayed that their father had kept such a secret from them and, even worse, had handed his most prized inheritance to the product of that betrayal.
After his death, they waged war against their youngest brother to claim what he had been given. But the gods would not allow it. It had been foretold, even before the late king was born, that Nwaeze, the son of a woman whose father had been a devout priest of Amadioha, would inherit the land and rule as king.
And so the inheritance war raged on, lasting for many years. Kidnapping, treachery and human sacrifices became the order of the day. The lives of innocent villagers, who had no part in their feud, were wasted due to greed and jealousy.
In the eighth year of the war, the first son Obinna, or Obi-nna-ya as his father fondly called him, found his village Ezi eze-naachị leaning heavily toward defeat and formed an alliance with Alaeze.
If they could not have Aniọma, they would destroy it, regardless of whether it was their father's land.
Together, they ventured into the forbidden lands and invoked a spirit to aid their plight. A spirit no man in their right senses should ever awaken, Oké Ifufe Abalị, the Stormy Night.
An alusi so dangerous and deadly to anyone who crossed his path. A spirit of pure destruction and a companion of Ekwensu, he was an embodiment of chaos. His winds uprooted trees and tore huts from their foundations. His storms stripped the land bare of food and life. His floods dragged children from their homes and smashed them against rocks and ravines, leaving only broken, lifeless bodies. He was a destructive force of nature.
And so these brothers invoked this terrible alusi against their youngest brother and he answered. Oké Ifufe Abalị does not say no to chaos. He gave them a stone, a shard of his life force, and instructed them to cast it upon their brother’s land.
Poor Nwaeze had no idea what was coming, nor what hit him, until the night the storm arrived and wreaked havoc on his land and his household.
The consequences of Oké Ifufe Abalị‘s presence was nothing the mouth could speak of nor the ears could hear. It had to be seen to be believed.
A pregnant woman lay impaled on a wooden stake, her belly torn open. A young farmer's body hung by the last strand of muscle connecting his severed head. Children lay crushed beneath a fallen tree, arms wrapped around each other in a final embrace.
Roofs were ripped from huts. Obis were reduced to splinters. Family shrines were destroyed, altars desecrated.
And that was only a glimpse of the horrors that befell Aniọma.
Oké Ifufe Abalị left no stone unturned. He would only cease when no life remained in the land.
Nwaeze consulted a dibịa agwu and was told the only way to stop the stormy night was to go into the forbidden lands and destroy his life force, a rock from which a stone was given to Nwaeze's brothers to curse him. But the dibịa warned him. To destroy the rock was to destroy oneself. Only one with an unbreakable will, a strong sense of self, and a life of greater worth could destroy the stone.
This did not deter Nwaeze, and against the pleas of his people who loved him and greatly revered him, he sought out to find this rock which haunted them.
Before leaving he entrusted what was left, and what could be restored of his properties to his wives and children, and bade them farewell. His last goodbye.
And away he went, to bring an end to a deity who he had done no wrong to, yet bore the devastating effects of his wrath.
This deity knew the man was coming for him and placed many obstacles on his path, but he was not to be deterred. For two years, he marched on fearlessly. Ala, goddess of the earth, guided him, leading him toward the destruction of the malevolent spirit.
At last, he reached the forbidden lands. Oké Ifufe Abalị was no longer out of reach. Nwaeze searched for a year before finding the rock. It was no small stone, and it radiated the foulest energy he had ever felt.
Every day, Nwaeze hammered at the rock and the deity would watch him, sending wild beasts to distract him and while Nwaeze was distracted fighting the animals, he would heal the cracks in his rock. His lifeforce.
Once, he sent venomous snakes to bite and paralyze Nwaeze, leaving him incapacitated for four days. But the man would not die, not before completing his mission. He recovered and resumed hammering, his will proving stronger than the stone.
Oké Ifufe Abalị saw how far this mortal was going and knew it was only but a moment left, before defeat would stare him in the face.
On the fifth year of Nwaeze's journey, the deity finally appeared to him and they dueled. For fourteen days and nights, they wrestled and tussled. By the fifteenth day, they were both tired and gravely injured, only a foot away from deaths door.
“You came all this way just to face imminent death” Oké Ifufe Abalị taunted Nwaeze, who was clinging to the tiniest thread of life at that moment.
“As long as I take you with me, then I'll leave this world content, knowing my people are free” Nwaeze responded
And with his last strength he hurled the stone he found during his journey. The stone his brothers had thrown on his land. It landed on the big rock and it came crashing down.
“Nooo! This cannot be the end! I will not perish here! Mark my words, I will come for your descendants and your wretched people!” Oké Ifufe Abalị screamed as he disintegrated into dust.
“You will never lay hands on my people again,” Nwaeze whispered, and drew his final breath.
Right then, for the first time in five years, it rained in his land.
The people came out into the rain, and they knew. Just as the dibịa agwu had foretold three years before.
“Papa has died,” said Enyinnaya, standing in the rain, cupping his palms to collect the falling water.
His mother stood beside him, eyes to the sky.
“Yes, he has. And now… we are free,” she whispered, tears and water running down her cheeks.
And so the people lived and prospered. They renamed themselves Umueze, Children of the King for they had won the war and recognised Nwaeze as their king and father.
While their enemies perished, struck down by the wrath of the gods.
Generations passed.
The time of the man who fought a god for his people had gone. Only tales remained.
And as time flowed in Umueze, so did it pass in the forbidden lands. A new era dawned, and many gods were forgotten, fading into nothingness. While some lingered in fragments.
Like Oké Ifufe Abalị.
By a stroke of luck he had survived. The stone Nwaeze used to destroy his lifeforce did not shatter and in his final moment, Oké Ifufe Abalị possessed the stone, which became his only source of life.
He had weakened and was fading… until a banished dibịa otumokpo, condemned for his evil deeds, discovered him. The man chose to worship the lingering spirit, breathing life back into him.
And now, Oké Ifufe Abalị waits. Slowly regaining his strength and power.
Plotting the chaos he will once again unleash on Nwaeze’s people, just as he promised.
He journeyed for 5 good years🫠🫠 wowww