Present Day — Yantoto Hills
The wind dragged itself across the hills like it had somewhere better to be.
Lanre stood at the mouth of the cavern, staring out at the stretch of land as if it owed him answers. Forests clung to the rock. Valleys lay open and dry. Cattle moved in slow lines, guided by boys snapping kobokos through the air.
Normal things.
Alive things.
He barely registered any of it.
His attention stayed behind him.
On the coffin.
The thought sat in his chest, heavy and familiar.
I'm tired of this curse.
He closed his eyes.
The voices had gone quiet.
Which was never good.
If I can dump it here…
Maybe it ends here.
It sounded reasonable.
Most bad decisions do.
He turned and walked back toward the site.
Chukwu sat by the payloader, breathing like each inhale needed permission. Sweat soaked through his shirt. The whistle at his neck caught the light.
Faint purple.
Lanre's eyes lingered on it for half a second.
Then moved on.
The shovel in front of Chukwu shifted.
Just slightly.
Metal scraping dirt.
Chukwu froze.
Lanre didn't.
Too busy in his own head.
He stepped into the cavern.
The temperature dropped.
Not cold.
Just… wrong.
The coffin waited where they had unearthed it.
Black.
Gold-lined.
Still.
The workers were gone.
Smart.
Lanre stepped closer.
"It's my fault," he said.
The words sounded thin in the space. Like the cave didn't care enough to hold them properly.
His hand hovered over the latch.
"I'm cursed."
His fingers trembled.
"And I still had a kid."
Lanre exhaled. A short, humorless sound.
"Father of the year."
The voices came back.
Not creeping.
Not whispering.
Flooding.
HIM.
HIM.
HIM.
Lanre's head tilted slightly.
That was new.
He turned.
The miners stood behind him.
All of them.
No footsteps.
No warning.
Just there.
Watching.
Their faces… wrong.
Eyes glowing violet under the cavern's dim light.
Smiles stretched too far.
Familiar.
Too familiar.
His own mouth twitched.
Matched them.
IT'S HIM.
IT'S HIM.
The chant pressed against his skull.
Lanre tightened his grip on the latch.
They had been afraid of the coffin.
Now they looked… expectant.
Like spectators waiting for a performance.
Did Chukwu—
No
No he's still—
"JUST SHUT UP ALREADY!"
The voices broke into noise.
Not words anymore.
Just pressure.
Behind him—
"LANRE!"
Chukwu.
Sharp.
Desperate.
Lanre turned—
And the world collapsed.
The cavern peeled away.
Stone dissolved.
Everything dropped into black.
Water spread beneath his feet.
Endless.
Still.
No sky.
No horizon.
Just a plain surface.
Lanre stood there, breathing louder than anything else.
He looked down.
The water reflected him perfectly.
Every line.
Every detail.
His face.
Looking back.
Smiling.
Lanre frowned.
"…?"
The reflection didn't.
The smile stretched wider.
Wrong.
Then—
It blinked.
He hadn't.