DEN OF CLEVERNESS Episode 10 by Nathaniel Anuma (Bright Daniel)

DEN OF CLEVERNESS Episode 10 by Nathaniel Anuma (Bright Daniel)

The goddess of cleverness laughed in a loud voice, but frowned her face instantly, staring at them all. The wideness of her eyeballs could get a child crying for a rescue. “You!” she pointed at Esther. “Answer in ten seconds or you die: I beam, I shine, I sparkle white. I’ll brighten the day with a single light. I’ll charm and enchant all. I’ll bring the best in you all. What am I?”

Esther began to shed tears just as her legs quivered in sweat. To know that your life lies within ten seconds of a ticking clock, is surely called frustration under tension. Obviously, she didn’t know the answer, so she looked at Wisdom for the last time before she dies. Unexpectedly, she found him smiling at her. Quickly, just before the last counts of her time, she averted her eyes from him back to the goddess and said, “The answer is a smile!”

The goddess paused for a while with a heavy exhalation. ,”Correct ” she pointed at Wisdom saying, “You, answer in ten seconds or you die: I look flat, but I am deep, Hidden realms I shelter. Lives I take, but food I offer. At times I am beautiful. I can be calm, angry and turbulent. I have no heart, but offer pleasure as well as death. No man can own me, yet I encompass what all men must have. What am I?”

“..flat and deep..” Wisdom whispered in a very deep thought with his head bent downward. His brain was actually working faster than a ticking clock. “..calm, angry and turbulence..” He raised up his head to the goddess then said, “You are an ocean”

“Correct” she pointed at Jade saying, “I have only one color, but not one size, stuck at the bottom, yet easily flies; present in sun, but not in rain; doing no harm, and feeling no pain. What am I?”

Jade glared at the goddess boldly. “I won’t answer it!”

All looked at her.

“Are you insane? Answer or you die!” Wisdom urged.

She looked at him. “What’s the point if I answer, yet die later?”

Wisdom placed his hands on her shoulders in a way both stared at each other’s eyes. “Everybody knows they gonna die someday, yet when death calls, they struggle to survive. Have you asked yourself why sick people don’t stay at home but go to the hospital, yet having the knowledge they gonna die someday? So answer the riddle to lengthen your life span” his statement was like what the holy bible of the Christians is describes as sharper than two edges swards; it Pierce into the soul and transforms your life. Therefore Jade wondered the kind of person he was, for his speech comes with tremendous wisdom. Just at the last count of her time, she looked at the goddess and said, “You are a bloody shadow. That’s the answer!”

She became offended at the rude answer, but what could she do, for she got the answer right. Nevertheless, she pointed at the last person, Paul, saying, “What’s black when you get it, red when you use it, and white when you’re all through with it?”

“Charcoal of course” he answered happily with a mockery look at others.

Obviously all were smart enough but one person had to die. So the goddess started afresh from the first person. Definitely, Esther, Wisdom and Jade answered correctly, remaining Paul who battled with the riddle: “There was a man walking in the desert. It was especially a hot day that day. In the distance, the man suddenly saw a restaurant. He rejoiced and ran to the restaurant and immediately asked the waiter for a glass of water. Instead, the waiter pulled out a gun and pointed it at the man’s head. The man replied with, “thank you”. Why did the man say “thank you”?” he twisted his face to guess the answer right but he couldn’t.

“Get it wrong, bitch” Esther retaliated with the same statement he once told her. Just then, his time went up and he fell down to die, but Wisdom rushed him in a way he landed in his arms. He watched him grew cold and gave off the ghost in him without saying anything.

The goddess laughed in loud voice. “Now, three of you are qualified for the sacrifice” she took a short rod which had the image of a tortoise at its end like Ikuku’s staff. Before the teenagers could comprehend fully the next thing that would happen to them, they felt a force which tripped them off their clothes in a way the girls were left with only pants and bras, while Wisdom felt a cooling air on his dick which entered through his bogus boxers that remained on his waist. They couldn’t talk neither could they move. They only watched with their eyes to see the end of their lives like psalm 91 quoted about anyone who hides under the shadow of the almighty in the holy book of the Christian: “Only with your eyes shall you see the recompense of the wicked” Sooner did the goddess tied them with a rope, then placed Wisdom on a flat rock in a way he stared into the sky. However, Esther and Jade stood immoveable, shedding tears as they watched as Wisdom was about to be slaughtered. Goddess of cleverness picked up a sharp knife, raised it up to stab the poor boy who removed his face, looking at the girls who struggled and cried silently, for they couldn’t talk. Before the goddess brought down her hands, a froggy, but sound voice came from the entrance saying, “My Lord!” She looked forward to see Ikuku and Ken.

“How dare you interrupt me? How dare you step your feet into my domain without being summoned?” she questioned with anger.

“I’m sorry my Lord” Ikuku bowled his head.

“What brought you here?”

Ikuku patted Ken to stay behind whole he moved forward with his staff always making the first move. He stopped just at the place where the two girls stood naked. “I came to plead for their release, for I find a reason from one of them why they should go back to their city” he secretly untied the girls and handed each of them a stone, for their hands were tied backward. He began to walk closer to Wisdom too.

“Do you realize the gravity of whatever reasons you have found?” The voice of the goddess came again like a thunder.

“Yes, I’m aware, my Lord” he kept moving.

“Stop right there, for nothing must be done except using them as sacrifice as it has been told” the goddess moved forward to slaughter Wisdom, but Ikuku stretched forth his staff and her hand hung in the air. He also released Wisdom then said to them all, “Run! Do as Uba tells you”

“Wisdom, come on!” Ken’s voice supplemented from the entrance.

The three teenagers began to run without minding how naked they were. Esther and Jade’s butt kept flipping left and right on their panties like the movement of a pendulum bulb on a stand, and the flapping of their breast was nothing to write home about. Of course Wisdom’s dick dangled in his boxers too but was hardly noticed. Immediately he got to Ken, a stone was handed over to him too. Ikuku followed them on the race, but unfortunately, the goddess broke the power in which he hung her hand in the air with and released another power to pin them on one spot as usual but the stones Ikuku handed to them resisted it. Therefore she stepped out from her den of cleverness, pursuing them and releasing powers which either hit on rocks or blocked by Ikuku. Of course, the governor and his caliber watched the event from the control room.

“Run to the bridge!” Ikuku instructed them, while he waited to delay the goddess.

Not withstanding, Ken and co made it to the bridge, he looked at them saying. “Jump down”

“What?” Esther stepped back.

“Trust me, jump. Nothing will happen to you”

“You first” Wisdom told him.

Ken jumped down the bridge just as he was rolled down by the rock. They watched him until he hit the flowing water below but was never seen again. Wisdom exhaled, adjusted backwards then jumped too, likewise the two girls. Continuously, Ikuku limped out from the rocky shelter without his staff. Even one of his hands had been broken, and blood gushing out from his grey hair. Obviously, the goddess had dealt with him to the extent he narrowly escaped from her wrath. Instantly, he fell down from the bridge too. After sometimes, they all came out from the seashore where Ken also found himself before. They looked wet and dirty as they stood on their feet looking around.

“Where is this place?” Wisdom gazed at Ken. “How did you survive? We all thought you are dead”

Ken behaved as if he didn’t hear him, his eyes roamed around everywhere in search of his master, Ikuku coz he knew how unabashedly he was able to convince him to go save his friends. Suddenly, he sighted someone in white garment staggering at the seashore “Ikuku!” He ran to him then became his staff; Ikuku held his shoulder for a support.

“Leave me, take your friends to the place where I gave you the magical eyeglass. There will be someone waiting for you. Tell her to provide clothes for them then prepare to leave coz Otiotio will soon send his men, looking for you to kill you” Ikuku instructed, while the other three teenagers stared at them from afar.

“No, I’m not leaving you behind. You are wounded seriously” Ken hesitated

“Aaah..” Ikuku shouted in Pains. He stopped and held his ribs…..
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Back to the city after the governor watched what happened on the screen, he walked out from the control room angrily followed by his PA who kept talking to him saying, “Your Excellency, if the kids should make it to the city, you are finished. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying they will kill you, I mean, they gonna expose you to the public. I suggest you..”

“I know what to do” the governor interrupted. “Ikuku has touched the lion by the tale” they walked outside where troops of soldiers waited with their vehicles and guns. He called on the commander and said to him, “Take your men, rush to Ututu now, bring me the head of these four kids” he handed their pictures to them. “Also kill that old fool called Ikuku”

“Yes, sir!” the commander saluted……

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DEN OF CLEVERNESS Episode 10
#OpraDre

TO BE CONTINUED