16/04/2025
A Womb Full of Secrets: Season 2
Episode 6: The Voice Beneath the River
The last of the shadow creatures dissolved into ash and silence settled over the sanctum like a heavy curtain. Femi stood with the spear still glowing in his grip, his breaths ragged, his body humming with unfamiliar energy.
Achaloguâs hands lowered slowly as the shimmering light walls she had conjured faded into mist. She looked at Femiâher eyes no longer just hers. They glowed with the wisdom of those before her. There was power, yes, but also pain. Deep, ancient pain.
Muocha approached them, her face grim. âYou have awakened, but the awakening is only the beginning. The true storm gathers at the mouth of the River Niger.â
Femi narrowed his eyes. âThe river?â
âThe heart of the ancestral balance,â Muocha said. âIt is where the veil between worlds is thinnest. The shadow force that attacked youâthose were scouts. The one who commands them⌠he was once a Guardian.â
âOnce?â Achalogu asked.
âHe was called Okwarajiâone of the strongest of our kind. But centuries ago, he turned. Drunk on his own gift, he sought to bend the Riversâ power to his will. The ancestors sealed him beneath the riverbed, where he has waited⌠until now.â
Femi frowned. âWhy is he waking now?â
Muocha looked at Achaloguâs stomach, then back at both of them. âBecause of the child. Your child isnât just a bridgeâitâs a key. If Okwaraji gets to it before itâs born, he can unlock the ancestral gates and rewrite the balance of the world.â
A silence fell over the room.
âThen we go to the River Niger,â Achalogu said.
Muocha looked uncertain. âYouâre not ready yet. Youâve only just awakened.â
Femi stepped forward. âWe donât have time. If heâs after our child, then delay is a luxury.â
Muocha studied them for a long moment, then nodded. âThen you must consult the Voice Beneath the River before you face him. It is the only way to find the path that will not end in death.â
They traveled in secret, guided by Muochaâs surviving guardians through underground river paths and forgotten caves until the current led them into a vast cavern lit by glowing stones and weeping roots.
In the middle of the cavern was a still poolâdark as night and impossibly quiet.
âThe Voice sleeps below,â Muocha whispered. âOnly the blood-marked may wake it.â
Achalogu stepped toward the water and pricked her finger with a sliver of silver bark Muocha handed her. A single drop of blood fell into the poolâand the effect was immediate.
The water rippled.
Then boiled.
Then turned mirror-smooth as a face emerged from its depths.
It wasnât human.
Or maybe it was onceâbut now it was river and spirit, bone and current.
âYou disturb me, child of the two names,â the Voice said. âWhy?â
Achaloguâs voice was steady. âWe seek the path to protect our unborn child. To stop Okwaraji from rising.â
The Voice studied her in silence. Then its gaze shifted to Femi.
âYou. You do not carry the ancestral blood. Yet the Rivers have touched you. Why?â
Femi swallowed. âBecause I chose her. And I will again. Every time.â
The Voice was still. Then, to their surprise, it smiled.
âLove is power. But it is not enough.â
It raised a hand and the waters swirled into a spiral. Within it, they saw flashesâOkwarajiâs prison cracked open, spirits fleeing the rivers, the Stronghold burning again, and the child being born into chaos.
âYour childâs birth will draw the enemy,â the Voice said. âTo prevent it, you must bind the Gates with three Sealsâeach guarded by trials. One lies in Enuguâs ancestral shrine. One in the heart of Ibadanâs forgotten forest. The last⌠in the blood you fear to face.â
âBlood?â Achalogu asked, confused.
But the Voice had already begun to fade.
âYou have little time. Choose courage over comfort, or lose everything.â
The pool stilled once more.
Femi clenched his fists. âThree Seals. Three chances.â
Achalogu nodded. âThen we begin with Enugu. My fatherâs land. The land of my birth.â
Unseen in the shadows above the cavern, a pair of eyes watched them, glowing faintly purple.
And then they disappeared.
To be continued...