Trying to survive an endless curse cast upon the earth by the gods, humans sought freedom and revenge upon those whom are closest to them- the Giants. Attacking with powerful sleeping spells and with only 24 hours to escape. Planing to escape, dwarfs ascended from the spirit world, hoping to find the twin golden egg which hold over a thousand power and spells. Meanwhile, the city surrounded by Ninki Nanka, creatures who to become Dragons if the twin eggs get into their possession. How far would humans go in order to protect humanity? Would this be the end of Human kind? Survival of the cursed involves mythical creatures, magical spells, action and romance. What happens when fantasy comes to your fingertips?
West Africa, 355 B.C.
The wind swirled around a stick-thin man, shoving an imaginary rain into his face so that it's slashes at his boney cheeks. The dusky fog of the night spread towards him. His short, curly hair was fitted on his dark skin and brilliant black eyes that sparkled like two pairs of onyx. However, his thick gray eyebrows and beard covered his charm. Yet, one would discover his beauty at first glance.
Ayo, the old farmer in his late 40s, was still digging holes to harvest tuber of yams, potatoes and cocoyams he had planted earlier that year.
Another hit of his rusty hoe against the soft-skinned earth. It peeled it off, revealing its rich soil, along with the woody scent hovering alongside the cold, night breeze.
With this, Ayo deepened his shaky hands into it, trying to know what the earth has brought for him this time. Curiosity laced his eyes as he grabbed the fibre out of the ground.
Alas! It was nothing but rotten stems. Ayo forced it out, and the tuber bursted onto his face, filled with nothing but maggots swimming out of it. He threw it away immediately with disgust.
This was the last piece of it, out of the thousand tuber stems he had planted earlier that year. This was the last. It's been two years now. No farmer in Odo-Ara planted a single crop. Every farmer failed, and the villagers were sick and dying. When this happens, they believe that the gods of the land are angry. Human give blood and sacrifices to please the gods but these times, everything gets rejected.
Looking up at the darkening sky, Ayo could feel the sound of silence. A single tear clouded Ayo's eyes, filling up the space. His lips shivered at the coldness that blew through his skinny body like a virus.
"It's been two years without rain! My wife is sick and my son is dying! Tonight, I curse this land!" He raised up to his feet despite tears dripping down and settling into his beard.
"A thousand curses upon you, wretched gods! Despite all the blood you've taken! You never satisfy me, anyway! I rebuke you henceforth!!"
Saying this aloud to the sky, Ayo's voice echoed back to him, but not only his voice. As if something was there in the darkness. The sound of fire jarring in the air. Like thunderclaps, crackling.
Hissing.
His eyes widened in shock while he tried to see clearer, hoping it wasn't a dream. Ayo wiped his eyes to the direction. He had never expected this, but he stood still until he realized what it was. A purple thunder bolted the sky like a furious dragon.
A Comet.
In a split of moment, it filled the entire place with light, an arc of lightening. With menacing speed like a burning ball from the fire thrown from the sky.
His lips quivered at the words. "Praise be to the gods of the land!" But he was too late.
The comet struck the farmer down with just one blow.
His burnt body moved forward as he tried to recognize what the shiny thing was. It sparkled in his eyes with its eye-like shape. Crawling to it with the fibre of his veins twisted out with his shaky hand stretched to it. Ayo let out a choky cough as this charming brown skin turned into charcoal.
Just then, he heard another sound from above. Hoping it wasn't another comet, he raised his gaze to the dreariness of the night and there it was. A blur vision of a giant flying bird. He wasn't sure of what it was, but it's type of golden was exceptional. His muscles twitched as he tried to survive the pain.
About to touch the egg, the dragon grabbed it with it's legs. Next, it breathed out fire on Ayo's burnt body, as if the comet wasn't enough. It burnt his entire farm and disappeared into the dark sky.
The next minute, the remains of Ayo, the greatest farmer in Odo-Ara. Was nothing but his burnt body, lying on the farm that burnt along with him. All in ashes.
That night, Digi, his wife, let out a screeching cry. She was in the labour room alongside an elderly woman with totally white eyes called Iya Aduke. She had lost her sight at an early age from the use of harsh herbs her parents had used for her because of ignorance. She's also a widow, but she helps to labour women within Odo-Ara to deliver their babies.
She never remarried, nor does she have a child. People call her Iya Aduke, hoping someday she would have a child to succeed her too. Blind as Iya Aduke, she knew every nook and cranny of the town.
"Listen. . . I can hear the cry of your baby, my dear. It's just one push and these are over." Her hoarse voice whispered into Digi's ears.
"What about my husband? I need my husband!!" She bursted into a gut-wrenching sob that tore up her lungs.
"Your husband isn't back from farm yet but I believe he'd bring good news. Right now, you need to push out. Your child's birth should be a joyful sight in the eyes of the gods."
'Hmmmm. . .'
As if a bowling ball landed on her spine. The sweat drops from her face tickled into her ears, but Digi didn't mind wiping it off. Everything was useless right now. She hardly could feel herself on the bamboo bed where she laid.
The pain came in waves and she was in the middle of a contraction when a new one would start. All of her focus was on the pain. It was terrible, this was painful than Toni, her first child who is now very sick. She wasn't thinking about breathing or needing to go to the bathroom. All she wanted was to get the baby out and be free of these pains.
"You're doing great, Digi! I can feel her head already!" Iya Aduke cheered with joy laced in her voice, but right that minute, Digi couldn't hear any of them. It looked as if she was in another world. All she got was low-pitched echoes from the old woman.
She closed her bloodshot eyes to the pain once more. Digi tried to push, but all her effort come out as a painful groan. Her legs were wide apart and her eyes to the dried palm-leaves roofed to the red clayey hut.
"The head is already out! Just one more push! Puushh!!!" The elderly woman instructed.
Digi tightened up her lips and held her sweaty palms together in a fist.
"Hmmmmmm..."
Holding her breath and pushing like she was pushing her biggest poop out for 15 seconds at a time.
'Hmmmm!!!!'
The ripping of her insides poured out in just one push, and what followed was the cry of a baby.
'Waaaa! Waaaaaaaa!!!'
Iya Aduke looked at the baby with a smile before wrapping it up with a white, cottoned shawl.
"It's a baby girl." She announced to Digi but her cold eyes were wide open to the ceiling.
Then, Aduke gently cut off her placenta and checked on the mother. There was no sign of life left in her.
Looking back at the baby with sparks of hope in her eyes, she let out a fussy, repetitive cry as if he was rooting for breast milk, or probably hoping to feel the warmth of her mother.
Iya Aduke deepened her hand into a wooden calabash of water and wiped Digi's face with a piece of cloth.
She then closed her eyes and carried her crying baby.
"You saved your last breath for your daughter. "Too terrible. Death is so cruel."
Looking back at the baby in her arms, her tiny tongue gave a lip-smacking sound as she sucked her lips. The baby did this for a while, while the elderly woman watched. Then she fixed her little thumb into her mouth, sucking on it really fast.
Hidden tears split down Iya Aduke's sad eyes and a smile appeared on her lips. She walked to the corner of the room where Toni, a four-year-old boy, was lying asleep to see how he was faring.
"Toni! Wake up, you have a baby sister."
The silence of the room gave a bitter reply while she moved closer to check on him. Iya Aduke scrambled backward, trying her best not to scream out loud as her eyes met the lifeless stare of Toni's dead body before her.
'Not again... Indeed, we are truly cursed.' She let out a heavy sigh and deepened her hand into the clean water. The then trailed her fingers to the baby's forehead and wiped her head.
"Welcome to life, little one." She shivered at the coldness of the water and cooed silently. "Tonight, I pray you'd be a blessing to this household. I pray you would bring joy and pride to this townfolk. I pray the gods smile at you."
She stepped out of the dark hut to check what was happening outside the room. It was ghost silent, only the cry of crickets from afar interrupted. She watched as the moon cast long shadows against the earth. Iya Aduke raised her gaze to the crescent moon that hanged out like a silvery ball, hiding in the dark clouds.
Looking forward, her imaginary sight caught the flying bird. No, it wasn't a bird; it had the body of a reptile. 'What creature is that? Or am I just dreaming?' She frowned at the thought.
Her old eyes squinted at it, though. It was very far. Soon enough, she couldn't see it anywhere. She couldn't feel its presence. Looking at the direction of where it came from, she realized it might be from Ayo's farm.
Hearing the fire rustling from the distance, the clouds of smoke showed that his farm was definitely.... Burning. It was already midnight but, Iya Aduke let out a loud cry that woke the entire neighborhood.
It's been two years and almost all the families on Odo-Ara have wiped out. A big crowed city full of riches is now a small wretched one. And what happened to Ayodele Ketu–Same fate befell the prominent men within the town. And everyone wondered who would someday be the survival of the cursed. If of course, the gods pardon them.
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Susanne Fashorun, a woman who marries into the wealthy Balogun family, is rejected by her arrogant CEO husband and treated as a slave. Despite being his wife, Micheal Balogun refuses to share his bed with her, leaving Susanne to accept a life of luxury while feeling unloved and unwanted. Susanne wonders why he married her in the first place and pleads for a divorce, but her husband refuses. One day, Susanne discovers a girl named Grace Oyinlola who bears an uncanny resemblance to her. She eventually learns that Grace is her long-lost twin sister, Susanna. Susanne devises a cruel plan to destroy her twin sister's life, and convinces Grace to take her place in the Balogun mansion for a couple of months. Despite being deceived, Grace changes the mansion's hostile atmosphere into a paradise and never wants to leave. However, she does it out of sisterly love and has no intention of deceiving anyone. As time passes, Susanne realizes that her arrogant CEO husband has unknowingly developed feelings for Grace who he thought was his wife. This revelation leads her to question whether she should remove Grace from the picture to continue living as Mrs. Balogun. The book Replica details the events that unfold as Susanne's true intentions are revealed. Read to find out in Replica.
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After her tragic past; Alexa Torres, a 40-year-old woman, meets Chase Hudson, a 25-year-old who wouldn't stop saving her from every trouble that falls her way. Chase is the look alike of Mateo, the guy that ruined Alexa and separated her from the people she had once called family. Which made her hated and avoided him even more. With time, destiny brings Alexa and Chase together on a love boat. While Xavier Torres; Alexa's son got into a tug-of-war with his best friend, Chase; over having an affair with his mother, in order to be the next heir and CEO to Unity Cooperations. What drama unfolds next in this story of hunting past, betrayal, greed, love and mystery? Is Chase meant to guide Alexa, as prince Cinderella for the boss lady that she is, or maybe he's just the one?
"Love is friendship that has caught fire. It settles for less than perfection and makes allowances for human weakness." - Ann Landers. *** Going for gardening outside the school compound; Sapphire Blac, An elementary school teacher saves a strange old man from the hands of death. Not knowing he is her fairy Godfather. Being grateful, He repaid her with something unique; his spoilt and rude grandson, Jade Alejandro. The 32-year-old CEO of Blue Bird Hotel. Tall and handsome, but with his clumsy nature, no one dares relate with him. Jade is the definition of bad luck but... Would Sapphire be able to handle the short-tempered CEO? Would he be a blessing or a curse to our Sapphire? Read to confirm what drama unfolds next between the kind-hearted, elementary teacher and the bossy CEO...
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Lindsey's fiancé was the devil's first son. Not only did he lie to her but he also slept with her stepmother, conspired to take away her family fortune, and then set her up to have sex with a total stranger. To get her lick back, Lindsey decided to find a man to disrupt her engagement party and humiliate the cheating bastard. Never did she imagine that she would bump into a strikingly handsome stranger who was all that she was currently looking for. At the engagement party, he boldly declared that she was his woman. Lindsey thought he was just a broke man who wanted to leech off her. But once they began their fake relationship, she realized that good luck kept coming her way. She thought they would part ways after the engagement party, but this man kept to her side. "We gotta stick together, Lindsey. Remember, I'm now your fiancé. " "Domenic, you're with me because of my money, aren't you?" Lindsey asked, narrowing her eyes at him. Domenic was taken aback by that accusation. How could he, the heir of the Walsh family and CEO of Vitality Group, be with her for money? He controlled more than half of the city's economy. Money wasn't a problem for him! The two got closer and closer. One day, Lindsey finally realized that Domenic was actually the stranger she had slept with months ago. Would this realization change things between them? For the better or worse?
Madison had always believed that she would marry Colten. She spent her youth admiring him from afar, dreaming of their future life together. But Colten was always indifferent to her, and when he abandoned her at a time when she needed him most, she finally realized that he never loved her. With renewed resolve and a thirst for revenge, Madison left. Endless possibilities lay ahead, but Colten was no longer part of her plans. Colten rushed to her place in a panic. "Madison, please come back to me. I’ll give you everything!" It was his powerful uncle who answered the door. "She's my woman now."
Once upon a time, there were two kingdoms once at peace. The kingdom of Salem and the kingdom of Mombana... Until the day, the king of Mombana passed away and a new monarch took over, Prince Cone. Prince Cone, has always been hungry for more power and more and more. After his coronation, he attacked Salem. The attack was so unexpected, Salem never prepared for it. They were caught off guard. The king and Queen was killed, the prince was taken into slavery. The people of Salem that survived the war was enslaved, their land taken from them. Their women were made sex slaves. They lost everything, including their land. Evil befall the land of Salem in form of Prince Cone, and the prince of Salem in his slavery was filled with so much rage. The prince of Salem, Prince Lucien swore revenge. 🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳 Ten years later, thirty-years old Lucien and his people raided a coup and escaped slavery. They went into hiding and recuperated. They trained day and night under the leadership of the fearless and cold Lucien who was driven with everything in him to get back their land, and take Mombana land too. It took them five years before they ambushed and attacked Mombana. They killed Prince Cone and reclaimed everything. As they screamed out their victory, Lucien's eyes found and pinned the proud princess of Mombana. Princess Danika. The daughter of Prince Cone. As Lucien stared at her with the coldest eyes anyone can ever possess, he felt victory for the first time. He walked to the princess with the slave collar he'd won for ten years rattling in his hand as he walked. He reached close to her and with a swift movement, he collared her neck. Then, he tilted her chin up, staring into the bluest eyes and the most beautiful face ever created, he gave her a cold smile. "You are my acquisition. My slave. My sex slave. My property. I will pay you in spades, everything you and your father ever did to me and my people." He stated curtly. Pure hatred, coldness and victory was the only emotion on his face. .
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Katie was forced to marry Dillan, a notorious ruffian. Her younger sister mocked her, "You're just an adopted daughter. Count your blessings for marrying him!" The world anticipated Katie's tribulations, but her married life unfurled with unexpected serenity. She even snagged a lavish mansion in a raffle! Katie jumped into Dillan's arms, credited him as her lucky charm. "No, Katie, it's you who brings me all this luck," Dillan replied. Then, one fateful day, Dillan's childhood friend came to her. "You're not worthy of him. Take this 50 million and leave him!" Katie finally grasped Dillan's true stature—the wealthiest man on the planet. That night, trembling with trepidation, she broached the subject of divorce with Dillan. However, with a domineering embrace, he told her, "I'd give you everything I have. Divorce is off the table!"