The crimes of Ulashi & Ogbuide

The Njaba river flows through several towns in southeast Nigeria before connecting to Oguta lake and providing water to the Urashi river. It is hemmed in on all sides by gigantic palm trees, with the clearings of fracking facilities, fishing communities, and oil fields. There were now extensions in the Njaba river made by mankind during the 1830s to allow the waters to flow to the ocean to get the palm oil trade to the coastline via ships and allow the large European ships access to go inland to collect from the towns in times past. Several bridges with roads wide enough for large tanker trucks to pass now crisscrossed the river, allowing even the smallest village to have access to trade with the coastal cities and other towns after the locals had raised a stink about the government abandoning them. The air around the river was slowly becoming fetid, a result of the numerous oil spills and refuse dumps that had occurred in the river, turning parts of it brown and black in a slimy ooze in parts, suffocating the fish. In the most haggard sections of the river, there were machines cleaning and purify the river, but it was slow progress.

Ekwensu grimaced as he found himself wading through the muck to get to where he needed to get to. The water level rose up to his hips, and he was not a sort being, being around 225 centimeters tall in his current weak state. The current of the water seemed to be intentionally pulling him, a sign that Njaba herself was aware of his presence in her river. He was apprehensive of a water surge, Njaba was not exactly fond of him due to their history.

The more he waded through, the more the water aggressively pulled him. Taking a deep breath, Ekwensu relaxed and crossed his legs while in the water, and simply let the current envelop him. The water receded its furor and gently pulled him along. Ekwensu took the time while on his waterlogged journey to place his hand into the river, feeling the chaotic rumbles as water particles clashed with oil and mud, retracting his hand and feeling the long-buried sludge poisoning it. As he moved he saw corpses of antelope along the river bank, their stomachs burst open with plastics and spilling back into the water.

He caught a fish in his hand, wriggling frantically, and he noticed that it had an assortment of man-made items stuck within its gills. With a small wave of his hands, Ekwensu removed the items and released the fish back into the water. Musing, he stretched out his right hand and with the magic he had available at his disposal, he was moving the plastics and garbage out of the water and sending them flying near the local recycling center. Ekwensu wondered how humans would react once they saw trash flying at them. Probably they would be more bewildered than the humans in the towns he was passing by seeing the tall man floating in a dirty river willingly.

After 20 minutes of helping to clean the river as he was being pulled towards his target, he finally found himself close to the mouth of the river, close to where the Oguta lake and Urashi rivers would be born. To his lack of surprise, there were several dibias present, out of sight of the main towns. These dibias were trained in the way of water, one of the main schools of magic among the Igbo people. The dibias, both male and female, were all topless, bearing tattoos across their torsos that helped accentuate the magic flowing through them. The more tattoos a dibia had, the greater their control of magic and spells, allowing them access to high ranking ley abilities. These dibias were doing their best to extract the oil from the water, the oil rising out in dripping orbs as they moved them towards collection machines that seem to have been provided by the local towns.

Though the Igbo were ostensibly Christian in this day and age, they still allowed for the use of magic, spells and several of them found no issue calling out to the Alusi gods as well as Jehovah. To them, Jehovah and Chukwu were the same being, this being the process of syncretized conversion that the missionaries had used when the first Europeans arrived on Igbo shores in 1480. As such they still respected the Alusi gods, but publicly did not worship them anymore, any interaction with an Alusi other than Chukwu was simply treated as if a Catholic was talking to an Angel. Magic was still useful even in the modern-day, so seeing ancient magics being used among modern technology was not odd to Igbos, or even other Nigerians or West Africans for that matter.

One example of this could be seen as chemists were placing surfactants into the water. These chemicals repelled water and attracted the oil to them, allowing the oil to swirl around them, making the job of the dibias much easier. With the dibias around they also prevented the surfactants, which were themselves toxic to biological life, from moving further down the river as they extracted them. This project had only just started a few months ago, but it was starting to bear fruit in this section of the river, preventing the Oguta lake, which was depended on for drinking water, from being further contaminated.

Several of the dibias noticed Ekwensu, most of them giving him a cursory nod before continuing on their work, engrossed in the necessity of their task. The scientists and engineers on duty meanwhile, stepped back behind the dibias, fear clear on their faces which made Ekwensu wince internally. He hated how most humans looked at him nowadays, but now was not the time to muse on such things. He had a task to complete and if he wanted Chameleon's powers, he needed to be as diplomatic with Njaba as possible and do whatever she wanted.

He finally stopped moving in the water, and the dibias themselves stopped their magic, signaling to the other humans to step back respectfully away from the banks of the river. The reason why soon became apparent. The water surged around Ekwensu, creating a spiral that started to rise into a column of water. The column rapidly increased in width as the dibias all feel to their knees in worship, the Christians all agape.

First, two large arms breached from the side of the column. These arms were mostly the color of teal blue, but there were spots of black and brown flowing through them. A golden cloak with brown circles woven into it erupted from the rear of the column, hiding what Ekwensu spied as diseased looking shoulders. The dress underneath the cloak was surprisingly European inspired. A long sleeve dress with a turned-down collar with buttons on the side of it. The dress was of myriad colors, but the ones that stood out were blue, black and brown and Ekwensu got the gist of the dress's purposes. It was clear who she blamed for her current state and so she wore the attire in mockery.

The second bit of mockery he noticed was directed to him as her face was revealed. Her face was covered by an ivory white mask, but the mask had deep cuts in it similar in shape to the artificial streams that had been cut into the Njaba river itself. She wore her hair in an afro, the afro itself being a swirling mass of water that had fish happily swimming around inside the afro. The mask also served a second purpose, most Alusi wore a mask usually for the protection of mortals, and ceremonial purposes. Only spirits, dibias and Alusi were ever permitted to see the actual faces of the pantheon. This was often seen in a lot of shrines pocketed around Igboland that never really showed accurate faces, but rather what artists thought the deity in question looked like. Thus not showing her actual face to Ekwensu, while being excused by having non-dibia mortals around was a veiled insult. One which Ekwensu showed not to be affected by.

"Lady Njaba, it has been too long.", Ekwensu said respectfully with a bow. Ekwensu was tempted to remark on the current state of her health, but he held his tongue, that would not get him anywhere today.

Njaba did not shrink to meet his size, she instead looked down at him through the mask. But before she could respond she coughed loudly, spurts of oil dribbling down the mouthpiece of the mask.

"Not long enough 'Ekwensu'." She said harshly, emphasizing his name, and if not for the fact that a mask was covering her face, Ekwensu would surmise her sickened face was gleeful at the nearby humans weaving the sign of the cross across their chests in fear and alarm. Ekwensu ignored the humans and continued to genuflect, he was in her territory after all.

"I do not come here purely for a chat, I come here on the behalf of another, to entreaty for their sake." He continued, making sure to be as diplomatic as possible before the river goddess who wanted him gone from her waters.

"If that is the case, I will afford you this conversation. Speak of your client and we shall discuss terms." Njaba answered him, narrowing her golden eyes behind her cracked mask.

"Chameleon's quarrel is with your mother and Chameleon herself does not bear any ill towards you. What I ask is that you stop harassing Chameleon purely on your mother's orders." Ekwensu said slowly, making sure that his voice was as passive as possible.

The waters around Ekwensu snaked around him before returning to Njaba. Njaba looked at her dibias then back to him, seeming to muse on it.

"You wish me to defy my own mother just like your children did with you, chaos lord?" Njaba barked, "I do not care how things run in your house of chaos and tricks, but the water is always grateful to where it came from."

Ekwensu smarted at that, but he was not willing to let it show. If she wanted to, Njaba could toss him out of her river easily, but for now, she was entertaining his presence. Since she had not blasted him in a deluge of water, there must be something she wanted to trade for. He just needed to coax what she wanted out of her. He ran his mind through every word she had said and two words stuck in his brain, house, and children. That could be an angle he could work with, but Ekwensu had a sinking feeling that this would annoyingly lengthen his quest.

"Speaking of children Lady Njaba", Ekwensu dared to say, "I see you are suffering while keeping all the pollutants away from your daughters' waters."

Njaba raised her hand, ready to strike him, but then paused, looking at him as if curious.

"Indeed I am, little chaos lord. Without my daughters to aid me, I alone am bearing the efforts of keeping the river clean through both magic and science." She replied

"Would it not be easy for you, Lady Njaba, to clean your own river and let the sludges flow into your daughters' waters, as they are both absent from the mortal realm?" Ekwensu asked, smiling inwardly. They were now at a conversational stage where they both knew what the other was trying to imply and get at, but could not say it directly out of pride. They would talk around the subject long before getting to the matter at hand. This was also to satisfy Njaba's look in front of their mortal audience.

"If I were a callous mother then yes, I could easily do that. But I am waiting for my daughters to come home from their long venture." She replied, trying to sound dispassionate, but Ekwensu could hear a slight crack in her voice. There was a trigger for a bargain.

"Since I was one of those that took them to their new location, it is within my power to convince their supervisors to end their tenure. I'm sure they are weary and would love to come home to their mother and their rivers." Ekwensu offered.

That was certainly the most flowery way to describe the previous events between Ekwensu and Njaba's daughters.

"If you succeed in giving me back both my daughters, I will end my enmity against Chameleon and leave her and her ken alone. You have my word on this. Do I have yours?" Njaba inquired.

In response, Ekwensu rolled up his sleeve, exposing his arm. Njaba nodded and her face shifted into the head of an African rock python. The python lunged forward and clamped its jaws down on Ekwensu's arm. Ekwensu stood fast, watching as inscriptions of magic trailed down the fangs and around his arms. She was binding him to his word, should he fail, he would suffer excruciating pain. He was always true to his word, but in bargains, people tended to desire more assurances. When one bargains with deities, no detailed must be left unchecked.

Shifting back into a more human appearance, Njaba turned around and let her body fall apart, the river continuing on its way as the dibias and scientists returned to their duties. Ekwensu was ready to open a portal when his ears perked up at his name being called. It was a human, not a dibia but one of the scientists on duty. A young male by the looks of it, unafraid compared to the other scientists. He was built in a svelte way, a result of the physical work he had likely done building machines. He couldn't be any older than 21, his thin face was free of signs of age but he already had developed callouses on his palms. His cheeks were noticeably scarred, the deep cuts in them having horizontal lines. That usually was indicative of the Yoruba tribe. His hair was surprisingly covered in dreadlocks similar to the ones worn by American rappers.

The human ran up to him before pausing and panting. He took a moment to gather himself. He struck out his hand with a giant grin on his face. "Pleased to meet you Lord Ekwensu, my name is Ifasola."

Ekwensu noticed many of the other humans shaking their heads vigorously, trying to get their friend to step away from him, warning him of imagined danger. Ekwensu snorted and in defiance, shook the human's hand warmly.

Ifasola smiled, "I never thought I would meet a second Alusi in my lifetime, much less the father of magic."

Ekwensu was taken aback by that slightly, "You did your research Mr. Ifasola. Yes I am the founder of magic, but give your species credit, you found ways to innovate with it and create new branches and methods that I did not think of."

Ifasola mused on that, "I guess you're right," Ekwensu noticed that his accent wasn't that of a thick Yoruba accent, it was lighter and seemed to have some inflection of one that had spent time in London.

Ekwensu, "I have many questions for you Mr. Ifasola, but I have to be on my way. I am sure you have many questions for me as well. I have a deal to keep after all. You keep cleaning the river with your associates."

Ifasola looked a little downcast, Ekwensu was personally delighted to find another human that wanted to talk to him out of genuine curiosity, and he didn't ask about chaos, he purely asked about magic. Ekwensu made a mental note to make sure to find this human again once he was done with his task and noted that the human seemed to have a magic potential if his Yoruba name was to have any indication.

Opening a portal, Ekwensu thought back to the incident that caused all this mess, as he stepped foot into the underworld.

1656 CE

Ekwensu was once again in the underworld, on one of his usual visits. He was seated on the floor of the 1st underworld specifically, the level reserved for those that had led good normal lives. This was his favorite floor to visit, no heroes showing off to each other in the 4th level, no people complaining in level 5 about how they should be given another chance. In the distance, he saw the philosophers debating with their new arrival. They were walking towards him and after noticing him they all walked up to him.

Ekwensu nodded as the philosophers bowed before him. Their clothes all showed that they hailed from different nations and points in history. Socrates with his Toga, Confucious with his robes in his arms, Peter Abelard with his medieval church robes among many others. The newest one amongst them was a man hailing from the Kingdom of Wolof in what would become the Senegambian region of West Africa. Ekwensu knew him, he was from the splintered kingdom of Cayor who spoke out against tyranny, especially of rulers. This was Kocc Barma and Ekwensu had heard from traders of his speeches.

"We greet you, Lord Khaos," Socrates said with a bow in ancient Greek. What Socrates was seeing, what not, in fact, Ekwensu as he was, but as he saw him according to his local beliefs. So instead of seeing the masked deity garbed in turtle-like attire, he saw a large robed being of interchangeable gender looking old and ancient like the primogenial deity as described in Hellenistic faith. All the mortals saw him as what they believed him, though some of the more atheistic beings just saw him as he was, same as those that knew who he actually was. Ekwensu bowed, his response polite, and sounding to Socrates' ears like he too was speaking ancient Greek.

"Will you be coming to join in on our usual debates?" Socrates asked

Ekwensu shook his head, "No, I am here to speak with Ala. I will make sure to sit down and listen next time I visit."

The philosophers looked delighted at that. Kocc Barma, however, was looking at Ekwensu with a confused look on his face, but then hurried to join with the other philosophers.

Ekwensu turned his head as he saw the ground in front of him warp as the rocks rose up before falling to reveal the familiar face and frame of Ala the Earth goddess. What was most unusual was that she was holding a crying baby in her arms, and the baby was dripping wet like it had been drowned, or rather, it was generating water. Ala created a chair of earth and sat down, trying to soothe the infant before looking up at Ekwensu.

"I'm sure you have questions. Go ahead." She offered

"That child is a demi-god isn't it?" Ekwensu asked

"You are correct, this is one of Idemilli's kin. I am no stranger to the occasional lower deity or demi-god entering my realm, but the problem here is, this one died shortly after it was born. I don't know of many that would commit infanticide on anyone related to a deity."

Ekwensu paused, "Have you gotten Ogbunabali on the case?"

"I've told him, but strangely he couldn't immediately find the mortal perpetrator."

"That's.....strange." Ekwensu then had a flash of insight, "Which means that the criminal might be a spirit or perhaps, a god?"

Ala nodded gravely, "But Ogbunabali can only go after them if he has proof, and taking down a god is not something done lightly. I need you to help him investigate the case."

"Does Ogbunabali have any leads?"

Ala waved her hand and the image of a village appeared in the shimmering light, "He's started looking at the village where the child died in Ukwoji. But he is a bit heavy-handed and not many want to talk to a death god like him. You have a more diplomatic touch, besides, who doesn't want to talk to Ekwensu, the hero of mankind."

Ekwensu shook his head at that title. He helped out here here and there but for some reason, even when the mortals did the bulk of the work they still attributed a lot of their successes and deeds to him. Besides, there was another god that deserved the title more than he did in his opinion.

"I am good at bargains. I would be more than happy to make Ogbunabali's investigation a lot smoother."

Ala nodded gratefully, "I now have to do a task I didn't think I would have to do with even a demi-deity, plant this child into the reincarnation cycle. Well if this wasn't the first time."

Ekwensu paused at that, "How many times has that child been reincarnated?"

Ala thought to herself, "This is the 6th time, but usually there is another child with them, but this is the first time the child died alone."

Ekwensu, "So something changed, and one of the criminals must have changed their mind, which means they can be bargained with for more information. But Ogbunabali doesn't bargain, so he won't get knowledge."

Ala raised her eyebrow at Ekwensu's conclusion. A wry smile appearing on her face. A portal to the village opened up behind her, with a gesture the portal enveloped Ekwensu, transporting him to the village.

Ekwensu took a moment to get to grips with his surroundings. He saw the Njaba river in the distance, with the Ulashi river running nearby while Oguta lake was swirling. His first objective was to find Ogbunabali.

It wasn't hard to find the collector of criminals. He was the palest person in the village and by far the tallest. All the gods were much larger than humans. His pale albino skin was only covered waist down by a long skirt wrapped around him. His titular machete was slung at his hip, the blade glowing with an ethereal purple light wisping from the tips of the blade. This was Ogbunabali's harvester blade, a weapon built by the blacksmith gods to rip out the souls of criminals from their bodies. While his blue eyes were hidden behind his mask, it did not hide his short blonde curled hair. His mask was the most striking thing on him. While it was deathly pale, its mouth was wide open, with several curved horns and tendrils winding out from the opening and caressing the sides of the mask and worming themselves into the eyes before protruding out again from the sides. It was a mask meant to instill fear.

Ogbunabali was accosting a dibia, and Ekwensu noticed by the markings that he was a water dibia. Ogbunabali was holding the man with one arm, the man's legs desperately trying to get a footing as they were raised off of the ground. This needed to get resolved before the case got harder to crack.

"Hail Ogbunabali, he who kills at night." Ekwensu exalted while making a light jog towards the death god.

Ogbunabali dropped the human but held him in place by putting a foot on his chest. Ekwensu could tell that Ogbunabali was in a bad mood but he knew his friend would be happy to see him.

"Hail Ekwesnu, lord of bargains, chaos, war, economy, magic, and victory," Ogbunabali replied curtly, rapidly turning his attention back to the scared mortal at his feet. With a quick glance, it was easy to notice that several of the humans were hiding in their homes.

"I think there's a better way to get what you want old friend." With a swift motion of his hand, a soft wind carried the human out from under Ogbunabali's foot, and he was placed in a chair and a bowl of soup appeared in his hands.

Ekwensu knelt down in front of the seated human so that he was at eye level even with the mask on.

"I apologize for Ogbunabali, death is not known to be kind, only fair." Ekwensu chortled inside as he heard Ogbunabali huff behind him, but the death god did not interfere.

"He-he was asking me about who killed the children of the river goddesses. But I told him that I am sworn not to say."

That was interesting, so Ogbunabali had picked the right target for his investigation, but since the man was under oath, it would be hard to get something out of him. But if the dibia knew, then the other magical denizens of the village would know.

"Thank you, I know all too well the power of bargains, we'll leave you alone now."

Before Ogbunabali could protest, Ekwensu shooed him away to talk in private.

"Why did you send my lead away, what do you think you are doing," He said in a low tone.

"I have an idea for a better lead than him. Let's go ask the animals."

Understanding dawned on Ogbunabali and it wasn't long until they asked for the local goat herdsman. They were directed to him and though the goat herder was surprised to see two gods show up towards him, he opened the pen so the gods could talk to the goats. Several of the goats bowed towards the gods and others continued eating. Ekwensu bought from the farmer, who was more than happy to accept the payment of cowrie shells, a handful of high-quality leaves which got the herd's attention as they swarmed him.

"Whoever answers my questions will be the first to get these tasty leaves." Ekwensu declared,

The herd swarmed around him, bleating in their language that they would tell him anything he needed to know.

"Several demi-gods of the river have died recently, who here can tell me what happened to them." Ekwensu dangled the tasty leaves above the goat's herds.

"I know I know," bounced the largest ram in the herd, pushing the other goats out of the way with its bulk.

Ekwensu held the leaves above its mouth, giving the goat one leaf. The ram munched hungrily on the leaf then began to speak with its mouth full.

"They were all eaten."

That startled both Ekwensu and Ogbunabali. Who would dare eat someone related to the divine? That left someone brazen or someone who thought they could get away with it. That left out mortals for sure.

Ekwensu held out another leaf towards the ram. "Can you tell me who did it?"

"It was a pair of giant water snakes, they usually ate children together, but I only saw them eat one this time and the other one got angry and now they water snakes aren't talking to each other." The ram said happily, munching down as the herd moved away.

Ogbunabali gripped his blade tightly, scaring several of the human onlookers. Ekwensu reached out an arm to get his friend at ease, but he saw Ogbunabali threatening to burst out of his humanoid form. Infanticide was one thing, but now based on what they heard, it turned out to be filicide induced by cannibalism. There were only two beings that fit the description of gigantic river snakes. The river goddesses Ogbuide and Ulashi.

"We need to make a short trip. Have the rest of the leaves." With that, Ekwensu tossed the rest of the leaves into the herd and made an additional bonus payment to the grateful herdsman.

Ekwensu placed a hand on Ogbunabali's shoulder, and in a flash, they were at Ekwensu's home. Onwu was sitting on a chair, eating food prepared by several of the dibias that served Ekwensu. He may be blind, but it wouldn't have stopped him from smelling a delicious dish of pepper soup. His sense of smell also alerted him to the disturbance in the air caused by the quick warping in of Ekwensu and Ogbunabali. Ogbunabali had a stronger scent, reeking of absence and death. Onwu looked in the direction of the smells and smiled, giving a friendly wave and signed to them using the British Sign Language that had been invented in the 1500s with a greeting.

Ekwensu was grateful for that invention, it allowed Onwu to more easily communicate once he had the language Mmuo give the information to Onwu. In response Ekwensu tapped the floor hard, letting Onwu feel the vibration in the ground showing that he had been answered.

Ekwensu turned to Ogbunabali, his dibias were loyal to him and wouldn't go blabbing the information.

"We will need backup if we are going to try and tag a pair of goddesses."

"My sword should work, goddesses or no," Ogbunabali said with pride, holding his machete aloft

"Yes, but have you tried cutting through water? We need to get them out of their element for your sword to actually be effective."

That was going to be the hardest issue to bear with. Ekwensu motioned for one of his dibias to come to him. The dibia bowed down to him respectfully.

"I need you to go to Amadioha and let him know what we're about to do and here's our reasoning why." With that Ekwensu pulled a horn from his mask and gave it to the dibia and whisked him off to Amadioha's domain.

"I'm glad you have an eye for jurisprudence Ekwensu, but how exactly do you intend to take down two water goddesses?" Ogbunabali barked

"Easy, I just need to call in a specific backup."

Several days later the two gods were standing at the conjunction between Oguta lake and the Ulashi river, with a dibia with markings of flame standing behind them nervously.

Ekwensu looked at the dibia and tried to reassure him.

"My lords, do you think that this will work?" He asked with a lot of fear in his voice.

"As long as we all do our part, this should work well. We're doing the right thing here."

Ogbunabali strode forward at the water's edge and cupped his hands to his face, removing his mask as he did so, his piercing blue eyes gazing at the water.

"Ogbuide, Ulashi, I call you out on charges of filicide and cannibalism. I will drag you out of your rivers to Ala's stomach myself."

In response, the waters swirled around both Oguta and the Ulashi river. Two beings rose out of them at the same time. They were women with dark brown skin, their hair flowing down the sides of their faces, covering their breasts. Around both their necks was the symbol of an African rock python. Their torsos were all that showed as the rest of their bodies were attached to the water. They looked alike as they were twin daughters of Njaba.

"You dare accuse us, criminal taker?" Ogbuide snarled, baring her teeth which had two large snakelike canines protruding downwards.

"I do, I have evidence, and I have been given leave to arrest you by Amadioha. I would ask you to not resist and come quietly and your sentence will be shorter."

Ulashi and Ogbuide looked at each other, then turned back to look at the gods below them. They both noticed the dibia and they saw the markings on his chest and they started laughing.

"You brought a fire dibia to help us take us in? You two gods must be more foolish than we thought. We are water, fire cannot harm us." The two chimed in unison.

Ekwensu stepped in front of the dibia, who had already been slowly chanting under his breath, blocking their view of his tattoos slowly starting to glow with an orange-yellow hue.

"I need to know why you did it? Why kill your own children?" Ekwensu yelled out

"Not all of our children. We only killed the bad kids who were the most demanding or the most trouble." Ogbuide replied

"The good children get to live and grow up and form their own rivers eventually." Ulashi continued.

"But Ulashi here had a change of heart, suddenly wanted to give her child a chance after I had just eaten my latest one," Ogbuide said with annoyance

Ogbunabali was composing himself very well for one that was very willing to slice them down here and there.

"Try as you might, you can't cut us out of the water, chaos and death have no business here." The two said mockingly.

With a swift motion of his hand, Ogbunabali drew his blade and charged the two goddesses with a fire in his eyes. The two goddesses looked on, not bothering to move once. They didn't even flinch when the machete cut through them both numerous times. With each cut, the water just reformed to fill the emptiness created by the sword.

"Quick question sister?" Ogbuide posed to Ulashi while Ogbunabali was on her shoulder slashing angrily at her face.

"I'm listening," Ulashi replied while the death god jumped over to the top of her head and kept stabbing downwards.

"What do you think will happen first? We run out of water somehow or he gets tired and weak?"

"I think the latter. I feel this is slightly amusing yet sad to watch," Ulashi giggled as Ogbunabali stabbed her multiples times in her eye.

"I personally think it's annoying and I want to get back to enjoying the rest of my day." Ogbunali moaned with boredom evident in her voice.

Sighing loudly she grabbed Ogbunabali mid-jump and threw him to the ground. The impact created a small crater along the river bank. Rearing her right arm back, she balled her aquatic hand into a fist and punched down, slamming hard with a lot of water pressure to the prone Ogbunabali. The very ground was shaking as the blows continued to rain down with Ulashi joining in with the punches.

Ekwensu looked at the dibia with them, whose tattoos were starting to glow much brighter. Ekwensu looked at his friend jump back out of the crater and slash hard with a flurry of sword strikes at their fists, which just fell on him like a bucket of water. Ulashi then grabbed Ogbunabali, encompassing him in the water in her form. He tried to slash but to no avail, since he was surrounded by water on all sides.

With the death god out of commission slashing uselessly, the two water goddesses looked at Ekwensu.

"Do we even want to bother with him?" Ogbuide asked

"I say we punish him too." Ulashi insisted.

Ulashi thrust her arm out towards Ekwensu who planted his feet firmly and from his palms erupted a torrent of flame. The flames were white-hot and upon contact with the watery fist a large steam vapor cloud erupted but the water fist barreled through the flames all the same and hit Ekwensu with a ton of force, sending him flying and crashing into a tree.

"The fire dibia too? Looks like he's charging up a big fireball sister." Ogbuide noticed.

"We don't need to deal with him personally, let's have our mermaids take care of it," Ulashi suggested.

As their command, dozens of mermaids slithered out of the water. Contrary to the portrayal of women with fish tails in other cultures, these women had snake tails for their lower appendages and they had the tongues to match. They charged the dibia but they all found themselves batted away by Ekwensu's cane. Hissing they all drew blades of blue ice and struck at the dibia, Ekwensu blocking the strikes with her cane.

By this time Ogbunabali swam out of his trap and jumped down to the riverbank, slashing at the goddesses again, which caught their attention. Grateful for some of the pressure off, Ekwensu danced around the mermaids, beating them back but not intending to kill any of them. He could, but they were servants and they were not the people he was after. Out of the corner of his right eye, he noticed the dibia from earlier charging up a spell and aiming it at their own. A large deluge of water snaked towards him and Ekwensu leaped in front of the torrent.

The mermaids stood back as in front of them stood a gigantic Tortoise, having blocked the water with its shell. With a deep intake of breath, Ekwensu belched out a whirlwind of flame at the mermaids. Their mistresses may be immune to fire, but they were beings of flesh and they could certainly get cooked. They darted back and turned their swords into spears and threw them at Ekwensu who retreated into his shell.

"How long until you finish the spell?" Ekwensu asked intensely

"J-just a moment more." The dibia replied.

Ekwensu groaned and came back out of his shell, noting that some of the local pythons were coiling themselves around his feet, trying to bind him. He simply shook them off and returned to a more humanoid form. Conversely, he noted in the background that Ogbunabali was in the process of casting off his humanoid form. His arms had grown massively to the girth of large gorilla arms, the bones so heavy he was walking on his knuckles, his back grew armored like an armadillo, his tail covered in porcupine quills. His face resembled that of a leopard skull and he rose to the height of an elephant as a large rhino horn and several tusks on the face. The body was half decayed in some areas, or simply skeletal in other areas.

In response, the two goddesses had turned into gigantic water snakes and were laughing as the arms splashed uselessly in the water. They bit him occasionally which he ignored, trying to punch them but instead just dousing his hands in river water. To his credit, he was trying to displace most of the water, but there was too much for him to notice.

The dibia was glowing brightly, the hues on the tattoos glowing so much that he resembled an early lightbulb. The two sisters laughed and posed, daring him to take his shot. The dibia bowed and then fired the spell in their direction.

What burst forth from him wasn't fire like he was expecting, it was something much more damaging. It was pure heat, it scorched the ground in front of him and Ogbunabali grabbed the two giant snakes, trying to hold them down as they were surprised. They spell caught them full force, immediately evaporating the water in the Oguta lake and Ulashi river, leaving the remains of many grilled sea creatures and survivors flopping about gasping for air. Their water forms disappeared, revealing the two goddesses in their natural forms, without a body of water to protect them.

Ogbunabali catapulted out of his bestial form, blade in hand and slashed deep at the two goddesses. As the blade cut through them, it didn't leave a mark on their bodies, but it dragged the spirit out of their forms, leaving what fell back down empty husks as Ogbunabali held the squirming spirits in his vice-like grip.

"How?!" They both screamed at him, noting that a lot of their servants were fleeing

"You were right that he was a fire dibia ladies." Ekwensu said with a laugh in his voice, "But you assumed his patron was Ahia the fire goddess, when in fact his patron is Anyanwu, the sun goddess."

Horror filled their eyes as they understood clearly. The symbology for fire and sun was close in Igbo scripture but there were noticeable differences that they had mistaken. Ogbunabali bowed thankfully to them and paused as the heavens rumbled. A bolt of lightning struck in front of them and standing before them where the lightning had stricken was Amadioha lord of the sky, he was holding the wrists of Njaba who was struggling.

"Apologies Ekwensu, I would have been here much sooner but their mother wanted to interfere and I couldn't increase the hassle you two were having." He said, straining against Njaba's efforts.

Ogbunabali bowed respectfully to the sky god. Opening a portal to the underworld, dragging the two goddesses with him while Njaba cried out.

"She still wanted to help her daughters even after I told her what their crimes were," Amadioha said sorrowfully, "that is a mother for you. Ekwensu, I leave the length of their sentence to you, after a few centuries of confinement you can have them released back into their rivers, hopefully they would have learned the error of their ways by then. Njaba, your daughters' domains are now yours."

With that Amadioha immediately retreated back into the skies in a bolt of lightning as Ekwensu looked back at Njaba, hateful tears filling her eyes.