C17 The Descent Beneath Lagos

Adaeze plummeted into darkness, helpless, the world a swirl of wind and echoing screams. She hit stone hard enough to knock the breath from her lungs.

Pain lanced down her spine.

Chisom hit the ground beside her with a groan. “Can we take one mission—just one—where nobody falls into a hole?”

Kachi dropped next, rolling to absorb the impact. Zarah followed, landing in a perfect crouch.

Karynda fell last, but he landed lightly, as if he’d stepped off a staircase rather than a collapsing ballroom.

They were in a cavern.

Huge. Ancient. Carved with murals that pulsed faintly when their flames flickered.

Kachi raised a fire orb for light. The cavern swallowed it easily, barely pushing back the shadows.

Adaeze caught her breath. “Where are we?”

Karynda answered without hesitation. “Under Lagos Island. The Deep Tunnels. Built by the first Oracle civilization thousands of years ago.”

Zarah whistled softly. “So Lagos has underground ruins? Nobody told me Lagos came with DLC.”

Chisom scanned the walls with his device. “This place is reacting to Adaeze’s presence.”

He was right.

Symbols carved into the stone began to glow.

But not in golden light like Adaeze’s power.

These glowed a deep, poisonous violet.

Karynda stiffened. “This is bad.”

Adaeze looked at him. “Why?”

“Because these symbols don’t belong to the Oracle.”

His voice lowered. “They belong to the Serpent.”

A wind swept through the cavern—soft at first, then colder, then impossibly sharp.

Omalicha drifted down from above like a falling feather, her red eyes burning with cold amusement.

“You led me exactly where I wanted,” she said.

Adaeze’s skin crawled. “You planned this.”

“Of course. You have something ancient inside you. Something powerful. Something the Serpent needs.”

Kachi stepped forward, flames dancing in his palms. “You’re not taking her.”

Omalicha raised a hand lazily.

Kachi flew backward, crashing into a stone pillar.

“KACHI!” Zarah rushed to him.

He groaned. “Still here. Still handsome. Still on the floor.”

Adaeze stood between Omalicha and her friends. “If you want the Tear, you’ll have to kill me.”

Omalicha smiled. “I didn’t come to kill you.”

Her fingers curled.

“I came to wake you.”

The purple symbols flashed.

Adaeze felt the ground tremble.

A voice whispered inside her head—an old voice, deep like the ocean bottom.

“Open the Door.”

Pain. Blinding.

She screamed, dropping to her knees.

Something inside her mind cracked open.

Memories surged:

The old world burning.

A temple collapsing.

A hooded figure whispering a prophecy.

A blade of violet flame plunging into her heart.

A betrayed promise.

Her own voice crying out a name—

Not Karynda.

Another name.

A name she had forgotten.

Adaeze’s eyes flew open.

A violet glow flickered inside them.

Omalicha gasped.

“Yes… yes… she’s awakening…”

Karyňda rushed forward. “Stop! Adaeze, don’t listen to it!”

But she barely heard him.

The cavern walls shook.

The ceiling cracked.

The murals twisted like waking snakes.

Zarah shouted, “EVERYONE MOVE!”

Too late.

Stone shattered above them.

And a massive, coiling shadow—too large to be seen all at once—slid into the cavern, its presence heavy enough to crush breath from lungs.

The Serpent of Ages had sensed her awakening.

And it was coming.