Chapter 3

Still at that same bar, when everyone had run for their lives, Artemis and Ivan entered a place behind the backstage that led down a dark hallway. They moved through the darkness until Artemis moved before Ivan to open a door to a dimly lit room where some men have special sessions with some strippers.

Artemis didn’t stop her movement as she walked towards a wall. She went through it and disappeared. Ivan went after her.

They found themselves in a place where some people sat in a circle like a cult meeting. A place where ordinary humans couldn’t access except they were part of the sect that was in that room. The choice of the colour of lights gave the atmosphere a gloomy one.

The room contained the most top secret organisation in the world and all its members were the most powerful beings on earth. The members were gods and the sect was called All gods. Ivan was their head, whom they called the All-father.

The members bowed as Ivan walked into their midst to sit in a chair that stood distinct from the other chairs that the members sat in, like it was a throne.

They all began to welcome him back to the sect. He had been away for years because he was recovering from the wounds of a war — a war that took the lives of other gods like him. A war between the new gods and the old gods.

One god, Prometheus had led other gods in a coup to kill Ivan (Zeus) and take over his throne. Prometheus and the gods who wanted to kill Zeus called themselves the new gods, and called Zeus and the other ones old gods, saying they were too old to rule.

Ivan was angry and couldn’t take such insolence; he then killed Prometheus that instant to teach the others a lesson. That was where the war sparked.

Some gods from both sides died some merciless deaths in the war. Hera, the love of his life died while she saved Ivan’s life. She had been the one who taught him all of the fighting skills he knew that made him a top war god. With tears in his eyes, he laid her head gently on his arm and covered her eyes, then he swore he would take revenge on the new gods.

As soon as he finished swearing and stood to avenge his lover’s death, he saw the cowards among them had fled, and the brave ones were dead.

Her death hurt and broke the heart of the powerful god. He went on a hiatus to recover from the wounds of the war and also to grief the death of his lover. It was during his break from his god duties that he had met Vera.

The other gods that remained faithful to him waited for his return. They were, however, not aware of his plans to go after the new gods to get his revenge.

Ivan’s eyes scanned the face of the gods, whose face he had almost forgotten.

“I have missed this gathering…” Ivan said and went silent for a while before speaking. Ivan appreciated the members for their patience in waiting for his return.

“You shouldn’t have done what you did Artemis,” Ivan said to her.

“But he deserved it.” She replied in defence.

“Trust me, I know,” he said, “but what you did has attracted the attention of the world to us. We are supposed to be a secret.”

Ivan knew the danger of what had happened the other time. He knew that very soon, their secret might be out. Although rest assured, he knew that they couldn’t be found out yet because no one would believe them as there was no evidence but it was enough for them to feel threatened and be careful.

“Has anyone seen a new god around?” Ivan said, with his insides boiling. They all remained silent.

Artemis broke the silence and told Ivan that they heard news of Hera’s younger sister. Ivan’s face lit up at the mention of who Artemis said.

“Where’s she?”

“She’s living somewhere far. Somewhere at the other side of the world. I heard she has been hit with an incurable disease,” Artemis said.

“Disease?” Ivan asked.

“Yes and she’s living in poverty.” Artemis replied. Ivan couldn’t believe his ears. He couldn’t believe that a god could be struck with disease or even be poor.

“We need to find her.”

At a square in front of a shopping mall somewhere, there was a blind girl who sat on the ground and sang in a melodious voice, while playing her guitar. Passers-by who were touched by her condition and enjoyed her music threw coins in a jar in front of her.

A group of mischievous boys passed by her as she sang. When they saw that she stared at distance without letting her eyes move, that was when they knew she was blind. The boys instead of dropping coins, dropped small rocks into the blind girls jar.

The girl paused when she heard the thump of something heavier than coins, she knew that the people she couldn’t see had drop something other that wasn’t a coin.

She heard as the boys laughed and as they walked away and knew they had done something mischievous. She dipped her hand into her jar and felt those stones. She smiled, pulled them out and threw it away. She then continued to play her music until when she felt she was tired.

Like as if she could see, she covered her jar and carried it in her arm. She picked up her walking and hung her guitar on her shoulder, then she began to walk away from the square with the guidance of her walking stick.

As she turned into the alley, she could sense something wasn’t right as she began to bring her pace to a stop. She stopped to listen for any sound. What she heard next was a cough that indicated that there was someone there. She didn’t know there were four teenagers standing before her.

“Is someone there?” She said with a trembling voice.

One of them noted to the others that they felt she was blind. One of them who looked like their leader came close to her and waved in her face.

“She’s truly blind,” he said as he retracted his steps away from her.

“Of course, can’t you see that she has a walking stick or are you blind too?” One of them said, while the other two gave a suppressed laugh.

At this moment, this girl was trembling and losing her balance. All she saw was darkness and all she heard was scary noises; utterly terrified that she was about to become a victim of circumstance.

“Please what do you want?” She said, with her voice was shaking like a leaf in the wind.

“We want something that you have,” one of them said to her.

The girl in her mind, knew she had two things they must want — the money or her body. She went silent suddenly, with great fear of what might happen next.

She heard one of the boys tell the others that what they were about to do didn’t feel right; they shouted at him to leave and he walked away, leaving three of them.

In an instant, she felt strong grips on her shoulder and another at her legs; the next thing, she felt herself suspended in the air. She began to cry and scream with every strength in her, and at the same time trying to break free by struggling. One hand blocked her mouth tightly from behind. She heard a loud voice from the top of her head tell her to stop shouting, feeling droplets of saliva on her scalp.

The men dropped her on the ground. The one at the top of her head held her hands tightly while the other one began to prepare to remove her trousers. Hot tears flowed down her eyes as she mumbled a plea with her muffled voice.

The feeling of hopelessness that shrouded her at that moment made her to give up struggling with the perverts and let them have their way.

The one beneath her climbed on top of her and unbuckled his belt.

The last one who had become a spectator also had his conscience pricked and told the boys he couldn’t do it.

“What’s wrong with you all today? Why are y’all suddenly changing your mind on this fateful day?” The one with the unbuckled belt said with anger.

“It’s not just right man, she’s helpless. It’s wrong to do this,” the one with a change of heart said.

“But watching your stepmom in bathroom isn’t?” The one who held the girl’s hands said, causing the other one to laugh and making the remorseful one feel embarrassed. He stood there and watched.

The girl’s voice had reduced to sharp muffled squeaks. The teen who wanted to go first unbuckled her trousers, making her voice to rise in pitch. As he hand went to the zipper, the girl made a muffled scream and tried to break from their clutches but they overpowered her until she gave up.

So many things ran through her mind as her defiler began to pull down her trousers — the fact she couldn’t see the faces of those teenagers brought tears to her face; the saddening truth that they easily were having their way into her made her tears flow down to her face; when she realised that no one was coming to her rescue, it made those tears overflow.

Something, interrupted those thoughts so abruptly and not just her thoughts but the hands of her defiler. She knew he had not stop by choice but the manner at which he had stopped, showed that a force that he couldn’t stop had thrown him off her. She heard him scream his lungs out in agony, and there was where she knew someone had come to her rescue.

A man had thrown a stone that hit right on his target — the head of the teenager who was about to forcefully penetrate the innocent girl. The other two boys were frozen for a moment as they watched their friend shout in so much pain as he held his head like it had detached from his body.

The man started to walk towards them with slow steps. One of the boys, who held the girl by her hands began to walk towards the man angrily with a stick he picked on the ground while he approached him.

Suddenly, the repentant teenager saw a woman take baby steps towards him. Her menacing countenance and the bold aura she wore didn’t stop the boy from underestimating the punch that was coming at him from her. Until her heavy punch landed on his face and fell him flat on the ground, that was where he knew he had made a mistake by underrating her.

He suddenly broke into tears as he felt the effect of the her hit spread on his face fast. The boy coughed blood on his palm and saw a molar, half-submerged in his blood. He began to cry as the pain in his mouth came to him like an epiphany.

He wasn’t aware the lady had held back and wasn’t using her full strength. He didn’t know he had been punched by a god — a new god.

The boy who had angrily approached the man with a stick got a taste of the man’s fist, that made him touch the ground hard with a broken nose. All three of the boys were now in a crying opera, weeping in inharmonious voices.

The blind girl heard their wailing; she began to fear that whoever had beaten the boys to a pulp might not have come to save her. She heard as footsteps became louder as they approached her direction, she then began to plead and crawl back until she got a wall.

“Please don’t hurt me,” her tears which had dried up while the boys were beaten became wet again.

She felt a firm but gentle touch on her arm, which startled her.

“Don’t be afraid,” the man said with his baritone voice, “you are safe now,” the woman said.

The overwhelming fear that had gripped her started to fade away.