Bound by ancestry - Chapter 2: Chapter 2
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The seal is breaking. The land remembers.
The wind carried her words deep into the forest, brushing against every tree, skipping across stones, and sinking into the roots buried deep in Umuguma’s red soil. The woman with the silver eyes turned from the chamber’s entrance and vanished into the shadows once more. She had done her part. The rest depended on them.
Chidubem stood frozen, unsure if he had seen a ghost or something far older. Adaeze remained beside the stone slab, hand clenched tightly around the glowing staff. The linen-wrapped figure of Obinna lay still, silent, but the room pulsed with the steady rhythm of something alive.
“Is he truly dead?” Chidubem whispered.
“No,” Adaeze replied. “He’s waiting. Like the others. Waiting for us to remember enough to wake them.”
The staff flickered, then dimmed. The chamber returned to its quiet hush.
Adaeze stepped away from the slab and motioned for Chidubem to follow. “We must go. There’s more to uncover. This was only the first truth.”
They retraced their steps, the air now warmer, less heavy. The bones lining the passage had stopped glowing, as if content with being seen again. At the chamber’s entrance, the hatch closed behind them as they emerged into the night air. The rain had stopped.
The village lay still beneath a blanket of mist. Owls called out in the distance, and the path they had followed was lit faintly by moonlight. They did not speak until they reached the mango tree again.
Chidubem sank to the ground. “So my grandfather... lied. About everything.”
Adaeze didn’t answer at first. She crouched beside him, resting the staff gently across her lap.
“He protected you from a truth that was dangerous,” she said. “But lies grow when buried. Now we must dig them up.”
He looked at her, eyes hard. “How do we find the next seal?”
She looked toward the east, where the hills turned darker before dawn. “The shrine in Amaorie. That is where the second memory sleeps.”
Chidubem nodded. “Then we leave in the morning.”
They sat in silence as the sun slowly peeled back the edge of the night. The world had changed, and they had changed with it. The woman in the well was no longer just a story. She was a witness. And there were more like her.
The journey was only beginning.
The wind carried her words deep into the forest, brushing against every tree, skipping across stones, and sinking into the roots buried deep in Umuguma’s red soil. The woman with the silver eyes turned from the chamber’s entrance and vanished into the shadows once more. She had done her part. The rest depended on them.
Chidubem stood frozen, unsure if he had seen a ghost or something far older. Adaeze remained beside the stone slab, hand clenched tightly around the glowing staff. The linen-wrapped figure of Obinna lay still, silent, but the room pulsed with the steady rhythm of something alive.
“Is he truly dead?” Chidubem whispered.
“No,” Adaeze replied. “He’s waiting. Like the others. Waiting for us to remember enough to wake them.”
The staff flickered, then dimmed. The chamber returned to its quiet hush.
Adaeze stepped away from the slab and motioned for Chidubem to follow. “We must go. There’s more to uncover. This was only the first truth.”
They retraced their steps, the air now warmer, less heavy. The bones lining the passage had stopped glowing, as if content with being seen again. At the chamber’s entrance, the hatch closed behind them as they emerged into the night air. The rain had stopped.
The village lay still beneath a blanket of mist. Owls called out in the distance, and the path they had followed was lit faintly by moonlight. They did not speak until they reached the mango tree again.
Chidubem sank to the ground. “So my grandfather... lied. About everything.”
Adaeze didn’t answer at first. She crouched beside him, resting the staff gently across her lap.
“He protected you from a truth that was dangerous,” she said. “But lies grow when buried. Now we must dig them up.”
He looked at her, eyes hard. “How do we find the next seal?”
She looked toward the east, where the hills turned darker before dawn. “The shrine in Amaorie. That is where the second memory sleeps.”
Chidubem nodded. “Then we leave in the morning.”
They sat in silence as the sun slowly peeled back the edge of the night. The world had changed, and they had changed with it. The woman in the well was no longer just a story. She was a witness. And there were more like her.
The journey was only beginning.
End of Bound by ancestry Chapter 2. Continue reading Chapter 3 or return to Bound by ancestry book page.