THE CURSE OF THE OSUN SHRINE EP 5

 

Episode 5: “The Eyes That See No Light”

Inside the Hut of Iya Ibẹ̀bẹ̀  Midnight

Darkness, not the kind born of a missing candle or a blown bulb. No this was ancient darkness. The kind that knows your name and waits for it to be spoken again in fear.

Japhet fumbled for his phone. The screen flickered, then died.

“Kazzy?” Milly whispered. “Kazzy, where is she?”

They heard the old woman’s voice, not from the corner anymore, but from everywhere.

“You want to cheat Osun,” she whispered. “To rewrite what was written in blood.”

Idowu held tight to the bundle of relics. “We just want it to stop.”

The floor creaked.

And then fire. A single flash, as one of the candles lit itself. A ring of flame formed on the floor, casting long, twisting shadows on the hut’s walls.

The woman was back in the corner now, sitting on a stool carved from what looked like a human spine.

She opened her eyes, Empty.

“You want to survive,” she said.

They nodded slowly.

“Then understand this: Osun does not kill out of cruelty. She kills to correct imbalance. And what you did…” She pointed at the relics, “...was theft not just of objects, but of energy. Of ancestry.”

Milly stepped forward. “Then tell us what to do. We’re not like the others.”

The woman grinned. “You are exactly like them.”

She reached into a calabash beside her and pulled out a cluster of bones tied with red string.

She shook them onto the floor.

They scattered and formed a symbol. An eye, split down the middle.

“Two have fallen,” she said. “Two must fall still. That cannot change.”

“Why?” Japhet demanded. “Why four?”

“Because that is the number of balance. Two for the body, two for the spirit. The curse opened a gate. Life for life is the only toll.”

Kazzy stepped back, shaking his head. “No. There has to be another way.”

“There is,” she said. “But it is worse than death.”

They froze.

“The curse can be absorbed. Contained. If one of you binds it to your soul, the rest will walk free.”

“Then what happens to the one who takes it?” Milly asked.

The woman’s smile faded.

“They become what Osun cannot destroy. Her jailer. Her vessel.”

“A guardian,” Ranti whispered. “Like Oluronbi.”

The woman nodded. “But such souls do not live. They endure. They do not age. They do not sleep. They watch. Forever.”

Silence.

Then the sound of weeping from beneath the floor.

Ranti backed away. “We should leave. We’re not ready for this.”

The woman’s voice dropped to a rasp. “You won’t have to choose tonight. But the curse will.”

“What do you mean?” asked Kazzy.

She tossed a final bone into the flame.

It cracked and the ring of fire flared high, revealing visions in its flicker.

Sunkanmi, screaming in the river.

Badore, suspended in the tree.

And now Idowu, gasping, clutching her throat, as if she were drowning in air.

“No!” Milly cried, turning to her friend.

Idowu staggered back, choking.

Blood ran from her eyes.

The relics began to shake.

The mask turned its empty gaze toward her.

And then She collapsed, Still.

Three, Only four remained now.

Outside – The Cold Air They ran. They didn’t speak.

Idowu was gone.

And now, there was no longer the comfort of possibility only the certainty of a final death.

“We have to choose,” Milly said at last. “One of us takes the curse. Or one of us dies.”

Kazzy stared ahead.

And for the first time since this began, he said nothing.

Meanwhile – The Festival Continues

The sacred river sparkled beneath the sun, unaware.

Dancers moved like shadows of joy.

Children laughed.

But deep in the shrine’s hollow heart, the golden comb shimmered.

And the mask... smiled.

TO BE CONTINUED...