THE CURSE OF THE OSUN SHRINE EP 6&7

 

Episode 6: “The Chosen Vessel”

Somewhere near the Osun Grove – Early Morning

Rain poured without clouds. Not a storm, just rain.

It soaked the earth with a deliberate, chilling rhythm, as though the river mourned the dead. As though Osun herself wept.

Japhet, Milly, Kazzy, and Ranti took shelter beneath a rusted shed behind the old train station, one of the last quiet places in Osogbo untouched by festival noise or human cheer.

They didn’t speak at first. Just the sound of water, and the relics in Milly’s pack still trembling as if they breathed.

Finally, Japhet spoke. “Three are gone.” He didn’t look at anyone.

“Sunkanmi. Badore. Idowu.”

He paused, then looked straight at Kazzy.

“Are you ready to die?”

Kazzy’s jaw clenched. “Is that what we’re doing now? Picking sacrifices?”

“No,” Ranti said. “We’re surviving.”

“I won’t die for this,” Kazzy spat. “I didn’t force anyone to steal those relics. Everyone was in.”

“But someone has to fall,” Milly whispered. “Unless… one of us takes it.”

They all went quiet again.

“The vessel,”

“The jailer.”

“Forever.”

Japhet turned to Milly. “You said something when we first got here. That you didn’t feel like you belonged. That this trip was meant to connect you to something.”

She nodded slowly.

He hesitated.

“Do you still feel that way?”

She looked up and in her eyes was something they hadn’t seen since it began.

Resolve.

Hours Later – Back at the Sacred Grove

The four of them walked to the shrine this time with heads lowered.

They came without greed.

Without arrogance.

Milly carried the relics herself unwrapped now. She let the sacred mask rest in her bare hands, and it didn’t resist.

The comb and gourd followed, and the river whispered as they approached.

At the heart of the grove, where the carved stone idol of Osun stood tall, Milly knelt.

And placed each relic where they had taken them from.

They glowed. Softly. Like a heartbeat returning to its rhythm.

Then Oluronbi appeared not as a specter, but fully formed.

Her hair flowed like ink in water. Her gown no longer shimmered with anger, but with sorrow.

“You have come,” she said.

Milly looked up.

“I am ready.”

Kazzy stepped forward. “Wait Milly, don’t”

“This isn’t a punishment,” Milly interrupted. “It’s a burden. I came here looking for roots. I found something deeper.”

Japhet turned away, jaw trembling.

Ranti sobbed.

Oluronbi extended her hand.

“Do you take the vow?”

Milly stood. Her voice was steady.

“I do.”

And as her hand touched Oluronbi’s

light exploded.

The relics vanished into wind.

The rain stopped.

And Milly’s eyes once brown turned silver.

Oluronbi smiled faintly. “You will never leave this grove. But you will protect it. Forever.”

Milly nodded. “I accept.”

Later That Week – Departure

Japhet and Ranti boarded a bus out of Osogbo. Kazzy stayed behind in town for reasons he didn’t explain.

They didn’t speak about the others.

They didn’t speak about the curse.

But as the bus passed the edge of the grove, Japhet looked out.

And there, beneath the trees, was Milly dressed in white. Eyes silver. She raised her hand.

Not waving goodbye.

Guarding.

Watching.

Waiting.

In the shrine, beneath the roots of the goddess, the mask now rests in stone.

The curse is quiet. For now. But the river remembers. And should anyone disturb its peace again...

Milly will be waiting.

 

 

Episode 7: “Kazzy’s Pact”

Osogbo – Three Weeks Later

The festival was over, the tourists gone, the music silenced. But Kazzy remained.

He hadn’t returned to Lagos like the others. He hadn’t even left Osogbo’s outskirts. Instead, he took up residence in a small room above Baba Abeni’s herbal store claiming he was “trying to reconnect with his roots.”

The truth? He couldn’t sleep. He heard the river in his dreams. And worse he heard Milly’s voice.

"You should have taken it, Kazzy."

Every Night — 3:03 A.M.

It always happened at the same time. The knock. Three soft raps on his door. He never answered.

Because he knew who or what was on the other side.

He could feel it. The weight of her. Or what was left of her.

Sometimes, the mask would appear on his table, grinning at him before vanishing.

He tried burning sage. He tried fasting.

He even tried confessing to a local pastor.

But nothing stopped the knocking.

One Morning – Baba Abeni’s Shop

Kazzy sat with hollow eyes, sipping bitter leaf tea.

“You look hunted,” the old man said.

“I am.”

Baba Abeni didn’t laugh. “The grove doesn’t forget. Even when the curse is sealed, your soul remains marked.”

“I didn’t touch the relics,” Kazzy whispered.

“You helped steal them,” the man replied. “You helped mock the ancestors.”

Kazzy looked down. “I’m not ready to die.” Baba Abeni leaned in. “Then you must strike a new pact.”

That Night – Return to Iya Ibẹ̀bẹ̀

The hut was colder than before. The bones louder. Kazzy entered alone.

No candles lit. No voice greeted him. Only a bowl in the center of the floor, filled with black water.

And a single word scratched into the earth:

“CHOOSE.”

He stepped forward and looked into the bowl. His reflection shimmered then changed. He saw Milly. Her silver eyes. Her stillness. Her loneliness. Then another image.

A scroll, wrapped in skin. Sealed with blood.

Kazzy picked it up. It pulsed. And a voice entered his mind.

“Take her place.”

“Release her.”

“Bear the watch instead.”

He staggered back.

A choice.

Not death. But damnation.

Meanwhile – At the Grove

Milly stood before the idol. The relics sealed. The curse dormant.

But her hands were cracking her skin flaking like stone.

The transformation was nearly complete.

Until The wind changed. She turned.

And in the distance, a shadow approached the grove.

Slow.

Deliberate.

Familiar.

Kazzy.

He stepped into the clearing.

His eyes were not his own.

He held the scroll in one hand.

She stared, stunned. “What are you doing?”

“I made a pact,” he said.

“You can’t”

“I should have done it before.”

She began to shake her head but then, she saw the glow in his chest.

He walked toward her.

Laid the scroll at her feet.

And whispered

“Be free.”

The moment she touched it

Light.

Water.

Silence.

And when the river calmed again, Milly was gone.

Back in Town – Days Later

Japhet received a message. No sender. Only a photo.A shot of the grove. Kazzy stood beneath the idol now.

Eyes silver. Body still. A new vessel. A new jailer. The curse hadn’t been broken.

Only traded.

In the deep, the mask laughs.

The river waits.

Because curses don’t die.

They sleep.

Until someone wakes them again.