3 Adetoun let out a long, shuddering breath, her shoulders sagging as Aremu’s logic seemed to temporarily dismantle her theories. “Perhaps you are right,” she sighed, looking down at the red clay. “Perhaps I am just chasing ghosts because the truth is too terrifying to face.” Aremu placed a final jar into her basket...
The Way of Iron – 2
2 The morning sun rose like a weeping eye, casting a sickly orange glare over the canopy of the outer forest. For fourteen-year-old Aremu, crouching beneath the rotting roots of a fallen mahogany tree, the daylight brought no comfort, only the cold, crushing reality of his isolation. The distant, rhythmic thud of the executioner’s...
The Way of Iron – 1
The Way of Iron by Azeez Aregbesola Synopsis Exiled to his late father’s abandoned farmland on the outskirts of ancient Ile‑Ife, Aremu has spent years hiding from the world—and from the shame of Ogundele, the once‑legendary Ologun battle leader whose fall paved the way for Okan’s brutal reign. Under the tyrant’s serpent throne, silence...
The Way of Stone – 7
7 The reunion beneath the colossal branches of the summit Iroko was brief, marked not by words, but by the heavy, synchronized breathing of eight women who held the fate of Ife in their hands. With Derin, Aduke, and Aina joining the ranks, the perimeter was locked. Together, the vanguard moved past the twin...
The Way of Stone – 6
6 Aduke stood her ground through sheer kinetic violence. Without a weapon, her body became the conduit for her Àṣẹ. As serpents lunged at her legs, she executed a devastating sweep, the glowing runes on her armguards flaring to life. Each of her open-palm strikes hit with the concussive force of a falling boulder,...
The Way of Stone – 5
5 The air grew thinner and sharper as the terrain began to rise into the jagged teeth of the hills. Oyinju and Feyike were operating on pure survival instinct now. Their shoulders were raw and bleeding beneath the rough timber pegs, and their breaths came in shallow, ragged gasps. Then, the narrow ravine path...
The Way of Stone – 4
4 Deep into the night, several miles into the suffocating belly of the woods, the air grew thick and stagnant. The canopy overhead was so dense it choked out the starlight, leaving the path in near-absolute blackness. Through it all, Feyike could still sense it. The shhh-shhh of scales on dry earth had grown...
The Way of Stone – 3
3 Inside the deepest recess of her compound, well beyond the main living quarters, Iya Deh sat alone within her inner shrine. The air here was ancient, thick with decades of dried libations, animal bone charms, and the suffocating scent of ancestral power. On the earthen floor before her, she had constructed a small,...
The Way of Stone – 2
2 Okan was entering his sixth year on the throne. In exactly four years, he would celebrate his tenth year as king. In the sacred timeline of Ife royalty, the tenth year of a reign was not just a milestone; it was a cosmic lock. It signified that a monarch had been fully accepted...
The Way of Stone – 1
The Way of Stone by Damilola Awe Synopsis For six years, the sacred kingdom of Ife has bled under the iron fist of Okan, a cruel tyrant who commands a terrifying hive-mind horde of supernatural serpents and elite warriors. In a desperate, final bid to reclaim the throne, the Egbe Awon Iya, a secret...