It was seven-thirty in the evening the moment Timothy stepped out of his limousine and dialled my number on his mobile phone. He had just returned from a nearby restaurant where he had gone to have an early dinner, before rounding up the work piled up in his office.

There was no response from my phone, until he dialled the third time. A ‘sweet’ female voice he knew so well answered the phone and informed him that his friend was almost at the final stage of ‘perfecting’ his life.

The line went dead shortly afterwards, leaving Timothy feeling amused at the possibility of a mobile phone to pick up signals in a place such as the silvery orb. He gave a deep sigh as he entered the main lobby and headed for the elevator.

“He’d soon get what he wants ... very soon”.

As soon as the elevator shut gently and ferried Timothy upward, Deaconess Esther Amadi was rounding up the Faith Clinic for the week in Abraham’s Villa, a parish in the Redeemed Christian Church of God. If my late mother were to be alive, it would’ve been her turn to preside over it.

This was due to her level of spiritual maturity, and several years of being a dedicated worker in the Redeemed Christian Church of God. Deaconess Amadi soon hurried down the pulpit the moment the closing prayers were said and made for the Parish Pastor’s office. She changed her mind, went to the last row of chairs in the church, where Samuel Adefarasin – the prayer band leader was chatting with some church members.

She excused him to the front of the church, near the pulpit and soon started a conversation, the moment they were out of earshot.

“Sister Amadi, I don’t like that look on your face, I hope nothing’s wrong?” Samuel asked clutching his large Bible.

Deaconess Amadi seemed to shiver as the words began to come out of her mouth. The white turtleneck she wore did not seem to give her the desired warmth at that moment, alongside the long black skirt she wore with it.

“While we were praying, I felt a strange kind of chill all around my body…as if something was about to happen to me or someone in this church…” She began almost in a whisper.

“Chill, how do you mean, or are you sick?” Samuel whispered, with a look of concern.

The deaconess frowned at the red long-sleeved shirt the tall man standing in front of her wore, as she tried to make him understand what she was talking about.

“Listen, after I finished preaching, and commenced prayers…as the congregation were praying, I suddenly saw myself on a cargo ship on…on the Atlantic ocean. There were beautiful and scary mermaids drinking blood – human blood…while a very beautiful lady whose face I couldn’t see clearly was sitting cross-legged on the Ocean laughing wildly. She was far more beautiful than the mermaids, and had this strange authority around her…that’s all.”

Samuel saw nothing but fright radiating all over the forty-three year old woman, while he tried to fathom what the lady in front of him just said.

“Unbelievable, you mean you saw all these while you were up there praying?” He asked in disbelief.

“Yes, it all happened within three seconds. I’m confused because I don’t know what is going on right now. Neither do I know what God is trying to tell me…that’s why I called you aside to tell you…”

“Don’t let it worry you ma. I won’t relent in my prayers concerning the safety of the members of Abraham’s Villa, especially what you’ve just told me.” He paused and looked into her frightened eyes.

“I’ll make sure the Pastor and the other prayer band members know about it…ensure you’re prayerful more than ever. Everything will be okay in Jesus’ name.”

“Thank you very much,” she replied and headed for the exit, and for her car parked close to the gate.

“The devil is a liar” Samuel muttered, before walking to where some workers in the church stood.

“You wouldn’t be in need of this until tomorrow morning,” the goddess of perfection spoke in a very seductive tone, before handing my mobile phone to one of her ‘perfect assistants,’ who was cladded in a strange purple gown. She slipped it into my jacket which hung on one of the seats in the orb. I lay on the floor wearing only my shirt, pair of trousers and shoes.

The goddess was cladded in a bright purple gown, which was slightly fitting at her abdomen, while the neck extended to her chin. On a ‘special night’ like this, her eyeballs were no longer green, rather they became crimson in colour. She soon ordered her ‘perfect assistants to carry me and place me atop the silvery altar, before proceeding to the next stage of the initiation.

The moment I was placed on the silvery altar, with my face upwards, the goddess began walking around the altar like someone lost in deep thought.

Pacing around the silvery altar, the four horns suddenly turned purple, while fourteen calm-looking and bare-chested mermaids suddenly appeared. The goddess gave way for them and ordered her seven ‘perfect assistants’ to join them, but not before they themselves transformed into bare-chested mermaids.

The mermaids, now numbering twenty-one, with looks of satisfaction on their faces began to mumble inaudible incantations They concentrated their gazes on me while I lay ‘unconscious’ atop the silvery altar.

The goddess of perfection stood in the middle of the passage, between the pool of ash and the silvery altar, with a terrible look on her face, which could frighten faeces out of any human being who looked at it. Suddenly, like a balloon pierced with a needle, the goddess exploded into a puff of purple smoke.

The puff of purple smoke proceeded towards the silvery altar, hovered around my head for seven seconds, before I inhaled it. The next moment, the mermaids surrounding the silvery altar knelt down around it, while mumbling their incantations. Each of them placed both hands on any part of my body they could and remained in this position until midnight.

Suddenly, they went into frenzy and began to dance to a sort of wild music that played inside the orb. As the dancing went on, the rows and columns of chairs began to shift forward and sideways to make room for a new chair – my invisible double’s chair. I would have remained ‘unconscious’ till morning, but for two things – the noise from the music, screaming and dancing inside the orb, and the burning sensation under my right foot.

I sat on the silvery altar and tried to decipher everything that went on around me. Slowly, I raised my head and looked at the silvery altar, upon which I lay and the horns attached to it at the four corners. I looked at the chairs, the dancing mermaids and finally myself.

I tried in vain to recollect how I’d arrived there until a female voice, full of authority, sounding so clear inside the silvery orb, immediately brought an end to the crazy music and dancing.

“Welcome and congratulations, Tamunotonye Ibierembo Abbey-Hart. You are now a member of Marine Brothers Society. You are now a ‘perfectionist’…” This was followed by a very loud cackle which frightened me from my head down to my toes.

The mermaids, who were now floating seven metres above me, came towards the silvery altar and offered to lead me to my new chair. I declined in a frightful manner, while my eyes darted around the silvery orb. After much persuasion, I agreed to follow them, while looking around the silvery orb and the strange creatures around me. When I finally sat down, they began to disappear one after the other, with a cackle.

“What the hell…?”

I turned my head in fright, the moment I felt the head of a very large king cobra which had suddenly come alive behind me. It didn’t seem ‘offended’ by my ‘nasty’ behaviour, but rather hissed and slithered, while spreading its large hood. In a split second, the last mermaid appeared, pushed me back into my chair and snarled at me to stop disgracing myself.

“You are now a member of Marine Brothers Society … that’s the chair your invisible double will sit on whenever he comes here…you’ll be able to invoke that king cobra into the physical world to deal with anyone you desire. An Marine Brothers Society initiate should not be afraid of his ‘pet.’”

She cast a look of disdain on me and soon shoved a katana from the thin air into my shaky hands. While I looked at the gold and purple handle of the sheathed katana, she disappeared with a very loud cackle. I didn’t put too much emphasis on the sword or its black sheath, until I saw the purple base of the handle, with ‘Marine Brothers Society,’ beautifully inscribed in purple lettering. 

I looked in the direction of the silvery altar and saw the four horns atop it, slowly returning to their original colour – white. Tranquillity soon returned to the hall. I turned my gaze to the pool of ash which was as big as an Olympic sized swimming pool, I heard the goddess’ voice instructing me pick up my folded shirt and jacket, before ‘exiting’ through the pool of ash, since the initiation had been concluded.

I clutched my new katana and got up from ‘my’ chair. My buttocks had barely left the upholstery, as I examined my appearance in horror. It was at that moment I realised I was dressed in a new suit. The suit was black in colour, with a beautiful purple necktie, comfortably knotted at the shirt’s collar.

My heart began to race as I leaned the katana on a chair beside me and examined underneath my right foot, where I’d been experiencing a burning sensation. To my surprise, I saw a small inscription of Marine Brothers Society beautifully tattooed in purple ink. The moment I gazed upon the inscription under my foot, the burning sensation ceased immediately.

I clutched my katana without waiting for any more instructions, retrieved my jacket from where it lay, and walked briskly towards the pool of ash.

Standing in front of the pool seconds later, I stopped and beheld the pair of black shoes I’d worn from my apartment, neatly placed at the pool’s edge. I bent down and retrieved it, before looking around the silvery orb one more time. Standing in the pool of ash, I felt sorry for myself before I was slowly submerged into it.