08. The Demon's Greeting

Holding it to her face, she read out the line on it, worry lines popping out all over. \

"I don't get this. Is this some kind of joke?" She asked, examining the note in her hand.

Curiously, she looked to the back of it but saw nothing of note there. Not even a squiggle or something. It was all empty and then it portrayed to her that the meaning was as vague and empty as the back of the note. 

It just did not add up, no matter how she looked at it. A ring from the dead father and then it had a note, something like a user instruction, speaking of power? Was this some kind of fairy tale where there was an inheritance of power passed from parents to children?

She reasoned, she had read many fictional books but then she had not imagined that she would come across anything like this in her wildest dream.

Master the power? Was what was written but it did not make sense.

Master what power for what? What power could be kept in a ring like this? It did not even have the quality to be something that would range highly in terms of price, based on how it looked. Or maybe it was just her.

It could be something like a heirloom. Something that could give the son access to a lots of confidential info which were meant for only him. Maybe it was only that and the father had written the note of 'Master this power' to keep just anyone off the scent.

"Maybe it is some kind of key? You said that your father willed the properties to a guardian so maybe this ring is a key for you to get the confidential documents he would want only you to get. Probably..." She nodded towards him.

"I thought you said, it is a good luck charm?" Lekan laughed.

Hearing the laughter form the mouth of Lekan relaxed her troubled expression. She chuckled softly now, shaking her head while she still held on to the note.

"I know, i know... But i thought it cold be something like that. Not this kind of thing, you know." Blessing shrugged now. "This feels like something that Nollywood would act. I mean, that is if Nollywood goes the extreme in giving these sort of creepy vibes. o offence but what must your dad... Like did it just click on him to fashion out a lame joke like this>?" She commented.

Lekan shrugged too. he walked in closer to her, taking the note of paper from her. "I dont know. I mean, that was my own reaction too when I did take the ring but then..." He said and then dropped the note on the shelf, after which he moved his hand for the ring.

"Somehow, this feels like it is something important to me..." His hand made contact with the ring even as a  burst of nausea went all over his entire body system. Shutting his mouth tight and closing his eyes, Lekan felt his head spin as his vision became dotted with red spots.

"Hey, hey, hey..." He heard Blessing panicking as she slapped his shoulders or at least, it felt like that but he could not even ascertain where he was.

His head spun and before he could make sense of anything, he felt a tilt in his body balance and the slamming of something hard against him.

"Wake Up....! dont you dare!" Blessing screamed and Lekan jerked up immediately.

"Ha! Ha! Ha!!" Lekan gasped for breath, grimacing.

Everything before him blurred, The entire vision scape of his becoming distorted. He could hear a voice crying out for him but then he could not hear the words that were spoken. It had to be Blessing, he mused within his heart even as his vison continued to distort here and there.

Weary and weak, he looked about the room but still, he could see nothing. it was like the lines that made everything in reality distinct had become blurred and interwoven with everything and worse, the lines kept shifting and changing direction.

The lines were all gray, colourless, except for the red lines that began to sprout from the bottom of his vision. All the way to the silhouette that was before him. The silhouette that he thought was Blessing.

Even as dizzy as he was, he felt a tinge of panic rise in his chest. Promptly, he put out his right hand to the silhouette, his mind with the intention of pushing Blessing away from the creeping red lines. She was very important to him and while he did not make sense of everything that was happening, the least he could do was to make sure that she was safe. Safe from what he himself did not understand.

Heart pounding, the lines crawled onwards, upwards, rooting their way through a wispy crisscross, to the waist chest length of the kneeling Blessing.

Seeing this, his heart missed a beat, cold sweat breaking all over him. Too slow, his head banged, aches spasming all through his form. He was too slow. He needed to be fast. He could not afford to lose her, just like he lost his parents. His heart ached as the memory of what happened flashed before his eyes.

If only he had the power.. The power to make a difference, the power to save them from the unknown. From the stupid argument that they had. If only... If only...

At least, this time, he could do something. A lone tear ran down from his left eye as he watched, willing his heavy arm to move faster and faster.

Painstakingly, he moved his hand, slowly but painfully, he made progress. A little more, he reasoned bearing against the stinging aches, he would reach for her face or shoulder or anything and then push her away before the red lines could get on where she was. That was his thoughts and even though his head still spun ,the colors made no distinction in his sight, he kept that as his goal, focused on that.

It did take a little while, the panic in his heart built up to a crescendo. Finally, his hand reached. And just as when he touched the tip of her nose, his fingers squeezing to gather momentum to tip her off.

And just when he gathered the momentum to push her, the lines reached to the face of the silhouette of Blessing and then...

THWACK....!

A solid slap rang out into his palm, slapping it away.

"Uh!" Lekan gasped, watching as the momentum from the slap sent his palm flying to the side, slowly. His mind blurred, panic rising in his chest.

The Blessing he knew would never hit. Not once, unless they were playing and even then, that was the last thing she would do.

She would always call acts like that rough plays and she would state clearly that she would not want to indulge in that.

Then.... Then why... why would she hit him now? What happened to Blessing to make her change like that... 

Unless, of course, that person he reached out to was not Blessing... His heart missed another beat. If it was not Blessing, then who was? 

"Uncle Desmond..." Lekan whimpered, holding his hands to his chest, fearfully.

What he was taking for as a silhouette was now transformed, the red lines that had reached out to it, bleaching it dark red and then with a surge of reddish energy, the silhouette took form.

A darkened figure, with the body that appeared as though it was absorbing all the light present.

The figure moved forward, leaning forward actually. It was kneeling and so far, it was the only sharp image Lekan could actually make sense of, out of the blurred lines about.

A wide grin made of red horizontal lines appeared at the place which appeared to be a mouth, the entire form of the figure burning out dark and reddish sparks.

"LEKAAAANNNN!" It called out in an eerie voice, enough to send shivers down the spine of Lekan even as it drew closer to him, its gnarled hands reaching for the face of him. "Don't you dare touch, human scum..."

The hands touched his cheeks and then Lekan gasped out, everything clearing out in an instant.

"Lekan... Lekan!" A familiar voice shouted to his face. It was Blessing and she was currently shaking him viciously, by his cheeks, her face pale with several streams of tears running down from her bloated eyes.