Child of god | book 1 ✅

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A loose rock rolled to his feet. His ears strained, his body was taut and controlled and his eyes searched— left, front, right, for anything that would give him away.

They were in the SOC’s training ground— the arena. It was a rocky dome which housed stalagmites and stalactites. You would think that training grounds had perfectly mowed lawns and sweet scenting flowers. However, here was the shame. The SOCs got Kwento perfectly convinced that it was not there for babies but for immortal beings who could not die getting stabbed by a sharp rock.

Another loose piece gave way, successfully securing Kwento’s attention. He saw it by the far left of the dome, a trail, left on purpose since he was supposedly tracking a rouge god. With quick precise steps, he arrived, only to see… nothing.

He heard a whoosh behind him, a burst of wind, strong and directionless, before it was gone again.

Then, suddenly, without even giving his senses a break to readjust, he was flung to the ground after floating. Then he saw the culprit doing push-ups without his arms touching the floor.

“You’re training to curb rouge gods and not humans, I hope you know that?”

“I know sir,” Kwento said, his breathing returning to normal as he got up from the earth.

“I just said I should remind you. Because you can’t even keep up to humans at this pace,” Josh said without looking up. His biceps and triceps were bulging through the clothes he wore that someone would be convinced he was a giant. “Imitate me,” he said, maintaining a short eye contact with Kwento while not pushing up, then down.

Kwento took in a deep breath then got to work immediately, bending down till he was level with the earth before attempting to push. Just as he thought he was getting it, he felt his palms stinging and raised them both to observe how he had managed to pierce his skin.  Blood stains were immediately absorbed by the earth, sinking deep into the folly of the rocks below. Even though he was struggling to make a perfectly balanced plank where he still managed to look like a broken chair, he didn’t dare quit until he was told to do so—SOC laws.

Josh watched him for sometime before deciding. “Get up. Were done,” he said. “Now you’ve been fully initiated.”

He read the confusion on Kwento’s face and decided to clarify. “It’s a belief that any cop who doesn’t get injured during training wouldn’t be willing to sacrifice for the betterment of the organization, the domain, and the human clan.”

“Gods with beliefs? Now that’s ridiculous.”

The edge of Josh’s slips curled downward because Kwento did not even notice that he had broken a rule. “Beliefs are really ridiculous until you break a god’s trust,” he said, dusting his pants. His almost absent brows become thinner as he said, “You are willing to sacrifice and I believe that it’s genuine. I believe in you and I know that you’ll make a good cop. Take this as my approval for your joining the organization.”

He started walking between the rocks. It was such a wonder how his body could maneuver through such, because from his sheer size alone which was almost twice that of Kwento’s and at a height of six feet six, it was almost unbelievable. Kwento who was leaning against the walls of the dome and clutching an injury on his neck which was bleeding looked up, expecting his trainer to be gone, but Josh still stood at the same position, his back to him.

“You should visit the healer and tell her if you want to leave the scar or not. We live for it sometimes.” Then he walked away.

*****

Like the day before, Obiora dropped him off at school and would be picking him up when the bell rings.

Things had never been better especially since the new girl was more open to communicating with him after hours of him staring at her and finally approaching her during break. This time, it was like she expected it.