ÀWÈLÉ: Hell Hath No Fury ☑️

•Chapter thirty•

Dedicated to all mothers out there,

The sun was getting ready to go to it's resting place, and the activities of the day were winding down. But five people were not yet done with the day.
Òsunyémisí, Aríyíké and fìwàshadé were standing around Àwèlé and consoling her and her brother. Oníbodè stood to a side , waiting for her to  finish her preparations. Earlier, he'd warned Àwèlé about the consequences of visiting the gods without an invitation, one of which could be death, So, she'd called Everyone together in order to say goodbye. Solá had been distraught, unable to get any words out of his mouth. He was having to say goodbye to the little sister he had just found.

"Please", he said between sobs, "please come back to us, please"
Àwèlé was in tears too. "I will try, Solá, but if I need to die before Àdìo will live, then so be it. I am nothing without him in my life, I love you, egbon mi" my older brother.
She turned to Fìwàshadé and Aríyíké and grasped their hands.
"My friends, my sisters, please take care of everything, and if the..." She paused as a sob forced itself out of her throat, "if the gods allow it, please take care of Àdìo. I love you both so very much, and I owe you my life. May we meet again in  the future."
To Òsunyémisí she said, " thank you for guiding me and teaching me. I will miss you deeply. Please take care of everyone for me."
"Let's go", she told Oníbodè, and placed her hands in his outstretched ones. And in a gust of wind, they were gone.
"That's it then? We have really lost her for good this time" Aríyíké muttered, Òsunyémisí placed his hand on her shoulder, "It is not over yet, let us pray the gods are feeling lenient today"
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Àwèlé opened her eyes slowly, she tried to raise her hands to shield her eyes from the glare of the sun, but she found out that she could not, she was able to raise her hands, but the glare seemed to be coming from all sides, with the level of brightness it looked like she was in the middle of the sun itself!
"Come, friend" Oníbodè pulled her up and forward. " We must go now"
The pair walked beside each other, the stark , monotonous, white of the environment making it look like they were walking in circles. Soon, they walked into a thick fog. Oníbodè grasped Àwèlé's hand and told her to stop walking.
"Where are we?" She asked him
"Where we are supposed to be" was his reply.  She turned to ask him what he meant, but he was gone.
"Oníbodè! Where are you? Oníbode!"
A voice came out from the midst of the fog " seek that which you came here to find! You don't have a lot of time here. For you have not been invited."
Àwèlé did not know what to do, so she curtsied and bowed as an after thought.
"I am Àwèlé, I come before you because of my son."
The fog cleared and she found herself surrounded by great thrones, adorned with precious gems. A man with a hulking physique spoke up first, and by the attire and guns he was wearing, she figured him out to be Ògún.
"How dare you barge into this place after your disobedient acts! O mà láyà o!" You have some guts!
Èsù , obvious as a result of his hairdo, laughed derisively. "It's you, the girl who roused my anger by feeding me poison. Such a pleasant surprise!"
"Um...I am sorry about that" Àwèlé muttered under her breath.
"Silence!" A woman demanded. She was dressed in white from head to toe, even her hair was white!

Àwèlé started and knelt down. "Òsun sèngèsé, ìya gbogbo ìya, I know I have done wrong, but my son has done nothing wrong. Please! Please! I beg of you. Please let him live." Òsun , mother of all mothers.
"If your son was ailing, we would have  tried. But he is dead! What do you want us to do. "
Àwèlé began to cry. "Please! Please, help my son. Take me instead! He doesn't deserve to die"
"No one deserves to die", Esù spoke again, " they just do. But if you say you are ready to take his place. We will deliberate."
Oníbodè appeared beside her, " I mean no disrespect by interrupting, but I want to plead with you to help her. She has made some mistakes, but she is only human. That is what they do. " He turned to Ósun, " you are the mother of all mothers. Please look upon this woman with mercy"
Sàngó tilted his head. " You care for this mortal?"
Oníbodè drew a breath, " yes I do, she is a very dear  friend to me. But that is beside the point. I know she has made mistakes, but she is only human. That is what they do. So, will you help us?"
"You cannot just expect us to do whatever any mortal wishes. What makes you think you deserve it?"
"You owe me one more gift" Àwèlé said, sending heads turning towards her in shock. " Oníbodè told me about your gifts, the first was my power of healing, and he second was my power of disguise. Let my son's life be my last gift. I beseech you"
"You are very wise. We will grant you your wish, and more. Because you have chosen for your son to live, you must die. But we will be benevolent and let you choose which part of the earth you want to be. A pond? A tree? Anything. This is our final gift to you. Only because you are like a daughter to the gods."
"Thank you! Thank you so much. I am grateful to you all. I ... I have chosen to be a tree. Beside my brother's house. "
"Very well. You may see Àdìo before he goes back."
Oníbodè disappeared for some time,when he reappeared with  Àdìo,  Àwèlé flew to him and wrapped her arms around the little boy. They were both in tears.  Àwèlé trying to console  Àdìo .
"My son, you have to go now. Remember, mother loves you, okay?"
"But. Won't you come with me? Let's go together"
Àwèlé choked down a sob, " I cannot, my son. But you have to go. If you want to be with me. Come to the tree beside your uncle's house, alright? I love you with all my heart and all my soul. Don't cry , or you'll make your mother cry"
Àwèlé looked up at Oníbodè, " you can take him now. "
When the spirit had disappeared with  Àdìo, she asked the gods, " so what happens to Àdìo now. Will everything go back to normal?"
Oya, the woman beside Sàngó laughed, " that boy cannot be normal again, he has been touched by death. But this is not a bad thing, this means he has been marked by the gods. He cannot die until it is wanted by us."
" Thank you, great ones," she said kneeling down. "I cannot thank you enough"
Èsù smiled, " we know, you are very lucky we were feeling benevolent today" Ósun slapped him on his arm, "shut up, jokester"

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At Sola's house, Àdìo's body had been cleaned and laid down in a room.
Fìwàshadé and the others were pacing in front of the room, waiting for a miracle to happen. Suddenly, Aríyíké yelled " wait!" Everyone stopped and looked at her, " I think I heard a sneeze!" At her words, everyone rushed into the room. They stopped short at the sight of Àdìo alive and crying.
"Maami, maami! " He kept saying again and again. Even while he was being smothered in hugs by everyone. He leapt up and started shouting, " the tree! Maami is waiting for me!"
"What tree?" Solá asked,
" The tree outside the house," the boy replied sniffling.
Solá was perplexed, " there is no tree outside this house, or do you mean somewhere else?"
"No! It's here" the boy yelled, then he ran out of the room. The grown ups followed the crying boy.
"There is no tree outside this house, no tree has ever been ......" Solá trailed off as they got outside, for towering over Àdìo was a large tree. So tall it looked as if it had been there for years.
Àdìo pointed to the tree. " It's maami. She told me to come here to meet her."
Solá placed his hands on the tree. " Welcome , aburo mi" my little sister.

Okay! I'm done!  I've been having serious headaches and eye strain, buy feat not, I'll be getting my glasses today😐 . I'm getting old😢😢
How was it guys, 1500+ words, no be bins o
Shebi I try? 😁😉
What do you guys think ?
Notice I wrote the gods with appearances of humans, this is because, according to yoruba folk lore, all the gods  were once humans  who had something happen to them.  Yeah, yoruba class paid off.
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Stay safe, God bless you all
Luv
-kingh😇😘