Hi guys....this fan fiction I'll be dropping is not going to be new to you cos I've been posting exempts for a while now... it's a story about Shango but also not entirely about him...this story is about his offsprings and it's the first book in a trilogy.

N.B

I will be posting this story on RoyalRoad.com to help increase my readers and my literary skills, i am of course open to criticism and comments cos it'll definitely matters on the long run,I do hope y'all enjoy this.

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Dec,1839

A group of archeologists discovered the well preserved body of a man somewhere deep within the vast rain forests of Colonial West Africa. To their shock, closer study affirmed that the man wasn’t dead but slumbered instead.

Auctioned off to the highest bidder, a secret well financed group of scientists from all over the continent were gathered together to unravel this oddity that defiled everything they had ever known, poking and prodding him with tests regardless of the consequences as as a result, they are responsible for the production of marvelous advancements in technology and medicine that far precedes our current age.

But concerns are being considered as illegal inhuman children are being birthed from his blood samples and cells that may yet endangers us all, because the locals believed the slumbering anomaly to be one of their principal deities and believes him to awaken eventually and with him the consequences of our actions.

Report by lord Rawlings Hidden to the house of lords and the house of commons, palace of Westminster.
London.

PROLOUGE
Dec.1910

Another bout of pain wreaked through my body, waking me from the sub consciousness to which I had fled, how have I fallen so low, I bitterly asked myself as I glared at the group of men in long white coats studying me from the other side of the steel cage I was trapped in, holding clip pads and staring unconcerned at my plight.

Why wouldn't they be? for they fashioned the cage in whence I was trapped, Alas, nothing had contained me until this day, they made the tools that gave me pain, Alas, pain was a thing long forgotten before my capture, never have I hated men like the likes before me, but none compared to the hate reserved for their leader, the man they called doctor Mugabe, every time they come for their sacrilegious experiments on my body, he never forgets to remind me how well my blood samples and cells had made the world a better place and how much more scientific breakthroughs to be made.

They mistook my silence for submission, my tortured cries of anguish for hopelessness, I do not think they know who I am, to them I was just an undying freak of nature, oh they shall soon know, for my patience for retribution is infinite for I am no mean man.

I am Shango, the West African deity of thunder, lightning and fire, Orisha Jakuta the master of hails and storms, Oba Koso the lord of retribution.

How a god came to fall into lowly hands such as these, a lab rat for a group working for an organization unknown, I know not for I awakened in pain from which I do not have when the Obatala the Arch divinity cursed me to eternal slumber, how long I have been held captive, since my awakening I know not for the first groups of hated men in white has been snatched from the promise of my vengeance by the mortality of humans,’’ death the last enemy. It matters not for their descendants continued their sacrilegious work on my divine body, one day I shall be free and the men in white shall answer for their abominable crimes and I shall find out how I, Shango Olu Koso the son of Oranmiyan, the great grandson of Oduduwa came to be under their power, they think their prison would hold me forever but surely they forget one simple thing, they are humans and one day they will make mistakes, succumb to the errors of man for I am patient, I am immortal, I am Shango the god of thunder.

D.R.E.G.S LABS
CAUTION…..QUARANTINES AREA!!!
KEEP OFF!!!

great story keep it up please can u tell us when you'll be updating so as to be aware

Looks like it's going to be good story... Patiently waiting for the next update.

I enjoyed your last story about Shango. This one is already off to a brilliant start. Following...

dragonstar14:
great story
keep it up
please can u tell us when you'll be updating so as to be aware

thanks...update drops tomorrow afternoon,and then I'll try to be consistent,at least every two days..cheers

Chapter one

May.2030

The nightmare woke her again, she groaned as she stirred lazily to check the digital alarm clock beside her colt. It was 4am, she groaned again. Drilling starts by 5 and she knew there was no chance to steal a little bit more sleep, she lay back down to ponder over her constant dreams, dreams which she had begun to get used to that she didn’t wake up screaming in terror anymore, it had always been the same nightmare every night, the blood curdling screams of a tortured man, flashes of lights and the grim goggled faces of people in long white coats.

She had been trying valiantly to bare it all in silence, but the constant bouts of sleepless nights were already telling on her performances at the daily drills, if there was somebody to talk to, she would have done that already but the fear of being taken back to the lab, prodded, injected by the painful probes to find out any malfunctioning in her system had kept her lips sealed.

She once tried to confide in her best friend and sibling Binta, but the 5th generation children were constantly under watch and even if she did succeeded in disclosing her dreams to her, she doubted Binta would know what to do about it.

They were simply known as the 5th generation children or Meta-human prototypes, Omo Abami, and other numerous names given to them by the different staffs of Darwin Regeneration and Evolutionary Genetics alias D.R.E.G.S Labs. With another groan, she forced her body out of bed to wash.
“Since i cannot go back to sleep, i could as well get ready for the day.” She mumbled as she stood before the ceiling to floor length mirror, staring at herself for a full minute, a fifteen year old palomino skinned girl with reddish brown haired and sharp grey eyes stared back; she was larger than her age, and broad at the shoulders. That was as close as she got to looking normal, a normal fifteen year old do not have wings, lift weights three times larger than her size, runs twice as fast, a normal fifteen year old would either faint away or run like crazy, screaming her head off when she sights an anomaly like her, it wasn’t that she was hideous, she just wasn’t normal.

“It’s not as if I see other girls my age anyway,” she talked to her reflection as she forced herself into her facility tights.

She was born in the facility and had never seen the outside world. Spreading her aching wings, occasional simmerings of electricity raced across their beautiful plumage, red brown like her hair and laced with a splattering of green. She smiled as she thought of swooning and fleeing teenagers yelling like banshees.

Having watched videos of birds and their wings, Omotola knew the 5th generation children’s wings weren't as fragile but were hard as steel and sharp as knives, they were not made only for graceful flight; they were deadly weapons of both defense and offence.

An hour later, she left her cubicle and headed down the facility corridors led by her handler, a mapper drone and a handful of masked armed guards called Askaris to protect the institute’s staff from the children and the other generations.

The mapper drone hovered midair, humming with advanced technology acted as a navigation guide through the enormous facilities. She studiously ignored her handler Katie, a plump short bright faced middle aged woman who chatted on in her throaty British accent about her schedule for the day and her weekly checkup with the doctors and took little notice of her brooding as they finally stopped in front of the quarter’s lodge elevator exit.

There they were joined by Binta and Shettima, fourteen and fifteen years old respectively, 5th generation children with handlers, mapper drones and guards of their own.

‘‘Morning Omotola,’’ Binta called over rather loudly, mischief on her pretty brown face as her handler frowned down at her. She also boasted an athletic physic like Omotola but that was where the resemblance ended, she was a lot shorter with curly black hair and spotted brown wings shrugged restlessly at her shoulders.

Shettima mumbled his greetings and went into the elevator to wait for the others, mild boredom on his handsome Middle Eastern face. They gathered in to join him and the elevator purred into motion dinging as they passed each floor. After a long series of dings, it finally stopped and the mapper drones lead its occupants out via twists and turns till they got to the drilling unit where the rest of the children were already waiting.

Chapter two

The 5th generation children were created and bred in the institute. A group of abnormally enhanced children drilled daily to harness their abilities.
Winged and agile, strong and deadly, they were weapons trained since they could walk. Rumored to have been a bastardization of numerous genes and human embryos placed into human women to develop.

Penniless and at desperate times, they had been approached by the institute where they were cared for until they were relieved of their bundles of joy and then moved on with their lives, well compensated and acclaimed to have contributed to the glory of science, or so they said.

The surviving children were seven in number, the remains of numerous casualties; after series of trials and experiments.

Logan was the eldest, it was when his wings became strong enough for flight that he began to manifest other powers, and then the D.R.E.G.S began to pay the children more attention than the other prototypes and specimen created in the institute.

How they came to be known as the 5th generation was because they were not the first project. The 1st generation was a sub-group of mutated rodents and arachnids, a minimal success because had it failed the institute might have dropped the project for another.

The 2nd generation were the drones and virtual machines and A.I robots upgraded with advance technologies, the 3rd, a mixture of human and android body parts, it was during the 4th stage that they began experimenting on humans and there they were faced with series of failures, accidents in which they only managed to created misshapen mutated humanoids some of which still lurked around the institute.

Then finally, the 5th generation became the peak of their achievements but they wanted more, putting the children through series of tests to accelerate them further into their full potential. It was these extreme tests that killed off the first set of the 5th generation children.

As they walked towards the rest of the team, Babybaby as she was fondly called was the first to notice their arrival. She spread her rainbow colored wings and glided towards them, a bright smile on her cute chubby Asian face, genuinely glad to see the others after a long weekend apart. She was the youngest of the children, just clocked six, a favorite amidst the staff and some doctors in the institute.

Obiora looked up to acknowledge them from where he was bench pressing, his broad face as black as coal, the biggest of them all, at sixteen was taller and more broad shouldered than every adult male in the institute, his great crimson wings spread out behind him. His twin, Orchid lounged nearby, watched him with admiration welcomed them with a smile, she was the prettiest of the children, her stark white hair and peanut butter skin, a startling contrast to her twin’s darker skin, snow white plumage as slim and graceful like a swan’s.

“Where is Logan?’’, Omotola asked her. Orchid shrugged but Babybaby answered.

“He had to check back at the sick bay again.’’

Logan at twenty two was the last surviving member of his age group, the first litter of 5th generation children.

They’d all died of overload during testing which had also left him crippled with one wing that gave him so much constant pain he had to report quite often at the labs. Despite his physical deformities, he was the most powerful of the children.

His regeneration and degeneration abilities were fearsome, he could put together a broken glass, regrow severed human limbs, heal mortal wounds, and once, he healed some staff that fell off his cubicle balcony and broke his spinal cord. He could also reverse his regeneration powers and can use it to disintegrate solid organic matter.

Obiora’s powers manifested during one of his tests. He had gotten upset when he complained he was too big for the oval shaped testant pods he was being scanned on and that it cramped his enormous wings, in a fit of rage destroyed it by setting it on fire they had to build him a bigger one, his great size which also came with enormous strength and weight so dense that when he’s on top speed the institute was yet to find something that can stop his momentum, the institute pushed him harder than the rest of the children to ascertain the limit of his strength.

Omotola looked over at Shettima as he found a corner to brood which didn’t do him much good as Babybaby went over to harass him, they all chuckled as he mildly tried to ignore her, showing no pinch of emotion, Shettima’s powers were scary, if the children weren’t aware that he adored Babybaby like the rest of them, they would have held her from trying to play tag with him.

He was a telepath, like that wasn’t enough, he could render himself intangible and semi-invisible, he could move through solid objects, his wings black as night could blend him into shadows, technically porting him from one place to another, they had jokingly compared him with the Dracula movies they had watched the rare times they were given old movies to watch but they never said it to his face, but she suspected that with his telepathy he already knew.

Babybaby was the last to manifest her powers. She was electromagnetic and could manipulate the earth’s core, as she was still young she’s had difficulties controlling her powers and it goes haywire whenever she was upset, the last time she went out of control was when her favorite doll was taken from her cubicle for sterilization, her tantrums nearly pulled down the institute building until the doll was quickly returned to her, she was quite spoilt. She also had a slight control over plant life forms, they laughed louder as she tried to hold on to Shettima with a vine she just grown as the latter tried to escape her.

Chapter three

An intended cough brought them all back to attention, the drill instructor Fortuna Monroe frowned down her nose at arms akimbo; her long hair was pulled back in a ponytail. Her face would have been pretty if it wasn’t scrunched in a permanent scowl; the children disliked her, she mutually felt the same towards them and made it her priority in life to make their life miserable.

Without further ceremony she barked orders at the children, as they were placed under the supervision of instructors who in turn were watched by her sharp eyes.
Orchid’s trainers were having a difficult time putting her under control until Fortuna had no choice but to take over her drill in person.

Orchid’s lithe fragile looking body and slim snow colored wings gave her an innocent appearance of perpetual harmlessness like her name.

“Looks can be deceiving, look at Orchid” was the constant gossip among the facility’s staff.

She could control water, freeze and boil any matter containing fluid and could make an impressive cyclone when she was having a good day, but what made her powers deadly and unpredictable was that she could manipulate brain fluids, more like suggestion control, making the victim sees what she wanted them to see, like your random illusionists, “look into my eyes, what do you see…of course you’re not here, I see nothing here, move along.”

Only Fortuna Monroe seems to be able to put her in check simply because Orchid was always nervous around her.

Binta seems to be enjoying herself as she turned her veteran combat instructors into punching bags, blurring in and out of focus as she sparred.

A human body is made up of 80% fluid, Binta's body was 50% electricity. Unlike the rest of the 5th generation children who had electricity confined only to their wings, she was electro-kinetic and manipulates hers to perfection, she could move at lightning speed and could also create force fields to make up for her lack of strength. Omotola stood gaping, marveling at her rapidly developed speed; she seemed to be faster than she was at the last drill, as electric current flowed up and down the length of her body.

She starred on distracted until her own training instructor punched her lightly on the cheek, more annoyed than pained; she focused on him and zapped him back in retaliation with electric charge from her wings.

Omotola was yet to develop an ability, which both managed to shame and annoy her at the same time, even Babybaby had cool powers, the doctors said she might be a late bloomer and might or may not develop one eventually. She instead made up for her lack of ability with her strength, superior sparring skills, and her stronger wings which seem to give off more electrical charge than the rest of the children.

“I get to make the party brighter.” She murmured bitterly as she vented her anger unto her poor instructor.

Obiora was having a difficult time with his spar partners, the Brazilian twins had been in the institute for as long as they can remember. The rumors among the staff claimed they could be one of the generations. Versed and skilled in martial arts and acrobatics, they twist and dived all around Obiora punching and kicking then back flipping away from harm’s way with the reflex of house-flies faster than he could react.

Obiora began to lose his temper; his scarlet feathers began to smoke as his eyes glowed red. The twins choose to ignore the warning signs as they began to taunt and whooped at his failure to land a blow.

“It wasn’t as if they could survive a single punch from him, if he so much as succeeded in landing one anyway.” Omotola grimaced with concern as she took a step towards the brawl. Fortuna commanded her sharply not to interfere, by then; everyone had stopped what they were doing to look.

Obiora in spite of his size was slow to anger and when he cracks, he was also slow to calm, she nervously wondered why Fortuna was doing nothing to stop the so called one sided combat training, the twins are out to get him in trouble, the rest of the 5th generation children watched in silence while the trainers and drill workers cheered on the twins as Obiora smashed a gym equipment from which a twin leapt a second ago while the other whooped and called him names.

Obiora finally snapped, with a roar he spread his already flaming wings, sprang into the air then did something they had never seen him done before, he pulled his wings back and flung them towards the twins, fiery feathered darts rained down on the French twins. Even their acrobatic skills didn’t prepare them for this one.

They were struck down in a shower of feather darts screaming.

Still raging, Obiora dived down to finish them off and that was when all hell broke loose as workers fled from his path, Orchid screamed at him to stop, the Askaris marched forward laser guns raised, too late to save the wounded twins, their doom inevitable until Babybaby suddenly darted in front of Obiora’s charge, he skidded to a stop, the red mist faded from his eyes, ashamed as Babybaby glared up reproachfully at him.

By then they were surrounded by Askaris yelling at him to stand down, Fortuna forced her way to the front and ordered them to apprehend him for misconduct, blind with righteous anger, Omotola didn’t realize she was airborne until she had landed right in front of Obiora and then glared right back at the drill instructor.

“The twins asked for it, she said, “they were supposed to spar with him not taunt him so they got what they deserved.’’

“Stand down Omotola or i will be forced to use extreme force, how dare you,’’ Fortuna shrieked, goggled eyed in outrage, move aside now or else you will be punished along with him.

“No! You stand down,’’ Omotola yelled back surprised at her boldness, I’m tired of you treating us like animals, you cannot afford to provoke him without consequences, and if someone is to be punished for misconduct it’s the twins.’’

“That’s enough’’ Fortuna growled ‘’take her down as well.’’

The Askaris moved forward to obey then hesitated when Binta dashed up to join Omotola, literally blurring in and out of focus with adrenaline, then Orchid glided down like a ballerina, innocently staring down at her nails.

The last straw was Shettima, he rose up spectral-like from the solid ground; cold black eyes that makes you think of broken bones and emergency rooms.

“Move back’’ he said in his quiet voice but the stuned training room was so silent it was as if he had yelled.

The Askaris really moved back this time around, Fortuna was speechless with rage and a new feeling she had always hidden within her, never before had the 5th generation disobeyed direct command or look this threatening it was chilling, for the first time a new barrage of emotion swept across her face, Fortuna Monroe was afraid.

all I could say is wow. I'm just speechless. wonderful write up op.

Bobosneh:
all I could say is wow. I'm just speechless. wonderful write up op.

Thanks bro...I appreciate that

op when is update coming I have been refreshing this page more than I can count. please update

Now dis is class, loving every bit of the story..

Chapter four

What is the meaning of this?

A very familiar voice changed the mood in the training room with the speed of light, the very voice feared by everything and everyone in the institute. Doctor Mugabe the institute head scientist walked in followed by Logan and a few of his colleagues in tow.
The crowd moved back respectfully as he walked slowly towards the scene, hands folded calmly behind him as Logan rushed forward to heal the twins, hands glowing with electric current.

“What is the meaning of this Miss Monroe?’’ Doctor Mugabe asked again, his voice cutting through the dead silence, filled only with the occasional sparks from Logan’s powers as he healed the second twin. “Can you not carry out your simple duty without bringing the whole institute down on us eh.’’

“But professor,’’ Fortuna started.

“Miss Monroe, there’s a reason you were hired to be a drill instructor, to make sure the combat exercises doesn’t blow out of proportion, so explain to me why you seem to lag at your duty in controlling the specimens."

only doctor Mugabe still called the children specimens or use numbers to identify them, to him they were just objects of research. Fortuna was fidgeting, Babybaby seem to find it amusing because she wasn’t looking so tough now.

“The children were out of control professor, Obiora attacked the twins using his abilities when he was supposed to drill hand to hand, when I ordered him turned over for punishment the other hatchlings disobeyed direct order and turned against us.’’

“That’s not true; Babybaby cried, unfortunately bringing the doctor’s attention to where they stood fidgeting.
The doctor stared at them, cold fear ran down Omotola’s spine as his listless gaze swept past her, he had been known to put a specimen out of commission if he deemed it too below standard for his satisfaction, by commission; meaning disposal, eradication...you get the picture. A tall bony old man, heavily bearded, his bright beady eyes defining the mad genius of a mad scientist.

Babybaby too young to keep her mouth shut yapped on explaining how the twins mocked Obiora to anger resulting in him injuring them.

“He didn’t try to wound them on purpose, his wings caught fire and shot at them because they made him mad professor sir.’’
That got the doctor’s attention. He ordered for a video log of the fight to be brought to him.

“Interesting,” he croaked, oblivious to the gathering standing nervously around him as he watched Obiora showering the twins with the feathered dart from his wings replayed over and over again. “The pyrokinesis enhanced specimen seems to have evolved more around his abilities by directing his flaming wingspan to eject quill-like, in which unserviceable feathers are once again useful, fascinating.’’

The doctor seems to be in a lab of his own as he mumbled to himself. The twins fully healed helped each other up caught his attention.

“You boy, he croaked pointing a bony finger at the stricken Obiora, ‘’since how long have this abilities been procured.’’

“Huh, I don't know sir, I just did it errr it just felt right at that moment, Obiora shrugged.

“Fascinating the doctor croaked, once more, the subject of his attention forgotten, ‘’Mr. Lawal, report your handle to the lab for testing immediately, you should report any new development amidst your handles, it is what you are being paid to do.

“Yes doctor.’’ Obiora’s handler replied as he nervously ushered the glum faced boy out of the drill hall.

“The rest of the specimens are to be confined to their cubicles for the rest of the day without dinner, that's enough to think about the next time they decide to become bad eggs.’’

Babybaby started but Amaka her handler held her shoulder stopped her with a warning shake of her head as he continued.

“Miss Monroe and the twins are to write a report on why they almost started a coup at their stations and in which they are to convince this facility why it should still retain their services, now the rest of you no lollygagging, go about your businesses.’’

On saying this, the doctor turned on his heels and strolled out of the hall hands folded calmly behind him.

“That went well,’’ Logan smiled as the staff dispersed and the rest of the 5th generation children were being herded out like sheep by their handlers, mapper drones and nervous Askaris guards.

“That wasn’t fair’’ Binta moaned, “These wings are as big as we are and could turn on us if we don’t feed them.’’

Logan chuckled, “believe me the doctor seems to be in a good mood, I remembered the punishments used to be much more severe." They chattered on asking Logan about his health while he smiled and answered, Logan smiled a lot. tall and athletic, curly hair like a cherub, gentle despite his age and powers, the rest of the children on the other hand had tempers like a warthog with a boil on his butt, his single golden brown wing must had been beautiful to look at with its missing half.

Omotola didn’t realize she was brooding alone until Logan asked her joking if she was taking over Shettima’s ability to brood. She opened her mouth and was about telling them about the nightmares of the man with the tortured wail and the men in white coats that unsurprisingly looked like Doctor Mugabe and his fellow scientists, but the cctv cams, the patrolling robot sentinels, the Askaris and the ever present mapper drones kept the words back as she shook her head instead in answer to Logan’s question.

Chapter five


I groaned as I dreamt, the mortal pain from which had I fled followed me into the world of dreams, gods do not dream. We simply used it as tools to commune with men, manipulating their present, past and future, but sometimes we retreat to these fascinating realms in mockery of slumber, to garner rest and grow strength.

I flee there often to escape my anguish during my captivity. But now I dreamt of my youth, long before I became a deity; a Yoruba warrior prince of the old Oyo Empire, I was the youngest son, the eldest; Eweka, ruled as the Oba of the kingdom of Benin, the second; my older half-brother Ajaka, was crown prince of Oyo, shackled by duties of state, watched me with jealousy as I gamboled round the empire and beyond, carefree and wild, the parties and dances were where you would find me.

I was not far from skirmishes, conflicts and adventures, the duties of a prince were the least of my problems, that burden was for another. When our father Oranmiyan the conqueror joined his ancestors, my brother Ajaka became the Alaafin of Oyo but he was a shadow of our warlike sire, preferring peace and shunning violence until some subject kingdoms became bold enough to claim their independence and rebelled. Fearing for the future of the empire; the kingmakers had him dethroned and to my misfortune, I was called back home to sit on the throne of Oyo.

I gave the empire what she craved, conquest’’ I crushed the rebellions and my campaigns ate up every tribe that dared to face my rampaging war-boys. They were stamped flat till there was no country powerful enough to halt the might of the Oyo cavalries. The tribesmen were subdued as dried reeds bends before the harmattan wind as I stand astride the savannah, a colossus amidst men, I earned my glory, moving out from under my illustrious father’s enormous shadow until I have dipped Oshe; my double bladed battle axe into the sea, I returned back to the capital.

Power as the elders says intoxicates, for with greater power I became a tyrant. With no one bold enough to give battle I became bored and restless, for I had no patient for the wiles of court, I craved more power, for I already possess the power of men, I also longed for the supernatural might’s of the Orishas (deities). I employed powerful herbalists to make charms for me, I bathed with and drank magic draughts till I almost lost my humanity, I became insane with power, an offending noble was swiftly punished by hurling lightning bolts down on his or her compound, for ‘Ara’ the spirit of thunder was the first element that bowed to my will, for it came in form of a thunder stone which I threw at my enemies at will, earning me the name Jakuta; (hurler of stones), ‘‘Iji; the element of storms came willingly for I used it quite often, with it doing what it does best with enthusiastic glee, I became a god king and all trembled at my name but still, I wanted more, and that began my undoing.

Tnx for d update bt like Oliver twist, we want more...

priestchurch:
Tnx for d update bt like Oliver twist, we want more...

I'll drop some more tomorrow... I appreciate the feedback bruh

sheikshegetto:
I'll drop some more tomorrow... I appreciate the feedback bruh

.. Dnt mention it bruh

Amazing write up brother....more grease to your bolt and nut

Chapter six

A sleek black carriage pulled up at Westminster alleyway, the door pushed opened as the occupant, a gentleman step down into the cold English morning, he waved a dismissing hand towards the manservant hurrying to his aid.

His red jacket inlaid with polished brass buttons introduced him as an officer in the imperial army. He moved briskly up the stairs to the manor to the already opened door where he was ushered in by a tall smartly dressed butler.

"Lord Rawlings is expecting you captain." He said, The captain's grunted in reply and allowed himself to be led down the hallway towards the manor lord's study where a portly elderly man sat waiting.

"Captain luggard, please have a sit" he coughed over his pipe smoke as the young captain saluted. "My apologies for summoning you in such short notice my boy but i see the need to see you before you sail from our shores, I do hope you are looking forward to your assignment." Lord Rawlings said as he shooed away the butler.

"It is an honour to serve my king and country your grace." The captain replied.

"And I have no doubt that you'll see it done lad." The older man paused to puffed at his pipe before continuing. "I brought you here because of a matter of utmost importance which to me supercedes your primary assignment."

"With all due respect my lord what could be more important than the expansion of the British empire and stopping the French from annexing all of West Africa."

Lord Rawlings chuckled in reply, "captain how much did you know about my report to the house of lords on my return from exploration?"

"Not much your grace, some hocus-pocus and superstitions about some native creature." He smirk was cut short at the serious look on the older man's face.

"Hibbie jabber you say, I assure you captain my idiotic colleagues from the parliament may have turned a blind eye on the discovery from this so called institute but I tell you boy, the real power has been handed over to them, more valuable I say than the resources we derive from these colonies."

"I'm led to believe my mission is to amalgamate the native tribes into a British colony my lord and not to meddle in the affairs of private trading companies."

"Bullocks my boy, where do you think the sudden rise in technology advancements come from, asides from the fact that these companies are meddling in affairs we know nothing about, they own no allegiance to the empire and may choose to offer trade partnership to the french. During my sojourn in Africa, I have seen shamans that healed near fatal wounds to call it shinanigans, mystics that defiles the very logic imbued on us by civilization, which I believe you will see for yourself as soon as you land, there are powers we know nothing about that could implode and swallow us all and it is in the hands of these companies, that is your mission captain if you are up to the task." Lord Rawlings leaned back on his chair as if the long speech was draining as he stared at the bemused captain.

"I know you may not believe everything I've said my boy but I implore you to look into it as soon as you get to these shores, our future depends on it."

Long after captain luggard left lord Rawling's manor, he believed the old man's head cooked from all the African sun during his tenure as governor of the west African colony.

"I had another dream today." Omotola said, her therapist simply grunted, not taking her eyes off the notes she was writing.

"Everybody has dreams dear, it's a normal phenomenon."

"I think they're are real, I think it has to to be events that are happening or has happened, it seems to be quite vivid, do you think it's my power manifesting? Maybe I guess."

"Hmmm." was all the woman said as she scribbled away. "present her to the labs for further testing, miss Katie, the doctor finally said, ignoring Omotola as if she wasn't there. "if there's any new changes with her metabolism, the results will see to it."

Omotola bristled and nearly told her about her other dream of the tortured man to see her reaction but wisely held her tongue, she remembered D-44, a 4th generation cyborg that was taken away to the labs and was never seen again for asking too much questions.

People tends to disappear whenever they break doctor Mugabe's rules, the old head mid-wife for example, she was responsible for naming all the children, before that they were identified by numbers, by the time they began to answer to these names and nothin else, it was too late, she was gone by the end of the week.

A lab attendant who began to take a shine to Orchid was summoned before the doctors and poof he went. Only the full duty staff were allowed to talk to the children, not even all the workers in the institute was previged enough to know they existed, after all they weren't the only things developed in the building, they were kept on the most restricted of floors. Once a wandering staff found their floor by mistake and saw the children eating in their mess hall in all their winged glory, she fled screaming like one pocessed and of cos she went poof as well and was never seen again.

Chapter seven

Obiora returned to drills after a week in the labs, pale and spent but happy to be once more united with his siblings, the 5th generation children were allowed to eat and be together for a few hours thrice a week, asides that they only saw one another at drills and classes where they were taught by grizzled old professors and learnt different languages under the watchful eyes of their handlers.

Omotola’s handler, Katie was kind to her and sometimes told her about her own life outside the institute which was against protocol; Amaka, Babybaby’s handler adored her and spoilt her terribly. The rest of the handlers took their jobs quite seriously and Katie once said they feared the children and their abilities but feared the institute more; she would expertly change the discussion to new topics whenever she tried to get her to talk about the institute.

It was after Obiora’s porcupine stunt that the doctors began wondering if they could force the children to manifest more abilities under duress, unfortunately they were ushered one after another to the labs for harsher experiments, to the painful microbes and syringes. As the weeks ran by, they began to see less of Logan every day, and by the time he was let out of the lab, he had grown so lean a shadow of his jolly self, his golden curls dull and stringy whenever he was asked about his where about and the changes to his body, he would simply smile and said he was just been passed through tests to evaluate the limits of his powers so his regeneration abilities can be cloned into serums.

That sounded like a productive thing but not at the expense of Logan’s health. Concerned, they began to ask questions but the institute did not like these new and curious 5th generation and punished them quite often.

Confused and scared, they began to act unruly and rebelled every chance they had, Shettima’s handler was relieved from his job when he lost his charge quite often, Orchid’s handlers were doubled and were given protective head bands to wear against her suggestion ability, the institutes power supply suffered numerous shutdowns, delaying entire operations with Binta trying to wipe the look of mischief off her face, until the doctors had had enough punished them by cancelling drills and other events except classes in which they were not allowed to talk with one another.

Omotola began to notice changes in Shettima whenever they were gathered for their lectures, he would stare at nothing as if remembering something spooky he was trying hard to forget, Orchid also took notice and asked him, he would open his mouth to say something then glanced nervously at the ever present cams and the ever present Askaris would said nothing.

Nothing scared Shettima; he rarely showed much emotion and these sudden fidgeting meant he must have seen or known something they did not. The others left him to his devices since he never really talked much.

One day he stared long and hard at Omotola that she could have sworn he was trying to get into her head and then received a shock that made her jumped ten foot in the air when she heard his voice in her head, one of the Askaris stared at her for a while before losing interest.

“Allow the shadows in your cubicle tonight.’’ She heard Shettima’s voice said in her head then the alarm shrilled; signifying class was over for the day and their quality time together over for the week as their handlers hustled them out. Allow the Shadows?, she wondered as she was led out.

Shettima had developed another ability with the institute unaware, she sighed; the doctors will not be pleased.

“Are you alright love? Katie asked, she must have sighed loud enough to have caught her attention.

“Yes I’m fine’’ she answered absently, the plump handler hummed to herself as she dutifully checked Omotola’s vitals on her tablet, satisfied at seeing nothing amiss, she chuckled and asked if she was having boy trouble with the way she was chasing Shettima up and down the past week, the confused look on Omotola’s face must have been hilarious as laughter brought tears to her eyes.

It took a while before what she meant became clear to her, blushing furiously she brushed past Katie as the powered door to her cubicle slides open, the latter came in right after chuckling to herself.

“You know love I think it’s normal for girls your age to have crushes, at least some girls like me were quite unfortunate to waste their first crush on some bloody plonker simply because he’s buff, but Shettima’s quite the catch you know, she said as she winked mischievously.”

“I am not crushing after any boy; Shettima’s technically my brother, eww! And I am not normal’’ Omotola growled as she flung herself on her colt wincing as a wing scattered the contents on her side dresser. ‘’What do you think will happen to us when we’re done manifesting our powers Katie, what if Logan overloads and dies like the rest of his age group, will we ever see the outside world or grow old and die here like Bature.’’

Bature was one of the 4th generation misshapen prototypes, horned like a ram built like a boulder, yet he had been so gentle the institute allowed him to walk freely around sometimes running odd jobs till his death, his body taken away for testing and recycling, useful even in death. Katie smile was wiped out of her face as she arranged the scattered contents back on the dresser.

“I will pretend I never heard you love,” she said. ”I’m supposed to report anything strange to the doctors, they are scared enough with you all getting stronger, thinking and acting for yourselves, you aren’t supposed to be, they said you’re weapons that's not supposed to ask questions.’’ Then she shuts up wide eyed like she had said too much.

“Weapons?,’’ Omotola prodded, “what are they preparing us for.’’ but she was unable to get anything else from Katie as she prepared her for the night, kissed her goodnight, smiled and jokingly called that against protocol then left her to her thoughts. For a while she stayed awake staring at the ceiling thinking about what Katie said and Shettima’s words till it hits her, shadows.

Shettima ports through shadows, she jumped out of her colt to click off the power source, throwing the cubicle into darkness, and then sat waiting.

Tnx d update

amazing