“Buzz! Buzz!!” The alarm rings. Chiamaka keeps turning left and right on her bed.

“Buzz! Buzz!!” it continues ringing until she forcefully wakes up panting, like she had a nightmare.

“Ohh you’re finally awake,” Ifunanya says, holding a mug with steam flowing out of it.

It is already bright in the morning, the usual hot morning sun of the south western part of the country known as Nigeria.

“Ugh,” Chiamaka whines as the bright sun rays shining through the room’s window, focuses on her face.

“Bad dream?” Ifunanya asks.

“Seems so,” Chiamaka replies.

“Really? Can you remember what it was about?” Ifunanya inquires.

“Well, for some strange reason, in this dream, it was my birthday,” she starts narrating the incident that recently occurred.

“And it was like you were some badass fighter,” she adds, concluding her narration.

“Ohh you don’t say,” Ifunanya says, slowly sipping her tea, from her mug.

“I know right? Sounds like some anime or so,” Chiamaka says, shaking her head.

“My life,” she adds.

“Anyway, it was all just a dream, now what’s for breakfast before I go back to my miserable life of dealing with an annoying supervisor,” she says, as she gets off the bed and walks out of the room down to the sitting room.

She is a bit shocked when she sees ID, Tobi and Tomisin engaging in a conversation in the sitting room.

“Hey, feeling better?” ID asks.

She stands at the passage staring for a while.

“Yeaaahhh, it wasn’t a dream,” Ifunanya whispers, sipping her tea behind Chiamaka.

“No! No!! No!!!” Chiamaka quickly shuts her eyes, shakes her head and runs back into her room.

ID with a tired face, looks at Ifunanya who responds with a sigh. After an hour, Chiamaka rushes out of her room, freshened and dressed up.

“I’ll see you guys in a bit,” she says to ID and Ifunanya, looking weirdly at Tobi and Tomisin, and exits.

“Hope say she dey alright sha[1],” Tobi comments after she leaves.

Ifunanya sighs.

“Fine!! I’ll go with her,” she adds. She quickly packs her hair the usual way like a bun and leaves the house.

Chiamaka makes her way back to the school library, alights from the taxi she took, takes a deep breath, smiling and gives off a sigh of relief when she stands in front of the library.

“It’s all intact. I knew it was a dream,” she says, smiling as her hair sways due to the cool breeze blowing around.

“Ha ha. Joke’s on you Ify,” she adds.

“No way for you to explain this now.”

Ifunanya arrives, seeing Chiamaka smiling and gazing at the library. After hearing what Chiamaka says, she makes a slight hiss and sighs.

“Yeah the library is the normal however Amaka what you saw was not a dream,” she says after the sigh.

“What?!” Chiamaka quietly exclaims.

“Don’t tell me you have some hocus pocus explanation for these now,” she adds.

“How do you want to explain the fact that the damaged library has been fixed immediately, Ify which zobo[2] do you want to give me now?” she asks.

“Chill first, Let’s have a seat so that I can explain,” Ifunanya says dragging Chiamaka by the hand to a long chair in the park, beside the library.

When they both sit down, with no one near them, Ifunanya begins.

“Now just be calm and listen to all I have to say, you know me I won’t say it twice,” she says.

“First of all, the reason for the library looking like no damage was effected is because of the phenomenon which comes into existence in our realm when there is distortion in normality. This phenomenon is called the phasic dome. It can be said to be a link between the physical and spiritual realm which is why when activated in the physical realm, physical elements are still active and in play, also, the reason why only certain beings can exist in the phasic dome if you noticed, most people became still like time had stopped. Mostly, when damages occur in the phasic dome, those damages are reversed once the phasic dome becomes inactive just like the case of the library.

To better explain this, let me first give you a brief history. Once the earth was invaded by certain beings with supernatural abilities unknown to man. Where these beings came from, what they wanted and who they were remained a mystery to man so they were called the Unknowns. These beings threatened the very existence of mankind however, some humans wielding abilities similar to what you call mythological deities like the Yoruba deities, Ogun, Sango and the rest, Igbo deities like Amadioha, Anyanwu and so on, rose up to oppose these Unknowns. These humans were called the Crests. These Crests also bare certain insignia which was what led to their name. However, humans being humans, some of the Crests began using their powers for their own greed and began enslaving the very people they were supposed to protect. Then what man called the Divine Light, flashed through the entire world and another set of beings among the humans came into play. They were called the ATs which is the Advanced Talents. This was because they bared no insignia and their abilities varied tremendously as some had abilities which would be considered concepts to the ordinary man. They were called advanced talents because these abilities occurred in a similar manner to that of the ordinary man’s talents such as drawing, running or singing. Likewise, you could see someone with an advanced talent of superspeed, or sound manipulation or even creative imagination and the likes.

So, with all these beings in existence, some of the top powerful talents and crests from all round the world gathered together, with all their power and life force, they were able to empower the already existing phasic dome and successfully stop the great battles that unraveled among the three sets of ability users, from having much damage to the physical realm of the humans. When this was done, the knowledge of the Unknowns, Crests and Advanced Talents was wiped off the memory of the ordinary humans. Therefore, whenever a battle among any of these beings starts or if a certain power level is released, the phasic dome is automatically activated. Only beings with phasic abilities, that is, abilities that transcend the physical into the spiritual (the Unknowns, Crests and Advanced talents) are aware of what happens and are able to freely move.”

“Hmmm!!!” Chiamaka softly exclaims looking at Ifunanya. She could see Ifunanya was serious and meant every word she said.

“So you mean I’m now going to be fighting the rest of my life?” She asks.

“And why is this even happening to me just now?” She adds, looking up to the sky and sighs.

“Well, firstly, no you don’t necessarily need to fight. You’re most likely an advanced talent user and not all advanced talents are for fighting though. There are what we call the domestic advanced talents. These are probably just for everyday use in an extraordinary way. Yours can be like that,” Ifunanya replies.

“Also, being who you are, you can choose not to make use of the talent at all and just live as a normal human although I cannot fully guarantee that it will be hitch free,” she adds.

“As to why it is happening now, I don’t know much about that yet. Maybe we will get to find out as time goes on,” she continues.

“One last thing though, one way of spotting advanced talents sometimes is that their eyes glow whenever a phasic dome is activated or their abilities are about to be used and only a phasic ability user can spot such, ordinary humans can’t,” she concludes.

“All these information flowing into my head is really racking me up,” Chiamaka says and softly lets out air from her mouth.

There is silence for a brief moment then she takes a deep breath, picks up her bag and stands up.

“I’m going to Tomiwa’s,” she says.

“Huh? So you’re stabbing [3]class?” Ifunanya replies, also standing up.

“Class? That one that Dr. Vincent will just come and dictate note? All I have to do is just read. That’s not a problem,” Chiamaka replies.

“I’ve already texted Osas to sign for me,” she adds.

“Hmm…See pride, see your shoulders, Efiko[4],” Ifunanya sarcastically comments.

“Call me if anything comes up. I need to be somewhere at the moment,” she adds.

“Ohh and if you can’t reach me then call ID.”

“Alright,” Chiamaka replies and walks away to enter the cab she called.

“With all I’ve said, what will she do now?” Ifuanaya asks rhetorically, staring at the cab as it drives off.

Back at Ifunanya and Chiamaka’s apartment.

“Are you sure she’ll be alright?” Tobi asks, facing ID while holding a game pad.

“Probably however knowing Ifunanya I’m sure she has told her everything bluntly,” ID replies.

“Well whatever,” Tobi sighs.

“By the way, who do you think was after her?” he asks.

“Can’t get a good guess now but looks like whoever is after her wants her alive,” ID answers.

“Do you think they’ll strike again?” Tobi asks.

“I’m sure they will,” ID replies.

“Seems we’ve stumbled upon something quite interesting,” Tobi says, smiling.

“Ehen[5]! Guy!! What of Aisha?” he asks.

“She’s cool. She should home. Let’s go see her,” ID replies.

“Nice one. Aisha the groovy lady. Let’s see what she’s up to,” Tobi says, with excitement as they exit the apartment.

At Tomiwa’s apartment, Chiamaka arrives and knocks on the door. A young fine lady, slim, dark with a short relaxed afro and thin sleek eyes, wearing a cream colored round neckline, long sleeve knit top reaching up to her fingers, and a pair of dark blue jeans, answers and opens the door. The lady has a big headset round her neck with her mobile phone in her hands.

Chiamaka is surprised for a moment.

“Who are you?” she questions.

For a very brief moment, the lady looks sternly at Chiamaka then quickly switches her mood.

“Ohh you must be Chiamaka,” the lady answers with a wide smile and a light but strong voice.

“I’m Ife, Tomi told me you’d be coming,” she adds.

“Ooo…kaayy, Tomi? hmmm!! You still haven’t answered the question,” Chiamaka replies, frowning at the lady.

“Ohh my bad,” the lady replies.

“I’m his cousin,” she adds.

“Ohh yeah, he did tell me his cousin would be coming today, ha ha,” Chiamaka says and begins smiling exceedingly, feeling embarrassed.

“My bad, sorry,” she adds.

“No problem, come in,” Ife says and Chiamaka steps in.

Tomiwa is a handsome young man. Tall, dark with beards nicely cut and shaped, muscular physique and a charming smile. He is already working at a young age and is earning the big bucks; most girls would love to have him as their man. Chiamaka is lying down on his laps, on the couch as they both talk while Ife steps out to answer a phone call.

“Hello,” she says.

“Am I on to Ife, the swordsmith?” a deep male voice speaks from the phone.

“Yes you are, how may I help you?” she asks.

“Trust you got the picture I sent via the chat, I heard you’re a good bounty hunter as well,” the voice answers.

“Hoo…so they say huh,” she replies.

“By all means necessary, I need you to bring me that person in the picture. I hear the package has some powerful friends. A location to meet will be sent to you once I receive confirmation that you have secured the package,” the voice says.

“I’m sure you have seen the reward for the bounty, quite handsome isn’t it?” the voice asks.

“Sure. Handsome indeed. Fine. I’m in. Let me make some calls,” she replies with a soft smile.

When the call is over, she looks at the picture again, it is Chiamaka; she dials another number.

“Hello Tade, gather the team. We have a job,” she says.

“Quite the story you have there, babe,” Tomiwa says, stroking the long curly hair of Chiamaka.

“I know right? I’m just tired and that’s not the full one sef[6],” she replies.

“I’m coming. I want to get something,” Tomiwa says, trying to stand up, waiting for Chiamaka to lift her head from his laps.

As she lifts her head, she could slightly see his eyes glow. Chiamaka is shocked for a moment as her heart starts racing faster. When Tomiwa gets up and is near the stairs leading up to his room, Chiamaka stands up.

“Tomi, I think there’s something on your face,” she says, trying to get him to face her.

“Really, where?” he says and turns to face her.

Chiamaka freezes in fear, behold his eyes are glowing green.

“Ohh..,it’s nothing,” she musters her strength to say.

“Alright,” he replies, still standing there.

Luckily, her phone is in her hand and her messenger app is open. She places the phone behind her and smartly but nervously, sends numerous pings to ID, following the message of her location she had earlier sent. She does this while looking at Tomiwa in the face and smiling.

“Oh cut the smile!!” Tomiwa yells with an evil grin. Chiamaka’s eyes become wide open.

“You know, don’t you?” he says, slowly removing his hand from his face.

[1] Hope say she dey alright – hope she is alright

[2] Zobo here means lie

[3] Stabbing here means to avoid, be absent or not go

[4] Efiko is usually used for intelligent people

[5] Ehen means yes or yeah

[6] Sef here can mean too