Baba Ifa sat heavily on his wooden stool, his eyes rolling back into his head. He began to chant, a low, guttural vibration that seemed to make the very shadows in the shrine dance. Elizabeth held baby Serena tightly, her heart pounding against her ribs, while Charles stood stiffly at her side, entirely out of his element.
The babaláwo's chanting grew louder, more frantic. Suddenly, his eyes snapped open. He stared directly at the baby.
"She is the one," Baba Ifa whispered, his voice trembling with a terror that hadn't been there a moment before. He stood up violently, knocking his stool backward. "This girl is a curse! Kill her now! Kill her now! He will come and claim her soul!"
"What?" Charles stepped back, raising his hands. "What the fuck?!"
The entire room began to shake. The rusted corrugated metal roof rattled as if a massive, invisible weight had just landed on it.
"Look at that fire!" Baba Ifa screamed, pointing a shaking finger at the blazing brazier in the corner of the room. "Throw her inside now!"
"What the fuck are you saying?!" Elizabeth screamed, pulling Serena flush against her chest.
"Kill her!" Baba Ifa roared.
Suddenly, the old man choked. He coughed violently, spraying a massive arc of dark, blackish blood across the wooden table. His eyes instantly turned a blinding, bruised red as all the blood vessels ruptured simultaneously. Thick streams of blood began to pour from his ears.
Before Charles could even grab his wife, the babaláwo exploded.
It wasn't a fire; it was pure, violent pressure. Flesh, bone, and blood splattered across the dark room, extinguishing the candles and painting the walls in gore.
Elizabeth screamed in absolute, mind-shattering terror.
"Let's get the fuck out of here!" Charles yelled, grabbing her arm. "I warned you! Let's go now!"
Elizabeth didn't hesitate. Shielding the baby from the blood raining down on them, she turned and sprinted out of the compound, Charles right behind her.
They ran into the muddy, rain-soaked streets, their boots splashing through the dark puddles. The streetlights were completely dead. The night was pitch black.
Then, a shadow detached itself from the alleyway and appeared directly in front of them.
Charles froze, his sneakers skidding in the mud. "Who are you?"
The shadow solidified into the shape of a tall, imposing man wrapped in darkness. Azathoth.
"Please," Elizabeth stammered, her knees knocking together. "Please spare us... and leave the baby."
"I heard your cries," Azathoth said, his voice echoing in their minds rather than their ears. "I want to give you infinite wealth for your baby's body and soul."
"Who are you?!" Charles demanded, his entire body shaking. He looked at Elizabeth. "I shouldn't have come here!"
"No, we refuse!" Elizabeth cried, backing away. "We don't want it! Can we go home, please?!"
"There is no home," Azathoth stated coldly. "You will live on the street. You will suffer. And you will make your baby suffer, too."
"Who are you?!" Elizabeth sobbed.
"I am the source of all dark magic," Azathoth smiled, a terrifying stretch of teeth in the dark. "And I am offering you everything. Money is everything in this cursed world. You can buy and own everything you want. Just give me your permission. Your parental authority over her."
"No!" Elizabeth wept, holding Serena tighter. "I can't! I don't want to! Please just let me go! Please allow us to leave. Please!"
Azathoth stepped closer, the temperature in the alley dropping to freezing. "Your bloodline will never know poverty again. Your future children will live like royalty. Doors will open before your family for generations. If you give me this one... you shall be rich. Your future children will be happy."
"Sorry," Charles swallowed hard, standing in front of his wife. "But can we just leave?"
"You want your baby to suffer like you?" Azathoth tilted his head. "You want to live a poor life?"
"What do you want to do with her?" Elizabeth asked, her maternal instinct fighting through the sheer cosmic dread. "Why do you want her?"
"Look, look, look," Azathoth sighed, waving a dismissive hand. "I don't have to explain anything to you. But look at the bright side: I will give you everything. Money, a kingdom, everything you want. Your money will also be legal. I will pull all the strings. Just give me your baby."
"I want the money," Elizabeth cried, tears mixing with the rain. "But I am not a bad mother! Nor a bad woman!" She looked desperately at Charles.
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"I am not either," Charles agreed firmly.
Azathoth sneered. "Elizabeth, you have already pissed your undies from fear."
He crossed his arms, the darkness swirling around his feet. "Fine. I will kill you, then get the baby. But I will make her suffer. I will kill the both of you when she is mature enough to understand it. I will bring a heavy burden upon your child, and she shall know nothing but suffering."
Azathoth rubbed his temples in annoyance. "For once, I try to negotiate. Not to take things by force. I just don't want Astragel to start arguing with me again. He always thinks he is right."
Azathoth looked dead into Elizabeth's eyes. "I am coming back for you."
Then, he vanished.
Charles and Elizabeth immediately dropped to their knees in the mud.
"Who is he?!" Charles panicked. "Why does he want our child?!"
"I shouldn't have come here!" Elizabeth sobbed loudly, rocking back and forth. "I am so sorry! I was so desperate for money! I came to do witchcraft! Why us? Why does he want our daughter?!"
She patted Serena's head, trying to shield the baby from the rain. "Everything will be alright, I promise you. You look so beautiful, Serena. I promise you, you will live a perfect, healthy, and normal life. You will be happy."
"Mama," baby Serena cooed softly, reaching a tiny hand up. "Mama."
"Yes, I am your mother," Elizabeth wept, kissing the baby's fingers. "And I promise to protect you. I am so sorry I brought you here. I am truly sorry. I have nowhere to go, no food... but I promise it will be okay, my pretty child."
Charles stood up, his face hardened by desperation. "I will start stealing if I have to."
"No!" Elizabeth snapped, looking up at him. "Don't do that! Get a fucking job!"
"I will try my best. Because of her," Charles swore. He helped Elizabeth up.
"Where do we go now?" she asked.
"Let's just continue walking." Charles looked over his shoulder nervously. "What are we going to do about that thing... that demon?"
"I am not afraid at all," Elizabeth lied, her voice shaking.
"You pissed yourself, and you smell like piss," Charles pointed out bluntly.
"Fuck you! I mean the God I worship is greater than all darkness!" Elizabeth declared, her fear turning into desperate religious fervor. "No evil can overcome God! No one can overpower God! Good is infinitely more superior. I don't care who he is, but we just have to pray. We pray and fast every day!"
"Yes," Charles nodded eagerly, desperate to believe it. "He is nothing compared to God. We shouldn't have come here. God will provide for us."
"Where should we stay now?"
Charles looked at the baby. "Let's stay with your Aunt Vera. She will provide for us for a while until I find a job."
They walked through the flooded, dangerous streets for miles, entirely unaware of the cosmic game they had just been entered into.
High above the clouds, far from the miserable streets of Lagos, Azathoth walked on the empty air.
"I am a God, too," Azathoth muttered to the silence. "Why am I unknown? Why do they believe 'Good' must win? Why do they always want 'Good' to be victorious?"
He looked down at the miserable planet rotating beneath him. "I will change it. I will show them reality, and wake them up from their little dream."
Azathoth flew away, creating a massive, silent sonic boom in the upper atmosphere.
Elizabeth and Charles finally arrived at Aunt Vera's house deep in the night.
Charles knocked on the heavy iron gate multiple times. Finally, Vera opened the door, her face immediately twisting into a scowl.
"What do you want?" Vera demanded.
"Please," Elizabeth begged. "I just need a place to stay for a while. We got kicked out of our house and—"
"I can't take a family of three," Vera interrupted coldly. She slammed the door right in their faces.
Elizabeth froze in absolute shock. "Why is she so rude?"
"Because I have shut every door of success from your lineage," a dark voice echoed behind them.
They spun around. Azathoth was standing under the broken streetlight.
"Give me the baby, and I will give you infinite wealth," Azathoth offered again.
"Get awayyyyy!" Charles screamed in pure rage. He bent down, scooped up a jagged rock from the dirt road, and hurled it with all his might at the dark entity.
Azathoth didn't even flinch. He caught the stone effortlessly with one hand.
Azathoth looked at Elizabeth, who was staring at him like a trapped animal. "What kind of animal are you?" Azathoth asked. He let out a faint, amused laugh. "Irony. That is exactly what Luciferio told your daughter."
"Who is Luciferio?" Elizabeth asked, confused and terrified.
"Not in your era. Don't worry, you won't meet me. You will die before that," Azathoth stated matter-of-factly.
"Who are you, and why do you want my child so badly?!" Elizabeth pleaded, her voice breaking.
Azathoth opened his hand. The jagged stone had turned into a fresh, warm loaf of bread. "Are you not hungry?"
"Whoever or whatever you are, God will destroy you!" Charles shouted, standing protectively in front of his wife. "No dark force is above God! No one! He is all-powerful! Compared to Him, you are nothing!"
"You don't know that," Azathoth said calmly.
"By the name of God, I cast you away!" Charles screamed into the night. "By His name!"
"Hold it," Azathoth raised a finger, genuinely irritated. "You literally just tried to do a dark ritual at a babaláwo's shrine thirty minutes ago, and now you are calling on God?" Azathoth sneered. "Such hypocrites."
Elizabeth ignored the insult. "Why do you need our permission over the baby? Why don't you just take it?"
"I can just take her," Azathoth admitted. "I just want you to give me the parental authority to do whatever I want with her."
"Why?"
"You birthed her for nine months. I want you to sell her to me. To sacrifice her to me. So I will officially become her adopted parent," Azathoth explained smoothly. "I can just snatch her... but I want to have full, cosmic authority and control over her because of what I am going to do to her."
Azathoth smiled, a cruel, horrifying expression.
"We will never give you our precious girl!" Charles yelled. "Who exactly are you?! It does not matter! You are a created being! My God will be victorious over you!"
"I will give you the entire world," Azathoth tempted.
"Lies!" Elizabeth cried. "You are just a mere angel!"
Azathoth paused. He leaned his head back and whispered to the sky, "Humans probably saw aliens thousands of years ago and called them 'angels.' Bunch of ignorant and foolish creatures."
"Please just leave us alone," Elizabeth sobbed, clutching Serena. "Please."
"Fine. I will go," Azathoth shrugged indifferently. "But you have been carrying that baby around since we met."
In a blink, Azathoth teleported away, leaving nothing but the cold wind.
Charles stood panting in the dark. "Who is he?"
"Fear not," Elizabeth said, though she looked completely broken. "For God is against all evil, and His power is above him."
"But where do we stay now?" Charles asked, the reality of their homelessness setting in. "And more importantly... where do I find a job?"
Elizabeth looked down the dark, endless road. "Let's just continue walking."