Nkechi's fingers glided against the blade of grass as she tried to gather her breath. Water trickled in her ears as small slithers of sunlight peeked through the dark forest and glistened against her naked body. She twirled her fingers in the air, staring at her cocoa skin juxtaposed against her alabaster flesh.

All her life, Nkechi had looked at these patterns, these holy marks and had been assured of her destiny but now they only brought her confusion and turmoil. The marks that made her skin precious and rare amongst her kind, no longer meant what they once had. She was no longer a Funai, an anointed sorceress amongst the Feri, at least not in Nkechi's mind. Her reality had not been the same for quite some time. Her Dahara was a strong force within her now. Just moments ago her warrior form had been hunting and scouting their lands.

A deep sigh rumbled from her chest as she reflected on all that had transpired in the past few weeks. Her thoughts took her back to Maliha. Her heart throbbed at the thought of her friend and her son, Enzo. It had only been a few weeks since Nkechi's return from her journey with Maliha and Enzo to the Nah Barros land, and already her existence was becoming unbearable. Nkechi could feel the change coming. There was a scent in the air, a change in the winds. The change was coming, and it had already begun within Nkechi all those weeks ago when her Dahara had been awakened.

Nkechi twirled a piece of her curly hair around her fingers, the matted strands bringing her comfort as she blended into nature. Her slanted eyes glided shut as she let the rippling water soothe her and the cool wind kiss upon her bare form. The leaves in the tree sung to her, nature cocooning her in until it all became abruptly silent.

Nkechi's eyes shot upon as she jerked into a sitting position. She simultaneously grabbed her spear and launched it into the distance. The spear whistled through the air and lodged into a tree, barely a hair's breadth away from her target.

"That was a warning, next time I'll aim for your black heart, Kofi," she snarled, crawling onto her haunches like that large feline creature that lived within her.

"Why are you always so hostile, Nkechi? That is no way to speak to your future Solah and leader."

Nkechi glared at the handsome man before her. His skin was a deep tone that matched the starless sky, he had full wide lips, a wide flat nose that was pierced in gold and wood. His skin was smooth and rich, and his eyes were slanted and dark. As dark as the soul that was housed between those cool orbs.

"You'll never be my Solah or my Razi, leader. You are nothing but a second-rate warrior with an ego to match the size of your overgrown head. I'll slit your throat before I ever allow this tribes purity to be tainted by your dark manner."

Kofi was an attractive man, appealing to the eyes with a large frame that spoke of his high warrior status, but his arrogance diminished the beauty of the flesh, because his soul was ugly. Kofi was corrupted with thoughts of power. As one of the top warriors, he was appointed as her betrothed and her future life partner. Kofi was second to only her brother, Femi, but as Nkechi was the only Funai other than her mother, her brother had to forfeit his right as a leader. Only a coupled pair comprised of both a Funai and a Dahara could lead the tribe and Kofi was the most favoured.

Kofi laughed loudly, the obnoxious noise grating against her nerves. "It's too late little Niko, your father will announce it tonight and the festivities will begin shortly after."

Nkechi's skin boiled at her father's disregard of her feelings but even then, she did not let the anger take root because she knew with a certainty that she would not marry Kofi.

"I don't care what my father has said. No man can speak into existence what the Goddess does not wish herself. We. Will. Not. Marry. I swear it by the earth we come from. The stars that lay within our beasts and the magic within my veins. We will not wed," Nkechi snapped barging passed him.

Kofi gripped her wrist and yanked her body towards him. Thrusting his hip towards hers in a lewd gesture. "None of that fanciful talk can stop this. Nothing can. I will take great pleasure in fucking this resilience out of you when I become Razi." His hand twirled around a strand of her hair as he brought it to his nose to smell.

Nkechi's nose flared at his taunting words, her skin crawling at his touch. He repulsed her.

Her nails scraped along her thigh as she used all her control to stop herself from killing him on the spot. "But how will you fuck me if you have no dick to wield, Kofi?."

Kofi's eyes widened when he felt the tip of her knife pressed against his groin.

"Touch me again and I'll make sure to cut your flaccid cock off and cook it on a spit. Kemela néh?" Feel me, no? She chuckled before putting her blade away and sauntering off into the trees.

Nkechi made the short trip back to the bushes where she hid her clothes, before climbing up the massive tree that housed the entrance to her tribe.

"Welcome back Niki, baba is looking for you," murmured her brother Femi as he pulled her the rest of the way onto the bridge.

"Where is he?"

"Where do you think?" Femi snorted, walking off into the direction of the training grounds.

Nkechi followed behind her brother, stopping every so often to smile and greet people.

"Ife is watching you," Nkechi whispered while smiling at the quiet female.

Femi snorted and rolled his eyes at Nkechi and then glared at Ife. "All she does is stare at me but the moment I try to talk to her she puts up this wall. I'm over her sister, it's been years since everything happened. I had hoped she would have forgiven me by now, but her actions prove otherwise."

Nkechi rolled her eyes at this repetitive conversation. Her brother and Ife had been childhood crushes but when her brother's coming of age arrived, Ife hadn't developed as fast as him. Her body had still been too adolescent for the tribe to title her as a woman. Nkechi's brother, Femi went through his rite of manhood and instead of waiting for Ife as he promised, he had lain with another girl, Parna. Parna had teased Ife mercilessly through her whole childhood and so her brothers' actions had felt like a double betrayal to the sensitive girl. It had not helped that Parna had continued to tease Ife, and Femi, too enraptured by the pleasure of the flesh, had not cared to defend her. Ife had been heartbroken and had never spoken to him in the same way again.

"You broke her heart Femi."

"How? I acted well within my rights and Ife knows that. What was I supposed to do? Wait for however many years it took for her to be of age?" he huffed, annoyed with a decision that had plagued him for years.

"No, Femi but you could have picked a more honourable woman. Ife knew what would happen even though you promised her you would wait. She anticipated that betrayal. What she did not expect was how badly she would be treated afterwards, and you have yet to apologise for your involvement in it all."

"She won't let me," he sighed defeatedly. It was obvious to anyone that the breakdown of his and Ife's relationship had hurt her brother, but he had remained too prideful to grovel and plead as he should have.

"Nothing has ever stopped you from trying Femi. You have just never put in the required effort, but I won't keep repeating myself. One day you will see brother. Ife is a good female. You should apologise while she still cares to hear it."

After Nkechi's wise words, her brother remained silent. Absorbing her wisdom and pondering on how to approach the situation. Nkechi laughed to herself, finding humour in all the ways her brother made things worse for himself.

The siblings approached the fighting ground in silence. Looking at the Feri lands always made Nkechi feel pride. Her people had created an oasis in the trees to protect themselves from the night beast that had once plagued their lands. Their ancestors had barely had enough resources when they moved above ground but now, generations later, the Feri tribe barely needed to go below tree level where darkness coated the land.

The fighting pit or warrior grounds was a large wooden stage suspended in the middle of the air. Several bridges led to the large flat area, where warriors fought and learnt to become aware of all their surroundings, as to fall was to plummet to their death. Unseasoned warriors fought with small barriers surrounding the stage but once they hit puberty, all barriers were removed.

Nkechi watched as her father taught one of the younger men to fight with a wooden sword. She flinched every time the flat of her father's sword hit the young man's leg. Though Nkechi was not a warrior her father had taken pride in teaching her how to fight and her brother Femi had only added onto the skills she had developed.

"Be aware of your surroundings Nelo," Matin gritted. Nelo looked behind himself, noticing that he had edged extremely close to the edge of the platform. "Don't take your eyes off of your opponent Nelo," her father snapped, hitting the man again with the weapon. Sighing deeply her father dropped the sword and waved the man to a stop. "Nkechi, come here."

Nkechi did not even flinch at her father's command, already anticipating that this would be the outcome. She was used to being used as an example. She used to hate being used as a demonstration but since her warrior form had arisen, Nkechi lived for the thrill. Nkechi stepped onto the platform and picked up a wooden sword. She twisted her wrist to get the feel of the weapon and her posture changed as she crouched low and began circling her father. Nkechi's steps were light as she used all of her senses to take in how much space she had.

"Do you see her posture; she is ready for an attack." Her father moved quickly, jabbing the tip of his sword in her direction, Nkechi batted his weapon away and then stepped to the side, striking back just as quickly. "Do you see how her feet are not completely flat on the platform? This posture gives her agility and her slightly bent knees give her stability."

He charged again and Nkechi repeated her move but then spun quickly to defend herself from the attack that came behind her. "Do you see how she anticipated the attack? Her focus is both on me and her surroundings."

Nkechi drowned out her father's words as more warriors joined into the fight and attempted to strike her or corner her. When almost ten warriors were battling against her, her father called the demonstration to a halt. Patting his daughter on the back. His chest was puffed out in pride as he addressed the warriors in training.

"You must use your ears more than your eyes, hear where you cannot see." Her father grinned widely as he motioned for Nkechi to step to the side.

"I have no understanding of why she should even need to fight when she is Funai. Is it not against their beliefs?"

Nkechi clucked her tongue at the ignorant man, her eyes glaring as Kofi made his presence known. "Just because a Funai does not take innocent life, it does not mean that we cannot learn to defend ourselves. You would know that if you were versed in the way of our people."

Kofi's gloating face faulted as he snarled at her, "Yes, well when I become Razi that will no longer be a practice."

"That is if you ever become Razi," Nkechi mocked.

"Daughter," her father warned but she ignored his reprimanding tone.

"Being the best warrior in this tribe makes my place as the next Razi guaranteed. It is time you accept your fate, little love."

Nkechi scoffed at Kofi's arrogance. "I will never accept you as my fate. The Goddess respects me too much to pair me with a male like you and your place is only guaranteed because my brother, Femi, cannot lead. You are nothing but a second-rate warrior."

"Respect?" Kofi chuckled. "You think too highly of yourself. You would be blessed to be married to a great warrior such as myself. Nothing about me is second rate, Nkechi, and everyone can attest to that."

"Great?" She guffawed incredulously, "Your only strength is your size and your anger, which can both be seen as a weakness."

"Nkechi that is enough. Stop taunting him and show some humility. Kofi, don't listen to my daughter." Her father's admonition only added to her frustration.

Kofi haughtily smiled at Nkechi before turning to her father, "I never take her seriously. I know my place in this tribe and her frivolous words can't make me doubt myself."

Grunts of agreement resounded around Nkechi, annoying her further. Her tribe was full of followers. Warriors who barely listened to their thoughts and were easily led by what appeared to be brutal strength. They failed to understand that the size of one's muscles did not determine how great of warrior or leader they would be.

"You'll take me seriously when I best you in battle without breaking a sweat and you know I can because I held you at knifepoint not too long ago, love," Nkechi taunted.

Kofi's face turned molten as he snatched the sword from a trainee nearby. He pushed his way onto the training platform with a ferocious glare on his face. "Fine I'll give you what you want. Pick up your weapon and let's see how tough you are but when I win, I want our marriage to be announced tonight. I'm tired of waiting to taste."

Nkechi looked at her father, his heated face spoke of his displeasure but the chiding and teasing of the predominantly male warriors made Nkechi determined to prove her point.

"Daughter, I forbid it."

Her father's command halted her movements. Her head tilted to the side as she contemplated his words before easily dismissing them.

"A Feri never refuses battle."

Welcome back! The journey begins and I'll tell you now, I'm not holding back and neither is Nkechi.

Tell me what you think!