Icarus – the Finale

Ladies and Gentlemen, the finale of Icarus. It seems fitting that the first day of this year should be the last day of the series, fitting but not right. This finale has been pending for weeks and I must apologize. I have a bevy of excuses none of which I will bother to mention because you guys deserve better.

Before today’s post (which is rather short) I would like to do a quick recap of my 2013. Of the trio, Wisdom, Knowledge and Understanding I have always been fascinated with the third, often overlooked but necessary for the others to be of any use.  

This year I walked that path to understanding and along the way I met beautiful people, learned more about a few I had known before. I even managed to some extent to get a handle on myself, and while I have some growing to do, I am grateful, for thus far has the Lord brought me.  

Lately I have had difficulty writing, happens whenever I’m emotional (something I need to work on), right now, all it took to kick me into gear was thinking about how blessed I am, a good job, a passion that pays, I saw one of my dreams become reality and it is beautiful.  

I met an extremely beautiful soul, Onyebuchi, even used her in one of my pieces. Check episode 2 of Boiling Pot of Madness on Okadabooks or Ideaniverse. :*. Whoever marries this woman will have found a great thing and will have to answer to me. Much better than answering to her tbh, Iron Lady of life!  I can’t wait till she’s the C.E.O I know she’s going to be so I can be getting BMWs for christmas. I love you bae.    

I also had to say a very difficult goodbye. One of the most difficult decisions I’ve had to make and stick to, but somehow I have managed to become comfortable in the knowledge that the difficult decisions are often the easier options in the long run. You’ve helped me make my dreams a reality, I can only hope you can say the same about me.  

On the 10th of August, my debut novel, Monitored was launched, if you know nothing about it, google is your friend or just scroll down the posts on this blog for the excerpts that led up to the launch.   Holding my book in my hand for the first time is one of the most beautiful feelings in the world.

In June, while preparing for August, I almost died twice, on the week of my birthday. First a tanker ran into my vehicle, I wasn’t in motion, he hit me thrice, driving forward then reversing into me, the driver was drunk.  The day after, I lost a tyre on third mainland, I saw the tyre rolling across the bridge a second before I felt my front end hit the ground, I drove that car off the bridge, without a scratch on me (the car was another matter entirely).  

I also somehow managed to catch the attention of a fine girl and she definitely has mine. I do not know where Morenike and I will end up but I am determined to find out.  I spent the better part of the year confused emotionally, I see clearly now. I see you.    

The friends I have, the family that supports me, I am blessed.  

Then there’s you guys, the readers, people interested enough in my babbling to come back to drop comments, offer criticism, even play a silly game with me. Thank you.  

2013 was great, cheers to the new year.

This is probably as good a time as any to mention that http://www.monitored.wordpress.com will soon be no more.  We’re moving, not retiring. Details to follow shortly.  

Isn’t this a bit too long to be an intro? Oh well, most of you skip this stuff anyway, enjoy the finale of Icarus.  

Please don’t forget to share, comment and follow for email notifications.  

Have a wonderful 2014, I love you all.  

— O.O    

I could see the figure in the window, watching as I ran, past the AP fuel station, as fast as my feet could carry me. The building was a faded white, imposing, with a rack on the roof, I ran straight for it, there was a wild cat of sorts in pursuit, a human skin changer, I hazarded a backward glance, the fear almost made me stumble.  

The lion behind me made the Lion King’s depiction look cartoonish and behind it was an angel, I knew he could stop me with a thought but they were hunting me together, Elle and Lucy, neither wanted me to get to the man at the window. I started to scream, the security guards rushed out to see what the commotion was about, I pushed past them, without breaking stride, I didn’t turn back even when I heard the beast tear them apart.  

People ran out of the building towards me, oblivious to the carnage going on in the streets just outside their polished palace, I pushed past the confused ones and punched past the ones who tried to stop me. I got on an elevator, hit the button for the top floor, through the fast disappearing sliver between both elevator doors I could see the beast and the angel charge into the building.  

At the top floor I didn’t stop running hoping I’d catch sight of the man at the window, looking out whenever I could to guage my distance from where I imagined he was standing. I kept going till I came to a large door, on the ground behind me, marking my path like oversized breadcrumbs were the people who had tried to stop me, behind them the duo that was hunting me.  

They say the end justifies the means, I’ve said that before as well. They lied. We lied.  The means are a part of the end. Here I was trying my utmost to prevent a war that would ultimately bring about world peace because the price is too great.    

Behind the door was a stairwell, I looked out of the window on the far end. This was where Emmanuel watched from, I could see the battle from here, both ends of it.  Elle seemed to be winning. Fate was bound, a group of angels prodding her. I could see wave after wave of skinchangers appear on the horizon, first as humans running straight into the thick of the battle then transforming into a dog, wolf, snake, cat, there was even a shark thrashing about and breaking familiars even though there was no water about.    

I didn’t know what to do, whether to go up or down. There was no time to decide, the door I had come through burst open, the wild cat came at me first, I had no weapons, if I had a gun, even a sword. Nothing changed, no weapon appeared in my hands but right before the cat hit me, when I could smell the heat from its breath and taste the sickle of the grim reaper, the Lion disappeared, a kitten had replaced it, rolling around at my feet, mewing. The angel turned and ran.    

“Fear not, no harm will come to you”  

I looked up to find an elderly man at the head of the stairs, he was almost bent double barely holding on to the mopstick that he used to support himself.  

“I am Emmanuel”  

I walked up to him, followed him out onto the roof, I started to tell him the story I had told the false Emmanuel but he raised a hand to halt me.  

“I know it all, I’ve watched from the beginning, I still watch.”  

He ambled over to the edge of the roof and looked out over the battlefield, I walked up next to him.  

“Sir, please help us, look at them, they will destroy us if they go on much longer”  

Elle and Lucy were ablaze now, still locked in an intense gaze. The fighting around them had slowed as though their legions had realized that the fate of the world was being decided in that staredown. Emmanuel shook his head.  

“l want to, but I can’t. This body you see, is a prison. I’m trapped in here and all I can do is watch. In this form I can only access a fraction of my power, nothing but magic tricks, changing lions to kittens. Pitiful. I want to charge into that battle to hold both sides at bay but I cannot”  

“Why?”

I didn’t understand it, how Emmanuel, our only hope could refuse.  

“Because if I do, I will surely die”  

I was confused, why was the son of God afraid of death. A deity this powerful terrified of the grim reaper. Trapped in a body and afraid of shedding it.  

“But you have died before, at Calvary. What are you afraid of?”  

“Calvary. Human, calvary was the last time I was free, for 3 days I was free and then I was tossed back into that body and plucked from the earth.”  

“Sir, I don’t understand, if death sets you free, why are you afraid to die?”  

“Well human, death releases your soul from your body, brings you to eternity, opens your eyes to a world beyond this one, yet the survival instinct is the strongest that mankind has. Think about it, you got it from us, you were made in our image. Lucy, Elle, they just want to survive, that’s why I’m trapped in this body”  

“Why here? Why Nigeria”  

“It isn’t just Nigeria, we’re in every town in every state in every country, we’re omnipresent. The battle below you is taking place all over the world, but only here is there a human without allegiance trying to save mankind”  

I stepped away from him, I knew I needed to save us, I knew he needed to be free, if the only way to free him was to kill him, then I thought, the end justifies the means. He gave a resigned sigh just before I hit him on the back of the head with a plank I found lying around, I strung him up on the rack and nailed his hands and his feet with screwdrivers and a hammer, it was the best I could do.  

Don’t judge me. Don’t sit there and think you would have done different. Faced with the choices I had, watching him bleed out was better than waiting for Elle and Lucy to destroy us because the saviour of the world was afraid of dying.  You can relax, you can eat, you can sleep because I made the choice to set our saviour free, for no thanks, no acknowledgement.  

When Emmanuel died, I saw his spirit rise out of him. He was a child. He smiled at me before he rose off the rooftop and walked calmly through the air into the fray, as he approached peace fell, wherever his presence reached until it was just Elle and Lucy ablaze. When he touched the ground, even they broke their stare and regarded him.  

The door behind me burst open. A bullet whizzed past my head, I could hear people screaming, someone ordered me to get on the ground, when I didn’t do it fast enough, he helped. I was handcuffed and led away, but from the back seat of the police van, I could see the trio, Elle, Lucy and Emmanuel slowly ascending. The battle was over.  
You’re welcome.   It has been years since I’ve been in here. In the months that followed I tried to explain to the judge why it was necessary for me to crucify the janitor and injure the 14 people I had put in the hospital. That the security guards who had died at the gate weren’t killed by me but nobody else had seen a lion or a giant angel for that matter.     I tried to convince them that I wasn’t crazy, they didn’t agree. I’ve been at the Yaba Psychiatric Hospital since them. Sometimes Fate comes to visit, I try to tell them, they say I talk to myself, I’ve given up.

They don’t understand, but you do. You can answer the one question the police and the lawyers still can’t answer, why are there scorch marks in the middle of the road in between both secretariats?

You know the truth.