Chapter 11: The Burden of Choice

Kofi returned to Lagos alone.

The city felt normal from the airport road. Traffic. Heat. Hawkers moving between cars. Music from an open bus window.

But the Covenant chapter house was silent.

Elder Taiwo waited for him in the assembly hall.

He sat in the front row as though he were attending a ceremony.

“You failed to bring her,” Taiwo said.

Kofi remained near the entrance. “She would never have followed me.”

“She once loved you.”

Kofi’s jaw tightened.

“That is no longer yours to use.”

Taiwo smiled.

“You always had a weak understanding of power.”

He stood and walked slowly toward Kofi.

“You will return to London,” Taiwo said. “You will bring Zara before the gate opens.”

“No.”

Taiwo stopped.

Kofi met his eyes. “I will not help you.”

Taiwo raised one hand.

Kofi’s body lifted from the floor!

Pain spread through his bones.

It felt like fire burning inside the marrow.

“You think I fear the Ori?” Taiwo asked. “I have spent forty years preparing for them.”

Kofi tried to summon flame.

Nothing came.

Taiwo dropped him.

Kofi hit the floor hard.

“The world is broken because people waste their destiny,” Taiwo continued. “They choose badly. Love badly. Lead badly.”

He crouched beside Kofi.

“I will remove the burden of choice.”

Kofi looked at him and finally understood.

Taiwo did not want to release the Hollow One.

He wanted to join with it.

He wanted every destiny in the world inside himself.

That night, Kofi sent Zara a message.

Do not trust the Council. Do not trust the register. Taiwo needs both of you alive until the gate opens.

He hesitated... then wrote another.

There is something Adisa has not told you.

A knock sounded at his door.

Kofi turned.

Elder Taiwo stood outside.

“You should not have sent that.”

The lights in the building went out.