Chapter 16: An Ori Could

The Covenant hall was full.

Elders sat in rows beneath the ironwood ceiling. Guards stood near the doors. Younger members crowded the back wall, whispering.

The room smelled of incense, old wood and fear.

Then Zara entered.

Portrait of a Lady moved through the hall with her—dark rose, patchouli and incense. Conversations stopped as people turned toward the fragrance.

Some recognised it from her ceremony.

Others recognised something beneath it.

Power.

Adisa walked several steps behind her. Gris Charnel remained close to his skin, warm but guarded, like a hand resting over a hidden blade.

Folake entered with Zara’s parents.

Amouage Guidance followed her into the third row.

Three fragrances.

Three forms of power.

Elder Taiwo sat beside Elder Adekunle.

He looked harmless.

Zara stood before the broken centre of her old life—the register that had refused to name her.

The rose sharpened.

Adisa stood several feet behind her. Kofi remained near the left aisle, while Folake and Zara’s parents sat in the third row.

“This machine has been stealing from us for two hundred years,” Zara said.

The hall erupted!

Some elders shouted that she was lying. Others looked at the register with sudden fear.

A younger Covenant member near the back began to cry.

“My brother changed after his ceremony,” she said. “He was never the same.”

An elder ordered her to be silent.

Elder Funmilayo rose.

“Let her finish.”

Taiwo stood slowly.

“The register has protected this world,” he said.

Zara faced him.

Portrait of a Lady rose from her skin, the rose becoming darker.

“By taking pieces of children without their consent!”

“Small pieces.”

“You do not get to decide which part of another person is small.”

A murmur moved through the younger members.

Taiwo smiled gently.

“Power demands sacrifice.”

“Then those with power should sacrifice themselves,” Zara said. “Not children who were never told the cost.”

Elder Adekunle lifted one hand.

“Enough. Zara Osei, step onto the register.”

Adisa moved forward.

“No!”

Gris Charnel spread through the hall.

Several guards turned toward him.

Zara looked back.

Their scents met between them—rose and fig, incense and black tea.

“Let me do this,” she said.

Adisa’s jaw tightened. “You do not know what it will take.”

“Neither do they.”

Kofi left the aisle and positioned himself near the guards.

Folake remained seated, but Guidance had grown stronger around her. Zara smelled it from the centre of the hall.

Safety.

Faith.

Permission.

Zara stepped onto the register.

Black chains rose from the obsidian and wrapped around her legs.

The register tried to take her True Name.

Pain tore through her body!

Portrait of a Lady disappeared from the room.

Her mother screamed from the third row.

Adisa attacked the panel.

The hall shook.

Gris Charnel surged through the room as he forced the stone beneath Zara to hold.

“Stop him!” Elder Adekunle shouted.

The guards moved.

Kofi turned his fire against the doors, blocking them.

“No one touches him!” Kofi warned.

Elder Funmilayo looked toward Taiwo.

He was smiling.

Zara forced herself to look inside the register.

She saw every child who had stood on it.

Every stolen piece.

Every hidden name.

She understood its design.

Its history.

Its weakness.

Portrait of a Lady returned.

Not softly.

The rose exploded through the hall.

The register cracked.

Zara broke it.

The obsidian split in two!

A dark wind rose from beneath the floor.

Hundreds of stolen voices filled the chamber.

People covered their ears.

Folake stood.

Amouage Guidance pushed against the dark wind, holding the third row steady as several people collapsed around her.

Adisa reached for Zara.

Taiwo began to laugh.

Elder Funmilayo stared at him.

“You knew.”

“Of course I knew,” Taiwo answered.

The floor opened behind him.

Below stood a great stone door—covered in names.

The Gate of Names.

The wind pulled at Zara’s clothes and hair.

Portrait of a Lady fought to remain on her skin.

Taiwo looked at her.

“I could never break the register.”

His smile widened.

“But an Ori could.”