Between the worlds, where truth walks unhidden.
Each step Mama Ife took reverberated through the air like the tolling of a sacred bell. The Ashen Stair, suspended in the sky, shimmered under her feet—made not of stone or metal, but of memory and spirit. Every stair she climbed pulsed with history—an ethereal current that flowed with the echoes of thousands who had once reached for sight beyond sight.
Cradled in her arms, Chuka trembled—his body wracked by pain no healer could soothe. Blood still wept from his eyes, but they were open wide now, pupils drowned in a sea of silver-white, glowing dimly like moons swallowed in mist.
"Stay with me, boy," Mama Ife whispered. Her grip on him tightened, not just with strength but love, fear, and duty interwoven.
She was nearing the peak. The Eye of Enoch awaited.
And it was watching.
As she crested the final stair, the world changed.
The winds stopped.
