The women reach for Eshu’s eyes and slowly pry at human, he squirms as they do.

  The women say coldly, “What part of your life isn’t false? Isn’t faked?”

  The women’s faces begin to look disgusted, “There’s no authentic thing in your life, is there?”

  The women then tilt their head out of curiosity, the tone changing into something more amused if anything, “The fear, that’s what is authentic. That’s the only true emotion there.”

  Eshu slaps away their hand, finally getting defensive. His gaze shifting between the women and his once nervous smile is now an annoyed snarl.

  He spews, “This isn’t my trial, so don’t you judge m-“

  The women interrupt, “The Eloko would kill you, you’re nothing but food.”

  He raises his voice somewhat, “I told you, this isn’t my tr-“

  The women smile slowly as they continue, “The Oyo kingdom simply view you as an inconsequential speck, another civilian…”

  He sits further back in his seat with a cocky dominance, “Where are you going with this? You think you’re some wise sage?”

  The women always start laughing, “And the Sasabonsam banished you because you were a failure in evolution! A day walker!”

  He finally gets out of his seat in their face, “Watch yourself.”

  He demonstrates his sharp canines, a sign of being a member of the Sasabonsam.

  The women finally say it, “A weakling who can’t even stay awake for too long! You’re a nothing! Your family is ashamed of you!”

  Eshu scoffs and walks off, it got darker and darker until he saw a light. He was back at the feast, he can’t escape. So he decides to stand in corner. The women morph into a singular one, a woman whose beauty seemed in human yet you could tell her eyes has committed atrocities. Her hair shined with a hint of crimson. She looked at him with the sane superiority in her gaze that her previous form had.

  She said, “Babalú-Ayé.”

  With a disgust that reminded the man of what he’d done to her, how he treated her. His anger fading and shame taking control.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  He stuttered out quietly, “O-oya…”

  The woman watched the man’s nervous reaction, “You didn’t do better. You didn’t change, like you promised.”

  Babalú-Ayé says, “I know, but I’ve made some progr-“

  Oya injects, “Lying to yourself and making 2 steps forward then 5 back isn’t progress. You still haven’t moved because you’re still doing the same damn thing.”

  Babalú-Ayé shuts down, Oya continued, “What happened to me being the last girl? You weren’t going to do any more ‘relationships’ until you’re better. This qualifies as better?”

  Babalú-Ayé quietly retorts, “They came into me, I don’t know what I was supposed to do…”

  Oya combats, “You think I’ll believe that crap? Anytime a woman shows you any HINT of affection, you jump at it. You could’ve said no, but you played into it because it made you not feel so pathetic.”

  She grabs his face and pulls it put so he’s looking her in the eyes, “You don’t even have the decency to look at me when I’m talking to you.”

  The man looked at his former lover with such emptiness in his eyes, he proceed to retreat into his thoughts as he stared her down, “She’s…not real. But does that even matter if everything she says feels true. Does she even think this? What am I thinking? It doesn’t matter if she thinks this way, it’s still true. I’m a piece of shit. I can’t do anything to change, it’s always the ‘wrong’ thing. It’s always the WRONG THING! WHAT DO I-“

  He ends up blurting out, “…DO?! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO BE BETTER?! I TRIED!”

  Her face only snarling more, showing her fangs when she spews out, “You’re doing it again. Begging someone else to save you when you KNOW what to do. Learn some damn restraint, you can do it. You just give up half way through all the time. All the time. It was so frustrating loving you. You’re a leech, you pull people in with either pity or changing yourself to be who they like then you slowly reveal the real you. The shitty bastard who doesn’t love anyone or anything.”

  Eshu picks his nails in the corner, thinking to himself, “What am I supposed to do to even help this guy? That voice, what was it even talking about?”

  Then a slight bleeding occurs when he picks a little too deep, he notices the blood trickling down the side of his thumb.

  He thinks, “Pain seems to be a constant in all beings, emotional and physical. If pain is a universal experience, then could that be used as a way to connect? Is that what I’m supposed to do? But why should he know my pain? That’s only leverage, only the spark of Co-dependency. Is that even genuine? What’s genuine? If authenticity is different depending on the person, how do I know I’m being ‘real’ enough for someone? How authentic should I be? Everyone switches their faces, so how am I any different? If nobody is truly authentic then, why should I be?”

  The boy squeezes his thumb more and forces the blood out more, it drained into his palm and slowly flowed out.

  His thoughts on the other hand, flowed at a faster rate, “What if that voice was in my head? Does that mean I show ‘authentic’ concern for people since my mind is trying to trick me into kindness? Or it could be part of this trial, Olorun trying to make push me into a certain path. Would that be ‘authentic’ since it’s what I was made for? Again, what would be the point?! If Olorun will push me into that route, why hurry the process? Why force myself to change when I’ll do it anyway? Yeah, it’s all pointless.”

  Yet something inside of him can’t stop being bothered by Oya. She’s a Sasabonsam. Even if this is a fake version of her, it causes discomfort. More than when he was being berated, it’s the kind of discomfort that one can’t get rid of easy. Like bugs crawling underneath your skin and you can’t tear them out. They’re festering inside you, multiplying.

  Eshu says, “Give him a chance to actually meet her. This fake trial crap isn’t going to be enough to prove whatever point you’re making, you know that right? I don’t care if you bug him for the rest of his life but, you’ve put him in a no win situation. How can he prove he can change if not given the chance? Or will he just be here for the rest of eternity simply being lectured?”

  His outburst made Oya smirk then holds her hand out. Immediately with a wave of hand, pulls him over before he can react. The distance he created now eviscerated.

  She says in a more familiar tone, almost talking down to him, “I was getting to that, day walker. But, what prompted such a SPECtator like yourself to only know speak up? Did I strike a nerve, or are you simply impatient?”

  Eshu gets in her face and says, “Can’t a guy get bored of the same repetitive song and dance?”

  She chuckles and suddenly tendrils drag both boys out of the feast. With the area now cleared out, she waves away the darkness easily. She looks down on this small model town, the same town that Sopona is in.

  She says to herself, “Let’s see what you have in store.~”