BANYAZI

The world went black.

Mandamus felt a weird, pulling sensation, like being dragged through thick, cold mud. One second, he was in the New Hall, the air thick with the smell of blood and fear. The next, nothing. No sound, no light. He felt Demetrius's dead weight on one shoulder and Dante's surprisingly light frame on the other. He held on tight. This was some next-level juju, and he wasn't about to get lost in it.

Then, just as fast, light flooded his vision.

He blinked, his eyes adjusting. The hard tile of the university was gone, replaced by dusty red earth. He looked around. They were in some kind of compound. Small, blocky houses stood around them. A goat tied to a pole stared at him, chewing slowly. Mandamus let go of his friends. Dante stumbled but stayed on his feet. Demetrius, however, slumped to the ground, completely limp and unresponsive.

Watson, Anne, Natasha, and Taonga appeared a second later.

Watson, weak and barely able to stand, scanned his surroundings and locked eyes with a brown dog that stared at him like he was nothing more than meat.

"Where are we?" Natasha asked, her voice trembling as she helped Taonga stand.

Anne wasn't listening. Her eyes immediately found Demetrius on the ground. The sight stole the air from her lungs.

"Meech!" she screamed, rushing to his side. She dropped to her knees, her hands hovering over him, afraid to touch. "What happened? What's wrong with him? He was fine just a minute ago!" She looked up at Mandamus, her face a mix of panic and accusation. "You were with him! What happened?!"

Mandamus just shook his head. "I don't know. One minute he was good, the next he just… screamed and passed out."

Tears welled in Anne's eyes as she gently touched Demetrius's face. His skin was cold. "Meech… please, wake up," she whispered, her voice breaking. "You promised. You promised you'd protect me."

Before the panic could fully take hold, the screen door of the nearest house creaked open. A man who looked like an older, more tired version of Dante stepped out. A woman followed him. She had a calm face, but her eyes seemed to see right through them all.

"Dante. Wanenu?(friends of yours)," the man said. His voice was low and steady. "Is that one alive?"

Dante swayed on his feet, looking drained. "Mommy. Daddy. Takwachiba ama solutions(there were no solutions) and yes, he's alive, just out cold."

His mother walked forward. Her gaze swept over the scene, lingering on Anne crying over Demetrius's still form. "These are the signs mwanawandi(my child). These are the signs of the last days," she said, her voice soft but firm. "Bring the boy inside. The gods of the dark have brought you home. Now, let us see what else they have brought."

While they sought refuge, the madness they had fled raged on.

A girl sprinted through the main gates of the Leopards Hill campus. In her hand, she clutched a small object wrapped in bark and bone—the Kapuyi. The air around her shimmered, bending the light. To the soldiers posted nearby, she was just a flicker, a heat haze they didn't even bother to look at. She vanished down Leopards Hill road, the relic hiding her from a world gone mad.

At the Mass Media campus, another student found his own way out. Cornered and desperate, he pulled a small wooden bird charm from his pocket. He held it up, and his body began to twist and change. Bones cracked. Feathers sprouted. With a powerful cry, an eagle shot into the sky, leaving the chaos behind.

The Zambian Army finally moved in on both campuses. It wasn't a rescue. It was a cleanup. They moved from room to room, their guns firing without pause.

"Yanda boi! Nivi chani ivi? (What the hell are these?)" one soldier shouted, eyes wide at the bodies on the floor. "These were students, exe. Fuck."

"Fanan mwaiche, kazishooter chikala(keeping shooting dickhead). This is witchcraft exe, ya bang bally."

When it was over, the soldiers walked through the silence. They found the bodies of their own men, the ex-soldiers Hamudula had sent. They had been killed by students. The captain of the army unit at leopards hill campus stared at a wall that was completely shattered. "What in the world did this?" he whispered.

The same question echoed within the walls of State House.

President Harambe Harambe stood by the large window of his office, staring out at a capital city that no longer felt like his own. The frantic energy of the morning had collapsed into a heavy, suffocating dread.

The door opened. Honourable Suzyo Muyangana entered, his uniform immaculate once more, but his face was etched with a weariness that went bone-deep. He held a satellite phone, which he placed on the President's polished desk with a quiet, final click.

"The situation at the universities has been contained, Your Excellency," Muyangana said, his voice flat, devoid of emotion.

Harambe didn't turn. "Contained?" he scoffed, the word tasting like ash. "Don't use that word with me, Suzyo. What are the numbers?"

Muyangana took a deep breath. "I just got off the line with the commander of the 1st Infantry Brigade. His men have secured both campuses. The reports… are difficult to verify. We have casualties in the hundreds. Students, staff… and all of Hamudula's insurgents."

"All of them?" Harambe turned, a flicker of something unreadable in his eyes. "Our forces eliminated them?"

This was the moment Muyangana had been dreading. "No, sir," he said slowly. "That's the problem. Our forces found them already dead. It appears they were… neutralized… during the chaos."

The President's face hardened. "Neutralised by whom? The students?"

"We don't know how," Muyangana admitted, the words feeling like a personal failure. "The official reports are a mess. There are no witnesses. The scenes are… inexplicable. It's a complete mystery. All we know for certain is that Hamudula's elite soldiers, men trained for any contingency, were killed. And the students who were last seen in direct confrontation with them are gone."

"Gone?" Harambe's voice cracked. "What do you mean, 'gone'? A whole campus of people, and they just vanished?"

"It appears so. One moment, they were there; the next, they weren't." Muyangana slid a tablet across the desk. On the screen were four grainy, enhanced images pulled from campus security footage before it was wiped.

The faces of Demetrius, Dante, Mandamus, and Watson stared back.

"We have their identities," Muyangana said. "First-year law students. We're digging into their backgrounds, but we are operating in an information vacuum. We don't know if they are the perpetrators, if they were victims, or if they were taken by a third party."

President Harambe sank into his chair, looking like a man who had aged a decade in a single day. He stared at the faces on the screen. They were just boys. But they were at the centre of an impossible event.

"So, let me get this straight," the President said, his voice a low, dangerous whisper. "Hamudula has a specialised team of killers. We have a group of missing students who may or may not be super-powered assets. And we, the government of Zambia, are left with nothing but bodies and a mystery we can't solve."

Muyangana's jaw tightened. "That is an accurate summary, Your Excellency."

A long silence filled the room. Then, President Harambe looked up, his eyes no longer filled with fear, but with a cold, hard resolve.

"Then solve it, Suzyo," he ordered. "I don't care what it takes. Find out who those students are. Find out what happened on those campuses. And find Hamudula. This is no longer a coup. It's a shadow war. And I will not be the president who loses it."

In a dimly lit hotel room somewhere in Lusaka, Commander Benzu Hamudula stared at a laptop screen. The feed was alive, chaotic. His plan was working perfectly. The government was panicking.

Then, a new report came in. A secure file. He opened it. It was footage from the university. He saw his elite soldiers, his best men, being taken down. By kids. He zoomed in, his jaw tightening as he saw their faces. Demetrius. Dante. Mandamus and Watson.

"So," Hamudula said to the empty room. "The rats have teeth."

He had planned for chaos. But he had not planned for these Kamfwiti students. They were a problem. A problem that needed a permanent solution.

His advisor's voice came through the laptop's speakers. "Sir, the targets have been identified. They possess significant abilities. We need a specialized team. I have compiled a list of our most suitable assets, based on their own unique talents."

An image of a soldier appeared on the screen, followed by a name and a description.

"Captain Lazat Black."

Asset Description: Leader of the operation. An expert in Ng'ombe Ndembo, allowing him to shapeshift into a monstrous, horned beast. His rage is his greatest weapon. He is the older brother of the target, Izukanji Black.

The next file opened.

"Lieutenant Tiron Banda. Codename: Blue Eagle."

Asset Description: Wielder of the bird charm. He can transform into a giant hawk, granting him aerial superiority, speed and superhuman sight. Perfect for tracking.

"Cadet Harem Mwenzi."

Asset Description: A skilled hand-to-hand combatant. She uses her own technique, code-named Smoke—a variant of Chibolya's ndembo, developed by the natives of the John Leng settlement. She is from the same hometown as one of the students, Demetrius Phungamakofi.

Commander Hamudula's face tightened.

"Sergeant Tembo Kudzwayo."

Asset Description: A master of Chibolya Ndembo. A ruthless and efficient killer.

Hamudula watched as the list continued to scroll, each soldier a deadly weapon in his arsenal.

"Lieutenant Obi Lazo."

Asset Description: A tactician with mastery in the specialized use of charms for both defensive and offensive strategies. Known as the fastest man with firearms.

"Cadet Godspeed Gondwe." Unmatched speed.

"Lieutenant Kaputo Ikazizila." A user of fear-based illusions.

"Second Lieutenant Guycode Watsa." Known as the blood bender. His title says it all.

"Cadet Joy Lihule." An expert with bladed weapons and her specialty lies in her ability to manipulate men with her body.

"Cadet Nicholas Chudleigh." A sadist who enjoys the hunt.

"Lieutenant Ghost Sakayi" — The Sharpshooter. The team's expert sniper.

"Lastly, Captain Larry — the second-in-command, known for his icy precision as a strategist and his mastery of ndembo from both Makululu and Misisi."

Hamudula closed the laptop. He picked up his phone and sent a single encrypted message to the entire team:

"Operation Litchyoba is a go. Eliminate all targets. Capture the individual known as Phungamakofi alive and bring him in. Exercise full discretion and employ any necessary measures to accomplish the mission. Failure will not be tolerated"

"Sir!" the selected soldiers responded in unison over the comms.

"Man what the fuck are dreams bruh? That's why I believe there's a God. I believe in God and I think dreams are like future vision. Giving you the edge on life but if you slack, then life's gonna make it's move. Shits like chess you know. Shit anyway, checkmate old man." Mandamus said to Dante's Father...

To be continued.

Thank you for reading this book. Stay tuned for volume 2.