"for the beauty of the rose, we also water the thorns."
Descendant of Loa lineage, Karliah Shango stems from masters of Haitian and the old Oyo Empire Vodou. After the nuclear wipe out, she finds herself thrown into leadership with little comprehe...
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A deep breath rattled through Michael's nose as his eyes fell shut. He sat surrounded by several candles, blood spilling from his arms and pooling among the ground beneath him.
"I fear I've grown weak, father." he murmured, dragging his blood-ridden fingers on the ground to form a pentagram. He shook his head, "The girl, she's strong, perhaps stronger than me."
A familiar presence grew within his head, beckoning that of an explanation from the man.
"She was born to restore what's left of the world we've created," anger radiated from his words, "I can't let her. I won't let her. I can strike her down where she stands all I need is your guidance."
He squeezed his eyes shut, brows furrowed as he focused on the voice within his head. Snakes began to rise from the pool of blood beneath him as the voice grew louder, heavier and demanding of all and any attention.
His chest rose and fell, "She stands a threat, and it's all she will ever be unless-"
He paused, the booming voice seemingly contradicting him.
His black eyes fell open, staring at the ground as he sought out an answer to being. "What is power without control," he repeated, seemingly tasting the words on his tongue. A sly smile suddenly grew on his face, "I won't disappoint, father," he hummed.
»»————- ————-««
Karliah gave a final pressed smile to an old woman as she made her way out of the throne room, allowing her and her council to sigh heavily upon her leave.
"I thought she would never shut up." Markus exclaimed, eliciting a chuckle from Asim.
Idella hummed, "I thought she was quite interesting,"
"You're the most boring one here of course you thought Mrs. Femi and her seven grandchildren were fucking interesting." Markus spat in annoyance.
"Enough," Karliah grumbled, biting back a laugh as Asim snorted. She shook her head, drawing a line through Adesh Femi's name on her list, along with sixty three other names that'd suffered the same fate. The division was on the second day of their hunt for someone to fill Kweku Shango's chair, and it was deemed anything if not an understatement to say they'd yet to find anyone to interest them, nonetheless someone responsible enough to fill a seat on the division.
She tuned out Markus and Idella's bickering, calling out to the steward at the door, "Allow the next one in."
The man nodded in response, opening the door to allow a woman in the room. The division leaders directed their attention to the smiling woman in front of them as the queen glanced down at her list, "Lourdes La Sirène, descendant of Mami Wata," she read off.
