The Lost king

Scene 1 – The Nightmare Realm:

A heavy fog coils around the souls of the fallen rebels. Morenike walks through the crumbling dreamscape, weakened by her trance, but still holding firm. Each step distorts time. The very fabric of memory twists, pulling her deeper. The air pulses with fear, and somewhere above them, a sky of ash and shadow looms.

From the darkness, Bankode's shadow takes shape: a towering figure, robed in smoke and bleeding darkness from its eyes.

> "These are not dreams," the shadow growls. "They are truths you run from."

He raises his hand — and the final trials begin.

---

Bayo's Trial – "Fire That Frees"

Bayo finds himself in a quiet compound in Ibadi. His mother calls from the door, his little sister runs to hug him. His father greets him with warm pride.

> "Come home, Bayo. You've suffered enough."

He stays. Days pass. Laughter. Warm food. Peace. But each night, screams echo from outside the gate — faint cries of prisoners, of rebel brothers. His blade lies untouched by the door.

He realizes: this is not peace. It is surrender.

He lights a torch. His family watches, no longer smiling.

> "You were always going to leave us again," his father whispers.

The house burns. Tears fall. As the flames rise, Bayo walks out, eyes fixed forward.

> "I'll carry you with me... but I can't stay."

---

Akinmule's Trial – "Reflections of the Butcher"

He enters a long hall of mirrors. Each reflection shows a different face: the ruthless general, the betrayer, the killer of innocents. He smashes each glass in anger.

But then, a final mirror appears. A small boy, scared, armor too big for his frame. The first time he took a life. The beginning of it all.

Akinmule kneels.

> "You didn't choose the war… but I did choose who I became."

The boy reaches out. They merge. The hall shatters, but Akinmule stands whole for the first time in years.

---

Damilola's Trial – "The Spirit Sister"

Chained in a small hut, Damilola sees Durojaiye—the monster of her past. Her limbs are weak, her voice silent. He laughs.

Then her sister's spirit appears, clothed in white, her hands warm and firm.

> "You don't fight him alone this time."

Together, they face Durojaiye. She screams—once weak, now strong. Damilola breaks the chains. Her sister wraps her arms around her.

> "You lived, Dami. That was always enough for me."

The memory fades. Peace replaces the scream.

---

Moremi's Trial – "The Farewell"

The ruins of her family compound. Blood everywhere. Wale's body lies still.

Moremi drops her sword, crawling to him.

> "I wasn't strong enough, brother."

Wale opens his eyes.

> "You've always been strong enough. But it's time to stop carrying my death… and start fighting for the living."

They embrace. The earth shakes.

> "Don't let the past become your cage, sister."

As he disappears into golden dust, Moremi picks up her blade again—no longer weeping.

---

Yemi's Trial – "The Weight of Silence"

He stands on a cliff, watching Chief Alade die over and over. He screams, throws his sword, punches the earth. Nothing changes.

Chief Alade appears behind him.

> "So what now, boy? Will you break each time the wind changes?"

Yemi doesn't respond.

He simply picks up his sword, holds it tightly, and walks toward the edge.

> "I won't let your death define me. I'll lead—not because I'm ready… but because no one else will."

The cliff vanishes. The sword glows in his hands.

---

Femi's Trial – "The Quiet Courage"

Ayomide and Damilola scream his name as they fall from a crumbling tower. He runs but can't reach them. He hesitates. They vanish.

He sobs, falling to his knees.

> "I always wait. Always watch. I'm no warrior."

Then he hears Damilola's voice.

> "But you never left us."

Femi stands, even as fire rains from the sky.

> "Then I won't run now."

He faces the storm — and walks through it.

---

Adeola's Trial – "The Legacy"

He stands in a throne room burning to ash. The spirits of King Abiola and the Queen appear before him.

> "You were hidden to survive," Abiola says. "But the fire of Ayo still runs through your veins."

The Queen touches his face.

> "What was stolen can be taken back. But your crown is not your purpose. Your purpose is the people."

They reveal a flash of the betrayal—Adekunle's sword, the night fire consumed the palace.

Adeola bows.

> "I am not your shadow, Uncle. I am your reckoning."

He rises, the sword of his father glowing in his hand.

🔥 Final Scene: Morenike vs Shadow Bankode – "The Light Against the Dark"

In the heart of the collapsing nightmare realm, the air burns cold — a paradox of heatless fire and drowning shadows. The sky above churns like a storm in a bottle, spirals of dark mist crashing into invisible walls. The heroes, still locked in their personal trials, hang in stasis.

Only Morenike stands, her breath heavy, her feet planted firmly. Her staff pulses with faint blue light, flickering like a dying star.

Then, the Shadow of Bankode steps forth. Not a man, but a crawling form of smoke with glowing red eyes like smoldering coals. His voice is oil poured over fire.

> "You would tear down what took lifetimes to build? You, daughter of a castaway priest?"

Morenike steadies her grip. Her robes shimmer with ancestral glyphs now glowing, responding to the ancient magic around her.

> "I am not just his daughter… I am every voice you silenced. Every truth you buried."

The shadow lunges first, extending a tendril of darkness shaped like a blade. Morenike twirls her staff, intercepting it with a crackle of blue light. Sparks fly, scattering across the dream-sky like stars.

BOOM.

A pulse of darkness explodes, sending her sliding across the nightmare plain. She hits the edge of a broken memory — a crumbled palace wall — and groans.

The shadow mocks her.

> "Your strength is borrowed. Mine is earned — through blood, war, and fear!"

He rises into the air, summoning the screaming silhouettes of the past — victims of the Ojora Empire's magic, swirling around him like a cloak of the damned. He hurls them at her.

Morenike closes her eyes. Whispering forgotten incantations, she slams her staff into the ground. A ring of golden runes erupts, shielding her. The ghosts hit the barrier, shrieking before vanishing into vapor.

> "You twist their pain into weapons. I carry their names as memory!"

She rises into the air, feet lifted by pure force. Her staff extends, transforming into a spear of light, shaped like the crescent moon.

Bankode roars and hurls a spear of darkness back. They clash mid-air, sparks flying in arcs. The dream realm trembles, showing glimpses of the waking world — rebels screaming, warriors falling, hope flickering.

Morenike and the Shadow duel fiercely.

She parries each strike of black flame with a swirl of her staff.

He lashes out, creating chains of smoke to trap her limbs.

She breaks free, chanting in the tongue of the ancestors, summoning an ancestral lion spirit to roar at her side and leap into the fray.

In a final desperate move, the Shadow of Bankode impales her side with a jagged spike of darkness. She screams in pain, staggering.

He leans close, hissing:

> "Your light fades…"

Blood on her lip, eyes burning, Morenike whispers:

> "My light… is reborn."

She slams her palm to the ground. The dream realm shatters like glass. A wave of pure ancestral fire erupts from her body, turning everything white.

Bankode's shadow screams, melting and tearing at the seams.

> "No! I am the silence between kings—!"

> "And I am the voice between worlds."

With a final cry, she hurls her staff into his chest.

The Shadow explodes into a thousand sparks, swallowed by light.

---

💫 Aftermath

The realm quiets.

All around, the heroes awaken — sweating, gasping, whole. The nightmares are gone.

Morenike, bleeding but standing, collapses to one knee.

> "They're free," she whispers, before darkness overtakes her.

Back in the real world, in a temple far away, the real Bankode gasps, grabbing his chest. His eyes go wild. He looks into the fire pit where his magic once flowed.

> "This girl…"

"She should not exist…"

He turns toward Adekunle, filled with dread.

> "We must not delay. The line of Abiola is rising…"

And so the tide turns — not with blades alone, but

with courage, pain, and truth.

--

Final Scene – The Awakening

Each hero awakens one by one.

They are not the same.

Their eyes hold pain, peace, and resolve. Their nightmares are behind them, but their enemies lie ahead.

Bankode staggers in his temple, coughing blood.

> "They should have