TRAILING SHADOWS

Ijinle Orun(1) towered high into the air, standing proudly amongst other buildings. A sense of majestic splendour seemed to radiate from this centurian old structure that had housed and groomed the greatest heroes of all times.

It's wall were roughened, patch here and scratch there,revealing the long old scars of battle that it had faced. All buildings in Orun had the ability to regenerate themselves but this Ijinle Orun structure was not so. It could, but it was unable however to rid itself of battle scars and training aftermaths.

A reminder of Eledumare that nothing worthwhile was cheap, some leaders had theorized. Not even Ijinle Orun which was the headquarter academy of all Irunmole Academies in Orun.

It was here, that the grading system was implemented. The grading system was a process of Classifying Irunmoles according to their soul strength and abilities, the lowest of all classes being the "Basic Class'.

The building was sectioned into three, symbolising the three Godhead that made up Eledumare or The Trinity as modern religions would come to classify it.

The left part was dedicated to Olokun; Owner of the Oceans and Seas while the right was to Olorun; Owner of the skies and space and finally, the middle was to the aspect of Eledumare that first came to existence, Olofin, the owner of secrets.

It was from him, creation power emanated from. However, that didn't place one of them more important that the other. After all, together, they were regarded as Eledumare.

The Academy was very spacious, containing empty parcels of land for camping and training. Each essential to the levelling up of the basic Irunmole.

Basic, because, a low level irumole was incapable of training himself and even unskilled in determining his soul class hence the existence of Ijinle Orun. But that didn't apply to high level irunmoles because, those ones were able to detect the changes and growth to their soul and their understanding of the Aspectual Laws that held Reality together.

And since the sole essence of Irunmole existence was to create a formidable army, capable of vanquishing and repelling the forces of darkness, the Orisha had spared nothing in ensuring that the Irunmoles were well groomed for battle.

Down below, was a beehive of activities, typical of a school setting. Irunmoles walked here and there, bands of light glittering visibly on their arms and legs despite the clothing.

A Pegasus trotted here, accompanied by a burly elderly Irunmole, a upholstery belt seated on his waist. Opposite him was a much younger Irunmole running along, two common Classed leopards, trying to nibble at his feet. On his arm was band that shone occasionally, the emblem of his soul class etched on it. A team of Irunmole matched apast him, with eyes focused on whatever mission they had been assigned.

Besides them, some people practised tree archery. Pulling bow strings as they aimed at target placed on trees. A little ahead of the trees was another group of Irunmole, wearing backpacks, each holding a staff as they wobbled through the vegetation.

Everywhere was busy and that seemed right. The typical Academy Environment.

Under one of the many archway entrances, stood a group of Five Irunmoles, each with their class band at their arms while wearing white leather armour stood nervously.

Just then an older female Irunmole came into view, donning a kimono on a short blue gown, her feet padded with gladiator sandals whilst a dagger rested in a pouch on her belt.

She pulled out a scroll and she read. Before that, she had given each of them a cursory look as if trying to gauge their nervousness.

"Shola, Wole, Ibiyemi, Funsho, Toyosi, this is the parchment for our outdoor levelling exercise. An exercise that would likely prove whether or not you are to move to the next class Elite. Please note that even if you fail in gathering enough experience points in levelling up to Elite Class, you can still opt for Messenger Rank. Instead of repeating this test, seeing how Messenger Ranks are quite easy to obtain. And if Eledumare deems it fit, you might as well ascend the ranks faster than presumed. " She paused her reading from the scroll and watched her audience ago, noting beads of sweat dropping from the shin of their foreheads.

And she didn't quite blame them. Not many people would d.e.s.i.r.e to be Messenger Ranked Irunmoles, when they could just easily skip that class to Elite passing the Ijinle Orun test system.

In the Irunmole heirachy, a Messenger classes Irunmole was the next class after Basic and that meant that they were going on errands of the orisha, plying both heaven and other dimensions regularly, occasionally accompanied by Elite Irunmole to protect them.

But the convoy of Elite didn't stay once the Messengers got outside the Ilu Orun. Hence some top messenger Irunmoles had decided to build a classification system amongst them that showed who and who was capable of battle as well as running errands as some errands were quite dangerous and required skills to pull through

Their ranking consisted of A, B, C, D with A as the toughest rank. A basic rank D was only capable of running errands. A C ranked could run errands, and use molded weapons to battle with basic moves. A B ranked was possible of infusing essence into their weapon to make a more dangerous outcome. A ranked however, could tap into basic laws, possessed an aura , could use long range essence imbued attack.

Even with all that, an A ranked Messenger Irunmole was equivalent to an Elite Classes Irunmole, or on the scale of a superhuman genius. Not much could be d.e.s.i.r.ed from staying put in it's ranks since that would mean, being unable to partake in long term battle's and also, it just seemed really hard for a Messenger class to break it Elite. After all, they were quite some Irunmoles who had lived most of their lives, stuck in Messenger Class.

"This team would be assigned to North Western Forests, at the outskirts of The Ilu Obatala. You are madated to perform a search and rescue for any Irunmole stuck in unseeming conditions as a result of the battle between The High Council and the Rare Type Beast. "

GASP!

The whole team gasped, mouths dropped down low as they stared at their Olukọni(2) Mayowa.

She rolled her eyes, sighing as she did.

"Come on, this is just a help and help situation. Not a battle and rescue one. You would never be given tasks higher than your levels, you know."

"Olokuni, wait oh, the place you're saying we are assigned to is the place where a Rare Type ... Rare Type beast oh, is" Wole gestured, pointing a finger at the air.

He had an afro and a nice body build, currently the strongest in this group and the most promising. His band gleamed, a dull white signifying that be was at the edge of breaking through to the next class. A pseudo Messenger Class at most, and by the need of today, if successful, an Elite Class Irunmole.

"Oh, come on, Wole, need I say that the area has been cleared already? That's why this mission is yours to complete. Otherwise, you wouldn't have been assigned this at all. " Olokuni Mayowa spoke, hands on her h.i.p.s.

"Now, time is of essence, My fellows. It's high time you get there and amass all the experience as possible. Butttt..."

"But what?" A boy with short dreadlocks spoke, speaking amdist wheezes. His nervousness and worry had blown the top already. He was not so much like Wole but still possessed some potential that shone from his eyes.

"But, occasionally, you might run into some uncertainties. Maybe a group of Omni or even Alphas that may stop you..."

"What??..." The team gasped.

"Let me finish, Mayowa raised a hand to the air, silencing the group, You are not expected to just bail out on whatever difficulties you experience. You must face them or at least hold till you can beat your way past them. Each success you get would be recorded in your Soul Matrix which is your badge or insignia as experience points. A certain number of experience points would determine , if exceeded, whether or not you are to upgrade and jump into Elite class. Good luck on that, my basic Classed Irunmoles. May Eledumare lead you through." Olokun Mayowa said before blurring out of existence.

(T/N)

1. Heaven Academy

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