The village of Itogo had not seen rain in nearly 3 months. Crops withered under the harsh sun, and rivers that once teemed with life dried to dust. The villagers, once proud farmers, now watched their lands crumble to nothing. Many left to seek refuge in distant places, but some stayed, hoping that the rain would return.
At the heart of the village lived Inori, the daughter of the great rainmaker, Akpan. Her father had been revered for his ability to summon rain with rituals passed down through generations. But Akpan has gone now, taken by illness during the worst of the drought. Without him, the village seemed lost, and with each passing day, more people begged Inori to follow in her father’s footsteps.
But Inori had never learned the rituals. As a child, she had rejected her father’s teachings, fascinated more by the stories of travelers and the wonders of the outside world than by the slow, meticulous craft of rainmaking. Now, standing at the edge of the empty riverbed, she regretted that decision.
One night, after another failed attempt by the village elders to call for rain, Inori found herself alone in her father’s old hut. His instruments were still there; feathers, cowrie shells, gourds filled with sacred water, but they meant nothing to her. She was no rainmaker.
As she touched her father’s drum, something within her stirred. A voice whispered from deep within her memory: “The rain does not come from the sky alone, but from the spirit within.”
Table of contents
Chapter 1: The Drought
Chapter 2: The Forgotten Ritual
Chapter 3: The Journey to the Ancestors
Chapter 4: The Test of Sacrifice
Chapter 5: The First Rain
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