Naagin (rise of the serpent)

I stared at the old lady with a confused expression. Though it may look like she didn't see my confused expression, but I knew she noticed. The smile on her face immediately widened as I stared at her continuously.

"What truth are you talking about and why is this truth associated with Hijirar's Temple?" I asked immediately we got to the foot of the hill.

The old lady didn't answer me. She only continued walking. Her face was still plastered with a weird smile that somehow gave me a weird feeling.

I shrugged my shoulders as she didn't want to answer my question. But the feeling that I had was really nagging me. I felt that she was hiding something from me or maybe so I thought.

"There's a reason why I can't answer that question of yours" old lady Papirus said drawing my attention once again.

"Why can't you answer my question?" I asked as we both walked through the tall trees.

I looked back at the hill and it seemed like we had walked a few meters away from the hill.

"It's your father that will be the one to answer that question for you" the old lady answered, looking at me with her ever weird smile.

"I don't understand, how are my parents associated to Hijirar's temple?" I asked once again.

Old lady Papirus sighed. She stopped walking as she came face to face with me. She weirdly stared at me for what seemed like eternity. I knew a lot of things were going through her mind.

As we stared at each other like we were having a staring contest, the wind abruptly blew around us.

My eyes caught sight of Ovie at the top of the hill. He smiled at me as I looked at him. The old lady followed my gaze and also looked at Ovie.

Ovie waved at me and I couldn't help but smile.

"There are things that I can't reveal to you, Naagin" the old lady said catching back my attention.

I withdrew my gaze from Ovie at the Top of the hill and settled it on the old lady.

"Why can't some things be revealed to me?"

"For you to know that you were lead into this forest for a reason. For you to know that you are not just an ordinary secondary school girl" the old lady said with a smirk.

With that being said, the old lady sighed again and immediately continued walking.

I looked back at the top of the hill expecting to see Ovie again. Maybe to give him a goodbye smile or a wave. But he wasn't there again, maybe he had gone over to the old lady's garden. It was only a spirit rabbit that stared at me with curiosity. I flashed the spirit rabbit a smile and started walking,in order to catch up with old lady Papirus.

Both me and the old lady spent the rest of the journey in silence. Each of us contemplating on our little argument. There were times when I tried to say something in order to end the unbearable silence, but I didn't have courage. But I knew for sure, the old lady was hiding something from me which I was going to find out very soon.

As we walked through the vast land of the Umuguor forest, I got to see how beautiful the forest really was. Coupled with cute little spirits that had nature energy, everything about the Umuguor forest was beautiful. We also came across a spirit squirrel that had the powers of lightning. A lot of spirits in the Umuguor forest really had powers.

But contemplating on things again,if the old lady was taking me to Hijirar's temple for me to know the truth about my parents,then it only means my parents are somehow associated with Hijirar. Could that be the reason why I was selected for the mission of eradicating Huck and the whole of Agbejor community?

Maybe it could be or maybe it could not.

We came across two paths. Strangely, both paths looked familiar. One led to a to land filled with grain crops while the other was somewhat unfamiliar. If I could remember clearly, the first path filled with grain crops was were I had originally killed a mysterious (if not magical) bear. I could remember vividly how I took off its head after a good fight.

And as for the other path, I could feel strange raw energy coming out of the other path. The other path was filled with tall trees that blocked the sunlight. The other path seemed to be a sacred area in the Umuguor forest.

"You should be really familiar with the path that has a lot of grain crops" the old lady said jolting me out of my thoughts.

"Yeah," I spoke with an awkward smile. "It was were I had killed the bear that chased both me and Ovie deeper into the forest".

"You both were already leaving the forest, but it chased you back?" Old lady Papirus asked.

"Yep!".

We both stopped right in front of the two paths. I looked at the old lady, trying to access her mood and trying to find why she had stopped. But as usual,her weird smile greeted me when I had looked at her face.

"You know what?" Old lady Papirus asked.

"What?"

"Do you know who had cultivated and planted the grain crops?" The old lady asked looking at me with her weird smile.

I shook my head sideways.

"Would you have believed if I told you that it was Arizona who had cultivated and planted these grain crops?"

"You mean Arizona, the former priestess before you?" I asked.

The old lady nodded and grinned.

"But normally, wouldn't Hijirar be enraged when one of his priestesses had cultivated on his sacred land even planting of grain crops" I said, saying my thoughts.

"You are right. Hijirar is actually supposed to be enraged but if you must know, Arizona was Hijirar's favorite" the old lady's words made me to think effectively.

The scorching hot sun seemed to be taking a toll on my skin. I begged in my mind for the old lady to start walking in order to cover some distance, but she just stood still in front of the two paths.

"I don't understand".

"Of all the priests and priestesses in the country of Casablanca, Arizona was the most favorite of them all. Arizona was the only priestess that had entered Hijirar's abode and came out alive and in all smiles. Normally, both priests and priestesses of Casablanca had never set foot in Hijirar's abode".

"It even made the other priests and priestesses of Casablanca jealous including the priest of Agbejor community. Rumors had it that Arizona was having an affair with Hijirar but no one actually knew if it was true. You can actually say that Arizona was the first priestess of Umuguor community".

"But anyways, Arizona cultivated and planted the grain crops after she had given birth to her first child".

"Wait, Arizona had a child?" I asked interrupting old lady Papirus.

The old lady raised an eyebrow making me to mumble a 'sorry'.

"Yes she did".

"Who was the father of the child cause according to what I know, Arizona never had a husband" I voiced out my thoughts.

"Don't worry, you will soon know who Arizona's husband is. But you must know that Arizona had two daughters" the old lady chuckled.

"Wow!" I muttered after the old lady's narration and explanation.

"We better start heading into the second path, I can see the scorching sun is having a toll on you" the old lady said making me to smile.

I only nodded with relief but still contemplating on the whole thing that old lady Papirus had revealed to me.

If Arizona had two daughters and was the favorite of Hijirar,who could be the father of her two daughters? But were are the two daughters?

Also, the old lady said something about rumours of Arizona having an affair with Hijirar. Could it be that Hijirar is the father of the two daughters?

But the thing that puzzled me most was,how is my parents and the truth about who I am connected with all the things that old lady Papirus had said?

Well,looks like that would be a question for another time.

As we walked through the path that radiated with raw energy, the tall trees and bushes seemed to block the sun and that was very good of them.

The tall trees seemed to also emit the same raw energy and as both me and old lady Papirus journeyed deeper into this area of the Umuguor forest, the energy grew stronger.

"We are here" the old lady called my attention jolting me out of my thoughts.

I looked up at the horizon and behold were two snake statues that stood side by side.

At the back of the two snake statues,a religious temple that emitted raw energy stood up to 5 meters.

"Welcome to Hijirar's temple" the old lady said as we stopped right in front of the temple.

"Just like you said, I will know the truth about who I am" I mumbled to the old lady's hearing.

"You already know the truth but you just don't see it".