CHAPTER 17″CORDELIA”

©️ Opeyemi Akintunde
As Inspired by the DEEP ONE

The entire chapel vibrated under the weight of chants.

Tongues roared… Incense smoke curled toward the rafters.

Then Father Soji rose.

“My children!” His voice was thunder wrapped in velvet. “Tonight is not an ordinary vigil. Tonight we seal the covenant of Kairos. The Spirit has chosen to raise a new breed…firebrands that will carry this revival across nations. And you, my children, will be vessels of this glory.”

The crowd erupted. Saints wailed. Some rolled on the floor, convulsing with ecstasy.

But I sat frozen, my stomach twisting. This wasn’t revival. This was theater.

Father lifted a golden bowl filled with oil. The liquid shimmered strangely, too thick, too dark. The smell from it was not olive but metallic, sharp enough to sting my nose.

He dipped his hand and raised it high.

“This oil will separate you! This oil will make you gods among men!”

The hall shook with shouts of “Amen! Fire! Glory!”

I whispered under my breath, “Jesus, this is not You. Cover me.”

The first names called forward were the Iben Twins.

The crowd surged as the firebrand brothers… the ones I had once prayed to meet…walked humbly toward Father.

He smeared the oil across their foreheads.

Immediately, both collapsed, jerking as though electrocuted.

They sprang up again, speaking prophecies in rapid tongues:

“New doors! Nations bow! The end-time army is here! The new nation is rising”

The saints screamed louder.

My heart cracked. These were men I admired from afar, now puppets under Father’s hand. Their eyes glowed strangely…empty yet blazing.

Levite Sam followed. He sang a chorus, his voice trembling, then broke down weeping under the oil.

Minister Folawe knelt next. Her angelic voice quavered as she declared, “Kairos is the womb of the coming light.”
Every cheer stabbed me deeper.

Lord, how many more will drink from this poisoned well?

Beside me, Saint Oluchi tugged my sleeve. For the first time her shy eyes looked fierce.

“When the noise rises, we slip out,” she hissed. “A group of us. Laura will cover. Come.”

My heart raced.

Escape dangled before me like a key to freedom.

But something in my spirit pressed hard: Not yet. You are here for a reason.

I shook my head slightly. Oluchi’s face fell, but she said nothing more.

Still, the cheers cut into me like knives.

They think this is God. But it is poison.

My heart thundered. If I stayed here one more minute, that same poison called Anointing oil would touch me.

I leaned closer to Oluchi. “Restroom,” I whispered.

Her eyes lit with hope, assuming I was joining the escape plan. She gave a quick nod.

I slipped into the aisle, my steps swallowed by the roar of tongues.

The back door loomed ahead, just a few feet away.

My palms were sweaty. My knees shook. But my spirit urged me forward.

“Lord, if this is Your way out, let me pass unnoticed,” I prayed under my breath.

I reached the door. My hand touched the cool metal handle.

I could almost taste the night air…freedom just one push away.

Then it happened.

“MABEL!”

Father’s voice cracked like a whip across the hall.

Every chant, every drumbeat died in an instant.

The spotlight swung and landed squarely on me.

Gasps rippled through the saints.

Dozens of eyes bored into my back like arrows.

“Mabel,” Father boomed again, stretching out his oil-dripping hand.

“Daughter of Grace! Come forward to receive your mantle!”

The hall erupted.

“Kairos bride! Kairos bride!” the saints chanted in wild unison.

I froze, still gripping the door handle.

Half of me wanted to push it open and bolt into the night.

The other half felt trapped by countless burning eyes, dragging me back to the altar.

The chants grew louder.
To be continued….

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