Legacy of Orïsha, #2
Children of Virtue and Vengeance
by Tomi Adeyemi
Contents
CHAPTER SEVENTY-FIVE: ZÉLIE
Overview
Zélie, exhausted and carrying an unconscious Roën, reaches Ibadan as a wind dome seals the village and a Cancer gas wall advances—an attack she believes Amari commands. Forced to act, Zélie slingshots herself to the village center, directs everyone into the well, and saves a falling infant by channeling a dying mother’s spirit. The chapter escalates the civil war’s brutality against civilians and hardens Zélie’s resolve to fight.
Summary
Zélie staggers through the mountains, dragging the unconscious, one-armed Roën toward her childhood village of Ibadan. Memories of her parents rekindle her resolve to stop merely surviving and start fighting. A familiar horn and a storm of fleeing hawks draw her eye to a violent wind sphere lowering over Ibadan, sealing the village inside.
Rust-colored Cancer gas rises within the wind dome, forming a lethal wall poised to sweep the settlement. Convinced this trap is Amari’s operation, Zélie panics as the cloud surges. With no time to run and her body failing, she draws on Reaper magic, launching herself and Roën across the peaks with shadow-tethers.
Racing the gas, Zélie targets the village well as the only shelter. She lands at the center and orders everyone underground, passing Roën down while villagers shove families inside first. The gas closes in from all sides; it’s clear not all will make it in time.
When a mother begs for help and is struck by the gas, she dies mid-plea, dropping her infant. Zélie instantly channels the woman’s spirit, gains new shadow-arms, and catches the baby before impact. As the corpse falls, Zélie commands the spirits to seal the well’s opening, creating a barrier as the toxic cloud roars overhead.
With the villagers crammed below and the entrance blocked by summoned spirits, Zélie buys precious time against the massacre, crystallizing the war’s cost to innocents and intensifying her determination to fight back.
Who Appears
- ZélieExhausted Reaper who carries Roën to Ibadan, slingshots to the well, saves villagers, and catches a baby using a dead mother’s spirit.
- RoënUnconscious, one-armed ally whose life remains tethered to Zélie as she drags him to safety.
- AmariBelieved orchestrator of the wind dome and Cancer gas assault that traps and threatens Ibadan’s civilians.
- Grieving motherIbadan villager struck dead by the gas; her spirit empowers Zélie to catch and save her falling infant.
- Ibadan villagersCivilians who rush into the well at Zélie’s command to survive the gas attack.