In the middle of Pessimum Path, a few hours away from a village laid a female ẹda, no longer in her enlarged form and a white-haired girl sitting on the gravelly ground by a non-distinguishable rock wall. And alongside catching her breath, the girl’s mind was racing.

Faster than her heartbeat.

Abeni knew what she had to do.

Once she recovered her energy, she would make sure to properly remove all the commands and complete her duty to correct her mistakes. Then...the female ẹda would be free to do whatever she wanted from here on out. Though, Abeni hopes the other being would be willing to protect her. That’s better than the alternative...she thought.

“Hey...what was that energy thing you were talking about?”

“You want to know about the energy? Well, you used the energy around your soul…and just told me to stop fighting you. What’s up with that?” The female ẹda chuckled to herself.

Oh, so that’s what the source of Abeni’s abilities came from. Her soul.

“Does that energy come from my lifeforce?” She asked. Like from Magic: The Gathering. Not that they could afford to buy it. They were certainly not poor but leisure items were extremely expensive and only sold in shops, not market stalls.

“Huh?”

“Is my lifeforce being used to power my ability?”

“No…not your ‘lifeforce’. There’s no such thing as abstract as a ‘lifeforce’,” Abeni probably looked visibly confused, so the female ẹda sighed and leant closer to her.

But she looked…unfamiliar. There was something unfamiliar in her eyes now. They were...softer. “We all have a soul. Inside that soul is inner spirit energy and outside of it is outer spirit energy. When any being used their abilities, unless they are straining themselves, they always use the outer spirit energy. That’s how I transform too. Got it?”

OK…that made sense.

“I get it.”

A long look before the female ẹda let out a “…good,” and they proceed to sit in a well-deserved, relaxed stillness. Processing what just happened.

“So?”

Abeni hummed in question.

“Are you going to explain what your ability is?”

“What? My ability?” The white-haired girl received a nod. How much more should she say? This female ẹda was still a threat to her well-being despite her not being hostile at the moment. Who’s to say when that would change? Actually, you know what? Forget that. Abeni practically told her most of it when she fought. She may as well.

Ha…her parents had been right to be cautious to tell her. She couldn’t help herself. You’re always right, Iya, Baba.

“Well, I guess my ability is…giving commands or something…I used it on you when we met yesterday and I accidentally undid them and forced you to fight me just now.”

“Oh.”

“Yup…sorry about that.”

The female ẹda’s neck almost snapped with the speed it used to look at her. “Don’t apologise for that! If you hadn’t, we would’ve never gotten to know each other, and…”

She fell quiet with visible embarrassment when Abeni looked her way in shock. “Shut up!”

And the white-haired girl couldn’t help but smile at that. Who knew this female ẹda would appreciate being stuck with Abeni for a day against her would? How strange. Was it because she’s easy prey? “I didn’t say anything. But…I’m surprised a girl three times younger than you can make you feel shy…”

“I’m not shy! How dare you! To be honest, I’m just…impressed. I’ve never met someone with such a powerful ability,” she whispers the last part. “and use it so well.”

“Powerful? It’s not powerful,” all Abeni could do with it was stop people from chasing her and maybe cheat in a game of Oware. Compared to the female ẹda’s transformation ability, mind manipulation was nothing.

“It is, though! I don’t think you fully understand what you could achieve by simply telling people what to do! You can get them to stop hunting you,” yeah, that’s about all it could do— “You can also make them kill themselves or others on your behalf. I didn’t notice you even manipulated me and, even when I did, I couldn’t resist it. So, chances are that no eniyan or ẹda would be able to either!”

“Oh,” Abeni didn’t know about all of that, but now that she thought about it...she probably could do that. She assumed it would work as long as she spoke their language. She should test that theory soon.

“You could even take over nations just by talking to the right people. Abeni, you’re overpowered as hell!”

Abeni blinked. “What did you just call me?”

“What? Abeni?”

“Yup,” her eyes were probably twinkling, feeling warmth in her dark-brown cheeks. “You just called me by my name for the first time.”

“W-well,” the female ẹda looked to the side, obviously embarrassed. “I don’t know. For a weak little eniyan…you were cool or whatever…I just felt like you deserved some respect, that’s all.”

But instead of brushing it off, Abeni couldn’t help but choke up. “Thank you...”

The pain of losing her parents, the jitters she felt about ẹda in general and the frustration she felt at herself and her situation for tying herself to this female ẹda was all she had been thinking about during her trip back to the village. In those quiet moments where thoughts were her only conversation.

And now all those emotions were muted, settled. All because this female ẹda had respect for her.

How stupid!

How stupid.

“Abeni...”

The moment her energy felt like it was flowing back around her centre, she snapped out of her thoughts, stood over the eniyan-sized female ẹda and reached out her hand to focus herself, hands don’t change the way the manipulation worked judging from how she didn’t always use them. But they help to focus her. “I undo all the commands I told you before now.”

“Wait...” There’s that familiar tingle in her stomach. As long as the ẹda remains calm and the curse didn’t activate, she’s safe. They could both go peacefully on their way. Had she not undone the ‘be at peace’ command, who knew what would’ve happened if the other being was ever under attack in the future?

“There. Now…I’ll head off.”

Abeni had to hurry home to safety and chatting wouldn’t speed that up. Sure, being protected by this female ẹda would be nice, but now that their fight was all over, she’s paid back her debt and freed this female ẹda from her control. Above being alone and this female ẹda, Abeni was the most scared of breaking her parents' last wishes and dying.

If she kept forcing the female ẹda to help her, she would end up dead. She just knew it.

No matter what she felt, this was it. This had to be the end.

So, Abeni faced ahead and started walking towards the fourth checkpoint, the graveyard, without a word. But before she got too far, she heard that familiar slithering and turned to see the still eniyan-sized female ẹda right behind her.

What now?

“What…are you doing?”

“Following you.”

“Why,” Abeni took a deep breath. “are you still following me?” Had she not completely undone her commands? No. She did. She knew she did.

“Because I just...want to. Now are we going get a move on or what?” The female ẹda raised her eyebrow with a challenge. But no, this wasn’t right. Yeah, the other might not want to hurt her. But there’s no way she actually wanted to tag along on her own free will. Wasn’t that maze her home? Didn’t she want to go home like Abeni did?

“I can tell what you’re thinking. It’s not like I care for you or anything…I’m just bored like you said. So, it…it would be good if I just make sure that someone like you got home safely. If it wasn’t for me, you would’ve been dead right now. Apart from the fact that I…very nearly killed you just now…but that was your fault! See! You need my help to control that power of yours so you get to your village without getting into any more trouble.”

Abeni looked at her blankly…what?

“I see you’re just gasping at me...huh? Well, think of it this way. I will protect you out of the goodness of my own heart until you get to your home, alright? So, don’t worry too much about it,” she waved Abeni’s stare off. “I have my own reasons.”

“…OK,” the white-haired girl slowly nodded, accepting that for whatever reason, she wouldn’t have to say goodbye just yet. “You won’t take that back?”

“Hmph, I won’t. What do you take me for? We will be together until we reach that village of yours.”

So, with renewed energy, Abeni started jogging down Pessimum Path with the female ẹda in tow. If this was how it would be, this was how it would be. This...is a positive thing, right?

Look on the bright side. Their trip should be smooth from here. Now all that’s left was a graveyard and a sign indicating their village’s location. Two more checkpoints and she’d be at the village. They would be at the village.

They...what were they to each other anyway? Enemies? Comrades? Neither? “What are we?” She asked.

And though, it took a moment to hear her response, the answer was a strange in-between. “…Acquaintances, I guess.”

“Acquaintances,” Abeni squeezed her fists together and kept jogging. “sounds good.”

[Current Total Beings In ‘Abeni’s Army’ – 1]