16. Healing With Love

Laaroye died, a taste of vengeance on his tongue and contempt for the one god who refused to protect him. The goddess being Oya, the mother of Storms and War and weather. And the intermediary for the dead.  

Laaroye should have been deified as the Orisha of vengeance and revenge because he sure as heck did not go to the other side of life as a calm and satisfied spirit being. 

Once Laaroye had been ambushed in his place of abode, the human craftsman was busy sleeping peacefully, after saying a prayer of peace and protection to the goddess Oya. 

Oh, only if he did know how foolish it was of him to do that. Not that it did not promise his great reward of him being defied. So, if you really want to look at it, it was worth it. 

However, the pain cannot be negated. 

When the envious humans and their conspiracy plans had been fully birthed, they came to where he had to stay for the night, wearing charms and protection from fire. They wanted to make it look so natural and so, they prayed to their patron god, the God of War and Metal, Orisha Ogun for protection against a backlash of their own plans. 

As we all know how the tenets of the God of war he, as peaceful as the Orisha on the side of the Laws of Creation is, the God of war is one who would often crave bloodshed just to see that the best of men may be proved through battlings. He obliged their request and protected them, such that when they lit a fire on the hut where Laaroye slept, they were unharmed by the flames neither by the heat of it.

______________

Culled from: How the Gods came to be; As written by historian Culminus 

_________________

Iyabo, the Irunmole practitioner of the Law of Love sat cross legged, her staff resting on either side of her thigh. Her hands splayed out the sides with her eyes shut tightly now. Her lips quivered as the air began to quake with some purplish/magenta type of Agbara filtering into the environment around her. 

She remained in that pose, while the two casualties which she had were at both sides of her. It was a great contrast to the other time when Shin had come in. The Iyabo had only been sitting before ayo while Ronke was placed before her, now, she was right in the center of them.The black chest which had once been behind now, now staying to the side of Ronke against the wall. 

Bayo remained the same or if there was any difference, his body had all grown even more transparent such that one could see the black rug which he was laid on top. In a way, as if there was nobody in that spot at all. 

While Ronke stirred just a bit now, her eyelids shaking at intervals. Her body also quaked too but not as frequent as her eyelids. 

“Ahhhh!” Iyabo grumbled now, clicking her tongue against the dentition in her mouth, frustration evident in her tone. She still had her eyes closed even as more of her aura from her law began to filter into the room more aggressively. 

Just about then, the skin hairs on her body immediately went up straight as a brooding sense of danger surged into her brain. She bit down her teeth on her lower lip just in time to stop herself from bolting up from where she sat. And after that, she opened her eyes, shaking her head resignedly. 

The reason being that the sudden impulsiveness of the power outage that she had felt was coming right outside her doors. And no one else was the source, other than the two people who were out there; Shin and Macabu

“BOYSSSSSS!” Iyabo’s voice thundered above everything else now. 

If there was anything Iyabo hated more often than not, it was seeing that someone somewhere would not let her have her way when it came to ehalong. And in the worst case scenario, when the healing process was taking even longer than it ought to be, then her nerves were often on the edge. And right now, no one else was making her get more upset than the two outside. 

Just how insensitive could they be? 

“Can a lady have some moments without any ruckus for once in her life?’ Iyabo thundered once more. 

There was a sigh, which she assumed it was from Macabu even as the ground shook now. Once again, she knew that it was from Macabu as the Giant was already trying to move himself and Shin away from the house there. It is at this point that her conscience pricks her, had she been harsh to them? 

Still, as she tried to reason it, her frustration did not let things go that easy. She so very much wanted to yell out at them and blast them, something to hook her anger on for the failure of her whaling process in the room. But then, she knew she had to maintain her composure, even if she so badly wanted to let loose on them. 

“I don't like to threaten but I must not come outside and still find you both around the house. Take your battle somewhere else.” She added, trying to calm herself down. “I need to concentrate to heal these ones here or would you rather come in here to do it for me?” She warned, trying her very best to sound as sweet and calming as she could as she forced a smile on her face once again. 

The movement of the ground shuddering under the feet of Macabu sounded more and more distant now, making her come to the fact that Macbu had taken his new companion out and away from the tent. It was relaxing to know that as she now took a deep breath in. 

At least, if truly she was going to let loose, there would be no one in the proximity that she could blast out on. That way, she could spare herself some face and whatnot. 

Now that they were gone, Iyabo took a long drawn sigh as she closed her eyes, leaning back now. Her lips moved inaudibly while she tapped the staff which was still on her thighs now, shaking her head in resonance to that. 

“Why wouldnt it work? Why is the Law of Love failing me now?” She asked no one as she turned her head to look at Bayo. “This should not be a challenge but then everything I try keeps bouncing back. I cannot fail, Love listen, you had better give heed to me.” She grunted, baring her detention as a streak of anger flashed across her face. 

Just then, Iyabo took a long breath in as she closed her eyes once more. The Law of Love was a delicate one and to use it,she needed to maintain her composure at all times. Now that Macabu and co were gone, there was no one else for her to blame for the failure of this one, making her realize that nothing she was doing was working at all. 

And she had tried everything within her arsenal. 

The Law of Love was a simple and yet so powerful law. 

It had only four principles which were equally powerful depending on how it was used in battle. In fact, the law of love was not even a battle type of Law. It was more on the subtle side of the Aspectual Laws, the type of law that provided support to the other laws. However, that did not mean it was one law to be overlooked as it had just rough juice to power the use of it through a battle. The only limitation was that it grew powerful the more the numbers involved in it increased. 

The Principles in it were Chastity, Affection, Compassion and Purity. Chastity was the principle under the Law of Love that dealt with body reinforcement. It literally was all about powering and buffing up the body of the caster to take whatever damages that could be dealt to it.

The Principle of Affection was more of a people based principle. That is, it did get stronger the more the more people were involved. It derived its own buff from the respect and the affections that other people had towards the users that alw. The more respect and admiration that was attached to that person, the higher the power boost such a person received. 

The principle of Purity was based on the willpower of the caster. It boosted the power levels of such a person who had the strongest willpower to see that love overcame at last. More of a caster based technique in such that the caster was the one who was beneficiary to this Principle. In another application, it expelled strange energies from the soul of whoever was being dealt with at that time and once again restored the soul to the pristine form. 

The Principle of Compassion was different and the one which Iyabo had been using so far for the casualties by her side. Itw as the passive healing power of Law. The main thing that made love what it was. It was based on the fact that once love was involved, the one to whom the heat went out to most, in love would be the one who would receive the universal healing that is strongly powered by the love another felt for such a person. 

It was a principle that she had been using so far but yet it had not worked. At least, the only one whom the Principle had worked for so far was the lady of Familiar origins because right about then, the eyes of Ronke flipped open now. 

And the next moment, she jerked up to a sitting posture, her mouth opening wide as she let out a scream. 

“AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”