Chapter 1 : Thriving Against The World
Long before the rivers carved their final paths, before the trees whispered the names of ancient kings, a girl was born in Ugbenu Village—a land where warriors were forged in battle and legends lived beyond death.
The night she was born, the air felt oddly still, and the elders said the moon shone brighter than it ever had before.
The village seer, Efetobore, gazed upon her and spoke:
This child will move like the wind and speak with the river. But beware—a storm does not choose where it strikes.”
Her mother, Nakeme, filled with awe, named her Orogun—“The One Who Walks with Fate.”
Even at birth, her fists were clenched like a warrior’s. But Orogun was born a girl. And in her village, a girl was meant to be quiet, graceful, and obedient. Warriors were strong men- men who wrestled, hunted, and fought.
From childhood, Orogun was different.
While girls wove baskets, she wove dreams of battle.
While they played in the river, she studied the way warriors moved.
But she was more than just strong-willed. She had a way with the world around her.
When she walked through the forest, the leaves barely rustled under her feet.
When she sat by the river, the waters lapped gently at her toes, as if listening.
Even the birds perched near her longer than they did with others, watching.
She was fast—so fast that the wind seemed to race beside her. The village children would sometimes joke, “Even the dust refuses to chase her!”
Her father, Uvo the Iron Wolf, was Ugbenu’s greatest warrior. He often scolded her:
“A woman does not fight, my daughter.”
But Orogun only smiled. “Does the Ogborigbo (iguana) ask permission before climbing a tree?”
But the seer only watched in silence. He saw what the others did not—the way shadows shifted when she walked, the way flames bowed lower when she passed.
Orogun was not just a girl. She was something more.
Even the animals seemed unbothered by her presence. The village dogs, which usually barked at strangers, sat quietly when she passed. Birds did not startle when she walked beneath their trees. But the warriors of Ugbenu mocked her without mercy.
• “A goat does not follow lions to war.”
• “A woman’s strength is in her tongue, not her fists.”
• “When a chicken sharpens its claws, does that make it a leopard?”
• “A woman who picks up a sword is like a fish that wants to walk—it will die a foolish death!”
They laughed and called her “Orogun the Dreamer,” believing no woman could ever be a warrior.
