In 2019 Lagos, where oil money has long since

dried up and the streets hum with restless

ambition, Oluwafemi Adeyemi is a man haunted by

the night he left the Ijebu River behind. He was

once a high priest of the Ifa cult, but after a

ritual gone wrong, he fled the spiritual world

for the concrete jungle, trading incantations

for internet startups. His new life as a tech

bro is fragile—his app, a dating platform for

diaspora returnees, is on the verge of collapse.

The city itself seems to pulse with a different

rhythm now. A new generation of spiritual

warriors has risen from the shadows, wielding

smartphones and sacred texts alike. They call

themselves the New Orisha, and they believe the

old gods are waking. Oluwafemi’s exgirlfriend,

Funmilayo, now a pastor’s daughter and leader of

a Pentecostal church, is among them. She accuses

him of betraying the bloodline, of selling their

ancestors’ power for a WiFi signal.

One evening, a message arrives on his phone:

“You took what was not yours. Return it.”

Attached is a photo of his late father’s grave,

freshly disturbed. The cult demands restitution—

not in money, but in blood.

Oluwafemi’s startup collapses when investors

pull out, suspecting fraud. His apartment is

ransacked, and a vial of his father’s ashes is

missing. He returns to the riverbank, where the

old rituals were performed, and finds the Ifa

shrine still standing, untouched by time. The

air is thick with the scent of kola nut and palm

oil.

He is given a choice: join the New Orisha and

become a weapon against the forces he once

worshipped, or face the wrath of the spirits

himself. The river whispers promises of

redemption, but at a cost.

The final act plays out beneath the neon lights

of Lagos’s cybercafé district. Oluwafemi stands

before a screen displaying his app’s last user

login—a ghostly avatar named Ifa. He deletes the

account, erasing the link between his past and

present. The river stills. The shrine burns.

The city moves on. The cult fades. And Oluwafemi

walks away, no longer a man of gods or men, but

of his own making.