Chapter 07

Chapter 07

The Weaver of Lies

(A New Enemy Emerges)

Dawn crept over Kumasi, washing the city in gold and pink. But even in the warmth of morning, Kojo felt cold. Obiri had escaped.

Kojo barely slept. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw flashes from last night—Obiri’s smile, the eerie calm in his voice, the darkness Ananse still sensed inside him.

And now… something new was brewing.

Ama Starts to Notice:

Ama stood outside Kojo’s apartment door, knocking sharply.

Knock knock!
“Kojo! Open up!”

He jumped awake on the couch, mask hidden under a pillow. Hair messy, eyes heavy.

He opened the door. “Ama? Why so early?”

Ama shoved past him, arms crossed. “Because my friend has suddenly changed into some ninja-acrobat with secrets dripping from his ears.”

Kojo blinked. “Huh?”

She pointed at him sharply.
“You’ve been disappearing at night. You’re covered in bruises. You talk like you’re planning something big. And yesterday? When the historian disappeared, you said you’d ‘find him.’ He was rescued the SAME NIGHT.”

Kojo froze.
Ama’s eyes softened.
“Kojo… I’m worried. Talk to me.”

He wanted to tell her everything.
About Ananse.
The mask.
Obiri.
The danger.

But Ananse’s voice echoed firmly in his mind:

Not yet. She is not ready.

Kojo swallowed. “Ama… I promise I’m okay. But I can’t explain everything. Not yet.”

Ama looked hurt but nodded. “Fine. But if you’re in trouble, you better tell me before I find out the hard way.”

She left.
Kojo watched her go with a heavy heart.

Obiri’s Dark Ritual:

Far across the city, deep inside an underground shrine hidden beneath an old colonial warehouse, Obiri stood over a stone table carved with spider symbols.

Torches crackled.
Shadows twisted.
A spiritual priest—one aligned with Obiri’s criminal network—chanted in a trembling voice.

“Lord Obiri… these rites are forbidden by the old gods.”

Obiri grabbed the priest by the throat.
“That is why they interest me.”

He threw the priest aside and placed an artifact on the stone: a cracked spider-shaped amulet.

“This,” Obiri murmured, “will help me locate the mask’s energy again.”

He sliced his palm and let the blood drip onto the amulet.

The shrine trembled.
A wave of dark energy rippled outward—
moving through the earth…
through the air…
through the city…
searching.

Obiri smiled as the amulet glowed faint purple.

“I’m coming for you, Mask-Bearer.”

But he was not alone.

A woman stood silently in the shadows—tall, cloaked, her eyes swirling like deep water. When she spoke, her voice sounded like three people whispering in unison.

“So it begins.”

Obiri glanced at her. “Are you prepared?”

She smiled faintly. “I was born in lies, my lord. I bend illusions the way birds bend air.”

The Illusionist: Nsu-Boa

Her name was Nsu-Boa.
A spiritual trickster who could twist the senses. She could take a single illusion and multiply it a hundredfold. Rumor said she once made a crowd of 300 people hallucinate the same thing for ten straight minutes.

She was dangerous.
Unpredictable.
And she now worked for Obiri.

But he didn’t know her true secret:

Nsu-Boa wasn’t loyal to him.
She was loyal to power—and she sensed more of it in Kojo than in any crime lord.

A Trap in Kejetia Market:

Later that night, Kojo patrolled above Kejetia Market. The usual nightlife rush felt… wrong. Too quiet. Too still.

“You feel that?” Kojo whispered.

Yes, Ananse replied, voice lowering. Someone is weaving illusions.

Kojo stopped.
The air shimmered.
A figure appeared below—Prof. Kweku Mensah, the historian Kojo had rescued.

He was tied up again, struggling, calling Kojo’s name.

Kojo narrowed his eyes. “That’s impossible.”

Do not go down, Ananse warned. It’s bait.

But Kojo’s heart raced. “Someone’s in danger. I can’t ignore it.”

He leaped down—

and the moment his feet hit the ground—
the world around him fractured like broken glass.

ILLUSION.

Kejetia Market twisted into a nightmarish maze of moving walls and endless corridors. The sky turned purple. The ground pulsed like a heartbeat.

Kojo spun. “What is this?!”

A voice echoed around him—smooth, mocking, feminine.

“Welcome to my little web, Spider-Boy.”

Nsu-Boa materialized before him, cloaked in shimmering light.

“I’ve been wanting to meet you.”

Kojo dropped into a fighting stance. “Where is Mensah?”

“Not here.” She laughed. “He never was.”

Kojo clenched his fists. “Then what do you want?”

She circled him, illusions flickering behind her like ghosts.

“I want to see if you deserve the mask you carry. To see whether you’re a hero… or just another corrupted soul waiting to happen.”

Another illusion appeared—Obiri’s silhouette.

“Because if he gets the mask first…”
Her voice sharpened.
“…the world ends.”

Kojo felt the ground shake beneath him.

“Then help me stop him!” he shouted.

Nsu-Boa smiled sadly.
“Oh, Kojo… I never said I was on your side.”

The Battle of Illusions:

Nsu-Boa snapped her fingers—
and Kojo saw ten versions of her appear around him.
Then twenty.
Then fifty.

All laughing.
All closing in.

Kojo fired webs—
THWIP! THWIP! THWIP!
—but they passed through illusions.

Ananse’s voice boomed:
Use your mind! Not your eyes!

Kojo shut his eyes.
Focused.
Listened.

One footstep was heavier.
One breath shorter.
One presence… real.

He lunged left, grabbing nothing.
Then right.
Still nothing.

He leaped backward and fired a web upward, swinging—
and mid-swing, he felt it:

The tiniest resistance in the air.

He shot a single web straight down.

THWIP! SMACK!

A scream.
All illusions shattered at once.

Nsu-Boa fell to her knees, clutching her shoulder where Kojo’s web had hit.

Kojo landed in front of her. “It’s over.”

She looked up—smiling. Pretending to be in pain.

“Oh no, Kojo. It’s just beginning.”

She vanished into mist.

Leaving behind a whisper:

“Obiri is coming for you.”

The Aftermath:

The illusion dissolved. Kojo was back in the real Kejetia Market, alone.

His heart pounded.

“A trickster who makes me dizzy… that’s not good,” Kojo muttered.

Ananse’s voice trembled slightly—he didn’t hide it.

She is dangerous, Kojo. But more importantly—she knows too much about the mask.

Kojo stared into the night sky.

“If she’s this strong, what happens when I face Obiri himself again?”

The mask pulsed faintly on his face, almost like a heartbeat.

Then you must grow stronger… much stronger.

Kojo clenched his fists.
He wasn’t ready for what was coming.
But he had no choice.