I. Out of the skies...

   ...he ran. Nothing can stop him now, not the sharp piercing pain he feels with every step he takes, not the fear of being attacked by wild animals and torn limb from limb. The animals are the last of his worries, in fact, he would embrace death from the forest wild who hunt in the dark; it certainly beats every other alternative. So he ran...

***

"Ugh! Am I the only one who thinks this is a bad idea?" Cecilia huffed as she ascended the Dorome Hill with her best friends.

"Chillax sis, we are not going to get caught," James answered for the third time as he led on through an uncharted path up the hill.

"This is not our first rodeo."

"Yeah Ceci, quit the anxiety stuff. It's freaking me out," Max added with a light punch on Cecilia's shoulder.

"I don't need any more stress tonight, I already have to deal with the cold."

"You boys understand we are still on probation right?" She said.

"Ah, probation." James laughed as the three moved on.

It is a particularly cold December night in Mpape just like NASA had predicted for the rare Meteor shower that was predicted to be visible in the Southern central part of Nigeria just days before the alignment of the Solar System.

And James Onuoha is dragging his friends out of their comfort to watch it on higher grounds.

"Zzz, it's really cold tonight," Max murmured as he struggled to thread the uneven ground without taking his hands out of his Adidas hoodie.

"This is torture." Cecilia groaned when she missed her step.

"This better be worth it, James." She groaned from behind Max as the trio moved on.

They trudged up a few meters;

"How high are we going exactly?" Cecilia's voice brought Max back to the unwelcome exercise James had inflicted on them.

"I don't know, maybe a few meters," James said, picking up the pace with excitement. "Come kids."

"Ugh, you said the same thing five minutes ago." Max groaned in frustration.

"I swear to God, James if we are not..."

"We are here. Come on come on." James cut Cecilia off. "Come see this gem." He said with a little bit of drama.

Max and Cecilia picked up the pace to join James to see the promised spectacle.

"I swear I will kill him this time if all this is not worth it," Cecilia grumbled to herself.

But when they reached the peak and walked the few meters of uneven rock to the edge to see the gem James was so excited about;

"Wow..." Was all either one of them could say.

Staring at the better part of Isiokpo lit up in the distance. From their position on the hill, they could see millions of stars twinkling in the late-night sky.

"I know right?" James said with a proud smile plastered on his face. "It's a gem."

"I could almost forgive you for all the stress you have put me through since I met you," Cecilia said as she looked out at the mesmerizing view.

"And that's not all," James walked a distance and pulled out a cooler from beneath some shrubs. He opened it and fished out a half-empty bottle of whiskey. "I call it shrub service."

"Wait wait wait, hold on." Max looked around the hilltop and he could see an ensemble of the numerous date nights James brags about.

"Is this the extra special spot you bring your hard-to-get girls on those special nights out?" He asked with a slight frown.

"You catch on quick kid." James winked.

"Aw awn." Cecilia cooed.

"This very spot?" Max said with an annoyed frown, momentarily forgetting to keep his voice down in case of nearby Rangers.

"Welcome to the fabled Romance grounds, buddy." James announced with a sneaky smile on his face and his arms spread out.

Max flamed up and Cecilia cooed again;

"Aw awn."

"Don't aw awn, do you know what happens on 'The fabled Romance grounds'? I am sure there are blankets in those bushes." Max snapped at her.

"Come on, it's romantic." She said as she waved around to take in more of the exotic surroundings.

"I know, I am a genius." James winked with a cocky smile on his face, Cecilia got unimpressed.

"You know you will fall in love with me one day." He said to Cecilia, she walked to him and kicked his left leg.

"Hey!" James groaned.

"That's for all the troubles of the night." Max chuckled at Cecilia's sudden annoyance.

It is typical of James, always getting on people's nerves.

Max watched as the two launched into an all-out mock battle and traded halfhearted blows and kicks, laughing and giggling.

He laughed at their childishness, he still could not believe how the three of them even fit into a perfect friendship. Each one of them is broken in their own right and seeking attention from the world.

Max had never met his mother, all he knew about her was that he got his uncharacteristic blood-red hair from her. His father, a police detective, has always buried himself in work and never had time for him.

He was practically raised by a constant flow of babysitters. And to make him even less responsible, his famously wealthy politician Uncle makes sure Max's trustfund never runs dry.

Cecilia is a self-proclaimed orphan raised by her Elderly caretaker, Nana. Her father, a famous archeologist, had died when she was ten and her mother left her in South Africa and came home to Nigeria.

She followed shortly after but never received any kind of attention, not even when she was busted in an illegal fighting ring three years ago in Dakota.

James on the other hand is the infamous 'Onuoha special boy', the second born son of Onuoha Industries. He was the boy who ripped the door of a Jeep with his bare hands and dragged his two siblings twenty meters uphill before their capsized vehicle exploded.

At sixteen, he survived the Line Technologies plane crash conspiracy and navigated 15,000 miles back home. That was almost a decade ago.

Although James has absolutely no memory of any of these feats the entire world is amazed by, the doctors called him a miracle and prophesized his mortal recklessness. And boy were they right...?

"Look!"

An amused voice said from beside Max, bringing him back to the cold night atop Dorome Hill and making him look up at the once star-filled sky.

"It's beautiful." Cecilia said in ewe.

Max couldn't agree more, there is only one word to describe the sight of millions of stars racing through the sky;

Wow!

"It is just wow," Max said out loud as he and his friends lay on the hill to watch the meteors race by. Appearing by the dozens only to disappear a second later after moving a considerable distance at the speed of light.

"It is really beautiful," Cecilia said. The only one of the trio sitting up and making a video of the Celestial event.

"You really outdid yourself this time James, this was worth all the cold." She said.

"Of course it is, have you forgotten who I am?" James said with a cocky laugh, "Come let's make wishes."

"I wish one day I will summon the courage to just kill you and be done with you," Cecilia said without wasting a breath.

"Don't take the bait, James," Max said in a sing-song manner, trying to disguise a sudden feeling of anxiety he is feeling.

He is sure it is not just about being caught, he knows for sure James' brother won't sit idle, Cecilia's caretaker will make arrangements, and his father, actually his father is their only problem. But it will work out...

"I wish you stop yammering like my mom." James took the bait.

Max sighed as he stood and walked a few steps closer to the edge.

"I wish you stomp your pinky toe and break your tooth, oh wait, you lost your pinky and a tooth already." Cecilia laughed.

"Urm, guys!?" Max called, uncertainty and paranoia evident in his voice.

"Ohhh, I wish you wash your fake black hair with bad shampoo, go to sleep and wake up as bald as Samuel L. Jackson." James winked, and Cecilia frowned.

"Guys?"

"I wish you get a flat tire in the middle of nowhere when traveling to Kaduna for Christmas." Cecilia smiled wickedly.

"G...guys?"

"And I wish you an all-night-long nightmare of fixing it." James smirked...

"GUYS!"

.

"WHAT!" James and Cecilia snapped in unison.

"What's your deal young man, are you afraid of the dark?" Cecilia asked with mock pouted lips. But Max was worried about something else;

"Look." Max pointed to the distant sky, anxiety thick in his voice.

"Wow, Max. I didn't realize it was raining stars until you pointed it out." James said with so much seriousness one would miss the sarcasm. "It looks so wonderful." He said.

"Look." Max insisted when neither of them spared his concern any attention. "It...it..." He stuttered but his outstretched hand was unshaken as it pointed to the sky.

"What is it, Max?" Cecilia asked in a less agitated tone as she walked towards the edge to see what Max was pointing at. "I don't see any..." she paused, "Is that star getting bigger?"

"It looks like it is falling," Max said, his hand still outstretched, pointing towards the growing dot in the sky.

"What are you two talking about?" James said with a sarcastic laugh; "this is not a movie, meteors don't fall just like that. And definitely not in Nigeria." He said.

"Maybe we could use your stupid genius if you actually look." Cecilia snapped at him.

James groaned, he looked up and alas, one of the meteors was falling. And it is racing right for them. "That thing is going to fall on us." He said.

As though on cue, the falling meteorite picked up pace and it seemed it would land at any second. The realization dawned on Max that he and his friends are in a serious life-or-death situation, and there is only one thing to do;

"RUN!"

Max, James, and Cecilia took off in a dangerous sprint down the hill, not minding their speed, dodging and jumping over stray obstacles like their lives depended on it, and for once it does.

"We are not losing it!" Max cried a few meters away from Cecilia who ran like a cheetah on ordinary days, as he put up his speed to catch up with James.

"It's going to fall on us, it is going to crush us!" James shouted already falling behind Max as they both jumped over a small boulder simultaneously.

"Speed up James," Cecilia at the forefront yelled at the slowest of the trio while leaping over a ditch in her way

"Speed up."

The three had been running for about a minute already and the meteor doesn't seem to be further from them, if anything, it is coming for them.

"Oh shit," Max stole a glance back, risking a dangerous fall given his momentum, if he should trip, he knows he is going to get bruises.

"We are so going to die this time." He thought out loud as he turned to concentrate on his fleeing, only that he was too late. He stomps on a stone so hard that he loses every bit of his balance and he goes tumbling head over heels courtesy of his momentum.

James who is closely behind Max could have gotten entangled with Max and fallen if his football reflexes hadn't kicked in. He instinctively jumped over Max who was yet to settle from his fall, thanks again to his momentum.

As soon as James landed, he braked hard. Skidding to a stop some ten meters away from Max who is sprawled out like a dirty blanket.

"Max!" James called, "Get up!" He shouted. When he saw how close to landing the meteor was, and how close it was to Max;

"RUN!"

Max jumped to his feet in response to James' first-ever anxious cry. But he was too late. He felt it before he saw it, a blazing blast of heat flooding down from up above in a great tide of kinetic energy.

And before he could make any desperate attempt to save himself; ...BOOM..! The last thing he knew before his world went blank was white pain, bright light, insane vibration, and then nothing, plane blank nothing.

***

Dodome Hill, Ahoada.

01:45 am

"Hey, hey wake up!" The voice seemed quieter than possible, she could barely make out the words although the concern and worry in the tone didn't evade her. She opened her eyes slowly and the first thing she saw was nothing but a bright white light with a spectrum of rainbow colors.

But the first thing that registered wasn't the blinding light that throws every other thing into darkness, it was the throbbing pain in her head followed by the sharp ringing in her ears as though a hammer was consistently hitting an anvil. Then the splitting pain that followed every movement she attempted.

It felt like fighting in the Rings at Dakota all over again.

"Oh, thank God you are alive, I thought I would have to drag your corpse all the way home." The voice she had before said, turned out to be a male's, and he hugged her tightly as though they were old friends.

When he switched the lights off, she could see his face better;

'He is familiar' she thought.

Then, questions started flooding in: 'Where am I?' 'Who is this guy?' 'Why am I covered in dirt and leaves?'

"Are you okay?" He asked as he helped her up onto her feet. "Are you hurt anywhere?" He said as he brushed dirt out of her hair and clothes and turned her every which way.

Then it started coming back to her; James, that is his name, he is her best friend. The memories of the last...

'How long have I even been out?' She thought as she remembered sneaking past the Dodome Hills guards, the meteor shower, their fleeing from the...the..

'Oh no!'

"Max, where is Max?" She asked James who looked nothing short of the hills himself as her memories hit her like a hammer hitting an anvil.

She remembered seeing him fall and James stopping to help him, and the meteor had landed shortly after, dangerously close to Max. "Answer me, James, where is Max?"

James brushed the dirt off his Adidas sweater feigning calm;

"You are just about to help me find him." He said matter-of-factly as he switched on his phone's flashlight again, beaconing Cecilia to do the same.

The pair go around the landing site shouting at the top of their lungs;

"MAX! MAXWELL! MAX!!"

But all they got in response was burning lungs and silence from scared insects. James and Cecilia went on and about in search of their friend but to no avail, yet they continued. Although she couldn't help but have negative thoughts; maybe he got vaporized or something.

"MAX!!"

Cecilia cried at the top of her lungs, trying for all her worth to prevent herself from breaking down into a heap of weeping rags. And James is no better, all he could do is search frantically around yelling as loud as his lungs could allow;

"MAXWELL!"

"I don't think he is anywhere around here," James said breathing heavily like he just ran a marathon, if truth be told, he just did.

"No," Cecilia gasped for breath, "no he can't be dead, he can't be dead." She said more to herself than to James.

She looked to her right, a small crater had formed where the meteor had landed; she had been dreading the thought ever since but she couldn't bring herself to voice her thoughts.

"You are not thinking what I am thinking, are you?" James said, looking at the crater himself. "I have been dreading this moment."

He moved for the crater with Cecilia in tow, foot by foot they got closer and it felt as though it was the most reckless thing he had ever done, and he had once broken into a police precinct to steal his confiscated bike.

James just cannot imagine a life without his best friend. On getting to the edge of the crater, the first thing he notices is a young redhead man kneeling in a heap on the ground in the center of the crater, Max.

"Max!" Cecilia shrieked racing past him so joyful and excited that he could almost smell her relief. But he can't blame her as James himself is running closely behind her and towards Max in overflowing excitement.

But something wasn't right, James could feel it on his skin that something was wrong, and he was right.

As soon as Cecilia falls on Max intending to crush him in a hearty hug, a blast of kinetic energy pushes her off so forcefully she flies into James and they both soar ten meters away from Max who still seems oblivious of his surroundings.

But only for a second as he suddenly shrieked in such agony one would think he fell into molten magma. And that isn't all, his eyes glowed like electric bulbs and every vein in his being glowed as though his blood was made of a liquid luminous substance.

"ARGH!!" He shrieked with pained agony.

"What in the..."

"...world is going on?" Cecilia finished for James in a well-practiced tone as they watched their friend radiate flamelike energy from his mouth and eyes and nostrils. But the part they focused on is Max's shriek of agony — it doesn't take a genius to know that their lives are about to change forever.