The Axe Is Raised

I am amadioha Kamanu.

The thunder who brings lightning.

Lord of the storm.

Second born of Kama Kamanu

Three on foot from the south, I can hear the crunch of boots,

Vodunese soldiers stomping over Niri roots.

Dem language be like hack, like an animal in pain,

A betrayal to my senses, a poison in my vein.

Damballa screams inside my skull, "Hide within the fern!"

But I dey count the seconds 'til it's their time to burn.

They laugh and trade their jokes, so close I could touch their skin,

The Eze no dey hide... he waits for the war to begin.

Koh Cha Chi! The axe is raised.

I am the thunder, I am the lightning's blade.

I am the Eze, the lord of the storm.

In the blood of the outpost, a nation is reborn.

From the banks of the river to the gates of Canis,

The lightning is coming. The lightning is me.

I stood before the Council, wearing their white stone chains,

Old men in velvet caps. Ice inside their veins.

I said "Canis will strike the outpost at the Vodunese mine,

The land is ours by blood and right, the Council must align."

"Big words... for a young Eze." The chief frowned and said...

I scream, "Ask my brother if your patience kept him from the dead."

"We deny your request," they respond with masks of chalk.

But I am the War Eze—I don't need a blessing to be free.

You no fit cage lightning with your ceremonial talk

If the Council won't lead, then the Council follows me

Koh Cha Chi! The axe is raised.

I am the thunder, I am the lightning's blade.

I am the Eze, the lord of the storm.

In the blood of the outpost, a nation is reborn.

From the banks of the river to the gates of Canis,

The lightning is coming. The lightning is me.

The blood-red moon bleeding, outpost standing still,

We're scaling up the towers. Predatory will.

The brass and copper warning horn — behemoth in the dark,

One sound would wake Vodun, a single warning spark.

Damballa's arrow whispers, a guard falls to the floor,

I burst onto the wood — screaming for war.

My axe is Canis steel, shattering inferior blades,

Cleaving through the chest of Vodun's masquerades.

One arc of the steel — one spray of red.

This tower belongs to the living... this tower belongs to me.

Koh Cha Chi! The axe is raised.

I am the thunder, I am the lightning's blade.

From the banks of the river to the gates of Canis,

The lightning is coming. The lightning is me.

We breached the master's tent, smelling incense and deceit,

A "Lord" in gems and silk — but a coward at my feet.

He pleaded on his knees, whimpering for his life,

While his people felt the edge of the Niri knife.

A current underneath my skin... forming in my blood...

White sparks of static crawling from my eyes.

I grabbed his neck, released the power, and let the magic flood,

Lightning — tearing through his cowardly cries.

His body jerked, his hands grasping in vain,

A Vodunese occupier who will never walk again.

The power of the thunder running from my hand,

I am AMADIOHA — let the Vodunese understand.

Take the gold. Take our fallen. Burn the rest to ash.

Let the world think it was bandits...

The lightning is coming. The lightning is me.

The lightning is coming. The lightning is me.