“A golden Bracelet here for 2 dollars and 50 cents” a middle-aged man with a leather bag hanging by his waist screamed above the voices of over a thousand persons present in the Market square. It was a market day for the people of Reek and that meant it was going to be a busy day for the residents. They held market days on the first day of every month and various kinds of stuff were sold in that market. The people of Reek made a living out of their markets. They were mostly farmers, and therefore, they had the best crop sales in the whole of Ekiboh. But what was special about the Reek market days was that special artifacts were being sold. Artifacts of over a thousand years, depicting the history of the people of Reek.
Reek was once home to Sorcerers and Sorceresses of all kinds. A magician was born every 30 years in Reek and you could find up to 4-5 wizards alive at once in Reek. It even had to be named the City of Wizards.
It was the smallest City in the whole of Ekiboh, but it was the most important of them all. Every king that ruled Ekiboh acknowledged Reek and placed a magician from there as his advisor and confidant.
The magicians that existed in Reek possessed powers such as teleportation, invisibility, and invulnerability. They were able to cast protection spells and most of them had healing abilities.
It was this ability that made Reek a popular visiting site thousands of years ago. Ailments of varying kinds were been cured in Reek. The magicians also spent their time teaching their people herbs and mixtures that could bring an end to some deadly diseases.
This was one major thing that had been passed down from generation to generation in Reek. The people were very good at medicinal cures, and even when civilization had already kicked off, people still came from far and wide on market days to seek cures to their ailments.
“I’ve been married to my husband for 15 years now and I've not been able to conceive,” a lady said, with tears pouring down her cheek from her eyes. It is going to be okay, a young man from Reek replied while directing her to the house of one of the famous fertility doctors in Reek.
Back in the days, the magicians were able to help a lot of women who couldn't conceive, and a thousand years later, the people of Reek were still making barren women smile. “I'm very grateful,” the lady said with a lot of tears and smiles of hope as she was leaving Reek.
The people of Reek have gone 1000 years without a Sorcerer born to them. A prophecy had come from the mouth of the last living magician, Agabos before his death. “Like a cloud filled with rain waiting to pour, so shall the people of Reek wait for a Sorcerer to be born. He shall bring the people life and his birth to the world, Delight”. These were his last word before he passed on.
And that was what kept some of the people. The hope that one day, they would again have a Sorcerer born amongst them.
Reek was one of the most underdeveloped places in Ekiboh. The world had undergone civilization and soon people began to forget the existence of magic. The beautiful City of Reek was now despised by Kings that ruled Ekiboh.
Even though Reek provided a tourist site to Ekiboh, her people were treated like they were nothing.
Most of the citizens still believed magic once existed and that one day, the prophecy of Agabos would be fulfilled.
King Belial became king at an early age as his father had died early. Some said it was the way his father maltreated the people of Reek that caused his untimely death and they hoped his son would be different.
King Belial, a tall and robust king assumed his duties at the age of 22 and he did a lot for his people. The people of Reek had smiles written all over their faces as he put so much interest in the City. He improved on some facilities and ensured their roads were repaired for easy movement of foreigners to and fro on market days.
The King however was not a fan of magic. He was part of the minority who believed that magic didn’t exist and so he banned some practices by women in Reek.
Most women in Reek had a practice of testing their children to know if they possessed a magic power and if they were born with magic.
“My King, this woman was caught dipping her daughter into the big river and letting her drown,” a servant of the King said while shoving the woman to the front to face the King.
“What is your reason for doing so?”, the King asked the young lady, “My King, my daughter stays awake all night crying without sleeping and I felt she must be born with magic and she required something to trigger it. So I decided to put her in a near-death experience to see if her magic would come to life”. The King was furious and asked her to be thrown into the prison cell. He had warned the people to desist from such acts as he believed magic did not exist.
Most of the women had a habit of either putting their children through fire or dipping them into the water to know if they were born with magic. They had so much belief in the prophecy and hoped that they would be the mother to a magician.
A lesser percentage of people in Reek believed that sorcery never existed and even if it did, it had ended a long time ago and would never resurface.
This was the mindset of a man Michael Lamptey and his wife Rose Lamptey. They had been married for 10 years without a child until a day came and Rose conceived. The family rejoiced and the celebration was a thing of remembrance. Michael treated his wife like a crate of egg, so carefully one would think she was going to break or die if he wasn't with her.
One faithful morning, Rose was about to leave her room to take a pee when she screamed and laid back on the bed.