Time passed and Agha was now the sole leader of Paradise. The evil spirits fled back from whence they came leaving behind broken gods and goddesses. No god had died before so they were at a loss on what to do. Besides, the bodies of the deceased gods were missing. Somehow, amidst the raucous, their bodies mysteriously vanished. Questions arose. Did the evil spirits steal the bodies? Did their bodies transform into something else? Did they even die?
The gods willed that the people forget what happened near the chief priest's shrine. Agha was now "lord of lords" as the people channeled all their worship and supplications to him. If they needed anything from fruit of the womb to a good raining season, they would turn to him. He in turn delegated the task of answering their prayers to several other gods. But the people did not see it like that as they gave all the glory to him. He transcended from being the god of war to being the king of the gods, the one who answered every prayer.
But Agha was god of war and he could not avoid his true nature. The humans had a more stable time than previously, but wars were more rampant. The people fought each other over basically anything. Trial by combat was now a prominent means by which cases were resolved. The world was orderly, but it was brutal. Besides, they were more instances of stillbirth and sick or deformed children. Crops did not yield as much produce as before and pests and diseases were more prominent. The world was run perfectly, but not by the right hands. Some people noticed, but they were grateful to have better times than the hitherto fraught times.
One day, Agha was in the hallowed hall, telling tales of his conquests when something unexpected happened. Oku walked in, to the horror of all the gods present.
"I thought I killed you", Agha managed to say.
"You should have stayed dead. I'll just have to make sure of it."
Agha ordered the guards to grab Oku. They were about doing so when two others walked in and flanked Oku. They were Oma and Ufele. The gods had seen enough surprises for one day.
"At least pretend to be happy to see us alive", Oma said. "Or perhaps you are not good at feigning that."
"How is this possible?" Agha asked.
"It turns out gods are much harder to kill", Oma said. "Even if you crush the skull, mortal or not, a god will not die. Obviously you didn't know that otherwise you would have come up with something else."
"What are you talking about?" Agha asked.
"Calm down brother", Oku said. "You look uneasy."
"What has Oku done to you?" Agha asked.
"What lies has he put in your heads?"
"Lies?" Oma asked.
"Oku told us everything. You bested him at his own game. He thought he had you under his thumb but the whole time you were the one using him."
"I don't know what you are talking about", Agha said.
"At first I didn't believe him", Oma said.
"But when I remembered when you strangled me, it began to make sense. I cut your necklace long before you choked the life out of me, but you didn't stop. Normally, every spell should have worn off, but yours didn't; not until you had completed your agenda. You ordered the spirits to tie stones to our necks and throw us into the lake at the heart of the cradle where you had hoped we'd rot. Oku was lucky to escape. He it was who rescued us from the lake. He said he never intended to kill us. He said he only wanted to deceive everyone; to put on a show so that the people would see him as a hero. He had intended to somehow garner the people's worship for himself through that stupid stunt. Whether or not he is lying, I'm inclined to believing that you had your own agenda."
"This is mad talk", Agha said.
"Is it?" Oku asked. "Tell me brother, when did you break free from my spell? It must have been when you got your powers back. I was a fool to think that my spell could work on a god. I made the wrong gamble."
"Apart from being a fierce warrior, you have proven to be a superior schemer", Oma said.
"While in the cradle, I pondered on why you would betray us, then it hit me. As the world became more prosperous and civilized, people favored diplomacy over war. Hence you started to feel irrelevant and you knew that you were losing your place in the triumvirate. So when Oku displayed his stupidity, you saw it as an opportunity to take us out. How sinister? You would pretend to be under his spell and do your own bidding and all the blame would go to Oku. You had it all figured out. But you missed out one important detail – how to kill a god."
Agha was silent. He could feel the probing eyes of the gods as they all stared at him.
"You cannot possibly believe that," Agha managed to say.
"Barefaced lies!" Ufele yelled.
"After all you have done, you still stand before us, feigning ignorance."
Ufele was visibly enraged. Lightening flickered in his dilated pupils.
"Can we talk in private?" Agha asked.
"Say whatever you have to say in the presence of all your brethren", Oma said.
"I will not take this!" Agha said.
"I will not stand here and watch you slander my name. Guards..."
Agha was cut short by Ufele who hit him with bolts of lightning which knocked him out cold. All eyes were on Ufele as he panted; lightning surged around his body. He pushed Oku forward.
"Bind them both and lock them up pending our judgment", Ufele ordered.
The guards did as they were told. Oma and some other gods looked at Ufele in awe. The gods swarmed Ufele and Oma, embracing them as they welcomed them back to the fold. What tumultuous times they had faced. They could only hope it was all over.