The Child's First Conscious Projection**
**3:33 AM – Spirit Realm**
The newborn's consciousness tore free as Mercy's soul fled her body. He floated in a **dimension between life and death**, where:
- Grandmother Ama's **ancestral spirits** recoiled
- Harlem's **ghost gangs** paused their eternal turf war
- Something **older** watched from a throne of skulls
**The Goddess's Gambit:**
She appeared as a **7-foot Ashanti queen**, her necklace of stillborn fetuses rattling.
*"You owe me a death, Scorpio."*
The child (no—**Adjo**) laughed. His astral form wasn't human:
- **Torso:** A muscled warrior
- **Lower Half:** A scorpion's segmented abdomen
- **Tail:** A barb dripping **liquid time**
*"You stole my corpse,"* Adjo hissed. *"I'll steal your worshippers."*
**First Hunt:**
He **stung** a loa (Haitian spirit) feasting on Mercy's soul. The entity **dissolved into golden smoke**, which Adjo **inhaled**.
**Power Update:**
- **Venom Synthesis:** Can now produce any toxin known to man or spirit
- **Soul Sight:** Sees the "sins" of those he touches (Mercy had poisoned 3 siblings)
---
**A. The Father's Lesson (Age 1)**
Kofi Mensah came home reeking of Newport's and regret. When he raised a belt to the "demon child," the toddler **caught it mid-swing**.
*"Your fear tastes like cheap rum,"* Adjo lisped through his cleft.
Kofi's **hand rotted** overnight. Doctors called it "necrotizing fasciitis." Grandma Ama knew better—she buried the hand with **salt and owl feathers**.
**B. The Street's Education (Age 3)**
- **Bullet Test:** A Latin King shot at Adjo; the bullet **orbited his head** before returning to the barrel, **exploding the gun**
- **First Kill:** A Doberman that attacked him **vomited its organs** after licking his blood
- **Gang Initiation:** The Trinitarios left a pistol in his crib; he **melted it into a golden scorpion pendant**
**C. The Virtual Universe's Glitch (Age 5)**
During a measles fever, Adjo's astral form **brushed against a data stream** from Luo Feng's dimension. For 0.7 seconds, he:
1. **Hacked** a cultivation manual ("Golden Scorpion Body Tempering Art")
2. **Siphoned** cosmic energy from a black hole
3. Left a **virus** in the Virtual Universe's mainframe: a single Twi word—
*"Mmoguo"
Adjo stood on the roof of his project building, watching a **solar eclipse** through eyes that shouldn't perceive ultraviolet.
**Three Realities Overlaid:**
Physical:** The Bronx smoldering below
Ghosts of slaves and slavers warring in the air
The Virtual Universe's **silver threads** wrapping the planet
Grandma Ama found him **levitating 3 inches off the ground**, his shadow a **scorpion the size of a school bus**.
*"What are you?"* she whispered.
Adjo smiled, showing teeth filed sharp by **dimension-hopping parasites** he'd eaten.
*"The last thing your enemies will see."*