The Forgotten Kingdom of Dreams

Fantasy • Nigerian Myth • Fiction

By: Sami

The night rain fell like whispered secrets on Amina Odili’s window. For weeks she dreamed of a strange land, painted skies, masked warriors, and gods whose names vanished the moment she woke.

No one believed her.

Not her mother, not her classmates, not even the old herbalist at the market.

But this night, everything changed.

Amina fell asleep to the rhythm of rain. When she opened her eyes, she stood barefoot on warm red earth, surrounded by towering gates carved from giant baobab trees.

The scent of palm wine and incense filled the air. Then voices rose:

“Ọba ti pada!”

The queen has returned!

Warriors knelt, spears clattering. Women lowered their heads. Drums thundered.

A tall priestess stepped forward, eyes shimmering like moonlit water.

“Welcome home,” she said.

“Queen Amezah of the Forgotten Gods.”

Amina froze. Queen?

She had no idea where she was yet everyone knew her name.

They called the land Eru-Ife, the realm between waking and death. A kingdom created by gods forgotten by mankind.

Here, Amina met them:

• Oru — God of Night Winds, speaking in gusts.

• Irenna — Goddess of Forgotten Roads, leaving glowing footsteps.

• Kpori — Trickster God of Mirrors, face shifting with every blink.

They believed she was their lost queen reborn from the human world, destined to choose their fate.

But Amina only wanted answers.

In the royal court, a throne made of woven light waited.

When Amina touched it, memories flooded her mind, battles fought, stars commanded.

She saw herself as Queen Amezah centuries ago, sealing the gods away so humans would forget divine power.

The truth struck her:

She wasn’t just visiting. She was returning.

She was the reason the gods were forgotten.

And now they wanted her to undo it.

“If you open the gateway,” the priestess said, “the gods will walk the earth again.”

Amina hesitated.

Return the gods… and risk chaos?

Or let them fade forever?

She chose a third path.

“You will remain legends,” she declared,

“but legends that live in dreams.”

She unsealed the gate, not to bring gods back physically, but to let humans remember them through dreams.

Eru-Ife shimmered, transforming into a realm of starlight, reachable only through sleep.

The gods bowed in gratitude, not defeat.

Amina woke in her room.

No throne.

No drums.

Only a warm pendant shaped like a crescent drum resting beside her pillow.

From that night on, she traveled to Eru-Ife whenever she dreamed, not as a ruler…

…but as a bridge between worlds.

Amina Odili.

Queen Amezah.

Dreamer and keeper of forgotten gods.

And though no temples were built for the gods, stories returned, told by dreamers across the earth.

And that was enough.