Vaknade vid 03:30 och det regnade ute, så jag tänkte att jag kanske inte skulle springa nu på morgonen. Gick och la mig och somnade om. Tina väckte mig strax innan 05:00 och sa att det inte regnade (hade bett henne väcka mig om det inte gjorde det!), så jag gick upp och bytte om och satte av direkt.
Det fick bli den korta rundan och det var tur för det var tungt. Men jag sprang hela vägen och tempot var ganska bra.
Efter denna runda, fick jag hela två vykort från utmaningen King of Wakanda. Detta innebär även att jag passerat 60% av den totala sträckan i denna utmaning.
Every Wakandan believed that their nation, having stood for centuries, was special, powerful, and even indestructible. But now Wakanda is broken, and the people feel rage, shame, and disappointment. They also feel that, due to his absence, T’Challa is responsible for their near demise, and they start looking elsewhere for guidance.
In the Nigandan borderlands, the sorcerer Tetu and the empath Zenzi are forming an army. Tetu is inspired by the teachings of the philosopher Changamire and believes that Wakanda’s king is a tyrant who not only abandoned his nation but has come back to rule it with an iron fist. His co-revolutionary, Zenzi, has the power to amplify others’ feelings, so she latches on to the people’s feelings of shame and rage and directs them toward the king.
This is not the only internal opposition T’Challa faces. In the Jabari Lands, two former Dora Milaje members break from their order and become known as the Midnight Angels. In the wake of Wakanda’s near destruction, crime flourishes. Ayo and Aneka form an all-female commune and an army of sorts that fights back against aggressors. They, too, feel left behind by the king, and they band together under the slogan “No one man.”
T’Challa shares his people’s doubts. He feels dismayed and guilty about having to fight fellow Wakandans. Slowly, T’Challa recognizes that he is not fighting against a force; he is fighting against an idea, a revolutionary idea. He realizes that if he does not want Wakandan blood on his hands, something has to give.
Meanwhile, Shuri, neither dead nor alive, undergoes a spiritual journey in Djalia, the ancestral plane. She returns as a griot, a keeper of Wakanda’s stories, songs, and memories.
T’Challa faces Tetu’s forces in the Golden City. Changamire lends his powerful rhetoric to clear Tetu’s soldiers’ minds and release them from the rage and hatred amplified by Zenzi. Not all the soldiers can be redeemed, however. So, helped by the Midnight Angels—who recognize Tetu as a tyrant rather than a true reformer—and by the spirits of former Black Panthers, T’Challa fights back.
Tetu is defeated and Zenzi escapes, but the revolutionary energy does not simply dissipate. T’Challa sees that Wakanda needs its traditions, but traditions are just inventions, and they can be changed. The Black Panther finds his resolve. The kingship and his power are bestowed on him by the goddess Bast and cannot be taken away by mortals. Wakanda needs its king. But the king should not hold all the power; “no one man” should. T’Challa agrees to form a council with representatives from all over Wakanda and to write a new constitution.
The Orisha seem to have abandoned their worshipers. Crops drown due to ceaseless storms, and people’s prayers fall on deaf ears. Next, T’Challa discovers a strange door deep in the forest through which half-man, half-snake creatures emerge. Shamans call upon the Orisha for help, and the door indeed closes, but the shamans lose their lives. The gods are not protecting their priests.
Soon enough, the Black Panther, Shuri, the Midnight Angels, the War Dogs, and Storm have to deal with a flood of additional monsters pouring out of many more doors. As if this weren’t bad enough, the king soon hears that a new self-styled prophet named Ras the Exhorter has appeared in Kinamasi province and is praying to the god Sefako. Meanwhile, Asira, a Wakandan religious figure, is kidnapped, and signs seem to be pointing toward Klaw as the culprit.
By visiting Djalia with Shuri, T’Challa learns the truth about the monsters: Wakanda’s original inhabitants, the Originators, though long ago banished to the netherworld, have reemerged in the absence of the Orisha.
The Black Panther gathers all his forces to fight the Originators and Ras the Exhorter. But the prophet summons Sefako. Storm recognizes him. He is not a god but a demon she has fought before. He is the Adversary! Storm gathers her strength and, using all her power, seals the Adversary into a rock and banishes the Originators. When T’Challa unmasks Ras, he is shocked to find the prophet is Asira. She has been manipulated by Klaw and his unsavory associates.
Wakanda is safe for now, but the Orisha are still missing.