Age of Sango(Naija Demigods Chronicles #1)

A Twin Beating.

Fully clothed in a white and red stripped polo shirt and stone black denim trouser Omítọ̀nàdé provided, Kola sat on an ijoko and quietly devoured his dinner of Amala and gbegiri soup with ewedu served in a black pot. He moulded and rolled the balls of amala, dipped it into the soup and swallowed with relish, his Adam's apple bobbing excitedly in his throat. He'd always been partial to gbegiri soup.

Well fed and warm, the exhaustion of the day's excitement finally got to him. He started nodding off while sitting on the ijoko and so he fell hard to the ground.

Omítọ̀nàdé ushered Kola to a hut behind the babalawo's shrine. Inside, a mat had been prepared on the floor for his rest. The hut was probably the babalawo's extremely modest dwelling. The simple room had a single small window with a wooden shutter that opened outwardly and a back exit. A part of his mind registered that there was barely any furnishing in the building except for a few stools.

A wall was adorned with a framed picture of the babalawo and a wooden figurine with an axe popping out of its head was present there as well.

As soon as Kola's head touched the blanket arranged as a pillow for him, he was out like a blown candle. After making sure he was snug, Omítọ̀nàdé left the hut and returned to the shrine where the others were gathered.

As she entered Yemisi asked

"How is he?"

"Sleeping like a baby." Omítọ̀nàdé responded as she took her place on an inverted mortar.

"The boy is trusting despite his hard life." Ogun observed.

"He might be a coward but he is no fool." Yemisi said.

"Ori rẹ lagbara; his head is strong" said the ifa priest.

"Very" confirmed Omítọ̀nàdé

There was a brief silence as everyone considered that information.

"Why are we all so grim?" Omítọ̀nàdé asked "We should be happy, there should be a festival in his honour. The king of the Orisha has returned to aye!"

"Exactly!!!" Ogun countered "Why is he back? For the first time in centuries a lot of Orishas have come back to earth. I believe trouble is coming and that is no cause for celebration."

"What orun imole speaks is true. Dark days are ahead of us." The babalawo said ominously.

"If crisis is truly on the way wouldn't he have to be trained and have his weapon by him? Ogun, will you create oshe for Kola?" Oya asked

"No." His reply was immediate.

"Why not?" She inquired

"Because he is not worthy, Yet. Train him." Ogun said "Then, we shall see."

"But who better to train him than the god of war himself. You are the best person for the job Ogun and you know it." Oya stated.

"Get the Ibeyi to come and test him tomorrow." Ogun said right before he got on his feet and walked out of the hut into the night.


Kola awoke on the next morning feeling more rested than had in a very long time, not since before the accident. He shook his head not wanting to go down that memory lane. It was just too painful. He looked around the hut, half yawning. It was a gigantic upgrade from sleeping one eye open on hard asphalt under the night skies or under bridges, though not as great as his hospital accommodation. The scent of frying bean cakes filled the air.

He began to recall the events of the previous day. He was an incarnate of Sango, Yoruba deity of thunder and lightning. HIM. And he had called down lightning from the sky. It all felt somehow like a surreal dream but he has never had much of an imagination. To put the icing on the cake, he was pretty sure the super-hot Yemisi was into him.

Omítọ̀nàdé came in then, derailing his train of thoughts.

"E ka aro, Oba Koso."

Consciously, He replied her greeting in English "Good morning Omítọ̀nàdé. How was your night?"

"Fine, thank you sir. Would you like to freshen up before you eat breakfast? " She asked.

She called him sir. Sir ! He could get used to this. "Yes, thank you I would like to."

He followed her to the jeep to get some toiletries which included the native dudu osun and a change of clothes. Then she led him to a rundown outhouse where he can do his business and a roofless bathroom with a pail of lukewarm water to take his bath.

He felt like he'd been transported back to a time without plumbing. Not that he'd had much plumbing on the streets.

All fresh and clean he returned to the hut, a plate of hot crispy akara balls and akamu with a tin of peak milk already opened and a bowl of sugar awaiting him on a stool. Kola sampled an akara ball. It was delicious. He went out to thank Omítọ̀nàdé for the meal but couldn't find her.

Kola combed through the kitchen which was a semi enclosed porch around the courtyard. The kitchen was a hybrid of ancient and modern with its large 4 burner gas cooker with a pan of groundnut oil on it still warm to the large clay pots that held water. Areas of the ground was parched, evidence of the crude cooking once done with firewood on the earth. Aluminium pots were piled in a corner with some dishes by the side of a mortar and pestle.

He went on to the babalawo's shrine to check but saw nobody. That's when he realized he hadn't seen Yemisi or Ogun all morning either.

Before he could call out their names he heard voices behind him echoing

"Are you looking for someone?"

Already getting used to surprises, he wasn't startled, instead he turned around calmly to find a pair of identical twins. They were a gangly, though attractive pair, dressed similarly in white real Madrid football jerseys and shorts like they were going for training or a match play. Their hair was frowzled.

"Hi, I'm Taiwo, the older one. I came out first." One said weirdly.

"O! Shut up Taiwo, he didn't ask you," the Other one said. " Hi, I'm Kehinde, the older one because I sent him out to judge the world before I came out as is our custom."

They began to bicker.

He let them have a minute, before asking for the whereabouts of the others.

They replied simultaneously with mischievous smiles on their faces "We don't know."

God ! that is creepy, Kola thought.

"Who are you people? " He asked.

"We are assassins sent to kill you" the one named Kehinde replied throwing a punch that hit Kola right in the solar plexus.

He barely saw the punch coming and was too slow to avoid it.

Kola felt adrenaline surge through his body in a crazed spike and for the first time in forever his instinct was fight not flight.

While he held his stomach and doubled over in pain, he noticed Taiwo's knee aiming for his face. Before it could connect, he caught it with his hand and threw a punch at Taiwo's face with the other which he easily deflected.

He realized he had lost sight of Kehinde, before he could turn around in search for him, his feet were literally swept out from under him.

Kola landed hard on his buttocks. He roared out in anger. As fast as a hungry leopard, he scrambled to his feet attacking Taiwo and they went down in a frenzy of kicks and punches.

They rolled together in the dirt for a bit, trying to overwhelm each other, before they separated and stood up facing off themselves.

The world righted itself as Kola's flight impulse returned. He turned around to run away but Taiwo grabbed his shirt's collar and yanked him to the ground. He returned to his feet to tackled Taiwo.

Kehinde circled them like a hawk. Kola knew he was looking for an opening to attack. He also knew he was hopelessly outmatched by even just one of them and the fight had only one outcome; his defeat. He was determined to cause as much damage as he could before his inevitable loss.

He tried to recall fight moves from his favourite Jackie Chan and Jet Li movies.

Once again he didn't see Kehinde until it was too late. He got padlocked in his arms. Kola tried to break his hold but his arms felt like they were high tension cords. Taiwo was in front of him momentarily to deliver power packed punches to his head, making him see constellation of stars. He was very sure his face looked like a bloody mess.

He tried to think of a way out but the repeated blows didn't really give much room for thoughts. He was so angry for letting himself get beaten so easily he roared. Something snapped inside him then and instincts took over. The last thing he remembered before his consciousness fled was giving Taiwo a powerful nodding on his head.