Age of Sango(Naija Demigods Chronicles #1)

Accidents Precedes Change or So It Seems.

Everything ached. And why was the room spinning ?

The next thing Kola noticed as he came to was a vanilla scent wafting into his nostrils. He attempted to crack a smile at the familiarity of the situation but his split lips hurt too much— pain dashed at him as he became fully awake. He spied Omítọ̀nàdé kneeling by the side of his mat through eyes that were nearly swollen shut. If he'd thought the pain he'd felt from being hit by a car was hell before, he just realized that was purgatory, this was the seven hells.

Omítọ̀nàdé helped him sit up, expertly guiding him with a hand on his back and chest. She fed him water from a plastic cup.

"We need to stop meeting like this" Kola wheezed, after having a drink.

"Deja vu," She said smiling slightly. "Aren't you going to ask me why? "

"I know it was a test. I could sense the three of you hiding amongst the trees at some point during the fight." He said slowly "And I could also tell those two were Orishas the Ibeyi. Am I correct?"

Kola coughed and asked for more water.

"You have truly awoken Oba Sango."

"What happened? Last thing I remember is I nodded Taiwo before I passed out."

"You didn't faint immediately," She answered.

When she used the word faint it made him seem a lot weaker.

"You gave the twins quite a shock, literally," She continued. "Your eyes glowed like red light bulbs and lightning erupted from all over your body. If those two had been ordinary humans, they would have been burnt offerings." She ended dramatically.

"Are they okay?" Kola inquired a little concerned.

"Yes, they are. Their healing is a lot faster than yours for now since you've just recently awoken. They left about an hour ago."

Kola didn't respond. He had nothing to say about what she had told him instead he focused on his breathing which was laborious.

He tried to lie back down after some minutes but couldn't do so unaided so she assisted him. Once he was resting, Omítọ̀nàdé excused herself and took her leave.

This past week of his life has been highly eventful. It all started from him being in an accident. He was wondering if he could change it, if he would, and go back to his old life of hustling, picking pockets and working odd jobs just so he could eat.
Tears streaked down the sides of his eyes. Kola remembered the day his life changed for the first time four years earlier.
It was the night before his birthday—he was 13 going on 14—and his parents decided to take him out to celebrate. The location was meant to be a surprise. They'd chatted happily in his dad's car as he drove. His mom was telling him how he was becoming a man and before long he'll get married and have his own children. She'd asked him if he had a girlfriend.

Kola closed his ears with his hands embarrassed and shouted playfully "Oooo!!!, mommy stop na".

His parents laughed out loud.

His dad was about to say something equally embarrassing when a car came out of nowhere and crashed into the front passenger seat of his father's vehicle, crushing both parents. He had heard sickening crunches as their bones shattered.

He was spared in the back seat bathed in their blood and gore.

A shrill keen had tore itself out of Kola’s throat before he passed out from shock.

He woke up in a hospital in the accident and emergency ward. He heard someone talking about him.
“Poor child,” said a matronly voice, making a clucking sound at the back of her throat “Lost both parent in one day.”

“He is very lucky to have survived that ghastly accident unscathed.” A deep baritone said.

Kola didn’t feel very lucky at all, he felt numb. If this was fortune, then he would have preferred to be unfortunate.

“This life sha,” The woman gossiped on.

“Olorun ran wa o. And I heard that the man that ran into them survived with only some broken bones.”

Kola remained still, barely, listening on.
Just then, a woman rushed in and announced that more hands were needed. Apparently there was another accident that night between a bus and a car.

After his care-givers had gone, Kola was left to his own  thoughts and numbness. He wanted to cry but his eyes absolutely refused to water and mourn his loss. He considered his life from then onwards. They’d probably send him to an orphanage because he had no other family member. And wasn’t he too old to get adopted ?

The hospital was bustling with medical personnels running back and forth trying to stabilize the new accidents victims. Cries could be heard all over—from the victims and their family and friends.

Whilst everyone was distracted, he disconnected the line set into his arm, got up and slipped out of the hospital into the night; into the streets that would serve as his home for the next four years.