Seeker

First, his vision was blurry, but then he began to see more clearly and the first thing that greeted him was the large smiling face of an unfamiliar black woman.

His other senses began to awaken, first he felt weightless and understood he was being carried and then he heard a foreign language coming from all over the room, he couldn't clearly make out the features of the room but he could tell it wasn't like anything he had seen before because he vaguely saw purple curtains and shiny white tiles on the walls.

Soon the woman carrying him took him out of the room and held him out to a tall muscular black man with a bald head and a green circle drawn over the center of his forehead. As this man held him the man said things in the foreign language and looked him in eyes.

What Deji didn't know was that they had been saying:

What a strange child, the moment he was born he has been staring at everything with curiosity.

The man who was holding him now was his father, and what the man said was "A healthy boy born at dawn, a good sign from the goddess. I wanted to call you Nimiye, as you are a child of the first light but those eyes. You are searching for something, I hereby name you Aghora, a seeker."

Deji himself was now understanding what just happened and he instantly became overwhelmed with a multitude of question.

I was born again? I reaaly died? whaat happenneed to going toooo HELLLL???? Is this hell? Another chance at life???

With Deji pondering those questions he soon felt exhausted and fell asleep.

For the next period of five years his life would be simple.

At first Deji would wake up at night and cry like a normal child but it was actually because he had nightmares of his past life, and this problem actually manifested itsself physically. In his early periods it was apparant that his brain was developing faster than his body making for a rather sickly and ugly child.

But his father was a monk and this position meant Deji had access to an easy life, it showed because his father had three wives and he was the last child of the first wife.

Deji didn't have sisters and didn't interact much with his mother but he was the twelfth son and youngest child of the man, meaning he had not only servants at his call but the watchful and loving eyes of a large household.

Eventually Deji would grow into a more well poportioned child. He quickly learned things, first the language because his new family had a custom of speaking to a child as if it already understood the language this practice was a religious one.

Then he learned he was in another world, what made this obvious was the fact that his whole family was black and their house which was currently his whole world was in built like that of a roman statesman. He didn't read much in his past life but he did a little history and knew that there was no way any black people lived like high society people in Rome, perhaps the kingdom of being but not Rome.

Deji was never someone who was deeply invested in any kind of fantasy story or even regular history or just knowledge about other societies so accepting that in death, he was reborn in another world was a bit difficult for him.

He was very solitary, always pondering and only occasionaly speaking to ask questions thus leading his father to start his education two years early, at the tender age of five as opposed to seven.

He didn't interact much with his oldest siblings as some of them even lived in the estate his father owned with their own wives despite the fact that his father still looked to just be in his forties. The five brothers he was closest with were all children not too older than him.

Daran was a twelve years old who looked more like a sixteen year old with how built his body was, Grypha was an eleven year old who also looked older than his age but it wasn't as extreme as Daran then there were Kroll and Krey who were nine year old identical twins also carrying bodies more mature than their ages would suggest and finally there was Maaec a seven year old who had just started getting educated properly, he too was a bit muscular for a boy his age.

Deji found this absurd at first but he soon discovered his own body was maturing too quickly and this was in fact one of the questions that led to his early enrollment. 

He was given an answer by one of the servants, a dark but albeit lighter skinned woman. She explained that he was from a race of people called the Navira and that they were famous for their skin and their strength, she even said it was because of the goddess they served the almost endearingly named "Daji The Advowrer", he didn't ask but she also explained that she had lighter skin because she was from the northern part of the country from another race of people called the Onites, this she said very fondly.

Because of this Deji decided to give up clinging to his past identity and fully accepted the name he had been given in this world. What was the use?

So Aghora, the last son of Gristis, embraced himself fully and dedicated himself to learning about this new world.

Starting with his first trip outside the estate with five of his brothers.

That very morning for the first trip to the outside world Aghora was different, he spoke too much, he had woken up early and seemed unable to contain himself even shaking his arms a bit uncontrollably when told to wait, being a modern person he didn't understand why school had to start at noon but he did wait.

His grooming was also intresting and he honestly didn't understand why he and his brothers had to wear a silver armband but that immediatly made sense the moment he took a step out the of the estate.

It was a warm sunny day with a clear blue sky, the heat from the sun itself was a bit harsh which was probably why all six of the little boys going out today only had clothing around their waists.

They were free to go to their lectures by themselves and had no guiding adult to watch over them yet despite this, Daran and Grypha who were the oldest didn't induldge in any childish ideas. Not that they weren't tempted but that they were forcing themselves to act mature, as if trying to prove something.

While Maaec and the twins where saying they aren't going to do anything stupid they were clearly itching to run around and act out, especially Maaec.

However, Aghora was quietly taking in the view because it was just now he learned that their house was in a rather classy port city. The moment he took the outside world in he was greeted with the sight of well paved roads and rows of stone houses neatly packed together.

Their estate was really just a series of interconnected stone houses built on a hill over looking the rest of the city, thats why he could clearly see the whole city and the port, but still couldn't smell that seaside air. 

"Aghora hurry, we can not stand around all day"

Aghora quickly turned around and to run after the boys, it was Grypha that had called out to him as the others had already started heading into the town.

"Aghora, what did you see?" this was one of the twins, Kroll who was giggling because of his question.

The question he asked was a sort of running inside joke in their family, as Aghora was not very talkative but very observant yet when asked he why he didn't talk he would give out an intresting reply about something he noticed. Consistently being clueless about the fact that his behaviour was odd.

"Everything is so neatly arranged-"

Aghora wanted to go on but all the other children burst into laughter, to them it seemed funny that Aghora had noticed something they would never think about.

Daran broke the laughter first, by fake clearing his throat and speaking.

"You really see things different...Aghora actually, things are built like this according to the teachings of the goddess Daji and with the brilliance of the god Sinna"

This only raised more questions for Aghora but he nodded as if in understanding, an action which caused Daran to try to ruffle his hair.

This was another thing that had gotten to Aghora.

They were already down the hill and had started seeing packed and busier streets. Now aghora could see the difference in grooming and what that difference meant.

Most obvious was the hair, though their father had a bald head all of Aghoras siblings had a head full of hair which had been braided into different patterned cornrows each child from the same mother bearing the same braid.

A lot people in the town, both adults and children of all genders had fine braids but only Aghora and his siblings had jewelry done into their hair.

Their cloths were an absolute contrast, as they wore clean white robes around their waists and all had leather sandals whereras most of the people who had sandals around them where wearing sandals made from some type of straw.

Daran who was the closest had noticed how puzzled Aghora looked and gave a questioning glance at him. To which, Aghora replied with a question that had building in his mind since they left the estate.

"Do we have wealth?" he actually wanted to say "Do we own this city?" but his vocabulary was still small.

The resulting question was more profound as the word for wealth in the naviran tongue could also mean land.

Daran was quiet for a while before saying he would ask his teacher because he didn't fully understand how to explain it only admitting that he knew their father was like the older brother of the town.

With that said, the rest of the walk was quiet and the six boys finally arrived at a large stone building with a sign on top.

The building was more like a stadium, with roofed areas for sitting and a large field at the center.

All sorts of things were going on, in and around this place. From different but mostly food items being sold outside to the center, groups of men doing strenuous physical exercises, boys that were probably in their twenties leaving in groups but all carrying large two handed swords that matched their bearers heights and finally, children like them who were also just arriving.

As they got into the building a white skinned boy with short curly black hair hurried over and gave Daran and Grypha a hand shake. He looked more like a normal twelve year old, his physique being closer to matching that of Grypha.

"Oh, is this Aghora? Hey, little one they call me Zamir, I know I do not look big but I am actually older than Daran"

"Friend do not worry, Aghora is our youngest but he is far wiser, he will not act like Maaec did on that day."

This response came from Grypha and it made the boys laugh a little, after which Zamir, Daran and Grypha seperated to head to a different area.

Kroll, Krey, Maaec and Aghora had to go together since they had the same teacher, education wasn't really organized and they were actually going to just meet someone who was known as being wise to impart some general knowlegde.

Walking towards a corner they met a clean shaved bald old man with a series of green circles drawn over his forehead. As they came near he only gestured for them to sit around on the staircase.

He didn't speak and instead waited quietly for other children to arrive and when they totalled up to fifteen the man abruptly stood up.