Beyond the world of the living, past the veil of mortality, lies Nyankosor, the great ancestral realm. A world where the spirits of the righteous lives on, untouched by time, dwelling in eternal wisdom and strength. The sky above Nyankosor shifts between gold and deep blue, illuminated by an unseen sun that casts a gentle, everlasting glow over the land.
Nyankosor is vast, divided into great cities and regions, each ruled by ancient spirits of different clans and lineages. There are lush forests where the spirits of great healers and nature-bound souls reside, towering mountains where warrior ancestors continue their training, and grand halls where the greatest minds of history debate and record their knowledge in glowing manuscripts. Rivers of luminous water flow through the realm, carrying the whispers of history itself.
At the heart of Nyankosor are great cities where the ancestors lived, each representing a different aspect of their existence.
David did not arrive in the high courts of Nyankosor, nor in the sacred palaces where the great ancestors held council. Instead, he found himself in Ahinase, the revered Sacred Grounds of the ancestral realm.
Ahinase: The Sacred Grounds were a breathtaking sight—tall structures carved from ivory and gold, standing proudly under the glowing sky. The streets were paved with smooth black stone, engraved with Adinkra symbols that pulsed with spiritual energy. The city shimmered with an aura of divine purity, its air thick with the weight of ancient power.
Ahinase was not just a city—it was a realm of judgment, trial, and revelation. It was where ancestors who had achieved greatness gathered, their wisdom shaping the laws of Nyankosor. It was also the first place where new spirits arrived, judged by the ancestral guardians before they were permitted to journey deeper into the realm.
Warriors, philosophers, and mystics alike called Ahinase home. Some walked, their robes flowing like cascading waterfalls of light, while others hovered above the ground, their forms shifting between physical and ethereal. Some soared through the sky, their spirits untethered by mortal constraints, while others meditated in silence, their presence alone vibrating with raw power.
It was a place of order, wisdom, and justice—where only those deemed worthy could proceed into the deeper cities of Nyankosor.
But David's arrival was not met with welcome.
A great horn sounded across the city, and in an instant, everything stopped.
The ancestors turned.
Their glowing eyes locked onto him.
Then, like a storm gathering its winds, they rushed toward him.
In the blink of an eye, David was surrounded by dozens of ancestors, all armed with weapons of different shapes and sizes. Their robes fluttered as they moved, their ethereal forms shifting between solid and ghostly. A woman stepped forward—her presence commanding respect.
Angela Amponsah, one of the fiercest warriors of the ancestral realm, stood tall, her golden spear pointed at David's chest.
"State your purpose here, intruder!" she demanded.
Before David could respond, another ancestor whispered something in Angela's ear. Her eyes darkened. A murmur spread through the crowd.
"He is the one... the one who defiled the ways of the living."
"He has no place here."
"Judgment awaits."
Without another word, they seized him.
David struggled, but it was useless. The ancestors were very powerful.
They dragged him through the streets of Ahinase, past grand halls and towering statues, toward the great prison of the sacred city. Every ancestor who laid eyes on him had nothing but disdain, their judgment heavy in the air.
Then the beatings began.
A fist smashed into his ribs, knocking the wind out of him.
A kick sent him sprawling, his back crashing against the cold, unforgiving ground.
Blows rained down—elbows, knees, fists, and feet, each one filled with the weight of righteous fury.
Someone grabbed him by the collar and hurled him across the courtyard. He landed hard, feeling the sting of stone scraping against his skin.
Another strike. A sharp pain tore through his jaw. Blood filled his mouth.
Yet through it all, David did not scream. He did not beg.
Instead, through swollen eyes and aching limbs, he smiled.
"Everything is going according to plan," he thought.
With one final blow to the back of his head, his world went dark.
When David regained consciousness, the air was damp and cold. The pain in his body throbbed with each heartbeat. He tried to move, but his body protested—his muscles sore, his bones aching from the brutal assault.
The ancestors had thrown him into a dark prison cell and left.
For a while, he lay there, unmoving, his mind caught between pain and clarity. Then, he felt something—a presence nearby.
A shadow loomed over him, bending down. A warm energy flowed through the air.
A hand touched his chest. A strange, soothing light seeped into his wounds. Slowly, the pain began to fade. His breathing steadied. His swollen eyes fluttered open.
As his vision cleared, he saw the figure standing before him.
His heart stopped for a moment.
The man before him—a figure he had seen just moments ago in the world of the living.
His lips trembled. His mind reeled.
And then, his voice broke the silence.
"Saponu Sebastian..."
The name escaped his lips before he even realized it.
The prison walls seemed to shrink around them as the weight of the impossible settled between them.
Sebastian took a deep breath. His voice was calm, yet carried the weight of something deeper.
"It's nice to meet you again, David."
David struggled to comprehend how Sebastian, someone he had known in the world of the living, could be standing before him in the ancestral realm. He tried to piece it together, his mind racing. The ancestral realm was a place for those who had lived virtuous lives—so how could someone like Sebastian, with all his dark deeds, end up here?
Questions filled David's head, but none could form into coherent words. How... "Why... are you here?" David stammered, his voice hoarse with confusion.
Sebastian's gaze softened, but there was a hint of sadness in his eyes. He spoke slowly, as if weighing each word. "You were never meant to see me here, David. But fate doesn't always follow the path we expect."
David blinked, disbelief still clouding his thoughts. "You... you shouldn't be here. This place isn't for people like you. What happened?"
Sebastian's expression hardened for a moment, his features flickering with something unfamiliar. "I made a choice, David. A choice to... return. But it's complicated. And you don't know the full story."
David's mind reeled as he tried to piece the pieces together. His old friend, now standing before him in a realm meant for ancestors, seemed different—changed. The weight of their shared past hovered between them, and David couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to this encounter than he could grasp.