Osiris laid his head on the desk in front of him, he was a little tired from the last few weeks of training, but it was not as bad as his master made him think it would be. Even though a few weeks had passed, he hadn’t made much, if any, progress. This was so different from all the books and learning he had grown used to over the last few decades. Before he could even dive into the books his master had given him to study the basics, he fell asleep, again.
“Alright, Osiris, right from the start again,” Hermes said, walking around his student, who stood in the center of the circular room with a large ring of fire around him.
“Yes, Master,” Osiris said with his eyes closed.
“Take a deep breath; allow the life essence that is in the air to flow into you through your skin, mouth, nose, everything,” Hermes instructed, watching his student take deep breaths.
“Yes, like that, good you are understanding the first step. Now gather all the essence into one location in your body and…” Hermes watched as wisps of green light floated out of Osiris. With an exhausted breath, Hermes sat on the ground, looking at his student.
Osiris stood with eyes closed, feeling the essence escaping his body, “I’m sorry, Master, it seems I failed again.”
“It is fine. You are impeded by your lack of knowledge, so getting what you have in the time you have is well done, Osiris.”
“Thank you, Master.”
The goddess, who had never spoken in their training, suddenly opened her mouth, “Why, child do you choose that location every time? Why not choose another?”
Osiris looked at the ground, deep in thought, “I do not know; honestly, I did not even realize it was going to the same place.”
“I see,” The goddess said with squinted eyes before standing and walking to Osiris, “You, child, are forbidden from anything related to essence until I command otherwise, understood.”
Osiris opened his mouth, but the words just fizzled before he slowly nodded his head, “Yes, goddess,” He said in a defeated tone.
Hermes silently watched the interaction, making no effort to comfort or explain why the goddess took the action that she did.
Osiris drudged back to his room, upset at another failure. After he dragged himself in and threw himself on his bed, he tried to calm his mind and think.
“If you just let me help, all your problems will be solved,” a voice echoed around Osiris.
“No, thanks. I can do this on my own.” Osiris spoke, unsure at what.
A snicker echoed around him, “A failure like you! On your own!”
Osiris jumped up, “I can do it… I-I just need time.” his excited voice died with each word he spoke, unsure if he even believed his words.
“Oh, in that case, I will be here when you fail,” The voice said with a mocking tone.
Weeks turned to months as Osiris rested. His master would only visit him to eat, then he would leave as silently as he had arrived. Osiris tried to continue reading the books given to him, but they were taken by his master at the goddess's command. Why was she treating him like this, he knew there had to be a reason, but no matter what he did, he could not come up with a reason as to why.
“What a useless, foolish child,” the voice snickered around Osiris.
“Quiet, you're annoying,” Osiris snapped at the voice.
“I’ve done nothing to gain your ire; no, you are the failure, not I,” The voice mocked.
Suddenly Osiris’s head started to ring, causing him to grab his ears, “Hehe, Don’t you want to know why they won’t let you do anything.”
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“No,” Osiris responded with squinted eyes, trying to ignore the pain in his head.
“They are scared!” The voice screamed, “Scared of you and your potential, it is the only thing that makes sense.” the voice oozed temptation, “They hid you while they cowered, but I would let you bloom like a flower, the most beautiful and breathtaking flower…”
“Quiet,” Osiris screamed before fainting from the pain that the ringing caused.
Osiris was on his hands and knees; sweat dripped from his face, and his clothes were drenched; with deep and labored breaths, he fell to the ground, too tired to move. It had been seventeen months since his last time in the circular room of the goddess, and honestly, when his master pulled him out of the room this morning, he was unsure what to think upon seeing the goddess. She only said one word to him, ‘Continue,’ that was it, nothing else, but that one word meant more to Osiris than anything else.
“From the top, Osiris, like before, pull in the surrounding essence.”
“Yes,” Osiris whispered, unaware that he was so quiet.
Hermes stood outside the ring of fire, watching, waiting for his student.
The goddess sat silently with her usual lazy and uninterested appearance.
Seconds turned to minutes, and Hermes watched with bated breath, “He is the farthest he has ever made it; just a little more, and he would have his art seed.”
The minutes turned into hours until the sound of Osiris’s deep exhale could finally be heard. Hermes jumped in excitement. His student had succeeded. Now he could move on to the trunk and finally start to learn the essence art and create his branches.
Without warning, the blazing circle that always surrounded Osiris when he was performing his exercise burst forth, then the sound of a loud, sharp crack, like breaking crystal, echoed in the room. Osiris gave a pained howl as he fell to the ground covered in sweat before fainting.
Hermes wanted to run to his student but couldn’t because of the blaze, “Goddess!” He wailed, but the goddess just watched silently with squinted eyes.
“Please,” Hermes pleaded, but it looked as if the goddess was ignoring his plea.
“He is already unfit for this,” The goddess spoke emotionlessly.
“What!” Hermes shouted, only to pause, “Then this…” he looked at the blaze only to see the original orange, red, and yellows tainted by a pure white.
“Oh no,” Hermes whispered as he fell to his knees, his throat too dry to scream again. All he could do was stare at the growing white flame, slowly tainting the original glow of the flames.
Suddenly a small laughter could be heard from the only entrance of the circular room. Hermes's first thought was that they had been found.
“Stop hiding,” The goddess said, standing from her crystal throne.
“Oh my, since when is Arzu'Arder so rude to her guest,” said a voice that Osiris would find familiar if he were awake to hear it.
Hermes was the first to react to the voice, “It can’t be,” Hermes gulped as he looked at the man entering the room.
“Well, Hermes, it has been quite some time, has it not,” said a man with long braided black hair that stretched well down his back, bright green eyes that seemed to look past everything, dark tan skin, and a sinister toothy smile.
The goddess looked at the man with squinted eyes, the orange dress flaring, just like her emotions, “You have no right to call me that!”
“Oh,” The man looked at the goddess with a flutter of his eyes in shock before putting his finger on his chin in contemplation, “Then how about Ahura,” The man said with a snide smile.
“Y-You! You are no child of mine! HOW DARE YOU CALL ME BY THAT NAME!” The goddess screamed, the surrounding flames bursting, but the man only stood and laughed at the goddess's tantrum.
“You do not even see me as your child, Ancestor. I am so hurt,” The man said, putting his hands over his chest with a pained expression.
“ORION!” The goddess screeched but could do nothing, “You kill him either one. It does not matter,” The goddess commanded Hermes.
Orion seeing this, could only laugh, “Oh, you,” he said between his laughs, “As a goddess, you should know the bonds between master and student that the Divine Race has…”
In the short time that Orion and the goddess were arguing, Hermes, in his panicked state, put himself between Orion and Osiris. He was bent on protecting his student from this madman at any cost.
But when he heard Orion’s words, “... Isn’t that right, my cute student, Hermes,” Hermes could not help but lurch, remembering five hundred years ago when he was Orion’s last student.
“Oh, it seems you still remember all my affection!” Orion said, clapping his hand, “That will make this easy.”
“DIVINE RACE MASTER!” The Goddess of Blaze screamed at Hermes, but it did little good between Orion in front and the growing white flame behind, reminding him of his past; Hermes was long lost in his memories.
“Hermes, my child, you are no fun,” Orion said, walking past Hermes, who was lurched over, gasping for breath, “Oh well,” Orion continued to walk into the white flames grabbing hold of Osiris.
“Well, it has been quite fun, but I got my new toy, so I will be off. You don’t have to see me off,” Orion said, vanishing in the white flame, but he left one last remark just for the goddess in the ash of the white flame, “Wash your neck for me, Ancestor, because the next time we meet, I will have your head.”
“NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!” The Goddess kept screaming at the disappearance as Hermes was on his hand and knees, hunched over, mumbling, “Both my master and my student are gone,” he then began to sober to the reality of everything, making a silent decision that would shape the rest of his life.