A Turn for the Worse [Spec Retraining/Tenma]

I decided it was about time I got to using the flying carpet Fazij Alim had given me, so I set it down on the ground behind my family home and took a deep breath. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but my destination would be Tenma's locale, and I knew the walking route by heart. Hopefully the flying route wouldn't be much harder, right?

Wrong. As soon as I took off, my heart shot down into my stomach. We were moving at speeds I'd never experienced before... beyond 20 meters per second, and on top of the fact that we were flying. Just perfect. I try to grab onto the edges of the carpet and turn it, to no avail. I simply flew on, out over the open sea. Would I be stuck like this forever.

"I just wanted to go to Tenma's home," I think to myself. "Why did I have to try this?"

And just like that, once the thought formed in my mind, the magic carpet made a wide turn, heading back for the city. In a minute, we were back at my home, and in ten or so the carpet had landed in front of Tenma's doorstep. Well well... what do you know?

Rolling the carpet up, I tie it onto my back with a cord and knock on Tenma's door. I wait for him to appear, breathing a little harder than usual. Was it nervousness, or the aftereffects of feeling I was going to be lost on a flying carpet forever? I decided not to think about it and try to calm myself instead.

However, when I raise my hand to knock on the door, I notice something I hadn't seen earlier. Two little marks in my hand and the vein closest to them already turning purple makes me nauseous, and my legs begin to give way under me. Had the little snake I'd found done this...

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“Bored….” The black haired man murmured, lazily laying on the bed and already spent several hours by just staring at the ceiling. He didn’t have anything to do right now and his roommate was not present currently, he guessed that Yushin was wandering around the city right now, radiating it with his bright light emitting from his body. He chuckled at the thought and sighed, bringing himself to sit up before he finally stood up and headed to the bathroom. The swordsman unbuttoned his shirt slowly, feeling very lazy and bored today, wondering if any interesting things would happen. He sighed , maybe today would be just another boring day and he could even past it at the nearby shop that sold drink. Pale white fair skin was revealed when he took off his shirt as well as revealing his well-toned body, he would fold the shirt and put it on the bed before he entered the bathroom to clean himself.

It felt nice to drench under the shower, feeling how the pressure from the water gave you a little massage on your skin and those were what Tenma did just now, letting the water to wet his body and also to refresh him. But just when he finished his bathtime, he heard someone was knocking the door and he lifted his towel, putting it on his head so it could absorb the wetness. Without even bothering to wear any cloth and just wear a pants, Tenma shamelessly opened the door just to have his eyebrow raised, “Miss Ivris…?” He called her name, chuckled a little before continuing, “What brings you here, milady? And sorry for how I look… anyway, please come in while I put on my shirt.” He stepped aside, giving the water magician more room to enter the house, but he raised his eyebrow, noticing something unusual. Her breathe seemed heavy and her legs were looked like that they ready to gave in at any moment. But something that pique his curiosity was the strange color on her hand... "...Excuse me." Without any more words, he swooped the lady, lifting her up bridal style and closed the door before he took her into his bedroom.

I stumble in onto him, having been leaning on the door to support myself, and find myself unable to extricate myself, too weak to move anymore.

"Something... something's wrong, Tenma," I say, my vision going dark for a couple of seconds at a time.

"It might have been... a king cobra... I picked up in the desert," I mutter, my head spinning. Even though Tenma was shirtless, there was nothing I could do but lean my head against him for support as my body failed me. Although I couldn't see it, the purple color of my arm had spread and had reached the right side of my chest.

"I don't think... there's enough time... for a doctor..." I mumble now, fading. However, the pain begins to surge through my body, causing me to cry out in agony. It felt like I was being destroyed from the inside, and it was causing me to suffer greatly.

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At that time, the man didn’t say anything and just proceeded to grab the bed sheet and tearing it. He used the torn fabric to tie the woman’s arm and quickly moved fast to downstairs to get milk. Hearing the woman mentioned about a snake that she picked up already gave the idea of what exactly happened with her, and at that moment, Tenma poured the milk on her bitten arm and smeared it before he sucked on it. He would quickly spit whatever he could suck and cleaned his mouth with milk from poison as he proceeded to do it again for around three or four time. But the woman seemed to give up, “Lady Ivris.” He called firmly, almost having this coldness inside his tone, “I will try to help first.”

The cry from the woman pierced his ears, he could hear her suffering and pain. But Tenma was surprised to see that the snake’s poison spread that quick, it was just a few minutes since he saw the purple mark on her arms and now the purple spread at her chest as well. That was odd and unnatural… perhaps that was a curse? But he had not time to be lost in thought as he was racing with time. “…hang in there, Lady Ivris. You haven’t guided me around, so it will be bad if you give up now…? Right?”

I smile, grabbing his hand to steady my own as it spread further and further throughout my body, until at last it had almost reached my heart.

"I-I'm afraid I won't be able to keep my promise. But... please, just end it now; I can't bear the pain... anymore," I whisper, grimacing.

With every breath I took, it was getting harder and harder to inhale. It felt like my lungs were being destroyed, and the right half of my body felt like it was being melted from the inside out. I knew I'd simply pass away in a couple of minutes at the rate things were going, but the pain was so terrible... I was on the verge of blacking out, but I couldn't. I didn't feel ready to leave this world yet, but there was nothing I could do to stop this. In the end, I was too weak. As a mage, I was a failure. I'd learned so much about Poison Magic, and for what? It'd overtaken me in moments, and now I was too weak to do anything about it. I just hoped my parents would not find out for a while... they didn't need to be hurt by my passing. I loved them too much to hurt them like this, but I couldn't stop it. There was nothing I could do. My brain was getting cloudy because of the pain, but I could feel tears on my face as my whole body trembled. I didn't scream in pain simply because the pain was so overwhelming, and my nerves were seemingly beginning to stop functioning. I just wanted the pain to end.

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He shook his head and saw as the woman gasping for air, showing her inability to even breathe properly. Tenma leaned down closer to the woman and touching her chin, whispering something, “Excuse me…” He said before pressing his lips to the woman’s lips, giving her air because at least that was what he could do at that time even though he knew that would not help too much. He would pull away from her after several minutes, seeing her in pain. Strange… such scene didn’t make him wanting to do something more to torture the girl… Was this because he knew the girl? He didn’t know.

The swordsman sighed and reached to the drawer’s handle, pulling it and taking his Wakizashi that called as the ‘Guren’. The crimson lotus that he always hid behind his coat, a perfect killing tool that helped him a lot when he needed to feel blood gushing out from someone’s body after tearing the skins apart. His eyes became cold as he stared at Ivris with his golden eye that shine like a bright moon. “End it..?” He asked, whispered as slow as he could, caressing the girl’s cheek with his big hand. He let out a dark chuckle, “You can’t bear the pain… so you want me to end it…?” The chuckled became a sinister laugh, he couldn’t hold himself. Hearing the fact that someone just begged him to end their pain made his stomach felt funny, resulting him to laugh uncontrollably. “Poor little girl… you are so young… yet you begged me to end it... refusing to even fight for your life…” He stared at his Guren, seeing at the steel that reflected his golden eye. “Fine… I will grant your wish…” Tenma chuckled again, leaning closer to the blue magician and staring right at her eyes that already given up hope. “Say the word, miss Ivris… I won’t make you feel any pain…” He said with a warm smile even though his eye was as cold as the ice.

I'm a bit taken aback when Tenma kisses me, and for a moment it's as though the pain disappears. But a moment later, it returns with a vengeance.
When he laughs, a flicker of fear shows itself on my face, but the pain that is racking my body quickly makes me forget what I'd been scared of. All I know is that there could be nothing in the world worse than this pain... what was happening to me?

I look up at him and nod; there wasn't any hope for me. I just wanted it to end...

"Please... just do it."

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He sat beside the female magician with his warm smile still intact on his face and then lifted Ivris’ body a little bit so she could sit on his lap and made her to lean on Tenma’s body. He would wrap her arm around the girl’s waist to support her and positioned her head to rest on his shoulder. He would stare at her blank eyes; nothing was inside besid
e the painful and her readiness. “…Such a waste indeed…” He whispered right on her earlobe, slowly lifting his left hand that already holding his Wakizashi. “Yet I thought that you are a strong lady…” He chuckled again, this time was much darker than before. Tenma closed his eyes, feeling her trembling body against his and sighed. The swordsman positioned his Guren to the female magician’s neck and whispered again to the woman, “Farewell, Miss Ivris… Until we meet again…” He pressed his sharp Wakizashi to the woman’s neck and cut through the skin, making the blood gushing out, everything would happen so fast to the point the woman wouldn’t able to feel any pain. “In hell…” He ended, enjoying the beauty of her blood color, admiring how it matched with her brown skin.

Slowly, he would climb down from the bed, letting the dead body to lean on the bed and then proceeding to take her hand. He carved crosses on both of her wrist, letting out more coming out from her body before giving the same carving on her legs. “May you get the salvation…” Tenma whispered gently while closing the empty opened eyes that no longer hold any soul within it. He would then bring the body and gently wrap Ivris with the blood stained sheet, but before that, he would notice her wand fell to the floor. A warm smile appeared on his face as he kept carrying the female magician and kneel down a little bit to take the wand. "I will hold this... and probably give this back to you when we meet again..." Tenma said softly, holding the wand and look at Ivris' face.

At last, the pain comes to an end. It fades away and disappears, death freeing me at last from its painful sting. What happens next, however, I'm not sure of. From what I knew about the priests of Anubis, my spirit would go into the afterlife, and my heart would be weighed on the scales that determined if one was worthy of entering the afterlife. If not... I wasn't sure what would happen. But it was probably nothing good. However, until my body was embalmed? What would I experience? It seemed at first like an endless sleep, and I drifted in darkness which carried my body along in the vast emptiness that surrounded me. It felt like an eternity was passing by before my eyes; I wasn't sure what was happening, honestly. Time seemed to have become meaningless as I drifted in this place between life and the afterlife. While I was sure I was dead... why wasn't I going anywhere?

[Exit.]

1016/2000 total word count specialization retraining

After time eternal had seemingly passed in this endless darkness, my own conscience seemingly flickering away as the loneliness of it all drew in, at last a strange, regal figure with green skin appeared. I had thought it might be Anubis, but it did not seem to be that god of burials. Instead, the one that stood before me... was he one of the cultist gods? I try to think back to where I had seen him before, but my mind had begun to unravel long ago. I wasn't even sure if I could speak anymore. I waited and watched as he drew closer, and I prepared myself for what was to come. Perhaps it was finally time for my heart to be judged on the scales, but why was it here, in this nothingness? Where was the afterlife, in all its glory? It seemed to me that something was strangely off here... I could tell that much. Where was I, and why had I been here for so long in this realm between life and the afterlife? It was like I had died, but yet, why was it that I lingered here in this world of endless darkness?

The man finally stopped, looked at me, and began to speak.

"Ivris Mantra, she who died before fate had decreed it... Why are you here? Return to life immediately."

"W-what do you mean?" I mumble, a little taken aback by his words. It seemed that now that I wasn't alone anymore, speech and my memories were flooding back to me.

"You do not belong here. However, you may have a choice. Would you like to continue onward to the afterlife, or go back to the world above? Once you make your choice, there is no way to turn back."

"How can I go back? I would love to... I had so much left undone, and yet I was poisoned by the snake I found and was going to to raise."

The man chuckled, and said, "Very well, it is decided. And if you wish to raise this animal which you claim poisoned you, I give you the chance to do that. Return to life at once, and continue on the path fate laid forth for you. I know you will be able to do what you know is right one day."

"Wait!" I shouted, my energy streaming back now as the darkness began to fade away into unbelievably white light. "Who are you?"

Even though the man has nearly disappeared from sight, I can still hear his voice clear as day.

"My name is Osiris, and I am the god of the afterlife. I will see you again someday, but not today. Return to life, and do what you are destined to do."

With that, everything that had surrounded me for so long. At first, the shock made me unable to cope with where I found myself now, but after a few minutes had passed I could finally feel my senses returning to me. I could feel the heat of the sand and of the sun below me, and I could see that I was out in the desert somewhere, the sun high above me. Unable to get up at first, all I could do was open my mouth, which was parched and dry, and ask, "Where... where am I?"

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It was a strange occurrence for him. Just when he placed the dead body of the female magician near the desert of forgotten souls, he could notice something was happening on the dead body. He laid the corpse down and watched, wondering if the rumor that there was a power of resurrection resided in the desert was a true thing or not. The one eyed man chuckled to himself, spreading wide grin on his lips as he saw color began to fill the magician's body. It changed her pale skin into her natural skin color, and at that time, the swordsman whistled, showing his amusement. "...interesting..." He murmured to himself.

"Looks like we wont wait until we can meet in hell..." He smiled at the water magician as he saw her opened her eyes. "...Miss Ivris." Tenma kneel down beside Ivris and giving her a warm smile before taking something from behind his coat. "Well, we are in The Desert of Forgotten Souls right now, and I have to say... welcome back to life, Miss Ivris." He took a wand from his coat and placed it on the female magician's body before saying, "There you go... and tell me..." He chuckled a little before continuing, "How does it feel to be dead... and suddenly you are alive again."

"I... I don't know," I say, still surprised myself to say the least. My senses were still coming back, so I really only heard his last question.

"The last thing I remember was being poisoned and then... and then I asked you to kill me. I'm so sorry, Tenma. I shouldn't have asked you to do something like that. I hope you can forgive me. Still... I don't understand why I'm back. I felt like I was drifting in a sea of emptiness, and then I met someone. His name was... I think he said it was Osiris. Yes, that was definitely it. He told me to return to life. Something about how my fate wasn't over just yet. Now, here I am. It's weird, though; I feel like something is different. I don't know what it is, but something has changed," I say, taking the wand. I take a deep breath, focusing myself, and try to cast one of my basic spells. But nothing happens. Again, I focus my mind and do what I've done for the longest time, but nothing occurs. What was the meaning of this?

"Thank you for keeping my wand for me during my death. I wish I could tell you why, but my magic seems to have disappeared. I think it must be due to my death. My magic may be gone now, but I will definitely find a way to bring it back someday," I say, finally standing up. "I don't know what I would have done without you releasing me from that pain. But now I'm back, and I'll do whatever it takes to follow the path that has set before me."

"Let me give you a ride home," I continue, untying my flying carpet from my back. It was nice of Tenma not to have taken it, although I wasn't sure if he really knew what it was. "This is a flying carpet, and you won't have to walk all the way back. Let me get accustomed to the changes that have gone on, and after a few days I'll definitely give you a tour. I just need to figure out what's going on, and why I've changed."

I know I'm alright. But why is my magic gone? The real question, however, is why had I been saved? I knew my fate wasn't done yet, as that man had said but... was it really so important that I would be brought back to life? I wasn't going to waste this opportunity, however. I'd do whatever I needed to move forward.

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