This is a short story about Osyra's name.
It was a warm, dry evening on the far away continent of the Land of the Kings.
A young mother was giving birth alone, in the dark of night, on a desert sand bed. Sick and weak from the stress of giving birth, the young woman collapsed, giving herself to her fate.
As the young woman lay there, her hands on her swelled belly, she whispered , 'I'm sorry my child, that I could not bring you into this world. Perhaps it is best we both die. For there is nothing I could ever give you. May the Goddess Isis forgive me!,"she cried.
A tear fell down one cheek as the young mother turned her head to the side and relaxed, probably for the first time in her life, her tiny body becoming still as the night. With those last words, the young mother drifted off to the lands beyond, off to the lands where no one hurts, where no one is alone and all are at peace.......
The desert breeze howled through the sand dunes, casting up dust, covering the young body with sand.
A small, growing light appeared on the horizon, growing larger with every minute that passed.
The stranger, lean and slim , stepped down from his mount, and moved towards the small lump half-covered with sand. The breeze ruffled the dead mothers wispy white hair, as the stranger knelt beside the body making strange motions in the air.
Strange chants flowed from the strangers mouth; blessings from a far away land. He removed a strangely shaped blade made of shimmering gold, with a cat-like handle, and began to cut the unborn child from it's mother. The eyes on the pommel of the blade appeared to glow as the stranger continued the chants, continued until the child was freed from it's dead mothers body.
The stranger held the child close, wiped it clean and began to chant again. His voice was carried by the desert winds through the empty plains of sand and endless night.
A wisp of white tendrils shot out toward the child, the stranger closed his eyes. When he opened them , he looked drained of life and spirit, his green eyes reflecting the small ripples of power coursing through his thin frame.
A small cry released him from the drained, dazed state in which he was lost, and he looked down at the child in his arms. He smiled a wide, broad smile and kissed the childs forehead.
'Welcome back to the land of the living, young daughter,' he whispered. As he stood and walked toward his mount, the babe swaddled in a brightly colored green saffron kerchief, he gazed up at the strange night sky. 'Thank you Kai for protecting this child. May she grow in your power and your protection until the end of her days.'
He began a series of chants as he mounted the strange hump-backed creature that had brought him on his quest through these lands. He held the child up toward the night sky, 'Take one last look my child, for when you awken in the morn, you will be in a different place, a different land, a different life.........' The star night bathed the child in a warm green glow as the childs breathing came to a shallow whisper and she feel asleep.
He looked to the far west as the mountains of rock; Temples, they were called in these lands, loomed over the horizon. As they neared the sea that would bring him home, he looked back toward a beautiful palace, whose main foundation was a thick, mighty pillar. The tales of this pillar were known throughout these lands, he had discovered, and the people worshiped this pillar unendingly.
He shook his head as he thought of the tales told about the pillar... A carved, ornate chest, in which had been placed the body of the great king of these lands, had floated down the river and lodged itself in a tamarisk bush. This bush then grew to be a giant tree , encasing the box within it's thick trunk, and was then cut down and used in the building of the great palace.
The stranger smiled, stared at the child and said , 'As a reminder of where you come from, who you are, and what path you will take with your life, I name you in memory of your great and kind king. Osyra you will be a bright and strong woman, with the kindness granted to you by the king of these lands and by Kai, my god, who will give you the strength to go on amidst the trouble and turmoil you will surely face in your lifetime....
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