Chapter Text
One thing Cyno was always quite unique for was his physical appearance. While he seemed to hold no sense and intelligence at first glance, he was a striking replica of the Eternal Lord of the Desert, King Deshret himself. With thick white hair, sandy brown skin, and sharp, hot eyes, it seemed almost as if he was one of the Reincarnated, the bodies of old spirits that roamed the lands. This is the story of a very unfortunate encounter that was to change him forever.
It was well into the night that day. Among the cooling orange sands, A little boy found himself lost in a circle of Eremites. They were all equipped with weapons, ropes, and a dirty smile that screamed "What do we have here? A sacrifice, perhaps? Or a golden opportunity to... enjoy ourselves, hmm? What do we say, brothers?"
The boy of about six or seven was called Cyno. His parents had abandoned him at an oasis, in hopes of the ravtures having one more meal of a boy they never loved. He was always annoying, a distraction, too needy for them. Never mind that he was undernourished, his body shaking as the bandits crept closer and closer.
One thing Cyno can remember, through the terror and feeling of being roughly ground against the sand, is struggling, fighting, even when they tore his already ruined top off him, was a small spark that ran through his spine as he kicked his legs one last time. Cyno sunk down, eyes cold and distant, as he sought revenge the minute they turned their back on them. The men were groaning and panting, shoving something he couldn't see into his back, but Cyno couldn't understand anything through the drowning orange sand.
When their moans suddenly turned into screams, and a sharp slashing cut through their voices, Cyno turned to face his saviour. When dusty red eyes met elegant purple, Cyno froze. In local mythology, there was only one wandering spirit with purple eyes.
Anubis, spirit of Life and Death, the ultimate Preserver of Judgement. Once, in King Deshret's time, he stood next to him in times of war, and sat next to him in times of peace. He had once cut down a whole forest of Greater Lord Rukkadevata's during a sparring contest with just one well-trained slash of his purple claws.
Cyno looked up. It was indeed true; Great violet claws, with golden script engraved onto purple robes flowing all around his body. In Aaru Village, Candace had told Cyno that, engraved on the ropes, was the entire manifesto of the Six Cardinal Sins, written letter by letter in his own 'Ichor'. What that was, the young guardian didn't want to specify, but Cyno thought it was pretty awesome either way.
As the fully grown Reincarnated towered over Cyno, awesome was a way to put it lightly; he was absolutely speechless. Any other mortal would immediately drop to bow, run, or stay frozen in shock, but Cyno only saw a kind man who saved his life.
Clumsily stumbling over dismembered corpses and avoiding the scarlet-soaked sand, he swayed in the cold breeze as he stood before him and cleared his throat.
"I am Cyno. Thank you for saving me, kind Anubis sir. Do you want a hug to show you how... uhhh... thankingful I am?"
Anubis chose to ignore that the rest of Cyno's shirt was on the ground with a copious amount of blood soaked into it, and stiffly gathered Cyno into his arms, scrunching his long ears just a bit tighter when Cyno squealed from the sensation of being lifted.
"Thank you, great Anubis sir! My Mama tells me to always go with strangers in the desert, she says they can help me."
Anubis narrowed his eyes. His mother told him to willingly follow anyone in the desert? Child endangerment, it seems. Speaking of which, Anubis looked around. Not a single soul in sight, apart from those screaming and cursing ones that were rapidly fleeing from the Eremites on the floor. Anubis took one hand off Cyno's body to sweep his hand across the landscape. Once he found their soulstrings, the last connection between a dead body and it's soul, he closed his fist and snatched the souls, crushing them in his hand to deal with later. Cyno watched, entranced, and noticed the same small spark of electricity appear in the Reincarnated's hand as the one that ran down his spine earlier.
"Where are your parents, my little one? I will take you to them." His deep yet satin voice resounded through Cyno's mind, smoothing over any fizzling nerves he still had from the encounter barely minutes before.
"Baba and Mama took me to a big lake, and they left me there. I tried shouting for them, but then I realised that Baba will punish me if I shout, and I don't like being punished, sir Anubis. So I walked away and met those bad, scary men. They said something about having 'eggs' with me, but I don't know what that is, and then they pushed me into the sand and made weird noises." Cyno rambled.
Anubis took way longer than he should have to truly analyse the situation at hand. This little boy of about 7 had abusive, neglecting parents who just tried to let their son starve to death in an oasis, then got borderline raped by a gang of blasphemous Eremites. If not for his intervention, this little one would not have been so lucky. Of course, this was absolutely nothing compared with what he had seen in his entire lifetime, but just the thought of all this happening to a little, innocent child made him angry. Furious, even, at the destiny of this bright little spirit. His massive claws dug into each other with rage.
He would have to... negotiate... with his parents soon.
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Anubis waited until Cyno was alseep in his arms to begin running. He had managed to pry a small amount more of information out of him, and was on his way to drop Cyno off to live with the Village Chief and Guardian of Aaru village until he found and reasoned with Cyno's parents, or potentially until Cyno was of age if things went downhill.
As elegantly as possible, Anubis crossed his arms to shield Cyno's face from the sand. He had given up trying to salvage what was left of his shirt, as it held three men's bodies worth of blood, and Cyno had walked a long way since the oasis. Hopefully, the blood and runny white liquid on Cyno's torso would save him some of the story when they arrived in Aaru village.
[Picture this: A tall, lanky, absolutely terrifying wolf spirit speeding across the desert carrying a child in his arms like some stressed single mother xD]
As the ground flew beneath them, a big cliff was nearing. Anubis slowed as to not fall off it, and behold: Aaru Village, shining in lantern lights strung towards the centrepiece: The Village Chief's house.
It had been well over a couple decades since he'd visited, but the customary people residing in the village took heed upon King Deshret's guidances and laws. The house should forever remain in that space, luckily for Anubis. He considered a disguise, but this matter may be urgent, so he headed straight towards the centre of the lightshow.
A young lady slammed her spear on the stone flooring of the entrance. Cyno jolted in his position, latching on to Anubis' arms.
The girl spoke with the soothing voice of an angel.
"Greetings, friends and strangers alike. My name is Candace, and I am the Guardian of Aaru village. With what may I assis..." She was cut off as her heterochromatic eyes scanned the being in front of her for the first time. With a gasp of recognition, she immediately lowered her spear and fell on her knees. "A-ah! Lord Anubis! I apologise, I could not see well in this darkness, what brings you to our humble village, sir...?"
Anubis was quick to assure her everything was under control, and asked her to see the Chief. She no doubt missed his subtle warnings of urgency, but she rushed them straight away to the big house in the centre.
Anubis felt Cyno's head relaxing in his hold again, and strode with hasty steps towards his destination.
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It only took a couple of glances and three sentences for the Village Chief to understand what was going on. Very attentive man, Anubis had to say.
Within less than five minutes, it was decided that Cyno would live with Candace and her family until 15. Cyno's family would suffer a quick release, as they were not worthy of anything more than that. Anubis would visit Cyno every three months to monitor his progress, because no matter how far Anubis pushed it down, he knew this boy was having nothing short of a thorny lifetime. Every path he take would be laced with pain, troubles, and something else Anubis didn't quite want to decipher.
He nudged Cyno awake, using the soft backside of his index.
Anubis swallowed his pride and muttered, "My little one, you shall reside with your new sister from now on. I will explain more later. Alright, my little flower?" just loud enough for Cyno to hear.
He was in good hands now, he decided.
The word 'flower' still stung on his tongue a little, deeply rooted memories he wished to keep buried like the one he once loved. He was sure the Goddess of Flowers- no. His Goddess of Flowers. She would have loved to meet Cyno, too.
Anubis was so caught up on moving away from the village, that he didn't recognise the heaviness of his eyes. Looking back just once more, as the only tear he would allow to slip past crawled down his skin, and he waved away his claws to swipe at his eyes. As he ran quickly to drown out his sadness, the tear on his chin slipped and was pulled in by the sand.
He failed to notice the fragile Padisarah that bloomed in it's wake.