Emi the Deity
Chapter 4: First
Day of Training
Today was the first day of Deity 101. Emi was nervous. Carmike
had already left back home to manage his booming business. He wished he had
begged his uncle to stay with him. So now Emi was seating in the patio chair
bouncing his knee up and down alone.
“Emi relax,” the boss spoke soothingly as
she came out with a tray of cups and a pitcher of fresh lemonade. She poured
him a glass before pouring hers. “Symphia said she would be here in a within
the next five minutes. That Grey fellow may or may not come.” She sat down
across from him with a nice smile. “No need to be so anxious.”
Emi nodded.
They had decided to have Deity 101 at the
café on Sunday. The only day the café was closed. The boss had a lovely back
patio. With a nice garden that customers loved to walk around. The boss took
great pride in growing a majority of the plants herself. It was a large garden
area. With tall trees around the edges, creating a fence.
“How’s the lemonade?” the boss asked with
a hum.
Emi glanced up at her and then back at
his untouched cup. He quickly took a sip. His puckered up at the tartness of
it. “It’s good,” he replied.
“It’s too sour though,” she pouted. “You
know you shouldn’t tell me everything I make is good just to spare my feelings.
Ladies like a man who is honest, no matter what.”
“Yes boss,” Emi bowed his head.
“Sorry I’m late!” Symphia called.
The boss and Emi looked up to see the
Indian woman on top of the roof. She jumped and with a wave of her hands,
strings of many colors appeared everywhere. Her feet landed on several clusters
of the strands daintily. Her weight caused the strings to lower her safely to
the ground. Once her feet were touching the ground, she snapped her fingers and
the strings disappeared.
“My, that was certainly a neat trick!”
the boss clapped her hands.
“That was a landing move. It’s actually
really difficult to learn and requires a ton of practice.” Symphia smiled as
she dusted off her nurse pants. “Pardon my appearance. Work kept me a bit later
than I thought.”
“It’s okay.” Emi stated. “Will I be able
to that thing with the strings when I get the hang of this deity thing?”
“No. But you will be able to do something
similar.” Symphia assured. “I’m a deity of love, so my powers and abilities are
very different from yours. I used strings of fate to land. You, since you are a
water deity, will probably use water in order to land safely. But first we
should start with basics.”
“Can I ask how you became a deity?” Emi
ran his finger along the edge of his cup.
“Me? Well it was years ago,” Symphia
waved her hand. “But it was a lot different from you. In the town where I was
born, I liked to help all of my friends with their love life. If they were
pining or aching, they would come to me for advice. I was very good at it. I
was even good at playing match maker. A rumor started that if I made a match it
would last through reincarnation. People from all over came to visit me to see
if my talent was true. Then one day, a god visited me. He saw that I indeed had
a mystical talent to see bonding ties between people. So he made me a deity of
love, so that I could always help people find love. We discussed it for weeks
before I became one and I was well taught during that time. I am very glad to
be a deity. But you’re a different deity.” Symphia paused as she placed her
hand on top of Emi’s.
“You were made without consent by a god
you never saw,” Symphia stated firmly. “It’s not a proper way to make a deity.
And it is very odd for a god to do so. The other gods will be displeased by
this. Especially since most deities who are made through such means turn bad
and become demons. But you’re a sweet soul. I want to make sure you know the
rules and can grow.”
“Rules? What are the rules of deities?”
Emi sat up straight, curious.
“There are many rules. I don’t even
remember them all. But the most important is to do your job or assign task.
However, you weren’t given one, so you’ll be fine. But you need to learn how to
use your powers first. Almost everyone’s powers are connected to their emotions.
So the best thing to do is just to practice.”
“So I’m going into this blind?” Emi
pouted.
“Not completely. You can freeze liquids.
So we know what element to focus on.” Symphia stated proudly. “So let’s focus
on trying to do something with that puddle of water over there.”
Emi got up and walked to the small puddle
of water sitting in one of the chairs. “What should I do?”
“Well try to see if you can freeze it,”
Symphia shrugged as she stood beside him.
Emi took a deep breath.
“Just try to feel the same emotions you
feel when the water freezes. That normally does the trick.”
Emi placed his hands on his hips. He
could remember what he had felt when the water froze. He was just working. So
maybe stress? He certainly felt anxious now. He leaned over some, propping his
hand on the bench. He tapped his fingers and he tried to figure out how to
freeze the water. The gears were turning, and he stared intently at the water.
Subconsciously, he began humming.
The water began to come up in little
sprouts. All in a line, bobbing up and down like one of those audio graph.
Emi jumped back. “Did I?”
“Well that wasn’t what I was expecting,”
Symphia hummed as she clapped. “But it seems humming can cause water to move.”
“That explains the kitchen bubbles.” Emi
nodded as he placed his hands in his pockets.
“Maybe if you sing a song, something
really cool will happen!” The boss stated as she cleaned her camera lens.
“What are you going to do with that
camera?” Emi exclaimed.
The training had amazingly gone smoothly. Emi hadn’t been able to freeze
any water. But he did find out that if he sang songs that he could move the
water. The streams could only go up and down, but Symphia assured him that with
practice and time, he’d be able to make the water move into other shapes.
Emi felt more comfortable with this
though. If he could gain control over these new abilities, he could hopefully
live a normal life. After all, Symphia was a deity and she worked at the
hospital.
He examined the tomatoes before picking
three. Today was Sunday and he hadn’t gone grocery shopping yet. Carmike wasn’t
sure when he would feel like eating, so the only thing Carmike bought were cans
of soup and ravioli. Emi, however, wasn’t in the mood for canned food today. In
fact, the only thing he wanted was a sandwich and those little carrot sticks.
He placed his choice of tomatoes in his basket. He got bread, sliced ham,
cheese, tomatoes, and orange juice.
Emi carried the brown paper back out of
the store. He had only walked a block when everyone around him started
whispering about a movie. They were all in awe and some were taking pictures.
Emi turned to see what they were so infatuated with. What he saw on the other
side of the street was a centaur.
The centaur had the upper half a man and
the lower half of a horse. Emi tried to find the seams to the costume but
couldn’t. It was a very well made one. The man had dark black stringy hair that
came midway back. He had a scruffy beard and sharp, daring brown eyes. His body
was built like that of a body builder. The horse part of the centaur was a
chocolate brown with a dark brown tail. He turned his head and locked eyes with
Emi.
Emi turned away quickly. It was rude that
stare. The crosswalk sign changed to a person and Emi quickly walked across. He
needed to stay focused. He was going to go home, make a sandwich, do the
laundry, and then get a long good night’s sleep before going to work tomorrow.
Emi yelped as he was suddenly hoisted
into the air. He clung tight to the paper bag, squishing the bread.
“So, it is you,” a deep male voice spoke.
It was a powerful yet soft voice.
Emi cracked open one eye and looked at
the person who had picked him up. It was the centaur. The centaur pulled Emi
closer to get a better look at him. Hot breath blowing Emi’s hair out of his
face.
“Such a weak fragile deity,” the centaur
stared with indifference, but Emi could feel a hint of displeasure.
Emi looked around nervously and people
were just looking on in awe. Some were whispering about it being a film set.
Emi wish someone would realize that this wasn’t a movie stunt.
Emi looked at the ground. He was good two
feet off of the ground. He could survive that drop if someone rushed the
centaur. “Can you put me down please?” His voice came out as a rough squeak.
The centaur placed Emi on the ground and
then tightly grabbed him at the top of Emi’s head and forcibly craned it back.
Emi screamed in pain and suddenly the people around began to realize this
wasn’t for a movie. “Give me your powers and I’ll let you live.”
“Hey what are you doing to that girl?” A
man demanded as he walked up to them.
Emi didn’t have the ability to correct
the man. He was just glad someone was giving him a hand.
The centaur glared at the man. He
released Emi and turned to the man. His front feet high in the air. A good foot
about the man’s head. The man froze and stared at the centaur. The centaur
lowered his feet on the man’s head.
People screamed as the man laid knocked
on the ground, blood coming from his head. The on-lookers ran in all
directions. Emi stumbled to his feet and quickly ran into the chaos. He wasn’t
about to let a centaur who probably just killed a man catch him again. The
groceries he had bought laid scattered on the ground.
The centaur turned and growled as he
couldn’t find the deity again. He stomped his feet as he rushed after someone
with long black hair.
NEXT
