A Brief History of Prisco and Orianna

Is This The End?

With both Orianna and Prisco in the later stages of their respective fields, they both seem ready to move on even further with their careers. The two are both now 24 years old. Prisco's graduation date is still two years away, but Orianna's graduation is drawing close, only a few weeks away. She's been very proficient in all of her classes with exceptional grades across the board, except for one. Orianna, in her Potion Brewing class, was brewing a large cauldron and her classmates were doing the same in their corners of the room. Orianna had her grimoire floating in front of her as she stirred. She looked incredibly nervous. "Ok ok ok... one handful of lava lily pedals..." Orianna says as she grabs a bag from her table. She reaches in, grabbing a handful of pedals. She's about to drop them in but hesitates. "Wait! How much is a handful? How big are they assuming my hands are?!? These measurements don't make any damn sense! Who the hell wrote this recipe, and how do they expect me to know how much a fucking handful is?!?!" Orianna says angrily. She tenses up so much that a single pedal falls out of her hand and into the cauldron. "Oh shit! Uh...!" Orianna says before dumping her handful into the cauldron. The potion bubbles and Orianna covers her eyes, expect the worse. After a while, the potion turns dark red and stops bubbling. Orianna peeks through her fingers and sighs in relief. "Whew. I thought for sure it was gonna explode. Again. Let's just hope this works." Orianna says. She grabs a ladle and scoops up some of her potion into a bottle and seals it shut. A few minutes later, her professor calls for time. "Time's up, hands off your cauldrons." Ambrose says. Everyone else stops as well. "Alright, so who wants to be the first to try their pyromancy potion?" Ambrose asks. No one says anything. Ambrose looks around the room. "No one? Not even you, Miss Abraxas?" Ambrose says to Orianna. "Oh, me?" Orianna says. "Is there another Miss Abraxas in my class I don't know about?" Ambrose says. "Oh it's fine. I can go first." Orianna says. She nervously holds her flask in her hand and unscrews it. The potion steams in her hand. "Now remember. If you brewed it correctly, your hands and hair should ignite in a flame with the magical, pyromania that the potion gives you. If it doesn't, then your wrong." Ambrose says harshly. Orianna swallows nervously. "Ok ok ok... please work..." Orianna says to herself. She then drinks the entire flask of her potion. She stops for a moment and the class is silent. Then she holds out her hands and they ignite into flames along with her hair, as Ambrose said it would. She smiles happily, but Ambrose doesn't. After a moment, the rest of her body does as well. She wears a shocked expression, then sighs. "Too. Many. Fucking lava lilies..." Orianna says annoyed to herself. "I think you used a touch too many lava lilies, Orianna." Ambrose says. Orianna, still on fire slumps down at her desk sighing heavily, her head slamming on the table. The fire alarm then triggers and sprinklers put her out.

The class laughs a bit at her. "I'd like to see you after class, Miss Abraxas." Ambrose says. "Again...?" Shouto says quietly to herself, not looking up. The rest of the class, who seemed to have little trouble with the potion, show their brews as well and class eventually ends. As she was told, Orianna stays behind still slumped over at her desk. "Miss Abraxas." Ambrose says. Orianna lifts her head. Ambrose approaches her desk. "Do you know why I give you, let's call it, special attention throughout your enrollment here?" Ambrose asks. "I, have a theory..." Orianna says looking off to the side. "Your accolades and your achievements at the Eastern Academy of Witchcraft are more than impressive. On paper, you're possibly the most talented witch I've ever had in my class. But, you smelled of overconfidence." Ambrose says. Orianna sighs. "Overconfidence..." Orianna says. "Miss Abraxas, I need you to understand exactly where you stand in this class. The semester ends in two weeks and right now you're grades are not sufficient for you to graduate. If you can't pass your final exam then your grades won't be high enough for me to pass you with the rest of the class." Ambrose explains. "You're gonna fail me?!?" Orianna says shocked. "If I must. But I can't understand what it is about potions that elude you. You're other grades seem on par with what I'd expect. What is it about Potion Brewery that you have trouble with?" Ambrose asks. "Ugh, everything! The measurements don't make any sense, the ingredients are so particular it hurts, the instructions are worded like these recipes were written in the Dark Ages!" Orianna says annoyed. "That's because they were." Ambrose says. "Well would it kill them to update the lingo? I need to start carrying around a thesaurus to do this crap." Orianna says. "Listen. Potion Brewing is about more than being by the book. It's about instinct. Not every potion is created equal." Ambrose says. Orianna looks at the grimoire of potion recipes again. "All these ingredients and vague measurements, just don't click with my brain." Orianna says. "Well Miss Abraxas I don't really know any other way to say this. But if you can't brew an advanced level potion by the time your final is due, I'll have no choice but to hold you back." Ambrose says. Orianna sighs heavily, putting her head down. As Ambrose walks away, Orianna summons her staff again and smacks it against her head. "Minerva, please. Give me something to work with...." Orianna says to her staff. She goes back to her dorm and looks through the grimoire of potion recipes again. "Come on, come on..." Orianna says looking for a potion to attempt to brew. "I only have two weeks. I have to figure this out!" Orianna says. She eventually throws her grimoire across the room in frustration. "Ah! None of these are good enough! Everyone in my class can do these. I can't just do something that they can do, I'm a top graduate, dammit! I gotta do something not even they can do." Orianna says.