Even The Gods Can Get Burned By Fire

 

By Graham Winegarden

 

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The two people sitting by the camp fire were mesmerized by the flames.

“There is something hypnotic about watching the flames dance along the log,” said the woman. The man just nodded, the reflection of the flames lighting up his face. They were both startled by a voice that seemed to materialize out of no where. It had an aged feel to it and was coming from behind them. It said,

“There is an interesting story about fire that not to many people know.” Turning around they found an old man in a Coors Light t-shirt, jeans and a pair of hiking boots. He had a kindly face with a genital smile and gray eyes that almost seemed to have their own light. The man sitting at the camp fire stammered,

“Hello,” and the old man came and sat down across the fire from them. The woman said,

“Can we offer you a drink?” A little glint of delight passed behind his old gray eyes, and he said,

“I will have a Spanish Coffee, as I am sure you will both be having another.” She got up and put the water on to boil. Everyone was silent until she got back with the three metal cups with whipped cream covering them. The old man smiled and his eyes light up as he saw the cup and took it from the young woman. He said,

“Thank you,” and took a big sip. Then giving the woman a big smile with whipped cream on his upper lip. He said,

“Oh yes, the story,” his voice at once hypnotized them, just as the fire had dune earlier.

You see man has not always had fire. In the ancient past fire had been something the gods had and used. Fire was a very important part of their society, they had used it to the same extent as man uses it today. These gods are unknown to modern man as they influenced their life before humans even had write language. Though they did seem to have one similarity to the gods we know today and that is their own self importance. This was measured by the number of devoted worshipers a god had. The problem was there were a lot of gods and most of the good areas or domains that a god would be associated were gone. This was the problem faced by the new son of the king and queen of the gods. The poor child had nothing good to be the god of, thus he would have few or no worshipers. At first this did not really both the young god, he just like to walk among man and watch them.

One day he was wondering through the realm of man and he came across a young woman. She was beautiful with long red hair. The young god at once fell in love with the young woman, and she with him. They spent much time together and he showed her the wonders of both the human realm and his own. Then one day as they were wondering through the realm of the gods the young woman asked,

“Why do the other gods look at you and laugh?” The young god explained to her the importance of worshipers and that he had only one, her. She smiled and said,

“My love, they have worshipers because they are associated with something the people of my realm can relate to. You have to give the people something that they can associate with you.” He looked at her with a confused look on his face. Then he said,

“You mean humans worship the gods for the things they have given them?” She nodded yes and he thought about that for awhile. After a couple of minutes he said,

“All the things that are important to your people have been claimed by one of my brethren, what can I give man that he does not all ready have?” She grabbed his hand and gave it a little reassuring squeeze and said,

“You will think of something. After all you are the cleverest of all the gods.”

He left her and went to the hall of his father. Over dinner he said,

“Father I must give the humans something so they will worship me. All the other gods are laughing at me.” This father smiled and said,

“What would you like to give them?” The young god looked around there was not a thing he could think of to give to man. At first this caused him frustration and then he noticed a torch with it’s flame the color of his loves hair. He thought of all the things his people used fire for and if the humans used it as much he would be the most popular of all the gods. The God of Fire he like the sound of that and so said,

“Fire, I want to give them fire.”

His father was almost bowled over by the force of his sons words. When he recovered he said,

“Son you can not give the humans fire. It is our families responsibility that the humans never get fire. If they do, the prophecy says it will be the end of the gods.” The young god looked at his father and said,

“That is just an old wives tale to frighten young children. Fire could not destroy us.” His father looked at him closely and said almost under his breath,

“No, but you could.” He paused for a second thinking about how the prophecy says, the gods would be destroyed from with in. Could the destroyer be his own son. Then he said,

“You are forbidden from giving the humans fire.” The young god started to say something, but stopped. Then said,

“Yes father,” but his voice made his father not sure whether he was sincere or not. He had never questioned his sons honesty before, but now there was a seed of doubt rolling around in his head.

The young god let it go even though he could not stop thinking about it. He wanted to be the God of Fire. That night he tried to sleep but all he could think about was how he would be the most popular of all the gods if he gave the humans fire. The thought of millions of worshipers using fire in hundreds of different ways kept him awake. He rose from his bed and walked down to the main hall of his fathers house. Standing there looking into the fire he saw all those millions of worshipers again.  He saw his hand reach out and grab the torch as if he were watching someone else do it. Then he ran and did not stop until he was at the door of his love. She opened it in her night clothes her red hair looked like fire in the touch light. She said,

“Your father gave you fire to give to us. You are going to be the God of Fire,” and he could see both love and fear in her eyes, as she looked at it. It took a second for her to calm down then she pulled him into the house. She said,

“Show my father first,” and she called out for her father to come. When the old man came into the room the young god presented him with fire.

Then in a blinding flash of multi-colored light the King of the Gods was standing before them. He bellowed almost loud enough to deafen them,

“Stop, tell me you have not shown any humans yet.” The young woman cowering on her knees said,

“Only my father.” The king of the Gods voice sunk to almost a whisper and he said,

“Then it is to late you have doomed us all. I can already feel my powers fading, but with my last breath I will curse you my son for disobeying me. You will have to live with your folly for all of eternity.” The King of the Gods then started to fade, and as they watched him disappear, the girl saw a tear run down his cheek. When he was gone the two lovers grabbed each other in fear. Then the woman said,

“Is it getting hot in here?” The young god turned to look at her and could not believe his eyes. Her eyes were now flame. He stepped back from her and watched as the rest of her slowly turned to flame. She was not burning, she was just turning to flame. The last thing to change was her red hair and it kept it’s hint of red in the flames. She then got sucked up by the flames that were on her father’s torch. He said,

“What have you done to my daughter?” but the young god was speechless. He took the torch and looked into the flames. In the dancing flames he saw his love, her eyes held sadness that he had never seen there before.

Then he felt himself changing. His body started to blow away on a breeze. The more his body dissolved the stronger the breeze got. The stronger the breeze got the more the fire danced. He reached out to touch the flames, but as he got close the flames exploded as if fanned by a strong wind and he got burnt. Pulling his hand back he watched as it dissolved into the wind. The girls father was the only one who could see the total shame in his face and saw him mouth one word ‘Sorry’.

Back around the camp fire the old man finished his drink, and gave a satisfied Ah. Then with a smile he walked out of the fire light and into the blackness. The man and woman looked at each other and then into the fire. At that moment a breeze blew through and the fire roared to life. There in the flames was a beautiful woman with red hair.

 

The End