Flame-Moon Goddess

            They say I was born of the equinox fire when the full moon rose. From a single ember the flames rose, from the darkness my moon rose, as did I. I danced among the flames, the living flame of the moon among her brethren. The first thing I can remember is the full moon hanging so close in the sky, and the bonfire about me. Then the women about the fire began to call to me, they begged me to leave the flame that was my womb and dance among them. They named me goddess, childe of the spring equinox, of the full moon, and of the fire. So I left my home among the flame. I went to them, and the purity of my flame danced about them.

They called to their mates, to their sons and fathers, “Come, come see the goddess of living flame that dances among us, given flesh by the moon!” So they came and looked upon me in my newborn glory. They saw not the glory of life; they saw the dark lower flames and were overcome. They raised their hands to me, and to those that shielded me and I sensed their intent. From my flesh I drew the icy flame of the light upper and lower fires, the patron of virtue, chastity, and loyalty. It is the blue flame that smites those taken by the lower darkness and draws those of pure flame to me. I smote them and they fell to the azure blade. And so my people were purified, tempered by my flame.

The women cried unto me, “You have cursed and blessed us, those that were of the dark have died, yet they were the most of us, how will we live?”

I was foolish in my youth, as I considered those that remained and made my decision. They that were left of my people were the pure, mostly women, a few bright men, and the children. I saw that they would not be able to live without protection, from both the cold of their lives and the darkness of the surrounding tribes. I gave unto them the power of flame; the fuel of their souls would burn both in the spirit world and the physical. They delighted in their fires, and they prospered. I left them to wander the Great Forest that covered the land, I returned to my fires. I could hear their voices from my flames.

            And so I slept, the moon waned and waxed upon the equinox. It came to its peak, the fullest moon, and I reemerged unto the world. My people had built an eternal fire, a seam of coal that would burn for centuries, my portal. They had built their homes about it.

I was reborn into ruin.

My people had been destroyed, doomed by the blessing and curse I had given them. The village of my people had grown to enormous size, then been destroyed. Their fires had lit them from within, but humans are not meant to burn with the fiery magnificence of the gods. Their fuel, their souls were burnt away, and they wasted. They lorded their gifts over others, and were despised for it. They grew great spending their souls on the unnecessary things, then when those they oppressed struck back the fire they relied upon went out. And so my people died.

I learned from my mistake. Never again would I gift humans with the fires of my soul. I destroyed the remnants village, called the fires of the earth to surface. Then I waited for the flame to cool, and replaced the life I had caused to be destroyed. I drifted from the knowledge humans, hid myself from them, till only those that burned brightest knew of me. I walked the lands in human form, quenching the appearance of my physical flame to watch the rise and fall of the humans that had twice drawn me from my resting place. I traveled through the lands, until I came upon my doom. It was a city, decimated by the plague. Not unusual at that time. What was unusual were the wizards, the witches, magi. They had been paid to protect the city from all comers. Even from the disease inherent in humanity.

Everyone needs someone to blame I suppose. A bit of nasty coincidence that a virulent fever would decimate the population as soon as I made an appearance, certainly I had nothing to do with it. If I wanted to destroy humanity I would cover the world in fire, not befoul it with diseased corpses. When the magi looked desperately for a scapegoat they started blaming spirits. Lucky for them I suppose that I was there. Even luckier that it was the autumnal equinox, and a new moon. I wonder if Fate dipped her chilly hand in to prevent me from destroying them for their insolence. As it was I was only able to purify a quarter of their number before they forced me to embers. They couldn not kill me; only place me in the embers of this world, stone.

I am calm, I  tell myself that. All things must come to an end. Even stone will burn. I am content, contained, and calm. Maybe if I say it enough I will believe it. It is so cold, so dark. I cannot see the flames anymore, not even the one inside. It is so dark, so cold. Where are the flames? Where is the moon? I cannot see it from here… Even stone must burn. It will burn as the earth does. Once again, I shall live to see that which I watched and had affection for destroyed. Cold, I'm…. dimming… so dim… cold… no…