Page 10 of The Flame

“Not on our fucking watch.” Luther growled. He glared at her and the others. “You asked us to be Guardians to protect you and this mountain and that’s exactly what we’re going to do. You gave us magic powers, so damn well show us how to use them.”

“I didn’t give you the powers,” Rissa acknowledged. “That’s not how being a Shaman works. I allowed your soul to be unblocked. We are all born with these powers but the path to them is often blocked because we don’t know how to use them. You were given the power of fire at birth and I believe that because you are one of the People, you received your powers first. It is a mighty power and yes, you’ll have to learn to use it. But hear this young man, you can only use your power to protect, never to destroy. You must be very careful or you could lose your power and that would put us all in danger.”

“So, teach me how to use it,” he said.

Rissa nodded. “I can do that.” She looked around the room. “But not here. I rather like this room and do not want to have to refurnish it.”

Diesel and Steel chuckled.

Amira and Winsome smiled.

“Yeah, this is a nice room,” Bullfrog said. “She don’t want your flaming touch to wreck it, boss.”

Rissa chuckled and turned to him, “Just remember those words when your own powers come in. Learning to use them is always hard. It’s my job to teach you how to use them. But we also have to keep an eye on the outside world. If that is TankaTae, the Coyote inside him will never give up. He won’t be so easy to dissuade. He knows if he is to survive, he needs to get to the gold.”

“Why is that?” Diesel asked while looking puzzled. “He’s probably got plenty of money from his loan sharking business.”

Rissa shook her head. “It is not the money he craves, it’s the power as he knows the Maiden’s gold is so much more than just that. It is pure and he’s been after it for centuries. It is not for mortals. In fact, if a mere human ever did get it, that human would be poisoned by even touching it. Therefore, if it were made into bars or any kind of jewelry, the human wearer would die. But for a demon, it can enhance his power, make him a Demi God even. He’s known this since day one, all those years ago. That was why he came back as this was the kind of element even demons would dream of. It is special in a way no one can really understand and as long as the gold remains intact here inside the Mountain, the Maiden will live.”

“Just how old is this gold?” Steel asked.

Rissa sighed and leaned back on her sofa. “I suppose if you are now Guardians you should hear what you are guarding. So I will tell you the old stories. Listen well... When the earth was new and the People were discovering all its glories. they came upon three sacred mountains. These mountains were very special and the Gods had deemed them untouchable. Meaning the people could not take anything away from them. With everything available to them otherwise and nearby, the People respected the god’s commands to leave the mountains alone. More time passed and the People got more and more curious about the mountains. Then a small group of them dared to go where they were told not to. They went up on the mountains and they found a paradise. When they came back down and told others what they’d found, the People got upset with the Gods. They asked why did you lie to us about these mountains? Why did you deny us the riches it holds?” The Gods answered back, that they were denied nothing. They had all the food they could eat, jobs to keep themselves busy and they had a good life below the mountains. The People got upset and slowly turned on the Gods. It was only after they ruined the first two mountains and stripped everything they could. Then they turned their attention to the third mountain. The Maiden was the only spirit left as the People had destroyed her brother and her sister. So the Gods banished the third mountain from them and moved the Maiden far away.” She shook her head. “The People went to war with the Gods and told them they no longer believed in their laws and their sanctuary. They turned their backs on the Deities and only believed in themselves. It was chaos for many years as the People learned to live without the benefits of the deities they had believed in for so long.”

“It sounds like Greek Mythology,” Swag spoke up.

Rissa cocked her head at him. “It is exactly like that. Do you believe those deities were simply specific to Greece?”

He gaped at her. “Holy shit! Honestly? So those stories are all the same people?”

Nodding her head, she tisked. “This was the original world, young man. This all happened thousands of years ago.”

He stared at her as if he was mesmerized. “No fucking way!”

Chapter Six

Rissa shook her head at his bafflement and went on, “It was only then when they realized that the Gods had done so much for them and they felt there was no way back, so the People had to find their own way in life. Many died fighting for what they thought they wanted, only to find it was a hollow victory. Then some tried to find the last mountain but never could. My tribe begged the Gods for another chance to live under their guidance and as a test, the Gods took them back under their wing. But the tribe had to prove their loyalty. So the Gods asked them to watch over and protect the last mountain. And they did. Over the centuries that followed, it has been our job to protect her down through the ages. We have been protecting her since that time.”

“What happened to the other two mountains?” Steel asked.

“They died and became hollow shells as they were looted of their treasures,” Rissa told him quietly.

“What did they do with the treasure they found?” Diesel wanted to know.

“Nothing.” Rissa shrugged. “They didn’t know what they had in their hands and they had nowhere to spend it as the earth had no malls yet.” She snickered. “They stole the treasure and then they squandered it. This is why the Maiden’s gold cannot be touched by humans. The Gods made sure that history would not repeat itself.”

“How long ago was this anyway?” Swag asked.

“Back when the earth was almost new,” Rissa told him. “I am unsure just how long ago, as I said, perhaps thousands of years?”

He then asked, “How long has your tribe been in charge of protecting the Maiden?”

“About a thousand years,” Rissa told him. “The tribes were lost for a very long time.”

They all stared at her as if this was far too much to really understand, let alone believe.

“When did you get your powers?” Luther asked.

Rissa raised her eyebrow. “Young man, did your mother never teach you not to ask a lady her age?”

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