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Prayer to a Forgotten God
Ember shivered in the dark waters. The muck squished beneath her as she
lay among the reeds staring up at the bottom of the thick layer of dark
green algae that lay on the surface of the water. She was humming
softly to herself a sound which was both beautiful and sad, a sound
which had lured many men to their death. But on this morning it
wasn’t loud enough to escape the surface of the water so only
the
fish and turtles came to listen.
“You can’t keep going on like this you
know,” a
cheerful voice bubbled beside her letting Ember know that some
obnoxious happy little nix had come to join her.
“Its been two thousand years,” Ember sighed not
bothering
to turn her head to look at the happy little fairy. “Two
thousand
years today,” she sighed again. “That’s
the day when
I lost everything. It’s a long time; even by our standards
and
I’ve gone on like this since then. So why couldn’t
I
continue on like this?”
“Okay than,” the nix allowed as she put her face
above
Ember’s forcing the former fire goddess to look her in the
eyes.
“You shouldn’t go on like this,” the nix
informed
her. “People don’t live very long; they forget
things,
forget us, it happens and we need to move on.”
But Ember wasn’t listening as recognition came. She reached
up
and touched the nix’s blue colored hair.
“Anga?”
Ember asked in wonder. “You’re the air and the
sky.”
“Not any more,” the nix who had once been Anga told
Ember.
“I’ve accepted my place. Now I’m a nix.
And lets be
honest being a nix is a lot more fun then lying in the muck at the
bottom of a lake. You're not a turtle or a catfish after all. Its been
two thousand years today since the last prayer was offered to us. It's
time to move on.”
“Fire, Fire dance with my food and make it taste as sweet as
your
song,” a small voice whispered sadly from the shore of the
lake
causing Ember to close her eyes.
“Granted,” she whispered softly.
“That wasn’t a prayer,” the nix once
known as Anga
informed Ember. “It’s true that people asked that
of you
but now children just sing that as a goofy rhyme when they’re
playing games and this child didn’t even use your
name.”
“She called for Fire. Why should I care what language she
spoke
to me in? And it was a prayer,” Ember disagreed.
“The child
isn’t playing. Listen to her weeping, she’s sad and
alone
in the deep dark forest. It’s a wonder that one of the other
fairies hasn’t already devoured her. And she’s
obviously
starving; I can feel her hunger from here.”
“So it's an accident,” Anga pressed.
“Not for much longer,” Ember grinned as she poked
her
head out among the reeds at the edge of the lake her dark red
hair contrasting against the green of the algae, but the girl
didn’t notice for the tears in her eyes. She was tiny from
poor
nutrition, her hair the color of pale flax. She was obviously the
poorest of the poor. Descended from those who had once worshiped Ember
before being conquered by another people. She was by all appearances a
pathetic creature. But Ember could see beyond those appearances and
what she saw caused her to grin her fire yellow teeth flashing against
the morning light.
“What are you planning?” The nix whispered as she
came up
to join Ember.
“I’m planning to gain my first follower in two
thousand
years, to take back part of what I lost,” Ember explained as
she
approached the child grabbing a large fish as she went.
“Have this” Ember called to the child as she tossed
her the
trout causing the girl to jump with startled surprise. She stood only
for a moment looking at the offered gift before she fell on it so
hungry she began devouring it raw causing Ember to blanch.
“You asked me to dance with your food,” Ember told
the
child. “To make it taste good, so you should cook
it.”
“I don’t have any fire,” the child told
her nervously.
“You have no need to worry about that,” Ember told
her.
“From now on all you need to do is touch something and say
Palo,
Palo and it will burn as much as you want it to. No matter what it
is.”
“Palo Palo?” The girl repeated causing the fish in
her
hands to sizzle and cook instantly. Yet despite how hot it grew it
couldn’t burn the child for nothing would ever burn the girl
again.
“Exactly,” Ember smiled.
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