Tenorio

By Shawn Dykes

The young boy sat at the edge of his family’s farm on the outskirts of the village assembling rocks and sticks into a makeshift shrine and prayed to the gods that he did not know. He knew of their presence upon the realm and that they mattered, but he didn’t know them. He didn’t know their names or titles or domains, as he was naught but more than a farmer’s child, as was his sister, and his father didn’t speak much of the gods. But, he prayed anyway. No true goal in mind, just honoring the makers of the realm.

Then, one day, something rather strange happened. The edges of his makeshift shrine caught aflame, though the fire did not spread or emit smoke. There was no heat. The ring of fire around the base of rocks danced before the edges of the sticks caught aflame as well, matching the properties of before. The young boy watched the flames dance as a towering inferno erupted. Though he was unharmed even as he bent over the shrine while flames towered up into the heavens beyond even the Storm Giant’s reach.

And then the fire began to dance again, forming into shapes of creatures he had only heard of from his mother’s tales to get him to go to bed, and his father’s stories from when he was an adventurer. The flames continued to dance, for how long the boy did not know. No one came to look for him or investigate, and soon the fire settled upon the shape of a bird, sinking down to encase the faux shrine, staring at the boy. It perched upon the tallest stick, its head tilted to the side in intrigue, before it spoke:

“You are… interesting.” Its voice was akin to that of a hearth, encompassing the boy in a feeling that reminds him of his mother’s hugs. “You know not of me, yet you pray anyways, and the fire inside of you dances a song I have not heard in many centuries.”

Its head twists in the other direction. “Ah, I see. My brother has many plans for you yet, child. As such, I shall grant you one wish.”

The young boy, not even having lived a decade upon this planet he and oh so many other species called home, was, as to be expected, confused. The fire inside of him? This bird had a brother? A dance?

Centuries?

Weird.

So, he talked back to the bird. “A wish? You mean anything?”

The bird nodded its head. The boy began to think, the flaming bird waiting patiently.

“I… want a new chance at life. I want to be like my dad! An adventurer! Stabbing bad guys and everything!”

If possible, amusement danced within the bird’s eyes. Oh, this was going to be fun. “Then so you shall have it. But, a word of warning youngling, every wish has a cost. It may be within the hour, or it may not happen to you even in this lifetime.”

The bird touched its beak to the child’s forehead, before withdrawing, leaving no physical marking, though something within the child feels… different. “But it shall happen.”

Fire bloomed around the bird before it all vanished, leaving only what looks to be a peregrine falcon, though along its spine its feathers are red. As they reach the tips of its wings, they fade from reds to oranges to yellows. It flew off into the distance.

The boy began to tell everyone in his small farming village of his encounter with the fire bird, and the adults, of course, humor him, so as to not crush the dreams of the small child, but none truthfully believed him. There weren’t many other kids his age are in the village, either being much older or naught but toddlers, but the ones that were held onto his words as if they came straight from the mouth of a scarily charismatic pastor before quickly loosing care and moving onto other matters, such as a shiny rock, or a squirrel that one managed to feed an acorn.

But not his sister. His sister clung to every word and believed it with every fiber of her being, invested in the story as her brother, and was determined to meet this bird herself. So, she did what he did.

But failed.

And failed.

And failed yet again.

So, her brother tried to call back the bird.

But failed.

And failed.

And failed yet again.

This, of course, confused him, but he didn’t let it bother him for too long, determined to believe that it happened and that he will become something great, something far beyond what he is now, and beyond what many have or will become.

Maybe a mortal god for starting out. Sounds fun, no?