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Earth had volcanoes, and fairies who could pass entirely for human, like Jari, had traveled there before and seen them. Not much was known, but from what little Aurelius had gleaned from a book, they could create cracks in the ground. Molten streams that were like liquid fire lurked below, and they could burst from the ground.
If a volcano erupted, thick clouds of ash and fire would spew from the top. Ash would rain down, cover everything within agood distance, and the sky would grow cloudy and block out the sun. It made the local air toxic like a great house fire, except it was worse, and it caused anything living to perish. The liquid fire would eventually cool and become like rock.
Aurelius found it hard to imagine despite the description.
Ash Island’s volcano looked pretty innocent at the moment. If it had ever erupted, it wasn’t written anywhere. He could see where the myth of dragons came from considering that liquid fire lay somewhere beneath him. Something so hot would surely have birthed tales and stories back in the old days.
The Windswept Isles had a tale of a dragon attacking some centuries ago, but that was all nonsense, of course. A fire from lightning had caused the destruction, and the only ones who had supposedly spoken of dragons had been half dead from smoke inhalation. A lack of air combined with fear for one’s life could cause wild hallucinations.
He made it to the treeline. Grass and small plants were squashed under his boots as he fought his way through the foliage that tried to halt him. He wanted to look back at the ship, but the urge to return and throw himself in Jari’s arms was strong, and he was afraid he’d break.
It had to be like this. He wasn’t going to die of insanity and potentially hurt Jari beforehand. His lion was strong, and he’d live. Aurelius had gotten a taste of what life could be like, and that would have to do.
It was more than he’d ever imagined getting, and he’d have the memories in his final moments. The Goddess Elira would erase the horrible things of his past, heal him, and he’d see Mother again. Maybe he’d even see Father who had been too naive and lost at a young age. He’d tried, and Aurelius wasn’t angry with him anymore. Someone else could lead the pack, and the bravest of lions would be free to live and love again.
The pack grew heavy and weighed on him. He sweated, and bits of hair escaped his ponytail to cling to his neck and cheek. He had to pause to sit and drink from the waterskin he’d brought. Dehydration wasn’t the way he wanted to go either.
It took a good two hours to make it. The island was probably bigger on the other side where he couldn’t see.
He almost wanted to go all of the way around to the eastern edge and look into the distance for the Mists. A tiny part of him had even wondered about taking the rowboat into it with the pack.
It was a good idea, but it scared him too. Normally, he didn’t believe stories about beasts, but if something horrendous in there devoured silly fairies who tried exploring…he didn’t want to die like that either. Potentially falling off the edge of the realm was also horrifying and likely unpleasant to say the least.
If the pack with his items ended up falling in the water, what if they were taken by the current and later washed up on land? Occasionally, empty ships had been found aimlessly floating, and while it was likely due to pirates killing everyone on board, nobody could prove that an empty ship had never drifted out of the Mists, devoid of its former occupants.
At least this way, he mostly knew what to expect, the items likely wouldn’t be found, and that’s how he wanted to go.
Everyone said the caves held nothing of interest, and Aurelius found one at the base. Looking up in the fading sunlight, the volcano still looked innocent. The strange stone that formed it was black and rough. Parts bulged out, and he was almost sure he could see an opening far up, but it was hard to tell from his angle. Would liquid fire burst from that?
A faint, eggy smell tinged the air, and he wrinkled his nose. Plenty of rocks littered the area, and he searched for flat ones. Once he had a nice pile, he cleared some shrubbery, laid out the flat stones, and started looking for branches. Nobody evercleared the area, so there were plenty of fallen ones from storms. By the time he’d collected a big pile, he was sweating, but he set to chopping with a small axe he’d brought in the pack.
Good Elira, it was rather difficult. He thought it’d be easy since he’d spent years training with a weapon. Swinging a sword wasn’t like swinging an ax to chop wood. If Jari were there, he’d probably tell him he needed to build more muscle if the situation wasn’t so serious.
It was nearly dark by the time he got a fire going with the help of his lightning and some leaves and grass for kindling. He took each item and laid them into it. The rose pieces had to be tipped in since it was busted. He added more wood to build it higher.
He used the axe to hack at small branches. He ripped up plants, sweated some more, and grew his pile. The gold looked the same, so he fed the fire to grow it bigger. The hottest point would be at the center, and since he wasn’t planning to collect the liquid gold to turn into bullion, it’d be easier to do this.
A goldsmith would seek to save on fuel and keep the gold in some sort of safe container once it was melted. Heat would be lost in an effort to keep the container hot.
He fed his creation until he had a huge, roaring fire before he sat and watched the items. He had bread in his pack since nobody wanted to die hungry, so he ate and drank, ignored the urge to have a kid, and almost wanted to go take a dunk in the ocean since he’d sweated like a sow.
Instead, he imagined Jari’s smile and the way he’d kissed Aurelius’s neck and treated him like a treasure.
They’d come a long way from their initial hate, and most of that had been Aurelius’s fault since he’d tried to stay in his shell and avoid feelings.
He kept the fire big and fed. Sure enough, the items grew deformed and started to melt. Aurelius felt nothing different even once the items were nearly shapeless.
Mammon wouldn’t be beaten that easily. At least he’d tried.
Aurelius lay on the ground and stared at the sky above before falling asleep one last time.
***
At dawn, only embers remained when Aurelius got up and brushed himself off the best he could. The gold had hardened with the loss of heat, and it mixed into the ashes. He drank some water and poured the rest over the embers to snuff them out.
The gold had stuck to the stones and cleaning the ash off wasn’t worth it. A lot of ash was a part of the gold, and it’d be impossible to pick it off anyway. He collected it all in the pot he’d brought. The items were a misshapen blob and completely indistinguishable. He used a stick to poke around and make sure he’d gotten every last bit of it.
If only melting them had done something.
