A Tale of the Thirteenth Fire Boy

In a small meaningless country, in a small meaningless town, there was a small not completely meaningless mountain. This mountain was meaningful to the people of the town, not because it was stripped of all vegetation and looked like an overgrown anthill with an ugly five o clock shadow made of grass. They loved it because on top of it was a fire, a fire that is supposedly been burning since the town was founded 600 years ago. Back then, the founder of the town who now is simply known as, “The First Fire Boy” started the fire and kept it alive for 77 years before dying at the age of 105.

(Yeah, I also don’t know why they call this person, boy? Man..? would have been more appropriate. Anyway, I digressed. Who cares why a grow man wanted to be called boy from the age of 28 to 105.)

Nowadays the Fire Boy was a young woman. Her name, as was tradition, had been locked away for the rest of eternity. She was simply the thirteenth Fire Boy. This is only one of her stories.

**

The thirteenth Fire Boy had only started the job 2 weeks ago at this point. The Fire Boy had to stay on the mountain at all time because the fire could never go out, it was imperative that it stayed alive. It wasn’t even a rule, it’s just how every Fire Boy had functioned, never leaving the mountain unless it was dire.

Not far from the fire was a small hut. Inside, there was a bed, a table, a stove, a fan and some personal belongings that were thrown around all over the place. The main attraction and what made this hut unique was that one of its wall was made entirely out of glass. This way the Fire Boy could keep an eye on the fire at all times. Did it make her hut extremely hot at times? Yes. Did it matter? “No. That’s what the fan is for.” , is what the Fire Boy said whenever she was asked the question.

Every week the Fire Boy attendant from the town house, would come and deliver a bunch of supplies that the Fire Boy had previously ordered. It was also the attendant’s job to fix anything that needed fixing and really do any other job that the Fire Boy asked him to do, that he could do.

Recently, with the appointment of a new Fire Boy, a new Fire Boy attendant was also appointed. To both of their dismay the new attendant was none other than the Fire Boy’s own brother who was also her only remaining family, not that she cared.. He was chosen because the town council thought this would delight their new Fire Boy. They both hated it, but they were too nice and too honoured to be chosen to say anything about it.

Like he had been for the past 2 weeks, the attendant came once again with the supplies and dropped it next to the Fire Boy’s feet who had been tending to the fire.

“There you go. I brought everything this time.”, the attendant commented.

“Great, you did your job right.”

The Fire Boy ruffled though the bag, checking if everything was actually in there.

“What you don’t trust me?”

“You forgot my pasta.”

“They didn’t have it.”

“How did they run out of something as basic as pasta, just tell me you forgot it, why lie?”

“I didn’t lie! They didn’t have it.”

“Why did you say that you got everything then?”

“Because I did get everything Fire Girl. Everything that was possible to get.”

“It’s Fire Boy. Why do you keep calling me that.”

“‘Cause you’re a girl?”

“The title’s Fire Boy. So just call me that.”

“How’s that logical?”

“I live on a mountain protecting a supposed mystical fire.”

‘Don’t disrespect the fire.”

“Just get out of here dude and remember to get my pasta next time.”

“Anything else madam Fire Boy.”

“Just Fire Boy.”, that last line almost sounded like a threat but the attendant wasn’t fazed.

They both stared daggers at each other, both of them more red than the fire itself. Then the attendant broke the silence and asked in an annoyed but obviously restrained voice, “Anything else?”

“Yeah, deodorant and i’ll leave a message for the rest at the town hall, you can ask them.”

“Great!” he said in a sarcastic voice and left the same way he came back.

Frustrated, the Fire Boy laid on her back closing her eyes, trying to calm herself down. Peace however eluded her because as soon as she laid down she noticed the grey clouds that were not too far away now.

“Shit.”

She quickly got up and rushed to the hut and grabbed two things. One of them was black and diamond shaped with a ring at the top with which you could hold it. The other was a glass bowl that was filled with ash and a wooden stick that was standing upright in the ash.

She placed the bowl down and then flicked the black diamond which quickly transformed into a black net dome. With its handle, she took it over the fire and dropped it over it. Through the net she checked if the fire was safe and snug, which it was. She then slammed her hand on the ring. The net dome had thick black opaque panels hidden away which fell down and completely hid the fire from sight, except a small meshed hole at its bottom, through which some air could pass. Ingenious, right? Yeah the Fire Boy had invented it for the twelfth Fire Boy when she was just a citizen still. They weren’t close, but she liked to visit him every now and then because she was curious, about him and his job. She understood why it was important why the fire was to be kept alive, so it was an easy choice for the 12th Fire Boy when he appointed her his successor.

*

She invented this apparatus for him and went to give it to him one day.

“You’re wasting your potential, keeping this fire alive, it doesn’t need that to keep going on.”

“What if it goes out? “

“That’s why we use the vessel.” He said pointing at the same glass bowl as before.

“How is keeping a small part of the fire alive in a bowl, that could easily go out a better solution.”

“You make a good point, but trust me. I don’t need it.”

He didn’t take it. She had thought that it would never be used, but now here she was using it 5 years later.

She never understood why he chose her. All her questions should have made it obvious that she didn’t really believe in the myth and yet here she was protecting it.

*

After seeing that it covered it completely. She now tried to move it. She shook it violently but it stayed in place. Happy she pulled up on the ring and took the dome off. Maybe out of respect or maybe out of fear of breaking tradition but mostly for precaution, she took the piece of wood and stuck it in the fire. She thought she’d have to wait, but the wood caught fire instantly. It was almost as if the fire leapt to grab it. “Woah!”, she exclaimed simply, perplexed by this behaviour of the fire. Maybe the fire didn’t need to be protected in fact. “Who cares?”, she thought. Pressed down on the ring once again and left with the fire in the bowl, back to her hut, to retire for the rest of the night.

**

A month more had passed now and news of the Fire Boy’s dome device had gone around the town. No one liked it, many called it blasphemous and sacrilegious to cover the fire. She didn’t care because her system worked. The only person who supported her was the mayor, who applauded her innovation. While the people of the town dare not disrespect the Fire Boy, they did express their concerns to the mayor, who in response, said they needn’t worry. In maybe a stupid but definitely courageous move he even told the townspeople that the Fire Boy had completely stopped using the vessel. She hadn’t. She still used it, even if she agreed with the mayor on the topic that maybe they didn’t need it.

One day, the mayor announced this, he came to visit her. “You told them what?”

“Oh come on, it’s not a big deal Fire Boy.”

“The vessel is important and not just that, it’s insurance.”

“Insurance against what?”

“The fire dying, obviously. People there believe that if this fire goes away the town vanishes off the face of the map.” “Oh we are both smart enough to know that’s bullshit, it’s just a symbol.”

“Ok and that makes it less worth to be protected?”.

That sentence shut the mayor up, but not for long.

“Have some confidence in your invention Fire Boy, that’s all I am saying. Have some belief in yourself too. You know what you’re doing.”

“A mistake can’t be afforded here.”

“Just do it.” He knew he couldn’t order her around. This wasn’t his domain and yet he tried.

When he got no response he just left. He had planted a seed of doubt in the Fire Boy’s mind.

Over the next weeks, the citizens of the town grew ever more weary of the dome as the Fire Boy’s brother had told everyone that she hadn’t stopped using the vessel. Even this angered the people more, they didn't like that she was flimsy with her word. They never said it to her face. Her status as Fire Boy protected her from their snarky remarks, but their whispers had become loud enough that even the mountain top couldn’t protect itself from them. Tired of everyone telling her how to do her job, not knowing how to do it and angered by never being able to do the right thing in the townspeople’s eyes; she stopped using the vessel, and started using the dome only. The people didn’t shut up still but she blocked it out and tried to not care again and anymore.

**

It had been another 3 months since she had started using only the dome. It had rained and it had left the mountain all muddy. She lifted the dome, expecting to see the same thing as always, a burning fire surrounded by slightly wet soil.

Instead there was no fire, but there was a half charred carcass of a snake, who must have accidentally crawled up from the ground under the dome.

The Fire Boy panicked, she couldn’t believe what had happened, thinking her life was over she started to weep. What was she going to do? It was over. It was over.

“What the hell!”, she heard someone saying, when she looked up it was her brother who had a horrified look on his face. “Bro, NO!” , she yelled, but he didn’t listen and ran back to the town. He was going to tell everyone, she knew it. Her life was over.

Or was it? She noticed something, a small bright spot still left in the fire. She ran to it and saw some of the firewood and some of the snake’s body were still burning, if you could call some charred bits of wood still having some spark ‘burning’. She didn’t need more, she ran into her hut and grabbed some paper. She got to work, blowing slowly at the charring bits left and trying to light some paper. “Oh come on, today is the day you decide to be stubborn and not light instantly?!!”

As if this wasn’t enough, she could hear the crowd of the people coming to her. Their angry voices made her hands shake, which wasn’t what she needed. Frustrated, she yelled, “OH COME ON!!!!”

Too late, they were here, they were running towards her, were they going to kill her? These thoughts raced her mind as she saw them frozen, but she was thawed when she felt the warmth of the flame from now a lit piece of paper. She quickly threw it on the top of the rest of the remaining wood, she added more paper and yelled, “Look, it’s here, it’s alive.” They stopped in their tracks but their anger didn’t die down. They stood there, almost as if they were waiting to kill her. The Fire Boy just added more firewood nervously, staring back at them with an apologetic look.

From the crowd, came the mayor, “I told you. I told you not to do it. I told you that your stupid ways would get us killed.”

She sat there frozen, unable to comprehend what the mayor was saying.

“We should kill you right now.” The crowd yelled in his favour. The crows yelled in unison, the mayor even took a few steps forward.

“No!”, a voice yelled from the crowd repeatedly. It was the attendant.

“Are you crazy? You can’t kill her, she’s the Fire Boy.”

“Fine! We’ll appoint a new Fire Boy.”

“How? The Fire Boy chooses their successor, and they are only succeeded after death. How do you plan to accomplish that then?”

“The Fire almost died today, I think that’s reason enough to maybe let go of tradition.”

“Really? Look what happened when the Fire Boy let go, what do you think is going to happen to you?”

Murmurs of worry and agreement arose among the crowd. The attendant noticed this and didn’t want things to get worse. Without thinking he yelled, “I’ll stay here.”

This got the crowd’s attention and the attendant continued “Yes. Umm…Ill stay here, and make sure, she does her job right.”

“So what, you’re going to stay here as a secondary Fire Boy with her.”

“No…only as long as she needs it. Also, the fire never went out, it’s still alive. Did you forget Mayor, did you forget what the first Fire Boy used to say.”

“What?”

“The Fire only needs feeding, it stays alive on it’s own…”

“…because it’s alive, just like the rest of us.”, the Fire Boy finished his sentence for him, while still sitting scared on the ground. This was the first time, she’d spoken in a while..

“Exactly.” Said the attendant to the Mayor.

It took a bit more convincing, but eventually everyone left, not everyone convinced and no one fully. It was enough for now though.

After everyone had left, he walked over to the Fire Boy, “You okay?” She was tending to the fire once again, back at her job. She didn’t reply.”Hey.”, he tried again.

“Leave me alone.” She said in a voice with no tone. Surprised by this reaction, he scoffed and left for the town.

“I’ll get everything I need to live here now and be back. It might take me the day.” He told her in a stern voice, hoping for a reply but left disappointed.

She simply sat there, tears in her eyes. She didn’t want him here, but she wasn’t sure anymore. “Why did he choose me? Why me?”

So she waited and didn’t protest her new monitor.

**

The next few years passed by. The Fire Boy wasn’t popular anymore, but once again people’s belief in her fire and their respect for the position kept her safe. Their faith seemed strong and she knew they’d never hurt her as. Long as the fire’s alive.

So now out of fear, she kept the fire alive. She would stay up all night tending it, even though she had someone to help her now.

Sometimes her brother would force her to leave the mountain. She wasn’t constantly needed there anymore, this wasn’t something she needed reminding of. The disrespect she felt for herself was already hot enough in her chest. She didn’t want to go down, but she didn’t trust her instincts anymore. So she went down to the town. Walking the streets she hoped for any warmth from anyone but they treated her like she was invisible.

Sad she’d go back to the mountain and throw her brother out of the hut. She’d installed curtains now, because even she knew no matter how much she denied it, she wasn’t constantly needed anymore. She’d spend hours in there, trying to make a better version of her dome, hoping she can fix her mistake and prevent any scenario that could come towards her and the fire. She toiled and toiled, never reaching the best version in her head. It was never enough for her. Her brother didn’t mind, she knew she needed to do what she was doing inside, no matter how pointless he thought it was.

**

One morning both the fire’s feeders sat next to it. Over the years they’d learned to enjoy each other’s company, only barely though. A new dam had been built on the river that passed by the town. People at first were concerned about its creation but the dam was still built. Today was its inauguration. The newly elected old mayor had invited all the townspeople for a night of free food and drinks.

“I’m not going without you.”, the attendant replied back to a previous statement.

“Why not?”

“Doesn’t feel right.”

“What does that mean? Is Gina going?”

“Yeah, she says she’s going to eat everything and drink anything she can find. Says it’s the least they can do since they still haven’t paid half of what she’s owed from her work on the dam.”

“And you still aren’t going? Why?”

He only shook his head. He’d told her about Gina, but he refused to share more.She let him keep his secret, she didn’t want any more conflict between them than what was already there.

“Did you hear that the Mayor just bought a new house?”

“Really?”

“A massive 6 bedroom bungalow. Wonder where he got the money from?”

The Fire Boy laughed and shook her head in disapproval.

“You should go.”

“I said…” He began to say, now annoyed by the Fire Boy constantly pestering him but before he could, she said, “You’re only making me feel worse by staying here.”

He was taken aback by this. “Fine I’ll go. I’ll bring you back some food”

“A lot of food please.” He sighed and replied, “Of course.”

Then went into the hut and came outside with shoes on, a bag and the dome. She looked at the dome. “I’m sorry I have to take this with me. I..”

“it’s fine, just take it.”

“This isn’t permanent, I’ll leave eventually.”

“You know that the mayor won’t let that happen.”

He smiled at her trying to comfort her, but knew she didn’t want it and that it wouldn’t work, so he simply put the dome in his bag and left.

Since the fire almost went out, he would always take the dome with him when he left. He didn’t want to, but he had been ordered by the mayor to do it. He said it was to give the villagers some reassurance that it won’t happen again. The attendant knew that wasn’t true, he thought to himself, “Why didn’t he just make me throw it away then.”

It stayed there as a salty reminder. The new dome was left behind. She knew even though the attendant didn’t want to take the dome, he also knew it was better if she never used it again and somehow he knew that the new dome wasn’t really being built to be used. Maybe that’s why he never took it with him and had never told anyone about it, keeping that secret only between her and himself.

Once he’d left the Fire Boy went inside and got herself some dinner and a book to read.

**

Later that same night, the Fire Boy now laid next to the fire. Her plate sat next to her completely polished off.

A strange sound got her attention, she got up trying to figure out what it was. Once again, it was quite obvious this time that the voice were screams and they were coming from the dam, from where the inauguration was.

“What the hell?” She couldn’t see a lot except people running away, some had gotten far away from the dam, others were stuck in a chaotic mess, a stampede near the dam. The Fire Boy was confused, she thought of going to help. Before she couldn't think of anything else, the dam broke and a giant mass of water erupted from behind it.

The Fire Boy sprung into action. She went in and grabbed the new dome(currently folded down in the same way as the last dome), firewood, a pre-packed bag and the vessel. She threw the firewood near the fire. Took the wood stuck in the ash of the vessel and quickly took some of the fire out and kept it in the vessel. She then stood up, ready, seeing the water come closer and closer, and said, “Please work.”

She threw up the diamond, which grew into a large dome, as large as the hut, enough to hide her and the fire together. It fell down right over her and the fire. Instead of slamming down, she pulled down a ring that hung from the dome’s top which sealed the dome. This wasn’t it though. She grabbed a cylinder that hung right above the ring and pulled it down. She unrolled it and revealed a meshed disc shaped sheet, which covered the entire floor of the dome except the floor right below the fire. She then went around the dome and sealed the dome and sheet completely shut, except of course a small meshed hole at the top which lets the air pass across it.

She was ready, she felt good, she pushed the wall of the dome and it didn’t move. “Good.”, she thought.

She really had thought of everything because then she opened a zip and revealed a window in the wall of the dome facing the dam. She was on high ground, so she would probably be face. She was proven wrong when the she opened the window and was hit in the face with a bunch of water. She closed the window immediately, the water didn’t get to the fire, she took a sigh of relief.

The water had reached the dome, the hut had probably been washed away already. All she could do now was stay there and wait. She grabbed the firewood, the bag and the vessel. She took a knife out of the bag, sat next to the fire, ready to wait the water out. The knife was for any animal that would dare come up from the little amount of open dirt left uncovered around the fire.

“All I have to do is sit here and wait, you can’t mess this up Miss Fire Boy.”, She tried to say this with confidence but it only sounded sarcastic coming from her mouth.

The dome started shaking, it was going to open soon.

No it opened now. The walls of the dome became mesh again and water poured through the dome. The Fire Boy was quick, she pulled down on the ring and grabbed the vessel off the ground, but the damage was done, the main fire had been killed. Whatever was left was now under 6 inches of water. The firewood was wet and unusable, the only thing left dry in the dome was the vessel and her upper body.

She left the ring to try and figure something out but as soon as she did, it started going back up, like a rubber band just waiting to break.

She couldn’t leave the ring, all her supplies were wet and she was holding the vessel in the other hand. The fire in the vessel wasn’t doing too well either ,she needed to find a bigger home for it, but how?

What could she do? She had an idea.

Here’s what she did, she left the ring and counted how long it took the ring to go back almost all the way up. She did this 3 times and she got to 29 the first time and barely to 30 the other two times. Which meant that after she left the ring she had 30 seconds to do whatever she had to do while holding a burning piece of flame.

She took a deep breath, started counting and got to work. She left the ring and started taking off her t-shirt very carefully, she took out one hand, passed the vessel to that one and then took out the other hand.

20.

She grabbed the ring and pulled it completely down again. Took another breath, put her shirt around her neck for now, left the ring and ran to her bag which had now been washed away into a corner. She used her empty hand to take her first aid kit out of it. Everything else in it was soaking except the still sealed bottle of spirit.

10.

She ran back and pulled the ring once again with the hand she was holding the bottle in.

She left it again, put the spirit in between her teeth and got to work. She took the shirt off her neck and wrapped it around her hand, leaving just a bit of her fingers out for now. She then used these and her mouth to open the bottle of spirit and doused the shirt in it.

25.

She used her mouth to cover whatever little of her hand was still exposed and then took the vessel and lit her hand on fire with it. For a moment she wondered if this was a mistake.

30.

She took the hand previously holding the vessel and before too much water could come in, used it to hold the ring down.

That was it, for the next 12 hours, that’s what she did. With one hand she pulled the ring down while the other burnt. She was too concentrated on keeping it alive, she couldn’t let the pain bother her, so she didn’t. She tried to make herself numb to the pain, but it was too much to do that, so she made herself ignore it. The flame fortunately didn’t travel anywhere else on her body. It stayed there burning her hand for 12 hours. So even eventual definite death wasn’t an option for release. All she could do was hold it down, which she did, for 12 hours, every now and then adding more spirit.

Only reason she let go after 12 hours was because she couldn’t feel anything any more and when she left the ring it didn’t try to go back anymore.

“How did the flame last 12 hours?. Shouldn’t have lasted for an hour, probably even less.”. So maybe the fire was indeed mystical. She couldn’t muster up enough brain power to comprehend this. She went and opened the window and saw that the water was now no longer covering the entire mountain. She opened the dome up and went outside. Taking a sigh of relief and then a sigh of pain, she used her hands to grab the wet firewood and found any empty spot to place them. It took a while to light it with her hand and when it did it was smoky, but as soon as it did, she repeatedly slammed her hand on the ground to put the fire out. Looking at her hand she couldn’t even tell what was cloth and what was skin. The pain was unbearable but she couldn’t do anything about it except wash it with some spirit. She yelled in the stinging pain. She stared at it, not knowing how to feel. She looked till she couldn’t anymore and decided to go see how the village was..

The village wasn’t there anymore, neither was anyone else. She fell to the ground sobbing. She kept sobbing, she sobbed till she fell asleep.

**

“Wake up!!”, yelled the attendant. When the Fire Boy opened her eyes, she couldn’t believe them. It had been a week. She lunged to hug him, behind her sat the fire still alive. The past few days since the flood had been sunny.

“What happened to your arm? How did you save the fire?” “What happened to everyone in the town? How did you survive?”

He laughed and said, “You go.”

They both then told each other the stories and she found out that not a lot of people survived, maybe a tenth of the population of the town, they were now in the ruins, trying to see if anyone else survived. He told her that among the dead was also the mayor. It was apparently Gina who noticed the 1st cracks and raised the alarm. If not for her no one would have survived. Then came the Fire Boy’s turn. In no scenario in his head was he expecting what he heard.

The attendant after hearing her story, ran down and got everyone to come to the fire. No one believed him at first but the idea that their sacred fire had somehow survived was enough to bring them up.

They thanked the Fire Boy, who too overwhelmed by all of this just sat in the corner. According to her, she did what had to be done.

***

Her story would be told by all the generations that came later. While she was alive she was given many new names and so had many that people called her, among them 3 still survive till today.

The first was Fire Boy itself, this stayed her name and what she preferred people call her.

The ones who saw her ingenuity and bravery as primary factors in her accomplishing that amazing feat called her the Fire Wielder. A name she was never a fan of because somewhere she believed that the fire saved itself, all she did was feed it.

The ones who saw something deeper in the story, simply called her the Fire. They say the fire survived because she chose to make it one with herself, that it was her devotion to the fire’s myth and courage that kept her going. They said that when she did that, she became as pure as the fire itself.

This is the name she hated the most during her lifetime.

This stays the name people call her the most after her death.