Chapter Two: Son of Fire

As my sister may have already told you, we were created by the golden ones. Though she only spoke of the life givers, Farore and Nayru. She's always been like that, a life-lover, caretaker of all that blossoms and sprouts from the ground. But she did not mention the goddess who started it all, the one who created the red earth with her flaming arms, Din. And it was those flaming arms of hers, that burning soul that sparked my interests. But again, this is not the story of the goddesses. This is, indeed, the story of my siblings and I.

It was Din's fiery power that made me wish to pursue the beautiful red embers that surrounded her golden form. I thought that maybe if I could harness that strange power she used, I could become great like her. Of course, I had no idea how right I was.

zzz

I remember the days when we were all human. There was even one girl that wasn't our sister, though for the life of me I can not recall her name. She was very beautiful. She was the only one among us with blonde hair and blue eyes. The rest of us had white hair and grey eyes. I remember Water always hanging around with her. She said that maybe the girl's ethereal beauty would pass to her if they became true friends. I didn't buy it, so I tried to keep my distance. I was always concerned that I might burn the girl with my fire. After all, I was a pyromaniac.

The days passed us by, we children practically drowned ourselves in the joys of the field, the only place we knew. In fact, it was the only place there was. But one day, Forest left us. She didn't say a word, she just took off south-east of here. None of us ever heard from her again. But little did I know that I was the one who would be called upon by the golden ones to join my sister in a place known as the Sacred Realm.

I was playing with flint and tinder, enjoying the warmth and beauty of the flames. I was fascinated by the way they danced around. It was strange how, even if a few sparks escaped the burning branches, the fire would never spread farther that I willed it to. I loved it. Amidst my unwavering attention to the flames, they, the golden ones, appeared before me.

"You may become the son of Fire, a very important element that holds the passions, desires, and warmth of the world together. But if you do, you will never again see your home as you see it now. Are you still willing to oblige?"

I hesitated. I loved fire, but I also loved my brother and sisters, and that one girl who nobody really knew but we loved her anyways. If I became whatever they were going to let me become, I would never see any of them again. But then I remembered that Forest had already left us. Were the goddesses the ones that took her away? The very goddesses who put her here in the first place?

"Remember, this is your choice to make. We can not force your destiny upon you; you must take hold of it on accord of your own free will."

It was the word "destiny" that sparked my interest. The fire always spoke to me of destiny, and how nothing on heaven or earth could keep it the same as it was at the beginning of time. It spoke of how destiny would always be changing because of the choices that people could make. I wanted to find out more about this so called "destiny" since in the long time I had been living as a human, it seemed as though the only choices that the seven of us ever had to make was weather to sleep in or wake up, or what game we were going to play that day. I wanted to find out how I could change the course of this monotonous, yet blissful life I had always known. Without another thought, I agreed to become this "son of Fire" that the golden ones willed me to be.

I kneeled down before them and bowed my head to accept their blessing. Before I knew it, I was encased in a warm, red light. My grey eyes became deep blue, far deeper than the eyes of the blonde girl, and my ears became virtually non-existent. My skin began to harden into a rock-like substance, and I grew all round in the middle. Yet I was blessed with new, strong arms. I felt the heat of an enormous flame pulse through my body. It felt so good, like everything that had desire was telling me its passions and dreams. I had become the first Goron.

When the light receded, the golden ones spoke again. "Now you are the son of Fire, and the forger of the hillside and mountains. You have one true task before you now. You must accept the fate you chose."

I looked all around me. I saw no such hillsides or mountains.

As if they could hear my every thought, they said, "Do not be confused, you will be the one to make them. Take this eternal flame and bring it north of here. Place it on the ground. From it, a great mountain will grow. You may name it as you wish. But at the core of this mountain will be a place of eternal heat, and within it you will instruct your people, the Gorons, to build a temple in your honor."

I took the flame in my hands and tried to run as fast as I could to the far north, but to my dismay I was not all that quick on my feet. Then I felt a heat in my chest that told me to become what form the fire took in order to make it there faster. The fire changed into a round sphere, and so I crouched down and became a ball. I began to roll my way, faster and faster, to the north where I was instructed to go. I was having the time of my life.

Shortly after the blast of ecstasy that was coursing through my solid veins at this very moment, I arrived at the spot the fire told me to place it. I laid the embers on the dirt-covered ground, and then a large rumbling sound shook the earth. It wasn't just a sound, the world was actually shaking. From the spot that the fire was placed, a large, rocky monument erupted from the ground. This must have been what the golden ones spoke of when they told me of the mountain. It was glorious.

When the earth stopped rumbling, I climbed to the peak. From there, I could see all of Hyrule field, and even noticed that a new and rather large forested area had appeared far south-east of here. That must have been what Forest was instructed to create, just as I had been instructed to create this mountain. I looked back to the center of the world, the place where I had come from. I could see my sisters, brother, and the girl who was not one of us running around having the times of their lives. My heart lurches, and a single tear emerged from my eye as I reminisced the times I shared with them and would never share with them again, for I had a greater duty ahead of me.

At the spot where my tear dropped and dried, a tiny rocky grain emerged from the ground. It grew and grew, until it sprouted arms and legs and was roughly the size of me. It stood up and said, "Hello!" and from that day forward, we became close friends.

zzz

Many years passed, and from my place atop the mountain I could see that many bodies of water had emerged from the land as well. I suspected that perhaps another one of my siblings had been chosen to become an elemental force. Along with that, many new Gorons had been born, and the construction of the temple to be built in my honor within the inside of the mountain was nearing completion. I was happy with what I had chosen to do with my life. I had changed the world, just as I had always wanted.

A few more months passed, and the Temple was complete. A few of my fellow Gorons decided to climb to the peak of the mountain to celebrate, but who could have foretold the disaster…and the miracle that came after it… that was to come of it?

One of the Gorons fell from the peak to his death, the first time I had ever seen anything die. I was sent into total shock. I jumped off after him, but to my surprise, I did not receive even a scratch from the fall. But I discovered that in the place the Goron had fallen to his demise, a large, black, round flower was sprouting up from the ground. I remembered that the Goron who had fallen had been named Darbombi, so I decided to name it the Bomb Flower. I picked it up, only to discover that the red spiky things on top of it lit itself, and the black part started to flash red. "RUN!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. All of the Gorons ran as I threw the Bomb Flower into the wall.

Within moments, there was a huge explosion. A huge cavern was blasted into the mountain side. One of the Gorons walked into it and picked up a piece of rock that had fallen off in the debris. He sniffed it and popped it into his mouth. "Yum!" he exclaimed as he continued to shove the rocks into his mouth. This was absolutely unheard of. No one had ever…eaten anything before, and now this Goron was eating rocks like there was no tomorrow.

zzz

Years had passed since the death of Darbombi, the death that brought about the name of this mountain. Yes, Death Mountain became the name of my new home. Gorons now needed to eat rocks to live, and Bomb Flowers were being cultivated all across the mountain. I couldn't quite understand why I was still alive and young though. In all of my time spent here, generations of Gorons were born and died, and I never even grew any older. Perhaps this was part of my part as the son of Fire.

But then one day, my body began to feel strange. A new Goron had been born, but there was something different about him. He possessed the same fiery aura as I did before I became a Goron. This must have been the sage of my element, the Sage of Fire. This meant that my time on earth in this form was finally over. I could fulfill my destiny.

I relaxed my entire body and succumbed to the familiar warmth of the red light I had seen so many timed before. Only this time it was different. I was suddenly encased in a shining red disc that I could not break through. And for some reason I still had consciousness. I was still alive. But I decided that it was well passed my time for a good, long rest, so I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep, awaiting the day I would be called upon once more.