Hall of the Immortals

Chapter 1: Beginnings

Oark woke with a start and starred up at the early morning sky. He'd been keeping warm by the fire he'd kept going for several days but it had all but died in the night. He tossed some more wood on it before moving to the nearby creek to drink some water. He listened to the soft happy sounds of the creek and grinned as he counted the droplets of dew rolling off of leaves into the creek. Then as he looked at his reflection and admired his features his thoughts trailed to others his age. He was small by the standards of his day though muscular. Dark brown hair dominated his features. Almost knee length wavy hair and his mustache grew with his beard and reached the lower regions of his muscular belly. He wore the skins of small animals though he was not modest and the clothing was only to help keep his skin warm. It was one of the ways he was more inclined to progress than others were.

Oark was an advanced man for his time for while most of his companions would shirk from flames he would capture it and use it for warmth and protection. Like many of the men of his era most of the predators that hunted the tribes of men were equally scared of fire. The tribal elders and leaders shunned Oark for embracing fire as a tool instead of fearing it as was proper. Ultimately it was not in him to cower before the very thing he felt burning inside himself. Even Awwt, the woman he bonded with, was scared of his flames. The elders of the tribe tried to separate Oark from Awwt because if  she became pregnant then Oark would remain in the tribe until he died. They would send Oark on his own to hunt, gather, and scout areas before the tribe would move there. These dangerous missions had nearly claimed his life more than once.

Oark and Awwt shared shelter when he was back in the tribe from scouting. It was rarely for long that they would get time to spend together but he would bring her back flowers, leaves, and oddities of plant-life from his scouting. Awwt was a modestly beautiful tribeswoman though her features weren't delicate but slightly plump in the cheeks. A soft warm blush could often be seen in her cheeks and her long brown hair dangled easily to her knees. What he cherished most about her wasn't her looks but the gentle way she expressed her fondness of him. She would hold his hands, nuzzle his neck and face, and smile gently at him whenever he would approach. The only harsh side to her was when the time would quickly come that he would have to leave to scout. Awwt would leave the area and not look him in the eyes when he would leave. The coldness he left her with was the coldness he'd feel from her on these days.

One night when he was sleeping the flames of his fire had grown low and the night had grown colder. Oark stirred from his sleep and saw the fire dying and rose to gather more wood for it so that he could keep it going. Even though the times were primitive his thoughts felt deep to him and he remembered the first fire he'd collected was from the light that fell from the sky. The dry grass had caught fire when a tree had been struck. The rain had put most of it out but Oark had saved part of it and kept it alive for months before it finally went out and he had to collect more. Over time he'd found other was of finding fire but it wasn't until the last time when he was sharpening a spear that he found sparks. Sparks could be used to start a fire and he kept a few of these rocks that were good for this purpose in a small pouch he carried made from the fur of a small rabbit he'd killed when he was younger. The memory of the first flames and the difficulty to create more made him move quickly to save his fire.

Staring at the ground as Oark gathered sticks and twigs for his fire he didn't notice the large feline that had moved into the area until he heard the low growl and soft crackle of twigs snapping as it crept forward. With a start Oark stood up straight and ran back towards his coals but not fast enough as the large cat pounced. The cat had fangs and claws extended and just as the large paw brushed the edge of his shoulder he rolled to the left, heavily landing his hip on a rock as he did. The sharp toothed cat clumsily stumbled and landed face first into the bed of coals. As it hissed at the hot bed it landed in Oark took advantage of the distraction and grabbing his spear he plunged it deftly into the side of the great beast. With a large deep moaning growl the feline collapsed and Oark avoided death yet again.

The next morning Oark started the two day trek back to his tribe with the beast in tow. When he arrived back at the location his tribe had been he was not surprised to find they'd moved the tribe without him yet again. The last time they'd done so they claimed that water was needed and he was thought to have died despite being camped beside water and the fact he'd only been gone several days. It was likely they'd have a similar story this time and thus sighing heavily he hefted the puma he'd killed and followed the worn trail leading into the brush of the nearby woods in search of his tribe yet again. It took him another two days before he reached his tribe who rejoiced in his arrival only upon seeing the dead puma he brought in tow. In order to preserve the valuable food that would have rotted he had cooked the beast and his tribesmen took it from him with great hesitation and suspicion. With their joy of the dead predator waning in sight of yet another new and dangerous way Oark was changing their tribe with fire the elders conspired of a final way to rid themselves of him.

Oark awoke early in the morning smelling burning, flesh, and hearing screams. As he rose he saw Awwt burning to death, caught under a huge fallen log. Oark bellowed a deep scream and he ran to her and tried to lift the log off of her. Her screams echoed in his ears as he pounded on the log and then running backwards took off and hit the log with such force that it knocked the air out of him. His own flesh burned and tears streaming down his face he bellowed yet another deep scream. Agony searing the air as he mourned his inability to save Awwt. Through blurry tear filled eyes Oark witnessed the rest of his tribe watching as Awwt burned alive, and despite his screams at them to help move the log none of them moved. Finally, hours after she had stopped moving a single elder came forward. Krah, the youngest of the elders and barely older than Oark crouched beside her corpse.

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"You do this Oark, You bring fire. Oark fire. Do this." Krah shoved the corpse of Awwt dismissively. "Oark leave, Oark take fire. Oark leave now." A deep moan rose from Oark as he rose and walked past his tribesmen. He knew they were right and his fire had killed Awwt. He knew he had to leave because he killed a member of the tribe. As he passed each one that stood in the same spots they had been in since Awwt was burning spat at him. He moved past unflinching and passed through the woods and eventually hills, miles and miles from his tribe. That night he sat staring at the stones which he had used to cast sparks. Fury rose in his chest and he threw them knowing he was unwise for wielding fire. Tears filled his eyes again and he screamed at the stars, uncaring as to whether or not he attracted a predator. A streak of light cut across the sky as he stared now in awe at the sight of a great star falling from the sky. The star fell over the sky and landed with force on the other side of the mountain range he'd been inadvertently walking towards as he left his tribe. Despite the pain over his recent loss he stared in both fear and awe at the sight before him, the whole mountain was seemingly caught on fire and the source had been a star that fell from the sky. Without even meaning to Oark put one foot in front of the other and before he knew it he was well on his way towards the mountain.

Days passed by while Oark traveled to the base of the mountains and he'd already encountered multiple perils which threatened his life from a pair of the puma felines that hunted tribesmen to an unexpected rain storm threatened to drown him. Yet he did not stop walking towards the star save to sleep and relieve himself. Every waking moment was spent moving steadily towards the fallen star. With every step, every handhold of grass and root on the mountain side, and then with every rock hold he could grasp he made his was closer to the fallen star. Sleeping on the mountain was even more dangerous than sleeping down in the valleys below because he had no cover and the wind, rain, and predators were ever fierce but despite the perils he never made a fire for he had killed Awwt with fire.

Finally, Oark scrambled and pulled himself onto a large flat rock which breached the top of the mountain range. His eyes widened as he saw the fiery crater that had appeared from the star that fell. It stretched as far as he could see and despite the week that had passed for him to make it this far the fires still actively burned all around the impact zone. After staring on at the darkened sky and flaming bowl before him he started the trek down the mountain to the center of the impact. It took him days just to reach the base of the mountain due to the impact the already sharp edges of the mountain side were even more treacherous and in some places the drops were hundreds of feet high. When he finally did reach the base of the mountain he found disappointingly that he was unable to find any water. With little else to do he began his walk towards the center of the impact. It took him a whole day just to make his way down the slope of the crater with his thirst ever increasing. Unlike the other side of the mountain this side was much hotter, the ground was cracked from the star that fell and heat came from the ground. No water could be found any where on this side of the mountain either.

With great anticipation Oark awoke the next day and made his way quickly through the lifeless, waterless, flaming valley to the center of the impact. All of his anticipation mounting he looked on with utter disappointment to find only a hole at the center of the massive crater. There was no star, no great fire, and he grunted in disgust for allowing himself to travel so far from water. He sat next to the hole and sighed heavily in defeat. Leaning back against a rock on the edge of the hole he stared upward at the dusty seemingly fiery sky. A sound echoed softly from down in the hole, it sounded familiar and Oark hummed happily at the sound. Drip, drip, drip. Like the sound of the dew drops rolling off of leaves into a creek.

Suddenly Oark was sitting upright and alert. He heard water down in that hole and he needed to get to it. Climbing carefully down the rock side of the hole he found it was a small cave and he followed the echoes of the water droplets. Feeling his way through the dark despite his fear the less his fear gripped him despite finding great voids in the dark where he could feel nothing. The hole kept sloping at an angle downwards and there was a soft yellow glow coming from further in, the glow grew stronger as the sound of the water grew stronger. As he finally made his way to the bottom of the cave he found a deep pool of water with a brightly glowing rock in the deepest part of the pool. Oark was terrified of drowning and barely crept to the water edge where he drank greedily from the yellow glowing pool. Then after looking around the cave a little he settled down to sleep.

Oark awoke with a groan, sore and stiff from the rocks he slept on. His eyes adjusted to the lighting generated from the glowing rock in the pool of water. As his vision cleared so did his mind. For the first time in his life Oark felt clarity enter his mind. Oark felt stronger and knew instantly that the source of his mental clarity was rooted in the water he drank from the pool before him. Drinking healthily more water from the pool he realized he would have to take waters from this strange pool of water with him. For the first time ever he had a unique idea, an idea of making a container so that it wouldn't spill, and he realized he could make one. Within hours he had crafted the first jar in all of creation. He spent weeks at the cave eating from the rodents he'd found hiding in there with him and practicing new methods of making jars to carry more, weigh less, and spill less of the precious water. The pool had gotten deeper despite his generous drinking from the continued collection of ground water and the more he drank the clearer his mind grew.

It was only roughly a week after his mind had cleared that Oark understood that the elders of his tribe had murdered Awwt and convinced the tribe and Oark himself that he had caused her death. As he emerged from the cave of the fallen star, the fires of the world were minuscule in comparison to the fires that burned in his heart. Retribution was coming.