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The Perfect World Fallacy - - Chapter 34
Chapter 34
The Legend of the Golden Blood
“Miss Dante?” the voice of the Guide snuck up on her.
“Yes,” she answered as she forced herself to look up.
“We will be going to the circle in a few minutes,” the quiet voice lilted to her, “It may be time to get ready to leave.”
“After this, you will be able to come back at will,” her father said through a large smile.
“But,” her mother spoke from a face that was as serious as Harriet had ever seen on that face, “We have an important matter to tell you.”
It was the kind of tone that a doctor has just before he tells you that the diagnosis is terminal.
Everyone else excused themselves and left Harriet and her mother to speak in private.
Flower Dante sat on the couch that her daughter had awakened on just moments before. The detective slowly sat beside her, ready to hear the worst thing that was possible.
“Ages ago,” her mother began, “There was a whispered legend among the Northern most tribe of the icy lands that are now known as Scandinavian. They told of a man who had been a warrior like none ever before. His name was Shangron. There was no man he would shrink from, no monster he feared.
“They even said that he challenged the Gods themselves. No man had ever been so fearless or foolish as Shangron. And he must be taught a legend. The Gods gamed with each other to decide who would teach this man the place of men in the universe.
“When all the runes had been cast Thor himself was the final victor, but Loki was angered, as he was so often.
“So when Shangron was confronted with the mightiest of the Asgardians, he did not hesitate. He took the gauntlet and flung it in the face of the God of Thunder. It was decided that the two would battle on the
“But as the human began to tire, and the lightning replenished Thor’s vigor, and filled his sinew with unending power.
“Then Loki took a hand. He changed the man. Shangron was given Golden Blood. He was given strength without end, vitality never ending, and a tool that was beyond imagination.
“When he was angered he was gifted with the Blue Flame of Vengeance. Nothing could stand up to that sweep of blazing revenge.
“It even, momentarily, toppled Thor. That made the human the winner of the battle.
“The Gods were never seen in the same light again. The day of their perfection had passed. Loki had, out of his hate and jealousy started the crumbling of all of his kind’s reign.”
“Mama,” Harriet said, “That’s a great story, but what does it have to do . . .”
“The Golden Blood,” her mother insisted, “Did not end with Shangron. It was a hereditary trait. One person in his linage in each generation possesses the power of the Blue Flame of Vengeance.
“It was within my father, then in me . . .”
“You are shitting me?” Harriet gasped.
“You are the possessor of the Golden Blood,” Flower told her.
“All those year,” she muttered, “The blood bank should have been paying me a hell of a lot more.”
© 2009 by C. Wayne Owens