Liquid Gold

“Many years ago stood a village. From it lived a man, a fella from them rocks named Finley. Finley grew up real poor. His clothes were nothing but rags. His meals of the day consisted of stale bread. His sleep was often disturbed by the wild. All around him was dying, yet he preserved and…”

“Grandpa, can you get to the good part?” whined Anna

Grandpa Arnold was sitting by the fire in his chair, nodding his head.

“Why I have to do some build up little Anna or the whole story won’t make any sense.”

Sitting on the ground in front of him were two children, his grandchildren. One a girl named Anna, and the other a boy named Charlie. Both were twins the same age as one another. Ana sat, bopping up and down waiting for the answer to her question.

“Grandpa’s getting to it, could you just calm down?” said Charlie.

“Now Now settle down children. Now back to where I was.”

Grandpa Arnold looked back down to the page he had open in his book.

“Finley survived the harsh world he was born in. For it wasn’t enough for him to just be surviving. He wanted more for his life, so he planned to change. One day he left his quaint town, and headed for Death Mountain.”

“That sounds like a fake name.” interjected Anna

“I think its a cool name…” said Charlie.

Coughing loudly, the grandfather continued.

“He heard of a legend that Death Mountain was home to riches that could set him for life. He went to the mountain, living off the rock outcrop. He lived by gathering the healthy plants and hunting the meatiest game. He built a hovel for himself as he searched for these hidden riches. He scaled the mountains everyday hoping to come ever closer to gaining his fortune.”

Grandad Arnold paused and turned the page.

“He woke up, gathering the healthy plants, hunting the meatiest game, scaled the mountains and returned to his hovel for slumber. The next day he awoke, he gathered the healthy plants, hunted the meatiest game, scaled the mountains, returning to his hovel for slumber. The day after the same routine followed, he gathered the healthy plants, hunted the meatiest game and scaled the mountains only to return to his hovel for slumber. He repeated this for months with nothing to show for it.”

Anna was rolling her eyes while Charlie sat with his head resting on his hand, transfixed by the story.

“Growing tired, the man contemplated heading back down to his poor home. He felt tempted to roll back down the slope, go back to his normal errands in his bubble and forgot this mistake. However Finley still found reason to continue. He decided to scavenge at the peak of Death Mountain, which he did not explore yet.”

“Why didn’t he go there at the beginning grandad?” asked Anna.

“Don’t worry I’m getting to that dear.” said Arnold.

Grandad fixed his glasses and continued.

“You see, the reason why it was called Death Mountain was of what was said to lie at the top of them. It was warned to not approach the summit, for there was a curse there. It was…”

“It was filled with ghost pirates!” shouted Anna

“And giant monsters, snakes and…”

Arnold waved his hands “Now Now Anna dear, that's not it.”

Grandad continued “At the top was said to be a deadly poison that stood between the peaks. A lake filled with a fume so noxious that it would kill all those who approached it waters. All who went to the top never returned. That is why Finley did not want to go up all the way. Yet now his feelings changed, he wanted to take this risk to to see if the riches laid in this lair.”

“He climbed further up the mountain. He used his bare hands to grasp onto the rocks. He moved ever so gently as to not topple any lose rock. His feet locked into the earth below him, he moved up the crevices carefully before finally reaching the top. What Finley found shocked him.”

“In the middle of the peak was a crater. It was bone-dry. No water or poison to found here. The basin was cracked and spread all over. Finley collapsed on the ground, there was nothing for him here. In angry, he kicked at the crack in the basin before being violently knocked back.”

“Liquid sprouted from the crack in the earth; liquid gold.”

“Gold!?” shouted the twins

“Yes…” nodded Arnold “...liquid gold, for all his suffering, Finley managed to find real treasure in Death Mountain. With his new wealth, Finley saved his town from dying, became wealthy, and founded our town to mine this liquid. And so…”

Grandpa closed the book

“that is why Death Mountain was renamed to its modern name, Triple Diamond Peak, for the great luck bestowed upon Finley.”

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“Anna, lets go back home now.”

It was late at night, the twins had snuck off to climb Triple Diamond peak.

“Charlie, you’re a boy, don’t you want to see this liquid gold grandpa talked about?” asked Anna

“It sounds cool, but it seems dangerous, lets just go back now.”

“Its not that far from us, all the mining they do has made it less dangerous to climb.”

At the base stood a mechanical machine, an elevator so to speak. It was used by the miners to travel up the peak. Since it was night, it was unguarded as all the workers have gone home. The twins got in and set the elevator to go up to the top.”

Anna jumped up and down in excitement with the elevator bouncing up and down with her. Charlie lowered his head in his hands expecting the elevator to fall.

When the door opened, both twins recoiled. An awful smell permeated from the peak. The twins looked around seeing a starling sight. A black goo was what filled the lake. It was so dark that one could not see the bottom. Bubbles floated to the top of this strange substance like it was a potion.

The twins fled back down in elevator. Anna had her arms folded.

“Hmmm, I shoulda known that granddad lied. That was no gold!” pouted the girl.