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Dan and his younger twin brothers, Pat and Simon, live in a fairly ordinary Yorkshire village and enjoy a mostly quiet life. The only unusual thing about them is their strong affinity for water, which has something to do with the special cottage in which they grow up. The cottage just so happens to sit over a natural source of magic that saturates the three brothers and primes them to reach their true potential. All they need is a magical makeover and they'll have a chance to make a difference in the endless conflict between good and evil.
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Trios
by Terry Volkirch
Chapter 17: Paris Is Burning
Richard ate all of his fish and immediately after taking his last bite, he cast the fireball spell that he prepared earlier in case Dani showed up to confront him. The fireball shot across the restaurant and slammed into the far wall, opposite where he sat. The magic fire set the wall ablaze and the restaurant began to fill with smoke.
Shouts of "Merde!" could be heard from the restaurant staff whilst Richard calmly chewed his last bite of fish and walked out, following after a stampede of patrons, none of whom paid for their meal.
The tall, evil man in his expensive suit hailed a taxi and rode to the Louvre. The cab driver looked in the rear view mirror, noticing the fire and emergency vehicles but otherwise left his passenger alone. They drove the short distance and when they stopped, the cabby turned, expecting payment. Instead, he got a spell. The spell lit the man's hair on fire and he bolted from the taxi, screaming. Two quick-thinking young men stopped him and probably saved his life by grabbing dirt from a potted plant and using it to smother the flames that had spread to the man's clothes. Another five minutes, another fire. Richard was on a roll.
He originally worried about his office tracing him by his credit card payments and hunting him down but he didn't have to worry about that. He didn't really have to worry about the Dark Forces coming after him at all. He could take care of himself quite well. He didn't understand why and he didn't care. His inner voice just told him that he deserved a run of good luck after being thwarted several times by the trio of good girl witches of the north.
Either his inner voice was talking to him more recently or he just started listening more. He wasn't sure which but he did notice how useful it could be to listen. It hadn't been wrong so far.
Richard took his time getting out of the car. He still had four minutes to get to the meeting place and he didn't want to be early. He hated being early. He walked slowly and hummed a long series of random notes that sounded beautiful to his ear. The discordant sound went so well with the destruction that he planned.
"I'm sorry, Ash," Dani said, walking across the grass away from the Eiffel Tower. "I should've realized we had to pay to go up to the third level."
"Me no worry. Nice day for walk."
Dani smiled and nodded.
The odd pair went in search of an ATM and it didn't take too terribly long to find one a few blocks away. Actually, the walk took the perfect amount of time. Dani purposely started on Her little quest to reach the top of the Eiffel Tower at exactly the right moment. Her inner Goddess timed the visit to the observation deck to coincide when She'd have to be up there to try to stop a madman.
Ash stood to the side in front of the ATM, blissfully unaware of Dani's plans. She decided to keep him innocent as long as She could. He'd soon play an important if disturbing role.
"Can me have ice cream?" the salamander asked. "Me never had ice cream."
"You've never…?" Dani stopped and shook Her head. Of course She never thought to let him try ice cream. She was afraid he'd melt it all and never properly taste it. She decided to change Her mind though and let Ash indulge in a little ice cream flavored fire, if that was possible. It was the least She could considering what She'd soon ask of him. She magically withdrew several more euros until She was sure that She had enough money. The money was magically withdrawn but She still made sure to target Her parents' bank account. She had to do it with magic since She didn't have an ATM card. Her father insisted that She be kept on a strict budget and he felt an ATM card would be too tempting to abuse.
Still on their perfect schedule, the two of them walked back towards the Eiffel Tower at a leisurely pace. They still had over ninety minutes before the final curtain.
Richard reached the front of the Louvre's glass pyramid exactly on time. He looked around for his contact and just managed to suppress a frown. He'd come too far to frown. Frowning implied failure and so far, everything was perfect. The sound of the sirens, the rising smoke in the distance, everything made his body hum. He felt like a god of destruction, the perfect complement to a goddess of creation, except he didn't intend on being complementary in the least. He'd cancel out his feminine nemesis and take over the world.
As he stood, waiting, he went back to humming an awful little tune. Passers by frowned at him and that made him hum all the more. He fed on the discontent and grew ever stronger by the minute. He was almost disappointed when his contact arrived, several minutes late. He wanted more power, but he accepted that he had enough to do what needed to be done.
His contact was a short, stocky man with ever so much dark hair everywhere on his body except on his head and face. His suit looked a size too small and his shoes looked ready to throw in the dust bin. If only one word could be used to describe him, it would be shabby.
Richard asked to examine the mask and the shabby man naively handed it over after unwrapping it from several layers of black silk cloth.
The mostly black Dragon Mask gleamed in the late afternoon sun, its only colored feature being a thin blood red outline along the outside edge and around the eye and mouth holes. The mask reeked of age and power. It had a history of destruction that only a very powerful and evil magic user could fully appreciate.
The tall, slender man smiled as he thought about how he contrasted so completely with his contact in stature, knowledge and magic ability. He smiled even knowing that he planned on killing the shabby man in a very short period of time.
Richard closed his eyes and sighed as he felt the back of the mask. Elemental fire arced like static electricity over his finger tips as the mask charged in the sunlight. By all accounts, the mask had never reached full power and its potential was thought to be limitless. It could charge all day by any number of sources and it could be used as long as it had power. At its current power level, Richard figured he could use it for hours and still not come close to exhausting the elemental fire stored in it. It hadn't been used for centuries, and for good reason.
The legend of the Dragon Mask told of an ancient history full of burning armies and firebombed buildings. Someone at some time in the distant past had to have been able to harness the mask's power and use it to its full potential, something that Richard couldn't wait to test.
Giddy with power, the evil man opened his eyes and smiled a most unkindly smile, just before quickly slapping the mask onto his face, startling his contact. It was the last thing the poor shabby man saw.
The mask quickly and permanently bound itself to Richard's face and according to its written history, the only way it could be removed would be with the man's death. He didn't really think about trying to remove it though. He was too busy thinking of all the ways he could use it, starting with the shabby man standing before him.
Richard sent out a slender tongue of fire through the mouth of the mask. The fire penetrated the large man's chest and cooked his heart in an instant. The man fell dead and was quickly forgotten by his murderer, who was anxious to move on to bigger things. The glass pyramid behind him tempted him ever so slightly but he liked its modern look. He graciously left it alone and looked to find a more deserving target.
"It's starting," Dani said, staring out at the view from the top level of the Eiffel Tower. Long shadows stretched across the grass below Her and a few lights started blinking on in the distance. She sighed and committed the beautiful sight to memory.
"What starting?" Ash asked, after lapping up the flames that danced on top of his little bowl of ice cream. But his question wasn't answered.
The divine girl searched out and remotely followed the growing evil with her consciousness, satisfying Herself by making sure to minimize loss of life. She could've prevented the destruction Herself but that would reveal Her interference and unravel Her very important plan. She couldn't do that. All She could do was to protect the potential victims as best She could. That and mourning the dead would have to be enough.
Ash finished his treat by quickly devouring the ice cream. The ice cream wasn't as good as the flames but it developed a smoky flavor that the salamander appreciated. After he finished eating, he enjoyed the the view and patiently waited for Dani to reveal Her plan.
Richard knew he looked odd as he was, sharply dressed with an ancient black mask on his face. He knew others would soon try to stop him if he didn't act right away, so he marched over to the nearby Royal Palace Museum and belched a column of fire from his mouth that put his beloved fireball cannon to shame. The outer walls of the museum exploded from the instant heat and combustible artifacts nearest those same outer walls burst into flame. The museum would burn to the ground and no one could do a thing about it. He didn't notice a shimmering wall of force covering people as they escaped from the opposite side of the building. Instead, he continued looking for his next target.
He walked on, turning a fountain of water into a fountain of steam as an afterthought. He noticed but chose to ignore all of the emergency vehicles that passed him as he left the Royal Palace Museum behind, zigzagging a block or so until he came upon a Library.
"Perfect fuel for the fire," he said, absently scratching his groin.
The man used the mask's two eye holes to shoot a pair of narrow streams of liquid fire to pierce the wall of the building and catch shelf upon shelf of precious books on fire. Once again, he didn't notice how people were protected as they ran from the building. He could've stayed and protected himself well enough but he wasn't interested in a battle, at least not at the moment. He just wanted to create as much destruction as he could before the Goddess confronted him like he knew She would. He was the self-appointed God of Destruction and he had a reputation to build.
Speaking of battles, Richard suddenly found himself facing two policemen, who stopped their car when they witnessed the latest impossible scene with their own eyes. They bravely forced themselves to overcome their fear and slowly approached the perpetrator. They had thought to call for backup, though it wouldn't come in time.
The new demigod didn't hesitate. He spat a ball of fire at the two men, instantly vaporizing them. Their ashes scattered down the street from the early evening breeze. High up in the Eiffel Tower, the Goddess mourned their deaths.
Richard smirked and continued on, walking into the library and spitting fire left and right, making sure to burn every book he saw. He'd always hated school and he found his current rampage to be particularly satisfying. It almost made up for all of his despised teachers who seemed to find pleasure in torturing their students with mountains of tedious homework. He knew school helped him get to where he was now, but he still hated the experience. It was only the destination he cared about, not the journey. He lived for the moment, and his moment was one of sweet, beautiful fire.
He wandered through the library and eventually exited the north end of the building, not knowing where to go next until he remembered that the stock market building was very close. He followed his memories of the city, looking to cause a little financial mischief on the way to an even greater triumph.
Several visitor milled about on the observation deck of the Eiffel Tower, but most steered clear of a certain odd pair that gave off strong vibes of intense heat and boundless compassion.
Ash looked over at his beloved human and frowned. "Why you cry, Dani?"
"Oh, Ash. You're so sweet. Thank you." The divine girl walked over and hugged the salamander, again preventing any dangerous burns with Her powerful control of magic.
Her previous hug surprised him. He didn't hug Her back. But this time, he wrapped his arms around Her and helped create a perfect shelter against the raging fire storm of grief and despair that was taking hold of the city. It gave Dani the strength to continue.
The girl pulled back and smiled. "I love you, Ash."
"I love you too, Dani." He gave Her an uncertain smile in return. He knew something bad was coming. His own little inner voice told him so.
"Yes, Ash," the girl said, both hearing and being a part of his inner voice. "Something bad is coming and we need to prepare for it."
She revealed Her latest plan, at least as far as it concerned Her companion. He'd be sent on a journey through a special portal to his homeland, a dimension of elemental fire, where he'd gather all the fire at his command and send it back through the portal. She assured him that no one would be harmed and he nodded, his face a solemn mask of trust and respect with just a trace of fear. As he said before, the Goddess scared him.
Richard made it to the Paris Bourse, the historical stock exchange building with it's impressive Corinthian colonnade. The building had received lots of criticism over the years but it would still be missed, and the dark demigod made sure of its absence so it would be missed. He fire bombed it, lobbing impossibly huge balls of flame that bubbled from the mouth of the mask. The fireballs arced and rained down the building, melting the roof and eventually the huge columns from the top down. The whole building melted down into a blob of stone, metal and glass.
As before, some of the police noticed the cause of the latest spectacle. Two men in the police car slowly came to a stop off to one side of the road. They stayed in their car and wisely radioed for backup. Their caution didn't help.
Richard noticed them. He lobbed a fireball up in the air and watched it fall onto the car, causing a huge explosion. The men were killed instantly. Two more victims were mourned by the Goddess.
Throughout the chaos, no one else noticed the dark demigod's involvement. They were too busy trying to put out fires and tend to the injured. They didn't see him scaring a cab driver out of his vehicle so he could drive away and cover more ground in a short period of time. He was dying to test the limits of his new abilities.
Next on the list of major things to burn was a very important symbol to the French people, and a beautiful structure in its own right. The stolen black cab rolled the wrong way down Rue du Quartre Septembre, a one way street. The driver didn't care about traffic rules, and all it took was a few fireballs and the road quickly cleared ahead of him. He drove slowly, just in case, and continuously spewed fire from the driver side window, destroying all buildings on the his left side.
The vehicle soon came to an intersection and the driver noticed an opera house — a new minor target. He always hated opera so he purposely drove to the right of the building so he could easily hit it with his fire. He gave it an extremely large blast, large enough to create a small mushroom cloud. The force of the blast was so strong that a backwash of superheated air hit the cab, singeing the man's eyebrows. Up to that point, he didn't think to protect himself from his magic fire and he barely put up a shield in time. He stopped briefly to think about the issue and decided that shields were for wimps. Instead, he created a spell to filter any incoming fire and convert it back into magic energy that he could use. Technically, it was still a shield but he didn't care to give the matter any more thought. He drove up to Haussmann Boulevard and took a left, following the road to his target with flames continuing to pour from the mouth and eye holes of his mask. He left a terrible trail of fire and destruction in his wake.
Visitors on the observation deck of the Eiffel Tower continued to give Dani and Ash a wide berth, especially when Dani's mood changed from sadness and affection to anger.
"No more!" She shouted. "No more deaths!"
The Goddess shielded every potential victim in protective bubbles that slowly floated away from any threatening flames. As soon as a person in a bubble was clearly out of danger, the bubble would pop, freeing the person. It took a lot of power and a lot of energy with all of the fires that were starting, but She kept it up, knowing that the new demigod would soon be paying a visit to her location. The fires would get worse when that happened. Still, She kept protecting people.
There was only one more task that needed doing before the final phase of Her plan. She had to get everyone to leave the immediate area.
A very loud siren suddenly erupted then, startling the visitors. It sounded exactly like a World War Two air raid siren and it had the desired effect, sending all of the staff and visitors to the lifts. People had already been nervous when they saw fires sprouting up all over to the north so it didn't take much to get them all to leave.
Dani gave a faint smile.
One more thing to go right. Thank the Goddess.
Richard made it to the Arc de Triomphe de l'étoile, a symbol of victory in times of war, built in the shape of a giant arch. He looked up at it and sneered.
"Pathetic," he said. "I'll have one made to my own specifications after I take over this planet. It'll easily be ten times larger, in a size befitting a god."
Since he planned on having his own arch of triumph replace the famous landmark in Paris, it meant he needed to make room. He called up his largest fireball so far, feeding it with fire from his mouth and his two eye holes, and gently blew it towards the arch.
The fireball slowly spun and floated towards the arch. The few eyewitnesses in the area watched, helpless and horrified as the huge ball of flames moved to engulf the entire structure and stuck to it, quickly melting everything into a large, flattened blob just like the stock market building.
Word quickly spread that Paris' grand arch of triumph was destroyed and the French mourned.
Richard continued driving his stolen cab when his little inner voice spoke to him once again, whispering in his mind. It mentioned snippets of ideas that took a little time to sink in: Things like low ground, fighting in the trenches and the advantage of gaining the high ground. They all made sense and began to cause the man a very slight disappointment. He could do so much more if he could get above all of the buildings around him. He felt almost claustrophobic.
His first thought was to spin and send out a wave of fire to flatten the area around him, but even that didn't satisfy him. Then the inner voice spoke to him again, whispering, "Eiffel Tower."
He looked up and could just see the top of the tower over a nearby building.
He smiled and drove in the direction of the tower as he continued leaving a trail of fire behind him.
As Richard crossed over the Seine and approached the Eiffel Tower, he'd grown increasingly suspicious. So far, he hadn't seen any evidence of the Goddess. He felt sure She'd have followed him from London. He looked around and tried using magic to detect Her but had come up empty. That was because She'd successfully shielded herself and he had yet to reach his full potential as a god. He was at a disadvantage and only had his gut instinct to fuel his suspicion. It wasn't enough.
He drove over the grass at the edge of the Champ de Mars and slowed down just enough to quickly step out, leaving the car to roll on ahead of him through the park. He didn't have the patience to park. The Eiffel Tower loomed over him, calling him up to the third level to achieve the first great step in his dream to take over the world. He'd destroy Paris and show the world his might. Everyone would bow before him and worship him like a god deserved.
With no one around to get in his way, he navigated the lifts quickly enough, using magic when necessary. He reached the top and was pleased to find the observation deck completely deserted. With no one to get in his way, he had a good look round the city to select his first target.
"I wish I'd listen to my instinct more often," he said to himself. "This is perfect."
To check his range, he belched a small fireball at the Paris Military School, flattening it. That gave him a warm feeling in the pit of his stomach. He followed it up with a larger fireball aimed at the Army Museum and Napoleon's Tomb a little farther away. They too were demolished in one go.
The dark demigod didn't think about the possibility of any casualties and didn't care, but the Goddess made sure to protect everyone, and She continued to manage the impressive feat without Richard realizing it. He still had his gut feeling, sounding a warning bell, but he didn't yet know how to properly listen. The Goddess had to move quickly before he did become one with the God and realized how he was being manipulated.
Dani floated in a shielded pocket dimension that She'd fixed well above the top point of the Eiffel Tower, and She directed Ash, who She'd changed back into his true salamander form, to start sending elemental fire through the portal from his home dimension, a dimension full of elemental fire. As the raw elemental fire emerged from the portal, She used it to create flames that danced around the observation deck and once again pretended to be Richard's inner voice, whispering suggestions to him that it was just a sign of his impending godhood. He took it as well as could be expected.
"I'm a god!" he shouted, scaring a flock of pigeons that nervously perched on the lower levels of the tower. "Bow before me, mortals, or feel my wrath!"
Richard got ahead of himself and declared himself a god before he'd actually become one. He'd done so before but after reaching the Eiffel Tower, he felt like he was the real thing, and it all went to his head. He randomly sent out fire in all different forms including balls, streams and even sheets. For something different, he experimented with a rain of fire but it didn't do enough damage so he soon ended that nonsense. It wouldn't do for a god to show weakness.
Dani would've smiled if She wasn't working so hard to protect lives while building up the flames around the tower at the same time. She had to use an extremely high level of concentration to succeed, but succeed She did. People had their protective bubbles when they needed them, and they didn't bother to wonder how it was done. They thanked their deity or lucky stars that they were alive and that was good enough for them. And as for the flames, they continued to increase in both volume and intensity until they covered the entire tower.
Richard had to stop sending fire down on the city. He couldn't see through the flames. But he was content. His inner voice linked the amount of flames to the strength of his power. He believed that he was responsible for them and saw them as the gateway to full godhood. He moved to the center of the observation platform as he continued to absorb some of the fire, converting it to magic. The Goddess wasn't worried though. The amount of flames that Richard absorbed was negligible compared to what Ash continued to send.
The fire and heat continued, with Ash acting as a font and the Goddess acting as flow and fetch. And as the heat increased, something eventually had to give. It wasn't Richard though. He felt great with all of the magic he was absorbing, and actually, he would reach godhood within the hour, but the Goddess didn't need that long to finish what She'd started.
The wrought iron lattice of the tower started glowing, moving through a shortened spectrum of colors, starting with red, then orange and yellow. It stopped when it got white hot and the metal finally had enough. As it got close to its melting point, the tower started to slump and slowly collapsed.
Richard didn't worry when he felt the floor shudder and heard the groan of the metal. He protected himself in a shell of magic that continuously grew in strength. His own potential for magic also grew in strength until he reached a point where he finally tapped into the source of what he thought was his inner voice. That surprised him.
"Goddess!" he shouted, making sure to be heard over the sound of the collapsing tower.
"How nice," She said, after appearing from Her pocket dimension to float just to the side of the flames, level to Richard. "You didn't take my name in vain. Thank you." She didn't need to shout. Her voice reverberated at a perfect level to cut through the noise.
"What's happening?! Where are you?! What are you playing at?!" He couldn't see Her through the flames, though he was starting to sense Her presence without having to hear Her speak or see Her.
"I'm helping you achieve one of your goals. You wanted to be a god, didn't you?"
"I don't need you," he said, lowering his volume after having learned Her trick for speaking without having to shout over the noise.
"You're right," the Goddess agreed. "You would've become a god on your own, following your own path as the Buddhists say. But it would've taken you a lot more time to do so. I've been hurrying you along. You've almost made me proud."
"Listen, you glorified twat. You're not going to kill me by turning this tower into a slag heap."
"Now now. I have no intention of killing you. Killing isn't my way."
That surprised the budding god. He didn't quite know what to say, other than perhaps a few choice vulgar words. Normally, he would've spewed more hateful words but as he reached godhood, he felt such behavior to be beneath him. He'd much rather just destroy things. He truly was becoming if not the God of Destruction then at least a minor version of the god.
"Thank you for choosing to stop cursing," the Goddess said, reading his mind.
Richard could actually feel Her inside his mind and it made him test the connection by thinking a reply instead of saying it aloud. 'I'd curse if I thought it would do any good. But I know better.'
'Very good. We can communicate even more easily now. Can you see now too?'
'See? See what?'
'Can you see how I've trapped you in a sphere of iron, flames and magic. If you can't curb your appetites, I'm going to at least slow them down… greatly.'
'You can't do that. You have no right!' He paused as Her words sunk in. 'Wait. What do you mean, slow them down?'
'I can't let you take over the world, Richard, especially the way you're going about it, destroying things willy-nilly. You've been very naughty and it's time for a little discipline.'
'Really now. Treating me like a child? Calling me Richard? I'll not be baited. I'm going to figure a way out of this.'
'Yes, I'm sure you will. But it will take you a very long time, and hopefully, you'll be more mature and even compassionate by then. If not, I'm sure we'll end up with another stalemate.'
'How can you be so sure?'
'I'm sure because I don't limit myself. I don't focus on only one aspect of divinity like you. I embrace all things, equally. It's really refreshing and rather invigorating even. Perhaps you'll consider it during your metaphorical long winter sleep.'
'I'm not….'
Those were the last two words the new minor god could utter during their conversation before the Goddess completely finished the stasis cocoon around Him, something She worked on while they talked. Time slowed to an extremely slow crawl and virtually stopped for Richard as far as the rest of the world was concerned. His perspective was another matter. He was still alive and still quite aware, though He was without His new toy. The Goddess managed to take away His Dragon Mask without killing Him, and She disposed of it, teleporting it into the heart of the sun. The magic artifact was far too dangerous.
Thanks to the Dragon Mask and his obsession with destruction, the man had begun his path to become one with the God, the male counterpart to the Goddess. All creative acts are preceded by destructive ones. Trees are destroyed for lumber and to clear land to build houses. Ore is extracted from the Earth to create metals. Both creation and destruction are necessary and both are aspects of divinity. Focusing solely on destruction wasn't a balanced approach though, and it could've easily led to His destruction. But instead of choosing to kill Him, the Goddess trapped Him and left Him to ponder His fate whilst trapped in an iron sphere. And She wasn't quite finished with Him.
Wanda sat transfixed in front of the telly in the sitting room of Water Works cottage. She watched the evening news and gasped at the lead story. Vigorously shaking her head, she got up and quickly left the room to find Sue, her adopted mother.
"Mummy! Come quick! Paris is burning!"
Both Sue and George followed the little girl back to the sitting room and sat watching in horror as huge areas in the city of Paris burned. They turned up the volume on the television and listened to the reporter on location as she documented the destruction of a once great and beautiful city.
"The authorities are baffled as to the cause of the fires that started sporadically throughout the city. They suspected terrorism until the source of the fires seemed to jump to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Flames spewed from the observation deck of the tower and destroyed building after building until the tower itself slowly collapsed. The iron slumped and melted from the heat. Men, women and children are all either in shock or crying. There are hundreds of injuries but surprisingly few confirmed fatalities. It's not clear… wait…. This just in. Something's happening at the base of where the Eiffel Tower once stood. A large metal sphere has formed out of the remains of what was once a beautiful work of art… and now the sphere is rolling. It's actually rolling by itself… towards the Seine. It's going into the water and… steam! Great billowing clouds of steam are obscuring the ball. This is unbelievable!"
Sue used the remote to mute the television. The excited reporter added too much fuel to an already volatile situation and Sue couldn't handle any more. She just continued to watch with her husband and adopted daughter, unable to believe her eyes and yet unable to look away as Paris burned.
Over the next six hours, well into the night, helicopters with powerful search lights followed the movement of the large iron sphere as it rolled down the river bed and disappeared into the English Channel, never to be seen again. The sphere had to jump the several locks and bridges along the way but it was small enough that it could fit under the bridges that spanned the lower part of the Seine. That surprised a lot of people who thought that such a large metal tower would create a much larger sphere. At least it surprised them until various experts came forward to offer their observations. One such expert in America described it quite well several days later.
"The sphere is estimated to be about fifty feet in diameter, or tall if you will," a relaxed looking, older man said, sitting on a white couch on the set of a popular morning television show. "That's actually larger than it should be if all of the metal in the Eiffel Tower was melted into a solid sphere."
The host of the show, a much younger man in a very nice suit, sat on a smaller sofa next to the couch and looked puzzled. "Are you telling me the Eiffel Tower could be melted into an even smaller ball of metal?"
"If the sphere was solid, it would only be about forty feet tall. Remember that the tower was a lattice of relatively thin iron girders."
"So let me get this straight, if the… sphere is fifty feet tall, it can't be solid. It must be a shell. Is that right?"
"Very good," the older man said. "At its current size, it could contain a spherical cavity about forty feet tall."
The host tapped his temple with an index finger. "So the sphere is hollow. Then what's inside? Any ideas?"
The older man shrugged. "Who knows. It could be anything that was up in the tower. It could just be air."
The host frowned. "Well… forget how it was done. No one can seem to figure that out. But any idea as to why?"
"I have my own theory. I have no proof but it fits the facts."
"Oh? Do tell our audience. I'm sure they'd love to hear it."
The older man gave a nervous laugh, suddenly realizing how many people might be watching him at the moment. He paused and the host gestured with his hands to start talking. The older man focused on the host and pretended to speak only to him. He looked the host in the eye and told him everything. "Before the Eiffel Tower collapsed, there were terrible fires, explosions and even melted structures all around the Right Bank of Paris. There were also dozens if not hundreds of accounts of people surviving against impossible odds. In spite of all the destruction, there were only five confirmed deaths: four policemen and a foreign businessman. It looked like everything on the Right Bank might burn. But then flames suddenly started shooting from the top of the Eiffel Tower. Several landmarks were then destroyed on the Left Bank."
"Right. Right. We know all that. Please. Get on with your theory."
"Well, I'm thinking that we were witnessing a battle of some kind. Someone or something, be it an alien, a god, some kind of higher being, decided to try to destroy Paris and someone or something else stopped it."
The host smirked. "So a higher being of some sort had a temper tantrum and another stronger one decided to stop it. Is that what you're saying?"
"Do you have a better explanation? Remember that there were a lot of unexplained fires happening up in London not long before Paris got hit. I'd say the fight actually started there and moved to Paris for some reason."
"Right. Well, I'll have to get back to you on that one. I'm not sure I agree with you."
"Take all the time you need to think it through," the older man said, his eyes twinkling. "I think we're safe now. I'm guessing we won't be seeing any more fire storms."
© 2014 by Terry Volkirch. This work may not be replicated in whole or in part by any means electronic or otherwise without the express consent of the Author (copyright holder). All Rights Reserved. This is a work of Fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional and any resemblance to real people or incidents past, present or future is purely coincidental.
