The Fearsome Four

Chapter Triad

Mario and the flaming boot of doom.

   They rode their way through narrow passes until they made it to the summit of one of the small mining hills. Standing there was a large mine shaft that looked to be abandoned. Gaston got off of his horse and tied it to a short fence post nearby, just in case something happened. Mario handed Gaston his horses lead and walked around picking up sticks for a fire, Ardele went around and found a few logs to sit on and dug a hole for the fire.
    “Hey, Gaston do you have that, um, whatchamacallit?” Mario asked, and Gaston threw him a flint and steel.
    “Mario how many times must I correct you it's a fire starter, not a whatchamacallit!” Ardele said as he arranged the sticks into a pointed dome. Mario took the flint and scraped it a few times before getting a flame going.
    “So? Whatchamacallit sounds better and is more fun.” He received dumbfounded looks from the other three party members.
   “So,” Alexis said sitting down, “story time right?” The other three sat down, and Gaston pulled out a bag of white fluffy puffs of sugar and stuck them on a metal poker before holding them gently over the fire.
   “What in the name of Matannana is that? Mario asked.
    “I stole them from the bar earlier today, they are called Mellow Marshes,” Gaston replied as he handed one to each person.
     “Oh my goodness! These are amazing!” Ardele commented as he stuffed the whole thing into his mouth.
    “Well let's start the tales of our dark pasts shall we?” Mario said leaning next to the fire to give his face an ominous glow.
     “Why don’t you go first Mario? After all, you seem eager.” Gaston commented.
    “Fine I'll start us off, this may take a bit of explaining so just tell it … IN FLASHBACK.” He sat up straighter and cleared his throat before beginning…

⧫   ⧫   ⧫   ⧫   ⧫   ⧫   ⧫   ⧫ 

    “Ahem, There was once a couple named Marcus and Frida Wonder, they used to be very wealthy merchants and even proclaimed friends of the king. They met one day when Marcus was shopping in a port town and had gotten invited to a ball. At the ball he had danced with a beautiful woman named Frida, her parents were hosting the party in hopes of finding their daughter a husband, which inevitably happened. 
    They were wed shortly after the party, and he took her around the entire country, seeing everything and just enjoying life. Eventually, Frida got pregnant, and they had decided to settle down, and they did, on the port side of the capital. That way they could live without stress and continue their work on the port markets.
    Soon after moving in Frida gave birth to a baby boy, whom she named Asher. He was a beautiful child with black poofy hair and bright sea blue eyes. He was a calm child as well, he liked being alone and just spending time at home, rather than with the other children.    
    Eventually, when he was six, Frida got pregnant again. Asher was delighted to have a sibling, someone he could teach and have someone who would depend on him no matter what. Most of all he wanted someone to protect. Soon enough a baby girl was born, Maria, she had the same hair as her brother but had chocolate bown eyes, that seemed to glow in the light. When she was brought home from the hospital, and Asher saw her for the first time, he swore he would protect her over his very life.
    The years had gone by, and Maria and Asher were as close as any siblings. By the time Maria was 9, her father had gotten into some pretty bad business and owed a debt to a powerful salesman. One day her brother had to stay at the school to work on a project, and when he came back, he found his parents murdered, and his sister missing. He called out to her and found her cowering in a secret underground trapdoor. The police had come later due to neighbors hearing screams, they took the children and sent them to an orphanage. Asher was confused about what happened and didn’t understand it. He believed that his parents could have been saved, if only she hadn't been such a coward, everything could have been normal. Asher blamed his sister for what had happened, he believed she was the cause of it in the first place.
    One day the caretakers had announced to him that he was getting adopted. He was grateful to get away from the person who killed his parents, but Maria was crying and begging him not to leave, and he had just snapped.    
    Asher declared that she was a monster and that it was her fault that their parents were dead, he shouted at her, saying how cowardly she was for not helping them, and he wished she was killed instead of their mother and father. She was upset and ran away crying as he went outside to get on with his new life and adoptive parents.
    Maria was adopted a month later and raised as a beautiful lady. Until one day she heard her brother was trying to hunt her down, so she left her life, for she was afraid. Afraid that her brother would fulfill his wish of having her dead. So she changed her looks, changed her name, and moved far away to the west, got a job as a bartender, and was looking forward to a new life and to leave behind her old one.”

⧫   ⧫   ⧫   ⧫   ⧫   ⧫   ⧫   ⧫

      Everyone was silenced by Mario's story, and the silence grew until,
    “Man, now my story just sounds ridiculous,” Alexis commented, and Gaston giggled, soon everyone else was too. Until Mario leaned his foot too close to the fire.
    “Man is it hot? Do you smell something?” Mario said as they calmed down, the others sniffed tye air.
    “Yeah, like burning rubber...OH MY GOD MARIO YOUR FOOT'S ON FIRE!!!!” Ardele shouted sitting up. Mario looked down and, indeed, his foot was set aflame.
   “OMG SOMEONE HELP?!!” Mario ran around until Gaston poured his cantine of water on his foot, sniffing the flame.
   “Mario be more careful, come on take off your shoes,” Gaston said as he walked toward the fire.
   “No way the fire already bit me!” He walked toward the mine entrance and sulked as the others chuckled.