The Light of a Marigold

When the world was newly formed there were many small villages across the land as all the villages connected. Everyone was happy and had everything they needed. There was no need for money or coins as they traded and gathered together as a community. One day a god named Philosyonious was tired of watching them do the same routine day in and day out. Philosyonious knew he was not supposed to engage with the humans, but he took it upon himself to make a little mischief. He wanted to see what the humans would do if the community no longer had balance.

"What if one person had something someone else didn't have? What would happen?” he wondered to himself with a devious grin.

Philosyonious took his golden spear, cut out his heart, and tore a piece of it off. The piece of his heart turned into a beautiful red ruby. He gave the ruby to the village of Xctepec. The ruby could transform the earth into gold and it did not take long for the other villages to hear about this mysterious new earth. The village elders in Xctepec started to talk and they knew if they did not reveal it, people could try to take it or demand to have it for themselves. One elder proposed they take turns with it so that way everyone gets some. Another said they had no need for it because they had everything they already needed.

The greediest elder thought to himself, "What if I came up with a plan for them to think we are giving them a share of the gold, without actually giving it up?" An idea sprung into his head that instant and he said, "We should turn as much earth to gold as we can, keep a bunch for ourselves and then distribute a small amount to each village. Once the community gathers for our goods exchange we get it back by charging them the gold we gave them for the fish we bring to the exchange. They can either buy the fish and we get our gold back or we have extra fish for ourselves."

All the elders agreed with the greedy elder who's name was Valmyre. One elder called Mari did not want this. She believed they had more than enough to share with everyone. Unfortunately, she was overruled and they went with Valmyre's plan.

The next few winters had been long and dreary. Many died because they could not afford to buy the fish from Xctepec. Many families starved to death because of their greed and the other villages were angry and seeking war. Philosyonious wanting to provoke the other villages and create more chaos so he disguised himself as Valmyre to spread rumors and lies about Mari to the other villages. He told the villagers she was hiding gold from everyone else. Everyone started to blame her for the deaths of their friends and families. Word kept spreading across the land and the elders from other villages confronted the other elders in Xctepec. No one could figure out the truth from lies. Undecided on what to do, they summoned Valmyre and Mari to each speak on their behalf. Valmyre had already been in contact with most of the elders in the court during his dealings at the exchanges and he knew he had people on his side. Everyone fought for days and debated against one another. Each person claiming they had no involvement or fault in what had happened to those families. Finally, coming to a verdict, the person at fault would have to give all of their possessions over to the loved ones of people who passed away. Valmyre refused and threatened to leave the village but Mari suggested an even split between them. Half of her belongings and half of Valmyre's would be given to those in mourning. Still upset and disgruntled, he reluctantly agreed as he had all the village elders watching him.

Greedy as Valmyre was, Mari knew he would try and do just about anything in order to keep his possessions to himself. Sure enough, he tried to take the ruby for himself to make more gold so that he would not have to give his gold or money away. Mari quickly followed him to the chamber where the elders of their village met and confronted him.

Following close behind him, she approached carefully and snatched the ruby from his hands. "I knew you were going to be greedy. You can't just give these people a small portion of what you have so they can live? Are you that selfish?"

Valmyre angrily rips the ruby from her grasp and says, "It is not being selfish; it's called looking out for yourself."

Mari rolls her eyes and scoffs, "That is the very definition of being selfish."

Mari tries to take the ruby back but Valmyre refuses to back down and they start to scuffle over it. Mari, trying to break it free of his grasp, gets her feet tangled under him. Valmyre takes his staff and trips Mari. Mari tumbles back losing her balance as she falls hitting her head against the wall. Valmyre holds back tears as he looks over to see a pool of blood around Mari. He knows what he has done and is sick to his stomach; he drops on his knees next to her as the ruby falls into the pool of blood. A quick flash of light comes from the stone. The inside of the ruby looks like a fire burning. Valmyre picks it up to inspect what just happened and suddenly he's hit with a sudden burst of light too. Scared out of his mind he grabs the ruby, runs to the boats, and tries to steal a boat to flee. Frantically fumbling the ruby it falls into the water. As he glares in the water looking for the ruby, he becomes terrified of his reflection.

He is startled and falls onto his back on the shoreline. "Am I dreaming? This is impossible?” he says to himself.

Slowly he approaches the shore and the reflection staring back at him is him as a young man.

He thinks, "How could this be? The ruby?"

Excitedly he searches for the ruby in the water. "If I take this back and show them what it does they are sure to forgive me for what happened. In retrospect, it was not even my fault because she followed me. She started it; she should not have got in my way."

Valmyre rushes back to the village but is not greeted with the gratitude he thought he would be.

Elders all shout in unison, "Murderer!" Valmyre shouts back, "NO! NO! Listen to me! It was an accident but a good accident. The stone has granted me my youth back. Now we can all live forever."

One of the elders steps forward to say something but is interrupted by another. "The death of one of our own was tragic but let's be thankful we now know the full potential of the ruby."

Valmyre agreeing, "Yes! Join me, everyone. My body is young again and I can make up for those past mistakes now that I have more time." The elder reaches out with an open hand gesturing for the ruby. Valmyre smiles and hands it over to him.

"Now you can all join me."

Sighing the elder says, "No. This ruby is to be dealt with so that no one can ever abuse its power again. As for you, that is up to Mari's family."

Mari's family was not sure what to do. All they knew was that they wanted her to be remembered for as long as Valmyre would live. Mari's daughter, Ala, thought long and hard about everything that had happened and she mostly just really missed her mom. Ala glanced over the land and thought how plain the landscaped looked. Then she knew what she needed to do. Although this would not sit right with Philosyonious, the other gods had become aware of his egregious acts and told him that whatever the daughter decided, would be his fate as well. Valmyre was stripped of all of his titles, possessions, and gold. It is said that he still roams searching for the golden pieces of Philosyonious. Ala takes the ruby in her hand to transform the ruby into a golden seed to plant with her mother. Philosyonious turned to gold along with the piece of his heart and was cast out of the sky. As he fell, he started to crumble breaking into pieces and scattering across the land. The seed bloomed into a beautiful flower that sprouts across the land with red and golden petals. Red as a ruby, yellow as gold, and named after Mari. Marigolds bloom each spring from then on bringing healing to those in need of rejuvenation. Some still look for the seed now called the Philosopher's Stone. They are all searching for fortune, transformation, or immortality.