Felix Culpa

The city of Potosi is one of mystery and tragedy. Before the rule of King Malum the city was a prospering place to live.

King Malum began enslaving people of Potosi to grow tobacco and mine silver as offerings to give the diety of the silver mountain, named El Tio, whose greed was insatiable much like the kings. Rumor has it that hundreds of innocent souls were

trapped in the underworld with El Tio all because of 1 ounce of stolen silver. They mine endlessly to find the missing piece. Since the king began his reign the economy collapsed, people were starving, and most unnerving- people of this mining town were going missing at an alarming rate, even the Queen. Queen Reyna simply vanished from the kingdom nearly two decades ago. The last person to see her was a miner by the name of Tristis Culpa. Tristis came from a poor family of silver miners with unfortunate luck that never seemed to turn around. During a shift mining silver that ran through the Mine like veins Tristis followed the cylindrical veins that led to the large silver heart of El Tio where he broke off a piece to take home to his family. He used this silver to give his family a silver spoon, to signify wealth and it was believed in this town that silver warded off evil spirits and brought good fortune. Tristis carved with their last name “Culpa” onto the spoon to be kept in the family. One lucky day Tristis was called to deliver silver to the kingdom, and while delivering a batch of handmade silverware to the royal kingdom he caught the attention of the Queen with his kind smile that started in his eyes. She asked him if he could make her a set of silverware as the king was the only one in the kingdom allowed to use the sterling silver wares in fear that the workers would poison him. The silver met with poison would tarnish and turn black. Peasants and workers and even the queen had to use wooden sticks that were whittled into utensils. Tristis obliged and the next visit to the castle to deliver the weekly silver he brought to the queen her silverware. Over the course of several deliveries she began to pine for Tristis and his visits and they became romantically involved unbeknownst to anyone. It wasnt long until Queen Reyna became pregnant with Tristis's baby and a son was born, his name was Felix. Tristis has nothing to give his son but the silver spoon. Felix was the first Culpa to be of some kind of royalty so Tristis felt it was destiny. The queen hid this spoon in the pillow of the newborn so the king wouldnt find it. The king was elated to have a prince in the castle, he planned to have him follow in his foot steps and inherit the massive fortune he had been collecting and sucking dry from the city of Potosi. That all changed when he observed Tristis and Queen Reyna sharing a kiss and stormed in to apprehend them both. Screams from the queen could be heard throughout the castle and the portcullis entrance to the castle slammed and the queen and Tristis were shuffled into a horse drawn carraige never to be seen again. What happened remains a mystery of them. The queens servant in the castle had heard her cries and ran to baby Felix’s crib, wrapped him up with his blankets and pillow and delivered the baby to the towns orphanage right away where she knew he would find shelter from the kings wrath.

Within the confines of the orphanage Felix’s life was fraught with struggle and lonely as he only had one friend in the orphanage named Ascencion. They shared their dreams of moving up in the world and having a good life and leaving the orphanage in one year when they would both turn eighteen. It was common for children as well as towns people to go missing from the town each week, most believed it was due to starvation. They barely had enough food to feed the children and most days they did not eat. Most of whom were sent to the mines to work by order of the hierarchy to wriggle into the crevices of the silver mines that the adults could not fit into and by the young age of 17 Felix was accustomed to the arduous work of silver mining. After a long day of working in the hot mines he rest his head upon his pillow that had become worn down to rags when he felt something hard inside. He reached into the pillow and pulled out the remaining cotton, and inside was a spoon engraved "Culpa".. He did not know how to read but recognized that this was no ordinary wooden utensil that they were used to in the orphanage and he thought of the story he heard his whole life of silver bringing good fortune and warding off evil spirits. He wound a piece of string around the spoon and wrapped it around his neck so he could keep it for himself. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to dream of a great life and what it would be like to have parents. A sweet dream that would be interrupted as He awoke to the sound of cries. It was Ascencion, and he was being taken away into a carraige pulled by King Malum whose crown and jewels glistened in bright moonlight. Felix took off on foot and followed the carraige a few blocks down the road to the silver mines. King Malum steps out of the carraige takes the child to the mine shaft where he is met by the hungry God of the Underworld El Tio. He was a very large looking demon with eyes were blackened and horns of sterling silver. The king hands over Ascencion to El Tio, who in exchange gives him protection. King Malum pulls out a little black book and writes down Ascencions name as if a receipt, closes the book and returns to his carraige. Felix runs to the mine shaft to see where his friend has gone.

He grabbed a stick of dynamite from the worksite and began chasing El Tios scent of tobacco and the sound of Ascensions hollering. Further and further he followed them down the mine shaft corridors. He was getting closer to the silver heart of the mountain. As he turns the corner he sees El Tio shape shift his friend into a demon of the underworld and join hundreds of other demons who are all mining the walls of the cave. Felix could hardly believe what he was seeing. The stories were true, and Felix thought this spoon could be the missing piece of silver El Tio was looking for, and these demons were the souls of missing people he’d been collecting. And if that were true perhaps this spoon really could ward off evil spirits. He mustered up the courage to climb up the throne to El Tio and shakily he offered the diety the silver in exchange for his friend and all these people back. El Tios black eyes began glowing as he peered at the missing piece of silver he longed for for many years. He accepts Felix’s offer and says he needs Felix to climb in the small crevice of the large silver heart and place the silver spoon into its missing place. Although true to his greed El Tio was deviously planning to trap Felix as one of his demons as soon as he returned the silver. Felix shimmies between the rock and hard place where he then places the dynamite stick and lights it. The heart explodes into millions of silver pieces looking much like silver stars in darkness. And simultaneously El Tio burst into silver dust. By exploding the heart of the mountain and killing the underworld ruler he relinquished the curse set upon the the people of Potosi. Suddenly the demons turned back into their human form. Hundreds of people were hugging and rejoicing that they were free at last! Ascencion and all the lost souls hoisted up Felix and cheered for sweet freedom. An elderly man and woman approached Felix and thanked him for taking the fall and saving the people of Potosi, but told him the king needed to be overthrown if the city was ever to be saved. The old man told Felix how the king made a deal with El Tio and was responsible for the poverty, the missing people, and then he paused as he saw the silver necklace spoon engraved “Culpa”. A tear came to his eyes as he hugged Felix and turned to the woman. “Reyna look! It’s Felix! It’s our son! He has saved us all!” Shrieked Tristis.

At last, the queen, Tristis, and Felix were together as a family for the very first time.

The lost people came out of the mine by the hundreds. Upwards and onwards they were ready to fight for their freedom. They brought with them their pick axes and fury and the mob made their way through the portcullis entrance lead by Queen Reyna, Tristis, and Felix. The kings men were outnumbered and the mob overpowered them, many of them joining the mob to overthrow the king, as they too had been mistreated. Queen Reyna finds the king at the top of the lookout cowering from the crowd and crying. He begins to beg her for mercy for forsaking her to the underworld. She magnanimously forgives King Malum and says she has no room in her heart for contempt. But that wouldn’t stop the people of Potosi for holding him in contempt. She steps back as the angry mob lunges forward towards King Malum. All that could be heard were the echoes of his screams as he was thrown out of the lookout of the castle and plummeted to a certain demise. With no more corruption in the castle Queen Reyna crowned Tristis the new King of Potosi, in turn making Felix the prince. Asencion even moved into the castle too and all the orphaned children. Finally, a place to call home. Their dreams of a happy family life had came true. As a newfound family they begin going through the vast treasures of the castle and the little black book of King Malum that was filled with hundreds of names of people he had forsaken to El Tio. Each name in the book was awarded with $20,000 worth of treasures from the castle. The wealth was redistributed throughout the city of Potosi and people were happy again. The mines were closed and no more people would ever be forced to mine silver again. Especially no children. The only job the children in Potosi had was to play and laugh and just be kids. The city was once again a prosperous place to live.