My Own Fire

Note: this was discovered on a cave wall in Southern France. A team of scientists spent several years trying to translate the symbols and came up with a set of notes that seemed both contemporary and touching.

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My Ugbuk,

There be many great moons since I last saw you. During the last great hunt, I had to be away from you to get the great beast away from the sacred spots and use it to feed our people. There is some confusion about what those lands should be used for, but food is our most important priority. If we have more cold times, it will keep us well. Our people need it.

There be one more thing that our people do need. I know that there be some rumoured nonsense about us not needing anything during the cold times because we have the skins of the great beasts, but that be not always enough. There be something else we can use.

Fire!

Yes, it be true. The gods provide for those of us who believe, but it will not be easy to carry it to our people. That is why so many moons have passed since I last saw you during the cold times.

Let me explain myself.

I saw that there was great smoke coming from a tribe that we had not encountered before. It was a smoke that did not come from the sky and they were quite proud of it, until they saw what we could see and there was much discussion and threatening gestures made. I was wise enough to make an offering of the beast we had hunted and they were desperate enough for food to let us learn what magicking they practiced.

My Ugbuk, you know that I would do anything for our people, and that be why I have stayed away from home for so long. The means to make the great smoke and flame - what a word - is so simple, and yet so important. You have the word that we gather to build our weapons and shelters for hunts. With these same things, we can have the great smoke!

Now let me just warn you: it can be very dangerous. Remember when that light from the sky hit our trees and the flames would not stop. We lost many of our tribe and we so feared that great smoke that we thought that it would never go away. The heat and power are ones that I still feel and I know that the visions I have at night are shaped by the loss of our Ughbin and Ogo (may they rest in the great sky with the smoke). We know this and we do respect this. But there be so much more.

We can use the great smoke and flame for more than just pain and loss. We can use it with our great hunts and the returns we bring to our tribe. When the bodies of these animals are placed in these flames, they become something so remarkable and wonderful that I regret that I ever fed you and ours our catches without such a great miracle!

And there be one more thing...

We will be venturing out for the great beasts when the darkness be great!

How will we do this?

With the great smoke and its power!

I have spoken to the new tribe and have discovered that they, too, find their best hunts when the great beasts are at rest and do not see their fate in our hands. They made me aware of how much food can be acquired with a good hunt in the darkness when injuries and death are no longer our fate. Perhaps even Uggru and Agah would still be with us if we had taken our last gathering after dark (may they also rest with the great sky). May the gods be kind to us!

And my final surprise be this message to you.

I am on the hunt as I write this. And I may not see you again.

I leave my story for you on these walls knowing that there be a chance that you will see them. My Ugbuk, I know that you know this area, and you have some people in the tribes and mountains nearby. They have already heard about this great discovery, and will understand what I mean. For you, it be a terror to discover that your mate has decided to use the great fire, but I can see what the gods have given us as a way to save ourselves and our offspring from the many cold days and nights to come. If we learn how to use it, it may be the greatest gift from the skies we could ever want.

I hope that you find this and you can understand why I do this.

Mubguk

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Note: the following reply below was clearly done by the respondee to the message above (certain characteristics indicate a new hand, as does the wording itself).

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My Mubguk,

You are the leader for many reasons, and our men look up to you when there be a great hunt ahead. Are you sure that this be what you want to do?

The great smoke? A gift from the gods? My family has lived on these lands many years and does not want to bring in a change that will end what they know. Hunting be hunting; the great beasts are there for us; these things are provided at a cost.

Yes, it was terrible to lose so many in such a catastrophe. Why do you wish to challenge our people again by bringing us the very reason for that pain? Why make the gods angry once more? We lose people to our hunts and now you add this as another means to lose more. Shame on us all.

I have very little space left to leave my message, so I will say, No, I cannot accept this new world you speak of. And I cannot accept you. Please do not try to find me. There are many lands and spaces for me and our offspring to discover, and I will not risk losing what we have created for something so dangerous.

But, I will always be yours in my deepest part and you will always know that I was your Ugbuk.

May the gods forgive you.

May the gods forgive me.

Ugbuk

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Note: there were no other messages in the area to translate or decipher. We never discovered the fate of either figure.

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