Con Of Humanity

Beneath Mount Etna

“This is why you are here,” Clement said.

The subterranean oasis was vast, breathtakingly bewitching and uncomfortably hot. It appeared to stretch on for miles in all directions but Rosalie couldn’t be sure if that was physically true or simply a clever trick of the eye. Either way, it was terrifyingly beautiful.

Approximately a mile or so in front of her, the ceiling converged into a massive circular opening that appeared to shoot straight up - sucking out all of the gaseous toxins and steam from the flowing lakes and rivers of scorching lava carving creases throughout the bedrock.

Twisting pillars of pure quartz protruded from every wall, glinting blinding sparks of opal if stared at too long. The underworld gave the ominous appearance of being the inside of some nightmarish creature's mouth.

Rosalie quickly stepped forward, making sure to follow her and Orazio’s footsteps exactly. The landscape was treacherous and murderous if not shown the proper amount of respect.

Her skin itched and stung from the incredible heat and she wondered how long they could stay down here with the lava before being burned alive from the suffocating temperature. Her internal monologue was quickly answered by the stranger, as if he had heard her thoughts out loud.

“Liquid silver,” Orazio said, pointing towards the slithering streams of melted minerals, “There’s no actual lava down here. Over the course of time, the prehistoric lava that once flowed beneath the mountain melted through the bedrock and revealed the pure mineral core within. As millennia passed, the lava mixed and blended with the mountain’s core and morphed into a constant stream of silver and quartz. The gasses created by the chemical reaction of the heat and minerals keeps the volatile cinnabar above us at bay and from escaping into Earth’s atmosphere through the lava tubes. As long as you limit your exposure down here to under fifteen minutes at a time, you will be fine. Any longer and your skin will begin to burn and your lungs will struggle to breathe.”

Clement checked the hands on his wrist watch and made a quick calculation, “Ten more minutes. Then we’ll head back up.”

“I still don’t understand. You said my purpose is to protect this place but I know nothing of these minerals, the history of this volcano or enough about the science of chemical reactions to even begin to comprehend any of it. What am I supposed to do?”

Clement smiled, got down on one knee and took both of his daughter’s hands in his, “You must keep and protect the secret. With the deaths of the Mother Goddess guardians, someone must assume the role of keeper. Orazio and I are old men. You are young, strong, brave, courageous and an excellent keeper of secrets. I had hoped to pass this guardianship onto you and your brothers, but life had different plans for them. You, Rosalie, are a direct descendant from The Mother Goddess and are the only one who can truly safeguard Etna from those who seek to destroy and exploit her.”

Rosalie delicately absorbed what her father was saying while running her sweaty hands up and down her arms to settle the hairs being tickled and singed by the heat, “Why would anyone want to destroy this? I can’t imagine there are many other places like this on the planet.”

“The dark con of humanity,” Orazio said while stepping away from one of the silver rivers.

Rosalie was confused, and her face clearly expressed that.

“Greed,” Orazio continued. If the outside world discovered the incomparable wealth beneath Mount Etna, they would stop at nothing to extract every last ounce. They’ve been doing it for centuries in Africa. The only difference is the dragon’s blood. If excavation crews began diffing and extracting, the cinnabar would fall out of balance, causing a chain reaction that would cripple the planet beyond repair.”

Rosalie looked at him with a doubtful face.

“You are aware of Pompeii, correct?” Orazio prodded.

“I am,” Rosalie said.

“If the cinnabar here were to fall out of balance, the result would be an eruption would be twenty times greater. Instead of consuming all of Sicily and the entire Mediterranean, it would consume all of Europe, half of Asia, the northern halves of Africa and Australia, as well as parts of The Americas. As years pass, the entire atmosphere would become toxic and unable to sustain life. It would be the beginning of the end. Unfortunately, those who seek to extract Etna’s wealth are ignorant of the cinnabar. They wouldn’t know what they would be doing until too was too late.”

“So this is what they've been hunting for. This is why Corrado is dead. Hitler and his army want to extract the wealth and use it to solidify is claim on the world.”

“Yes,” Clement said.

“And at the same time, destroy the planet.”

Clement and Orazio both seemed to nod in tandem.

“I am sorry this burden falls on you, Rosalie. I did not want this to become your fate, but you are the only one who can keep such a dangerous secret safe. Your brother’s death was a sacrifice given to save the inhabitants of our world. We must honor that.”

Two gunshots splintered Rosalie’s eardrums and she watched as Orazio fell back into one of the silver rivers - his chest exploding with chunky fragments of flesh and blood.