Plumes of gray and white smoke, boiling upwards with titian-colored fire in the center, covered the land. Lehimna stood at the shore near the base of the great volcano. Orange-red lava flew into the air, falling with splatters on the sides of the volcano before running down to the great sea. Upon contact with the water, it exploded and hardened into black glossy rock. With each drop the land expanded outward. No sign of life existed on the planet.

Lehimna picked up a piece of the ebony obsidian. He held it to his eye. It shone like a piece of glass and when he peered through it, the world looked empty and void. “The edge of the world; a fitting place to find the first stone to go in Rolfin’s Orb.” Placing the piece of volcanic stone in his cloak pocket, he vanished.

                                                ***

To his right, the wizard spied dry, rocky and desolate land. To his left lay fields, meadows and pastures of green grasses and wildflowers. Behind them stood majestic mountains, high and mighty with snow-covered peaks. Lehimna walked south and came across a pile of stones, obviously used as a marker by some of the inhabitants of the area. Afghanistan was remote and unknown to much of the world. In the pile of stones, the wizard saw a red spot. He picked up the piece of spinel. “What are you doing here? You don’t belong in this land. You belong in southern Asia, near the sea. This makes you an even rarer find.” He polished the pinkish-red gem by wiping it with his cloak. “Spinel. You shall do very well.” He pocketed the second jewel. It lay in his cloak next to the obsidian. “I’m rather enjoying gathering these stones. What a bleak place this is, though ruggedly beautiful in its own way.”  In a blink of an eye, Lehimna disappeared.

                                                ***

Black sand beaches spread as far as he could see. Bluish-green waves rolled in, picking up the black sand and pounding it into fine powder. “Tahiti, or at least one day this island shall be called that.” Lehimna glanced around. Palms swayed, hibiscus blossomed in reds, yellows and whites. The air was filled with the scent of plumeria. The wizard walked along the beach until he spotted a calm lagoon. “This should do quite well.” He climbed on some ancient volcanic rocks, reached into the warm sea and pulled out an oyster. After opening it up he plucked out a pearl. “Beautiful. Perfect. Not a flaw to be seen.” The wizard took a deep breath, inhaling the fragrances surrounding him. “Marvelous scents. I wish I could capture them somehow.” Lehimna took time to sit on a dead tree stump, not far from shore and watch the waves roll in, enjoying the peace and tranquility of the island.

                                                ***

From the rainforests of Colombia he took an emerald; a topaz from the Ural Mountains of Russia; a ruby from Burma; and a piece of amber from the Baltic shores. Sometime in the past it had been carried across the sea and washed onto the beach. Lehimna  found a rare opal in Australia and a sapphire in Madagascar. While searching the plains of Kilimanjaro, the wizard was approached by a Masai herdsman, who handed him a rare blue tanzanite. He discovered a diamond in Lesotho, South Africa and alexandrite in India. A Hindu man explained that alexandrite was first found in Russia and how fortunate Lehimna was to find the gem in central India.

With twelve gems held in his pocket, Lehimna headed back to Burill. He went straight to Andra, the goldsmith, with instructions and to see the orb. The goldsmith brought it out from the back room and lifted the cloth cover, laying it on a table. Lehimna examined the golden orb and found it quite satisfactory. “I am pleased with your work.” The wizard brought the twelve stones and gems from his cloak and laid them on the cloth. “I will reward you more if you cut these to fit the holes, but save a sliver from each stone.” He described in detail how he wanted the necklace and left a large sum of gold for the man as a reward. “There will be more when you are finished and meet my expectations.” Slipping a wand out of his cloak, Lehimna swirled it around. When he stopped, he picked up one of the gems. “That should do it.” With that he left and went back to the palace.

“He’s made a dragon inside the stones. Amazing.” Andra shook his head. “How did he do that? Ah well. I doubt if I’ll ever understand wizardry.”

When both the orb and necklace were completed, Lehimna paid the goldsmith, giving him the promised bonus for his silence. He took the completed treasures to the Grand Room in the palace and pulled out his wand. He assigned a magic power to each stone in the orb and commanded the slivers to light up when the similar gem was in use. With orb in hand, he headed to Rolfin’s chambers and knocked.

Rolfin pulled the door open. Several of his children were in the glistening tiled room with him. “Come in, Lehimna. Children, go to your mothers. We’ll finish our games later.” With grumbles the children left, each head hanging low with disappointment.

“I can come back another time. I don’t want to interrupt the games with your little ones.” The wizard turned to leave.

“Stay, Lehimna. What have you got there?” Rolfin pulled out a chair for his friend. “Have a seat and show me what you’ve been up to. I haven’t seen you all day. Have you been getting into mischief?” The king chuckled. Lehimna put the orb on the table. It was wrapped in a velvet cloth.  Without speaking, the wizard simply nodded. “You want me to see what it is?” Rolfin pulled off the cloth. “It’s beautiful, Lehimna. I’ve never seen gold shine like this and those gemstones; where did you get them? Who is this for and what is it?” He picked up the necklace and let it slip through his fingers. “This has stones in it just like this, this…”

“I call it Rolfin’s Orb. It’s a gift to you from your old friend, me.” Lehimna took the necklace and slid it around Rolfin’s neck. “Never take this off. It’s priceless, not only in value, but in what it can do.”

“Rolfin’s Orb? Would you like to tell me about it? Where did you get these stones? I don’t recognize most of them. They aren’t from this area.” Rolfin sat at the table and examined each stone as his wizard described where he’d gotten each from. “I don’t know what to say, Lehimna. It’s a marvelous work. Is that a dragon carved inside each one? Is it Cloudwaltzer?”

“It is Cloudwaltzer. Your goldsmith did most of the work. I simply gathered the gems and he put it all together. There’s a little secret though that I forgot to mention to him.”

“And what would that be?” Rolfin looked up at the bearded man.

“Each stone has a magical power.”

“A magical power? What sort of magical power?” Rolfin’s eyes narrowed in curiosity.

Lehimna pulled the orb in front of him and turned it until the black obsidian stone faced him. “This is the first stone. I found it during the creation of a world, before life appeared. With it you can make fire. All you have to do is think fire and a fire will appear.” He pointed at the spinel. “With this jewel you can make yourself either large or tiny. With the pearl you can communicate with animals. You’ll be able to know where jewels and gold and other precious materials are located with the emerald.” Lehimna continued to turn the orb. “The topaz gives you the power to speak and understand any language. The ruby allows you to control water – the seas and rivers, rain; things like that. The piece of amber gives you the power to control the weather. This opal allows you to become invisible; the sapphire lets you read people’s minds; the tanzanite gives you the ability to transport yourself anywhere in the world with a mere thought of the place. The diamond allows you to turn yourself into any object or person you desire and last, but not least, the alexandrite allows you to travel in time, any date, any year, past or future.”

“Those are quite wonderful magical gifts, Lehimna.”

“All I ask is that you use them for righteous doings and never for evil or greed. Get what you need and what you want, but don’t let it control you. Another warning, keep this to yourself. Once word gets out about it, you will find others wanting it and willing to do anything to get possession of it.”

“I’ll take that to heart, Lehimna. Thank you, my friend. I can never repay you for this.”

“You don’t need to. Your friendship and love are enough.” Both men sat in silence, staring at the orb.