The Keystone
Although the last week of Simon’s life had been preparing for this moment, every day since he was nine, when he found that stone, was focused right here. Now he would learn the secrets that had eluded him since.
“Hello?” he called as he walked tentatively into the darken chamber. The light was very dim since he put the stone back into a pocket. He could tell it was fairly large, maybe twenty feet across with vaulted ceilings. The place looked as if it had been hewn from a solid mass of granite rather than formed naturally. The walls were covered in shelves and bookcases which in turn were piled precariously high with all manner of books, charts, papers and even scrolls. The effect was like being inside a spherical library.
To his right sat a desk and chair at which rested a very tall and disheveled man. He had the classic look of a mad scientist: messy gray hair, worn and somewhat dirty clothes; carpet slippers; and a look of pure insanity in his eyes.
Very slowly the man raised his face to Simon and spoke. The boy was shocked at the refined utterly controlled voice that was so completely opposite of his appearance.
“What is it you need and why have you come to me?”
Simon faltered under the power of his gaze. He had met several important and powerful people in the role of Grosskopf’s top assistant. Generals and Barons of Industry often stopped by to check on certain aspects of progress. But this man stood far above the rest. He didn’t ask for respect, he commanded it.
“Sir, my name is Simon Peters. About a month ago I went and was a magician. He did some, well some impossible things. I talked to him afterwards about it.”
“And what exactly did this magician say to you?”
Something about the way DePraeco said the word struck Simon as very odd. He was bitter and sad at the same time.
“Well, I asked him about where he got the powers to do those tricks. You see, he was using a special stone, like the one I found when I was a little kid.”
Without warning DePraeco leapt to his feet and rushed at Simon. There was no time to react before the larger man grasped him by the front of his shirt, slammed him against the door and pressed a jet black stone unmercifully hard against his forehead. Simon had never experienced this type of feeling before. There was no pain but a feeling like every atom of his being filled with energy and vibrating wildly. He imagined himself floating just off the floor and spreading in every direction at once, a huge Simon balloon getting filled with helium.
The room was ablaze with spotlights waving around, red, yellow, blue, orange and brown. Instinctively he reached into his pocket and held out the red stone. Immediately the feeling reversed itself and he settled back to his normal state. The Priest backed away as if struck a blow and stumbled against his desk. With a massive effort he shoved the black stone into a crystal case and slammed the lid shut.
“What the Hell did you do to me?” Simon yelled. “What’d you attack me for?”
DePraeco panted for breath like he had just run a marathon. “I…had to know. Had… to know what…your atoms were like.”
This made absolutely no sense to Simon and he began to worry that DePraeco was indeed a madman. Yet despite what had just happened, Simon experienced no fear for his safety. He could tell the man was not lying.
“May I examine your stone, Simon?”
He could think of no reason to deny him but found it difficult to hand the rock over. His arm felt heavy and useless, like it had fallen asleep.
The Priest took the stone and lifted it up against the bright candle flickering on his desk. A blood-red glow filled the room and tinted every surface.
“This is larger, more powerful than any I have ever seen. Where did you get it?”
“I…I found it when I was a kid. I had played hooky from school and went fishing instead. Coming down smuggler’s gulch…”
DePraeco’s eyes lit suddenly. “Did anyone ever die in this ‘Smuggler’s Gulch’?” The interruption surprised Simon and it took a few seconds to recover his thoughts.
“Uh, yeah. I think so. There are stories about a moonshiner that tried to outrun the revenuers. They got in a shootout and he died along with a couple officers. Why?”
“Stones grow anywhere that great evil had occurred. To be this size could mean only one thing. But please, continue your story.”
To Simon’s amazement DePraeco was hanging on every word, still peering through the stone like a master diamond cutter.
“Well, the stone used to be blue. It never did anything strange…except sometimes I felt like it talked to me. I never heard anything but when I had it in my pocket I would have ideas, plans that usually worked out.”
“Were these honorable ideas or on the questionable side?”
Simon blushed slightly though it was impossible to tell in the red light cast by the stone. “I used to play a lot of jokes on people. Nobody ever got hurt, really. I did embarrass most of the town at one time or another.”
The priest’s face grew dim and he squeezed the stone a little tighter, as if it were trying to squirm out of his grasp. “I see. So how did it turn red?”
“The magician, Nachton. Like I said, he was doing some mind trick for a show. It wasn’t hypnosis because he didn’t say anything about ‘sleepy’ or any of that. He, I don’t know, stepped into my mind and told me to go get some pies.”
“Pies?” said DePraeco with a lift of his eyebrow.
Simon’s temper flared, “Yea pies! Look that’s not important. When he told me to go I couldn’t stop myself. My legs just moved on their own. I tried to stop but I just couldn’t. The whole time I was running down the street I kept thinking about the yellow stone he had in his turban. I knew it was like mine. Anyway, after the show I went to his dressing room and talked to him. He wouldn’t let me in until I mentioned the stone and that I had one. He was drunk out of his skull and kept talking in different voices, claiming to be different people. One of them sounded a lot like you.”
Simon eyed him carefully for any reaction but saw nothing. He would have to go all the way to get his answers.
“A young voice told me that a ‘Master DePraeco’ had brought Nachton here to see someone who knew everything about the stones. Then they died. Or really, their stone killed them. It melted onto his face and covered him. It was like seeing someone hit by acid.”
“It was terrible, yes. I have seen that happen before.” DePraeco’s voice was calm and gentle now, a man trying to comfort the afflicted.
“After a few seconds all the green goo soaked into him and then came back out like blood, bright red. It gathered together on the floor and formed into that stone there.”
“So how did you find me?”
“Oh, just before he died, Willard, that was one of the voices, told me to come here. I searched on the Internet for DePraeco and found out about you and your brother.”
“Inter-Net? What is that?” The priest had a sincere look of confusion on his face.
“The internet, ya know, all the computers in the world connected together? You can send email and watch videos and…well THE INTERNET!”
“Email?” he shook his head and then said forcefully, “There was no such thing when I came here. How is it that a man as young as yourself would have access to such a powerful research tool?”
Now it was Simon’s turn to be confused, “Research? Almost everyone has access at home or in the Library. It’s nothing all that special. How long have you been here?”
“A very long time it seems. The World has passed me by.”
DePraeco fell into a reverie which threatened to stretch for hours. Simon opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by a loud knocking on the door. To his surprise DePraeco neither answered nor arose to open it. Instead he retrieved a yellow stone and held it to his eye.
“Yes, I have. He walked past my view some ten minutes ago. Yes, I will watch for him.” An angry riot of color rose up from twenty spots around the room. Each one centered on a different colored stone.
“I have lied to my hosts about you. They know you are wandering the catacombs but do not yet understand that you have a purpose. I will have to repent bitterly for my deception.”
“Umm, thank you?” was all Simon could mutter.
“Do not thank me for sinning. Rather, help me to do the work which I have been given.”
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