To Touch the Stone

The sun was at its highest point on Friday afternoon and there was not a cloud in the sky.  Karl was sick of this weather. He was a not a normal boy and he did not get bored very easily, but lately every day seemed as though it was the same as the one that had come before it. He wanted something different. It was not as though he just wanted it to rain – he wanted a different sort of day – something new – something fresh. He wanted to smell the damp freshness of the earth after a thundershower. Instead all he could smell was the musty and stuffy air around him as he sat in his biology laboratory at school. It was his last class for the day and as usual, none of the children were paying any attention.

The bell rang – it was always the most pleasant sound to the class on a Friday afternoon. To Karl, however, it was the sound of doom. The school was the only place that he could be normal – just like everyone else. At home, things were different. He lived alone and it had to stay that way. A special stone lay in his home. His job was to guard that stone with his life. Everyday there were people who tried to steal it – people who had special abilities. But he was trained well, by his father. A lump formed in his throat as he thought about his father’s death. His father had died protecting the stone. His mother had died a few moments after Karl’s birth. He shook his head and threw his bag onto his shoulder, striding out of the school and out into the street.

After walking a few streets, Karl noticed that a girl was trying, rather clumsily, to follow him. He stopped and turned around. There was no one there. 
“I know you are there,” he called out. “So show yourself.” 
The girl cautiously came out of her hiding place, looking very nervous. “I need your help,” she said.

“So you decided to follow me?” Karl raised an eyebrow. “Why do you believe that I can help you?”

“You have the stone.”

Karl narrowed his eyes. “How do you know about the stone?”

“Ask me no questions. I just need the stone”

“You will not get the stone. No one gets the stone.”

“If I do not take the stone to my step sister, she will kill me.” The girl was desperate. “If you do not give it to me, I will be forced to take it from your home.”

Karl laughed. “That is not possible.” He paused. “What is your name?”

“Cassy.”

“What does your sister need with the stone?” Karl asked.

“I do not know. I did not ask as I feared for my life.”

“What kind of person is she?” asked Karl, studying her.

“She has a strong need to know and control everything.” Cassy said simply.

“Very well, then she wants the stone for knowledge; so she may have it.”

Cassy gaped at him. “What?”

“Tell her I will give it to her freely. However, you must warn her that when she touches the stone, it will destroy her.”

As night approached, Karl heard a knock on his door. Cassy stood there, next to a frowning woman. Karl smiled. “Come in,” he said, and they entered.

Karl walked to his fireplace and stood there a moment before he disappeared completely. He emerged into a small dark room that held only one object, the stone, a tiny beautiful thing, hidden in the deepest and darkest corner of the room. He picked it up carefully, holding nothing but the will to protect within his mind. He returned to his home, appearing in the exact second he had disappeared, so it was as if he never left. He turned to face Cassy and her sister.

Cassy’s sister held a stony expression as she glared at him. “The stone?” she demanded of Karl.

Karl inclined his head and held out the stone, but did not hand it over. “Did Cassy warn you of what would happen if you touched the stone?”

The woman nodded impatiently. “Yes, just give me the stone.”

Karl did not give it to her, but he unclenched his fingers from around it.

The woman reached out and grabbed it from his open hand. As her fingers touched it, her eyes went wide. Karl watched as what she desired was given to her, knowledge flowing into her through the stone, flowing so swiftly and quickly that only he could see what was happening. He watched understanding of what she had done and what would happen to her dawn on her with the power of the stone. A blink later, she gasped for breath and threw the stone to the ground, but it was too late. She held her hands to her head, but the gesture did nothing to help. She scrunched her eyes tight, dropped to her knees, and with the softest of sighs, she fell.

Karl smiled at Cassy as he picked up the stone again, covering it in his fist. “The best way to defeat and destroy people that come after the stone for knowledge is to give it to them,” he said. “If the seeker requires knowledge, then to touch the stone is to touch all the known secrets of the universe. One person cannot know all there is to know. It would destroy them. Your sister’s mind could not withstand under the pressure of all that knowledge.

So, remember this: knowledge is the most powerful of things – the more you have, the more powerful you are – and too much knowledge can destroy just as easily as too little knowledge can.