Badstench
01-06-2010, 08:47 AM
This story was originally presented in the 'old forum'. It elicited a few interesting comments.
I re-present here for those forum members who haven't read it.
~~~~~~~~~
THE LOCKED DOOR
My master is a famed wizard; I am his apprentice.
Before he left the labratory he issued me three instructions...
1) Clean this place up, boy!
2) Make sure the bunson burners are all turned off before you leave.
3) And whatever you do, don't attempt to meddle with the door behind the desk.
I wiped all the benches down, swept the flloor, straightened the books on the shelves, and wondered...
"What's behind the door?"
I knew it was a trick. He gave me that last order as a way to test my loyalty; to see whether temptation would disqualify me from being his apprentice; to see whether I'd disobey him.
I'm not that silly. I'm betting there's nothing behind that locked door. It's probably just a broom cupboard, or a closet with nothing but a note that says, "Ha! You looked!"
So, I will ignore it.
************************************************** *
My master has not returned this day.
I have spent the interveing time in studious application to my books, straightened up the statues in the hall, and made a meal from what ingredients were available in the kitchen.
I have put my mind to remembering past lessons, deciphering runes and conjuring whisps of smoke.
I have contemplated the portraits in the lounge, reminisced on my own past and dealt to an invasion of ants after I dripped some honey unnoticed.
I have offered a prayer to the Allmighty, then performed my meditations.
I have made my bed, washed my second tunic, and fed the cat.
I have built the fire. My master has still not returned, so I have presumed to sit in his armchair and enjoy the flames and the shadows.
I close my eyes in appreciation of this time, and I dream...
"Do not meddle with the door", says the voice in my dream, and I waken.
************************************************** **
It is morning. I know this, because I hear the rooster from Shilver's barn proclaim the sunrise.
My master has still not returned, which is odd. He seldom leaves this house, and rarely for more than a day.
I cook a breakfast of eggs on toast (poached), place the kettle for boiling, and prepare for the rigours of my lessons to come.
I enter the laboratory, note that my master isn't present, and sit to wait.
And wait
And wait.
In my waiting, I hear the sounds of silence... which is to say, I hear the sounds that can only be heard in silence; the sigh of the wind beyond this house, the creak of wooden beams expanding and shrinking from the vagaries of temperature, the dull clang from steam pipes in the cellar, the tick of the clock.
I find myself looking at the door.
************************************************** **
I smile at the remembering of a lesson imparted by my master's familiar. Said he (it?), "Life choices are like a door; some you open, some you don't". Then the familiar winked at me and said, "Quoth the raven, nevermore."
Realization dawns! This is a test within a test!
My master told me to NOT open the door, then absented himself. He is testing my resolve, judging my ability to obey, but secretly waiting to see if i am curious enough to act individually.
He WANTS me to open the door!
************************************************** **
The door is like any other in this house, but has a keyhole. It is locked.
I know this house; know all the cabinets, wardrobes, dressing tables, drawers... and I have never come upon a key that might unlock this particular door.
Regardless, I search the house, knowing in my heart that my master has set me a task: find the key, open the door, discover my potential!
So, I search. I look behind books, I seek beneath flower pots, I even dumped the contents of the container holding oat flakes onto the kitchen table.
No key. The door stands resolute.
************************************************** *
Surely, my master cannot mean me to open the door through magic? I haven't studied that far.
I can conjure whisps of smoke, commune with his familiar, and divine the whereabouts of inanimate objects..... ah! Divination. I need merely to concentrate on the key to divine it's whereabouts. My master is clever, to teach me this way.
I prepare myself.
I sit crosslegged on the floor. I empty my mind of everything. I concentrate on the shape of the keyhole. I reach out, binding that shape to my will, seeking for a similar shape within this house.
Laboratory, Lounge, Kitchen, Library.... no. Bathroom, Study, bedrooms, hallway... no.
Basement? no. Attic? no
Exhausted, I end the spell. The locked door mocks me.
************************************************** **
It has been two days since I last saw my master. From my place in this house, I heard the cathedral bells ring the chimes of alarm, heard the clatter of hooves on cobbled stone, the yelled commands of soldiers, the tramp of many boots.
Something is going on out there, but I still haven't opened the locked door.
I am certain that my continued apprenticeship is paramount to opening this door, and I must find a way to achieve that aim.
In the library, I extract books from shelves.
The first: Flora of Syr. No good.
The second: Mystics and Mages Through History. No good.
The third: How To Fashion Unbreakable Knots With Rope. No good.
The fourth.... wait a minute. Unbreakable knots? Knots are like locks, hard to open.
I read the volume about knots, and within the many chapters I find the word to "unfashion" knots. Armed with this word, I return to the locked door.
************************************************** **
With book before me, opened to the page of unfashioning knots, I concentrate on the lock. All the powers I have learned are called into play:
Meditate
Commune
Visualize
Materialize
Make it happen!
......
......
click
The door is unlocked!
************************************************** **
So.... The door is unlocked.
Now I can open it, and in the opening I will have proved myself to be a worthy apprentice of my famous master. I am very pleased with myself.
Here goes... grasp the handle, turn it down, pull the door open...
....
....
I re-present here for those forum members who haven't read it.
~~~~~~~~~
THE LOCKED DOOR
My master is a famed wizard; I am his apprentice.
Before he left the labratory he issued me three instructions...
1) Clean this place up, boy!
2) Make sure the bunson burners are all turned off before you leave.
3) And whatever you do, don't attempt to meddle with the door behind the desk.
I wiped all the benches down, swept the flloor, straightened the books on the shelves, and wondered...
"What's behind the door?"
I knew it was a trick. He gave me that last order as a way to test my loyalty; to see whether temptation would disqualify me from being his apprentice; to see whether I'd disobey him.
I'm not that silly. I'm betting there's nothing behind that locked door. It's probably just a broom cupboard, or a closet with nothing but a note that says, "Ha! You looked!"
So, I will ignore it.
************************************************** *
My master has not returned this day.
I have spent the interveing time in studious application to my books, straightened up the statues in the hall, and made a meal from what ingredients were available in the kitchen.
I have put my mind to remembering past lessons, deciphering runes and conjuring whisps of smoke.
I have contemplated the portraits in the lounge, reminisced on my own past and dealt to an invasion of ants after I dripped some honey unnoticed.
I have offered a prayer to the Allmighty, then performed my meditations.
I have made my bed, washed my second tunic, and fed the cat.
I have built the fire. My master has still not returned, so I have presumed to sit in his armchair and enjoy the flames and the shadows.
I close my eyes in appreciation of this time, and I dream...
"Do not meddle with the door", says the voice in my dream, and I waken.
************************************************** **
It is morning. I know this, because I hear the rooster from Shilver's barn proclaim the sunrise.
My master has still not returned, which is odd. He seldom leaves this house, and rarely for more than a day.
I cook a breakfast of eggs on toast (poached), place the kettle for boiling, and prepare for the rigours of my lessons to come.
I enter the laboratory, note that my master isn't present, and sit to wait.
And wait
And wait.
In my waiting, I hear the sounds of silence... which is to say, I hear the sounds that can only be heard in silence; the sigh of the wind beyond this house, the creak of wooden beams expanding and shrinking from the vagaries of temperature, the dull clang from steam pipes in the cellar, the tick of the clock.
I find myself looking at the door.
************************************************** **
I smile at the remembering of a lesson imparted by my master's familiar. Said he (it?), "Life choices are like a door; some you open, some you don't". Then the familiar winked at me and said, "Quoth the raven, nevermore."
Realization dawns! This is a test within a test!
My master told me to NOT open the door, then absented himself. He is testing my resolve, judging my ability to obey, but secretly waiting to see if i am curious enough to act individually.
He WANTS me to open the door!
************************************************** **
The door is like any other in this house, but has a keyhole. It is locked.
I know this house; know all the cabinets, wardrobes, dressing tables, drawers... and I have never come upon a key that might unlock this particular door.
Regardless, I search the house, knowing in my heart that my master has set me a task: find the key, open the door, discover my potential!
So, I search. I look behind books, I seek beneath flower pots, I even dumped the contents of the container holding oat flakes onto the kitchen table.
No key. The door stands resolute.
************************************************** *
Surely, my master cannot mean me to open the door through magic? I haven't studied that far.
I can conjure whisps of smoke, commune with his familiar, and divine the whereabouts of inanimate objects..... ah! Divination. I need merely to concentrate on the key to divine it's whereabouts. My master is clever, to teach me this way.
I prepare myself.
I sit crosslegged on the floor. I empty my mind of everything. I concentrate on the shape of the keyhole. I reach out, binding that shape to my will, seeking for a similar shape within this house.
Laboratory, Lounge, Kitchen, Library.... no. Bathroom, Study, bedrooms, hallway... no.
Basement? no. Attic? no
Exhausted, I end the spell. The locked door mocks me.
************************************************** **
It has been two days since I last saw my master. From my place in this house, I heard the cathedral bells ring the chimes of alarm, heard the clatter of hooves on cobbled stone, the yelled commands of soldiers, the tramp of many boots.
Something is going on out there, but I still haven't opened the locked door.
I am certain that my continued apprenticeship is paramount to opening this door, and I must find a way to achieve that aim.
In the library, I extract books from shelves.
The first: Flora of Syr. No good.
The second: Mystics and Mages Through History. No good.
The third: How To Fashion Unbreakable Knots With Rope. No good.
The fourth.... wait a minute. Unbreakable knots? Knots are like locks, hard to open.
I read the volume about knots, and within the many chapters I find the word to "unfashion" knots. Armed with this word, I return to the locked door.
************************************************** **
With book before me, opened to the page of unfashioning knots, I concentrate on the lock. All the powers I have learned are called into play:
Meditate
Commune
Visualize
Materialize
Make it happen!
......
......
click
The door is unlocked!
************************************************** **
So.... The door is unlocked.
Now I can open it, and in the opening I will have proved myself to be a worthy apprentice of my famous master. I am very pleased with myself.
Here goes... grasp the handle, turn it down, pull the door open...
....
....