And now, a story from Yaspar’s past…

 

Yaspar was crestfallen. At the moment he didn’t know whether to lash out and strike the garden wall or sag against it and weep. Everything he’d worked for was over. Hector… He was to blame…again. Yaspar’s elder brother was intelligent and crafty. Also, he seemed to enjoy squelching Yaspar’s aspirations…as he’d done minutes earlier.

​

Yaspar hung his head as he paced through the garden. There were hundreds of beautiful and exotic plants decorating the garden, but Yaspar didn’t notice them. He wants to leave me with nothing! One day… I… Yaspar paused. He wasn’t sure he’d ever get the chance to retaliate, not if things continued as they were now.

​

Yaspar’s attention was suddenly drawn to a man sitting on a stone bench along the garden path. The man was old, perhaps sixty-five years, with grey hair and fine clothing. Yaspar paused for a second and glanced around. This was the Gherman estate, one of his mother’s many gardens. This man was a stranger. The man looked up from a data pad which sat in his lap. He raised his eyebrows and stared at Yaspar for a while.

​

“Who are you?”

​

The man rose to his feet and walked to meet Yaspar. “A scholar, one that sought funding from your father.”

Yaspar could read the disappointment on the man’s face. “I see… It seems that you and I share the same luck.”

​

The man laughed. “Perhaps, but not the same outlook.”

​

Yaspar squinted skeptically. “And what is it that you study, scholar?”

​

The man smiled and offered a hand. “The mysteries of the universe… Secrets to purpose and…power.”

​

Yaspar shook his hand. “You know me, but I can’t say the same about you.”

​

“Veral Dante, Curator of the Frelin Historical Museum of the Occult.”

​

Yaspar raised an eyebrow. “I have heard of it. But the occult? No wonder my father turned you down. The Gehrman’s have always been men of science. Dark secrets and fairy-tales are best lost to time.”

​

Veral’s face remained stern as Yaspar spoke. “So then, science has it all figured out? Is that what you would say?”

​

Yaspar couldn’t help but chuckle. “To say otherwise would be absurd.”

​

Veral continued to stare into Yaspar’s eyes. “And what if something happened to persuade you otherwise?”

Yaspar shrugged. “In time science will explain even your darkest secrets Dante.”

​

“Yaspar… You cannot change your fate with such mired delusions. Science is a bulwark the high-minded cower behind. They can’t stand the idea of something beyond their control.” Yaspar felt a sudden tremor in the ground. “There is so much we do not understand…”

​

Yaspar gaped in awe. The stone bench on which Veral had been sitting leapt into the air! Veral’s face remained stern. “What would science say of this?”

​

The stone bench leapt even higher as if thrown by an ancient catapult! Seconds later, it plummeted toward Yaspar like a comet. Yaspar was frozen with terror. He couldn’t even think of running. All he could do was watch as the great stone hurdled to toward him.

​

Suddenly it stopped mere inches from his face. Veral flicked his fingers and the bench landed back in its original resting place.

​

Yaspar looked to Veral with wide eyes. “What do you need funding for?”

​

Veral smiled. “To find the final piece…”

​

-End