I looked up at the tall dark house, more of a tower, which housed the reclusive wizard. He was not known to take visitors for any reason, but I must find out. His house was far beyond the limits of the town, but everybody knew just where it was. My family’s house sat against the wall and I sat upon the battlements to escape the hubbub of my family often, and to fool around with one certain sentry who patrolled some evenings.

Only weeks ago, I began to hear rumblings, as thunder, from the direction of the wizard’s tower. As I sat upon the wall just three nights ago, I espied a flash of yellow light, then there floated across the land a great boom which nearly shook the foundations of the town. I stood and gripped the wall rail and watched for more, joined shortly by much of my family and a few soldiers who stood sentry that night. We were not disappointed as the light flashed several more times and was followed by a series of lesser thumps which met our ears after a considerable delay. At long last, my compatriots and I filtered back to our separate tasks and I turned in for the night.

I was unable to sleep, however, and lay awake much of the night until Lantan was able to sneak in at my window. “What do you think it was,” he asked as I lay my head on his bare, muscled chest.

“I don’t know,” I replied, “but I am going to find out.”

Lantan looked at me “Charlotte,” he implored, “don’t don anything rash.”

“I have to know.” Nothing was going to stop me from discovering what had happened out there in the distance. I knew it must have come from the wizard’s house.

Flashes of light and great loud booming thunder played across the memory of my senses as I tried vainly to sleep. I resolved to follow the sounds and light in that direction the next day. As the youngest and only one remaining unmarried among my brothers and sisters, it was easy for me to slip away after we breakfasted and disappear over the horizon.

I climbed to the wall and was lowering myself down on the outside when a Lantan caught up with me.

Side-by-side, we approached the lone dark tower after a couple days of travel and gazed upon the sinister facade. The rooms seemed built out from the central structure at random and followed no single school of architecture, rather were built for function over form. Although imposing, nobody could have imagined the dwelling as attractive in any way as it was far too haphazard and gave the appearance of an incomplete set of teeth in a wide smile. One room on an upper floor had fallen, or had been destroyed during whatever it was that the wizard was doing. Pieces of splintered wood, strewn much too far to have been the work of gravity alone, lay about that side of the tower and we trod on them as we approached.

Warily, we gained the steps which led to the dilapidated porch and lifted the bronze knocker once, twice. The sound echoed through the thin door as it travelled through the halls of the tower and we heard footsteps approaching after a few moments. The knob turned in its housing before clicking and permitting the door to swing open.

Only a couple centimeters of space appeared between the door and the post as the wizard peered out at us and demanded “What do you want,” from us, gruffly and with a voice that was much deeper than we had anticipated. He was clearly an antiquated man, but seemed to carry himself with great confidence. I believe we both held an image of what we thought he would be that differed little from each other, and this man shattered them completely.

“We were just wondering about the noise the other night,” I offered, shakily. Honestly, I had not a single clue what could have caused the lights and noise, but I had to satisfy my personal curiosity.

“Oh, you heard that,” he seemed disappointed in himself as he averted his keen gaze and allowed the door to open enough to admit us. “I suppose I should disillusion you kids to what I do here, though I’ve not done so in a long time.”

We entered the old house and looked around at the immaculately preserved furniture and decorations which adorned the entry hall and adjoining rooms. “We can’t thank you enough,” I began, wiping my shoes on the rug provided for the purpose. “I heard the sounds for a couple weeks before the great one three nights ago when there was an exceptionally loud boom and we could see light coming from here.”

“Yes, yes,” he said as he walked off toward the stairs which led, presumably, into the upper added-on floors of the house. “I know what you refer to, since I caused it by accident. Let me show you my research. No harm in keeping everything secret now that everybody apparently heard it.”

We wound our way around a seemingly impossible set of rooms and came out into a study filled with scraps of paper and ancient books which were in varying levels of disrepair. He plucked one volume from the table and waved it in front of my eyes until I took it from him.

It contained drawings of things which I could not begin to decipher. Long metal tubes with one end encased in wood made up the majority of the pictures and I looked up at him, confused. “What are these,” I asked.

“Firearms,” he exclaimed. He turned and picked up a piece from a table which stood at one end of the room and handed it to Lantan. Lantan took it and examined the rusty metal closely. “They used them to make war.”

“This could kill someone,” Lantan inquired as he turned the piece over in his hands. It seemed impossible that such a small thing could have power capable of killing.

“That’s what I have read. That is the only one I could ever find in decent repair,” he explained, “but my area of study has been focused more on fuel.”

“Like making fire,” I asked.

“In a manner, yes,” he said, “fuel is used to create energy for other things. Like how a windmill uses moving air to grind grain. By burning fuel, I can make other things work.”

“Like what,” Lantan asked as he put the firearm back down on the table.

“Like this,” the wizard walked to a small rectangular plate mounted to the wall and flipped a lever. Light instantly poured into the room from a tiny glass ball on the ceiling, far surpassing the light produced by candle or firelight. “I have been experimenting with new fuel sources recently and have come across a few that are more dangerous than I expected.”

“Is that what caused the noise,” I inquired, blinking as I looked away from the light and was left with a dark spot in my vision.

“Yes,” he replied, “the fire burned too intensely and burst instead of burning hot, then my power shifter failed. That is what caused the flash and boom that you heard from the town.”

“So are you a wizard,” I asked.

“No,” he replied, “I’m just an old man who likes to search for historical artifacts.”