The Kelpius Directive

Alright, this is my first story, so please be kind. All of the characters mentioned have some basis in reality, but I'll elaborate more on that later. Other than that, comment away!

“Brother Daniel, I am dying.” Johannes Kelpius told his assistant, Daniel Giessler, as he lay freezing in bed, in his cave by the Wissahickon Creek. It was the heart of a brutally cold winter in 1708, and Kelpius had deadly pneumonia.

“No, Brother Johannes, we will get you through this.” Giessler replied, very sadly. Kelpius had been like a father to him, teaching him much in the ways of alchemy, astrology and divination.

“Your hopefulness is admired, but even so,” he replied, coughing as he reached for a small, oaken chest under his bed, “I request that you dispose of this chest into the River. It contains many of the secrets our Brotherhood have been working on for so long.”

“Oh, no, Brother Johannes! How could you ask of me to throw your life’s work away?”

“I cannot, in good conscious, leave these powerful artifacts within the reach of the Witch, especially when I have the power to cast them off for good in my hands.”

“Brother Johannes, I assure you that the Witch will never capture these artifacts, if you would just allow me to take them to the Lenape. They have told me that they would keep any of our possessions safe from all evils, including the Artifacts!”

“No, for even the Lenape could be harmed by the Witch. I do not want any more blood to be on my conscious through my failure to act. Now go!” Kelpius ordered, shoving the box at Giessler.

Giessler marched down to the River and sat by the ground, but simply couldn’t bring himself to throw the chest into the waters. He knew that Kelpius truly wanted it, but he just couldn’t do it.

“What if future generations seek a use in them?” Giessler thought to himself, very stressed. He sat by the banks for hours, trying to decide whether or not to carry out his orders.

“I’ll just bury it.” Giessler thought after a long while, digging a hole in the soft mud of the riverbank with a spade. He placed the small chest into the hole carefully, then covered it over, placing a charm on it to defend it from the Witch.

“You have not done as I asked, Brother Daniel.” Kelpius coughed out from his bed when Giessler returned hours later.

“Yes, I have done as you asked, Brother Johannes. I cast off the chest into the River.” Giessler replied nervously. Kelpius had always seemed to have an innate, unexplainable sense of detecting liars, and Giessler was on the receiving end of it.

“No, for I would have heard it!” Kelpius shouted as loud as his frail lungs would allow. “I understand that you believe that your children’s children may find good use for the Artifacts, but I assure you, they will not. The contents of that chest have caused nothing but misery for as long as I have known. Please, I implore you, cast off these murderous objects immediately!”

Giessler walked down to the Schuylkill once more, where he stood by the shoreline that would later be known as Kelly Drive. He held the box out to the water, but simply could not find the will to throw it in. He felt a cold chill on the back of his neck, and suddenly, from behind him, the Witch appeared. She was stunningly beautiful, which only made her more dangerous.

“Oh, come on now, Daniel. We both know that you never truly wanted to be in that little cult, now, hmm?” the Witch purred provocatively.

“You will not tempt me, witch. My heart knows what is right.” Giessler replied viciously. She seemed pleasant on the outside, but he knew that she had killed hundreds, if not thousands, in cold blood. She was a bitter, evil hag in her heart.

“But does it really? If you join me, I will give you a life of luxury. We could rule over these pathetic little colonies together. Wouldn’t you like that? Living in a manor house in Philadelphia? Or Boston?”

“I have all that I need in life with my Brothers. And you are no brother of mine.” Daniel replied viciously, throwing the chest into the river as far as he could.

“NOOOOOO!!!” the Witch screeched as the box hit the water. The water erupted in a mighty explosion, flashing like lightning and booming like thunder.

“Now your plan will never come to fruition, hag.” Daniel told her, looking at the explosion.

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that, Daniel.” the Witch replied viciously, casting a spell that instantly turned him into a stone statue. She cackled as she flew away on her broomstick, leaving the petrified Daniel still looking up at the mighty explosion.

Johannes Kelpius died peacefully in his sleep later that night from the flu and the bitter cold, with a little help from the Witch, of course.

Author's Note

Please let me know what you think of the dialogue, the plot, the characters and anything else you can think that I can possibly do better. That IS the whole reason I joined this site, after all.