Johnny wasn't sure what motivated him to venture into the creepy old store about a half-mile from his house. The front was very old and very dirty. He didn't think he'd seen a building anywhere in his home town that was anywhere near as dirty as this one. The windows were covered in grime and impossible to see through. The old style hanging sign above the door said "Gelsenhauer's," or at least he thought it did. The sign was just as dirty and in need of paint as the rest of the place. He'd never seen anyone else go in or out of the store. But one day, when he was walking home, something possessed him to venture inside.
Upon opening the door, the sheer number of dangerous looking cluttered objects should have been enough to get him to turn around. There were enormous shelves that towered so high it seemed as though the room he was in was taller than the building. Each shelf was packed with a seemingly random assortment of strange looking items of an exceedingly creepy nature. Johnny walked through the narrow path between enormous shelves trying to make it to a counter without touching anything, but one object caught his eye. A perfectly round stone on a shelf just ahead seemed to be the only thing in the room not covered in dust or cobwebs. He moved carefully towards it and grabbed it, but the moment he touched it he felt something grab his shoulder. He jumped and dropped the stone, which the figure to his right caught.
Looking, he saw a rather absurdly tall, old and spindly figure with his shoulder in one hand and the stone in the other. He seemed to be looking Johnny up and down, evaluating him. Johnny felt the hairs stand up on his arms and neck, and chill rush through him. Then just as suddenly as he had taken Johnny's shoulder, the man let go and stepped away. He spoke to Johnny as he walked, and Johnny followed him.
"So you have your eye on the Tenallardis."
"Umm... what's that?"
The man sighed and visibly sunk a little from behind, as though very disappointed that his latest customer had no idea what a Tenallardis was.
"It's a... wishing stone," he said with a pervasive and condescending air that made Johnny feel very small and stupid.
"It grants wishes?"
"In a sense," said the old man, turning to face Johnny. "It does not heed words or wishes, but causes desires to come about. For an experienced user with precise control of mind, it will bring about precisely what you want. For those less experienced," Johnny feels the hairs stand up again. "it may have more unpredictable results."
Johnny was very weirded out by the old man, but the idea of a wishing stone was very tempting. Then again, he looks around and thinks there must be a nearly infinite number of items in this store. Any one of them could help him fulfill his desires, and maybe without these unpredictable results the old man spoke of. Johnny decides...
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