Mr and Mrs Dankeman were working around their house when they heard a cry. They turned around and saw a fellow emerge out of the woods and approach their farm in a calm and steady pace. He was wearing peculiar spectacles and was carrying a big leather pouch on his back. He looked strange, but that didn't bother them. They hadn't seen a stranger in months and were all too keen to hear what he had to say.

They welcomed him warmly and offered him a huge mug of beer that had been crisped in the afternoon chill of a late-autumn forest. He thanked them and smiled widely, following them into a cosy living room. They took their seat on two thin wooden stools, offering him the blanket-clad chair across them, and began to ask him questions. They were eager to know what was happening in the world. He told them all that he knew and they listened with delight. Then they began to ask him about himself. They were curious to know more about him and about what had driven him to heart of the Dark Woods. So he began to tell them his story.

He was a young scientist, investigating the physical universe. His predecessors had discovered many years ago that the Earth was round and that it revolved around the sun. Over time, their discoveries had been corroborated and established, yet, very many people were still unaware of these facts. So he'd decided to travel around the countryside to educate people and accustom them to the emerging knowledge.

He'd been walking in the woods for many days now - unsure of which door to knock on - and was quite exhausted. The first visit had to be just right though. It would set the tone for the rest of his expedition, so it was well worth the effort and wait. He had already passed through two forest communities, but none of the houses he'd seen had called out to him in any sort of way, so he'd moved on without a word, searching for that perfect starting point. He knew it was out there somewhere. He could feel it.

His heart raced every time he saw a house. Perhaps this was it, the one! But time and time again he was disappointed. So on he went, deeper into the woods. Days passed. He began to reconsider his whole approach. Perhaps he should just knock on the first door he'd come across and introduce himself. That would probably be the best start he could wish for. Just then, the Dankeman farm appeared through the trees, so he made his way to it without second thought.

They were indeed the first people he was visiting during his expedition. He confided in them that he felt honoured, deeply honoured that he would now share his insights with them. He wiggled in his chair for a moment, getting comfortable, and then began to talk about his predecessors and their groundbreaking discoveries with great enthusiasm. He talked and he talked and he talked...

'But we are the centre of the world,' retorted Mrs Dankeman with surprise, when he was done. 'God created us in His image and put us here to repent our sins so that we can enter His Kingdom as worthy subjects. How can we be revolving around the sun?'

'The story is a bit more complicated than that,' replied the scientist earnestly. 'If God indeed exists, then he is working through a set of rules that we are just beginning to discover.' He paused for a moment, scanning the two perplexed faces across him. He took a deep sigh, and began to talk in a more accommodating manner. 'The universe, this wonderful, wondrous place we live in, is made up of different energies that some of my colleagues believe can be harnessed. We have discovered a few. Here, let me show you so you can see and judge with your own eyes.'

He took out a gadget from his pouch and placed it on the table with care. The couple clasped each other's hand as they watched the man join some wires. They looked in each other's eyes with apprehension, then leaned forward towards the trinket, hands still clamped together. Sweat started forming on their brow. They'd never seen such a contraption before. It was of weird shape, and the prancing shadows in the dim candlelit chamber were making it look alive.

The scientist worked on his trinket for quite a while, deeply absorbed in his task. His aura began to agitate the couple.

'What was his name?' whispered Mrs Dankeman in her husband's ear.

'Fool Filler,' he replied.

'What kind of a name is that anyway?' she retorted. 'Fool Filler? Strange name for a person, my love.'

'I know.'

They continued looking at the strange man perplexed. He was quite strange indeed.

The scientist muddled about for a few more seconds and then lifted his head.

'Lean back,' he told them gently, 'and do not be alarmed. You are about to witness the wonders of science.'

He grabbed the trinket by its crooked lever and gave it a few fast turns. An array of sparks exploded out of the gadget with mighty cracks and shot through the pale darkness.

'Oh mein Gott,' shouted the couple as they sprung up from their chairs.

'Yes!' cried the scientist exalted, raising his hands in revelation. 'Electricity! We have electricity!'

Mr Dankeman ran towards the kitchen. His wife opened the window.

'WITCH! WE HAVE A WITCH IN THE HOUSE... HELP...'

.No, no, listen to me,' stammered the scientist, 'this is not witchcraft, this is science...'

'WIIIITCH... HEEEELP...'

Mr Dankeman scuffled around the kitchen noisily while his wife kept screaming. Within moments he barged back into the room holding a sharp cleaver. The scientist instinctively lifted his dynamo by the lever and raised it high to face the puffing farmer. He thought his seconds were numbered. Any moment now the farmer would dash at him and cut him to pieces.

But the farmer had frozen midway. His gaze was once again fixed on the gadget. He was glaring at it through bold but terrified eyes, trying to resist his overwhelming impulse to drop everything and just run away. The scientist, equally stunned, was transfixed on the giant blade, breathing heavily and wishing he could just disappear out of harm's way and back into safety. Deep in the heart of Middle Europe, life was now balancing on the tightrope of a standoff between a cleaver and a lever. Not for long though. Balance doesn't last forever...

The scientist made the first move. He instinctively rotated the dynamo a couple of times while shuffling his feet on the spot. Sparks flew in the air and the farmer jumped back in fear, his eyes wide open and bulging out of their sockets. The scientist seemed to be gaining an advantage.

But the farmer recoiled. He swiped away the sweat from his forehead with his free hand, wiped his thick moustache, and then took a deep breath and a few little steps forward again, a few very hesitant little steps with cleaver held high.

The horrified scientist saw the farmer's hesitancy and took his chance. He started swinging the dynamo around like a chain mace, and slung forth towards the farmer while screaming incoherently to scare him off. The sparks started bombarding the room, slicing the darkness into shreds and shooting terror into the farmer and his wife. Mr Dankeman dropped the cleaver cold and jumped out the window headfirst, screaming like mad. Mrs Dankeman shrieked at the top of her voice for a couple of short seconds and then dived out behind him.

'WITCH... HELP... HE ATTACKED US WITH A BURNING BOX... HE CAST A SPELL ON US... HEEELP... heeelp... heeelp...'

The scientist gathered his stuff in panic as the voices were quickly fading away towards the direction in which he'd seen an abandoned hut on his way there. Perhaps it wasn't abandoned after all! He opened the door and darted away in the opposite direction.

As he sprinted away, an inscribed leaflet flew out of his half-open pouch. It swirled around a bit in the twilight breeze and then landed softly on the ground. The calligraphy upon it read as follows:

'This is the beginning of what I hope to be a lengthy and detailed journal, describing my adventures in the wilderness of ignorance, recording the developments as they arise, providing a coherent and longitudinal narrative for others to study and refer to. My name is Ipsum Prophecius, but I will refer to myself exactly as I will introduce myself to the inhabitants I meet henceforth: FULFILLER. I shall, thus, fulfil their wishes and reveal to them the real workings of the world. I hope they will expect of me exactly what I expect from them: the truth. I imagine...'

That's all the paper wrote. And as the scientist disappeared into the woods, the sun bled into the horizon and began to evaporate into the twilight sky.