Chapter 3 - The Amulet

Water sprayed everywhere, drenching Aurora from head to toe. She wiped her eyes dry and then stared in horror at the lake. All of the water had disappeared, revealing a ditch about three meters deep. “Irelia, are you okay?” she asked.

Irelia coughed out a mouthful of water. “I’m fine. What the hell was that?” she replied. The girl was drenched and her hair dripping with water.

Aurora jumped off the boulder and inched toward the lake. She squinted her eyes as she looked down at the damp, muddy ditch. “Do you see that?” Aurora noticed something metallic glinting inside it. She pointed toward the object and then looked back at Irelia.

“Yea,” Irelia said. “How did all of the water disappear?”

“That thing fell from the sky, right? Must have been really hot… But then how did we not get affected?” Aurora put her finger against her lip. She frowned. “I’ll go check it out,” Aurora said as she stepped down into the ditch. She felt the squelching of the mud as she moved down carefully.

“Hey, wait, what are you doing? We need to be more careful, what if that is some alien demon?” Irelia shouted. She stamped a foot on the ground and grunted. “Stop it, we should get out of here!”

“What? Aren’t you interested even a tiny bit? Come on, this is the most exciting thing that’s happened here in years.” Aurora took slow and steady steps as she moved down the ditch. The soil underneath was relatively soft, squelching underneath her boots with each step. The glint of the object became brighter as she got closer to it.

Aurora turned to Irelia, who was still stood behind the ditch. “You’re not joining? Okay, suit yourself.” A warmth filled the air as Aurora got within arm’s reach of the object. She could now see that it was a obsidian amulet with a light blue gemstone embedded into it.

Aurora crouched down and picked up the amulet. It was freezing cold to the touch. The hairs on her arms stood up. The amulet was shaped like a vortex of water, with the gem embedded at the bottom of the vortex.

“What is it?” Irelia called out.

Aurora turned around and replied, “An amulet. How the hell did it survive such a fall?” Aurora gently twisted the amulet about. This feels weird, it’s cold but giving off a strange heat in its surroundings. Maybe heat is the wrong word to use for it. Like a thin energy, or is it thick? Aurora closed her eyes. She gasped and fell onto her ass.

“What happened?” Irelia said. She ran down into the ditch.

“Nothing, I thought I saw something.” Aurora took in deep breaths and wiped away some sweat from her forehead. “Let’s get out of here, I think we spent enough time here, don’t you?”

Irelia shrugged. “I’m fine to stay outside a bit more, there’s some things I want to do anyway… Oh, right. My sleeping schedule is going to be a bit different from yours, I’m more nocturnal, so I’ll be sleeping mostly during the day. I hope that isn’t an issue.”

Aurora smiled. “Of course not, to each their own.” She got up and wiped away the soil from her backside. Aurora climbed out of the ditch. She turned and stared at what had once been a beautiful lake. “Well, I’m not sure how I’m going to explain this to my Mom… Oh well, guess I can’t come here anymore to just relax and unwind.”

“Are there any other places?” Irelia asked.

Aurora nodded. “There are a few which only I know about.” She laughed. “I’ll take you there another time. Hopefully another amulet doesn’t fall from the sky and destroy them next time.”

Irelia laughed.

Aurora waved and then made her way home through the woods. It had darkened by quite a bit by the time she reached home. Smoke was blowing out of the chimney, and a sweet vanilla scent filled the cottage.

“I’m back Mom,” Aurora said as she stepped through the front door.

“Welcome back darling.” Celine walked out from the kitchen, an apron tied around her waist. She held a cup in her hand and gave it to Aurora.

Aurora blew at the hot concoction. She then chugged down the peppermint tea in a single gulp. It was sweet, a lot of sugar had been put into the tea according to the taste that Aurora enjoyed the most.

“Where’s Irelia?” Celine asked.

“Oh, she said there’s some things she needs to do, and that she sleeps during the day instead of the night.” Aurora walked past Celine toward her room.

“How weird…” Celine mumbled. “Oh, before I forget, I got sent a message by our neighbor that the Song clan will be carrying out an inspection next week… Their last inspection was only a couple weeks ago, how weird.”

Another inspection so soon? What are they so worried about this time? Aurora took in a deep breath. Beats me, it’s not related to me so I don’t really care too much.

Aurora opened the door to her room and went inside. A soft fur rug was on the floor, covering the wooden panels of her room. Her bed frame was made out of mahogany, and a hay stack that had been wrapped with some linen acted as her mattress. The sheets had just been freshly cleaned the day before and smelled extra soapy.

Aurora changed into her white pajamas and then let herself fall onto her bed. Aurora groaned and rolled about in her bed. “I missed you so much.” She hugged her pillow tightly. After a moment Aurora fumbled about her bedside drawer. She pulled out a small book titled A guide to living in the wild. She flipped open to the page she’d last read, about three quarters into the book.

“Nice book you’re reading there. What’s it about?”

“Hmm?” Aurora raised a brow. “Oh this, it’s just a general idea about how to live in the wilderness. It talks about all the different biomes a-”

Aurora threw her book away and yelled. “W-Who are you? Where are you?” She jumped off her bed and spun around looking for the male voice she’d just heard.

“What’s wrong honey?” Celine called out from the living room.

“Nothing Mom.” Aurora stared at her ceiling with widened eyes. “You’re there, aren’t you?” she whispered.

“No, I’m not there,” the man whispered back.

Aurora’s heart thumped in her chest, and she took rapid breaths.

“Come on, no need to be so scared. If you could just pick me up and then put my around your neck, that’d be great,” the man said.

“…”

“I’m down here stupid.” The amulet which Aurora had put on her bedside drawer lit up. She covered her eyes as the bright blue light intensified.

Aurora froze.

“Stop looking at me with your mouth open, pick me up and put me around your neck.”

Aurora walked over to the bedside drawer and picked up the amulet. What is going on? Is it okay for me to just put this on? Why is an amulet talking to me? I must be too tired right now from what happened at the lake. I’m definitely just hearing things.

“If I could roll my eyes right now, I would. Yes, it’s fine to put me on. Just hurry up already, it’s getting really tight in here and I don’t like it much.”

Aurora shook her head. “No, why should I? What if you’re trying to kill me?”

“I suppose I understand where you are coming from… But the moment you picked me up, you created a seal between us. If I am away from contact with you for too long, then I’ll die. And vice versa.” The voice seemed to be growing impatient, it’s light glowing in quick flashes.

“What do you mean?” Aurora furrowed her brows. “What am I doing, I’m talking to a damn amulet.”

“Heavens above, give me strength. Exactly as I just said. You know what, since you picked me up, it should be fine for a bit. Keep me in your pocket for the night, and you’ll wake up in a couple hours wishing you had listened to me.”

I’m going crazy. There’s no way an amulet can be talking to me right now… This is all in my head right now. Aurora slapped her cheeks and then sighed. She looked down at the amulet and poked at it with her thumb. “You aren’t real, right?”

“…”

“Alright, I take that as a confirmation that I was just crazy and tired. There’s no way that an amulet could talk like that.” She got back into her bed and put the amulet back on the bedside drawer. Aurora glanced at the amulet and then scratched her head. She hesitated for a moment, after which she took the amulet and put it into her pocket.

Better safe than sorry. The girl closed her eyes and soon the fatigue she’d kept at bay from her day began washing over her.