Finders Ain’t Keepers

In the gray woods of Lin, Nora and Sam found a gold pendant half-sunk in a creek bed on their hike trail. Its jagged runes catching the faint light. Nora plucked it from the water, and a sharp jolt ran through her, like a whisper promising power. Jace felt it too, his fingers twitching to snatch it. They laughed it off, but their eyes lingered on the pendant’s glow.

By nightfall, camped in a clearing, the pendant’s hum wormed into their heads. Nora grew possessive, tying it around her neck, snapping at Jace when he stared. Jace’s dreams churned with visions of her betrayal, the pendant urging him to claim it. Theresa next morning brought distrust. Nora hid her knife, certain Jace would steal the pendant. Jace muttered to himself, convinced Nora’s whispers were curses.

On the third day, madness took hold. Jace lunged, tackling Nora into the dirt, his hands clawing for the pendant. She drove her knife into his side, blood pooling as he choked out a curse. Nora staggered away, the pendant’s glow now blinding, her thoughts unraveling into a haze of rage and hunger. She collapsed in the creek, the pendant slipping from her neck into the silt.

Weeks later, two new strangers, Kael and Mira, spotted a glint in the water on their hike trail. They fished out the gold pendant, marveling at its strange warmth. The drizzle thickened, and the pendant’s cycle stirred again.