It was Jon's lunch break. He sat on a bench, alone, chomping into a hastily constructed sandwich and watching the students and staff mingle and pass by. Something felt off that day, but Jon couldn't put his finger on what that was.
"Jon... Jon... Jon!"
"Huh!? W- what?! Oh... hey, Lyndon... what's up?" Jon snapped out of his daydreaming to see his colleague and good friend, Lyndon. They both had studied IT together at the very same college they now worked for. It seemed like just yesterday that they were the students, but in reality it was years ago now.
"Nothing, man, you just seem out of it. Are you all right?"
"Yeah, I've just had this feeling all day that something is going to happen. I'm probably just tired. I really could use a coffee."
"I was just about to get one, so I'll make it two," Lyndon said, patting his friend on the shoulder.
"Thanks man... Huh..." Jon replied as he leaned back into the bench, feeling something cold and hard under his left hand. He held the metallic object up. A large medallion unlike any he'd ever seen. Strange markings were etched into its shiny surface. He couldn't read them, but as he tried to make them out he could hear a distant whispering, as though someone were translating into his ear.
"Wear me and an item from another, and thou will gain their form," the words repeated in Jon's head.
"What's that?"
"Huh?!" Jon shuddered, Lyndon was back with their coffees. "It's, um, nothing, I just found it next to me. It must belong one of the college athletes, I'll take it to campus lost and found later. You know I swear there was nothing there when I sat down..."
Lyndon laughed, "Jeez, dude, you really are out of it today. Here, coffee."
Caffeinated and recharged, the colleagues returned to work for the rest of the day. Later, as Jon finished for the day, he took the medallion from his pocket again and stared at the engravings again. "Wear me and an item from another, and thou will gain their form," Jon whispered to himself, repeating the translation he'd heard earlier. Something about holding the medallion felt good.
"Coming, Jon?" Lyndon waved from the other end of the room.
"Uh, I... need to take this thing to lost and found, I'll see you tomorrow."
Jon made his way to the front of the campus administration building but stopped short of entering. Something about the medallion was so alluring and strange.
"There's no way it's... real... surely..." he wondered, thinking, just maybe, he should try it out. But where was a good place to discreetly find someone else's clothing?
Then, Jon had an idea...