Jeff and Jenny, both 18 walked out the high school door, weaving through the quieter part of town. They weren’t looking for anything in particular, just killing time before curfew and daring each other to sneak into old buildings like they used to when they were younger.
That’s when they found it. A little shop, tucked between two long-abandoned storefronts, almost hidden by ivy and time. The crooked wooden sign overhead, its paint faded and flaking. The windows were so dust-caked they couldn’t see inside, but the door creaked open with the softest push.
The place smelled like old books and dried herbs, the kind of scent that clings to mystery. Shelves buckled under the weight of strange artifacts—crystal balls, shrunken skulls, antique trinkets that seemed to twitch or hum when touched. No shopkeeper. No customers. Just the soft ticking of an ancient grandfather clock and the occasional creak from above, as if the building itself was breathing.
Jenny was the one who found the loose panel behind the curtain in the back. It looked like just another wall—until she leaned on it and it groaned open, revealing a narrow, dust-choked staircase descending into darkness.
“Are we seriously doing this?” Jeff asked, shining his phone flashlight into the gloom.
Jenny grinned. “When have we ever not?”
They stepped into the hidden room like explorers entering a forgotten tomb. The air was thick with cobwebs and silence. Old wooden crates, crumbling shelves, and a broken mirror leaned against the wall—but in the center of the room, resting on a cracked pedestal beneath a collapsed section of ceiling, was a single item: a golden amulet, glinting in the beam of Jeff’s flashlight.
It was beautiful, otherworldly even. The chain was pure gold, but the centerpiece was what caught their breath—a large, radiant ruby, smooth as glass and pulsing faintly, almost like a heartbeat.
There was a small, dusty plaque at the base of the pedestal, but the writing was so faded it was unreadable.
They didn’t hesitate. Jeff carefully lifted the amulet from the pedestal, and for a split second, the ruby flared with crimson light—then settled, as if content in his hands.
They didn’t stay long after that. Something about the silence felt heavier now, like the shop had noticed them. Jenny tucked the amulet into her backpack, and they left without looking back.
It wasn’t until they got to Jenny’s house—door locked, snacks grabbed, and her bedroom lights dimmed—that they really took a closer look.
They set the amulet on her bed, its ruby glinting beneath the lamp. Jeff started searching online for anything about it, while Jenny examined the clasp and the markings along the chain.
After some digging and a few clicks too many into obscure forums, they found something. A weathered post from nearly some decades ago, archived on a not so trustworthy-looking site about “forbidden relics.”
Jenny read aloud, eyes wide as she scrolled:
“The Transformation and Merging Amulet.
Become what you desire… at the cost of another.
To gain wings, you must bind another’s back to yours. To gain a tail, one must offer their body. Each transformation requires a merger. Willing… or not.”
Jeff blinked. “You’re kidding.”
Jenny turned the screen so he could see. “I’m not.”
“So… like… if I wanted dragon wings, I’d need to merge someone into me? Like, fusing with my back and transforming into wings?”
Jenny nodded. “That’s what I understand, so if I wanted a mermaid tail… someone would have to become that tail.”
They both looked at the amulet again. Finally, Jeff looked at her with a half-smirk. “So… If this is truly real who do you think should try it first?”