"Aie!!" Trepeeset screamed, leaping about two feet in the air. Somehow he had turned into his dead father. What sorcery was this?! It was really him, his muscled chest, his deep tan skin, his long hair, everything! Trepeeset began to panic. He felt that he was disturbing his father's eternal sleep by conjuring his soul. How had he done it, anyway?
The medallion! He felt the rock with his father's fingers and could somehow feel some magic in it. He quickly whipped the necklace off of his body. Nothing happened. His (or actually, his father's) heart beating faster, he retrieved the medallion to see if there was anything written on it, any instructions.
"Oh my! Medicine Man Pocohono!"
Trepeeset looked with a start at the new figure in the clearing. It was his best friend, Chotskalak! Chotskalak fell to his knees. "Father Sun, Father Sun, why do you return our Medicine Man Pocohono to us! What can we do to--" he began to pray!
"Chotskalak! My friend, Chotskalak! It's me, Trepeeset!" he said with his unfamiliar voice. "Please, be quiet!"
"What!? But that's impossible!" Chotskalak's face darkened and raised his fists into a combat position. "I don't know what dark art is at work here, but I will not allow my best friend's father to roam Mother Earth undead!" He leaped toward Trepeeset and began to attack him.
Trepeeset tried desperately to fend off the blows of his friend. What in the name of The Great Turtle was going on here? That stupid rock had turn him into his father and now his best friend was trying to kill him (again)! He had to try to change back to his old form, somehow. He closed eyes, held on tight to the stone, and imagined what he used to look like.
"Wha?! Trepeeset, my friend! It IS you!"
Trepeeset was back to normal, sitting on the ground. He ached, Chotskalak had gotten in a few pretty good blows. "Yes, friend," he said, out of breath. "It is me."
Chotskalak sat down next to the exhausted Trepeeset. "But...but how? Have you always been able to do this?"
"No, friend." He held up the medallion. "This turquoise medallion allows me to change my form. I just found out about its ability a few minutes ago. My father must have put some magic on it before he died."
Chotskalak's jaw dropped. "Do it again."
Trepeeset shrugged. "I am not sure how I did it in the first place. I was just holding onto the rock, I was picturing my father, and - hurk!"
Chotskalak shot up from the ground backed away quickly as Trepeeset's form shifted into Pocohono's body. There was a loud ripping sound as Trepeeset's old breechclout could no longer hold the strain of its new occupant. Trepeeset swore using Pocohono's voice. "Stupid pants. But that is how I turned into my father."
Chotskalak shook his head. "This is great. But why would your father give you such a thing?"
"I don't know," Trepeeset said, shaking Pocohono's head. "But I am sure he means well. I was worried that my father's soul would be disturbed, but then why would he have given the medallion to me?" Trepeeset thought for a couple moments.
To his surprise, when he thought about it, he was accessing the memories of his father! There was a time when Pocohono had found an odd piece of metal in the ground outside of the village. When he picked it up, he was stunned to realize how much magic potential it had. The medallion at this point had no magic effects for others, but it was like a blank canvas – Pocohono could have made it do anything he wanted.
Pocohono took the medallion back home to his teepee and mixed a paste of herbs, grasses, and turquoise. He then slathered it onto the medallion and sang what he wanted the special abilities for the medallion to be. As Pocohono danced around the metal, it began to glow. Soon, the herb paste was gone, and the metal had turned into turquoise. Pocohono then broke the stone in half, ripped one of the hairs from his head, stuck it into the rock, then put both halves of the rock together. Like magic, the stone it was once again one piece. "When my son Trepeeset is of age, I will give this to him." Pocohono thought. He then buried it under his teepee.
"Aie..." Trepeeset said. "I know how my father made this rock. I saw it."
"You saw it? Where?" Chotsalak asked.
"In my mind's eye. I saw some of his memories." Trepeeset shifted back to normal then fingered the rock. "I wonder if I can..." With little effort, Trepeeset broke the rock in two pieces.
"Why did you do that?! You broke it!" His friend exclaimed.
"I know. That was one of the memories of my father. He broke it in two, put one of his hairs in there, and put it back together." Trepeeset brought the two halves of the medallion together. They fastened together with almost no effort. "Like that."
Chotsalak sat back down on the ground. "Do you think it means that any hair you put in there, you can become whoever that hair belongs to?"
"That is what it seems to be," Trepeeset said. "This is amazing!"
Chotsalak nodded. "I think you should keep this secret. You don't what this falling into the wrong hands. You don't want people thinking you practice dark magic as well."
"You are right, friend." Trepeeset said. "But what should I do with this?"
"Why don't we try some more things with it," Chotsalak said. "What do you think we should do?"