the four kingdoms

The amulet

Nico woke up to the sound of banging and look over at the clock, who could be at the door at seven in the morning on a Saturday?   He wondered as he got out of bed. he looked out his window and found his friend Jason pounding on my door.

"Nico I know you're in there, open up I finally found it!" He yelled at the door clutching a very old-looking book in his hands. Clueless about what he was talking about Nico went downstairs and opened the door recoiling at the sudden brightness of the sun. why couldn't he have come on a cloudy morning "what are you talking about this time Jason?" He asked 

"Don't you remember? I told you I would find a way to help my mom, and I found a way!  it's in this book," he said breathlessly, as if he had just run all the way from his house, or ... the library! But, there was no way that the security guard would have let him stay there all night. "Where did you come from?" Nico asked suspiciously.  Jason gave him one of the mischievous smiles that he liked to give the teachers after he did something bad, like when they set up a blue cheese bomb up on the classroom door before the teacher walked in "I hid in the library bathroom until night and hid from the guards the rest of the time. And it was worth it!  hidden in the closet behind the librarian's desk under a stack of papers was this," he hefted up the old book in his hands "Now let me in so I can call Misa."He shuffled past Nico and headed towards the phone leaving him at the door with a sense of dread.the night before Jason told Misa and Nico that his mother was dying of cancer and that he vowed to find a way to cure it, when Misa pointed out that the only way to do so would be some sort of magic miracle he got real quiet said he needed time to think.  could he have found some way? Jason was pretty smart and wasn't one to tell a lie but still...

Misa showed up ten minutes later, by then Nico had changed out of his pajamas and into a pair of black jeans and a grey tee shirt, his short black hair barely managing to reach his eyes. Misa wore a white shirt and blue jeans, her longish brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. She stepped inside and that's when Nico noticed how different they all were. Misa was sweet and gentle with soft hazel eyes that went cold fast when angered, Jason with his short blond hair and intense blue eyes was serious but also a joker and enjoyed a good prank. Then there was Nico, a quiet one with deep green eyes who was shy but cared very much for my friends. Nico was ripped from his thoughts  when Jason yelled "here it is" opening the book up to page three chapter one: the amulet   

"what is it," Misa asked staring in wonder at the yellowing pages Then started to read the page aloud "back in the days of the beginning the four horsemen, Death, War, Famine, and Pestilence created four kingdoms in hopes of taking control of the human world. Each of the horsemen, secretly loathing one another, undid each others work. Death brought peace to the lands of man, War stopped death, in turn making humans immortal. Pestilence stopped hunger, and Famine cured disease.One fateful night the four confronted one another and a great and terrible battle was fought, a battle so catastrophic it burned the earth and slashed away the sky. One human bore witness to the battle and lived, the rest hidden away fearful of the power struggle. in order to settle the conflict before a full-fledged war erupted, an amulet was created. They gifted the amulet to the human, telling them that the amulet was created to hold untold power. the amulet held the power of all four of the horsemen, and thus held the power to undo any of the Horsemen's work; curing any disease, stopping any war or battle, stopping hunger and even halting death.any who possessed the amulet would achieve complete immunity from all the horsemen and become immortal, however, the human who received the gift, Santrugaunta knew of the attended purpose of this so-called 'gift' and hid it away so no human would ever fall to the horsemen's sinister plot..." Misa stopped reading and looked at Jason "um, Jason I'm not entirely sure this exists, I mean, it could be just a story. I'm not sure that you should give yourself false hope-"

      "Hey don't be so quick to write me up yet, I've verified the book, it seems genuine. I tore off a piece of paper form the book and cross-referenced it with the books in the library, the closest match I could find was a book from the eighteenth century, and this book appears way older. Not only that but the words, in case you have not noticed, are handwritten just as books from the olden days were written. I found similar stories that seem to be based off this one from local writers. The likely found this old book and wrote a story from it, plus I also hacked into the library's data-based and pulled up the info on this book. It appears that the book has been passed around from library to library. No one really knows where it came from"  

" You know, people like you should not be allowed to learn computer skills, Jason" Misa walked over to the couch and sat down, taking in all the info.

"I'm  amazed that he did all that in one night, " Nico said mystified. "what else does the story say?" Jason lifted up the book and started flipping the pages, finally, he came to rest on a page towards the middle of the book  " it says that the place that the amulet was hidden, was somewhere in deaths kingdome, which can only be entered by dying-" 

"Oh, gee is that all, well let me go get a couple of knives from the kitchen and we'll be there in a jiffy," Misa remarked her voice dripping with sarcasm. Jason glared at her then continued "-or by going into the well of souls, which if you ask me looks rather easy to summon" the room got real quiet as the idea set in  Nico looked at Jason with confusion "Um, did you just say summon?"

"Well, yeah, it says we've got to summon it. But don't worry, it looks really simple." Jason looked back and forth between his friends. Misa was the next to speak, "You're crazy"

"No, I'm not I-  

"You want us to go out and perform some voodoo ritual-"

"I'm pretty sure it not voodoo-"

"-and try to summon some well of spirits-"

"well of souls"

" Whatever, something like that is not going to work, magic doesn't exist, and even if it did it wouldn't be something three teens could do! The whole thing is just ludicrous, it's its'-"

"Please, it's all I can do for her," Jason had tears in his eyes and was clutching the book to his chest. Misa took a deep breath, then looked back and forth between the two friends that stood before her and up her mind "alright, alright, I guess nows the time to prove me wrong, let's go summon a well of souls!"

thirty minutes later they headed out for the woods that was at the edge of town, where they would summon the well of souls.