The next vision showed Mia trying to polish a copper coin that she had found. I was slowly walking in the entrance and I came to a stop behind her, sighing.
She held up her coin to the light and said, "Hey, you. Tough day?"
I smiled as I took a necklace out of my pocket and dropped it on her head. She grabbed it and held it in front of her.
"What the heck is this?" she asked, holding it up.
I turned away to hide my smile and said proudly, "Just something I picked up on today's raid. No birthday's complete without a present, right?"
I glanced in her direction. "Happy birthday, Sis."
"...Huh?" she said. "Is this the best you can do— a rusty old necklace? Honestly, Erik, you need to try harder. What I REALLY wanted was the Red Orb of Heliodor. Word is it's a ruby the size of my head!"
I sighed exaggeratedly, shrugged like Where am I supposed to get that? and plopped down on the ground.
In the memory, while my back was turned, Mia smiled and held the necklace to her chest.
I knew she liked it.
I threw my head back. "Well, word is that necklace has special powers. They say that whoever wears it will find gold at their fingertips wherever they go..."
I turned my head and looked at the wall that was kind of in her direction. "It's probably just talk, but it seemed about right for a little money-grubber like you. Guess you'll just have to put it on and find out if—"
Above me, there was a bright light, and I quickly stood up and turned around. Mia was already standing with the necklace on; but in her hands was a shiny, golden coin.
"What the—" I started, confused. "Where did you get that from!?"
She looked up at me. "I don't know... It was a copper coin a minute ago, but as soon as I touched it, it..."
She paused and looked at the ground. There was a small washcloth sitting there, and she bent down and touched it. We both gasped as it began glowing, then it turned to gold.
Mia stumbled back, beginning to giggle. "Shut UP!" she exclaimed. "It works! It actually works! I can actually turn stuff to gold! Ridiculous! This is the best present EVER!"
I sat there, staring at her, while she jumped around and celebrated. I had a bad feeling...
The memory abruptly ended, and I stood there, staring at the plant. Little fragments of memories were starting to come back to me, but there were still big gaps in important things that I couldn't remember. The Luminary glanced at me, as if making sure I was okay, then he touched the root again and another memory enveloped us.
This new memory seemed to be a couple of days later, and our entire hideout had golden things scattered about it. Mia was sitting cross-legged on the floor, inspecting a golden cup in awe.
I sighed and said. "You've been at it again, huh?"
She giggled. "What's the matter, Erik? Jealous of my treasures? Tell you what— if you ask me really, really nicely, I'll let you have one!"
She set down her cup and looked around. "Let me see now... Ah— perfect!"
She held up a golden seagull. A sick feeling entered my stomach.
"W-wait..." I stammered. "You didn't... Did you? ...Mia, this isn't right!"
She studied it. "Yeah, I suppose it is a little small. I forget how greedy you are..."
I threw my hand out and she dropped it. "Seriously, Mia, this isn't funny!" I shouted. "This has to stop!"
"Hey! There's no need to shout!" she shouted back. "And anyway, you're the one that gave me this thing!
We both sat in silence, just glaring at each other. She turned her head and looked at all of the things she had turned to gold, then she slowly turned back to me.
"...Okay, okay, I get it," she mumbled. "I guess I have been getting a little carried away. Just... stop looking at me like that, will you?"
She put her head down in shame. I sighed. "I'm sorry I lost my cool, okay? It's just..."
She stood up and put her hands up like she was surrendering. "No, no, it's fine," she interrupted me. I'll stop turning stuff into gold... for now."
She began fiddling with the necklace, trying to get it off, while I stood there triumphantly.
Her smile slowly faded as she grunted and muttered, "Why won't it—?"
I frowned. "What's wrong?"
"The necklace," she said. "It won't come off."
Frustrated now, I said, "Come on, Mia, stop fooling around."
She fiddled with it a little bit more, panic beginning to rise in her voice. "I'm serious! I can't get it off!"
Suddenly, the necklace began to glow a shimmering purple color. "Wh-What's happening?" she said, her eyes wide. "I didn't do anything, I swear!"
Promptly, gold began spreading from the necklace along her body, spreading from her chest to her neck and down to her legs.
I gasped softly, then I grabbed my dagger and said, "Don't move!"
But as soon as my dagger came near to her necklace, a force pushed it away and began turning it to gold. I dropped it, afraid I might turn to gold, too. It crumbled to dust at my feet and I made eye contact with Mia again.
The purple smoke became thicker and I leaped away, squinting through it. Mia was still rapidly turning to gold.
"Da**it! What the he**'s going on!?" I said to myself.
Mia looked at me, her eyes wide with fear. My gut lurched; I needed to save her.
"I... I'm turning to... gold! Help me...!"
"Mia, hang on!" I shouted to her, trying to think of something to do. "...Da**it, what do I do, what do I do?"
I rushed towards her, but then I noticed gold spreading along the ground and I hesitated; I didn't want the gold to spread to me, too.
She reached out towards me, her eyes full of fear.
"Erik! Help me..."
I sat there frozen, staring in horror as the gold kept spreading along her body.
"Erik... E... rik..."
I reached out to her, hoping to grab her hand and save her from the gold. But suddenly, her entire hand turned to gold and I pulled away, glancing at my hand to make sure nothing was on it. I looked back up at her, frightened.
Her pupils dilated and she gasped, but then she started glowing so brightly I grimaced from the harsh light and covered my eyes. When I looked back up...
Her entire body was gold. Her eyes, her face, her shoes, even the ground around her. The guilt hit me like a truck. My sister, my only living relative, turned to gold in a flash. Staring at me, pain on her face, reaching out to me, her mouth shouting my name. All I could think about was how I was the one who gave her that cursed relic that turned her to gold. I was the one who had turned her to gold.
I snapped back to the present, all my memories rushing back to me.
"It was all my fault..." I started, staring at the gold on the ground. "After what happened, I ran away... I wanted to leave this place— to leave my past behind... I asked around about the necklace on my travels, and finally found out what it was— I'd given my sister a cursed relic... I wanted to forget who I was, and what I'd done... So I threw myself into any adventure that came along, and before I knew it... I was living as a thief... That's when I met him— the guy who called himself the Seer...
"He told me to go after the Orb... That if I did, I'd meet the Luminary somewhere deep underground... And that if I helped him... I'd finally be forgiven... At first, I didn't believe a word of it. The kind of circles I was moving in, you learn pretty quickly not to trust anyone but yourself."
I turned around and looked at the Luminary.. "But sure enough, I went after the Orb, I wound up underground and... I met you."
Everyone gasped. "Your memory, laddie... it's back!" Rab said, surprised.
I nodded at him, then I looked back at the Luminary. "It is. Thanks to you guys. Guess I've been kind of a pain these last few days, huh? I'll make it up to you, I promise."
Everyone chuckled a little, and I was so terribly happy that I could remember who they were again.
"Who knows if I'll ever find the forgiveness the Seer promised me," I said. "But everything else he said came true— maybe that will too..."
I looked down at the gold spot on the ground, then I looked back up at the Luminary again. "You saw it, right? The statue my sister turned into was right here. If this Gyldygga guy is collecting all gold he can get his hands on, maybe he took her, too. I heard those golden goons saying he's holed up in a castle north of here. I'm gonna get Mia back if it's the last thing I do!"
Sylvando looked over at the Luminary. "Then it looks like we're all headed the same way," he said. "After all, we've got some Sniflheimers to rescue, right?"
The Luminary nodded.
"Thanks again, you guys," I said, content. "It's good to be back!"
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-ziakalar