The Amulet of Power

Part One

For centuries, mankind had struggled with controlling the power that comes with knowledge. Curious beings, humans are born into a system that prizes and rewards collectors of knowledge. They are akin to programmable machines, desperately probing into the unknown and hoarding what they discover for their own gain. Those without it, suffer to the benefit of those who were lucky or determined to receive it.

"My brain is only a receiver in the universe, there is a core from which we obtain knowledge, strength, and inspiration. I haven't penetrated the secrets of this core, but I know that it exists" said humankind's most prominent collectors.

As the years went by, trivial knowledge became a source of nourishment for the masses, and the pursuit of the great secrets the universe hides from us was broken off. The natural balance was thrown off and the world was plunged into chaos as fighting broke out due to the belief that there was nothing more to learn. It was then that the society of keepers created an ark for their knowledge. A vessel, meant to house all of humanity's discoveries and ideas. It would encompass everything that had been written, typed, uploaded, and publicly spoken into a telepathically downloadable object. It was created for posterity and locked in a tomb, destined to rest with the one who can handle it.

Part Two

“Mom, are we there yet?”

“I told you, honey, when we get there, you’ll know.”

“I don’t like this place, it’s dark and I can’t hear the birdies.”

“I know, sweetie, just a little bit longer.”

“But mooooom”

Sophia turned and knelt toward her daughter, Lilly, unhooking a chain from around her neck.

“Here, little one, you can wear poppy’s locket.”

Lilly smiled as she held and ran her finger along the smooth edge of the locket. It was silver with a purple stone in the center and had been jammed shut for as long as they could remember. Sophia kissed her on the forehead and patted her on the head as she stood back up and continued on through the dusty ruins that used to be a flourishing metropolis.

“Remember the rules?”

Lilly exhaled loudly, “Yesssss.”

“Well?” Sophia asked, smiling to herself? “What do we do if we see a man?”

“Hide.”

“And what do we do if this man grabs mommy?”

“Run and hide and don’t come out unless it’s mommy.”

“Good. And what happens if you can’t find mommy?”

“Hide and don’t make any noise until mommy comes back.”

“You’re a lot smarter than I was when I was your age.”

“Mommy?”

“Yes, honey?”

“When is Poppy coming back?”

Sophia froze in her tracks.

“Mommy?”

“Lilly… listen to me right now.”

Lilly was still trailing Sophia, still occupied with running her fingers around the edge of the locket.

“Yeeees?”

“Lilly, run!”

Lilly looked up to find four large men with daggers and metal armor not fifty yards ahead of them. One of the men was leading a donkey that was pulling a cart with a giant metal cage filled with children and women. Lilly let go of the locket, but luckily it was attached to a chain that was around Lilly’s neck.

“Lilly, I said run, run now!” said Sophia as she slowly reached for the sword sheathed behind her back.

“What do we have here?” shouted one of the men. “A two-for!”

Sophia drew her swords as the men came closer.

“Not another step.” She warned them, but that only made them angry.

“You wot? You threaten us? In case you haven’t noticed, there’s one of you and four of us.” Said the leader.

The men drew their weapons and moved to surround her. Sophia walked backward in her battle stance, picking out the weakest of the men. Suddenly, the one on her left charged, lunging with his knives as the rest of the men watched with bated breath. Sophia parried his knives and disarmed him with her sword. Before she could finish the job, one of the others kicked her in the back, sending her to the ground. The other two jumped on her like animals, pinning her down and throwing her weapon to the side. Sophia kneed one of the men and rolled to escape the other. She grabbed her sword just a second too late as the leader had his swords around her throat.

“Make another move and Lilly won’t have a mommy anymore.” He whispered from behind as he smelled her hair like a pervert. “Put her in with the others you sorry lot of warriors.”

The men picked themselves up and dusted themselves off, mumbling curses as they grabbed Sophia by the arms and neck and shoved her into the cage on the cart they were hauling. There were three women and two little girls curled up along the outside of the cage, bloody, bruised, and dehydrated from their journey.

“Now then, where’s little Lilly gone?” said the leader to himself as he bent over and picked up Sophia’s sword.

Meanwhile, Lilly was half a mile in the other direction. She had been running non-stop, crying her eyes out with both of her little hands around the locket. It was not until she noticed an opening in one of the nearly collapsed buildings that she slowed down and made a turn. She shouldered the door and closed it behind her, leaning and sliding down along it until she was sitting up against it. She cried and hugged the locket for hours until she heard the wheels of the cart nearby. She got up slowly, wiped her eyes, and took several careful steps away from the door. There was debris everywhere and every step she took made noise, so she froze and waited for the sound of the cart to fade away. Lucky for her, they did. Lilly spent the night crouched against a wall, gripping her locket as tight as she could, afraid to fall asleep and wake to the men who took her mother.

Unfortunately, she dozed off and when she woke there was an old man sitting across from her with a cheerful smile on his face.

“Mommy!” she cried out, panicking.

The man’s smile disappeared.

“Your mother was taken by highwaymen, I’m afraid. Do not worry, I am not one of them. You are safe here.” Said the man, standing up and walking off as soon as he finished talking.

Lilly watched the man walk away then frantically pulled the locket out from under her shirt and gripped it tight.

“Are you coming?” said the man as he turned a corner, his voice and footsteps echoing down the corridor. “Or do you prefer to stay in this dusty orifice they used to call a building?”

Lilly did not understand, she was frozen in fear but felt that she is no longer in danger. It took her several moments to decide that she was going to follow this man and hopefully learn where her mother was taken. The man led her through dozens of ruins and several still-standing buildings until they reached a long staircase that went deep into the ground. They descended for nearly an hour, even pausing several times for the old man to rest his legs. They did not speak the entire time and when they finally reached the bottom, the old man gently guided Lilly inside.

“What is this place?” Lilly asked, bewildered at the magnitude of the place she had entered.

“They called it the sanctum, but your grandfather called it the ark.” He responded as he made his way over to a small console protruding from the ground in the center of the sanctum. He stuck his finger into a small hole at the top of the console and it opened, revealing a small rectangular depression.

“I noticed you’ve been gripping that amulet tightly.” Said the man as he approached Lilly. “Do you mind if I have a look at it? I promise I’ll give it back.”

At first, she flinched, but then reluctantly handed it over with the chain still cleverly around her neck. The man struggled to kneel to her height, holding onto her shoulder as he did so.

“It takes great courage to offer trust. I assure you that in this case, it is not misplaced.” He said as he gently fiddled with the locket until it made a series of clicking noises and opened, revealing a small metal object the size of a small pack of gum.

“The ark.” He whispered in reverence.

The man struggled to his feet and rushed over to the console. Before he inserted the object, he paused and waved Lilly over.

“Do you know what this is?”

“No.”

“This here is the culmination of humankind’s memory. It was created by our ancestors at the beginning of the big war. Before this city was bombed, this place was used by those who wanted to save the knowledge our people worked thousands of years to accumulate. It is the sum of all of our achievements.”

“What does it do?”

The man smiled and inserted the object into the console. Within moments, the console lit up and sent waves of energy throughout the room. The walls lit up and began to move, shedding years of dust as they revealed dozens of rooms filled with all sorts of technology and other strange machines and objects. The man looked around until he found what he was looking for.

“Ah-ha! Here’s what we need.” He said in a jolly tone as he made his way over to the adjoining room.

He picked up a strange-looking piece of metal, pulled, and pressed several buttons until it turned on.

“Now we can go get your mother, follow me.”

They trekked for hours, back to where Sophia was attacked, and followed the tracks from the cart until they reached the encampment where slaves were sold.

“Ten bottles and a cache of hammers going twice, sold to Gek of the Southern Border tribe!” announced a dirty and fat man standing on a stage in the center of the village. “Next up, we have—" his sale was interrupted due to a smoldering hole in the center of his forehead.

“Woah!” Lilly whispered to herself as the old man cackled with rage.

It took the large group a few moments to pinpoint the direction the beam of light came from, but once they did it was too late. The old man, decrepit and defenseless, was now the most powerful being in the area. It took him just under a minute to rid the village of warriors, leaving only the women and children taken to be sold as wives or slave labor alive. Lilly spotted Sophia chained up to a tree and ran to embrace her as the man worked to undo the bindings on everyone’s wrists and ankles.

“Julius! You found her!” Sophia shouted with relief.

“Mommy! Mommy! We did it! You won’t believe it; the locket had this thing in it and the old man—”

“I know sweetie, I know. Come here.” Sophia said as Lilly ran into her arms.

Julius freed the rest of the prisoners to a barrage of praise and hugs and then came over to undo Sophia’s bindings.

“I saw them take you but knew I could not do anything. When I saw the little one running with a silver amulet in her hands, I knew it was the ark. I followed her and the rest is history. She’s a pretty brave lass, you know. Raised her well. John would be proud of you both.”

“You know each other?” Lilly asked, looking up at Sophia.

“Lilly, meet your great uncle, Poppy’s brother Julius.”

Julius smiled and patted Lilly on the head.

“So now that we know it works, what now?” Sophia asked.

Julius smiled at Sophia, then down at Lilly. “Now we bring order and knowledge back into the world.”