NOVEL NEXT Chapter 0 – The Will
To: Gulliver Goodman.
Date: 2/16/2022
Hello little Iver,
Time sure flies, hah? Already 22 and in the last semester of your bachelor's degree. A full-grown and independent man.
If you read this letter, I am likely dead and reunited with your late great-grandmother, Amber, in the afterlife. About damn time since I am already 103 years old and wrote a similar letter around 80 goddamn times since your grandfather was born.
I will keep the sentimental bullshit from you since you're like me and don't like it, so I'll get to the point.
As you already know, my only son, your grandfather, Roger, 36 at the time, died in a car accident with your grandmother. Amber and I then raised your then-1-year-old mother, Naomi, as our daughter until she came of age, accidentally got pregnant with your elder sister, Jessica, at a frat party, and married that slimy Schmock, Harry, in a shotgun marriage.
I regret I didn't punch him harder in the face back then, damn my limp leg.
Anyways...
You, your mother, and your sister are my only living descendants. And since I don't plan on leaving anything for Harry, you are my only inheritors.
As you already know, I already gave you and your sister each $120,000 to study in college and get a proper degree and kickstart your life, with the rest of the money and the house going under your mother's name. I left it all under a trust fund over 21 years so that your mother won't lose it all to that contemptible father of yours. (Not that it matters anymore since you essentially cut ties with them.)
However, there are other things I left you, my only surviving male descendant, just like how your mother and sister inherited Amber's belongings.
I leave you my trusty Colt M1911A1, clothes(They fit you well), Stereo set(Good collectibles, worth a pretty penny), wall paintings(Also worth a few thousand dollars in an auction), tobacco and whiskey collection(Go ahead, but don't overindulge like your shitty father), silverware, glassware, souvenirs, and, most importantly, my amulet.
Remember all those ridiculous stories I told you when you were a little boy? About how I joined an expedition, uncovered an alien spaceship, and got that amulet I wear all the time from there?
It is real.
Well, half real. It was an alien tomb dedicated to some dark god whose name I will NOT mention in this letter. Or ever.
Before you even say it, I'm not being senile(I left letters from 1960, 1980, and 2000 in this box, you can cross-check the contents).
At the time, I joined an expedition group some rich guy funded. He turned out to be a part of some cult or something but never got to know its name and goals.
Sounds crazy, right? Well, buckle up since things will get even weirder and darker from here.
It was in the year 1937. At the time, I was merely a young and poor Jewish immigrant who ran from Germany, barely 18, that age when I was young, full of hormones, and gullible. They offered me $10,000 for a short expedition, today's equivalent of $200,000. Of course, being a poor kid from the slums, I couldn't refuse.
Before I knew it, I was brought to a dug-up site filled with strange styles and architecture in Alaska. What was my job? To search inside together with a bunch of other poor guys like me. Our goal was to get the relic enshrined inside.
Little did we know we were getting screwed over.
Traps, ancient puzzles, dark creatures I can't describe with words, whispers that can drive one insane... you name it. When we tried to run back, we were threatened at gunpoint to go back inside and get the relic or die. I knew at that moment I was likely going to die that day.
Things were hectic and horrifying, but somehow, through grit, will, and sheer dumb luck, I reached the end of the ruins. Only I and another made it, perhaps by the machinations of the dark god the shrine was dedicated to.
In the middle of a large room, we saw a simple altar with a ceremonial knife and plate and a door at the end of the room.
Although we couldn't read jack-shit about anything there, the pictures and murals told us everything we needed to know.
To proceed, we needed a living sacrifice, the other person.
Before I could reason with the other guy, he pulled a knife and lunged at me. He got me good in the right leg. Although he luckily missed my main artery, it still caused my leg to limp later in my life.
As for how I responded? I pulled my gun and shot the last bullet I kept in the chamber. The one meant to commit suicide. If the man had a bit more brains and kept a shot for himself, I would be a dead man, and you wouldn't be born today.
My shot landed on his skull, penetrating it, but through a twist of fate, the fucker didn't die outright but started babbling nonsense.
I was wounded, desperate, with a living sacrifice I wouldn't feel guilty about, and frankly, insane at that point, so I did what any other man would do in my shoes.
Sacrifice the fucker.
With the force of my willpower driving me, I dragged the lolling guy to the altar, took the sacrificial knife, gouged out his still-beating heart(Unscientific, I know), and placed it on the plate.
The moment I placed the bloody heart there, a dark fire engulfed it. And the man on the altar, somehow still alive, suddenly went up in dark flames as his body vanished in mere seconds, leaving nothing but the most heartwrenching scream I had ever heard haunting my dreams until this day.
Then, the final door was opened.
Using whatever was left of my strength and overcompensating with my survival instincts, I entered the room where I found the relic, the amulet.
The fragment of a dark god.
I didn't know the story behind the fragment, nor did I care to know.
I reached out and grabbed it and then wore it by instinct.
The next moment, defying the laws of space, I was teleported out of the tomb, landing some 1,000 miles from the site. I found myself near an Athabascan tribe, where they treated my wounds for free. It was also where I met your great-grandmother, 14 at the time, called Namida, whom your mother's name is after.
When I got better, I was brought to the nearest town, where I decided to change my name and identity(Now known as Ryan Goodman) and become a gold miner for the next four years before returning to that tribe and marrying Namida(Who then changed her name to Amber Goodman).
By that time, I was already announced as missing in the newspapers, the convenient American way to say that someone is dead. Not that anyone cared. They didn't have my picture, fingerprint, or anything.
As for the rest, you already know. I became a high-level executive in a mid-tier mining company until I retired in my late 70s before taking care of you and your sister.
No way I was letting your irresponsible parents take care of you two!
In any case, you must be wondering now why I didn't throw away the amulet. Right?
Believe it or not, this amulet is magical and has several functions, most of which are related to space.
The first one is teleportation. Using it, you can teleport to a place within your line of sight.
The second one is spatial storage. The amulet has an inbuilt pocket dimension that can store things. (Remember the magic tricks I performed when you were little?)
The third one is that the amulet can be absorbed into your body, allowing you to hide it from others.
And the final ability I found, and the most amazing of them all is that you can travel to another reality.
Yes, you read it right, another reality. I only traveled there once, but I ended up in some earth-like futuristic world over a hundred years more technologically advanced than our world. Amazing, right?
Now, you are probably wondering, why didn't I use that to my advantage and take some technology from there and sell it here, right?
For starters, I was pretty much intimidated by the ordeal. Imagine traveling in time 100 years to the future. How would that feel?
Second, just twelve hours after I got there, I got sick with a super-advanced bacterial infection and almost died. Luckily, some good samaritan brought me to a nearby Pharmacy and injected me with something called AC-1153, whatever that is, and voilà, I was cured in a few hours. Still, that left me traumatized.
Third, I was scared they will know I came from another reality and lobotomize me or something, so I didn't dare to return, ever.
Fourth, I was afraid that someone from our world would find out about my ability. Using my ability to earn money can end badly if poorly executed, and I didn't have the confidence.
Apart from these reasons, there is another thing I need to mention. Using these abilities requires a price. Energy, if you may. But only specific types are allowed.
One of them is what I call mental energy or mind power. This is an energy that is present in your mind. However, take note that mental energy is finite, and regenerates slowly. Overdrafting can cause you headaches, and things that are much worse than that. Use your mental energy as a last resort, if possible.
The other one... is to offer sacrifices to the amulet. Perhaps it is the life force of the victim or its soul, but it would convert it into an energy it can use. You can use it on small animals you kill. It isn't much, but it can accumulate. Try using it on crabs or live fish.
If you read this anywhere that isn't scribblehub, or paid to read this, you were had. Please tell me as soon as possible. Thank you.
Now that I introduced this amulet to you, I ask you to take care and not expose it, especially to your friends and lovers. The government coming after you would be only part of your concerns. They might even send their so-called superheroes after you.
Also, it has already been more than 70 years since I last went to the other world, so I don't know the situation there. If you go there, please be careful. For all I know, they might have already become some cyborg civilization.
And that is all I have to tell you. I leave this amulet in your hands now. Whether you use it for good or bad is none of my business.
Just a fair warning, this is a fragment of a dark god. If you misuse it, there might be consequences I cannot predict. Getting killed would be the least of your concerns at that point.
Goodbye, Iver, may you live a good and long life, and most importantly, have fun.
And remember, if you are ever in doubt, or inside the pits of despair, don't seek god for help.
Only you can help yourself.
Sincerely, Great-grandad.
PS: Burn this letter after you are done with it. Don't let it ever fall into someone else's hands, including Jessica. Your life depends on it.
PPS: If you are reading this because I became a vegetable or something, please, for the love of god, have some mercy and pull out the plug.
PPPS: If the one who is reading this letter isn't Iver, I will assume you're from the government or a secret society. Please just leave my family alone and take the goddamn amulet. They don't know anything.