Hey y'all, it's Ender! I hope you've been having a great day and I hope to make it even better with my new main story! I'm going to have a simple goal of keeping every chapter over a thousand words, but there is no word limit. NOTE: I do NOT own Minecraft or any YouTubers mentioned in this story.

Amulet

Fog lay heavily over the little mountain town of Garanora. The paved cobble streets were unusually empty and the only sound was the wind whistling through the scrawny cedars on the craggy slopes of the mountains. The sun was hidden behind the steel grey clouds, and it was a chilly day with the absence of the golden sphere.

A young man wandered silently through the streets, his black hair slightly ruffled by the breeze. He wore a dark gray cloak over his black sweatshirt, and smirked slightly, looking up at the sky. He narrowed his chocolaty brown eyes and shivered, wrapping his cloak tighter around his shoulders.

"It's too cold today," The young man murmured. "Colder than usual. I wonder if Jordan will still want to go on our walk today."

Suddenly, an excited shout rang out through the town and another young man appeared, waving at the first. He wore a sloppily buttoned tuxedo and his white undershirt was torn in a deep v-neck. He had on a heavy woolen overcoat too, but it appeared that buttoning or fastening things was not a talent of his. The front of the overcoat remained unbuttoned, even though it must have been freezing cold.

Bright red sunglasses perched on his nose, gleaming despite the dim and dreary light. He had rumpled black hair and beard stubble, and his ocean-blue eyes sparkled playfully.

"Hey, Jordan!" The first young man greeted cheerfully. "I was expecting you to stay inside today."

"Are you kidding, Taylor?" The second - Jordan – laughed. "Since when do I let the cold stop me?"

"Since never," Taylor admitted, shrugging. "I think the last time you missed a walk was… maybe when you were deathly ill with hypothermia a few years back because you insisted that the creek wasn't that cold, and then proceeded to dive right in."

"Okay," Jordan snapped, huffing irritably. "You just had to bring that up, now didn't you, Tay?"

"Always, Jordan," Taylor chuckled. "And I will never let you live it down, as long as I am able to remind you."

"I should have expected," Jordan grumbled, turning his back to Taylor and crossing his arms. Taylor rolled his eyes and started walking away from Jordan.

"Suit yourself," Taylor called over his shoulder, not stopping his quick pace. Jordan glanced over at Taylor and gave a cry of indignance when he saw his best friend was leaving him behind in the snow.

"Fine!" Jordan snapped, jogging after Taylor. "You win! I accept that I was a dummy and deserved to get sick because that stream was clearly frozen over with snow banking the edges and it was clearly deathly cold. Alright? I admit it!"

"Thank you," Taylor smiled. "Glad to know that you know you're an idiot. Oh gosh, that was actually a bit of a tongue twister."

Now it was Jordan's turn to snort at Taylor and he did so with a mighty flourish of a facepalm. Taylor rolled his eyes again at his overdramatic friend, but a smile played on his mouth nonetheless. The two walked in silence for some time, leaving the town and journeying into a well hidden path between the ice-laden evergreens and the slick boulders that lay on the foot of the nearest mountain.

Finally, Taylor spoke up. "I wonder when I'll get my Charm of Power," He murmured softly, as though lost in thought. Jordan gave him a sideways glance, adjusting his sunglasses slightly.

"I don't know, buddy," Jordan sighed, sounding genuinely sorrowful. "You know the elders had to send people on quests to get their charms, but ever since -" Jordan abruptly cut himself off, as though not wanting to speak about some distant memory. Taylor glared at him for a second before his face fell.

"Don't remind me," He muttered, sounding angry even though his eyes were filled with a broken look. "I – I can't bring them back. I may as well stop thinking about them."

Silence descended over the two best friends again and Taylor concentrated on navigating the icy path, the dead leaves crunching loudly under his soft footfalls. Eventually, he and Jordan came to a mountain creek, and surprisingly enough, the icy water still carved a path through the snow with only a thin film of ice over the top.

Taylor knelt down nest to the stream and shoved away some of the thin ice over the stream. He scooped up the crystal-clear creek water in his hand and drank thirstily, exhausted from his tiring hike up the icy path. Jordan ventured a little further down the creek and also drank from the swiftly running water, flinching a bit at the raw cold.

Taylor was about to dip his hands back into the creek for another refreshing drink, but a shining stone caught his eye. It was a gleaming amethyst gem, encircled by shining gold.

Taylor's breath caught in his throat and he reached forwards, enchanted by the sight of the jewel. Its colour was slightly marred by the sand between the stones it was stuck on, and though it was glimmering weakly in the dull light, it seemed to shine with a strong power.

Taylor grabbed the gem and lifted it out of the creek, the swiftly running water washing away the grime on it. Just then, the clouds parted slightly, allowing a thin ray of sunshine to fall upon the gem. It caught the light and reflected it onto Taylor's face as he looked at it closer.

The golden part of the jewel was attached to a thick bronze chain, which seemed dull compared to the center amethyst. As Taylor stared at it, he almost thought he heard a strange whispering…

'Come to me… Come to us… The Elder Pearl is waiting…'

"Hey! Taylor! What'd you find?" Jordan walked over to Taylor, curiously staring at the object in his friend's hands. Taylor slowly turned the gem over, confused by the voices he could have sworn were whispering in his head just a few seconds ago.

"I think it's a – an amulet," Taylor whispered, standing up and holding the bronze chain. The amethyst dropped down, then swung in the air, suspended only by the chain. Jordan gasped and scrambled away from the amulet like it was a rabid wolf, staring at the charm with wide eyes.

"Taylor," Jordan hissed, voice tight. "Get rid of that – that thing, right now. I don't want it anywhere near me. Those things are cursed. You know that. That's the whole reason your parents -"

"Leave my parents out of this!" Taylor screamed suddenly, causing Jordan to quickly shut his mouth. "You do not speak of them, do you hear? They are gone! They are dead! They are out of my life and they are going to stay out of my life!"

Jordan flinched back, staring at the ground. Taylor took a shaky breath and put the amulet on over his head, the pendant cold from being in the icy mountain creek.

"What are you doing?" Jordan cried. "Don't put that on, you'll be -"

'Safe' an unseen voice whispered in Taylor's head. 'Safe together.'

Taylor didn't speak for the rest of the walk home, despite Jordan begging him to take the amulet off, that it was cursed, to just get rid of it and forget that he ever saw it. Instead, he was lost in his own thoughts, speaking with the voice in his head.

'Who are you?'

'I am your friend.'

'How do I know I can trust you?'

'Would I lie to you?'

'I don't even know who you are!'

'Just think about it for a little while. It will come to you.'

'…Are – are you the amulet?'

'In a way, yes. But I am also part of you now.'

'What? How?'

'You wanted a Charm of Power, did you not?'

'Yes…'

'Well, now you have one.'

Ooh! An interesting start - does this remind anyone of a certain trilogy? It does? Now we're Tolkein! (LOL, that pun! XD) But just to let everyone know, I will only be updating this every other day - daily updates would be putting too much stress on me.

Random Observation: I hope you guys like the cover image for this story - it took me two and a half hours to draw and another thirty minutes to edit. Not ever doing that again. XD I tried to base it off the cover for 'The Fellowship of the Ring' movie, and I think I did alright.