Keepers of calamity: chapter 1

Approximately 1000 years ago…

"I'm sorry dreas."

A pink frog was opening a portal in the middle of the forest, next to a brown salamander.

"Valeriana?" The frog asked. "Are you sure the spell is active for the stone?"

"Yes, your amulet shall only connect to one pure of heart."

"Good." said the frog. "It needs to be kept safe. And so must the box. I hope we see each other again."

"My pleasure."

And the pink frog walked into the portal.

————————————

A cart trundled into the town square of the quaint little village of wartwood, inside a small purple tadpole, a pink frog wearing aviator goggles, and an elderly orange frog.

"Now kids, imma do a little shopping!" Said the elderly frog. "You watch the cart."

"You got it, hop-pop!" Said the pink frog, pointing to his chest. "I'll protect this cart with my liiiifffeeee!"

"Sprig, i was talking to polly."

"What?" Said sprig. "Polly's a baby!"

"You're a baby!" Shouted polly from the back.

"Polly's got more responsibility in her little flipper than you have in your entire body!"

The argument continued for a while, until Hop-pop had enough, and went inside.

"MONSTER IN THE WOODS!"

The blue frog with one closed eye known as wally ran out of the woods screaming.

"I SEEN IT!"

A fat toad walked up to him. This was mayor toadstool.

"Simmer down, wally. Just tell us what you saw."

"There was this… beast! It had a big, bushy head, long, spindly limbs, and a bump on it's face! And some sort of blue stone attached to it's abnormally small neck!"

"Oh, how horrible!"

Sprig had an idea.

"This is how i'm gonna do it! I'm gonna prove I'm responsible and CATCH THAT BEAST!"

"Not so fast!" Polly jumped in front of sprig. "Hop-pop said you couldn't leave the cart! YOU KNOW YOU CAN'T TAKE ME!"

Sprig suddenly reached into his pockets and threw multicoloured candy at polly's bucket.

"Ooh, look polly! Candy!"

"…Bribe accepted!"

And sprig ran into the forest.

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Four days, Anne had been in this strange forest.

There were so many things she was used to, like the trees and the flowers, and yet it was all so different… mainly talking about the giant insects.

Don't eat that, Anne. It's poisonous.

Ugh. And then there was the voice. When anne first heard it, she thought she was going crazy. But she kept hearing it, and she assumed it came from the weird necklace Sasha had gotten her for her birthday because it would glow every time it spoke to her. She had tried to take off the amulet but it would only tighten when she tried, And loosen when she stopped. She couldn't deny it's uses, however. It would tell her what was safe to eat and what animals to avoid. It kept telling her that she needed to awaken the 'stone's true power', or whatever.

"AAAAAAHHHHH!"

The trap! It might have caught something! Could this be something to do with the weird frog man from yesterday?

She walked to the source of the noise, pointy stick in hand.

"I got ya! Thought you could get the best of ol' Anne, eh? Well you DIDN'T."

It was a pink frog with childlike proportions. "Oh no! The beast! Don't eat meeee!"

Anne looked at him weirdly. "Eat you? No thank you. And besides, i've already found a reliable food source." On cue, her stomach rumbled.

"Jeez, what am i talking about, living off mushrooms has not been pleasant."

"Wait," the little frog asked, confused, "you're not gonna eat me?"

"Uhmmm, nope! But i would appreciate some pizza right now-"

And a loud roar was heard.

Anne, the beast has returned. We have to go.

"What, and just leave the kid?" Anne asked.

"Leave him, we can get by on our own."

Anne looked towards the distance, and back at a struggling sprig, and took the initiative.

"I'm not going to listen to a voice i met FOUR DAYS AGO!" Shouted anne, her eyes glowing blue. And out of her amulet shot a blue tendril, formed of light, that cut the rope.

Temporarily stunned, anne regained her senses and ran over to the kid. "come on, little man, let's go!"

They hid in a hollow log, sprig looking at her in awe.

"Are you a witch?"

Anne gave him a look. "What? No!" She then thought back to what she did. "Okay, maybe i am, actually. So what if i am?"

"I thought you were a monster, but you're a hero! Witches are usually creepy and make voodoo dolls and stuff." Sprig then continued, "actually, the only witch I know is Maddie, so that might just be me generalising."

"Look, kid, i'm not a witch. I just have a fancy necklace that whispers voices in my head and tells me what to do." She paused. "Wow, when i put it like that, it doesn't sound the healthiest."

What are you talking about, Anne? I'm only here to help.

Anne ignored this frankly ominous reply.

"So, creature, you got a name?"

Anne smiled. "The names Anne. Anne boonchuy. You?"

"Sprig plantar! Put 'er there!"

And they shook hands, Anne momentarily disturbed by the amount of gunk she got on her hand.

"So, Sprig," anne said, "you said about other people. You have a town around here?"

Sprig hesitated. "I mean, yeah, but they don't really… enjoy… anything new or out of the ordinary. And we don't have…"

"Humans."

"…Humans… here. So I think we should wait a while-"

the town is about 500 metres left of that tree. You're welcome, Anne.

"I'm going," said Anne. "I know where the town is."

"What? How?"

"The voice in my head told me so."

As anne walked away, she mumbled, "i really have to use better wording."

Sprig followed her, trying to get her to stop.

"Anne, i'm telling you, wait a bit. I'll explain the whole thing to them and you can get in soon."

"Little dude," Anne reasoned, "It's not like they're gonna surround me with pitchforks and torches or anything."

"Actually, they will."

"Wait, what-?"

Anne had failed to notice they'd walked past the treeline and into the town. The villagers had already surrounded her and were tying her up.

"What the heck?"

"Good work, Sprig!" Said hop-pop, emerging from the crowd, "you lured the beast!"

"What? No!" Sprig said. "She's not a beast! Let her go!"

Anne was struggling against the ropes.

Anne, stop struggling. Use the stone.

"What?" Asked Anne. "What do you mean, use the stone?"

"I mean, do what you did before. Focus on what you want to do, and how you want to do it. Try it now."

Anne tried to relax. On the first attempt, she failed, but then she began to think of it like… a hand. An extra hand. And out of the amulet came two blue tendrils which ripped the rope apart. She still couldn't control the strength, but that was enough for now; she was free. She stood up and the frogs looked at her in fear.

Good, Anne. Now make them pay.

Anne took a step back. "What?"

I said, make them pay. They tried to hurt you.

Annes eye's became progressively more menacing, glowing a brighter blue at the same time as her amulet…

Make. Them. PAY!!

but then she stopped. "No." She looked at the frogs. Her eyes reverted to a normal color and her stone calmed down. "I'm not dangerous. I just don't appreciate being tied up. Please don't hurt me, and I won't hurt you. I want to coexist with you guys."

You're making a mistake, Anne.

"No. I'm making a choice. My choice. I'm not going to flip out over a bunch of people not worth my time."

I don't trust your judgement, but I can't exactly do much. You would have done better following my advice.

And the voice left.

"Alright, simmer down, everybody," said mayor toadstool. "What do you want, witch? We can give you some food and you'll be on your way."

Hop-pop walked up to her.

"My grandson has just told me everything. She won't be leaving- she'll be staying with me."

"Whuuuu?" Asked toadstool and Anne at the same time.

"If you go around here without anyone, you're clearly gonna get killed or captured by some other town. Better off here with me, where i can keep you out of trouble."

"Have it your way, hopediah plantar," the mayor said, "but I don't like it. Crowd, clear out." And the people returned to their normal daily buisness.

Polly jumped to Anne's shoulder. "You can teach me unholy rituals," she whispered. Anne scooped her up and put her on the floor. "Not that kinda witch," she chuckled.

———————————————

Hop-pop was showing Anne the basement.

"It's not much, but it'll do," he said. "And considerin' you have those swanky blue tentacles that come out your little neck rock, I expect you to help on the farm. Breakfast at dawn, sharp."

And he closed the hatch.

Anne waited until he was gone, and then opened her bag. Out of it she took the music box. She laid her bag down, and attempted to open it, but it did nothing.

"Oh, come on, Anne, you knew that wouldn't work."

The voice paused for a second, before continuing:

"I can power the box. But not fully. I'll need two more stones. And for that, you'll need to wait."

———————————————

"We found this in the forest."

Silence.

"Now we know you were lying to us, Sasha. Now we know there are more of you. Perhaps if I delve into your memories, you might say something different."

And the speaker directed her to a sort of grappling hook, with a screen attached. Curious, thought Sasha. It looks so… modern, and yet the world feels like something out of a history lesson.

"This has been in my family for years. I know how to use it. And soon, you'll know very much how it works."

Hello!

My favourite graphic novel series, Amulet, finished recently, and despite lots of opinions people have about it having a bad ending i decided to start a lil' side fanfic. This is not my main one (for now) but it's also to help me learn to write filler better! I hope you enjoy!

Note: if you couldn't tell, i gave gabilan's memory extractor to grime.

Cya!