The Amulet of Rahm

There weren't always dragons in the Valley. Then again, there weren’t always dragons in a small God fearing town of Emberville, but here they were. A few months ago, a couple of these beasts decided to target a small ranch house in the middle of nowhere surrounded by acres of land, bordered by wooden fences separating the property from the woods.

Of course it wasn’t just anyone’s property. It belonged to the most respected man in town: Reverend Cole. Now why would dragons want to hurt this sweet man? No one knows. Not even the lone survivor of the incident, Maya. Maya was the reverend’s daughter who was loved dearly by not just her father, but the whole town as well. That is until the night of the attack.

She recalled going to bed early and telling her dad good night. She would usually say a prayer before bed time and then talked about her day to the brightest star in the sky, believing it’s her late mother paying her a nightly visit. Maya shared a striking resemblance to her mom, at least that’s what her dad told her. She shared her mom’s blonde hair and emerald eyes as well as her porcelain skin. Maya has heard stories about her mother, including her demise. Apparently she died while giving birth to Maya, leaving Reverend Cole to raise her on his own. Nonetheless, the whole town helped the beloved reverend raise Maya from donating used clothing to babysitting her so the single father would have time for himself.

Of course Maya would talk about the selfless townspeople to her mom, along with how she scored the winning goal in her school’s soccer game earlier that day. She knew her mother would’ve been proud! Her eyelids became heavy so she decided to call it a night. She promised her mom that she’ll talk to her tomorrow same time. Maya remembered crawling into bed and closing her eyes. What she didn’t recall was her searching through the burning house looking for her father, much less waking up to the smoldering heat and the smoke detector going off.

Maya simply remembered bits and pieces of the events. Yes, she remembered the flames destroying everything in its path and her crawling on the bedroom floor searching for an exit. However, what she couldn’t get rid of was the ghastly sight of those beasts. She recalled grabbing onto the window sill, trying to open the window until she saw a figure flashed by. Must be the smoke, she thought. Then why did the smoke have glowing red eyes?

The shadow like figure pressed it’s face onto the window, staring Maya down. She swore that she can see Hell into its piercing crimson eyes. So that’s what’s causing the fire, Maya deduced. But why? As if it can read her mind, the creature roared. Where is the amulet of Rahm?

The amulet of who? Well for one did Maya just heard the creature talk? No, she only heard it roared, however in her head she could’ve sworn she understood them. “I- I don’t know…what,” she responded. Wrong answer. The dragon body slammed the window, causing it to crack. WHERE IS IT? WHERE’S THE AMULET OF RAHM?!?! I KNOW YOU HAVE IT, ALTHEA!

Althea? Her name’s clearly not Althea. Perhaps these dragons were mistaken? Maya shrugged. “Hey, I think you guys got the wrong house. I’m not Althea and I don’t have anyone’s amulet.” Wrong answer. The dragon shot fire out of its mouth, breaking the window. Maya ducked, barely avoiding getting scorched alive.

So dragons won’t take no for an answer, Maya concluded. What now? The dragon made its way in her room followed by its companion. The second dragon snarled at her. She’s clearly not going to tell us, brother. Perhaps we should make an example out of her guardian. The first dragon grunted in agreement. Guardian? Oh no, her father!

Maya couldn’t recall what happened or how she got the strength to evade the dragons. Perhaps she treaded through the burning house to get to her father before the monsters could. If that was the case, then she deserved an award for the world’s worst daughter.

She did, however, remembered running through the fields as the dragons pursued her shooting fire at her. She could hear them in her head pressuring her to give up the amulet that she didn’t possess to begin with. No matter how hard she tried to convince them that she didn’t have what they’re looking for, the beasts became more hostile.

Somehow, she ended up on her neighbor’s front door a few miles from her house, knocking like a mad man. She could feel the dragons closing in on her. Why did she decided to put others in danger? She needed help and her neighbors always said that if she ever needed anything, then she shouldn’t hesitate to ask. Well, now was a great time to not hesitate. “Open up,” she screamed. “They’re trying to kill me! Please, help me!”

She looked up at the midnight sky and saw two figures circling the house like vultures, waiting to attack. WHERE’S THE AMULET, ALTHEA?! At that point Maya believed she was losing her mind. There was no way this is happening. Her home didn’t burn down, her dad’s not missing, and talking dragons do not exist. In fact, this was all a nightmare and she’ll wake up. If only this were true.

Maya’s neighbors called emergency services after all. The fire department extinguished the fire and of course they couldn’t pinpoint how the fire started. Apparently fire breathing dragons didn’t seem like a logical explanation. Maya was sent to the hospital for burn treatments. Nothing too major, but her dad’s well-being was on her mind. Police came to her hospital room to ask her questions, but what can she say? “I was attacked by fire breathing dragons, officer.” They’ll most definitely put her in a straight jacket. She claimed that she had no clue what happened.

The most devastating part was that the fire marshals found the reverend’s charred remains. Naturally Maya mourned for her loss; she’s now an orphan at age fifteen and it was all thanks to those fire breathing bastards. Oh how much she loathed them. How she wished she had the courage to slay them like the noble knights in fairy tales. Unfortunately, this was the real world and people needed answers for what happened. Rumors began going around that it was Maya that intentionally started the fire, but she loved her dad so why would she want to kill him?

No evidence was needed. No court trial either. There wasn’t enough evidence to pin Maya as a suspect, so it was ruled as an accident. However, Maya’s nightmare was far from over. She got placed in an orphanage, since there were no other surviving family members. The rumors of her essentially killing her father became a part of her history. Nobody wanted to adopt nor foster her. Of course, Maya thought. People want to adopt babies and small children, not a tyrant like her.

She would watch other orphans get selected by infertile couples. Every time she got introduced to a happy go lucky potential family, they would always have keen interest in her. However as soon as they heard about the incident, they backed out. All this false hope broke Maya’s spirit and she grew resentful of how her own community turned their backs on her. She was the reverend’s daughter for God’s sake! How can they do this to her? They all pointed fingers at her saying it’s her fault her father’s dead. No. It’s those monsters. They didn’t care who they hurt as long as they got that stupid amulet of who the hell cares.

Every night Maya would look out the window, not looking for the brightest star to talk to, but to search for those dragons. She knew they were out there in the darkness waiting, watching her, and calculating their next move. “I know you’re out there enjoying my misery,” Maya said. “But someday it’ll be me enjoying your misery. I’ll make you beasties suffer for what you did to my dad. For what you did to me!” Maya wiped the tears off her cheeks. Anger filled her soul, making her see red just like the dragons that took her father’s life.