Ismene took a deep breath before entering the dark vault. She traced the cold gray stone walls with her left hand as she slowly walked down the steps leading to the stone vault. The guards had left the scene hours before but the stench of their overwhelming body odor and alcohol still lingered at the doorway. Clenching the torch in her right hand, Ismene entered the vault.

It was dark and it smelled slightly of blood. Ismene slowly waved her torch to etch the scene into her mind. The walls were plain and there nothing extraordinary about the vault except for the red stains near the farthest corner of the vault. It was depressing to think that the cause of her distasteful situation was an awful malediction on her sister the day of her examination to become a full-fledged sorceress. Takira had been working towards this moment ever since she became the apprentice of the Purple Witch of the East, cleaning after the old witch’s messes and memorizing all the ingredients to every potion in the world. The exam was pretty simple: Find the accursed necklace and purify it; if only Ismene was better at sorcery then she could make her puppets do all the work.

She sighed and took out a little shovel from her bag and began to dig at the bloody corner of the vault. She wondered how much time she had until the site was to be taken down by the order of King Hamilton. She heard the plodding of the guards’ horse and was relieved when she finally found the necklace. The chains were tangled and dirt clung to the pendant but she could see that it was a beautiful emerald necklace.
“Hey, what is he doing here? No one is allowed in here, show yourself little rascal!” said a husky voice behind Ismene. Ismene quickly placed her shovel and necklace into her bag. Pulling her hood with her left hand, she blew out her torch and reached for her explosives with her right hand. He heart began to pound; she had never done anything this rebellious and exciting. The strange explosives were purchased from a shady merchant in the market who promised her that it would be the perfect attack. She remembered the time Takira needed to go grave digging to get a new leg after she lost hers in a battle with some forest serpents and wondered if she could bring home any souvenirs. Takira would be so jealous that Ismene ravaged more human body parts than she ever did in her eight years of working alongside the witch in a night. It was a new turning point in her life but she knew anymore reminiscing and she would be the one losing an arm and a leg, or more. She threw the explosives at the feet of the guards entering the vault.
In a blazing white light, the large muscular men were gone and after Ismene lighted her torch she saw that only their armor remained. Her eyes widened when she realized what she just did. She vaporized the men into air. She was beaming with pride until the armor began to wiggle and the vault was filled with the oinks. Seven pigs emerged from the armor and started charging at her. In fear, she ran out of the vault and blocked the entrance with a slab of granite.
Her experience at the vault was too much excitement for one day and seriously tired her out but the test must go on. Takira how the owners of the necklace mysteriously died one way or the other so it had a strong spiritual power but it seemed like one of the things she makes up to scare Ismene. Like the time Takira told Ismene that if she didn’t finish her voodoo doll in a week, the corpse of a little girl would crawl up from the grave to get her doll back. It scared Ismene so much that she almost gave up her favorite hobby forever. She didn’t want to ask Takira for help so she considered going back to the shady merchant since he was obviously knowledgeable about the dark arts but he was nowhere to be seen.
“Little lady, I think I have what you’re looking for.” a voice whispered. Ismene quickly turned to the origin of the voice; it was from a street vendor selling children toys and Ismene started to approach him.
“Tsk tsk, can’t even see me now, can you little lady?” the voice whispered again. Ismene turned once again and was surprised to see a large wooden stand selling a wide assortment of colorful and strange looking books. She could’ve sworn that there was an alley exactly where the bookstand was located but brushed the thought aside.
“Here is the book, you’re looking for.” said a smiling pale old man wearing a dark gray cloak as he handed her a green leather-bound book. The covers were soft and there were many little tears and stains throughout the book as she quickly flipped through the book. She found a particular page that was titled “How to Purify Cursed Goods before Retail”. It wasn’t exactly it but it’ll do.
“How much-” Ismene began to ask the vendor.
“For you, it’s free. No one wants to buy this old book anyways, but if you insist in paying, I would like to look at what you have in that bag of yours.” said the merchant as he pointed a crooked finger at her bag.
To the merchant’s disappointment, Ismene shook her head and said, “Sorry but no, thanks for the book though.” The old man sighed as Ismene scurried away.
It was the last part of the examination now, the purification. She hoped that she could use the book’s simple method of purification without drawing the troublesome “Circle of Summoning” with the purple blood of the forest trolls; those trolls can put up a fight. The necklace was supposed to be heated using the branches of the olive tree while chanting a satanic rhyme. No big deal, except for the live sacrifice part, Ismene had to capture a bird from the olive tree which took a long while. After the ritual, the necklace started to glow and the tinted emerald color turned to a deep shade of mossy green, it wasn’t what she expected but she was sure Takira wouldn’t mind. Nothing was happening and the sky was brightening. She started her journey home, unaware that she turned to the wrong page and released an evil spirit that was approaching the city.