From Darkness It Comes



The Mysterious Box and Contents

Feeling good and excited about the rest of his day he walks up to his room to rest for a bit, and then freshen up before going to find Lisa. His smile feels permanents frozen on his face and there is a certain lightness to each of his steps. But all this changes as he slips through his door and closes it behind himself, because that is when he notices the strange poorly wrapped package sitting on his desk. It was placed in his locked room and nothing else looks touched. The package is about a foot long and fairly thin, wrapped in dirty brown paper and wrapped with frayed twine.

With trembling hands he reached down for the package and carefully picked it up. It was heavier than he expected and something inside shifted with a clunk when moved, which made him jump a little. Carefully he slid the twine from the wrapping and peeled off the crisp paper. The box was old and made of chipped wood with some strange designed carved into it. The latch is closed and the lock twisted to keep it shut. The carvings look like some kind of language, but nothing Darrin has ever seen before.

Slowly he turns the lock and opens the latch, which gives with a click. Cautiously he flips the top up and reveals the contents. Sitting loose in the box is a small tarnished silver handled dagger. The hilt appears to be formed of two silver snakes intertwined, with heads out at the tip of both guards. Along the center of the blade is more of the strange writing, nearly hidden in the grime and tarnish. The blade itself is smudged and chipped in places, but still appears to be quite sharp.

Darrin reaches in to lift the blade from its box, but notices there is a small folded piece of paper lying in the box below it. He slides it out and unfolds it to reveal the handwritten lettering within.

Darrin,
You have a greater destiny than you realize and your coming to this place was not by pure chance or luck. Take this blade, the Dagger of Urnenthul, and keep it hidden until it is needed. You will know the time.
Mr. Stark


Darrin just stands there and looks back and forth between the note and dagger, with a shock frozen on his face. What is this? He thinks to himself. And who is this Mr. Stark? And why is he doing this to me? Unsure of why, however, he closes the box, flips the latch and locks it, and slides it into the back of his bottom desk drawer.

After a few minutes he is able to calm down a bit and has to decide what he is going to do with the rest of his day.