How It Started
It was about six years ago that I learned of world crippling artifacts. As a matter of fact, I learned of these tools because I came to own one. It was called The Rabbit Foot. This particular item was a bronze necklace, and it granted an unbelievable amount of luck to the wearer. The tool was used during battles between nations and was worn by knights to sway the tide of war. Many of the successful battles in my worlds history were won because of some miraculous feat of pure luck, produced by this necklace.
It was commonplace, at the time, for collectors to carry around small vials of white cherry blossom extract. It was a considerably cheap substance which was able to check if an item had any magical abilities. I had obtained some from a friend who had an excess of it at his disposal. And almost like fate, it helped me obtain my first treasure. The Rabbit Foot was in a small shop listed under trinkets; an invaluable find.
To use the extract, you put some on your finger and rubbed it onto the item. The item would then glow a color, and depending on the color, you could tell how powerful it was. The ranking system went as follows: Green-weak, Blue-mediocre, Yellow-strong, Pink-powerful, White-extremely powerful, and Black indicated that this item had multiple, absurdly powerful abilities. However, as always, they could be misused and potentially destroy life as we know it.
When I had used the extract, the necklace glowed pink, but something was different about it. It seemed almost as if the glow was somehow masked by something. I purchased the item, proceeded to head back to where I was sleeping that night and inspected the jewels which hung down from the bronze chain. I realized that there had been an almost unnoticeable red coating painted onto it. This object was concealed in plain sight. Whoever last owned this either had their blood spilled upon it, or purposely dipped it in some reddish material to hide it's pure white glow.
A weeks research in the town library uncovered its documentation. I found the necklace in a book of magical warfare. The book claimed that though this tool was lucky for the user, it would gradually bring increasing misfortune to others in the vicinity, the longer the user wears it. The more I researched the more I realized that all of the battles were won with a single unit among the front line. A lone knight or soldier would break through and destroy the enemy. Each show of incredible force lasted no less than one week when the hero was accompanied by allies. Without them, however, the battle wouldn't last any longer than a single day. As said before, the chained pendant could make those in the vicinity very unlucky. That includes enemies.
On countless adventures, that necklace saved my life, granting me more second chances than I care to admit. However it was also the reason my life would eventually come to an end.