In Memoriam - An Unus Annus Fanfiction

16.02 - 02/16 - 10 strange products Ethan bought Mark because he doesn't know..

Annus instantly regretted their decision when they stepped through the portal. The air felt a lot colder than inside the house. A shiver ran down his spine when his eyes locked onto his own dried blood on the floor. The room was a mess, most tables freed from whatever stood on them.
   »This one is big enough,« Unus said, but he only listened with half an ear. He had noticed a chest, which had been buried underneath books and papers before. It stood on a chair, near the exit they first entered the study from.
It had a strange pull. Like a wordless whisper, it called out to him, begged to be opened, to have the secrets it held for so long to be released.
   »What is that?« Unus's voice snapped him out of his trance like state.
   »I don't know. Must have been Marvin's. Should we open it?«
Unus vehemently shook his head. »It's just gonna end up being a Pandora's box kinda thing. I don't trust Marvin's stuff if he's not around.«

Annus placed his hand on top of the box. The dark wood seemed warm under his palm, almost as if it was alive. The chest was simple. In contrast to pretty much everything else in this room, it wasn't loaded with gold, silver, and jewels. It had a brass lock, old and rusty. Annus could feel how easy it would be to break it, the cold metal pressing against his fingers for a short moment, then giving away.
   »You're probably right,« he said, not taking his eyes off the chest. »But what if there's something important in it? Look around. If you were Marvin, where would you hide the most important things?«
   »In the most unsuspicious place possible,« Unus followed up on his logic.
There was a brief moment of silence between them, an unspoken agreement made. »If we open it, we have to be prepared for the worst,« Unus said leaning closer to the chest.
   »I know. Ready?« Annus used his good arm to reach for the lock, hitting it's rusty shackle against the body of the chest. It broke, a high pitched sound ringing through the room as it hit the floor.
Placing his hands left and right on the lid, he opened it. Everything stayed silent, which hopefully was a good thing. The chest wasn't empty, but it's contents didn't seem to be all that mysterious either.

Unus reached inside, picking up a simple leather book, also sealed with a lock. It was worn out and dirty, and it's pages just waited for the right moment to slip out. He touched the lock, and quickly pulled his hand back. »It shocked me,« he exclaimed, wondering what secrets Marvin would secure that well.
Annus turned his attention to the other things inside the chest. One was a pitch black crystal ball, the other seemed to be some kind of egg.

He picked up the ball, looking at if from every direction. It looked as if somebody had filled a fortune tellers crystal ball with black ink. The darkness slowly swirled around in it as he turned it in his hands.
Just as he wanted to put it back, the ball began to shrink. It almost seemed to deflate, until it wasn't much bigger than a marble.
He looked over to Unus, then put it on the inner pocket of his suit.

The last object looked like an ordinary egg. It was mostly white, with a few darker spots around it's poles.