Ricky was drunk off his a**, but unlike most nights recently, he wasn’t roaming the streets of Destiny City. No, he wasn’t roaming any streets. In fact, he wasn’t even close to Destiny City. He was at his old home in Alabama, lounging on the front porch with all of the men in the family as the women cleaned up from their Christmas Eve dinner. The men were passing around a bottle of whiskey, challenging each other to who can best hold their liquor, and so far it seemed like Ricky was winning.

He had youth on his side, though his uncle was proving to be quite the challenger, and it wasn’t long before it was just the two of them left. His younger cousin – only twelve – had passed out pretty early, and was sleeping in the rocking chair, and his older cousin never was able to old his alcohol well and found himself puking in the bathroom. As for Ricky’s brothers, well, their girlfriends and wives had nagged them to come back inside and lay down. Thank god too – his older brother could easily outdrink all of them.

“Your brothers are whipped, son,” his uncle chuckled as he took a long swig from the near-empty bottle. As he rose the glass, the cuff of his sleeve rolled down his forearm, exposing a golden bracelet on his wrist. Ricky was instantly drawn to the bracelet, not just because it was a shiny thing and simple minds like shiny things – but because of a familiar symbol engraved into the bracelet. It was the exact signal he found on his signet ring, the ring of Troy of Chronos.

“What’s that?” he asked, unable to fight the temptations to inquire.

“What’s what?” his uncle asked, looking around uncertain, before figuring out the object in question. “Ah, this old thing? Its nothin’.”

“That ain’t nothing,” he insisted with a light laugh. “Its nice, where it from?”

“I dunno, your granddad gave it to me, and his granddad gave it to him and so on,” he shrugged. “Nice lil’ thing for the family. Your auntie Marsha likes it when I wear it. Why?”

“No reason,” Ricky shrugged. He wasn’t done with his questions yet, though. “What’s that a symbol of?”

“For ******** sake, Ricky, I dunno,” his uncle blurted. “Maybe its some sort of religious thing. Yer mama’s got a necklace just like it, why don’t you ask her?”

Ricky rolled his eyes and took a long swig from the flask. No more than an hour later, the house was starting to clear out of its guests, and Ricky was stumbling towards his mother was questions.

“Ma, Uncle Barry had this little bracelet that he said granddaddy gave ‘em,” Ricky explained. “You know what I talkin’ about?”

”Yeah, I know it,” she exhaled as she smoked her evening cigarette at the kitchen table. “What about it, boy?”

“He said you got yerself a necklace just like it,” he said, half-posing a question.

“I do,” his mother continued. “It’s a family symbol of some sort, been around for generations. I keep mine in the jewelry box for safe-keepin’, was gonna pass it down to my daughters but, hell, three boys and I’m forty-seven. You ain’t gonna have no sisters.” She grinned. “You want the necklace? Little girly for yer tastes, though you one of them city boys now.”

Ricky didn’t answer – he didn’t exactly want the necklace, it wasn’t something he’d ever wear, but he had an attachment to that symbol.

“I’ll go get it fer ya,” his mother sighed, assuming his interest. She put the cigarette in the ash tray as she made her way upstairs, returning back a few minutes later with the small silver necklace in tow.

Ricky inspected the necklace between his fingers – it was thin chain with a charm about the size of a quarter with the symbol embossed into it.

“Ya can keep it if you like,” his mother continued her cigarette. “Just don’t lose it or nothin’.”

“I won’t, ma,” Ricky promised, apparently agreeing to keep the chain as he further inspected it with great interest. He wasn’t sure how long he sat at that table, mesmerized by the symbol – but by the time he shifted his attention away from it, his mother had long gone to bed, and it was almost time for Christmas Day.

When he returned to his room, he stowed the chain safely away in his luggage, planning on asking Oreius what if anything he knew about the necklace and how it came to be in his family’s possession.