kingdombrunel

Item #: SCP-XXXX

Object Class: Safe

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-XXXX is to be contained in a small steel box, within a secure room, with two CCTV cameras directed at the box. A guard should be positioned outside SCP-XXXX’s room at all times. No ink or ink-based writing implements may be left within SCP-XXXX’s chamber, with repeat offenders subject to disciplinary action.

SCP-XXXX can be accessed by any staff member with clearance level 2 or above, but SCP-XXXX must not be worn, with repeated attempts to be punished by transfer to a different site. Any staff member found to be writing on SCP-XXXX-1 is to be immediately punished, potentially by termination if it is believed the staff member in question actively intended to use SCP-XXXX’s anomalous effect for personal benefit.

Although none have been found, it is likely that the creation of other iterations of SCP-XXXX may be possible, although the method is as of yet unknown to Foundation researchers. In the event of discovery, any other iterations of SCP-XXXX must be contained in the same manner as the current SCP-XXXX.

Description: SCP-XXXX is a small locket composed of gold, with a chain attached to allow it to be worn around the neck. Inscribed on the locket is an abstract image, which appears to most closely resemble (and is often interpreted as being, even by those not aware of SCP-XXXX’s anomalous nature) a hooded figure. This interpretation appears likely, as it does align with the appearance of SCP-XXXX-3.

Contained within SCP-XXXX is SCP-XXXX-1, a piece of paper which, despite its apparent age (at least 2██ years old¹), shows no damage and is impossible to mark with any substance other than ink. In order to be placed within SCP-XXXX, SCP-XXXX-1 must be folded to a size of no larger than 4x4cm, however when fully unfolded, SCP-XXXX-1 is, as of 25/08/20██, 123x27cm. It is possible to fold SCP-XXXX-1 down to the required size for placing it inside SCP-XXXX as, regardless of how many times SCP-XXXX-1 has in actuality been folded, it maintains the thickness of a piece of paper that has only been folded once. Written on SCP-XXXX-1 is a list of names and, for each name, a description of an ability, the latter ranging in specificity - from 'his music', to 'the way he remembers everyone's name'. When SCP-XXXX was entered into Foundation custody, the list comprised 27 names and abilities. The first four entries were written in different handwritings, however the final 23 had been written by the same individual (see Acquisition).

The anomalous effects of SCP-XXXX manifest when a name and corresponding ability are added to the bottom of the list (the named person henceforth referred to as SCP-XXXX-2). Firstly, SCP-XXXX-1 will increase in length to accommodate a blank space for another name. If the subject then puts on SCP-XXXX, they will fall asleep². During this sleep, the subject will dream that they are at the peak of a (currently unidentified, likely non-existent) mountain, and be greeted by a hooded figure (SCP-XXXX-3). Thus far, the only description subjects have been able to make of SCP-XXXX-3 is that the hood they wear is black. No subjects have been able to recall any other features.

SCP-XXXX-3 will offer to grant the ability written by the subject equal to that of SCP-XXXX-2. If the subject refuses, they will awaken and their entry on the list will have been removed. If the subject accepts, SCP-XXXX-3 will make clear that accepting the ability will cause SCP-XXXX-2 to die. Some subjects have reported that at this stage SCP-XXXX-3’s voice becomes recognisably that of SCP-XXXX-2.³ The subject may again refuse at this point, with the same result as if they had refused before. If the subject accepts then they will awaken, and from that point on, so long as they are wearing the locket, they will have the requested ability of SCP-XXXX-2, to the exact level (as far as can be measured) at which SCP-XXXX-2 has it. This does include physical changes to cater for abilities that come from an aspect of SCP-XXXX-2’s physicality that the subject does not have.⁴ SCP-XXXX-2 will not lose the ability in question, however in all recorded cases has experienced organ failure almost immediately at the point of the SCP-XXXX-3 manifestation, leading to death in all recorded cases.⁵

24 hours after the death of that individual, the next time the subject sleeps (even if not wearing the locket), they will have a similar dream to that of the first, however in this instance SCP-XXXX-3 will be joined by a figure resembling the deceased SCP-XXXX-2. SCP-XXXX-3 will at this point inform the subject that SCP-XXXX-2’s ‘soul’ will be trapped ‘in this realm’ for eternity, unless the subject relinquishes the ability they received. The manifestation of SCP-XXXX-2 will appear to be in distress, and generally has been reported to plead for the subject to give up the ability. If the subject agrees to this, they will awaken with the previously acquired ability returned to what it had been before interaction with SCP-XXXX. If they refuse, they will awaken, but with the ability maintained.

Subjects who keep the ability at this point will once again have this dream every anniversary of SCP-XXXX-2’s death, with the same offer made (and able to be taken) each time. Subjects report that the manifestation of SCP-XXXX-2 appears in noticeably more distress each time the dream is repeated.

Acquisition: SCP-XXXX was acquired by the Foundation in 1914, as one of several anomalous items acquired as the Order of Brabo, an organisation specialising in the containment of anomalies under the auspices of the Belgian government, was absorbed into the Foundation in order to allow the Order’s containment facilities to safely continue operation during the German occupation of Belgium. During this handover, the Foundation also acquired the notes on SCP-XXXX of the Order’s lead historical researcher, Dr Renaud Verschuere, provided below (translated from French):

A “locket of Phthonus”, acquired 1862

This item came into possession of the Order of Brabo in the July of 1862, after being handed over by Jacob de Meeûs d'Argenteuil, cousin of our late Grand Master Renaud de Meeûs de Trannoy (though he was at this time a mere Brother), who claimed that his recently deceased father, Ferdinand de Meeûs d'Argenteuil, had used it to ‘sap the life’ of twenty-three different people over the course of his life, in order to preserve his own mercantile ability and talents.

According to the writings of the late Dr Arnout de Waele, who interviewed him,⁶ Jacob reportedly claimed that his father drew him into his drawing room one day and handed him the locket, explaining that it was first brought into the de Meeûs family by Ferdinand’s father’s younger brother Louis, an acquaintance of the composer Antonio Salieri. Salieri described it as a “locket of Phthonus” (a Greek spirit of envy – it is unknown if this is an actual name for the locket or if this was a turn of phrase on Salieri’s part, but it is what we have taken to calling it), but did not make Louis aware of anything untoward regarding the locket, only that he wanted rid of it. It is further unknown where Salieri first acquired the locket, and a scouring of his records has turned up no evidence as such, besides a lack of documentation around 1791, indicating documentation from this period may have been destroyed or hidden, likely due to some attempt to hide his use of the locket for personal gain).⁷

Salieri was reportedly desperate to dispose of the locket, and, unable to destroy it, gave it to Louis for safekeeping. Louis became aware of the locket’s supernatural nature (as outlined in Document Phthonus.002)⁸ through means unknown to Jacob, and went to his older brother (Charles, Ferdinand’s father), for advice. Charles and Louis vowed to keep it hidden on Charles’ estate, but Ferdinand overheard their conversation, and took the locket for himself. He thus used its capabilities to become a business mogul of some standing, as well as to maintain a number of other talents for his own pleasure. In the fifty years he had possessed the locket, he told Jacob, he had killed twenty-three men. He had, however, spent the past year relieving himself of each of those talents, and had just released the final one that night, and now wanted the locket in hands he could trust not to use it. Having explained this to Jacob and giving him the locket, he then shot himself in the chest with his pistol, and despite efforts to save him was declared dead by the family doctor the next morning.

Footnotes

1. The earliest confirmed death date of an entry on the list is that of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the fourth entry on the list, in 1791.

2. This sleep can be disturbed, and if this happens the subject will reflexively remove the locket from their person. The next time they put the locket on, the anomalous effect will re-manifest.

3. Based on tests in which D-class personnel were allowed to choose whether or not to accept the offer, this has a noticeable positive correlation with how likely a subject appears to be to decline the offer. Debate remains ongoing as to whether this is just a natural human response to what is, as far as can be deciphered, an arbitrary decision to use SCP-XXXX-2’s voice on the part of SCP-XXXX-3; or whether this is further anomalous (i.e. SCP-XXXX-3 only doing this to subjects it knows are more likely to decline, which would indicate some ability to read minds, or the use of SCP-XXXX-2’s voice anomalously making the subject more likely to decline).

4. These physical alterations take place during the process of waking, thus making the subject take longer to awaken if they are required, extending the process to up to an hour. The subject cannot be awoken whilst these changes take place.

5. In all recorded cases, within two weeks.

6. The notes of this interview were apparently lost by the time of the Order’s handover to the Foundation.

7. The Foundation has similarly been unable to find any more information from Salieri’s personal records, and concurs with the Order’s conclusions. Foundation research did, however, discover several previously unpublished pieces of music composed by Salieri, which do appear to be of higher quality than Salieri’s known compositions, and contain a number of musical elements more commonly associated with the compositions of Mozart.

8. That document is in Foundation custody in the archives of Site-██, but is made redundant by the Foundation’s own documentation regarding SCP-XXXX’s anomalous nature and as such is not included in this document.