Separate Ways/Worlds Apart (JJBA: Battle Tendency)

Chapter 1: People and Places

She was specifically told not to touch the statue by Doctor Schon. The problem with the eighteen year old blonde, however, was that she had never been one to completely listen to anything her archaeology professor had to say, whether he was her boss or not. The young female had been working as an intern for the better part of her summer. Hoping to gain more experience in her chosen career field, that topic being historical uses of hamon, she had traveled down to South American to search for various relics tied to the subject. Of course legally she couldn't just go there on her own and steal what she pleased, instead she had to go through a rigorous application process to get Doctor Schon to take her on as a pupil. The statue she was currently watching over while her retainer went to find strong coffee for their most likely all-nighter of mapping out and cleaning the bloody thing. The pillarous stone man was hopefully going to give a tad of insight into why hamon had been developed in the first place and why its originally users went extinct in less than a hundred years, the true reasoning having been lost with the ages. The statue itself was nothing spectacular, and certainly not the first of its kind. Another archaeologist and his team had found one in Japan and a Russian man and his son had accidentally uncovered two that were attached to each other in Siberia. This one had been tested and been found to be made of the same stone used in the other statues she discovered, however they could not view the others, because they were under tight lock and key within their respective countries. The only thing special about the hilariously muscular pillar man in the room with her was the blue  and gold scarab ring on the statue's left pinky finger. The ring seemed so out of place, it was nearly perfect, not having aged a bit and seemed to have almost an eerie hum to it. Plus from a geological stand point it depicted an Egyptian winged scarab, a common Middle Eastern and African design, but definitely not in the Americas.

As the female archaeologist observed it closer and closer she seemed to almost become hypnotized by the deep sapphire color to the extent that she got up from her seat in the corner of the room to get closer. Remaining in place for a moment, content with just observing it, the sudden urge to touch it, to feel its unique patters on her fingers. The girl began to move again, each step she took towards it making her boss's words become quieter in her head. Mindlessly she outstretched her hand to caress the golden piece, her pale fingers caressing the air around it. Just as the intern attempted to close the distance between her phalanges and the priceless artifact, she felt a slight shock go through her appendage. A crack began to form right where she was about to touch, webbing out until the entire hand of the statue was covered in cracks, and just like that, starting at the edge of the pinky where the ring rested, the statue began to crumble, the cracks consuming the entire statue as it began to crumble as well.

Coming to her senses she leapt back slightly as the world seemed to move in slow motion, the statue she and her mentor had spent so long digging up, and she had spent even longer making deals with the Peruvian government to have shipped to New York City to be studied. Her aquamarine eyes landed on the golden ring falling along with the rubble, she needed to at least save that little bit of it the statue, it could be the key to continuing their research! Reaching forward to grab it her calculations of how fast it was falling and the distance were inaccurate. Rather than catching the jewelry before it fell to the floor and possibly shattered, the circle of gold slipped onto her left ring finger. Just as it made its new home on her pale digit, the sapphire scarab loop seemed to form to her finger, though it seemed much too big to fit where it had. She stared down at the ring for a moment, the gems and gold glinting in the faux sunlight of the lamp above her. 

For a moment the girl did nothing but gape at the ring and then back at the shattered statue, the remains of which had mixed with a crimson dust on the cement floor. She was completely awestruck at what had happened, and unsure as to what she could do to relinquish the situation. However, before she could register a single other thought, a crushing pain hit her chest, her ability to breathe becoming incredibly difficult. Clutching her sides and gasping for air, another shock of pain went through her nervous system draining every bit of energy she seemed to have as she collapsed to the floor. The blonde clenched her teeth in agony  while her eyes clamped tightly shut. Her head began to spin as her body began to feel stretched and morphed. But the only thing she could process was the throbbing of every one of her major arteries and organs.