Ring Awakens
In a magnificent cathedral many stories tall, a young man bent down towards an altar in the silent, old abandonded church.
"Almighty savior! The great magnificent creator! Please grant me salvation!"
The young man who had faced many hardships was very sincere in his prayer, he had faced many hardships in life, there was no doubt that he did not deserve the troubles that he had faced. Despite this, nobody answered his call. On his knees and entirely focused on prayer, the young mam only noticed the footsteps approaching when the were very close. Startled, the young man shuffled to his feet.
"Oh- hey..."
The young man let out in surprise taking in the figure of a tall and bulky man with a long beard and a bald head.
"I will leave immedietly, I apologize sir!"
Imagining the bulky man to be some sort of gaurd, given the sword on his hip, the young man quickly tried to defuse any tension and make an exit. As the young man bowed his head to express his respect, he heard the sound of metal sliding as the bulky man decapitated him on the spot. Sheathing the sword and inspecting the corpse, the bulky man picked up a silver ring with a crystal eye embedded within. Taking the ring and the few coins the man had, the bulky man walked back out of the abandonded cathedral, saddled his horse and made his way back towards the nearest town - Gelam - Gelam is a busy town around 30 minutes on horseback south of the abandonded cathedral. The bulky man had no idea why the young man would be out so far from the nearest town, but he didn't care. The elder at the temple had told him there would be a young man here at this time, his mission was the kill him.
Once the bulky man entered the town, he found the nearest inn and stable, settling down the night in a cheap room for sixteen tel. Once the bulky man woke up, he bought a breakfast of mashed potatoes and bread for four tel before setting off for the temple. The temple was another two days away on horseback, through out this time, the bulky man continued to find the cheapest in with the cheapest food, to keep his daily spending at or below 20 tel, his daily expense limit for the execution tasked by the temple.
Finally arriving at the temple, a glorious pyramid of shiny white marble and glossy obsidian, the bulky man left his horse with one of the gaurds standing by the gate. Walking past the many training halls and different rooms, hallways or other sections of the temple - the bulky man arrived at the elders room to report the outcome of the mission.
"The execution was a success great elder"
The bulky man formally spoke, bowing his head. Taking the ring out of his bag, he handed it to the elder while explaining:
"I found a dragons eye ring with the boy"
"Perfect! Exactly as the premonition foretold!"
The elder squeeled as he inspected the ring.
After greedily staring at it for a while the elder dismissed the bulky man, pacing around the room in excitement, before putting on the ring. Immedietly the elders body convulsed and shook, in immense pain the elder attempted to pry the ring off of his finger, but it sunk into his skin, eventually disappearing into his body. The elder continued to convulse with no control over his motor functions. Shaking violently, a pressure increased inside of the elders stomach, expanding it until he popped - with the ring clattering the the floor, all fell silent.
The first to find the remains was a middle aged chief of the temple. After alerting nearby gaurds and spreading the information, the main leaders of the temple were all gathered, murmuring about what potentially just happened. Suddenly a voice broke through the whispers in a fierce tone
"Everybody back up!"
The chief gestured everyone to stand back as he approached the bloody mess that was the remains of the temple elder. With the only abnormality being the strange ring in the center of the blood, he had to assume that it was the cause of this strange occurrence. With serious apprehension, the chief bent down and picked up the ring with a white cloth and held it for a moment. Feeling nothing wrong, he announced that it was safe, called a clean up crew, and carried the ring into the ancient chamber where they kept the extremely dangerous items each chief of the temple deemed too difficult to control or mysterious to be properly utilized. Although he had no idea what type of use the strange ring could potentially have, without an experienced Elder to inform him, there was no way for him to figure out the qualities of the ring. Pondering on who to elect as the next elder, the cheif arrived at the ancient chamber, entering inside cautiously and approaching an empty pedestal. The cheif set down the ring, and left the room.
The crackling of flames almost drowned out the sound of footsteps approaching. Stopping directly in front of the pedestal, a young woman with soft features picked up the ring, sliding it onto her finger with impatience. An expression of grimace appeared on her face, she started to convulse and twitch involuntarily, blood rolling down her cheek as she bit her lip. After a long and painful process, the young woman seemed to have returned to a normal state, with a very calm expression she walked out of the ancient chamber and stepped back into the main hallways of the temple. Burning and collapsing at a considerable speed, the young lady moved swiftly, so quick that the wind generated by her movements was strong enough to keep her from being burned by any of the flames. Exiting the temple, the young woman turned around towards the collapsing debris and stuck out her tounge and her middle finger. "Such a run down temple of Grite shouldn't ever possess such a valuable item" the woman mumbled as she brushed back her long white hair behind her ear, turning back around and boarding her carraige.
Pulled by two skeleton horses, the carraige made its way through the barren land away from where the temple burned brightly in the dark. Examining herself carefully, the young lady sensed her arcane abilities for changes. Although she had not noticed any changes in her abilities themselves, she felt a deep hidden power, it almost felt sentient. Feeling her skin crawl from the thought of some hidden force now watching her, Celine decided to brush off her paranoia for now and to bring it up to her master later.
The carraige made its way through the Fal Forest, a gigantic span of trees covering so much land that even the most certified individuals with arcane insight tasked by the great cities and largest clans to explore it's strange, seemingly infinite expanse of grass and trees. Many have suddenly disappeared or died seemingly at random, but the lucky few came back with great treasure and powerful insights. Celine was aware and on gaurd passing through the forest every time, even though she could be considered very experienced with the land and specifically the route she was on, no one could foretell what might happen in the Fal Forest. Even those individuals with arcane insights into divination and prophecy could never muster even the slightest revelation. All except for the sense that every single one of those individuals with the ability to 'see' things claim to feel, which is an overwhelming presence hidden within.
Finally seeing the beautiful architecture and vibrant colors of the Palace of Vey in the distance, Celine dismissed her phantom carraige and carefully walked the rest of the way. The Palace of Vey, located in a hidden section of the Fal Forest, was so vibrant you would think it would be very easy to find, but the enormous trees of Fal Forest perfectly covered the palace in such a way that it could only be found by those looking for it. The surroundings had been enchanted by the founder of the palace - causing anyone who happened to be wandering by to subconsciously avoid the clearing upon which the Palace of Vey was built. Once arriving at the entrance, she yelled at the gaurds.
"Open the damn gate you vermin!"
As the soilders activated the runes engraved on the luxurious castle gate, it slowly opened silently as Celine elegantly walked through. Entering the grand palace, Celine entered her bedroom, washed up and fell asleep.
Waking up slowly to the serene silence of the palace and nearby woods, not even allowing a bird close enough to hear a chirp, the beautiful lady with snow like hair extending to her hips, a slender figure but well endowed - she couldn't help but look herself over in the mirror. Although she found men revolting, and wasn't exactly attracted to females, she took a lot of pride in her appearence. Dressing in more casual clothing, as she had been so exhausted to fall asleep with her battle gaurd still on, walking out of her bedroom - down several halls and down a flight of stairs - passing by the kitchen she demanded:
"Pancakes and crepes"
She was on her way to her masters chamber to inform her of the success in obtaining the ring. Her master had given her a prophecy that the ring would end up at the temple and had told her it would be extremely benificial for her arcane insight. Celine hoped that her master Shei would know how to get rid of this feeling of being watched she has had ever since putting on the ring. Glancing down at her hand the examined the ring more closely, sensing a faint tightening of the ring around her finger, she decided to just ask her master as Celine just then arrived at her masters chamber.
First knocking seven times to alert her master that it was her, she opened the exuberant door embedded with dazzling gems. Bowing her head before making any eye contact, she first said a formal greeting before beginning with her explanation of the events that had transpired and the subsequent treasure that had been obtained. After explaining the easy victory she had over all of the temples inhabitance, she summarized the last of what happened.
"After I set the temple ablaze, I was able to locate the ring you had foreseen and quickly make it back without any problems ma'am!"
She finished, the entire time she spoke sounding as if she was reading a battle report document that had been carefully practiced and recited. Finally feeling at ease enough to look her master in the eyes she lifted her gaze from the floor, at this moment Celine's master, the Great Lady Sophel Vey the 17th heir of the Vey bloodline began to speak with an incredibly smooth and gentle voice.
"How was your reaction to the ring? And what type of differences have you noticed within yourself?"
Celine was almost too intoxicated by her masters voice that she forgot she had to respond for a moment, quickly scrambling her thoughts and reorganizing them to form an answer.
"I have only noticed a subtle shift in the depth to which I wield the arcane, I also have a creepy feeling that I am being watched."
She was hoping her master would have some sort of solution for this problem, or at least a suitable explanation, however the look of outstanding beauty and composure that exuded an immense sense of might, turned into a look of fear.