1 A Ring

"Did you guys see the fight?" asked an excited boy walking next to his friends.

"Yeah, crazy..." said another voice, from his less than excited friend in a sarcastic tone. "That weirdo got what he deserved."

"He acts tough which is why he has to get beaten up. Its been some time since he was taught a good lesson." said the first boy with a grin.

The boy laughed and continued walking with his friends.

"Say that again," a raspy voice from behind yelled towards their direction. "How about you come over here and teach me a lesson yourself?"

The boys turned and saw the guy they were just discussing, standing some distance behind them.

He was around 5'9 and 17 years old. He had fair skin with no unique features. He was pretty skinny and had black curly hair. This boy was named Jay.

He stared at the three boys as blood from his nose still flowed as a result from the fight minutes before. His face was bruised and his lip was busted. His navy blue pants and blazer dirty and slightly torn.

He headed towards the group of three, but could not walk fast due to the pain in his side from the fight.

As he got into arms length of the group, he was greeted with a punch to the jaw followed by another to the mid section as he fell to the ground.

"Don't act tough around us!" shouted the third boy before the three left laughing.

About a min or two passed and Jay no longer gasped for air. He felt a strong pain now in his abdominal section.

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" he angrily screamed and pounded the floor as tears flowed out of his closed eyelids.

As he looked up opening his eyes, he noticed strangers who had stopped walking to stare at his pitiful outburst.

He stood up and made his way towards the street that led to his house.

Jay hated his life. He was often bullied due to his clumsiness, low grades, and below average looks. Of course, other students were bullied as well but they never fought back.

Jay on the other hand, never backed down without a fight. He always fought back and sometimes would fight dirty with a low blow.

Of course those watching would then jump in to attack him for his lack of honor. This resulted in more people picking on him and eventually treating him as an outcast.

He often daydreamed about one day getting back at the students but his dark thoughts scared him back to reality. He was powerless and alone. He couldn't see himself getting the strength he needed to win a fight.

Upon reaching his home, he noticed a small package outside his door. The fact that the package was here meant that his father had not yet returned home from work. His father was a detective at the local police station.

His mother left when he was only 9 and never returned. This caused his father to start drinking to get things off his mind. Another distraction was that he worked longer shifts compared to before.

His father never said why his mother left but would often say "She loved you and wants you to know, even though she isn't here". He hoped he could hear her say it herself one day.

Jay picked up the package and headed inside. Throwing the package on the kitchen table before heading to the bathroom to clean his cuts and take a shower.

After his shower, Jay put bandages on his cuts and the swelling on his face was starting to go down. Jay was still angry at what happened earlier and his anger only increased as he recalled the events from earlier that day.

He often used his situation to motivate himself to workout but never gave much dedication too it.

He had thought about taking his own life a few times when the bullying got bad but didn't want to leave his father behind. Another thought was to take the life of those who harassed him but that would also end with his father's despair.

After a while, Jay turned on the television which his father had set to open on the news channel. It was the same as always. "This happened, that happened." Jay mockingly said while turning off the television a few minutes later.

A couple of minutes passed and Jay finally decided to open the package. He knew his father never ordered anything online and knew neither were expecting anything.

What was inside was not something Jay expected. It was a black ring with red crystals on the side. Around the ring, carvings could be seen but they were not big enough to be described. Jay while puzzled, put the ring on and wondered who had sent this.

No information from the sender was on the package and therefore it could not be sent back.

He searched the package for a business card, letter or anything that would give insight on where the package was sent from. He gave up after scanning the inside of the package several times.

He decided to take off the ring and wait for his father to get home. However, as he tried to remove the ring, it would not budge. He pulled harder and stopped.

He thought he heard some kind of weird sound but quickly continued pulling after seeing the carvings on the ring start to emit a faint glow.

Jay then felt a sharp sensation on the finger the ring was put on. He again continued trying to take it off but it was definitely not planning to be removed.

The crystals around the ring started to glow as his hand felt like it was engulfed in fire. Jay while scared out of his mind, began to scream and yell for help.

What came next was a dizzy feeling as if he had spun in circles repeatedly for a while. Jay started to wobble before finally falling of his feet.

As he fell, he heard the words "Commencing Space Jump. Destination: Lio...." Jay finally lost consciousnesses as his heavy eyelids shut.