"Why is it a ring?" Claire's Dad asked unimpressed.
"Well, it wasn't a ring. In the beginning, it was a cube," Robyn retorted.
Claire stared at her Dad in annoyance, "Do you not see how much power is inside it?"
Her Dad moved closer, taking Robyn's hand from Claire and stared at the ring. He nodded as he continued to inspect it, letting go of his hand, "Nope. I think I'm just getting old."
Claire sighed and nudged Robyn, trying to get him to summon something. He looked around and stood in the middle of the room, ensuring he wasn't standing around he could accidentally break. Robyn held out his hand and grunted, flexing his hand a few times, but nothing. Embarrassed, he fixed his posture and tried one more time, turning his hand again as it out to his front and grunting even harder—still nothing.
"Hey, c'mon, you're embarrassing me here," she whined, shoving him a little harder.
"Visualize what you want in your mind, the Aegis will respond," her Dad said, sitting down in a chair, watching intently.
Robyn shrugged off his unease a little and nodded, "Okay."
He took a stance, trying to remember what he had been told about form by Sir Davos. The ring began to glow, and a long sword constructed itself into his hand. He waved it lightly through the air and allowed her Dad to get a closer look. He backed up and concentrated again, thinking of a shield, and to his surprise, a shield began to construct itself, replacing the sword.
Her Dad shook his head, "You can do better than that, the Aegis is a workshop artifact, it has limitless possibilities, if you have the will, then it will find the way."
Robyn wasn't sure what he meant by that. He was able to create weapons from it successfully.
"What he means you need more conviction, I thought you wanted to be a Knight, Robyn," Claire clarified, "The Aegis can summon multiple weapons at once the more you focus."
Robyn sighed, feeling like a puppet on display doing tricks for Claire and her family. He tried to focus on creating a sword to go with his shield. He grunted once again, trying to build a sword in his hand. Nothing.
Claire's mother leaned in close to Claire, "Why does he keep grunting like that? Is he okay?"
She sighed, putting her hand on her forehead and shaking her head.
"Can we just stop with the parlor tricks Dad, I told him that you would explain to him what is going on and why this World needs his help."
Robyn sighed in relief, relaxing, and the Aegis returned to a ring.
Her Dad sat down and motioned for Robyn to join him at the table, "Right, so, this place is called Earth, it's similar to where you and I originate from, but about 700 years more advanced and up until about 30 years ago, it also didn't have magic." He leaned on the table on his forearms, "So do you know of the Anti-Magic Purge and its history?"
Robyn shook his head slowly, "N-No, up until finding this ring, I didn't even know magic existed. Everyone at the barracks and even my orphanage I grew up at, all told me that I was just an over-imaginative kid, I believe in bedtime stories too much."
"Well, a long time ago, there was a massive clash of ideals. I would say is 'Nature vs. Religion', the natural order of our World was that of magical beasts and all sorts of wonder." he said, taking his glasses off. "However, Lorriane's Church led a massive crusade against non-humans and all things magic. Causing an unnatural...rift of sorts. Now, jump to 30 years ago, myself and a few other magically inclined individuals found a compatible world that was on the cusp of magic evolution."
While Robyn was trying his best to follow along, Claire and her mother had gone back into another section room. They were discussing what had been going on since she had been waiting for the Aegis to return.
"I guess to cut to the chase, our world is dying, and this world was supposed to be home to many of those left in hiding on our world," Claire's Dad had said. "But, things spiraled out of control, a group formed out of those coming to this World, believing that the people living here were inferior and doom to repeat our past. War continued between those who want to give Earth a chance and an increasing number of those who have turned to worship Ixotial, The Chaos God."
Ixotial was something Robyn had learned about in the orphanage growing up. Ixotial was said to be the God of Chaos, Destruction, Death, take your pick, but when it was preached to him, it was under the context that Ixotial was what corrupted the souls of humans, damning them forever. Sort of like a children's disciplinary tale to keep them from acting up. The Church did, however, preach during Robyn's training that Ixotial and Gaia, the Creator, were engaged in an endless war, struggling to overtake one another for the sake of humanity. Thus, the Knights of Lorriane would fight to protect the Gaia in her infinite crusade against the damned.
"So the stories of Ixotial when I was little, that was about magic folk worshiping another god?" Robyn had asked.
"No, no, that dribble is all brainwashing past down from generations of lies," he sighed, "Ixotial and Gaia are indeed gods. However, those of us magically inclined do not worship Ixotial. That was a convenient excuse the Chruch made to use their Knights against us as they crusaded to extinguish those who they believed posed a threat."
Robyn's mind was almost on fire, overloaded with so much info. Everything he knew grew up was a lie, "Wait, so, why is it that now people are worshiping Ixotial, and of all places here?"
Claire's Dad stood up and put his glasses back on, "Ironically, they've become the same thing they believe they're fighting. Using the excuse of following a god to purge and rule over others. Unfortunately, those who oppose them are growing thin, either being killed by 'Warlocks', is what they call themselves now, or joining them."
"Well, there has to be a resistance still fighting against them, right?" Robyn asked, "People left willing to fight?"
Claire and her mom joined the two men again, and her Dad walked over to them, putting his arms around them, "You're looking at em."