"Ok so this is the last one..."
When Jack looked at the door his danger senses started screaming at him. He didn't know what had that door especially but it reeked danger. It was made of a material not known to him. But the door seemed to have been bathed in blood previously, but so much time had passed that the blood had dried and an awful smell permeated the air.
But even with that, he gathered all the courage he could muster and reached for the handle.
The door opened ever so slowly and making a creaking sound very annoying to the ears.
But the sight inside the room was quite different from what Jack expected.
"All the walls seem to be painted in blood that is already dry and the smell is unbearable after all these years. What problem did the person who live here have with blood? And on top of that, the room is empty, there's only a bed and a table."
Jack didn't spare even a second glance at the bed and went to the table.
"Hm? A ring?"
Jack looked carefully at the ring before grabbing it.
It was a beautiful golden ring with some red runes, that strangely Jack could read.
"The Ring of Divinity. A ring bound by lineage, a ring to help the loved ones, a ring to destroy the enemies, a ring to defy the heavens."
Jack looked quite dumbfounded. "What a description, the person who made it really didn't cut short on compliments. The Ring of Divinity... Sounds cool."
Seeing there was nothing else on the table Jack decided to wear the ring before leaving the room, but at the moment when he wore the ring he felt a pricking sensation, and a pain that no human would be able to bear started to assault Jack.
A drop of blood could be seen exiting the ring and entering inside Jack's body by a cut that was made. And it was obvious that the drop of blood was the cause of all the pain.
Jack felt that his body was tearing apart from inside, his bones and muscles seemed to be crushing and regenerating again and again. His blood was churning, and all the cells in his body were being destroyed and being remade again and again. But every time they were remade, they had more vitality and resilience.
Jack tried to endure the pain by gritting his teeth, but after a few seconds he started screaming and rolling on the ground with bloodshot eyes.
"Fuuuuuuuck!!!!!"
After a few seconds of screaming Jack lost consciousness while his body continued changing. It was already a miracle that he didn't die immediately after receiving that drop of blood and even more of a miracle that he lasted even a few seconds conscious. No normal human would have been able to achieve such feat.
While his body continued changing, Jack's consciousness was somewhere else.
"Where am I? Did I die again or what? How can I be so unlucky to die again just after getting a new life?"
Jack looked around and he found himself in a foggy place. He didn't know where this place was but at least this time he didn't get total darkness and he could see a bit in the front even though blurry.
"You are not dead kiddo."
Jack turned around abruptly and he could see a silhouette sitting on what seemed like a rock in the middle of the fog.
"Who are you? What is this place? And how do you know I'm not dead?" Jack fired a series of questions fast as lightning.
"So curious and so vigorous. Reminds me of old days... Good days indeed." The silhouette murmured.
"You didn't answer any of my questions." Jack furrowed his brows a bit.
"Well, if you really wanna know I'll tell you. You are nowhere and you are not dead because I say so. And as for my identity... Well, I am you."
Jack gave a weird look at the silhouette and answered. "What do you mean you are me?"
"It's too complicated to explain and telling you now wouldn't help you. In fact, it would only make things worse for you and mess your head. But don't worry, you will slowly come to understand things."
"In the end you didn't answer any of my questions." Jack was feeling cheated right now.
"I would like to answer to all your questions but that would not help you at all, trust me. And we don't have much time before you leave, and I need to tell you a few things."
"I don't understand how answering my questions would not help me but ok." Jack resigned himself.
"The Ring of Divinity you just got is a treasure so valuable you couldn't even begin to imagine. Treat it as your life and don't lose it. Remember that, everything can be spared and lost, but not the ring. If sacrifices must be made to keep the ring then you should make them." The silhouette started saying in a more serious tone.
"But it was the ring that almost killed me. The moment I wore it I started to feel an unbearable pain all over my body that I thought I would die." Jack answered with a mocking tone.
"Didn't you read the runes on the ring? It said the ring is bound by lineage, and a drop of my blood was inside it so you could use it. That drop of blood is rebuilding and cleansing you body from inside out. You don't have any idea of how many people would kill to be feeling that same pain you felt in exchange for that drop of blood." The silhouette answered calmly.
"So you were the previous owner of the ring? Do you know why the palace is empty then?" Jack asked eager for an answer.
"I told you already you are me and I am you so the ring was always yours and it is still mine. As for what happened at the palace... I'm sure you will learn of it in the future." The man in the silhouette seemed like he was going to talk about it but finally decided against it.
"I'm getting more questions every second and I'm not getting any answers..." Jack felt more confused with every passing second.
"I'm sorry kiddo but everything will be made clear to you in the future. But continuing our previous conversation, you should know that the ring holds many secrets, but it also holds the biggest of all secrets and that's why you shouldn't lose it or let anyone else take it from you. You can store items inside it and take them out with your mind sense and I also recommend you changing its appearance to not catch unwanted attention."
The silhouette seemed to make a small gesture with the hand and the ring on Jack's hand changed appearance and turned into a rusty and old ugly ring.
"I did it for you. You can change the ring's appearance at your will using your mind sense but I don't recommend making it too fancy. Don't make it look too ugly either depending on the environment. If you were in a royal dance wearing an old ring you would definitely catch attention. My first royal dance, I still remember it like it happened yesterday. It would have been one of the most boring days in my life if it wasn't because she appeared..." The silhouette started whispering near the end of the sentence.
"Wait a second, what is that mind sense you are talking about? I know nothing about it. And can I really store items inside the ring?" Jack felt a bit incredulous.
"Yeah, you can store items inside it. As for the mind sense that's what I was gonna talk about before you left but we've got no more time since our meeting seemed to last longer than I expected, so get this."
The silhouette moved his hand and a light little shadow crushed on Jack's forehead and a scripture appeared on his mind.
"With that you should be able to use mind sense. Use it also to train and don't use any other techniques because they won't be of any use to you. Farewell kiddo, I'm not sure when we will meet again if we even do."
Jack's vision started to blur and the silhouette seemed to get far in the distance. Just before the silhouette vanished completely in the distance, a low whisper that Jack couldn't manage to get was heard. "Don't lose her this time."
And just like that Jack came back to what some would call real life.
"Why am I here?"