Part 2

John kept checking the ring and then glanced at his watch, realizing with a thrill that he had to hurry to get to class on time. He checked the ring again and felt a slight pulsation that he couldn't explain. Looking around again, he still couldn't see anyone nearby, so he decided to at least try the ring on, what did he have to lose, he assumed it wouldn't fit anyway, and then he could hand it in to the lost and found office after school. Others would probably have tried to sell the ring, but money was something he didn't have to worry about and likely never would. After a deep breath, he brought the ring to his finger, the ring slid over his skin without resistance and was, as he had suspected, too big for his hand, which was not necessarily surprising, after all, he was quite skinny, he liked to call himself wiry, but skinny was more like it. As soon as the ring reached the base of his finger, John felt how the ring became increasingly warmer. It was a weird kind of heat, he felt as if the ring was burning into his finger and he opened the hand holding the ring to put it on, reflexively. He wrapped his hand around the wrist of the hand on which the ring was stuck and pressed, as if he could somehow reduce the pain he was feeling.

John sank to his knees and closed his eyes in pain as he clenched his teeth. The moment his eyes closed completely, he saw something, something unbelievable, something his mind couldn't handle, it was dark and glaringly bright at the same time. His brain was flooded with information that he was unable to understand. It took a while for the mental images to change. Now it seemed to him as if he were watching the intro to a movie, he was in the universe and saw an infinite number of stars, then they all passed him by. He couldn't tell what it was or where he was, he just saw countless white dots speeding past him. As abruptly as it sped up, it stopped, and he was shrouded in darkness again. The burning he had felt the whole time was gone. The pain was gone and he could open his eyes. He blinked several times to adjust to the sunlight, he became aware that he was no longer on his knees but lying on his side, what he didn't know until now was that he had bumped his head and now had a laceration that would continue to bleed for a while. His left hand was still gripping the wrist of his right, and he brought both hands to his face, feeling incredibly nervous. He felt a slight pressure on his chest and a tingling sensation, an uncomfortable tingling in his stomach, he knew these feelings and knew it was from nervousness or fear. The reason for his fear was that he didn't know what he would see, he even assumed that his finger had fallen off and the wound had cauterized from the intense heat. His gaze hit his wrist and slowly traveled higher and higher, it traveled along the back of his hand and John's eyes widened when he reached the knuckles and spotted the black diamond set in the gold ring. It was unbelievable, the ring now fit like a glove, and he wondered if he had just imagined it was too big. After a brief shake of his head, he straightened up again and took a closer look at his hand, turning it left and right and examining it from all sides, it was unharmed. He sighed with relief and stroked the tips of his fingers with his thumb and then the upper part of his palm back to the outside of his hand. When his finger touched the ring, he felt a burning sensation again, but this time it wasn't on his hand, he felt like a burning torch in his head. This feeling disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared. And he suddenly knew something he didn't know before, but he couldn't grasp this knowledge. It was about the ring that had fallen on him and that he was now wearing on his hand, the ring seemed to have introduced itself to him without talking to him. John had to laugh at the thought, after all, rings were unable to talk, but he immediately became serious again, it wasn't usual to feel such a burning sensation when you put on a ring. Knowledge fell into place piece by piece and John began to understand, it only came bit by bit, but he understood more and more.

Then his smartphone rang and he was torn from his thoughts. It was his timer, class would start in 15 minutes, and he was still at least 20 minutes away from school if he walked normally. He stood up and looked around to see if he had lost anything else, he felt something warm and viscous run down the side of his head but ignored it as he panicked. He couldn't be late on the first day of his last year at school, he already had a few letters of reprimand and if he didn't make it, he would end up back at the principal and probably get a reprimand. There were already a few reprimands in his school record for being late, so it was almost certain that he would be suspended and that would cost him his place at university. His first steps were still relatively tentative, but as he felt good about himself, his steps became faster and faster and then turned into a run. As he ran to school, his knowledge of the ring solidified, it happened casually, and he knew that there was a god that people had forgotten about ages ago, this god had created this ring by sacrificing himself in it. This made it clear that it was no ordinary ring, this ring had an ability, but John didn't realize it yet.

He ran on to his school and arrived at the school gate completely exhausted, he stopped for a moment, his lungs were burning, he had never been a runner, and he had never run this distance in such a short time. He saw the other students moving across the yard and heading towards the school building. John had to lean forward and rest his hands on his bent legs as he tried to catch his breath. Once he had caught his breath, he looked at his watch and was surprised that he had made it on time, but that wasn't the only thing that surprised him, the second thing was the ring, he now knew what the ring was and what ability it had. It was incredible, John wasn't sure if he could believe it or even wanted to. The ring was in the camp to control and change people. He knew that he could only take the ring off after his death, and that he was now bound to the ring until his death. After that, it would dissolve again and reappear somewhere. He also knew that the ring was reactive to him and not permanently active, which was a relief for John, and otherwise he would have had to watch what he said for the rest of his life. The ability of the ring was limited to his line of sight, he had to see the person to affect them, whether physically or mentally, it didn't matter if he thought about it or said it out loud. As soon as he stood upright again, he felt a throbbing against his head and remembered that he was lying on his side, he must have hit his head when he closed his eyes. His hand touched his cheek and felt the half-dried blood, he ran his hand up and touched the wound on his head. He immediately felt the dull ache and took his hand away.

"Oh man, now I have to go to the school nurse first ... so she can treat the wound, at least I'll have an excuse as to why I'm late, even though I'm not ..." he thought to himself and immediately went to the school infirmary to get medical treatment. After crossing the schoolyard, he entered the school building, it smelled of cleaning products and stale air as it always had, especially after the vacations or when the school was closed for a longer period of time, it was more intense and since today was the first day after the summer vacation, it probably hadn't been aired out for a while.

He walked to the wide steps of the building and climbed up to the second floor, where the infirmary was located. John trotted along the corridor, the door was open, as it usually was, except when someone was in the room for treatment. After a knock on the open door, he entered the room, the school nurse, Mrs. Miller, was sitting at her desk and was just about to turn around. As soon as John was in the room, she had turned to face him in her swivel chair and placed her hands in her lap. Ms. Miller was a young woman, she had shoulder-length blonde hair, was slim, and her face was really pretty. Like most people, John estimated her to be in her mid-30s, no one knew how old she really was.

"Good morning, Mrs. Miller, I took a silly tumble on the way here..." John began, stroking his hand over the wound on his head again. Her smile disappeared immediately after she examined him and saw the dried blood on the side of his head, she stood up at once and walked towards him.

"Take it easy, I'll have a look first ... are you feeling okay? Are you nauseous, do you have a headache or are you dizzy?" she interrupted him and took his chin in her hand to turn his head and take a look at his wound, he felt her gentle hands and wondered why he was reacting so much. He had never noticed how gentle her hands were.

"No... I feel fine otherwise..." John replied, taking in her sweet soft scent as she looked at the wound on his head after turning his head in the appropriate direction, and again he wondered why he was feeling it so intensely, had he hurt worse than he thought or was there another reason. His thoughts wandered back to the ring, and he wondered if it could be because of it.

"That's good," she said with relief, "it's only a small cut, and it's already stopped bleeding. That's not too bad. But it was a good decision to come here. Let me clean you up"

She took her hands away and then went to the window, under which there were several cabinets. She pulled out some sterile wipes and a spray bottle before turning back to him and walking back to him.

"Close your eyes," she said in a gentle voice. John closed his eyes, and she sprayed the sanitizer on his face and then removed the traces of blood from his face.

"That's it," she said and went back to her desk, "I'll write you a letter to let your teacher know."

"Thank you," John thanked her and took the note before leaving the infirmary and heading to his classroom.

Chapter 3 Off to Class

Chapter overview