It was cheap, that’s why she got it. Perhaps it was just the heat of the moment—instantly drawn. Badly rusted. Missing gems. Bending metal. All noticable things that indicate how she shouldn’t have gotten it. It was priced at a mere fifteen cents, a steal, at first glance. Hidden beneath layers of dusty jackets, Lori noticed it in the corner of her eye. A breeze blowing her hand closer, as if it were fate. The cashier, a surprising young woman, seemed almost surprised when Lori threw the ring on the crabby counter. “Just this?” the woman inquired. She gave the girl a skeptical look, as if she was doubting the ring. “Yes.. Could I also get a box to carry it?” Lori added, after a moment of thought. .. A black leather box in pocket, I stopped at an empty curb in a nearby alley. Coughing when I stepped between the slightly dim brick-covered walls. I pulled out the ring, it seemed to swirl in the center. I blinked once. Then twice. There nausea, then iron, and then it was dryness. “Uugh..” I muttered, scratchy at my throat. There was a voice, then another. All saying things I could not comprehend, as if I didn’t speak whatever they were speaking. “Do yo..think…s….chosen one.?” What. The. Fuck.