Lost Ring

[Nat Candle]

May 4th, 2019


“You’re really into all of this old stuff, aren’t you?” Despite a need to be elsewhere, Na-rae wasn’t as impatient as she sounded, lingering in the doorway to the large room where the Arena’s records were stored and opposite of where her assistant sat hunched over an old book. The room itself should have been dusty with a lack of use, with many of the books and files having lingered untouched for years, but in the last nine months it had been tidied up and organized into something almost unrecognizable. “What’s in here that’s so important?”

Nat had been ignoring his employer, who had since become his friend, for the better part of the last ten minutes as she had ticked off a list of things that needed to be done or looked into but the moment the questions came, the wanderer was stolen from his scholastic reverie.

“History,” he told her with a boyish grin. “History is important. It’s what molds the future. I mean, come on, Na-rae, there are some amazing, fascinating accounts in these pages.”

“Accounts?” She perked up, suddenly interested.

“Not those sorts of accounts.”

“Oh.” The disappointment in her tone made him chuckle.

“But in all seriousness, boss,” he beckoned her over. “Look at this. How much do you know about the relationship between the Wards and the barons’ rings?”

As she approached, Nat tipped the book her way to a yellow page with crinkled corners and faded script.

By virtue of placing second in that tournament, Jenia Aedroud claimed the Twelfth ring as her prize. This was the first tournament Jenia had entered into since she only became a Warlord a mere two weeks before. Her quiet rise through the ranks was swift.
On the morning of April 24th, Jenia Aedroud's brutally mangled corpse was found in the Arena. Although nobody ever accepted responsibility for the murder, it was rumored Overlady Shakira had a hand in it after a confrontation between herself and the Baroness. Former Overlord, Xenograg, did not recover the Twelfth Baronial ring until the beginning of June.

However, the ring was soon lost again. During the epic battle between Xenograg and Shakira over the fate of the Ward of Gondar, the Twelfth ring was one of the many victims of the carnage and confusion that ensued. Although the ring has never been officially recovered, it is believed to have crossed through the rift to the other side of the Ward. This assumption is based on the fact that the Ward would not have stabilized had the ring remained on this side of the rift. The Duel of Swords can only hope the ring has found a safe holder and will continue to stabilize the Ward from the other side.

“Or this one.” He thumbed to another page.

Cory remained unchallenged for the entirety of his reign. After Overlord Shakira was killed, Cory fought through his Baronial peers to claim victory in the Baron's tournament to fill the vacancy left by Shakira.
Aelric Shadowmane's involvement with the Baronial rings began when Jenia, slain by Shakira within the rings of the Arena, returned to the rings animated by a malevolent force called a Ward Wraith. After multiple encounters with Jenia, and battling alongside of Xenograg and many others, Aelric and his allies defeated Jenia.
However, as Aelric's especially enchanted Shadowblade burned the Wraith essences out of Jenia's corpse, six greater wraiths escaped and fled back through the rift in the Ward created by Shakira. After conferring with Xenograg, Aelric volunteered to carry one of the Baron rings, newly tied to the Ward of Gondar, through the rift in the hopes of hunting down the six escaped wraiths, and to help finally heal the rift in the Ward. Aelric has not been seen since.


“What am I looking at?” She asked him beneath furrowed brow.

“It’s the entries for the Twelfth and Seventh baronial rings. From the histories. Fifteen years ago, there was an uproar and no small amount of trouble before the rings disappeared. Not a stitch of a word or a whisper about it since or, at least, I’m assuming no one knows. Other than the one fellow who volunteered to through this mysterious rift. But…” He trailed off.

“But what?”

“But look at this…”

Nat reached for another book on the table. Unlike the first, this one hadn’t been nearly as well maintained, with chew marks in the leather and pages, and script that was far more faded and messy. The writing appeared to have been written with a messy hand. It was another accounting of the histories of the rings, though far less official. It recounted things much the way the other entry had, but with a more intense, personal flair and a more disjointed sentence structure. Unlike the other entry, a flip but the page saw the words halted with the revelation of pages that had been torn from the binding with a few scattered grains of sand and a single scrap of torn paper left behind in their place, like a sloppy bookmark. The scrap was wrinkled and folded. Carefully, it was removed and unfolded before being offered to Na-rae to inspect.


Years out of time…

A destination beyond reach…

Do we hold the specters at bay or do they hold us? In chains of script, somewhere inside the patterns, an answer inside the inscriptions. Our safe haven had become our prison and we just as lost as they, ghosts long forgotten. The answer is in donning of the ring at the end of the road, where civilization ends and the hourglass has been tipped, the sands move but they don’t flow.

Find the road where--


“It’s torn,” Na-rae mumbled. “The rest of the message is lost. What does it mean?”

“I’m not sure,” was Nat’s uncertain reply, but the mystery of it vexed him. “With your blessing, I’d like to do some more research.”

“Fine,” she sighed, backing away from the book and making for the door. “Just remember to eat, please. And keep up with your other projects. And don’t neglect Eden!”

The wanderer nodded along to the words, but even as they faded, he was turning his attention back to the scrap of paper.
“Find the road…”