Ring of Power

Chapter 12: The Journey Begins

Emerald ran into the clearing and over to Xavier, who still had a shocked look on his face.  Overcome by her emotion of gratitude, she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tight.
"Don't you ever do that again!" She exclaimed, then after a moment she asked, "Are you alright?" She had calmed down some.  She removed her arms from his neck and placed them at her sides.  Then she looked at Xavier, after a moment, he spoke:
"I'm fine, just a little rattled.  Why did you do that?"
She knew he was referring to her killing the captain of that Guard Patrol.  She knew it wasn't Pyramus she had killed but why did she kill him?
     The reality of the terrible thing she had done started to slowly sink in.  She sat abruptly on the soft grass and buried her head in her hands, beginning to cry, not knowing what had come over her.  Xavier snapped out of his shock and began to worry, he sat down next to her in the soft grass.
"I... I don't know." Emerald sobbed after a long pause.  "I don't know what came over me.  I just wanted them to leave us alone, to leave you alone."
He pulled her close in order to comfort her. He felt a strange feeling when around her now, a different feeling, like she was starting to become more than just a comrade or even a friend to him.  He felt like he needed to be with her, to protect her, even though she did more of the protecting.
He knew she was just trying to help him today, but he wondered if it would just make things worse with the Guard Patrol.  He had recognized the man she had shot.  It was Langer, Pyramus' right hand man and closest companion.  This would just anger Pyramus more, they were in even deeper waters now and he wasn't sure how or if they would ever be free.
He decided not to tell her that at the moment, it would just add to her sorrow.  He could tell her in the morning since the sun was beginning to set in the colourful horizon.
"What are we going to do?" Emerald asked quietly, looking up at Xavier with her blood-shot eyes, tears still running down her shinny, moist cheeks. 
"I don't know." He replied softly after thinking it over. "I really don't know."
As he sat there, he felt Emerald begin to relax, her breathing became shallow as she eventually fell asleep in his arms.  Her eyes were red from her crying and her cheeks still had streams of water running down them.
He gently picked her up and carried her to the nearest fort, laying her down on the soft green grass.  He moved to the other side and laid down as well.  He was still recovering from his near death experience, but he knew it would be harder for Emerald to recover from killing a man and he needed to be strong for her.  He finally pushed the dark thoughts from the trying day out of his mind, and was soon fast asleep.

​ She was entering a small town far from her home.  There was a low wall around the exterior.  There was a giant statue of a man in a fountain that stood in the centre of the market place.  She assumed this man was the king who founded the land of Akayon.
She walked around the market, looking for nothing in particular when she came across a jewelry stand.  She briefly looked at the beautiful jewelry laid out before her and soon was on her way, when she realized she noticed something familiar.  She turned back around to look at the familiar object. 
She recognized one of the rings sitting on the table, it was the ring that belonged to her mother, the one that went missing and she so desperately tried to find.  The ring the old man from the forest told her she needed to find.  How did it get here? 
She approached the jewelry stand and looked at the small, purple ring, mesmerized by the mystery involving it.
She picked up the ring and placed it on her small right index finger, not knowing the power inside the small trinket. 
She was then whisked through the air, swirling and spinning through time and space until she landed in a small tower.  In the tower was a dark figure standing in the corner.  She could feel the evil aroma coming from the figure.  He slowly turned to face her, when he looked at her all she saw were two red glowing dots staring back at her.  Then the ring exploded into a bright light, and he was gone.