Edward and The Peculiar Discovery of the Three Rings

Prologue

I ran, sucking in long gulps of air. Someone was chasing me, that I was aware of. But I couldn't see who, though.

It was night, and I knew it was never safe to be running through a dark forest. Sure, it's not the greatest idea, but the last thing I was worried about was running into a stump. All I wanted was to survive. Seeing wasn't a problem, as my hands gave off a slight golden glow, and they showed me the path in front of me. The thing I was afraid of was that although the light was helping me, it would also alert the people chasing me to my location, which really didn't help.

"You can't outrun Jack," someone shouted, "he will always find you, no matter where you try to hide!"

So this must be Jack then, I thought. I was instantly terrified, and a shiver ran down my spine. I had never seen Jack in person, but I had heard so many terrible stories about him.

I shouldn't have moved back home. I wouldn't have endangered my mom, dad, and sister if I had just stayed at the camp. I had been walking home earlier this night from a surveillance mission, and had just gotten onto the path that leads to my house through the forest when I had been attacked by black clad men. Without saying a single word, they rushed me, and before I knew what was happening, my legs started to move on their own accord. I had been running for the past fifteen minutes and I could feel my strength leaving me slowly but surely. I wanted to outrun whoever was chasing me, and get home safe, but I knew that I couldn't go on much farther. Maybe my family would be safe from them if I made it to camp before they could capture me. 

The thought of protecting my family began fueling my resolve to keep on going on, so I kept on pushing forward, no matter how tired I was. I ran with all I could, going in the direction of a place I once knew very well. In my pocket I had an orb; I knew not what it did, I knew only that it was important to Jack, and so I must get it to camp at all costs. It burned in my pocked, making me wince in pain. But I couldn't let a slight pain hinder my progress through these dark woods. After passing a tree that I recognized, I realized that I was close, and tried as hard as I could to pick up my pace. I could hear the men chasing me, not far behind my trail, catching up to me at a seemingly inhuman pace. I was just rounding the corner when I felt a searing pain in my leg. I instantly fell to the ground, my face getting smothered in damp dirt. Through all the pain, I attempted to stand up, but as I did, everything became blurry and I fell once again.

 Close, so very close, I thought. Only a bit farther.

 I tried to get up again, but finding that I couldn't move my leg at all any more, decided that crawling would be the only option. I crawled as fast as I could, knowing that any minute now Jack's men would come upon me. Crawling into a clearing, I hard the loud rush of a waterfall, and happiness spread throughout my body, making the pain in my leg recede to a slight throb. The waterfall suddenly appeared right in front of me, and I was just about to crawl towards it,  when the first of Jack's men burst through into the clearing. Without a single word, he shot his weapon, and a bright beam of  light burst out of it, hitting me right in the shoulder, effectively paralyzing it. 

I'm trapped, I thought, I can't continue. 

With my last bit of strength, I struggled to get the orb out of my pocket, and once it was out, I chucked it over the side of the cliff. 

"You'll never find it," I said with a smug smile.

The last thing I felt was that a boot was pressing down forcefully upon my chest. I looked up to see the scarred face of Jack. 

"Thank you for so conveniently falling down for us," he said. "It made our search so much easier. I will find Rushford's device at some point, and if I find that, then Orion will never know what hit him."

He gave me a twisted smile, and started laughing. Then, with a quick twist of his ring, which flashed violet, and a sharp command to his men, the world turned black.

"Now get the device for me," he ordered his men. "I think I know just the time to use it. It will be soon, very soon."