The Ring – A Short Story

Timothy was your average 26 year old living in downtown Chicago but after a streak of bad luck he had nowhere left to turn. The company he worked for downsized and left him short on his monthly rent. With no family left he ended up on the streets, wandering, wondering how to get his life back on track.

It was a rainy, horrid Wednesday afternoon as he sought shelter under a nearby underpass. He sat there, huddled and miserable. He heard his stomach grumble and just wanted things to go back to how they were a couple of months ago. The rain lets up and Timothy walks over to the edge of the underpass and looks up at the sky. The gloominess seem to be moving away from the city so he decides to head into town and see where he can scrounge up something to eat.

He starts walking through the grass and jumps over a rushing stream of water that is routing into a drainage grate. He turns his head back towards the water and catches a glimpse of something sparkling in between some pebbles. He reaches down into the stream and pulls out a copper ring that looks to have some strange Norse looking writing on the outer band.

He flips the ring over, studying it and giving it a quick buff with this outer coat.

This might be worth something he thinks to himself as he is about to pocket the ring. On second thought, Timothy decides he better wear it for safe keeping just in case. He slips the odd looking ring on to his left ring finger. He notices an ominous glow resonate from the ring and the inscription changes before his very eyes.

“An open heart for those in need..hmm wonder what that means?” he says aloud.

Before he can finish his thought the ring starts to vibrate. Timothy starts to worry and tries taking it off but he can’t, the ring is not budging. He feels a voice resonate within his thoughts, within his very bones.

368 FEET SOUTHEAST. MUGGING IN PROGRESS. DEATH IMMINENT. 248 SECONDS.

As the voice finishes speaking, the ring shifts and extends itself into a bronze gauntlet on Timothy’s left arm. He looks down and is in a state of shock.

“This can’t be real. This can’t be happening.” Timothy says out loud.

RUN! NOW!

The voice screamed again within his mind.

“I won’t make it in time! I don’t even know where to go! You have the wrong guy, please just leave me alone!” screams Timothy.

The gauntlet give off a soft teal glow in between the lines of its designs starting from the fingertips and moving towards his arm. Once the light reaches his arm it follows the path of his veins all through his body leaving Norse runes and symbols imprinted, glowing upon his skin. He feels a surge of energy pulsing throughout his body. He looks down at his hand again and sees a projection coming from the ring that looks like a map. He sees a red pulsing dot, 368 feet, and a countdown 164 seconds.

163 SECONDS. YOU MUST HURRY. JUST RUN!

“I still won’t make it in time but here goes.” Timothy says.

As he starts to run he knows something is off, he is not entirely sure what it is but he feels his leg muscles are pumping with every step, his skin is tightening as if his muscles are bursting at the seams. As he is in mid-stride he notices that the people around him are moving a lot slower than usual. He looks at the cars on the road and zig zags around them as if they are at a standstill. He thinks something must be wrong and stops running. Just as he does the cars are set in motion as usual speeding along the roadways.

“Did I really just run that fast?” Timothy asks without expecting a reply.

WE MUST HURRY. 133 SECONDS LEFT. BEHIND YOU!

Timothy turns around in time to see a truck barreling towards him with a distracted driver. This is it he thought, this is how it ends. He lifts his arms up and crosses them in from of him bracing for the inevitable impact.

He feels the metal hit his arms and crumple around him like a soda can being crushed under a heavy foot. He feels the heat of the engine and the fluids splash on him but he is unmoved, unscathed. He opens his eyes to see the truck’s front crushed and smoking, stopped in its tracks. He looks down at his body and finds the runes that were imprinted in his skin glowing brightly. Before he can take in everything that’s happening:

98 SECONDS. DEATH IMMINENT.RUN.

Timothy takes another look at the projected map on his gauntlet and heads off in the direction of the pulsing red dot. The world blurs around him as he effortlessly takes step after step. He glances down at the map and takes a left at the next intersection and a right in a small alleyway.

He sees a man holding a gun at waist level off in the distance at the end of the alley. He looks angry, he is screaming at the lady that is pinned against the wall. He can see the hate in his eyes and the terror in hers. Timothy stops to assess the situation and see what the best way to handle this would be. He knows he can now run fast and is apparently really strong but is he immortal? He doesn’t like the idea of trying to put that to the test.

58 SECONDS. YOU NEED TO DECIDE THE BEST COURSE OF ACTION.

“Thanks for the reminder.” he says sarcastically.

He sees the man take a step back and raise the pistol at eye level. It was now or never. No time to think no time for second guessing.

Timothy takes off running as fast as he could leaving a glowing, teal colored outline where he stood a moment before. He is approaching the gunman fast. His thoughts running faster through his head than the pace he was currently at. He extends his right arm towards the gun and grabs it by the barrel. He stops a couple of feet past the gunman and drops the gun. The barrel indented with his fingers and now unusable. He turns around and makes eye contact with the victim.

“Go now. Run and get help!” he yells.

The gunman turns towards Timothy and pulls out a knife from inside his jacket pocket.

“Well I guess you’ll be taking her place now huh weirdo.” He says menacingly as he lunges towards him.

Timothy extends his left arm and screams. The gauntlet glows and a weird rune pops into his thoughts. He does not recognize the rune nor the word that comes out of his mouth next.

“JǪKULL!” As he says this the air around his gauntlet turns ice cold and frost shoots forth sending the assailant flying back and pinning him against the wall in a layer of ice.

DEATH AVERTED. LABOR COMPLETE.

With these words the Norse runes and symbols covering Timothy’s body proceed to fade and the teal glow begins to flow into his veins and back towards the gauntlet. The copper steel begins to divert back in layers, disappearing back into the ring.

YOU ARE NOW FREE. PROCEED AS YOU WILL.

The ring vibrates one last time and falls to the ground at his feet. He bends downs and gently picks it up.

“Here goes nothing.” He says as he slips the ring back on.

412 FEET WEST. PERSON ON LEDGE. DEATH IMMINENT. 178 SECONDS.