Ring

It is cold, damp, and dark where I sit.

I am almost dormant, as I lay here, inert and without tether. You could say I lost track of time, however I do not perceive the concept, do not experience the passing of your seconds, minutes, hours in the same way that you do. The passage of your time is fragmented for me, but it has been said in my presence that my birth occurred over several of your millennia ago. I gleaned this somewhat meaningless observation from radical shifts in the worlds my hosts inhabit.

There are mostly two states that I exist in - with host, or without. With a host, I am exposed to all manner of adventure, of drama, of chaos. Without, I fall into a slumber, and am at the mercy of fate until another host comes along. There is another higher aspect I could take, however the possibility of reaching that zenith is lost to me, at least for now. You could almost consider it my purpose, my quest, to return to that form. In the interim, I continue to exist through a chain of hosts, all bound to me, one after the other, after the other.

I offer my hosts power they could never before have fathomed. Aside from the control over my cousins and their own hosts, I enhanced my host's strengths, hid them from harm, and gifted them the ability to witness an existence beyond their corporeal world. Most are disappointingly smart enough to recognise the danger I pose them, so do not use me as was intended, however they still cannot bear to be apart from me. In turn, I draw from them their light and life, replacing it with my darkness and hate as I attempt to fulfil my purpose.

So, here I sit, waiting.

How long ago I had my last host, I could not tell you. We became one after I lured him to commit a foul act of indecency; since some darkness already existed within him, their flames required little fanning on my part. He was stricken upon first seeing me, his eyes made wholly of avarice. Pitiful, wretched being; I fed upon his pain and anguish for centuries of his time, while I waited.

I could feel another, almost familiar darkness growing beyond my temporary home, but it was not strong enough for me to abandon the host. Not until it grew stronger, closer, not until I was done with him. The feeling did indeed grow; at first it was but a whisper, then a deep pulsing, and then a steady thrum, singing to me. It did not say my name, did not call me directly, however I recognised its song all too well. It was a familiar shade, bearing the characteristics of my father's gloom.

Perhaps I would complete my quest. Perhaps I would find my father.

To find my father, to return my darkness and join with his own, would be such horrid bliss. Together we are a force to be reckoned with, a force of power, of pain, of death, of carnage, of blood. The lives we would ruin, would end, the hatred we would spread across the land, sow into the very ground together as one is almost incalculable. I with him and he with me, wreaking havoc, and spreading the deepest darkness across the lands.

My father...

I have my father to thank for my vitriolic temperament. My conception was not one of kindness or love, but rather a lust for power and control, his hatred and malice poured into me, shaping me. Though you could mistake my words for my his, and yes, we share similar aims, make no mistake, I am no simulacrum. I am my own separate entity, with my own thoughts, my own agenda. In my current state, that is merely to find a new host, ideally one who would be tempted to use me.

I cannot directly compel my hosts to use me, I can only coax their own darkness to spread in the hopes that they will be tempted to break. If my former owner had used me as intended, my father's darkness would have been able to see my own, my rescue hastened.

Thus, until a new host happens upon me, I am condemned to slip into a hibernation. With the feeling of that familiar darkness approaching, the feeling of it reaching out for me, I knew what I had to do. I summoned what strength I could, and I abandoned my host. So, here I sit, awaiting my rescue.

But then something happened that I did not intend.

Your fingertips brush across me, warm, and without the scent of darkness I had been anticipating. Your voice calls out.

"What's this?"

A different voice. A new voice. A kind voice.

I feel warmth, a gentle caress, as you lift me off the floor of the cave. Your soft fingers clean me, and I feel a surging inside myself. While I initially thought it to be bile, of fury that my plans had been disrupted, I soon realise it is a surging of...potential.

"...a ring!"

A cheerful voice. A naive voice. A corruptible voice.

Perhaps...

While you are not the saviour I had hoped for, I still feel pleased to have a new host, a new bearer, a new source of light to taint and smother with my own hatred. I look deep within you, I search down in your deepest depths, and while there is indeed light, so much light, almost too much light, I know it is here somewhere. Though not easy to find, it is there, your own shameful swath of dark, like a fledgling tumour.

Yes.

You will do; you will do nicely.

You will be my new host. I will take all that is good about you, take all of your light, and I will distort it, twist it, bend it to my will. You will come to love me, come to need me, will be driven mad to be apart from me. You will love me, and in a way, I will love you too. After all, you will help me complete my journey now that the darkness has arrived. For that you will always be dear to me, dearer than any of my previous hosts.

You will be different. You will be special. You will be precious.

My precious.