Ring of Conflict

We told the others about how some strange bandit man appeared during our challenge, trying to steal the heart gem we'd found.

"He doesn't want you two getting married?" Zumi questioned.

"That's what he said." I nodded. "I'm pretty sure he was teleporting too, so he might have been an egresser mage." I turned to Charlie. "Any idea who that might be?"

He shook his head, looking as offended as could be. "Do you really think I'd ever associate with a thieving bandit type?"

He might not have been a great person, but he wasn't one to get acquainted with rowdy people. But since those kinds of mages were rare, I'd figured they might have met at some point.

"We'll just need to be ready for anything." Zumi said. "If he didn't attack either of you though, he probably doesn't want to hurt anyone."

That was a saving grace in all this. Not by much, but it was something to give a little hope.

Even with this new obstacle, we had to keep pressing on. We couldn't forget that the fate of magic was at stake.

The heart gem we received looked like it fit in a slot on the stone statue. I placed it down, but nothing happened.

“Did he give us a fake?” I questioned.

“No…” Zumi took a closer look at the words on the plaque. “It says you both need to place it together.”

I really get that it's trying to get Luna and I to do everything together, but does everything need to be so finicky about this?

Whatever. It could be a lot worse, I guess. Maybe it could have been a fake. Then we’d really be screwed.

Luna and I did as we were instructed, and suddenly the gem lit up, shooting out a beam of light that created a portal to the next realm. It was almost exactly like that last one.

We took hands and jumped through the portal together.

***

Out of all the realms we'd been to so far, this realm was absolutely dreadful. It was hot, sticky, the sky was a murky green, and the air smelled like tar.

The very first moment I took a step out from the portal, my feet dipped right into some sort of black sludge.

That stuff was everywhere. Giant lakes and puddles littered this swampy place.

“Why’d your people give these rings to us again?” I had to use a rock to scrape the sludge of my boots. “This one sure doesn’t seem like much of a gift to me."

“These rings are the only way to reach my home.” She replied, very carefully stepping around the pools of sludge everywhere. “They’re very…” her sentence paused as she lifted her dress up to take a skip over a puddle, “very beautiful. A true testament to how kind we are.”

The other realms were nice, at least.

I took her hand and helped her get over a few more of the pools between us. Considering how hard it must have been to move around in that dress, I decided to simply carry her.

“Oh my!” She announced as I took her up in my arms.

She was a light. To be honest, I would have thought that dress of hers would have added a little weight, but I guess it was enchanted silk.

Both our eyes met and we just stared at each other for a moment. Her face turned flush red, and she wrapped her arms around my neck. By the calm look on her face, I knew she trusted me not to drop her.

It might have been that I was holding a woman heroically, or maybe that I deeply cared for Luna…but I just couldn’t take my eyes off her. She really was beautiful, but something about her eyes were particularly special.

Something I just noticed…her irises had a slightly natural glow, reminiscent of a waxing gibbous moon. Were they always like that? I almost remember them being a lot brighter before. Maybe my memories are off.

“We…we should continue.” She stuttered.

“Y…yeah.” I nodded, plotting out my path across this sludge ridden area in my mind.

Meanwhile, it seemed like the other two and the birds of the group had made it through. It didn’t take them long to completely give up on keeping clean and were splashing through the sludge like pigs.

“GAHH!” Zumi shouted at Charlie. “What the heck, neanderthal?! You’re getting my outfit all gross stomping through this stuff!”

“Who are you calling a Neanderthal, peasant? I am Charles Terence Prescott III! I won’t have anyone…!”

*SPLASH!*

Charlie went face first into the sludge!

“Oh yee gods!” He looked mortified. “Don’t anyone look at me!”

“HAH!” Zumi pointed and laughed at his misfortune.

In retaliation, Charlie threw a ball of sludge at Zumi. It splat right over her face.

Before too long, a sludge ball fight began.

Meanwhile, the birds seemed to be enjoying splashing around in the muddy stuff. They turned their feathers almost completely black.

Luna cringed at all their roughhousing. She asked if we should help Zumi and Charlie out, but I told her I didn’t want her to get her nice dress all dirty. Am I being selfish by saying that? Nope. Because it was all for Luna.

We were getting close to the other side anyways, and we were both pretty well off compared to those too.

***

Zumi and Charlie must have added another 20 minutes to cross this sludge. And to make it worse, they looked like swamp monsters by the time they got to the end.

“Brother!” Zumi growled. “If you weren’t holding Luna, I’d throw sludge at you too!”

“What did I do wrong?” I snickered at how silly they both looked. Charlie especially looked broken spirited. Something about that was just too funny to ignore.

“Look at me! We need to put this neanderthal on a leash!” She pointed to the swamp thing next to her.

Since I was leading the party, it was my duty to make sure everyone stayed in line. But did I really need to keep the clumsy Charlie on a leash?

Hey, I liked that. Clumsy Charlie. That's a new nickname.

Despite how much we’ve fought over small things in the past, Charlie is pretty capable. Clumsy, but definitely able to keep going in the rough of it. No matter where he goes though, he always seems to end up making a mess.

“Can we…just get going?” He breathed out like a zombie.

“Oh dear…” Luna uttered. “Poor boy.”

That pity was wasted on him. But her kindness worked wonders at reminding me how nice she really was.

We kept walking on a path that looked like it was made of concrete. Hopefully it would lead to the next statue so we can get the challenge over with and leave this awful realm.