Chapter Four- Crystal Ring

Greay wiped his brow, sweating intensely in the caves. His workers were on holiday, but he had to mine. The forge had a steady diet of metal that he intended to keep. Greay went to an iron ore vein, and swung a pick into the vein, steadily digging out chucks of ore he would later smelt. He was strangely compelled to dig deeper and kept chipping away at the wall until he saw the strange glow of three crystals. He dug them out, finding an icy blue crystal, a fiery red crystal, and a strange gem of a deep purple color. Each gem reacted to his touch differently. The blue crystal seemed to remove the fire inside, whereas the red crystal focused the fire into its center and channeled it as light. The purple gem contained the fire, and made Greay feel weak. He put the three into his pocket, and returned to the forge to study them more.

After some time, Greay cut the gems into an intricate ring. The blue crystal was the base, with the red crystal at its core. The red crystal was cut into a kind of net, converging at the purple gem, wrapping around its base and firmly holding it at the ring's center. If it worked as Greay thought it might, it would help contain his abilities, thus 'normalizing' him. The blue crystal would extract his abilities; the red crystal would focus it and put it into the purple gem, which would contain them as long as it was in contact with him. Shakily, Greay slid the ring onto his finger, and felt a sharp pain flood his body. It felt as if the ring was trying to turn him inside out. Greay cried out, wracked with agony, and collapsed to the ground. His vision slowly went black as the pain forced him into the realm of unconsciousness.

Greay awoke on the floor of his forge an hour later, finding the pain to be gone. The ring seemed to have a strange glow to it, light flowing into the blue crystal, flowing through the red, and converging into a ball within the purple crystal. He raised a hand, attempting to summon fire. Nothing. He stretched his arm over the forge, and was forced to retract his arm due to the heat. His arm came out red and burnt. Despite the pain in his arm, Greay began to laugh. For the first time in ever, he was normal. For the first time in ever, he didn't have to worry about accidentally becoming exposed, about being a monster. "This ring would never come off", Greay promised himself, "Never".

"Mr. Greay, are you quite sure you're all right? You do seem rather pale. If you are sick, I can take the delivery to the queen for you. If you are sick, Elsa will be quite understanding." A servant told Greay, blocking the door to Elsa's throne room.

"I assure you, I have never felt better in my life. Please, just allow me to take this to the queen. Should not a craftsman be allowed to show his craft to a customer?" Greay replied, forcing the servant to relent. Reluctantly, the servant opened the door, allowing Greay to enter. Elsa looked up, slightly bored. "Yes, Mr. Greay, what is it you need?" she called out to him. Greay continued across the room toward her, with a small, yet intricate box. "I have brought you something of my design, majesty," He replied. He held the box out toward her. As Elsa reached out for the box, her finger brushed the ring. Her eyes widened, and he retracted her hand with a cry of pain. She stared at the ring, and then looked at Greay's pale skin. Though claiming to feel fine, Greay had fell ill since putting on the ring. His strength left him, and he was very fatigued and battling fever. Elsa eyed the ring suspiciously.

"Where did you get that?"

"I… made it…" Greay responded. Elsa rose from her throne, gliding over to Greay, grabbing his hand and looking at the ring, careful not to touch. Greay tried to pull away, but had not the strength, and Elsa held fast.

"Why is it glowing like that?" Elsa demanded.

"I… don't know…" Greay replied, suddenly nervous. His mind screamed for him to leave, but there was no escape.

"Take it off," Elsa commanded, "It's not good. There's something wrong with it."

"I think not. I made it myself! Why would I make something evil?" Greay retorted, backing away.

"Just take it off. It hurt me, and it's obvious it's hurting you! What are you hiding, Tyson Greay? What don't you want me to see?" Elsa pleaded.

Greay clinched his jaw, and backed away. "No." He turned and began to walk away. Halfway to the door, he found his foot encased in ice, unable to move.

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you keep that… thing" Elsa said as she approached Greay. She grabbed his arm, but he resisted, flailing. Elsa wrestled his arm, but Greay would not lose his ring. The ring was more important than anything. It was his escape from his curse. No one, not even a queen, would have the right to take that from him.

"Don't make me do this, Tyson!" Elsa said as ice began to form around his arm. He pulled at it, shattering it. He pushed Elsa to the ground, where she then froze most of his body, preventing movement. Greay clinched his fist, but Elsa eventually wrested the ring away, throwing it across the room. Greay could feel his power flooding back to him in a searing blast within. The ice disintegrated, and Greay fell to the floor screaming. Repressed too long, his powers surfaced in his agonized body, manifesting in his eyes and hands going ablaze. Wracked with agony, Greay crawled toward his ring, his salvation. A blast went over his head and encased the ring in thick ice right as he reached out to grab it. Greay brought a weak fist down on the ice as tears came to his eyes. Now they knew. They would get rid of him for sure. Elsa would throw him out, imprison him, something. Burning pain coursed through him as unconsciousness once more took hold of Greay. Elsa rushed over to him, holding him, crying.

"What have I done? What have I done? I'm sorry…. So… so sorry…" She whispered.