AT WHICH POINT (ONE OF) THE WISE HIT A CASINO
Elrond wandered around the casino, aimlessly. At times his eyes strayed to the cameras, forever watching in their little black bubbles above the gaming area, but mainly he turned his sight inward focusing on himself.
"What did I interpret wrong?" It was a question he had been mulling over for over an hour, since he and his companions had returned from their unsuccessful search. A day ago he had been utterly confident in his vision which had called the wise from the world over (not that there were that many of them, but they had spread out over the years), but now he was faltering in his conviction. "The vision was real, I have beheld all too much come to pass as I have foreseen to not recognize the truth." He ignored strange looks from those who overheard his muttering, and they in turn promptly forgot him and turned back to their slot machines. "My interpretation was wrong. But how?"
For a dread moment sudden nervousness crossed over him, giving him a chill to his very spine, making him quiver almost as though an electric current was going through him. The loud and sudden braying of a siren went off to his left, making him jump. It was immediately followed by the sound of loudly clanking coinage. Someone had struck a jackpot. Despite himself he chuckled, the unease still present, but now in the back of his head. He resolved himself to meet with the others and devise a plan of what to do from here.
OUT OF THE (LUXURIOUS) SUITE
I hate casinos. Too loud, too many people. I loved casinos up to… well…. Yesterday, but today I would rather be anywhere else. The ring box had bought me a few hours sleep, but then I was overcome by this bizarre paranoia that someone was going to steal the ring. I spent no small amount of time deciding what to do (my first idea was to stick the box in a sock, if only I had one of my brothers-they would have stopped anyone) and I think I have finally reached a decision. The sleep gave me back some of my sanity, and for a little while I was once again wondering if perhaps stress just tormented me enough to make me snap a little. But then I picked up the ring box, and an emotion ran through me, somewhere between terror and desire, and maybe just a little bit of hunger, and now I've had an epiphany.
Well not now, about an hour ago. Here's my epiphany: I'm getting rid of the damn thing. There, I said it. I'm not throwing it away, I have a feeling if I just chucked it into the trash I would be picking through landfills for the rest of my life looking for it. And what if someone else found it? The ring is either a. Evil or b. Not Evil. If the answer is 'b', then I'm crazy and none of this matters but I still need to get rid of the ring in hopes that when they do put me in a padded cell I will have the memory of destroying it to comfort myself. If the answer is 'a', well, I don't know. If the answer is 'a' then the world is mad and maybe a padded cell will be nice. Despite my ranting yesterday, I have never really believed in evil. People can choose to act in an evil way, circumstances can be such that we feel that they are evil, but nothing is just evil without interpretation to such.
If the ring is evil, then there is evil, and the world is a very different place than I thought it was. A scary epiphany, really.
People are looking at me funny, probably because I am clutching my pant's pocket. Originally I put the ring-box and all-in my pocket, but that was really very uncomfortable. I've decided I'm not going to physically touch the thing again, I flipped the box over so the ring fell into my pocket, and I have a handkerchief for when I get to the place where I'm taking the thing to be destroyed. However, now the ring is in my pocket, and although I can feel it, the constant paranoia I woke up with is eating at me and I'm walking around the casino clutching my pocket so the ring won't leap out. People must see me and think I'm nuts. At least I'm not the only crazy. In Las Vegas there are all sorts of eccentric people, I swear there was a woman I saw a week ago who sang "bad back luck bad luck go away"-loudly- and kissed a troll doll before she pulled the arm on a slot machine every time she played. People probably think I have some lucky charm I'm guarding.
If only they knew. I have a bad luck charm. Suddenly I feel a prickling on the back of my neck, as though a current were going through me. I feel strange, as if a storm were building, but before any thunder strikes I hear a loud siren and jump. I can't help but chuckle just a bit, someone has struck it big. Perhaps my 'bad luck charm' did someone some good. As I move toward the door the feeling fades and when my feet hit the pavement I feel the brief respite gone completely.
I also feel like I've made a mistake.
In the Casino, Elrond placed a hand to his head, a sharp stabbing pain of a very vague vision. He had made a mistake.
