To say that Jon wasn’t close to his father would be one of the greatest understatements known to man. Despite his many unscheduled visits, he saw very little of the man when he was growing up. There were many, but Jon barely remembered spending any time with him. Despite this, he provided him and his mother with a good life, though the two never married. When Jon was a teenager, he accidentally discovered that his father was a very powerful and wealthy merchant in the kingdom, and that he and his mother weren’t his only family, not in a legal sense anyway. No, he was married and had another family; his three daughters were all roughly the same age, just a few years apart from each other. Jon was devastated. He was looking forward to meeting his father almost as much as his mother, though he didn’t remember it. It’s as if he knew they happened, but couldn’t connect any details. As he grew older, his father’s visits became less frequent, but he knew his mother still kept in touch. When he mustered up enough courage to ask his mother what she had learned, she simply told him that they had made arrangements and that she would be happy to see him whenever she had the time. It so happened that John was raised by his single mother. It seemed like she was able to provide him with everything he needed. He never had any interest in other men, and since he received a large monthly stipend from his father, he never had to work and spent his free time volunteering for many different charities. They were comfortable and always seemed to have enough money so he never wanted for anything.
It was early summer, a few months before his eighteenth birthday, when John learned of his father’s death. He didn’t go to the funeral, although he suspected they would have welcomed his father’s mistress and his illegitimate son. He wondered if his father’s official family knew of their existence. Suddenly, he began to worry about his mother’s financial security. After his father’s death, she was likely to lose financial support. He wanted to know if she had planned for this and if she would now have to go to work. He was very surprised when he arrived the next day. John went to stay with some friends shortly after his 18th birthday, it was unusual for an eighteen-year-old to live alone, but he wanted his mother to have a chance to live alone and resume dating without having to tell her about her eighteen-year-old son. Still, their visits occurred at regular intervals on Tuesdays and Sundays, and sometimes on Saturday afternoons. He spoke to her every day, but felt it was not something they should discuss over the phone.
When he arrived he found her in a good mood. The kitchen table was covered with travel brochures, her schedule was open, and she was on the phone with her aunt and her sister, who had booked all her travel dates. He walked in and caught her attention, she smiled and the room lit up. She was still a very attractive woman, but only in her thirties. She didn’t seem to have aged much since he met his father, and he remembered some of the photos of her and his father when they were younger. She maintains an hourglass figure and looks good in whatever she wears. If anything, she may have grown a few inches or a cup size, but it’s hard to tell. He looked at her for a moment, something he didn’t do often, she was his mother after all, but she was attractive. Maybe he should find a way to make it up to her? He walked over and kissed her lightly on the cheek. He raised his index finger and began rapidly dialing again. “Just a minute,” he said, looking at her sitting across from him.
“Hello, Jim,” he said. Yes, I have booked my flight and I am looking forward to meeting you, now it is time to go.
“Oops Mom,” John said. “I don’t think I’ve seen you this excited about something in a long time! What happened?”
“Johnny,” she said, “I think you should know I’m on a date!” “He was just giddy. “A doctor from the hospital I volunteered at asked me to meet him in Cabo San Lucas for the weekend. Isn’t that wonderful?
“Yes, of course, Mom, how long have you known this guy?”
“Jim? I’ve known him for years. He’s been following me since I first started working at the hospital. Why do you ask?”
“No reason, I’m glad you’re dating, it just seems so sudden. Why didn’t you think about dating him before?”
She furrowed her eyebrows thinking he thought it was a great question, then she smiled and dismissed it, saying, “You’re right… but who cares! I’m free. I can date whoever I choose.” Smiling, she handed him a page torn out of a fashion magazine. It was a picture of a model wearing a bikini.
“What do you think? Don’t you think it looks great on me?
John swallowed hard. He tried not to picture his mother in that tiny swimsuit, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t do it. She works out regularly and looks ten years younger than her actual age, but she’s his mother. He knew he had to answer; he could imagine her husband’s fear when he asked her the dreaded question “Will this make me look fat?” He had to be careful, he thought to himself.
“Oh, Mom…are you a little stingy? What happened to your junior suite?”
As she took the page back from him, she smiled again and thought, “Smart kid.” “Oh no, that old thing is never going to work. In fact, I think I’ll just go out and buy a whole new wardrobe.”
“Ah…” he stuttered. “Is it going to be expensive? I mean Dad passed away recently, does that mean you’re going to be affected financially, or did he leave you anything?”
She stopped and looked at him seriously for a moment.
“Well, you heard about his death, and I wanted to break the news to you gently. You know I’m kind of sad because we shared so much. There are so many things about your father that I never told you.
“Mom, this is so weird. I don’t even remember what he looked like, let alone when we were together.”
“Oh, by the way, I forgot.” She paused, like she was going to tell him something, but then she changed her mind.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Oh, you are so young, but I am happy because I am finally free!” she said and flung the page into the air, stood on tiptoes and spun around the table while dancing across the kitchen. She leapt into the air and landed gracefully. She secretly hoped she had not aroused his suspicions. She could not tell him that she had only recently been released from the mental prison in which she had been confined for twenty years, unable to make any real decisions about her future without her father’s approval. But now it was over, and his death had broken their mental bonds.
John remembered seeing his mother so happy when he was a child. But why did she want to talk about freedom? As far as he knew, his father had been gone for many years, wasn’t she free to live her own life? There was something strange about that, he thought.
When she had stopped dancing long enough, he asked her again about her finances. She told him that her father had been very generous over the years, depositing money directly into her bank account, and that he had saved up a large sum of money in case the money stopped coming.
She suddenly remembered, she went to the mail pile, pulled an envelope out of the pile, the letter was sent yesterday, and she handed it to him. It was a letter from her father’s estate. It basically said that she would continue to receive general assistance, adjusted for inflation, until he died or she needed the money.
He smiled, maybe it wasn’t so mysterious after all, he thought. She is financially independent and has a right to celebrate.’ He looked up and saw that she was dancing again. He picked up a box from the table and gave it to her.
“This is for you,” she said.
She picked up a small square box about 4x4x4 wrapped in plain brown wrapping paper with her name on it. There was no postage mark and no overnight shipping label. She asked repeatedly: “Whose?”
He shrugged. It was delivered with the letter. It comes from the estate as well. Aren’t you going to open it?
He thought about it. If it was from the manor, it might have been his father’s. He barely recognized the man and had no memory of interacting with him as a child or young adult. You didn’t even bother to look at him when he was alive and now that he’s dead he’s giving you a gift? John didn’t know how to react. He felt nothing. He tried hard to recall any memories, even the slightest, but there was nothing. He knew there were things there, but they were just out of his reach. Maybe he needed to see a psychiatrist to get answers, maybe through hypnosis. “No, I think I’ll wait until I get home and see what the old man left for me,” he said, tossing the box from one hand to the other.
“It’s okay… she said. I’m worried about you, but I don’t remember seeing you in a good mood. I’m going out, I have some things to run, and you’ll be okay.” ? he asked, leaning in for a kiss on the cheek and a hug.
He said as she accepted the kiss and hugged him back, then released the embrace. “Of course you would. You know you can go home, your room is still there, and I’m planning on traveling, so this place needs some care.”
“Mom, you don’t like traveling! What’s wrong with you?”
She stopped and thought about it, she loved traveling but Johnny’s father didn’t allow her to do much, that’s what he said to her and it suddenly came to her mind. She thought about it, there were so many things she loved to do but when she met Johnny’s father it all ended suddenly. She almost got angry and shrugged, then and now. She was free to do all the things she loved but for reasons she didn’t even know, she had even stopped dating.
She smiled and said: “People change, and there are many places I always want to see.”
You know mom, you’re right, maybe I’ll take up your offer to go on a retreat. And he really doesn’t like sharing a room with roommates, they’re all pigs and can be very immature.
He tossed the package back and forth with both hands, and then he began to wonder what was inside. After kissing his mother again, he left, and within ten minutes he found himself locked in his room, carefully peeling the brown paper off the boxes.
He pulled out the contents of the small box. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but he wasn’t expecting to find another box or cube. It looked solid, he thought as he held it in his hands, it looked and felt like expensive wood, its dark grain was a medium brown, it looked highly polished, but didn’t feel like it. It looked like it would be perfect for a shadow in someone’s den. The cube looked solid and there were no visible seams. But he felt there was something inside. “How do I open this thing?” he asked.
“Identify yourself.” It sounded more like a command than an answer to his question, and it came from the Cube. It startled him so much that he nearly dropped it. Its weight seemed to have changed; it now felt heavy and warm to his touch. He decided to put it down before moving on.
“Identify yourself.” He heard it again, and then he realized he was hearing it in his head rather than out loud. He thought to himself, “Is this a trick?”
“You now have 30 seconds to answer.”
“Why?” John started to get angry.
“25 seconds…24 seconds…”
“Is this a joke?” he thought back. “Who are you?” he asked.
“20 seconds…19 seconds…” The countdown continued.
“10 seconds…9 seconds…”
“Well, I’m John Smith and my mother calls me Johnny.” He panicked, not wanting to mention his mother.
“Voice identification confirmed, John Smith. Using your DNA, open the cube.”
John stared at the cube, he thought. “Use my DNA, that is, through blood or saliva.” He didn’t want to cut himself or lick the thing, so he quickly put his fingers in his mouth and smeared his saliva on the top of the cube.
It’s hard to describe what happens next, but the solid wooden cube peels its layers open and stacks them on either side of the original cube, as if the wood had turned to liquid. Looking closely inside, John could see that a very small box was rising from the center. As the small box or cube rose, a voice in his mind began to speak.
“Johnny, or should I call you Jonathan, I am, or was, your father. Though I am dead, a part of me lives on. I know you don’t remember me anymore; your memories have been repressed. It’s been quite a while indeed. The source of my wealth has been left to you. I don’t get to see you as often as I would like to, so I deeply regret not trusting you sooner, but I am what I am, a victim of poor reasoning. This gift I can only give to my son, this is the reason you were born, this is my gift to you and your father, to carry on the legacy.”
Hearing this, the voice disappeared from his mind. Eventually the box melted away, and he was shown the most gorgeous ring he had ever seen. It is golden and studded with many stones of different colors. It can be compared to the Super Bowl ring, but if possible, more gorgeous. There was no inscription, at least he could not see any inscription yet.
He tried to stay calm, but the thing seemed to be calling him, so he extended his right hand, and the thing disappeared and reappeared on his ring finger. He was shocked. He hadn’t planned on wearing it just to take a closer look at it. Immediately, he felt a wave of adrenaline, and he resisted the panic reflex that made him choke, like he couldn’t breathe, and just when he was about to reach his limit, he passed out. He felt good. Better than good, he felt stronger and more powerful than before. His mind seemed more open, like he was using parts of his brain he had never used before. Everything started to make sense. Memories about my father suddenly flooded in. He remembers. He remembered it all, who his father was, what he looked like, and all the time they spent together. He even knew why his father stopped coming to visit him. This is the ring’s punishment. He felt himself smile. His father loved him and he loved and valued the time they spent together. He begins to cry over his father’s death. The ring made him sad for a few minutes, then opened his mind further.
It is an ancient ring – a ring of power. Its origins are believed to date back to the time when humans worshiped gods like Zeus and Odin, but even the ring itself is uncertain. He believes its origins may be supernatural. It has been passed down from father to son for centuries.
John felt a new surge of brain activity and blinked rapidly several times, unable to move as hundreds of terabytes of data downloaded into his brain. Then it stopped as suddenly as it had started. He took a deep breath.
He was quiet for a moment, then suddenly realized: “I can control things, people, my own body, and in some cases other people.” He had read enough science fiction novels, watched enough television and film, and gotten some idea of what this meant and what he should try first.
He is not ugly looking, a little skinny and has no muscles at all, “slim” is the way to describe his body. His acne was finally starting to disappear and his facial hair was also scattered. They have an average height of less than 6 feet, about 5 feet 9 inches. Matter.
He thought, where to start? He got up and went to the bathroom, looked in the mirror, and decided to start with his face. His face warmed up, glowed pink, and returned to its natural color, and with a simple thought his acne cleared up. He likes the clean look on his face. He looked at his face again, he always thought his nose was too big so he started shaping it, he felt a burning sensation and he immediately realized that he had to be careful or else he might hurt himself. Soon he got a small, straight, narrow nose. Suddenly, he wanted to grow his beard thicker and denser, and it instantly filled up with beard, making him look older. He then tried the unshaven look that many actors are adopting these days. He liked the look and decided to keep it, keeping in mind that his hair needed a trim. He took out a sports magazine from his room and saw a cutout of his choice in it, which he put on his head. Then he changed the color from brown to blonde, then red, and finally black. In the end he chose blonde hair. Looking in the mirror he barely recognized himself. He decided to change his hair back to its original color and keep the shaved look for the time being. Looking at the magazine again, he thought about adding some strength. He flipped through a few pages of pictures of bodybuilders and thought that would be great. Before he could realize it, he heard a noise and his clothes were ripped to pieces and fell off his body. He is a lighter version of “The Incredible Hulk”. He looked in the mirror and laughed.
Eventually he added muscle until his body weight had increased by a few pounds and definition. He could always add more, but he just wanted to be able to show off a little and show them off. Then he looked at his sex device and made some adjustments there. He had only been with a few girls and knew the bigger the better. He could make more adjustments as needed. He felt himself, knowing he was getting bigger. He liked what he was doing and laughed out loud. He wishes he had gotten this ring in high school, when he had to endure the showers after gym class.
She decided to cure herself of all food and she felt great, stronger and better than she had ever felt in her life. The final change of the day was to slowly add a little color to her complexion, the color that her friends had spent a lot of money to get at the tanning salon.
He was almost ready to take on the world and needed some clothes. As he was about to head to the closet, he decided to take out his jeans and that was exactly what happened. These were his last clean clothes and not his favorite, he wore them with proper underwear and altered them to look like what he wanted. He did the same with the shirt and shoes.
He’s getting a sense of these new powers. He looked at his muscular arms and the ring on his finger. Although he liked the ring, it was a little too flashy and drew unintentional attention, but it wasn’t a problem and he felt like he could hold his own against a battalion of marines. No, it would be wise not to get into this situation in the first place. Integration is important and he can make any necessary changes. When he looked at it again, the ring began to change, and eventually looked like a regular high school ring. Perfect, he thought.
