Rings are given to some. Dark, heavy, laden with fire... bearing a terrible ruby. They confer dread powers, but for a price: they saddle the wearer with magnified passion, called Devilsfire. Burning inside the wearer, a longing unknown, indeed unknowable. One must fight the urge to lash out, seeking, for one will burst into bolts of flaming action; and each act of power consumes the body like wood, charring and aging subtly. At first you're proud: your eyes fill with knowledge. Those first fine wrinkles show character; you're maturing. But the fire eats on, imperceptibly, till only ash is left. So you must learn and limit what you want, and use the fire of the Ring against itself--burn out the evil set there, deliberately, by the Forger. If done well, the ring, though weaker, will be clean... and still grant deep wishes, against the Forger's plan!

I was given one. Burnt and pitted when I got it, by the great heat of the Ringlord's hand. I've fought this ring a long time now. I've had some success, though I buy it with great pain: the Ring has turned to gold. In the struggle, though, I lost the stone. Hoped it'd turn clear, or to a life-color; but it stayed flame, and at last I had to shatter it in the fight.

Friends honor me as a ring-bearer for managing this much, but I'm not yet done. For the inscription, telling the nature of the healed Ring, and the way to Wish it, is still hidden, immanent. It's a wedding ring with no name, no promise.

As yet. As yet. But when I'm truly done, tiny letters in the ancient script will shine in golden fire. And they will not say:

One Ring to rule them all, and in the Darkness bind them.

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