Posted 9:17 PM by Tim
Bronn stood and stared at the small glinting object across the room. It was a small gem, mostly unremarkable in it's appearance. A somewhat shiny purple colour, with a ragged red fissure of another kind of stone which ran nearly all the way through it. It glinted in the small shaft of sunlight which poured down on it from overhead.

The sunlight did not come directly through the ceiling - none dared let such light shine upon the stone directly - rather, it was reflected several times though an ingenious system of mirrors, and through several tinted glass lenses which dampened the strength of the light until it was that of twilight even on the brightest of days.

Bronn looked at the stone, and then at the floor between him. He knew of the traps that lay below the seemingly innocent stone tiles. Had heard the other keepers talking of the poor fools who had been blinded by the stone's power - and who had walked across the floor as if entranced. Once, he had even seen the body of such a fool, or at least, what had been left of him. Bronn was no such fool. He stayed his feet, even though he could hear the stone's calling echo in the back of his mind. He suppressed it.

"Bronn!" came an old, dusty croak of a voice. He knew it instantly: it was his master, Garouda. He ignored it. "Bronn!" came the voice again, louder this time. The old man had probably hurt his throat calling so loudly. Bronn turned to face Garouda.

"What is it, old man," he said with an icy tone, "I've no time for your prattle now."

"I know why you have come!" said the man, limping as best as he was able down the long stone hallway. "You have come for the Stone of Garresh."

"That is correct! And I shall have it." Bronn's tone was supremely confident.

"You are a keeper! You know why none must possess the Stone more than anyone," protested the old man.

"I am not a keeper. I did not yet take the oath!"

"A formality," said Garouda.

"A triviality," smiled Bronn, "I've no desire to waste away my life guarding this power from others. I only wish to take the power for myself. To use it to my own ends, and to bend it to my will."

"Have you learned nothing from your time here? From the legends?"

"The legends are merely fanciful tales of woe. There is no truth to them." Bronn sneered. The call of the Stone rang louder in his mind. He forced himself to stay put.

"They are all true! Each word of them. You must belive that, or you would not desire the Stone so.

"No. The rumours of the powers of the stone told in legend are true, but the lessons they teach are false. The stone does not corrupt. Those who have had it have been corrupt all along, the stone merely let them show their true selves. The powers of the stone are great indeed, but it does not strike down it's weilder with curses and accidents and fate. The people who wielded the stone brought these things upon themselves. Their own flaws and desires and foolishness brought their doom upon them."

"And what of you?" asked Garouda. "Will you too fall victim to your own flaws and desires? Will you show that you too are corrupt?"

Bronn laughed. "Of course I will," he said, "I am not perfect. I am nothing more than a man. But with the stone, I shall change myself. Mold myself into a being which cannot be stopped. That no man can strike down. And if I fall, it shall be from my own hand."

"Do you seek to aid your fellow man? To use the stone for good, and not for your own purposes?"

"Are you truely such a fool that you would ask me such a question?" Bronn smirked at Grouda, then his face suddenly fell. "You roused the keepers, didn't you? You told them of the threat to the stone and they are coming, aren't they?" Bronn could hear the sound of footsteps - many footsteps - coming closer, behind them the shouts of the keepers and their warrior men.

Bronn smiled, "Perhaps you are not a fool after all," he said to Garouda, "But you have failed. This room is set with traps to kill the unwary. Even those who know of them cannot avoid them all. Yet, there is something that none but the oldest texts have mentioned. That the stone issues forth it's power to all who are near it. That it bolsters the strength and speed and hardiness of all those who are in it's presence. Even you cannot say that you have not felt it's call standing in this room." Garouda dropped his head slightly, and Bronn smiled a broad, wicked smile.

"You're prattle has been meant to delay me, old man, but it has also allowed the stone to fill me with power." Bronn could hear the jingle of the armoured men at the far end of the long corridor. They would be upon him in only moments. "Enough power to do this!" Bronn turned from the old man and took a full step before leaping into the air. He sailed long across the room, clearing the trapped floor in it's entirety before slamming bodily into the small pillar that held the stone. As his feet touched the floor, it began to crumble and fall away.

He snatched the stone from it's perch and felt the full power of the stone wash through him. The world, or at least his perceptions of it, changed and fell away. He gripped the stone tightly in one hand, and braced himself against the small pillar. He heard the whistle of arrows flying towards him and he brushed them aside with his had as if they had been little more than flies.

Across the room, stood the keepers, stranded from him by the traps of the room, swords drawn and ready for battle. Several bowmen readied more arrows. Garuda, who stood in their midst wept openly for what he had allowed to happen.