Large white, marble pillars encompased a room bathed in pure golden light, flecks and the luminescent brilliance of particles rose from the floor into the air like wandering spirits surrounding a small pedestal in the center.

Upon that roman pedestal, sat a box of black satin, its smooth curviture outlined by the surrounding atmosphere. The little box was open. Soft cushions in the hues of red - like blood - gave one a sense of awe and desire.

Yet, resting on top of even that... was a ring.

This ring was not a shiny silver, nor pure white, but black and etched with gold. Strange symbols emblazed along its circumference made a beautiful sight, so streamlined and sleek that one couldn't possibly help but stare. And at its pinacle, there rested some form of magic that took the form of a gem. It did not reflect like a diamond, nor an emrald, or any other jewel for that matter. It reflected all flavors of light; a flash of black, silver, a jet of green, blue... everything.

Ariel could not peel his eyes away for at least a minute whenever he stared, yet this time, he opted for longer. For this time would be the last.

Before him, rested the Ring of the White Queen; his guild's most prized possesion, among other things in their treasury, all of which Ariel was responsible for guarding. It was one of the five "impossible items" in the game Grand Scale Online (GSO). Less "Impossible" in their ability to be obtained, and more so in their effects. For example, the ring could multiply its user's stats based upon the average of their strength and intelligence stats, as well as allow for the user to utilize skills from the item's unique skill list, which were supossed to be in correlation to the namesake; "White Queen"; a legendary figure in the game whom a player would often  hear referenced in cutscenes or flashbacks to the "past". 

These advantages would be astounding, albeit not gamebraking. The devs made sure of that after repeated misuse of some other "legendary" items by other players. But even then, Ariel would never truly know its worth.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

That was due to the ring itself having never been used - Brought about by the feature which had wrought the ring into infamy. It transformed the user. It changed their gender, and voice temporarily... Ariel guessed that wasn't too bad. That might have made the item quite popular even. Yet it wasn't just that, but it also had a permanent, lasting effect on the user's original avatar after the ring had been used, becoming more and more apparent after each and every use. So says the item's very own description.

Though, no one knew whether or not this lasting effect was related to the transformation per se, they aslo didn't know if this unknown side-effect was a debuff, or something even more detrimental.

So in the end, nobody used it.

Ariel removed his gaze from the pedestal and sighed.

"00:03" A beep resounded in his player notifications.

3 minutes until server shutdown. It was the death of Grand Scale Online. The streets of cities still bustling with the faux lives of npcs, yet barren of any player. Fields of monsters left unchecked, and guildhouses empty, except for his. People had moved on to the next best thing, as they always do.

"00.02"

His gaze reverted back to the pedestal once more, a sudden urge, a curiosity he hadn't felt but moments earlier. For all of his years in the guild he had seen it and admired from afar, holding it not by it's own body, but by its case. 

For the first time, he wondered how it felt. How the sensors would tickle his brain. How smooth its curves actually were, how it weighed in his hands...

So Ariel strode up to the pedestal and gracefully pinched the ring from its soft cushion, placing it in his palm.

"00:01"

He ran his finger along its length, feeling the golden grooves pleasantly along his index finger. It felt cold along the outside, yet warm within, unlike anything he had felt before in-game.

The ring slid deftly onto his fin-

[[[Server offline]]]

...

_______________________________________________

Ariel sat up from his bed, a blank look across his face, and it remained so for the next 20 minutes before he removed the VR helm from his head, stood up and loudly sighed.

A few steps brought him to the door, and a few more beyond that, to the washroom, where he sat thoughtfully upon his toilet in reminiscence.

He did not notice the slight shaking, or the two little flickerings of the light. But he did feel the strange sudden rise in elevation moments before...

...the ground beneath him was ripped apart and exploded.