The world was dark. At least it's not cold, Eric thought. After a moment or two a light appeared on the horizon. It steadily grew closer, or was he growing closer to it? He couldn't tell. There was no sense of movement, either way.
He blinked and the light was right in front of him. Only it wasn't a light at all. It was a woman.
There was something familiar about the woman, but he couldn't put his finger on it. If asked later, he wouldn't have been able to describe her at all, but for some reason she seemed like someone he'd known a long time. He was pretty sure that wasn't the case; he thought he'd very much remember a glowing woman.
"Eric Smith." She said it as a fact.
Eric wanted to respond to her in some way, but he found that he couldn't speak. He looked at himself and found that his body wasn't even there. He was just a mind floating in this darkness. It freaked him out. He probably would have screamed if he could have.
"There is no need for fear." Another fact. "You have found the ring."
She paused, seeming to listen to something. Whatever it was Eric couldn't hear it. The only thing he heard was her, although how he could without ears was beyond him.
"I am going to send you back." She began again, attention back on him. "You will be a changed man. The ring is powerful. It can get you what you want."
She paused again, again listening to the mysterious sound. "It is time."
There was an intense feeling of falling, and suddenly Eric was back at the Arctic station. He was standing, right where he had been when he had put on the ring. Had it been real? Was he going crazy? He'd heard of people going nuts when they were left alone too long, but he didn't think that three weeks was enough time.
He needed to sit down and think this through. He took a step backward from the counter to go find one of the lab stools, tripped and fell into something soft. He looked down and found he was sitting in a new plush arm-chair.
This is new, he thought, someone must have brought it in when he was spaced out.
The thought gave him pause. Nobody would have brought it in. He was alone.
