IAs I awoke from my slumber, a number of things rushed to my mind at once. First, and foremost, was the intense pain at the back of my skull. The next thing that entered my mind was the memories of what had happened. I'm an idiot. I should have watched him before attacking. I thought. The last thing I noticed was that I was tied to a chair.
I looked around the room that I was apparently a prisoner in. I could see closed door and a windiw. Even with the shade drawn, I could tell it was now dark outside. How long was I out? I wondered. Aside from the chair I was on and a small bed, the room was empty. No tables or anything.
It was after my assesment of the room that I heard footsteps approaching the door. It opened and I saw the face of my captor once more. The smirk he wore showed how sure he was of his victory over me.
"Well, Nick. Glad to see you've returned to the world of the living." he said.
"What are you planning to do with me?" I asked.
"What? No time for small talk? Do you have something more important to do?" he asked me. The more he talked, the more I began to dislike him. I met his amused smirk with a cold glare, and he began chuckling. "Oh, lighten up." he said. "After all, worrying and giving me the evil eye aren't going to get you out of this mess."
"Who are you?" I asked.
"You mean my name? It's James Martin." he said. "Though, you were probably asking how I got my stone, eh?"
"Yes, I am a bit curious about that." I said, bitterly.
"That's really neither here nor there." James said. I growled to myself. This was exactly the type of person who should never be allowed to have power. "What does matter, to me at least, is the fact that you had a stone." he said.
The had in his statement instantly filled me with a sense of dread. "You didn't..."
"Find your stone?" he asked. "Of course I did." he said, holding up the two stones for emphasis, and I noticed that bother were glowing. Quite a bit more frequently and brightly than mine had earlier. "Here I had been thinking that mine and the wishing stone were the only ones in existence. And, judging by the way you attacked me earlier, I'm willing to bet you thought the same things."
"True..." I said. "I had never heard anything of a third stone."
"Well, luckily I was able to figure your stone out rather quickly." James said. "Since you revealed that you thought I had the wishing stone, I didn't waste time trying to make wishes. But, it did take me an hour or two to figure it out."
The sense of dread I had been feeling was becoming much more prominent.
"And, it would seem, that these two stones work perfectly together. One can alter matter, and people, and the other can change their minds, to make them think they've always been that way." He said, looking at the two stones.
"Just get it over with." I said. "Don't drag it out any longer."
His smirk broadened. "Fine." he said. "Martha, come here." he said. A woman walked into the room. She was obviously the woman from before, the one who knocked me out, but she looked younger. I would guess somewhere in her mid twenties as opposed to almost forty.
James saw the way I was looking at her. "I do good work, don't I?" he asked. "It's obvious where her daughter get's her looks. Of course, I did make a few enhancements." he said, placing a hand on one of the woman's large breasts.
"Anyway..." he said, removing his hand from her chest. "I think it's time we deal with you, eh?"
I saw both stones take on a constant glow and closed my eyes. And, even though I had never been a man to do so before this event, I prayed to whatever deity may be out there until I felt my body and mind twisting to this madman's will.
