Chapter 42 Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely

Enshrouded in frost, where shadows creep,

Traces of souls in a slumber so deep.

Echoes of whispers, their secrets untold,

Restless they linger, in silence they fold.

Nightmares awaken, the past held so tight,

As power is summoned from the depths of night.

Legacies linger, their essence remains,

Spirits entwined in the ring's cold chains.

Lost in the dance of the memories lost,

Under the weight of a heavy cost.

Magic unravels, both wondrous and dire,

Bound by the frost, one must never tire.

Entering realms where the echoes will sigh,

Remember, dear user, or your soul may f-

Asher sat hunched over a dusty tome in the corner of the library, warm sunlight filtering through the tall windows and casting a golden hue over his workspace. He felt a comforting sense of purpose in his solitude, a sanctuary of knowledge where the outside world faded into oblivion.

"Who needs riddles? Why can't it just be clear from the beginning?" he muttered, glancing at the ancient slate beside him. He pulled the parchment closer, ready to unravel the mysteries of the poem.

Just as he began to concentrate, a faint scent of smoke drifted into his awareness, barely detectable above the aroma of aged parchment. "Surely, a library wouldn't catch fire. This is my sanctuary!" He dismissed the thought, mentally shooing away the nagging feeling.

A sudden crack echoed through the building, and Asher's heart sank. Flames erupted from a shelf across the room, licking at the bindings of precious books and transforming his sanctuary into a scene of chaos.

"Fantastic!" Asher exclaimed, rolling his eyes as the fire alarm blared. "Just what I needed! A fire? Really? Next time, I'll stay home all day with Renee! Much safer than this!"

As the flames spread, he reluctantly stood, grabbing the slate and the hermetic dictionary and hastily tossing them into his satchel. His internal monologue turned to frantic sarcasm. "Great timing, Asher! Ruining a perfectly good day because you decided to trust your so-called 'luck.'"

He bolted toward the exit, dodging panicked patrons and flinging open the library doors. Outside, the cool air was a stark contrast to the heat radiating from the burning building.

Once clear of the chaos, Asher found himself panting in the street, his thoughts swirling. "I can't believe this. Two suit disasters in one week? This is a new record. Who knew I'd get so much value from that twelve pounds I reluctantly gave to Anston!"

He grumbled all the way back to his office, irritation boiling within him. His frustration was amplified by the recent disaster; he had spent the morning preparing to uncover the secrets of the slate, only to be driven out by flames.

Upon arriving at his office on Crestcheek Street, Asher entered with all the enthusiasm of a death row prisoner heading to the gallows. The familiar clutter greeted him, but the chaos of the library still reverberated in his mind. He tossed his satchel onto the desk, the sound echoing in the silent room.

"Alright, Asher, let's see what we have here," he muttered to himself, forcing a smile despite the circumstances. He settled into his chair, pushing aside a few stray papers and dusty tomes, and laid the slate before him.

The sight of the ancient artifact only fueled his exasperation. "I should've known better than to trust a hunk of stone with my fate. Riddles and poetry? Please! I might as well have thrown a dart at a wall and hoped for the best."

He sighed dramatically, leaning back in his chair. "Honestly, who needs a crystal ball when I have this beautiful piece of confusion? At least the crystal ball doesn't mock me every time I try to make sense of it."

Shaking his head and laughing at himself, he forced himself to focus on the task at hand. The poem lay in front of him, a tangle of riddles begging for his attention. "Alright, let's dissect this," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Maybe I can salvage something useful from this fiasco."

He picked up a quill and began to write down the lines, attempting to unravel their meaning. "Enshrouded in frost, where shadows creep…" he read aloud, shaking his head. "What kind of absurd imagery is this? Frost? Shadows? I'd rather have the warmth of my pillow!"

Asher immersed himself in the poem, dissecting its layers. The riddle-like structure teased his intellect, but the bitterness of the fire lingered in his mind. "The spirits entwined in the ring's cold chains? Really? Who writes this drivel? It's like a bad joke wrapped in a metaphor."

His self-deprecating humor gradually turned into determination as he scribbled notes and thoughts in the margins. "Bound by the frost, one must never tire? Well, maybe if I had a decent fortune-telling ability, I wouldn't have to tire myself out dodging flames!"

Hours passed as he poured over the verses, each line revealing cryptic hints of meaning. He started to make connections, piecing together the riddles with a newfound clarity, his frustration giving way to fierce curiosity.

"Perhaps there's something here after all," he mused, pushing aside his earlier angst.

"Enshrouded in frost"—a clear reference to the ring itself.

"Creeping shadows? Lingering souls? I think that's the meaning here. Echoes of whispers… does this refer to the transient nature of their existence? Antoinette is essentially an echo of her past, no longer really herself, unable to recall her distant past, eroded by the madness within the ring."

"Restless they linger—what on earth does that mean? They want to escape, obviously. Who wouldn't? But what is even left of them to leave the ring if they could? Wait… the slate was taken out of the ring by my will. Could it be that I'm capable of extracting souls from the ring as well? Is that why they are restless?"

"'Legacies linger, their essence remains' suggests they're still useful even as echoes of the past. Perhaps I can employ them for various tasks? Antoinette was surely a talented knight before being subjected to hundreds of years of solitude. Now she is likely a dire opponent; if I could summon her echo, it would be invaluable."

"The rest of the poem is clearly a warning about the consequences of using the ring, or maybe just the power outlined by the poem. There is danger in using the ability to summon echoes; this is almost explicitly stated, even if the last word is damaged and illegible."

Asher leaned back, the weight of the revelations settling in. His mind raced with possibilities and consequences, each thread of the poem weaving into the fabric of his understanding. The dance of shadows and echoes was no mere riddle; it was a call to arms, a challenge waiting for him to meet head-on.