"Alright!" Mark giddily scanned the box, searching for the most interesting ring of the set. "Since we're checking to collect data on the ring effects by column, I'll try the fourth."
"Nice idea. That way we could at least see the general effects of the rings." Luke remarked, nodding at the useful thought. "Won't force you guys to follow that line, but it could be worth it."
"Its okay. The faster we know what each column does, the better anyway." Max went to the rings that had been tried on and adjusted their position, back in the formation of their original column. Each ring spaced out for their own personal space.
"Okay. I'll try this one!" Picking up the sixth ring of the fourth column, Mark began inspecting the ring.
"Odd, this ring looks organic." Mark felt the ring's texture and felt its material. "It feels like metal, and wood at the same time."
"Interesting.." Zack said, curiously watching Mark inspect the ring. "Is it like, natural or something?"
"I guess.. Let's find out." Mark slipped on the ring, it sliding on smoothly and perfectly sized to his finger.
They waited a few minutes for anything to happen, unfortunately, nothing happened.
"That's a bust..." Mark said dejectedly, disappointed at the apparently faulty ring. "I don't even feel anything."
"Really?" Luke asked, curious. "Nothing at all?"
"Yeah." Mark answered, rubbing the ring. "I guess this thing is broken."
"That can't be." Zack interjected. Mark looked to Zack, curious.
"All the rings we tried had different effects. Maybe yours is an active ring?" Zack walked to Mark and felt the ring. "Doesn't do anything to me either."
"Oh man... I really wanted to know." Mark, feeling disappointed, sat on the wooden floor. At the moment that the ring touched the wood planks, it glowed.
"What the-" was all Mark could say as he literally exploded upwards, hard ironwood bark overtaking his entire body.
"What the fuck!" Luke screamed, joined by Max and Zack as they watch, horrified at the rapid transformation. Shocked shitless, they three kids sat to the side, stunned as the now lush ironwood tree stood proudly in the center of the room, branches splayed across the ceiling as leaves began to fall.
"M...Mark?" Zack walked forwards slowly, cautious. No movement appeared from the apparently healthy tree. "N..No.."
"Mark!" Max and Luke ran and felt the tree over, searching for the ring that had caused all this. Zack fell to the floor, despaired beyond belief.
"Mark! Are you in there!" Luke screamed to the tree bark, banging on it. It ended up hurting more from its hard bark. "Come on... Don't die on us!"
"Max scanned the branches above, searching for a perch to gain footing. Immediately upon seeing some, he began his climb.
"Oww... Guys stop it." The voice of Mark reverberated through the tree's leaves, rustling with each word. "What are you guys doing, and why is Zack crying?"
Stunned, Max fell off his step and fell hard to the floor. Zack, shocked from hearing his brother's voice stood up, clearing his apparent tears.
"Are you okay?!" Screamed Luke. To be honest, he felt guilty. He got the rings and involved his friends. He honestly thought the ring killed Mark. "Omg, I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!"
"What for?" Mark asked. Luke looked up towards the top of the tree trunk and whispered. "I thought it killed you."
"Oh..." Mark was silent for some time. "I'm glad it didn't."
It took some time until the turmoil passed over and everyone calmed down. Over that time, all of them witnessed the tree moving. Literally.
Each branches snaked like, well, snakes. Leaves sway to one side without wind. Wood creaks from within.
"Guys! Look at this!" Mark suddenly screamed. A bright source of light appeared from within the trunk, travelling upwards. Enamored, they all stayed silent.
The light reached the top of the tree and a single massive amber crystal emerged. It looked like a perfect icosahedron. Upon its emergence, the tree shifted.
Its roots rose up from the flat floor and moved together into two 'legs'. The branches wound together, creating arms and fingers of leaves and twigs. Its trunk restructured and reformed, having irregularities no more.
"I'm a treant!" Mark exclaimed, laughing with amazement. One arm reached up and touched the core, the amber heart.
"Woah!" Zack swooned over the form his brother took on. It was epic.
"Well, we know now that 'that' particular ring is Wonderland stuff.
"Yeah, its cool." Mark stated and reached up. "And look."
His tree branch arms reached up, touching the amber heart once more and it sank in, just like sap.
Upon pulling it out, a ring, the ring, appeared to be worn by a single livingwood twig. Mark pulled it off and the twig disintegrated.
Within seconds, the ironwood treant that Mark is began to recede. Each branch seemingly shrinking and bark flowing. The leaves reentered the branch, as if a video of a tree growing over a decade was reversed in fast-forward. The receding wood flowed into the ring, before all that was left was just a normal, living Mark.
"Cool!" Zack exclaimed, having witnessed the actual reversal growth of an actual tree. "Nice ring!... Not the almost dying part."
"Yeah..." Max looked over to Mark, curious. "Tell me, why were you silent there?"
"Hmm?" Mark looked at Max, baffled. He placed the ring with a tag 'Treant' as a mark. "Silent? How long?"
"Almost a minute." Mark looked suprised. "Odd, it felt like seconds."
"Well, now we know what that ring is and apparently, it does have unforeseen consequences." Luke said, beginning to understand the changes more.
"Now, my turn." Max said, biting his lips at the expectation.