Many years later, and a whole family made due to the reality altering effects of the enchanted bridal ring - in truth a gift from a hag who claimed it would "change the fate of anyone who wore it" - and Jamie was now the proud mother to two children. She and her husband Douglas "Doug" Marcus now lived out of comfortable suburbia, the picture of an upper middle class family in the midst of California. It was an almost typically hot summer when it began again. Jamie had completely settled into the new life given by the ring. She had aged well through the years, and the weight of two pregnancies had mostly abated due to a comprehensive gym routine as she settled into her forties.
Doug was in many ways a sort of modern man - from the outside looking in, Doug was a handsome man in his forties without much going on besides his job in the investment field, which he was able to work from home at any rate. His light brown hair was most often gelled back, his handsome if somewhat weathered features always shaved smooth. His light blue eyes sparkled with the remaining adventurousness of his youth. He most often dressed business casual - usually a polo shirt, a vest, jeans, and boots. Under the surface however, Doug was a passionate man known for his fitness and profile in vacations.
Aside from the family lifestyle instagram, Doug was also known for his fitness profile titled "Doug198XBodybuilding". Doug's business clothes hid a powerfully built, well muscled body crafted over the years during the couple's wedding. Even at 47, Doug's six pack remained tight, toned, and a highlight whenever he competed.
As far as their children, eighteen year old Caleb and seventeen year old Luke could not be more different.
Caleb was more attuned with swimming, running and tennis than with the sorts of jock athletics his father preferred. His features were lean, tight, and despite his nerdy appearances, he was quite popular around his college campus with the female persuasion. He had lighter, near blond hair, his father's eyes, and a well done tan. Despite his achievements, he remained embittered due to the actions of his brother and those associated with him. Even as Caleb enjoyed attention from the girls, he was viewed as a target due to his thin looks and boyish features.
Luke in particular envied and disliked his older brother due to Caleb seeming more achieved - everything that Luke struggled with in his last year of high school, it all came easier to Caleb. His hair was a darker brown hue, his eyes likewise a dark brown color, and where Caleb was lean and thin, Luke was hefty. Not entirely fat to be sure, but with his position on the football team calling for a heavier form, it was clear Luke answered that call. The gut and light jowls look wasn't entirely popular, but Luke enjoyed connections due to his position on the team.
The rival brothers were largely more moderate and at ease in the home, their back and forth only showing amidst their peers.
Yet it was one day when Jamie left her ring in the room when she left to go out of town for her job that things would start to change around the house. The ring's mystical charge had lessened over time - its effects would be far less immediate and less so obvious. But there remained enough charge inside the ring to affect more changes upon those who might end up wearing it. And what might happen...?
That evening, with their mother out of town, Caleb came home after a date with Britney Walsh - one of the cheerleaders from his college. She was supposed to be studying with him in advance of her classes next semester. Studying...certainly. While they were diligent in fulfilling Caleb's obligation as a member of the school's tutoring club, at least at first, Britney had gotten quite hands on with Caleb over the course of the evening. Before long, the nerd had shown his toned, muscular form hidden underneath his logo-covered clothes - and the two were enmeshed in a passionate session that only ended when Britney's folks came home.
Caleb had scrambled for his clothes, and managed to cover up his still intense erection as he left for his house. He knew Britney's situation well enough to know her parents were not exactly the most open to their daughter's independence. She only did this on days and evenings when she had just enough time to get away with it. "Ahh," Caleb breathed as he wiped his forehead, "The drama of a former Catholic school girl..."
His t-shirt was matted somewhat to his body, and his jeans needed to be adjusted in order to not fall off while walking down the street. He'd been dressed in a hurry, not wanting to chance the woman's father enforcing a literal shotgun wedding. They hadn't suspected a thing, though. By the time they called for her, she and he were presentable.
Caleb remembered that morning when his mother left home to go study for something related to the nursing field she occupied, thus leaving him, Doug and Luke in the house to fend for themselves for four days. As Caleb got home, he saw something that had become a bit of a normal thing across his life - namely, his dad filming a video for that fitness channel he maintained - dressed only in a pair of red shorts. "Oh," Caleb breathed, "Hey dad."
Doug for his part gulped when he saw his son enter, and paused the video. No matter how many times this happened, it never stopped being rather awkward. A blush lighting up Doug's face, he said, "Oh, hey son, how'd the studying go?"
"It went fine," Caleb answered, looking around the room, "Man, dad, it never stops being just so crazy impressive you've got this going on so long."
"It's a matter of diligence," Doug smiled broadly and pumped one of his biceps, "Diligence and effort, day to day."
"You see Luke around?" Caleb asked.
"I think he's hanging out with one of his friends from school upstairs in his room," Doug answered, "Probably playing some video games or eating pizza or something. Luke said he was gonna hit the gym later on...you wanna make it a family gym night?"
"I'll uh, I'll think about it, dad." Caleb said, not intending at that point to think about it. He knew Luke loved trying to show him up whenever these fitness things came up, just to further impress how "reedy" Caleb was. No amount of "I don't lift for size or sheer strength" would change it. And dad's teasing didn't exactly help matters when they went to the gym either.
"Just call if you need something. I'll be filming down here for a while yet." Doug stated, and as soon as Caleb went off to check on his brother, he could hear the video and the thrumming background noise of club music restart.
As Caleb headed upstairs, he paused by his parents' room - the door to which was left open. Something seemed slightly off about it today. There was something that demanded his attention, even as Caleb himself didn't really understand it. The young college student bit his lip as he walked in, surveying his surroundings - a mixture of his mother and father's things. Pictures of their vacations and travels across Europe, South America, and Africa. The room was wide, and had a corner devoted to Doug's fitness - a couple dumbbells and barbells just in case he needed something to do before bed he couldn't do in the exercise room downstairs.
In the corner of the room was a massive antique piece of furniture, holding clothes in a couple drawers and multiple pictures along with rings on top. It was the rings, though, that grabbed Caleb's attention. The young man drew closer, looking around as he did to make sure that he wasn't being observed - either by his dad or by his brother. For some reason, doing this invited this sort of intensive paranoia. As if he was doing something wrong.
Caleb gulped, picking up one particular ring.
Silver with a pink opal and small diamonds, but it was faded from time spent on the roads and through the jungles with the couple. It was slender and elegant, even still. There seemed to be something about it though. Caleb didn't need to be involved in mysticism to tell there was something odd about it. He could pick up on a strange flickering to the edges and the way the light in the room bounced off of the pink opal and small diamonds.
Something was up with this thing. Where did mom---or dad---or their mom and dad...where did they get this thing?
When Caleb thought he heard feet on the stairs heading up to the second floor, he hurriedly stuffed the ring into his pocket and decided to check on his brother. Whatever was going on with this thing, he could check it out at his own leisure. It sure didn't seem important enough to be carried around by mom any more.
It was when Caleb started walking toward his brother's room that he could tell something was going on in there. Heavy breathing. And sounds inside that seemed to be created - as part of a video of some kind. Caleb could recognize porn when he heard it. He took the greatest of care to not cause a creak down the floor, or make any sound otherwise. Two sources of heavy breathing as Caleb got closer to the door. He noted that it was left very slightly ajar, just enough for him to look inside...
...And inside, Caleb went white with second hand embarrassment at what might happen if he hadn't been so careful.
Seated on his brother's bed, watching his TV playing some pornography, Caleb could see his brother Luke and his best friend from the football team, eighteen year old Ian Adams. Both were naked, and didn't seem to have any issue with the fact - in fact, both were pretty well immersed in their pornographic enjoyments. Neither were touching each other, and the pornography was straight, but the fact the two were so comfortable with each other made Caleb wonder.
Ian was more muscular and well formed than Luke was, Caleb's stocky brother was larger - but not entirely with muscle. Whereas Ian was easily jerking himself off, Luke had to push his gut in the process of rubbing off. Neither, however, had seen Caleb - or indeed, even heard him approach. The college student pulled away, standing by the door - his back to the nearby wall. He could not decide what to do from here. Yet even as he stood there, he felt something almost seeming to burn against his thigh.
He found himself drawn to take out the ring.
Caleb found himself weirdly tempted to try it on, even as he stood out there. Maybe he should go talk to his dad about it... the ring really was quite pretty though, and something tempted Caleb toward that. Just...trying it on for a little while. He was still wary though, looking at it. Feeling that sort of strange call was rarely ever a good sign. He wasn't a moron. He gulped - it could be nothing. It could be something more than what he was prepared to deal with.
He rolled it around in his hand.
Caleb...could...find out what the deal with it was another way. He could leave it with Luke, by the door, so that his brother would be able to find it. That was a proposal that seemed agreeable. Besides, if he could notice anything going awry or weird about it, he could always just try and convince Luke to take it off.
Caleb had some decisions to make, and a realization he was assigning a lot of importance to a random ring he'd picked up in his parents' room. Maybe he should just---!!