Issue 1: Host

Samantha Smith, a white forty-something brunette woman in a brown business suit is engaging in her normal weekend work: Garage sale shopping. A pawn shop owner herself, she often finds items significantly underpriced by their current owners, and buys them to pad the inventory at her store while her daughter minds it… or because she wants them for herself. Today she spots a masterpiece: A white gold ring with half-dozen flawless emeralds mixed in with costume jewelry, marked for a quarter apiece. Just to be nice, she buys out the entire box… plus it won't hurt for her daughter to have some bling she can lose. Five bucks later she's taking her prize to her cargo van, whistling a merry tune.

Towards evening, she heads back to the store, satisfied with the day's work. She picked up many items: A couple TVs, a well-maintained knife block with the full set of knives, an old gaming system with several games, amf an acoustic guitar among many other things. She parks in her usual spot behind the shop, honks a couple times, shuts the rig down, and gets out.

Her daughter recognizes the signal, and the raven haired, green eyed, mocha-skinned beauty opens the loading bay door at the back of the shop, coming out in her t-shirt and jeans, then the two get to work unloading the van, logging each item with where it came from, the purchase price, and the target sale price. When the daughter gets to the ring, she smiles.

“Hey Mom, may I please have this one? It matches my eyes,” she slips it on her right hand and shows it off, “and it's going to go great for a night on the town.”

“Well, Jasmine,” the mother begins, “I'm expecting the valuation on that one to come in at several hundred, maybe a thousand….”

“Uh-huh,” the younger woman rolls her eyes, “and how much did you pay for it?”

The Mother chuckles, “Five bucks, but that's only because I felt bad and bought all the costume junk that was in the same box at a quarter each… yeah, fine, keep it.”

“Yes, keeping me is probably the best option,” a man's voice chuckles in the young Smith's head, “Let's discuss it away from your mother, though.”

Jasmine looks around, startled, “Ah… Mom, did you bring someone home?”

“Technically yes, but she doesn't…” the man's voice begins, but stops when the mother speaks.

“No?” The Mother pauses and raises an eyebrow at her daughter, “Why would you even ask that?”

“She can't hear me, but I am quite real” the male voice explains, “so as to avoid you sounding insane, let's talk when you have a few minutes alone, all right?”

“I thought I heard something,” Jasmine shrugs, “Clearly not.”

“All right,” the mother shrugs, and the two get back to work.

Later on that evening, as Jasmine is applying her makeup in front of a mirror, her reflection changes to that of a black haired bearded man in his thirties, dressed in a purple robe that reveals basically nothing except his face, “Is now a good time to talk?”

Jasmine simply blinks a few times, “Umm….”

“Ah, right,” the robed man shrugs, “well, it looks like nobody is around, so… stop me if this is a bad time, but I can at least begin explaining. My name… doesn't translate, it has been a VERY long time since my original body died. That ring your mother brought home is my anchor in this world. I am a very old, and very skilled magic … but I can't do much without a body. You're wearing me, so I am hoping to cut a deal with you so I can borrow your body from time to time.”

“You want to steal my body?” The mocha-skinned woman's eyes go very wide.

“Borrow, “ the reflection shakes his head. “Temporary possession, I'm not a monster. I would put you… ‘in the back seat’ for a few hours, enjoy life, and then ‘let you drive’ again. It's your body, I have no intention of stealing it from you, nor of making any bargain that results in me having it forever.”

The raven haired beauty purses her lips, “And what do I get out of this?”

“This is a negotiation, so that's partially up to you,” the reflection shrugs, “I am skilled at what I do, almost anything is possible with enough effort and time. What do you want?”

“Surely there are limits…” the woman narrows her eyes.

“There are,” the sorcerer agrees, “the biggest one being that I can't do much without a body… which means with one big exception, I can't pay you in advance. Beyond that… I can usually give you some idea of how much time it will take to do what you want, if it's not something I can do at all, and how much time I'll want to spend simply enjoying life in the meanwhile.”

A bit overwhelmed, Jasmine blinks, “Exception?”

“It doesn't usually make a good demonstration,” the mirror man cringes, “but if you die while wearing me, about thirteen minutes later, you'll reset to the state you were in the first time you put me on. In your case, that's jeans, T-shirt, socks, sneakers, keys, wallet, phone, grime from the day, and so on.”

“And what does that…” the half-black woman begins.

“That's free,” the man who's had this conversation many times shrugs, then shakes his head, “I refuse to bargain with people's lives. In order for me to pull it off I need you wearing my anchor at the time of your **** so I can catch your soul and prevent you from ing on, but I am going to ask nothing in return for that.”

“Are there any side effects?” The woman looks very concerned.

“Not exactly?” The man searches for the right words, “your body will be perfectly restored to that moment from earlier today, and you'll everything up to the point of actual ****. No loss of self will occur, and the restoration is total. But that, itself, is sometimes a problem. If you die in a car wreck forty years from now, and I am still on your finger, you'll physically reset to today. You'll lose all your gray hairs and wrinkles; any muscle or fat that you've gained or lost since today will be undone; any scars, tattoos, or surgical procedures will be wiped away; and so on.”

“I won't have ID that anyone will accept…” the woman starts to pick up on the problem.

“Yes,” the reflection nods, “...and you'll dying. It can be very traumatic.”

The woman is silent for a bit, “but the other option is simply staying dead, right?”

The reflection pauses a bit, “The other option is ing me on to someone else. If you're wearing me when you die, I will revive you, period.”

The mixed race woman is silent for a while, so The Ring continues talking, “...but that's depressing. Happier topic: What do you want? What's your heart's desire?”

Jasmine opens her mouth to speak….