He ruled a vast kingdom and he had a great deal of magical power.

He also had four children, two sons and two daughters. He loved them and wanted to give them some portion of his own magical power. So secretly he constructed four rings, each with the aspect of the four elements. Each ring has the powers of an elemental ring.

The rings were given to the children when Frey died and it was then that he also told them of an additional power of the rings. He told them that together they could speak to his spirit and ask a single question each year. This could only be attempted once a year, only on the longest night of the year.

With those last words, he passed away and the children took up their gifts.

But the rings also had a curse of which the king was unaware. Each ring took up the eternal struggle against the other elements. Water hated fire, earth hated air, soon the kingdom was divided and the children were on the brink of a civil war.

The king's sister saw the disaster that was unfolding in her kingdom and summoned her advisors to ask for aide. She saw only one course, she hired a master thief to steal the rings from the children.

The thief stole three of the rings, but was killed when he went tried to gain the final ring. This left all the rings with one child. She hated the other ring bearers but their rings represented enormous power. She put all the rings on her two hands in an attempt to summon her father. Pure primal energy coursed through her body and with a thought the earth spewed forth tornados of fire -- rivers flowed with stone -- people were breathing rock -- fire cooled the skin. She called her father back from the dead, his spirit singed by the power flowing through his daughter.

A wave of destruction killed both the daughter and father and pushed out in all directions. The kingdom survived and the three remain children abdicate in favor of their aunt.

The rings were never recovered and it is unknown whether they survived the explosion.

DM's note:
It was the aunt who cursed the items. She felt more qualified to run the kingdom than Fray's children.
A river troll living in the foot hills Serpent's Spine has found the ring of water.

An sand Kobol has found the ring of fire in the Soul Scorcher desert.

The ring of earth is in a horde of a green dragon in the northern Elfwood.

And a rich merchant has the ring of air in Garidan. He is unaware of its full power, thinking it no more than a ring of featherfall.