I
~Of The Past~


*I amar prestar aen (The world is changed)
Hon mathon ne nen (I feel it in the water)
Hon mathon ne chae (I feel it in the earth)
A han nostron ned wilith (I smell it in the air.)

Much that once was is lost, for none now live who remember it. It began with the forging of the Rings of Power. Three were given to the Elves, immortal, wisest and fairest of all beings. Seven were given to the Dwarves, great miners and craftsmen of the mountain halls. And nine, nine rings were gifted to the race of Men, who above all else desire power. For within these rings was bound the power and the will to rule each race.

But they were all of them deceived, for deep in the land of Mordor, the Dark Lord Sauron forged another ring, a master ring, and into this ring he poured all his cruelty, his malice and his will to dominate every living thing. One ring to rule them all.
One by one, the free peoples of Middle Earth fell to the power of the Ring, but there were some who resisted. A last alliance of men and elves*~ marched against the armies of Mordor, and on the very slopes of Mount Doom, they fought for the freedom of Middle-Earth. Victory was near, but the power of the ring could not be undone.

Sauron towered over all the peoples fighting for middle earth; he strode through the massive crowd; everyone moved out of his way-especially the Men and Elves. Sauron approached a large crowd of men; they all stopped fighting and stared in horror at Sauron. He raised his staff high into the air bringing it down with a great force none had ever seen. He struck the first few men down; raising his staff up again he then brought it down with a powerful blow that sent Men and Elves flying.

Elendil gathered all his courage before taking on Sauron who struck him with a blow that slammed him into the mountain.
On instinct Isildur ran to his father's side as Sauron approached. There was no escape for Isildur, yet in this last moment he raised his Father's sword, Sauron stepped onto the sword with his huge, powerful feet braking the sword into a shard; however Isildur used the broken shard to cut off the finger that held the Ring. Sauron was then defeated. A terrible wind picked up just before he fell to the ground, a powerful blow overpowered the Men, Elves, and even Orcs knocking them down to the ground.

Curiosity overtook Isildur as he reached over for the Ring; he looked at it for a moment before crushing the remains of Sauron's finger. It fell apart into ashes blowing in the wind that had suddenly picked up, he held the Ring in his hand for a few moments; but the Ring had already dominated his mind. Isildur had been given chance to destroy the Ring but men's hearts are easily corrupted, the Ring of Power had a will of its own; it betrayed Isildur to his death and the Ring was lost for two and a half thousand years until the Ring ensnared another bearer; the creature of the Misty Mountains named Gollum.

For five hundred years the Ring poisoned his mind and gave him an unnatural long life until the Ring abandoned Gollum. But something happened that the Ring did not intend, the most unlikely creature picked it up: A hobbit. Bilbo Baggins of The Shire. *
From this came the history:
*~*'The Rings for the Elven-Kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-Lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the land of Mordor where the shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the shadows lie.'*~*


***

A pathway from the stairs led towards a large stone on the right the small path curved beside it, fallen leaves were scattered across the lush, dark green grass, the moon lit a few spots on the ground here and there, but did not overwhelm the place with it's pale glow.
The path curved slightly to the left leading to a large enclosed garden where the moon shone in radiance, covering the grass with light.
In the far corner there was a silver stream that flowed from the fountain on the hill. Near the silver stream stood a basin of silver, wide and shallow it was, filled with water from the silver stream behind it; beside the basin stood a slender silver ewer.

In the basin the silver water was still. A young female cautiously peered into the still, clear water almost as if waiting for something. The moon and the stars were visible in the clear water before it started to swirl, changing into a clear picture of a young man peering into the exact same basin, his face was horror stricken as he continued to peer into the mirror.

The water rippled changing the image to a very young child running around with two companions somewhere that some people of Middle-earth have never been lucky enough to see or experience. The image shifted back to a young man she saw looking into the mirror, lying on a bed of white sheets. A stone angel stood above him as he rested with arms outstretched, a thin white cloth hanging from both her long slender arms.
Once again the image changed, this time something unexpected was viewed: the same young man fell onto the floor of some inn, a ring flew from his hand up into the air, he reached out to grab it but instead of falling in his palm in landed right on his finger; and he disappeared.

The images after that became more disturbing than that of the man disappearing. Thousands of Orcs were fighting with two men; the ring whispered something in a strange tongue that scarcely any in Middle-earth could comprehend. A dark cat-like eye appeared, flame surrounded the pupil, almost engulfing it, the same words that were uttered before were repeated. The Eye grew closer, laughing maliciously, louder and louder the laughter became until it seemed that it was coming from right behind her.

Quickly sitting up in her bed, the Elven maiden tried to slow her breathing down, beads of sweat dotted her forehead; the same nightmare had plagued her since the night she peered into the Mirror of Galadriel. She had seen the exact same images, heard the exact same laughing. Every few months the nightmare haunted her until she finally knew the meaning of the Mirror, and the dream.

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*This was taken from the Lord Of The Rings transcript; some lines have been altered for effect.
*~ Of Men it included: Elendil and his son Isildur, of Elves it included: Elrond, and Esgiraloth (Lothaelin's father).
*~* This was taken from the book Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkien
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