Light.

Cold light.

The soft tendrils of a chilled breeze brushed stray hairs across the skin of his face, dabbing away the dried sweat upon his brow like a forsaken lover whose fingers were made of ice. Somewhere deep down in a place he could not quite reach, was the sensation of wrongness, building slowly but surely toward the surface of darkness so solidly settled over everything. It was terrifying to be honest as every few moments would herald the sharp return of his senses, each racing back to add to the startling awareness mounting about his mind.

He could feel then, suddenly the gentle touch of breathy fingers became a shocking and painful wind, cold and biting against his face, his everything. He inhaled sharply as though knocked in the gut by an enemy for it felt no less than such, bitter oxygen scalded his lungs as the blood in his body seemed to remember how to pump. Numb, everything was so numb, his arms and his legs, his outer extremities were alight with sensation and he could only relate it to being impaled with a thousand needles. So strong and forceful it was, driving a wedge of agony into the base of his skull and forcing him to rear his head back in surprise, instinctually trying to alleviate some of the pain and only managing to cause more.

His face was alive, teeth gritted and nostrils flaring with every pulse of his heartbeat.

Never in his long life had he felt anything quite like it.

Everything was in a rage: trees groaned and creaked while grass whispered against his cheeks and hands, the wind howled with a fury unmatched and thunder shook the earth below him. Although somewhere inside he knew it not to be so, at that moment in time he could not help but feel overwhelmed and targeted, as though the entire storm had swept across the land just for him. But something was still terribly wrong and it was beginning to scare him in a way that he had felt very few times before, making his chest constrict under the already driving pressure and his heart jump like a wild animal in its cage. Please a soft voice filtered through his mind, small and weak and afraid, and it was not hard to recognize as his own, giving a name to the emotion welling rapidly against his short resolve.

He was terrified. Wholly terrified and it was made worse by the fact that he could not see, having finally pinpointed the strangeness that was bothering him. Now it was going to drive him mad.

Although his body still ached and his bones felt brittle and frail, he panicked, groaning painfully while forcing heavy limbs to do his bidding, pushing his compromised figure from the ground and shifting as best he could onto his knees. By the time he had completed this task he was aware that much time had passed and his lungs were lined with fire, and for the first time in all of his life he was heaving, gasping for his breath as a mere mortal would. Still he could not see and on top of his weariness another bout of terror seized him, bringing unsteady hands up to touch his face, searching for something that might have hindered this ability. Alas there was nothing, everything was in place save for the unusual film of sweat upon his brow, slicking across his nose and cheeks while he could feel it dribbling tauntingly down his neck, chasing cold trails down his spine.

He was tired. He did not get tired.

So distraught was he that the sound of careful footsteps did not reach him, completely bypassing what would have normally been impeccable hearing- for which he would later be much humiliated.

The ongoing storm was doing little for the small strength he had, it startled him horribly to realize that it was not just sweat on his face but rain as well, for it had been raining a good majority of the time and he was only just now realizing it. Everything about this was so very wrong, so very very wrong and he just wanted it all to end, make it all stop so that he could understand what was happening.

Thunder cracked, sending shots of discomfort into his brain from the far back left and he whirled around to face it as though it would do him good, like he could confront an enemy trying to sneak up from behind. In the process he gave a short-lived gasp as shaky legs refused to hold him and the slick grass brought him unceremoniously to the ground once more. As thunder rolled passively across his head and the rain pelted him from all directions he became acutely conscious of something burning against his breast, so hot that it was cold and he felt like he was being stabbed. Though it was not from anything material, but from within where a flickering candle of shame had been righted, electing to burn slow and tortuously as it illuminated every fault and wrong he had thus far committed.

He was… he was a warrior! A Captain of his Lords guard and here he was reduced to nothing but a mewling infant, shivering in a tight ball while silent tears mingled with the icy rain upon his cheeks. Crying, he was crying! Crying!

Crying!

There was no denying the hot mess pouring freely from his eyes, his sightless eyes that he could not explain and that scared him more than anything. In fact there was no denying the unholy fear at all, but what others did not know did not hurt them.

In the midst of the madness there was something different, a sound he had not noticed before and he picked his head up off the ground, cocking it to listen more aptly. His mind raced on autopilot going through a hundred different possibilities until a few seemed the more likely, for in that time he had discerned a hard and rugged breathing accompanied by the soft squelch of footsteps coming near him. Already they were so close, just feet away and only now was he aware, fury left a hole in his chest as a different sort of numbness overtook him.

They were a person, male by the sound of their voice and they were yelling something, trying to be heard above the gale. He did not understand what it was they said and doubted he could have if he wanted to, the wind was so fierce, but he was conscious of the foreign presence and he could feel how desperately they fought against the current. Here he nearly choked for so much did he wish for his eyesight, then he could have seen the who and helped his mind better understand the what of what they wanted. Instead he floundered in a sea of thoughts and feelings, buffeted by his ears, nose, and touch as they struggled to make sense of the blackness ahead.

The stranger was speaking again except this time he could feel the stolen breath of them by his face, a hard, heavy hand clamped down on his shoulder and the speaker chanted in garbled words. Panic struck him and a thousand years of instinct demanded him to react, but his body was weak and frail and only twitched in the vague notion of escaping. His assailant did not seem to notice for another hand came down on his other shoulder and he felt himself being righted, embarrassment sizzled at the bottom of his gut, if he could have blushed he probably would have. That alone was intolerable.

Get a grip on yourself! his mind screamed, his resolve struggling vainly at the lead-weight having taken perch upon his soul.

It was so wrong.

There was more shouting; more mangled speech and another voice joined the fray, this one lighter, fairer- a female. But there was no more than that for in that moment stillness came to his mind, gentle light filled all of the dark corners, chasing away the shadows and replacing the black holes with meaningless meaning. He recognized this light and it gave him comfort in ways he had not realized he desired, his thoughts flailed hopefully within the compassionate cocoon and the soft dreamlike brush of fingers banished every panic, every fear and terror to nothingness and he felt like they had never been there.

Have heart; be not afraid of the dark. You will be found.

A sigh left his body and he relaxed.

Sleep… she beckoned noiselessly and he followed her over the edge and into oblivion.


Note: I know I'm terrible, but when it bites me I have to write. You might or might not like this? But hopefully you will, I've got a few things piled up in the back I think you might like. But for now I'm hoping that it will give you a different sort of twist on modern/Lotr AU so I'm striving for something unique ;3 Reviews are token, I'd love to hear your feedback!

Please excuse any grammar mistakes, my word is dumb. Will go through and fix them when next chapter is up.