Chapter 1: Prologue

Middle-Earth. The Black Gates of Mordor-SA 3441

The day was sunless and cold like all days in Mordor were. Pitch-black was both the sky above and the ground beneath the Elves and Numenoreans feet. All around the Last Alliance of Men and Elves were the filthy black and gray armored abominations known as orcs, staring them down with bulging hateful yellow eyes and bared fangs.

But the orcs had been driven back. After so much fighting, the superior might and discipline of the Last Alliance had finally managed to push the orcs to the very foot of Mount Doom, a mountain that towered far over them all and overlooked all of Mordor. At the forefront of this massive army of men and elves stood Elendil and Gil-Gilad, the two old friends, who with their mighty weapons of choice, Narsil and Aiglos, cut down countless orcs, carving a bloody swath all the way to the very bottom of the mountain, which spewed out molten lava and fires that threatened to incinerate any unfortunate enough to be where the lava landed. Meanwhile, Isildur, son of Elendil, and Elrond, lord of Rivendell, were challenging each-other to see who could score more kills.

"22, 23, 24..." Isildur ducked under an axe-swing from an orc and retaliated by jabbing his princely sword into the creature's body.

"25!" Isildur shouted. He turned to Elrond, who had already cut down two more orcs.

"Elrond, 25 already today!"

Elrond turned to him. "Good for you" Elrond replied nonchalantly. "I have 35 kills"

"I'll have no pointy-ear outscoring me!" Isildur swung out with his sword and an orc's head went flying off its shoulders. Whipping around, he decapitated a second Orc as it attempted to bring its hand-axe down on him. Then another Orc was felled. And another. Within mere moments, Isildur's body count had gone from 25 to over 35.

But as Isildur looked for Elrond, he found he could no longer see him amidst the endless tide of black, gold, and silver. And as he continued to look for him, he saw slashes in the air that he recognized as Elrond's signature sword Hadahafang in action. Indeed, Orcs were falling in droves, but still Isildur's eyes could not see where Elrond was. Was the Elf fighting so fast that Isildur could not even see him?

"70 kills now" Isildur heard Elrond's voice say, but still Isildur could not locate him amidst the mass of orcs, men, and elves.

Meanwhile, Elendil and Gil-Gilad continued to lead the push to the foot of the volcano. Amidst the chaos and carnage, Elendil raised Narsil aloft and shouted triumphantly. Victory it seemed, was finally at hand.

Then the air grew colder still as a new dark presence finally made itself known. Suddenly the whole world seemed to slow down as the orcs pulled back completely and the elves and Numenoreans ceased in their attacks on them. All stood in stunned silence at the ominous arrival of the giant clad in armor as black and shiny as obsidian, with a sinister spiked helmet covering whatever face he might have and a long flowing black cape darker than his armor draped around his spiked shoulders. In his hand he held a mace, and on one finger on his mace hand he wore a golden band.

Sauron the dark had come to the field of battle.

With one swing of his mace came a burst of greenish energy followed by a dozen or so men and elves being sent into the air, knocked away like broken dolls and killed instantly to the horror of their companions. With a second swing another blast of blinding greenish energy and another grouping of elves and men meeting a similar fate as the first ones slain. Then another swing. And another. Dozens of men and elves were being single-handidly and systematically slaughtered by the Dark Lord, as their terrified companions looked on helplessly. No attack from Elf of Numenorean could harm Sauron while he wore the One Ring on his finger.

Finally, the Dark Lord reached Gil-Gilad himself. The Elf Lord thrusted with Aiglos but Sauron grabbed the spear with his large gauntlet-hand and wrenched the great weapon from Gil-Gilad's grip. Staring at it contemptuously, Sauron tossed it away and then grabbed Gil-Gilad by the throat, hoisting him aloft with one arm before the Elf-Lord could do a thing to stop it. All of his struggling was for nought, and as Elendil and all other men and elves looked on in horror, Sauron's very body began radiating intense heat, the obsidian black now glowing a fierce fiery orange, the empty black holes on his mask lit an intense red, and Gil-Gilad the high-elf king was consumed in fire and slain, with a nought but a charred and broken skeleton left behind.

Seeing his old friend incinerated, Elendil shouted out in rage, and abandoning all sense of self-preservation, rushed towards Sauron and struck out at him with Narsil. The ensuing exchange was a painfully short one, for not even Narsil could injure Sauron, who effortlessly knocked Elendil with another swing of his mace. The great king of Numenor went flying before slamming hard into a wall of black rock and then landing with a sickening thud and crunch. Isildur rushed to his side but by then his father had already died. And no sooner did Isildur reach his father's body that Sauron now stood before him as well, in all of his evil. His mind kicking into survival mode, Isildur stabbed with his sword. It did nothing and Sauron swatted the sword away, the bronze-colored blade spiraling through the air before disappearing completely from view. Desperately racing to grab his father's sword, Isildur was too late to keep Sauron from bringing his armored foot down on the blade, breaking the legendary sword like it was but a dry twig. All Isildur had now was a hilt with a broken jagged blade. He looked up. Sauron raised his mace over his head, and Isildur braced himself to join his father...

A fierce roar echoed throughout the air, and every living thing paused. All turned to the source of the roar, and saw a beacon of light that was powerful enough to pierce even Mordor's shroud of darkness. And then, up the hill came a large lion with golden fur and tan mane, with a face that carried far too much wisdom and age to be that of an ordinary lion. The elves recognized him immediately and many bowed in respect. Some Numenoreans followed suit. Though he was not of this world, every being in Middle-Earth knew who this was, for he hailed from the most magical and pure of the three realms.

"The Lion-Mair has come here to Middle-Earth..." Sauron mumbled, speaking for the first time. Turning his gaze to him, the great lion let out a fearsome roar that sent Orcs scattering in all directions, and for once in his long existence, Sauron felt genuine fear. The Lion-Maiar was not supposed to be here. The laws of Eru Iluvatar forbade contact and interaction between the three worlds...

Before Sauron or Isildur or any other being could get any sense of what was transpiring, the great lion surged forward, all elves and men parting respectfully to make way for his charge while any orcs fled in absolute terror. Soon, the lion was upon Sauron, who swung out with his mace to meet him. So began a fierce struggle between the two Mair. The lion pounced on him before Sauron could strike him with his mace, and the Dark Lord struggled to force him off of him. As he did, Sauron spoke to him in a language that only his fellow Mair would understand. It sounded like abhorrent black-speech to everyone else, including Isildur.

"You should not have come here Aslan. You know the laws of Eru as much as I..."

Aslan snapped at Sauron with his fangs and then responded in the same language, only his voice sounded like pleasant celestial singing: "For one who has established himself as the greatest evil of all three worlds and has blatantly defied Eru's ideals repeatedly, I would not lecture me about breaking his laws"

Sauron continued his struggle with Aslan, finally forcing him off of him as he responded angrily: "You presume too much. You think I am the greatest evil of all three realms? All I desired was to bring order to Middle-Earth. But I was rejected! And so I will destroy all those who rejected my salvation! And what of Earth? What of those who Eru seems to consider his "chosen?" They have committed far worse atrocities than I ever could. They have committed repeated genocide and mass-torture against their own race, and often in Eru's name. Who now is the real monster?"

Undeterred, Aslan countered: "One cannot condemn an entire species for the crimes of some, however heinous. All the humans of Earth need is guidance. They will get it in time."

As the fight continued, a watching Isildur dared to blink only once. As he looked on the two dueling Maiar seemed to fade in and out of existence, with Sauron especially disappearing before Isildur's eyes, replaced by a thick black form that looked almost like a cloud that had been swallowed up by a black hole and then spat back out as an inky blur.

Not to be deterred, Aslan continued to advance towards the walking abyss again and again, snapping at it with his jaws and roaring fiercely as if to make the black form recoil in fear. As Isildur looked on, he could only struggle to believe that the shadow, the blackened blur Aslan fought against could possibly be Sauron. And as the fight continued Isildur's eyes could no longer follow Aslan either. Both opponents fought so fast that they were now beyond Isildur's ability to see them, his normally keen eyesight failing him for the second time in the span of a few moments.

Finally though Sauron began to get the edge in his struggle. He knocked Aslan to the ash-covered ground, the lion's claws leaving deep cuts in the Dark Lord that succeeded in hurting him. Sauron tossed Aslan to the where Isildur and Elendil's body were and extended a hand. Out shot a combined blast of flame and ice that Aslan only barely countered with a mighty roar that dispersed it into a whirlwind of harmless sparks and snowflakes. Undeterred, Sauron trudged towards the fallen lion and raised his mace, again speaking in the language of the Maiar: "Perhaps I simply do not understand. But more likely, I think that I am far too smart to believe in such rubbish"

As Sauron prepared to deliver the death blow, the up-to-that point petrified Isildur seized on his chance, stabbing Sauron in the back with Narsil's broken blade. Sauron whipped around and forced Isildur to pull the broken sword out. The Dark Lord stared Isildur down in contempt.

"So you invite my wrath do you? Foolish Numenorean filth..."

Sauron raised his mace only to recoil in pain as Aslan slashed at his back with his claws. Seizing on the opportunity, Isildur slashed outward with Narsil cutting off all of the fingers on the hand that Sauron wore his ring. No sooner did the black fingers fall to the ground did Sauron stop dead in his tracks. Suddenly, a glowing white light appeared in the center of his body. The light grew brighter and brighter as it began to consume his entire form. And in an instant, Sauron exploded, unleashing a massive wave of energy that knocked all present down to the ground. Off in the distance, Sauron's helmet landed with a crash. The Dark Lord and enemy of the free peoples of Middle-Earth had been slain.

Isildur turned to where the great lion had been but he was nowhere to be seen. He had vanished as if he had never been there. Isildur was confused and curious, but then his attention was drawn to what Sauron had left behind: his golden ring.

Such a small thing it was, Isildur thought. Such a small, plain-looking band. Isildur found it hard to imagine that such a tiny thing could hold so much power. And yet...

He was drawn to it. Before he could even realize what was happening to him, he found himself irresistibly drawn to the ring. He grabbed it and crushed the now brittle severed finger that it was worn on like it was but brittle charcoal.

All who come from my bloodline will be bound to this ring... Isildur decided. Yes...it must be kept within my family at all costs...it is...precious to me...

Author's Note: All right! First chapter done! Now because I've already written the first several chapters, they will all be uploaded soon. Now with this, I think I should get some things out in the open:

The Lord of the Rings setting is a mix of the Book-universe and the movies. For the most part, events will be quite similar to the way they were in the movies, but fortunately, the movies tend to be (pretty) accurate to the books. And there will be several elements native to the books as well, like say, Legolas' appearance. Let's just say he won't look like Orlando Bloom in my story (sorry Bloom fans!) As for the Narnia setting, well, I have a few surprises there…

Yes, Aslan is a Maiar. He is also the oldest one, which will be elaborated on later.

A good portion of this will be taken straight from the actual books and movies, so I apologize is this comes off as more of a transcript. The thing is, a lot of this is meant to be one of two things: for the Narnia stuff, its my own take on it, as in, less saccharine and innocent (no offense Narnia fans). As for the LoTR stuff, while its true that anyone who has seen the movies or read the books (or both) will recognize most of what happens, including dialogue, this is not a mere re-write. The LoTR parts are meant to be the War of the Ring as told from the Pensive Children's perspectives. They are a kind of Ishmael-type character if you would, for those who are familiar with Moby Dick.

Now, with all of that out of the way, I hope that you enjoy my story!