This is for me to do while I have writer's block on my novel! Hopefully it'll loosen me up a bit. Yes, I'm taking a few artistic liberties, because, well, the mind truly wanders when you have writer's block and you come up with some really fantastical things! Lol This is for fun only. I hope ya'll enjoy it! Could you review? That'd be phenomenal!
Chapter One:
"Bliss! Bliss, do you have everything?" my dad asked,
"Yes. I always do, don't I?" I replied, putting on my backpack.
He was so neurotic when it came to cave exploring. He always looked over our checklist several times to make sure we had everything, which drove me insane. I was impatient by nature; when I stood at the mouth of a cave I wanted to go in immediately, not wait for him to go over the checklist forty-five times.
I peered into the cave's opening. It was called the Dragon's Mouth, and dad had been training my brother and me for months to go in. You see, he'd been a really active cave explorer in college, and when our mom died, he'd gotten me and my brother Matthew to start.
He said we all needed a hobby that we could do together, so we all started exploring caves, moving up to harder and harder stuff as we got better at it.
"Have you got your first aid kit?"
"Yes."
"Extra flashlight?"
"Yes."
"Have you got spare food just in case?"
"Yeah, Dad! Can we go already?"
"Just a minute, Blissy-Bear. We have to wait on your brother."
"I don't want to wait. I want to go in. We've waited for months. Where is he, anyway?"
"He's talking to Sharon. He'll be right back."
"Ugh, Sharon! He'll be on there for hours. I wanna start!"
Sharon was Matthew's drama queen girlfriend, and ever since they'd started going out, all he did was talk to her or text her.
"Oops, looks like I forgot my other walky-talky. I'll go back to the car and get it. Wait right here, Bliss. Don't go in there alone. It's one of the biggest, most dangerous caves in the U.S."
"Yeah, sure. Hurry up."
When he was a decent distance away, I ducked inside. There was no use waiting; I couldn't stand it!
I was a tad ashamed of my impatience; you'd think an eighteen year old would have a little more, but I didn't. I just wanted to live forward; not spend all my time waiting for excitement to come to me.
The insides of the Dragon's Mouth were amazing, unlike any cave I'd ever seen. It glittered as water dripped down it's walls and there were pools of water here and there. Brightly colored stalactites and stalagmites were everywhere. What mineral was it that made them that rosy color? Dad had told me but I hadn't been listening. Iron?
"Bliss?" I heard my dad calling from outside the cave. I looked back. I was only five hundred yards from the entrance. He could catch up.
Something sparkled on the ground and I bent to pick it up. It was a smooth aqua colored stone, sort of like an opal had been crossed with turquoise, and it hung from a thick gold chain.
Where had it come from? Who would wear something so fancy on a cave exploring trip?
"I'm in! And I found something really cool!" I hollered back, walking deeper into the cave. "You should come here, it's amazing. Whoa-----!"
I stepped into a hole, and fell through, faster and faster. I screamed, even though I knew no one could save me. I was as good as dead.
What had Dad told me? 'Wait for me, Bliss.'
Now, I'd suffer the ultimate consequence for being so bullheaded! Isn't that what Grandma had always said? 'Your impatience will be your downfall.'?
It had taken on a very literal meaning. I closed my eyes, preparing for the impact that would kill me. I'd been falling for a really long time.
Suddenly, I hit bottom, but it didn't hurt. I should be hurt. I reasoned. I should be dead. Was this death? So painless, somewhere in the dark?
I heard voices, men's voices.
"What was that?" someone with an English accent said.
"Where am I?" I responded, unable to catch my breath as panic set in.
Torchlight fell over my face and I could see who had spoken.
It was a young man with long blonde hair, dressed like some sort of medieval warrior or something. He had…no, of course he couldn't have…the light was playing tricks. There was no way he could have pointed ears, could he?
He drew in a sharp, startled breath.
"A woman! A human woman!"
An older man walked over, a sword on his hilt and a smirk on his face. I immediately didn't like him.
"My lady! What are you doing in the Mines of Moria, so far from Gondor?"
Others gathered around me, an old man with a beard, another man with dark hair and a kind face, four really short young men, also with pointed ears, and a red-headed…dwarf. This wasn't happening. I'd hit my head or something, and gone all trippy, delirious, and Wizard-of-Oz-ish.
I'd wake up soon, I told myself, and Dad and Matthew would be sitting around me, and I'd be all, 'I had the weirdest dream. And oh, Auntie Em, there's no place like home!'
"Answer me!" the smirky man said. "Speak!"
The kind faced man held up his hand as if to say, "Stop."
"Enough, Boromir; she's obviously frightened. My lady, what brings you here? This is no place for anyone, much less a small lass like yourself."
Then, it hit me.
Boromir…Moria…all this medieval stuff… I was in Middle Earth! I sighed, and pinched myself. It hurt. I wasn't dreaming. This was real, somehow.
Matthew was a die-hard Lord of the Rings fan, but I wasn't. I could hardly remember anything from the one time I'd watched the movies. I'd actually fallen asleep in the middle of the second one!
"I fell, and…and suddenly I was…here."
The blonde one, an elf, I now remembered what he was, helped me to my feet.
"Your name, Lady?"
"Bliss." I replied.
The elf and the kind-faced man exchanged a meaningful look.
"Aedinil…" the kind faced man murmured.
"Your speech and manner of dress is strange. From what land do you hail?" the old man asked. A wizard. What had his name been?
Oh, if only I had paid more attention!
"From America." I said. "It's a different world than this. I was in a cave in my world, and I fell, and now I'm---"
"We've no time for this mystery now!" Boromir said. "More Orcs will be here any minute!"
"He's right." the elf said. "Let's take her with us and go."
"Don't be a fool, Legolas. She could be a servant of Sauron." the dwarf argued.
The wizard eyed me thoughtfully.
"I can see clearly into her soul. She is no enemy. She'll travel with us. Come, we must go! Quickly!"
"Can you run?" The kind-faced man asked me, and I nodded. I was on the track team back home. "Can you fight?"
"I have no weapon." I replied.
"Stay close, my lady. I've enough arrows for the both of us." the elf, Legolas said to me, and everyone began to run.
I figured I'd better follow, too. I wasn't very familiar with the story, but I remembered the Orcs more than anything from the movie. I definitely did not want to face them. I'd get this sorted when we were out of these caves.
We didn't run far when we were surrounded by the filthy, terrifying creatures. How'd they gotten out of this? I tried to remember, but I was pretty sure I'd gotten up to get a Pepsi during this scene.
As quickly as they'd come, the Orcs scattered, and we heard menacing footsteps.
"This foe is beyond any of you!" The wizard said, "Run!"
In the time that followed, everything blurred together. I just wanted to survive.
There was…fire and…something---a Balrog something-or-other, and a gap that the elf actually threw me over…and the wizard, he…he fell. It felt like an out-of-body experience, really. I think maybe I'd gone into shock.
I blacked out for a bit, I wasn't sure how long, and I woke up on a hard gray rock, the sun hurting my eyes.
"Aragorn; she's awake." Legolas said.
I sat up and looked around, the hobbits were sobbing, and everyone looked as shocked and somber and freaked out as I felt.
"Get them up. By nightfall, these hills will be swarming with Orcs. We must make it to the borders of Lorien."
Involuntarily, I fell back down on the rock. I felt like I was in some sort of trance; I moved so zombie-like and was vaguely aware of anything going on around me. My vision blurred, and I felt numb. Only my sense of hearing remained.
"Carry her, Legolas…"
"What's the matter with her?" I heard a tear-choked voice ask. Was it Boromir?
"It's what she carries. It is the Stone of the Dunedain, and it's power is taking hold of her…"
"…destroy it…"
"No, it's not a negative thing. At least not in the right hands."
"How can we trust her?"
"Gandalf…he said we could…"
I felt myself being lifted and carried, by who I didn't know, and I honestly didn't care.
I felt flooded with calm, more peaceful and safe than I'd ever felt in my life, when everything went dark.
"Aedinil? Aedinil, Bliss, awaken! The change is made, Lady Aedinil!"
"Aedinil?" I asked sleepily.
I yawned and sat up.
I was in a forest, surrounded by the men I'd seen when I first came here.
The kind one, Aragorn, smiled at me.
"Aedinil is elvish for Bliss. That is your name, is it not?"
I nodded.
"I suppose ya'll want answers, and I'm afraid I don't have many."
"What is your story? Where do you come from? How did you come into Moria, and how did you get the Stone of the Dunedain?"
I felt strangely alert, and everything around me looked like I'd gone from black-and-white picture to HD.
"I am not from this world…realm…thing." I stumbled over my words. "I was exploring a cave in a place called Kentucky. I fell down a hole, for a very long way, and all of a sudden I was with ya'll, in those mines… I have no idea how, or why, I'm here."
"What of that thing 'round your neck?" Boromir asked. "How did you come by that?"
"What thing?" I asked, and looked down. It was the necklace I'd found, and I was somehow wearing it.
"Oh, that. I found it. Right before I fell."
"That certainly explains a lot." Legolas said.
"Not enough." the dwarf replied.
"Gimli, be kind to our guest. She's a lady after all."
"A lady!" he scoffed. "What sort of lady wears a man's clothes?"
"Gimli!" Legolas exclaimed.
"Where I'm from, more women wear pants than dresses."
"Your attire is certainly strange." Aragorn observed. "Your pack, even. What strange fabric!"
"It's a mix between cotton and polyester…which I guess ya'll have never heard about."
"Ya'll?" Legolas asked.
"It means 'you all'. I'm from the South part of my country. We tend to slur our words together."
"While you speak, the Orcs close in on us." Boromir said.
"Forgive the impudence of my friends, Lady Aedinil." Aragorn said. "We have just lost someone most…" he choked up. "…Special to us."
One of the hobbits stared at me. He had eyes so piercingly blue and mournful that I felt an immediate connection to him. Frodo? Yes, Frodo was his name. The one that had the ring. The ring was significant, wasn't it? Something about the end of the world and a great evil or something like that.
"We can talk as we walk." With a nod in the direction of the deep forest, he led us in.
"You have no idea about your necklace, do you?"
I shook my head.
"I figured as much, by your earlier reaction. It's called the Stone of the Dunedain. It's quite an important relic to my people."
"Why?" I asked, feeling very inclined to touch the stone.
"It grants subtle powers to the wearer. Though legend states that it will only connect to a woman. How it ended up in your world, I do not know. America, yes?"
"America is my country. Earth is my world."
"Interesting. And you fell through?"
"Yes. My Dad and my brother…they, they're wondering where I am. They probably think I'm dead! Is there any way for me to go back to them? To get back home?"
"I do not know." Aragorn said, and my heart broke. Would I ever see my family again?
"It seems to me," Legolas said thoughtfully, "That your way home would be from the same spot in Moria where you arrived."
"If she can pass through again." Gimli pointed out.
I bit my lip, not wanting to cry in front of people I hardly knew. There had to be a way back!
"May I, my lady?" Aragorn gestured to the necklace and I nodded. He grabbed it, and very gentlemanly tucked it into the front of my shirt.
"No use for strangers to see it and recognize it's worth. Right, Frodo?"
Frodo nodded.
"Until Sauron is defeated, Moria is not safe." Legolas said.
"So I have to wait until you defeat this…Sauron to go home?"
"Yes. Though with your powers, you can help us achieve victory."
"Aragorn…" Boromir said. "How can we trust her? We hardly know her."
"Boromir is right." Gimli said, looking at me suspiciously.
"Gandalf said she'd travel with us, and travel with us she will."
At the mention of Gandalf, they all fell into silent grief again, until Gimli started telling a story about an Elven witch who lived in the forest.
Powers? I had some sort of powers that came from the necklace I'd found? Had it been the necklace that had brought me here? What kind of powers did I even have?
I wanted to know everything immediately, but I didn't speak. It was impatience that had gotten me into this mess, after all, and it'd be rude to talk about something so self centered when they'd all lost their friend.
I'd have to wait even if it killed me.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, we were surrounded again. Not by Orcs this time, but by elves with bows and arrows.
"The dwarf breathes so loud, we could have shot him in the dark." Their leader said, and Gimli bristled at his comment.
Aragorn made some sort of negotiations with him in Elvish, so I didn't understand a word of it.
Eventually, we were allowed to enter what their leader called "The Realm of the Lady of the Wood."
Man, I should have paid more attention to those movies! And I probably should have read the books. They weren't even that bad! Why had I been so bored with them?
They certainly didn't bore me now, I thought sarcastically.
We walked for a long way, no body speaking, until finally we came to a luminous city built around very ancient-looking trees.
It was the most beautiful place I'd ever seen, and it comforted me a little bit.
"Lothlorien." Legolas whispered in my ear. "The capital city of the elves."
We went up stairs that spiraled around a giant tree, and were greeted by several elves. One in particular caught my eye and stole my breath away. Galadriel, I recalled her name. This was the Lady Galadriel.
~To be continued!~
It gets much better and more detailed in the next chapter. Exposition bores me, so I pushed through quickly. Do you like it? If it's no good, I won't finish, but if you like it, send me a review and I'll update quickly.
