The lands of Valinor will never see their likes again. For none but the Firstborn have ever dwelt in the Ancient West, and none will dwell there when their time has passed. For they are but mere notes in the constant song of the Ainur, and the Ainur's song is but a flutter in the mind of Iluvatur, the One who Creates. Of the Halflings that were the first to touch the sands of Valinor with the last of the Exiled, only one remains. The other has passed into the Halls of Mandos. The Halfling that is spoken of here is Frodo Baggins, and the one who has passed on to the Greater Realm is Bilbo Baggins. Frodo lingers here, walking forever free, eating when he must, sleeping when he is tired. For in the Blessed Realm, there are no sorrows, save for the ones of long ago when the Noldor left their fair shores. So Frodo wanders, carefree, always thinking of those who were left behind in Middle-earth. Yet even fair and immortal Valinor is not immune to evil. For even the greatest wrath that Ulmo and Manwe can unleash will not stop Iluvatur from spinning his Theme. And Melkor, greatest of the Ainur, and the Creator of Evil, will play his part in the Great Theme of Iluvatur. For Iluvatur, wisest of all, knows that wisdom and depth will only come from pain and hurt. And thus he made Melkor mightiest of the Ainur.

    Iluvatur knew that of his Children, the Firstborn and the Followers, there were none who would play the part of the Everchanger, who would change from the poison of Melkor to the glory of the Valar. And so, with the slightest quiver of thought, he spun a note into the Song of the Ainur, and Created the One, the One who would be the Everchanger. He heard the Ainur sing his Theme, and finally, he smiled, and in a single piercing note, the clash of Melkor and the song of the remaining Valar stopped, as it had so long ago at the Creation of the World.

    Frodo knew not it then, but he too, would stand with the Everchanger, and he, the smallest of creatures, would, as Galadriel of the Noldor said, change the future, of the Firstborn, and even of the Valar, the mighty Ainur, forever. For the Ainur know not what Iluvatur chooses to keep hidden from them, and he wished that the Everchanger and the Halfling's part in this note of the Song be unknown to the Valar forever.

     The Mountains of Shadow, the Ephel Duath, had lain desolate and destroyed for many a month now, since the Great Fall and the End of Mordor. Yet their hostile peaks still sustained a solitary traveller, who was unknown to Middle-earth west of these jagged mounts. For he had lived only in Mordor, and had known nothing else but the tyranny of Sauron and the slavery he was born into and bred for. He was not immortal, and young, being only about twenty-five in the years of the Numenor, but he had seen things the Eldar would quail at, he had heard whispers that would trouble the Valar in their faraway lands.

    But now that Mordor was fallen, and all was at peace, he was troubled. He, Tiansom, son of the Maiar Sauron, was feeling restless and pained. He had fought viciously for Mordor, but the Ring undid his efforts, and he fled, seeking the mountains and their harsh dooms instead of the mercy of the King of Gondor. Never would he seek Gondor's pardon, for he was Mordor, the only survivor of the Doom that fell upon it. But the pain was vicious now, and he felt it in his marrow, that the time had come to seek a new beginning.

    The wind was breezing softly now, and as he listened, deep in thought, he heard a slow, chilled voice, as if it was struggling to speak against the wind that buffeted his cheeks now.

     I have Awoken,mightiest of the Ainur,

    I have Lived, through the perish of Many,

   I have Returned, Greatest of the Earth and the Skies and Sea,

  I am Morgoth, King of Kings, Lord of Lords,

 I have Returned, to Seek those

Who have Destroyed what should

Have stayed forever.

  Morgoth...he struggled to remember the Elven-lore he knew. Morgoth...the Dark Lord of the World. The one who drove the Noldor to exile from Valinor, and slayed the Two Trees. He turned to face against the wind, and spoke, his voice sharper than the sword he carried at his waist.

Destroyer of Telperion

Murderer of Laurelin

You have come to Seek

the One who Destroyed you

Little did thy See

What you Speak to

For I am not Firstborn, nor Follower,

Nor Istari, nor Dwarf,

I care not for thy troubles,

But I know of whom thy speaks,

And therefore I set out to protect him

  He stopped, and felt the wind rattle in his bones, as Morgoth blazed, a bright red in a clear black sky. He remembered the fires of Mount Doom, and he quailed, suddenly scared, and crouched low to protect himself from Morgoth's undying heat.

 you speak like the Eldar,

For you Know what was in Valinor,

and yet you claim you are not Firstborn or Follower,

and You know whom I seek.

How will you protect him,

fool of a stranger?

   Tiansom bowed, his eyes wet with tears from the pain he felt in his throat from singing his threats. He coughed, and a bright red gleamed gently at his lips. His eyes were cloudy as he spoke his last words, the Quest which Iluvatur had spun so long ago for him.

 I will make the One

The One that Destroys you by its unsullied Light,

I will find the Nine Stones that are older than the Valar,

I will unite them.

I will give the Light to the One

the One you seek...for I declare myself

Tiansom, enemy of Morgoth.

   Sapped of all his energy, and worn like an old rag cast onto the floor, Tiansom swayed gently, like a graceful dancer, and fell, knowing nothing that came after his oath of enmity to the Great Dark, Morgoth.