All translations, explanations, advertisements, and thought processes are at the end of the chapter.

Disclaimer: All shows/ books/ video games/ songs that are mentioned in this chapter are all © to their respective owners, I don't own them.

Nórui the fifteenth of the Year 2002 during the Third Age

Honor Rae opened her eyes to see green in almost all shades of it. Her eyes slowly focused and the canopy of trees came into focus; sunlight softly filtering through the gaps of leaves. The rushing of water could be heard in the background and felt by her legs which were still in it. Her legs were tingling; icy pins seemed to stab them repeatedly as the water tugged on them, trying to sweep her away once again.

Her body seized and she rolled over onto her hands and knees; her lungs rejecting the river water in them. Honor Rae wheezed as the last of it was ejected from her freezing body, falling into a crumpled heap she laid there, and tried to recollect her thoughts.

It had all started when Honor Rae and her self-proclaimed sister, Laura, had gone out for a picnic while preparing to go to a Zelda LARP. Their game master, Alex Hardman, had declared that it was their turn to play Green and Blue. They both had protested at first saying that they role-played better as Red and Vio. Alex had scolded them; telling them how it wasn't fair to others and that any true role-player should be able to adapt to any role given to them.

They had reluctantly agreed with Alex and promised that they would try their best. It was Honor Rae who had suggested that they should go and have a picnic before meeting up with the rest of the group. Laura had heartily accepted the idea; so off they went. They choose a spot on the cliffs overlooking the St. Croix River with the Minnesotan wilderness surrounding them. They had finished their delicious lunch of sandwiches, Grandma's homemade potato salad, and peach ice tea.

They had another forty-seven minutes before they had to pack up and leave, so they had decided to meander along the ledge of the cliff. It was a fool hardy idea; the ground had crumbled under Laura's feet and she fell backwards. Honor Rae had grabbed onto her friend pulling her back up to safety. They had sighed in relief, only for Honor Rae to meet the same fate. Laura hadn't reacted fast enough to catch her, so she jumped into the murky water below to retrieve her sister.

Honor Rae couldn't swim and had never been able to before. When she hit the water; she had panicked, doing her very best to tread water, not swallow any water, and stay afloat. After a short time of struggling; she gave up, too tired to keep fighting. Honor Rae sank slowly to the river's bottom; she felt strangely calm and wasn't swallowing water as she first thought. There was no panic or pain, just a peaceful feeling of warmth and love. To her surprise, she could see and even breathe underwater. A strange but beautiful light suddenly engulfed her.

The light was so bright and beautiful; it did not blind her eyes. She could look directly into the light without squinting. Honor Rae could hear music, which sounded like angels singing, and felt the presence of people around her whispering, but could not see them. Honor Rae had thought to herself, 'Am I dead? Is this the way you feel when you die?'

She had no comprehension about time or how long she was in that state of mind. She felt safe and protected in a place that she knew nothing about. The peaceful presence of her well-being was almost euphoric to her. That was the last thing she saw and felt before being hit with a piece of rubbish that was being tossed about down the strong river currents.

Then she had woken up on this river's shore. Did she simply wash up on the bank of the river? How far downstream had she been dragged? Was Laura okay? She clenched her hands, "I thought I was a goner…" Honor Rae looked to the left and to the right. 'Did Laura get dragged further downstream, or did she lose sight of me and land somewhere upstream?'

Honor Rae was stuck with a problem. Should she go upriver and get help while possibly meeting up with Laura? Or, should she go downstream where she would get further into the wilderness and also possibly meet up with Laura? If she went upstream, she could run into some people, get some help, and could start a search party. If she went downstream without help, she would probably sign the death warrant for both herself and Laura. Besides, if Laura was downstream, she'd be heading upstream.

With that in mind, Honor Rae dragged herself off the ground; feeling cold and wet. Checking the flow of the water, she edged away from it, and started to walk in the opposite direction, going upstream.

'Slogging my way through the forest; cold, wet, and half-drowned is not my idea of a good time. This is hands down, the worst day of my life.' I tripped over a root, scrapping my hands and knees; and then felt the overwhelming urge to cry. I bit my lip and told myself to suck it up. 'Come on, you're a country bumpkin Minnesotan. You're stronger than this; remember your Girl Scout training? Granted, you were only able to make the rank of a brownie scout captain, but that has to count for something!' I rubbed my eyes dry, unwittingly leaving small smears of blood on my face.

I got up again, and continued my way, hopefully, towards civilization and help. However, I kept tripping and stumbling, to my complete puzzlement. There were times when I did trip over my own two feet, but never this constantly before…

I looked down and saw that the boots, which previously had fitted me perfectly before, had grown several sizes too big. Didn't clothes shrink instead of grow? Speaking of my clothes; everything grew, not just my boots. I stopped completely and give myself another once over.

Maybe my clothes didn't change sizes, but rather myself? Only one way to find out… I lifted the collar of my tunic up and glanced down. Yup, they were gone. My round, chubby belly and my breasts were gone. Yes, it was a crude way to find out, but it was the easiest way to prove myself correct. I was also tempted to check my legs to see if my leg hair still existed, but I resisted, my lacking "baby fat" was proof enough.

I had regressed and have become a child again.

To be honest, I didn't really know how to react. I mean, how would a person react if they found out that they had regressed a few years physically? I certainly didn't know how to handle it. In fact, I started to believe that this was all a dream; a realistic dream, yes, but still a dream. That was the only logical decision I could come to, there wasn't much else I could think of in the way of explaining this.

I don't think anyone could explain this, I mean this isn't The curious case of Benjamin Button. If this is real, I'm going to become "the curious case of Honor Rae." Of course, when problems like this arrive on my personal self, I do like what I always did; I ignored it. That was my only coping mechanism.

Suddenly, an idea struck me. What if I died and this was the afterlife? It would make sense, how else would I regress? Also, what about that dream I had while I was drowning? If I was right though, this would be a messed up afterlife. So, now I had two explanations for my situation. One, I was dreaming; or two, I had died and this was the afterlife. Fear started to leak through my senses, for in either case I was alone.

Being in a strange and alien place was bad enough, but I couldn't stand the thought of being completely and utterly alone. I had few people that were precious to me, but those people were all I had. Never seeing them again was a crushing concept. Sometimes, I think I suffered from monophobia. I stumbled again, and decided to look where I was going.

Up ahead was a clearing in the trees, it was a large plain. Not a meadow, for those were relatively smaller than this almost endless field. It had a few trees spotted randomly around and the large flowing river. Purple snow capped mountains loomed over in the distance. Heather and long grass flowed in the breeze. A bird circled over head and let out a brief call before disappearing; silence soon reigned after words.

The lack of animal sounds left me apprehensive, some was wrong with this picture, but I didn't know what. I put those pessimistic thoughts in the back seat for the moment so I could concentrate on the matters at hand. I searched for any other signs of life.

To my dismay, the surrounding area was abandoned and there wasn't a living soul in sight. It was getting close to evening when I had entered the plain and I knew I had to get moving on my merry little way. The farther I got the better; surely I would reach something if I kept going forward, wouldn't I?

I don't know exactly how long I'd have to wander before I find something or more importantly someone, but hopefully it won't take very long. Of course, this was my optimistic side talking and not my logical one. I truly had no balance between my pessimism and optimism; sometimes I could be really irritating.

The plain I was on didn't have any hills and was rather flat. There was long grass that covered the whole thing which came up to my chin; in other words, they were about as long as a yardstick. In a way it was like the Great Plains in Montana, Kansas, and whatever other states that the Great Plains are in. The long grass rippled and waved in the slightly cold breeze that worked its way towards me. Clouds were gathering in the skies in different hues, but they mostly stayed to darker tones with some yellows and was that… green?

I frantically tried to remember that old adage my grandpa used to say. I think it was 'Red at night, sailors' delight. Red in the morning, sailors take warning?' I struggled to recall what color the sky was earlier that day to no success. I just knew that seeing hints of yellow with green were signs of future bad weather.

I needed to find shelter to prepare myself. I was surrounded by tons of green things that weren't of any use and nearly screamed in frustration, until I saw a splotch of gray further on. Up ahead was an outer cropping of rocks; I raced towards it, hoping that there were no bears hidden inside it. In a closer inspection of it from twenty feet or so away, it soon became apparent that this was actually an old stone fort.

A mostly decrepit stone fort, granted, but a fort nonetheless.

It was two stories tall, made out of weathered stone that had ivy scaling up the side of it. I cautiously entered inside of it through the missing door that lead to the entry way. A stone wall had fallen in and parts of it had simply crumbled to dust. Moss and ivy had over run the walls, the floors had ferns growing inside of the common room, and wild flowers had made their home in the room adjacent to it. In total there were about five rooms, including the entry way where I was at the moment.

The walls and part of the roof caved in three of them; the fourth, which used to be the kitchen, had become impassable because of a supporting beam that had collapsed bringing about half the wall with it. The only place that looked remotely hospitable was the guard outpost which was the only room on the upper floor.

Past the creaking, slightly-decayed stairs and behind the rotten door was a deserted room. Nothing was in the windswept room but weapons that were rusted beyond any foreseeable use. Gray stone walls surrounded me, all looking exactly the same. The wooden floors beneath me groaned with each step I took and a suspicious stain in the far corner didn't make me feel any better about where I was at the moment.

My uncomfortable situation was made worse with the clamping and churning of my stomach; which was growling and gurgling underneath my tunic. I had been ignoring it for the past few hours and had grown highly uncomfortable with it. However, there was nothing I could do to fix that right now, so I made my way to a corner that faced away from the broken glass window, and then I laid down.

The room slowly grew dark as I attempted to fall asleep. What I wouldn't give for my nightlight right now. It was pathetic that a fifteen year old girl still needed a nightlight, but I always had an innate fear of the dark. Laura said it was probably caused by my step dad shutting me in the dark garage because I didn't want to eat any fried seaweed, or whatever nori is, when I was nine something years old.

I don't think that was the cause of it, because I was afraid of the dark long before I was nine. However, that incident was one of the many reasons why I was scared of not finishing everything on my plate and making people angry. I think it's easy to say that I was never a picky eater ever again, not that I was in the first place; but I think it was perfectly safe to say that I was, and still am, a spoiled brat.

I also couldn't help but have a foolish fear of the sounds around me. Every squeak of the floor had been a rat, every groan of the stairs had been a vengeful ghost, and every howl of the wind had been a ravenous wolf ready to eat me alive. My heart refused to slow and let me calm down; it was going so fast, I was afraid that the only way for it to slow down would be if it stopped completely.

I heard a bang downstairs and bit my tongue holding back a scream. Trembling, I listened to see if I could hear anything else. There were the sounds of things shifting and falling, and then deafening silence. A metallic taste filled my mouth and a liquid dribbled down my chin; I had bitten too hard and caused my tongue to bleed. I wiped away the blood and cautiously headed towards the door, wanting to find out what the noise was.

I froze at the sound of more things shifting around, and decided against it. I tip-toed back to my corner and slowly slid to the ground, rocking back and forth as the sounds grew louder. Finally it ended with a huge crashing sound and splintering wood. I started crying completely scared out of my wits, as the last of it echoed through the whole place. I couldn't stand the silence and started to whimper the song Sweet Sacrifice.

"It's true, we're all a little… insane; but it's so clear… now that I'm… unchained… Fear is only in our minds, taking over all the time… Fear is only in our minds, but it's taking over all the time…" My voice kept cracking and I couldn't continue, but instead I hummed the rest of the song quietly to myself. By the time I finished; I was still jumpy, but I was no longer hysterical. I said a quick prayer out loud in a whisper, closed my eyes, and fell into an uneasy slumber.

Nórui the sixteenth of the Year 2002 during the Third Age

The next morning brought me a small panic attack. Yesterday's nightmarish memories had yet to return to me; so I jumped to the conclusion that I had been kidnapped and brought into an abandoned warehouse. After fretting over nothing and nearly having an unwarranted aneurism; I remembered the events of yesterday and became rather solemn. The only real bright side that I could see to this was I had survived the night here in this outpost. I stiffly got to my feet and warily made my way to the door, remembering the sounds from yesterday.

I opened the door; only from my heart to first make a lump in my throat, then to sink and ooze in a puddle, near my feet, on the floor. The stairs that I had climbed up yesterday had given out, how was I to get down now? I swooned on my feet at the wave of despair that suddenly overwhelmed me.

Was I never to leave this place?

Should I just place myself over that stain in the corner and let my skeleton be found on it, so people would be led to the idea that I had been given when I had first saw it?

That someone had been wounded and probably died there?

Like them, would this become my grave after I've died a lonely death?

Tears blurred my vision and my legs gave out underneath me. For the second time since my possible death, I wept uncontrollably.

I generally didn't cry from situations like this. I usually had to be provoked into crying and those were, more often than not, tears of anger rather than anything else. I started choking on my own tears, my face felt sore from my upset expression, and I also felt like I was sweltering from my red face. I hated crying when I was stressed out like this; it was an ugly experience for both me and any other witnesses.

How anyone could be able to cry gracefully in those Hallmark movies were beyond me. I always needed at least one box of tissues for those.

Now wasn't the time for hysterics; I had to escape this death trap, I would escape this death trap, but the question was how? When I managed to relatively calm myself down and take a few extra deep breaths, I began to try to fix my situation. I studied the gap between the ledge where I was at the door and the floor on the lower level, which was around seven feet.

I knew for a fact I would flat out break my ankles if I tried to jump down at this height, for I wasn't the most athletic person in the world; anyone could have told you that much. However, where I wasn't athletic, I was resourceful and forward-thinking. I moved back to the window; looking for a tree, there was none to my dismay. I stared at the ledge thoughtfully.

Getting onto my feet, I stretched my arms above my head and went to the nearest wall, trying to guess how high my reach was. I estimated that I was about three and a half feet tall, plus about one foot for my arms, giving me about four and a half feet. Seven feet minus four and a half feet left me around two and a half feet; now that was something I could jump.

I walked back to the ledge and looked at it again almost wildly. "Oh, there's no way I can jump that!" I bemoaned to myself, the drop looking farther and farther down with each passing second. "But I must…" I made a whimpering sound and paced around the room feeling much like a prisoner heading for the hangman's noose.

I made my way back and gave the ledge another shuddering glance before trying and failing to give myself a pep talk. Finally, I declared, "Don't think about it, just go, and do it!" Not looking down as much as I could afford to avoid, I gripped onto the ledge, and extended my body as far as I could reach without letting go. I swayed a bit from where I hanged and knew that there was no going back, because I wouldn't be able to drag myself back up there.

That left my only other option, which was the last thing I wanted to do at the moment, but the one thing that was inevitable for me to do. I start swinging back and forth like I was on the monkey bars. The familiar motion comforted me enough to where I was relaxed enough to let go as soon as I was moving forwards.

I wind milled my arms uselessly in my quick decent to the floor and landed heavily in the pile of rubbish that used to be the stairs. I may not have broken my ankles, but I did manage to scrape some of the skin off my back, I could feel it. It wasn't bleeding, but it was sore and stung worse than a bumble bee. I let out a gasp of pain at the pulsing sensation that… burned, for lack of a better word.

I had some splinters that I took off of myself and I had a few bruises, but I was relatively unharmed. It was a miracle for me to be this unscathed. I was sure that I had all the pieces of wood out of me; but one part of my back still hurt like you wouldn't believe. I couldn't see what was causing it, so I gave up on it temporarily.

I was still alive. The thought came with a sense of euphoria. I was out of there and still breathing! The relief was so great; I simply stayed down on the remains of the stairs. I couldn't move for a few minutes, the mixture of relief, exhaustion, and hunger left me zapped of energy. I continued to stay there for a bit and then hauled myself back onto my feet. I had to leave before the rest of the place crashed down on me.

I passed the wild flower room, the used to be kitchen, the fern room, and made it outside of the entry way mostly intact. The sun wasn't out like yesterday. There was a perpetual gray color that covered the canvas-like sky. The storm clouds loomed overhead with a menacing feel to it. The heavens almost seemed to hold onto their water and were probably brewing a big storm. The very plain gave the impression of holding its breath, waiting for the clouds to release their rage out upon it.

This wasn't good at all, I had to find shelter, but I didn't want to go back into that outpost for fear it would collapse on me. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Be outside during a storm, or be inside under a shelter that could collapse on me. I think it's safe to say that I would prefer a little rain over being squashed like a bug, besides I might find some new shelter that was safer for me.

Checking the river, I started heading upstream once again. I commenced on taking note of the surround area for a place that wasn't an abandoned guard outpost and could provide me some decent shelter from the oncoming storm. A ditch, a boulder, a thicket, some trees, and a river; none of the above could provide me a safe place from the storm. Nothing except for maybe the grouping of trees in the far distance; the only down side was that it would take me a few hours to reach there at the snail's pace I was moving at.

It's not that I wanted to be moving that slow, but my stamina wasn't at its best.

I couldn't afford to waste any more energy than I already had. I wasn't a root and berry expert; so I couldn't forage and get some safe-to-eat foliage, not that there was any in the first place. I couldn't bring myself to kill some innocent rabbit that had to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. However, it wouldn't matter because there weren't any bunnies hopping around, I had nothing to hurt them with, and I would get an asthma attack trying.

Well, if worse came to worst; I could always eat ants. Ants, pound for pound, had more protein than beef did and less fat than beef too. The only downside is that it would take a whole lot of ants for one measly pound…

Ants aside, maybe I could go fishing? I didn't have a fishing rod, bait, hook, or even a net! Heck, a bent sharp pin with some string attached to a stick would work if I dug for earthworms! Sadly, I didn't have any string, the pins were firmly attached to my clothes, furthermore all the sticks pulled a Houdini and made a disappearing act. And why dig for worms when I had no use for them?

Maybe I could make a river trap… All I had to do was find a shallower part of the river, a stream, or a creek. Then I would take some big river stones and make a dam curved in the downward flow of the water leaving a small portion for the stream to go by. I simply have to wait a while for the fish to go into the dam and close the only exit, which is the way they came in, and voila! Dinner for one or however many people you have; all you had to do is repeat the same thing all over again.

A monstrous peal of thunder startled me out of my food gathering plots. I needed to find cover and soon. I picked up my pace; I had resigned myself to the fact that I would most likely get wet, but I didn't want to be stuck out in the rain longer than necessary. I love rain, but I disliked storms; especially if I was caught outside during one. I didn't want to tempt fate more than I already have by staying out here longer than was called for.

I think it was just me, but the forest appeared closer than it was previously! I gave a half-hearted cheer to myself only to fall flat on my face, thanks to a tangle in the long grass I was in. Growling, I thrashed around exasperated with all the metaphoric cow manure I've had to put up with in the past two days.

"Why? Why, why, why? I just want to go home." I moaned, whining like the six-year-old I was inside. I rolled onto my back and winced at the discomfort it caused to my skinned back. The steady throbbing hurt and only got worse the longer I stayed on my back; but I didn't want to get up. I wondered if I really had to get up or if I could just lie here and not move, surrounded by what looked like Cogon grass.

I couldn't be sure if it was Cogon grass, because again I'm not exactly an expert. I'm better with garden variety flowers or extremely deadly/dangerous/painful plants like the Coyotillo, Nightshade, or the Death Campas. It's one of the many strange hobbies I have, I know. However, I know absolutely nothing useful about roots or berries unless I wanted to kill myself.

Not very helpful at the moment, I was trying to not die. Which brings the subject of shelter back in to focus.

I hauled myself back onto my, admittedly sore, feet to return to my journey the trees. The rumbling overhanging and overbearing clouds weren't going to go away anytime soon, and not without raining on my "parade." I spent close to an hour marching through the plain when it all come crashing down on me. It didn't take long for me to get completely soaked through.

It was almost as if I jumped in the river for a quick swim. I was a little over half way to the forest, maybe… if I was lucky…which I'm not. I shivered violently from the water slithering down my back, cold as an ice cube. I had to keep moving to stay warm, if I didn't I'd get hypothermia for sure. There was no question about that.

My vision was minimal, if that, in this weather. For all I knew, my next step would land me in the river and into my certain death. I listened for the torrent of water that rushed wildly downstream through the onslaught of pouring rain and tried to keep myself from getting too close. Lightning flashed, causing the surrounding area to briefly light up around me, allowing a short view of where I was at the moment.

I was alarmingly close to what used to be the banks of the river; which had over flown and no longer existed at the moment, being completely covered with water. The deafening roll of thunder resulted in my leap away from the bank and sprint to the woods as fast as my legs could carry me.

There weren't any thoughts running through my head other then my chanting of, 'It's going to be okay. I'm going to be okay. Laura's going to be okay. Everything will be okay. Everything has to be okay.' Another clap of thunder scared me out of my wits.

…Someone was screaming… I was screaming and I couldn't stop.

Terror started bubbling to the surface of my thoughts. My breathing was quickening to the point of me hyperventilating. I was wailing and crying for mercy, terrorized and irrational. I was going down the road of a full-blown panic-attack.

I started choking and gasping for air over my sobs. I kept running, ignoring my complaining lungs, until a stitch in my side started to form. 'Not now, not now, please not right now!' I had to stop, my harsh breathing not allowing any other decision. I was wheezing now, sounding like a dying horse after it ran the Kentucky Derby and just before its heart gave out.

These were the beginnings of an asthma attack for me.

Fumbling for the pocket in my long sleeved shirt, which was under my tunic, I took out my inhaler. I took a few puffs before stashing it back in the pocket, thankful that it still worked. Maybe because I just bought it brand new? I wanted to just stay where I was and not move from this spot, but I couldn't. I couldn't stay here through; I would have to keep moving until I had to crawl or I fell unconscious.

The latter was looking more and more likely.

I started to walk as briskly as I could manage with jumping at every bit of thunder and wildly looking around, to gain my bearings, when there was a flash of lightning. In words, I may as well have been doing a weird, limping trot. I think I was developing a phobia of thunder and lightning… At the next instant of light from the lightning, I briefly saw the forest.

It was only a few more miles away, which means another hour suffering in this weather. I started blubbering, dreading that I might never get out of the storm, and I think that was about when I fell down the ditch. Not the most pleasant experience ever, tumbling into a rather large…pothole-like thing. Maybe it was an old badger or fox den, either way it made me terribly muddy.

I shuddered again and laid there unmoving. I didn't want to budge from that spot, just the thought of it made my muscles complain… I still haven't stopped wheezing. I prayed that it wasn't another full-blown asthma attack; that was the last thing I needed at the moment. I couldn't grasp any more strength to haul my tired body off the ground…

Nórui the seventeenth of the Year 2002 during the Third Age

I don't have the foggiest idea of how long I laid there or when it stopped raining. It could have been minutes, hours, or even days; the concept of time just seemed to escape my notice. Well, maybe I'm being a bit over-dramatic; I guess it might have been the rest of the night though. The sky was still overcast, but the worst of the weather had drifted away to the south, or at least I think it was south.

I didn't care what direction it went, at least it went away. My body was numb, I couldn't really feel anything. I just kept quivering; whether it was because I was so cold, I was still scared, or because I was still crying I don't know. Maybe it was all three. Is it possible to die in the afterlife? I hoped not, because if this is the afterlife, I don't want to see what happens after the afterlife.

'Hey look, an ant…' I thought, watching it crawl on my arm. 'Bring your buddies, I'm hungry and one of you isn't going to satisfy my stomach.' It seemed to turn its head towards me and it…smiled?

I could have sworn a teeny, tiny, little voice said, "Not going to happen. You see, we are hungry too, but we don't want to be eaten by you. No, no, we are going to wait until you have no strength to move. When that happens, we'll come back to an all you can eat buffet." The nearby worm seemed to agree with him.

'Go away, Mr. Ant if you're not going to be any help.' The worm was laughing at me, I just knew it. 'And you, Mrs. Worm. Be quiet!' I thought fiercely at the both of them. They both guffawed at my expense. I couldn't muster enough energy to smack them away. My arms felt like lead. I glared and then exclaimed 'be fruitful and multiply' in my head, but not exactly in those words.

They both stared at me, the worm dug underground, slightly put out while the ant stayed and laughed at me some more. Its antenna waved hectically as it cackled. It crawled away, but I don't think it was following my mental biddings to go crawl in a hole and die. Great, I'm hallucinating.

I noticed a lot of the possible Cogon grass had been flattened slight by the storm and by my stumbling around. I mentally winced; I needed it for cover for when the sun finally decides to come out so I don't get sun burned. Huh, fun thing is; I'm might be dying from hypothermia and I worried about getting some lousy sunburn. How very ironic…

There was sound of rumbling in the distance. My heart plummeted. 'Please don't rain again. Not now, not now! Not when I just had to deal with it…' Only the rumbling got louder, the ground started shaking slightly and tinkling bells rang. I frowned, this wasn't thunder. I don't know what it is, but it's not thunder. The sound got louder and louder until it was the only thing I could hear.

It kind of sounded like drum going on at a fast staccato beat with sleigh bells being shook in time with the drum. The vibrations got worse the louder the sound got, until the thrumming sensation filled my whole body. Were these more hallucinations?

When I thought the rumbling couldn't get any worse, a voice sudden hollered out a word of warning, causing the rumbling to slow to a stop. There were sounds of a creaking rope being pulled back. I don't know what you would call that, but it sounded like a rope swing that someone swung onto hurdle into the river. Something stepped closer and then I heard, "A child?"

I could almost hear the frown in his voice. Something came nearer, kneeling down in front of me; it turned my head, and felt my pulse. I opened my eyes to see what was going on and almost had a heart attack. The prettiest person on the face of this planet, no, on the face of this universe looked back at me. I knew it, I'm dead. If I'm seeing angels, I'm definitely dead. Emotions crossed his face too quickly for me to pick them out until it rested on one I could understand, confusion mixed with relief.

"You're coming with me." It wasn't a question. He had long, blond hair and silver eyes. He had a pale complexion, but it wasn't a sickly pale like mine could be. He was also very strong. I soon realized this as he smoothly picked me up as if I weighed nothing, even though I surely weighed around sixty pounds. He asked me something but I couldn't recall what it was.

He frowned again before facing forward. An angel, I had been besieged by an angel. The thought made me giddy. He stopped by a beautiful, snow colored horse with some bells tied around his neck; that explained the rumbling and tinkling noise.

He shifted me around until I was being held onto with one arm. He encouraged my arms to wrap around his neck and he mounted his horse. Once we were settled snugly on his horse we took off. I was facing backwards, my arms on wrapped around his waist, and my face buried in his chest. Jimmy cricket, he was so warm… My eyes drooped and I fell asleep.

I heard voices and felt people tugging me gently. I gripped the angel's robes tighter, unwilling to let go. The angel then spoke, his voice rumbling in his chest. Another voice answered and they talked a bit before they tried again. Somehow they succeeded in getting me to release my grip on him. My eyes flew open, panicked, as I gazed at him pleadingly. I grasped his sleeve, "No…" I managed to croak out, my throat hurting.

He studied me for moment almost sadly, before he turned to the person behind me, and said, "Give him to me." The person holding sighed and did just that.

"Take him closer to the fire and help me strip him down, so we can get him into some dryer clothes. He will catch his death of cold, otherwise." The angel took me over, closer to the flames before taking off my oversized tunic and long sleeved shirt. Both of them gasped when they saw my back, the golden haired angel quickly took off my strapless bra so they could have better access to my skinned back.

I heard the sound of someone rummaging around before the stranger said, "Put that on his back after you clean it up with this." I heard something slide across the wooden floor before a wet rag gently cleaned off my back.

When he got to a sore spot I had to bit my lip to keep from yelping. I waited for him to move onto a different area, but he stayed there. Suddenly, he stopped and prodded something on my back; I let out a whimper. "There's a piece of wood stuck in there," he muttered. Without warning; he nimbly pulled it out, making me yell out in pain. I whimpered softly and he apologized.

There was a sound of something being opened and he smeared something on my back. The relief was almost instant. Sighing, I relaxed my tense body as he kept spreading the cream on my back. He bandaged my back, ministered to my other cuts, and removed my hat. I heard him set it down saying, "Can you stand up so we can take off the rest of your clothes?" I bit my lip and nodded, taking off my boots after getting to my feet. His hand, which held onto me to make sure I wouldn't fall, suddenly tightened. I turned towards him to see his shocked face staring at me.

"Impossible." He choked out, causing another angel to appear behind him, just as stunning as mine. They looked at each other in shock. What was wrong? Why were they looking at me like that? I worriedly looked between the two of them, crossing my arms across my chest. My angel reached out and cautiously felt my ears, I shivered at the sensation. Bewildered; he breathed out the words, "An Elfling?"

"Looks like it." The angel next to him uttered disbelieving. "I will…I will go tell the others." The other angel snuck another glance at me, before striding out the door.

"An elf-child…" My angel muttered to himself. "Well, this changes things."

To Be Continued...

Translations: Nórui is the sixth month of the year (June) in Sindarin and is a name used by the Dúnedain. The reason I have used June is because it is one of the wetter months in Europe, second only to July. It is more likely that a big storm would happen around that time than say... Narbeleth (October). Find more information at Realelvish and at the Arda Encyclopedia.

Explanations:

*The drowning vision, as cheesy as it sounds, is based almost exactly from a real-life near-drowning survivor's account on what happened to her. www. experienceproject stories/Had-A-Near-Death-Experience/ 1384412 (Just remember to take out the spaces.) Just assume that the light and whispering voices are the valar or something. It will most likely be explained better in the story later on. Maybe.

*As for the name "Honor Rae," I know someone named that. The character's personality is mostly based of the real life version. (Although the real life Honor Rae prefers to be called "Rae.")

*The term "Country Bumpkin Minnesotan" is in no way meant to offensive. I often refer to myself as such. For I was born and raised in the Rural areas of Minnesota. (Until recently, where I have been dragged off by my "Mall Rat" parents. I still visit my grandparents who still live in the far outskirts of Washington county.) I am used to the terms: country hick, bumpkin, and hillbilly among other things.

The only thing that is correct about those fore-mentioned statements is that I have a tendency to speak "five times" slower than a normal human being and use old fashion adages and sayings. The most accurate description I have ever been called is a grandma. (Curtesy of my own mother. I love my mother, I really do.)

*As for Honor Rae's regression, she has become an elfling. Any human who ever becomes an elf will have regressed. There are no exceptions. The reason is the aging process that elves go through around their first century, both mentally and physically. When they are first born and up to their fifties, elves will grow at the rate of one year (when compared to a human) for every two point five years. So when they are twenty-five, they will appear to be ten years old. They will stop physically aging when they are fifty and will appear to be in their twenties and late teens.

Their mind will continue to age at the rate of one year for every two point five years. When they have reached the one century mark they will be considered adults in the elvish society, because by then they would have the mental maturity (theoretically speaking) of a forty-year old. I also have a theory that for every thousand years or so they may age one year or so, but that may vary with their stress levels and such. Remember: There is always room for growth if not physical then mental!

Advertisement:

TITLE: Roel

AUTHOR: Mayumi Mizuki

ID: 8470649

SUMMARY: A companion collection to Ring of Endless Light, a collaboration posted by my co-author neoko-chan, side stories and such. Requests taken.

OPINION: Rather nice. It's a refreshing thing to read in between our chapters to see what is happening back at Honor Rae and Laura's home as well as some flash-backs and one-shots. Beautifully done and simple.

Date Submitted: Wensday, August 29, 2012