Soo, this is my first fanfic ever. Quite Literally. Now, this isn't some, "Modern Person falls into Middle Earth". It's more of a modernized version of LOTR, but not quite; so terribly sorry, but none of your favorite characters will be in it. I'll try to make some of the characters similar to their book inspirations, but some of them just wouldn't fit in.
Constructive reviews are greatly appreciated, will be heeded.
Eliza Stina never felt special.
Then again, no one ever does.
The first signs of trouble began at work, at closing time. There was always one person standing outside, just watching as she locked the doors. She tried to talk to them once, but when she got near they ran. She mentioned something to her manager, who shrugged it off and said she had probably spooked the guy off.
And then there was someone who started sitting in the coffee shop every day. He would sit there all day, ordering coffee and watching her. She couldn't say anything because he was a customer and he hadn't done anything yet. So she sucked it up and did her job.
But the worst was when she started seeing someone near her apartment building. They never went inside or anything, but they still gave her the creeps. You might be thinking she was just paranoid, but she had good reason to; she could've sworn they all had the same scar burned into their forearms, and it seemed familiar, like she had seen it somewhere before.
She was closing up like usual, when she saw the guy back, standing across the street. Taking a deep breath, she turned and stomped over to him, but he didn't run like before. On the contrary, he walked towards her, closing the distance between them quite rapidly. Stopping, they faced each other, and she pulled her jacket close to hold out the chill of the night.
"Um, hello?" she called out, not quite sure what to say. She hadn't been expecting to actually talk to the guy. He simply stood there, staring at her, until his eyes flicked to right over her shoulder. She had taken enough self-defense classes to know what that meant.
Whirling around, she threw out a punch in the hopes it would hit him, and began moving her feet to try and run away. She felt her fist connect with something, and heard a groan, so she bolted. Her first thought was to get home, but she remembered there was someone there too. Somewhere with people, somewhere with people, she thought over and over to herself.
There was supposed to be some sort of fair in the park, she thought, and headed in that direction. Her chest began to hurt, and every breath burned her throat, but she was too scared to stop or slow down.
She was also too scared to know which turn to take.
Skittering to a stop in a dead end, she turned and leaned against the wall to catch her breath. Maybe she'd be lucky and they wouldn't be able to find her anyways. Maybe she had left them in her dust, too fast to catch. Then she saw a silhouette at the end of the alley.
Maybe she was just really, really unlucky.
Falling into a stance she had learned, she held her fists up, and tried to look like she knew what she was doing. The silhouette multiplied at the end of the alley, and she swore under her breath. "Whoever the hell you are, just leave me alone!"
She tried to shout it, but her sore throat made it come out like a hoarse wheeze. The first one reached her, and she socked him in his nose. Just as the rest caught up to him, about ten in all, there seemed to be a commotion in the back of the group. The ones in the front turned to look, and she took advantage of the distraction. Kicking in knees and punching any face that turned to watch her, she eventually made it to the middle of the group where whoever had been attacking from behind had made it.
He was standing over the last one he had just kicked, and turned breathlessly towards her. She stepped back, ready to swing, when he asked "Are you Eliza?" Eyeing him warily, she nodded. "Good. I'm here to help you. Name's Aaron, now let's get out of here before more come."
Ignoring her fists, he grabbed her hand and dragged her behind him. He led the way to the park she had been aiming for earlier, and set her at a bench. He bought some hotdogs from a nearby food stand and handed it to her. She didn't eat it, and simply sat there as he pulled out a cell phone. "Randy? Yeah, I grabbed her in the knick of time; they were swarming her like locusts. We're at the park, come pick us up."
He flipped it shut, and was about to take a bite when he noticed her not eating. "Hey, you okay?" She glanced at him, and laughed weakly. "Okay? Do I look okay? What just happened, who were those guys, who are you!" Her voice began rising in mild hysteria, and he tried to calm her down. "I told you, I'm Aaron. But I need you to try and not panic, or we'll never get out of the park without attracting attention. As for those guys back there, no worries, I got you covered. Randy'll explain everything, he's better at it than me anyways."
He smiled at her before chomping a bite out of his hotdog. She looked at hers, and realized how hungry she was. They finished just as Aaron's pocket began to ring. "Randy's here. Let's go." He grabbed her hand again, and led her through the park to a waiting car. "How can I just get into a car with someone I don't even know?" she asked nervously, and he shrugged.
"You just gotta trust me, I guess."
She bit her lip, and turned to think. That's when she spotted someone just staring at her from across the park. Just like the guy at work. She looked over at Aaron, who held out his hand. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and took it. They slipped into the backseat of the car, and sped off into the night.
Eliza was led to a brightly lit high rise in down town. The driver of the car had been a greying man who didn't look too old, but was definitely older than Aaron. He didn't talk the entire way, so Eliza simply stared out the window for the trip. Aaron gave her a reassuring smile as she stared up at the imposing building, and took her inside.
Everything gleamed, and for a moment Eliza was temporarily blinded. It was a bright contrast to the dark night outside, but soon she could make out shapes until her vision cleared up completely. Aaron was waiting by an elevator door, and as she made her way over the door chimed and slid open. "Going up," he grinned, and pressed the button. The doors were clear, letting her watch as they soared up into the building.
The doors opened silently, allowing her entry to a simple but elegant study. The old man, who Eliza assumed was Randy, was sitting in the desk chair turned to look out the window. Aaron went over and leaned to whisper in his ear. Eliza hung back, twisting a lock of hair nervously. She glanced around, and noticed the wall hangings. They looked old, very old, and were in various colors and designs. One had a white tree, another a celtic looking horse. But she didn't get to finish looking at them, since Aaron was waving her over. The old man had swiveled around, and watched her approach. She stopped a few feet away, and locked eyes with him.
"Eliza, this is Randy, or rather, Randolph as he prefers."
He held out his hand for her to shake; she stared at it, and tentatively shook it. "Hi, uh, Randolph. Any explanations for me?" she asked. He steepled his fingers in front of him, and motioned for the chair in front of the desk. "Please, have a seat, Eliza. This may take a more than a moment." He looked over to Aaron, who nodded, so he took a breath.
"I know you want to know who we are, and who was chasing you, but why don't we start with who you are." She raised an eyebrow, and creased her forehead with a questioning look. "I know who I am. I'm Eliza Stina, age 24, and I work at the corner Coffee Bean. What else do I need to know?" Randolph sighed, and replied, "You need to understand your family, and the past."
"Your family line has been around for millennia. You are the newest in a long line of blood, and it's that blood that makes you a target. You see, a long time ago, magic did exist. It was more subtle than what we imagine it to be today; there was no shooting fireballs from your hands, or stopping time with a word. It has actually survived to today, but only with the teachings of a few groups. Anyways, a long time ago there were wars over this magic, namely magic rings."
"You mean like Lord of the Rings?" she interrupted, causing Aaron to give her a wry grin.
Randolph also allowed himself a small grin, and continued with his story. "Well, yes and no. Tolkien was actually one of us, one who remembered the old ways. He wrote the books to serve as a guide, although he made it a bit more fantastical than what actually happened. Yes, there were fights everywhere, and almost the face of the world was changed. However, ideas like there being multiple races were a bit skewed. They were actually just different factions. Orcs weren't really disgusting creatures of death and filth, they were just on the dirtier side in the war. They did deeds that branded them as monsters, and that's what made them appear like that in the books."
Eliza sat there, not quite believing him, or rather, not wanting to believe. To believe would mean she would be dealing with something a lot worse than just some stalker or a gang. Although the thought of magic certainly intrigued her.
"One thing that was absolutely true though was the ring bearers. The magic rings enhanced certain abilities, and some eventually developed minds of their own. One developed while under use of one horrible ruler, who knew of the craft that made the rings magical, and added his own to his current ring. It became one of the more powerful, and also most influential. He would give it as a present to neighboring lords, and they would soon fall in line behind him, thus the Nazgul."
Eliza nodded, and then shook her head. "Okay okay, I get it. Lord of the Rings is real but not, magic is real but not, everything is real but it's not! What does this have to do with me?" Aaron looked at Randolph, who nodded back to him. "All right. I understand we don't have much time, normally you would need to understand the whole history, but I suppose I'll have to condense it."
Aaron snorted, and leaned against the desk. "You don't know how to condense, Randy. Allow me. See, Eliza, eventually it was discovered that there were people who could resist the influence of the rings. They were the decided to be the ring bearers. Unfortunately, it was later discovered that they didn't resist it, they simply took it in, and buried it. Meaning that they became vessels for the dark magic. Well, after a while, there were still some supporters of the dark ruler who believed they could fulfill his plans for the world if they possessed his power. So they began hunting out the ring bearers and their descendants."
Eliza paled as he finished. "Sooo, I have the magic power of some evil overlord contained within me, which some crazed underworld group wants to use to take over the world? Why don't you guys just get rid of it? You said you would help me!"
Aaron gave her a sad look. "We can't just get rid of it. There's a ritual to purge you of it, but we don't know it. Besides, the ritual . . . it kills the bearer."
She didn't think it was possible, but whatever color might have been left in her face drained instantly.