A/N: Well here it is, Chapter 1. I'm so glad to finally get this one going. This was an idea i had a while ago, and it ended up coming out quite well. The next few chapters should come in quite quick sucsession, because I've already written them and i just have to edit and publish. Sorry the first few chapters are a bit short, i was sort of just getting started. Anyway here it is, and i hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. I would really appreciate reviews. Now, enough of my boring chatter. On with the show!!!

Disclaimer: I am not Tolkien, and i do not own any of his work or characters.

Summary: After the fall of Sauron, the spirits of the Nazgul were scattered and broken. Now, after a thousand years of watchful peace, the terrible Ringwraiths begin to marshal forces once again against the free peoples of Middle Earth. This is their story.

Shadows and Thoughts

The Brown Lands lay quiet. The cold evening winds swept over the harsh, barren plain. All was silent except for a small rodent scuttling out from under a rock. It moved cautiously, wary of danger. After several seconds, it moved out in earnest, looking for food. It scuttled up a small hill, and its eyes lit up on a small tuft of grass. The rodent moved forward eagerly…. and stopped dead.

Fear, a black cloud of fear swept over the small creatures heart. Something was not right here. The rodent looked longingly at the patch of grass for another moment, and then turned away. He would not cross that path, though he did not quite understand why. Luckily for him, he never did.

Khamul did not know where he was. He did not really know what he was. All he knew was that he could not see, hear, smell, touch or taste, mind you, he had not been able to do the last one for many a year. He mentally cursed as he struggled to collect his thoughts. The last thing he remembered was…. oh yes, of course. The fall of Sauron. The defeat of the master he was eternally bound to. What had happened? It was…. yes it was the Numenorian Prince that had cut the ring from Sauron's hand as he had reached out to choke the Man to death. Then… pain, pain of the like he had never experienced in his life, mortal or immortal. And now he was here. He wondered what he was exactly. He obviously didn't have a body, ghost, flesh or armour. He supposed he must be some sort of floating consciousness. And that meant he did not have his ring. Khamul screamed inwardly. His ring, his ring! His gift, his curse! The very reason he was here now. Khamul felt that familiar longing he felt every time he did not have it with him. He hated himself for it. His ring, one of the Nine rings of power given as a so-called gift to the race of men, was the very reason he was bound to the powerful Maiar called Sauron. He sometimes wished that it had never come to him, and hated Sauron for enslaving him. But the power of his ring was too good an offer to turn down, and once the ring was his, darkness had never let go of him. Any bitter thoughts towards his master were few and far between, for the darkness of the one ring clouded the minds of those subject to its power.

Khamul brushed these unpleasant thoughts aside and instead concentrated on trying to regain some sort of form. He thought several incantations in the black speech. Nothing. Khamul would have screamed in frustration if he had had a mouth to do so. He would never get anywhere at this rate! Unless… it was an uninviting idea, but also very likely to work. Bracing himself, he began mentally chanting the words he had never wanted to here again:

Ash nazg durbatuluk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatuluk, agh burzum-ishi krimpatul

He knew it had worked before he had finished. He felt himself changing, forming, as his wraith body took shape, hands, torso, legs, face, and finally, his shadowy crown, a mockery of his former rule. Khamul examined himself. The irony of it. The very words that had imprisoned him would also restore him.

Khamul looked around. He recognised his surroundings instantly. The Brown Lands. Few knew of the slaughter that had occurred on these plains or the reason little or nothing grew here. Casting one last look on the land that had once been his home, he slipped away to find his fellows, and the Master that surely needed him. As he glided over the plains, moving south, the small tuft of grass withered and died.

A/N: Well there's Chapter 1. As i said the next few should be coming very soon. PLEASE read and review!!! I'd love to hear all your views on this idea. Thanks a lot and enjoy the many chapters to come!!!

NOTE ON NAMES OF THE NAZGUL. IMPORTANT: None of the names I have used for the Nazgul are actually mine. The name Khamul, obviously, was invented by Tolkien. The names Er-Murazor, Uvatha, Ji Indur and Akorahil are all names used by a card collecting game produced by Iron Crown Enterprises, and are not actually canon. The name Gothmog is the name given to the Luitenent of Minas Morgul, who, in the book, is not actually an orc. Tolkien never specified what he actually was, but it was speculated that he might be a Nazgul, so I have adopted this idea. The name Morgomir is a name used by EA Games for the Battle for Middle Earth II, Rise of the Witch King, referring to another Nazgul who acompanied the Witch King to Angmar. The names I have used for the Witch King are Er-Murazor, which i have refered to above, and Isilmo, the name that is speculated might have been his name origionally. The story about his backgroud that I have included in Chapter 3 is also speculated to be the story of his past. The names Dakian and Coros, I am afraid to say, came from other people's fanfiction. The name Dakian is used by Shadowgirl1 in her story "The Untold Story of the Nazgul". I am very sorry for using the name you created, but it was such a good name and I have aknowladged that it was your work not mine. The other name, Coros, is a name that I have read in another fanfiction on another site. Unfourtunately I cannot find where it came from but i hope whoever created the name will forgive me for using it. If anyone knows who did use this name, please tell me in a review so i can aknowladge it. Thanks!