I swear to God and all things holy and to the owners and workers of that I do not own any thing that belongs to the Tolken Family the only thing I own is my character all else belongs to its rightful authors, governments and owners.
When Worlds Collide
Chapter One: Lives Collide
Dawn. The sun rises in the west and two faces stare into its morning glare as the sun raises her golden head over the dark horizon. In Hearst, Ontario in the year 2012 a girl stares out her window at the sunrise as she wakes to start her day. She pulls on her knee high black boots pulls a simple straight shapeless black jumper over top a long sleeve white top and brushes her hair out so that it falls down her back in beautiful black waterfall. A bright red streak falls in front of her face giving her a wild look that was an interesting contrast to her modest outfit. She picked up her satchel with her textbooks, notebooks, sketchbook and another brand new sketch book along with two pencil cases. In the side pocket she slipped in a knife and hid a smaller knife in her boot. ' A girl can never be to careful' her mother always told her. Besides, Selene liked being prepared for everything. Taking her key off the hall stand she walked out the door and began her walk to the university.
It was a two hour walk to the university and it was all hiking through the many forests that covered the small town. It was a long walk but one that Selene greatly enjoyed as she listened to her music in the peace and quiet of the forest. Selene sang out loud and danced down the path that lead to the university. With each new song there was a new dance or spring in her step to match the tune. With her music blasting in her ears the two hour walk seemed to fly by and it felt like only minutes had passed when Selene stepped out of the forest and into the busy university parking lot. Here she took out her head phones and placed her MP3 player in her bag where it would stay until her walk home later that day.
As she walked through the many halls and corridors on her way to class she said hello to her friends that were heading to classes or professors that she had classes with and various other people she knew at the university. She headed to her first class which was an English Literature class which was her favourite class of the term. It was a three hour class but it was never boring. There was always interesting debates, beautiful poems to read, and classical literature to read and talked about. Today was an extra special day because today they were discussing Tolken's Lord of the Rings and his many other works that he did regarding the famed trilogy and the other books his sons have add to the series over the years. Selene was the first person in class as usual as she pulled out her notebook and pencil case another student arrived. It was her friend Nathan he sat beside her and pulled out his books and a pen.
" I swear the only reason you show up early is so you can talk to me before class starts." Selene said with a smile at the man beside her making him chuckle.
" Despite how it looks that is only half true I also have been coming early causing being late isn't as fun as it sounds." he said with a smile and nudge her in the ribs making her giggle and nudge him back.
" So how's that kick you were working coming along getting any better?" Selene asked out of curiosity.
" Its a lot better now that I have been practicing at it. How about you how are those left hooks coming. I know your left is your weak side so I won't be surprised if your still having trouble." he said eagerly enjoying the choice of topic that Selene had picked.
Nathan was a fighter born raised and trained. He loved to fight not for the pleasure of it but for the sport of it. He was slowly working his up and trying to become an MMA champion but that is truly easier said then done. As for Selene she was into fighting more for its usefulness then the sport or pleasure of it. Selene knew the world was a rough place especially for a girl and if a girl didn't know how to fight she was very much a dead duck. So for her own safety Selene had started joining Nathan at the gym learning martial arts of all different kinds, styles and types. About the only thing Selene was having problems with so far was a left hook punch Selene always had a hard time training her left side it was her weakest side and it took a lot more effort to train then her right side which was her strong side. But in the many years of practice and training that she and Nathan had gone through they both had become strong fighters.
" Its a lot better now still not as strong as I want it to be that will come in time with some more practice and training." she said a little put out but trying to remain optimistic. Nathan rubbed her shoulder and patted her back in understanding a sympathy. He knew how hard Selene had been training and how much she desperately wanted make her left side stronger but he also knew Selene could be impatient some times.
" It will happen in time ok. Tell you what come by the gym this weekend and we will work on it until you get down pat ok?" he said trying to be encouraging. Selene smiled and nodded in agreement. They sat in comfortable silence until the rest of the class showed up and the lesson started.
Three hours seemed to fly by and class ended. Selene said bye to Nathan as he headed off to his next class and Selene went in the opposite direction to get to her next class. After two more classes Selene's day was over and she began her walk home. Nathan however had to sit through another three hour class before he could go home. Selene pulled out her head phones and began her walk home. She kept one head phone out because at night walking through the woods was a dangerous thing. Hunters loved to go hunting in the woods around her at night hoping to have better luck in the dark then in the day light when the animals could see them. This meant if you didn't listen carefully you could very easily walk into the path of a hunters bullet and never know what happened. For Selene on this night of all nights she would sadly fall victim to such a fate.
Selene walked home slowly carefully listening for the sounds of movement or gun fire in the woods. She heard the sound of distant shots and movement far off in the trees but nothing close by so she picked up her pace a little bit. A decision that she would regret later. Selene was use to the sounds of hunters and gun fire in the forest at night she had never had any problems with the hunters in the woods. They usually saw her white shirt and heard the jingle of her keys and knew to wait till she passed by. But tonight Selene did think there would be one hunter so intent on catching his prey he did not care who got in his way . The man slithered through the bushes and trees as silently as a snake stalking a lone buck just on the edge of the other side of the path right near where Selene was a about to walk. The hunter took aim at the bold buck not hearing the heavy foot fall of Selene's boots or the jingle of her keys. The buck heard Selene's approach and turned to walk away so it would be further out of sight. The hunter growled to himself in anger and readied to fire not wanting to lose his prey. Selene walked in front of the buck just as the hunter pulled the trigger of his rifle. The bullet ripped through Selene's arm, through her chest into her heart and lungs.
The buck ran for his life at the sound of the gun shot Selene was not given that option. Her brain froze paralyzed and unable to process what just happened she saw the blood seep through her cloths but could think of nothing. She could feel her heart stop and her lungs collapse and die; she couldn't breathe or move. She looked up as the hunter came out the bushes with a look of horror on his pale face. She saw his mouth move but could hear nothing. Darkness filled her vision as she fell to the ground she never felt herself hit the ground, she didn't feel anything at all.
The darkness faded into light and it was like Selene stepped out of her body and watched what happened to her body and loved ones in the span of the next few months. She watched as her body was taken away by the coroners and then the Hunters sentencing to prison and ban from hunting permanently. She watched as the police lead him away and as he walked up the walk way out of the court room Nathan jumped up and punched the man in the face. Then that scene faded and she watched her funeral and heard the speeches and words spoken. The coffin was opened one last time as Nathan stepped forward lifted her hand and placed something on her finger. This time she could hear what was being said.
" I'll miss you Selene I hope this ring takes you to somewhere better and let it be a reminder that we will all see you again eventually where ever you end up. I love you Selene. Goodbye." he kissed her cheek and just as the lid was closed Selene saw the ring he slipped on her finger a simple gold band with a simple flower of diamonds on top. It was beautiful. The lid closed and the coffin was lowered into the ground.
As the coffin was being lowered into the ground a voice spoke in Selene's head that she did not recognize.
"Time to go little one." was all the voice said before Selene felt a tug and then the whole scene with the coffin and her loved ones was gone and blackness reined once again. Selene was starting to get tired of seeing black.
The next time Selene opened her eyes she was back in a forest. She could hear birds singing, the wind in the trees, she could feel the dirt path under her hands she could feel the heat of the sun on her skin. She sat up surprised at the fact she could hear and see again. She looked at her cloths, there was not a drop of blood on them they were perfectly clean. She looked at her arm and felt her side there was not bullet whole. She touched her neck and felt her heart beat, it was strong and steady as it had been when she was walking home before she got shot. She took a deep breath in and breathed it back out slowly feeling her lungs fill and empty easily. She looked at her hands; there was her high school grad ring on her left hand her celtic ring from her mother and the ring from Nathan on her right hand. She smiled at the ring as Nathan's face flashed through her mind.
She stood up and looked around at the forest that she was in. It was nothing like the forests back at home. They were thick with trees and full of deer and animals and had only a select few paths. This forest looked as though at one time it was well traveled if not even lived in by people at one time. There was no sight or sound of deer or animals in here except for birds that could hide in the tops of trees far away from the evil that stalked on the ground. Selene looked around and found her satchel on the ground beside her she picked it up and slung it over her shoulder. She checked to see if she had everything and to her surprise she had everything she left her house with right down to her keys. 'These are useless now but I guess hanging onto them for memory sake couldn't hurt.' she thought and dropped the keys back into her bag and zipped it shut.
After checking herself and her belongings she began to wonder through the forest trying to figure out where she was. Her mother always told her think before you panic find a sign or landmark or something that gives you a clue to where you are before you panic and even then don't panic but think of how you can get home. So she remained calm and tried to find the nearest path that might have a sign on it or something. ' If this is Heaven its awfully quiet I kind of thought it would be ... busier then this. This seems kind of lonely.' she thought to herself as walked around carefully picking her way through the bushes and trees trying to find a path. After what seemed like an hour she finally found a path but there was no sign of a road sign or land mark anywhere just more trees and forest. She sighed and decided to walk further up the path hoping to find a sign or building that could give her some evidence to her location. But the more she walked the more the forest looked kind of familiar. She couldn't quite put her finger on it just yet but the farther she walked the more her memory kept nagging at her. Finally something in her memory clicked like a light switch. Ithilien, the forest of Ithilien is what clicked in her brain as she looked at the trees that have grown to amazing heights due to not being touched in many years.
Selene smiled happily at the fact that she had been sent to Ithilien as her own personal Heaven. But her happiness was short lived when she heard strange bird calls from a near by tree the call was quickly answered by a similar call from another tree. The calls were very good but they still sounded only every so slightly fake. Selene knew that sound it is the call that the Rangers used to communicate with each other without giving away their hiding places. Selene listen closely to the calls and realized that she was surrounded. With a heavy sigh she continued to walk slowly up the path counting silently to herself. ' Five, Four, Three, Two, one.' she counted and sure enough on the count of one fiver Rangers jump out of the trees at her. Going into fighter mode Selene whipped around and grabbed one of the Rangers reaching arms twisted it behind his back and threw him to the ground shocking the other Rangers with this strange style of fighting that so a frail of girl could take on a Ranger. The other Rangers charged forward and this strange girl took out two more Rangers before they finally grabbed her. Her hands were tied as were her feet then she was blind folded and gagged. She continued to struggle and fight and didn't stop till a dagger was pointed at her gave up struggling and walked submissively along not giving any further struggle. They walked for what felt like hours she couldn't tell. None of the men spoke as they walked and no matter how hard Selene tried to make a mental map of where they were going it was impossible through the blindfold and gag.
She allowed them to push her long to where ever they were taking her. She was carried once or twice down stone steps by the sounds of it. She was carried one last time before she was put down made to walk to somewhere. They took off the blindfold and the gag they untied her feet so she could walk properly. She immediately began to try and put up a fight even with her hands tied she found a way to kick and lash out at the guards. She did not even hear their leader enter as slammed her knee into another guard sending him flying back.
"ENOUGH!" came a thundering command. Selene stopped fighting turned around to come face to face with Faramir and his brother Boromir. Selene froze in place and met the brothers angry gaze. A guard rushed over and kicked Selene in the back of the knees making her fall to her knees only out of reflex more then pain. Faramir questioned his guards in hushed tones so their captive could not hear while Boromir stood and watched the girl as she finally hung her head in defeat. Boromir watched the fight leave her body and eyes. The girl he looked upon now was small frail and dressed very strangely. Faramir returned and stood in front of the girl.
"Look at me." he commanded and the girl lifted her head. "Who are and where do you hail from?" he demanded coldly
" I am Selene I hail from a land far away. In that land I died and I was sent here. I mean no harm I am lost." she explained in a voice full of defeat and flat out honesty. Faramir looked at the girl skeptically.
" If you mean no harm then explain to me how a girl from a mysterious land manages to dislocate two of my men's arms and injury several others without using any weapons or magic and is not working for the Dark Lord." He growled
" I was trained to fight by a friend of mine so I could defend myself the only reason I attacked your guards was because I was frighten and unlike other women I do not run and cower when I being attacked I fight back as hard as I can cause that is what I have been taught to do so as to protect myself." Selene said honestly again staring straight into Faramir's eyes. Faramir stared back into those deep brown eyes that seem to pierce through him to his very soul.
Faramir wasn't sure what to do with this strange girl. She understood Westron perfectly and could speak it too. Yet she was dressed so strangely she couldn't possibly be a spy of the enemy dressed like this. He gestured for the girl to be stood up on her feet. A guard came forward and roughly pulled her onto her feet. He continued to hold her arm as though she was going to attack. With a twitch of her arm she pulled it out of the guards painful grasp. He glared and went to back hand her across the face, she flinched and Faramir raised a hand signaling the guard to stop and return to his corner. He stared at Selene for a moment he walked around her looking some sort of marking that said she was spy of the enemy. Boromir came forward and taking her hands he pulled up the sleeves of her shirt all the way up to her shoulder. Her muscles flexed briefly showing Boromir that one thing was true and that was she had definitely been doing some kind of training. She had marks on both her arms one did not match the mark of an race the two brothers knew of. It was a golden bird of fire. The mark was elegant and yet threatening as the birds eyes glared back on all those who looked upon it. The other mark was a ring of Elvish around her arm. Boromir couldn't read it and Faramir could vaguely read it.
" It reads 'Honesty till death, love all life and fight for what is just and right'" she said as she watched the the two brothers struggle to read the inscription.
" See I am no enemy." she said quietly still trying to get them to see things her way that was not going to happen anytime soon though it seemed.
" We will be the judge of that." Boromir snarled " You may not work for the enemy but you could be some witch sent here to destroy us." he growled.
" If that is what you think then that is what you think I have told you the truth its up to you determine what you can of it." she said simply not putting up any fight as her sleeves were wrenched back down her arms.
" Guard! Take this woman to the holding cell while we decided what is to be done with her." commanded Faramir to the guard. The guard grabbed her arm and lead her away she did not struggle but did as she was told and allowed herself to be pushed along into the holding cell where she was shackled to the all by her ankles and the rope was cut from her hands. There was no getting out of her bonds without a key. She made herself as comfortable as possible on the hard stone floor. She looked around cave there was nothing to do while she waited to be judged by the two brothers. At first she sat in silence quickly growing bored. But when she placed her hands beside her she rested her hand on her bag. She smiled with relief that no one had taken it she opened it and took out her old sketch book. She went to open it but changed her mind and took out her new sketbook, sketching pencil's, pastels, and quill and ink. She put the date at the top of the page and began writing and sketching and drawing what she had seen and what had happened so far. After explaining her arrival she drew a picture of Ithilien with her pastels and sketch out the ambush that took place on the path. Hours passed and Selene managed to write and sketch everything she seen and been through up till that second. With nothing further to write she packed away her tools leaving the book open so she could spray the pastels art and let the ink dry.
She heard foot steps entering her cell she gently touched the ink and pastels to make sure they were dry before closing the book and fastening the straps, that held it closed, together. Faramir entered just as she finished securing the book closed. She stared up in fear and clutched the book tightly to her chest. Some of the Captains earlier anger had faded from his face. He saw the fear in her eyes and saw the book she was clinging to for dear life. He sat down on a barrel three feet away from her and she relaxed a little but she still watched him worriedly. He looked at her again and then at the was no longer a Captain but rather a scholar.
" My I see that book?"he asked gently. Selene looked at the book then back at him but with a heavy sigh she surrendered the book all a bit reluctantly. Faramir opened the book and turned to the first page he was met with elegant script and detailed sketches of everything that had happened to her. Her death, her arrival in Ithilien , the ambush on the path, her interrogation and finally her wait in the holding cell. The last paragraph spoke of her fear of Faramir's decision and under that paragraph there was a sketch of his face smiling a sweet gentle smile.
He looked at Selene and back at the art work and writing in the book. He closed it and handed it back to Selene.
"Your not lieing or making any of this up are you?" he asked flat out taking Selene off guard with the sudden question.
" No I am not making this up or lieing. I have been telling you the truth this whole time and I had hoped one of you would at least listen to me and give me a chance." she said weakly " Do you honestly think I could have made that all up?" she says pointing to the images she had sketched into her book.
"No you could not; even the brightest of children has not that great of an imagination. But these are dark times you have walked into. I will not send you to my father in the city you can thank me for that small mercy." he said sadly
" Why what is so bad about your father?" she asked curious of what would happen if she was sent to the city.
" He would listen to your story call your a witch and have you executed without a second thought." he said flatly not buttering over anything
" So why are you believing anything I am saying if your father won't?" She asked honestly curious as to why Faramir was not more like his brother and father about this.
" Because I knew a man who was a great wizard and he told me once one day something or someone would come to Middle Earth and their arrival would give hope and bring a new weapon to the table. He never told when it happen if it would be an object or a person. I didn't know what to expect but I waited, looking for a sign of some foreign object or evidence of an out-landish person. So when I saw what you did to my men and how you fought when you were brought here I knew you were the person my friend spoke of. The wind that will change the tide." He said his voice full of hope.
Selene looked at her hands not sure what to think of this information. How could she possibly change anything here? So much was happening all at once that it would be impossible for one girl to change the fate of a whole struggling world.
"Did this friend say anything else of what I do or look like when I got here?" she asked grasping at information to get an idea of her purpose here.
" He said nothing of whether you would be man or woman. To be honest how he spoke of you I was expecting a man . As for your what you are to do he did not say. Only that you would come bearing a weapon no one has ever seen before and that you would help shift the tide of this war for the better." he said his voice and eyes filling with hope the more he spoke.
Selene wished she could find the same hope that he seemed to be living off of at the moment. She had no idea what weapon she was suppose to bring and how that would help her shift the tide of the war. She figured it would have to be something she found out along the way.
" So what are you going to do with me now?" she asked trying to hide the twinge of fear in hear voice.
"For now you will stay with me after tonight you are no longer a captive. You will work for doing what ever task I give you. You will have to work hard to earn the trust of my men and deal with their anger till they come to trust you. I will try and find you some new cloths we can't have you walking around looking like that and..."
" Do you have a spare bow I could barrow?" she asked cutting him off
"Yes"
"And a needle and thread I could use?"
" Yes why do you ask such strange questions?" Faramir asked very confused be her strange string of questioning.
"I will make my own cloths if that is alright with you? Save you the trouble of having to find me new cloths to wear." she said simply
" Very well I shall fetch you a bow and you may go out after the men are asleep to use it and I will accompany you to make sure you don't try to run off on me." he said sternly
" That's fair." she said without complaint
" Very well I will bring you a needle in thread for now as well as some blankets and food and water. But for tonight you will stay here. Understood?" he said becoming a commander once more and no longer the open minded scholar that had once sat a top the barrel only three feet away. Now he stood tall and proud his face empty of emotion and his voice full of command.
" Understood my lord." was Selene's quiet reply
He nodded then ducked out of cell and went to fetch the things he had promised to bring to her. She Leaned against the wall and sighed into the growing darkness of the cave.
" Thus two worlds join and our lives, dear Captain, now collide." she spoke into the darkness even though there was no one there to hear it.
