A/N: I haven¡¯t been writing for quite some time. So please forgive me for the weird style. Please right-click, go to encoding, and choose ¡®Chinese Simplified¡¯ if weird characters appear.

Disclaimer: Frodo and all related characters belong to J.R.R. Tolkien. No intentional copyright infringement is intended through their use.

To the Edge of Night

Home is behind, the world ahead

And there are many paths to tread

Through shadow, to the edge of night

Until the stars are all alight

Mist and shadow, cloud and shade

All shall fade; all shall fade.

--The Steward of Gondor; RotK soundtrack; written by Billy Boyd

When I made the choice to accept ownership of the Ring and take it to Rivendell, my heart was not yet as heavy as it now is, for I thought that the journey would be finite, if not short, and having an end to it gave me hope.

Yet, I was told that the task of destroying the Ring was placed upon me.

There was no choice for me in that matter: I had to bear the Ring and journey to destroy it. Or maybe, I should say that there were choices laid out before me, but the results of not taking the burden upon myself could not be allowed by my heart, and in the choices given, there were none.

With the first step I took out of Rivendell, I knew all would be lost for me.

The Ring had lodged itself into my very being, and tore and twisted it so that what I saw changed me, and the old ways of living could not be returned to.

I had lived half in the real world, and half in that of the wraiths, and having seen how that which were good could be turned so much to evil and shadows, and even after I returned to the Shire, all the good things I saw became marred.

The Shire had been lost to me the moment Bilbo left the Ring for me, but I do not blame him. The Shire had been saved, but not for me.

I had lost both my home, and myself.

I can still remember that moment when I stood at Mount Doom and slipped the Ring on. Not contented with my decision to destroy it, it decided it would drag me along with it, even if it could not return to its master.

It dragged me with it further into the shadows, and further in, till shadows became darkness and all were black. And still, deeper it pulled me under.

I did not think that I would escape: the Ring was too strong for me.

There was blackness, and then there were light¡ªthey came in small points that seemed at once near and far, and there, the Ring stopped suddenly, as if afraid.

Before me, clouds and haze swirled as they spread outward, traveling for ever into the distance, and in them, the stars were alit with their read flames, lighting the clouds till they became soft and muted, like silver glass.

I stood there for an eternity before I was thrown from that sight.

Now, as I board the Elven ship that will bear me to find healing, I wave to my friends and face forward.

And I saw what others could not see: a place of starlit night that stretched beyond my sight, holding both light and dark that blended together till they were one, and all boundaries were gone.

All shall fade¡­all shall¡­fade¡­

-finis