A/N: Just another modern-girls-in-middle-earth story. We don't own Middle Earth, or the characters in it (besides Ronnie and Alyssa). All credits go to the amazing Tolkien.

CHAPTER ONE

~Alyssa's POV~

Alyssa Hale. That's me!

Coming from quite a wealthy family, I'm a 2nd year med student, living with my best and closest friend Ronnie (or Veronica Mae Carter if she does something to annoy me), and I'm a part time model…

Yet I was unbelievably bored with my life!

It was the same old tedious routine day after day, plus the workload is huge. The only thing that's currently not driving me insane is modelling. Once I had signed the new contract with my manager, met my new co-model Chris, and started our first day of shooting, I was absolutely buggered. So I decided to meddle in Ronnie's daily routine for a little bit.

I walked through the police department's doors, and was greeted by a few officers that passed me. They knew me well and they were used to seeing me around the precinct. I knew where I was going, so I headed straight for Ronnie's desk. She had her head in the computer, with her reading glasses on the tip of her nose, and a concentrated frown adorning her features. Her short brown hair was pulled back into a small ponytail, and her stormy grey eyes glared at the computer, as if it had done something wrong. Without a word, I grabbed her and tried to pull her away from the desk. Ronnie instantly stiffened, her hands clamped around the edge of the wooden desktop as she tried to stay put. The odds weren't in her favour, however, because I successfully peeled her away and pushed her out the door, ignoring her constant protests of her "needing to do paperwork" and, "one does not solve crimes by eating! Unless it's food related, of course…". She didn't stop this until we reached the park.

"So, now that you've kidnapped a detective, let me do some investigating. What's bothering you?' Ronnie asked, before taking a huge bite out of the burger I had bought for her at our usual diner. I watched in disgust as she tried her hardest to chew the large portion of food in her mouth. At least she tried.

"I feel like a machine! The same old routine every single day! It's driving me insane, and one of these days I swear I'm going to explode!" I groaned as I sipped my fresh berry smoothie. "Actually, unless rigged with something, then an imploding human is more likely than an explo-" She stopped as I gave her an unimpressed look. "What you need, my over stressed fellow human being, is a holiday; a break, a rest, vacation etc. Some time off to recharge the ol' batteries!" I was about to reply when suddenly shivers ran down my spine, the temperature dropped, and the air had a dangerous feel to it. I guess Ronnie must've sensed it too because she stopped mid-chew and looked around us, before her eyes narrowed at a particular point behind me. I frowned and turned my head to find a strange distortion near the old oak tree.

"What the flippin heck is that?" Ronnie murmured next to me and stood up to investigate. Whatever it was, it looked like a ripple of sorts in the air, like a misshapen mirror. As we neared, the distortion became clearer and the world around us seemed to blur, then diminish. All of a sudden, ethereal light poured out of it and the warm light enveloped me completely. I remember a searing image of a woman's face. She seemed otherworldly and beautiful, I almost convinced myself that I was dying and that she was an angel. Almost. That was the last thing I remembered before everything around me was engulfed into darkness.