Reminder:: I do not and never will own anything related to Tolkien in any way. Just love his stuff and I want to expand! I mean no harm! I'm an innocent little girl! xD
Okay, with that out of the way: Thank you so much for the fantastic reviews! You guys motivated me to put up another chapter so soon. Totally made my day!
Another thing:: This chapter may be a bit confusing, but I haven't really made up any people of my own yet in Middle-Earth except for poor, disoriented Sarah. (Oh, and sorry about the stupid rhyming thing of mine. I couldn't think of what else to do...) Just as a heads up, I wanted to switch things up a bit by using a couple of wizards who weren't delved into as much as I would have liked from Tolkien... I don't know what they would be like according to him, but I'm doing my best to make them as what I think he would have liked... What can I say? Thanks so much again and enjoy the next chapter~!
EDIT:: Centering (for some strange reason) really isn't working out. At all. So I won't be using it anymore. It may not look as neat and tidy, but I hope you won't mind!
Chapter Two :: A Second Chance
I couldn't move; I couldn't feel. There was nothing but white.
Am I dead? No. Think logically, Sarah. If you were dead, you wouldn't be thinking about whether you're dead or not. Would I…?
I felt around in the blinding whiteness for anything—any presence. I tried to look down at my hands, but they were invisible to me. The force against my efforts felt like similar poles of a magnet being shoved together unsuccessfully. I wasn't even sure if I had a head or eyes to move. I was alone and confused and I felt more pressure. Pressure from the pulsating light that was surrounding me at all sides.
I tried to talk, but I found no words. I was trying to speak a language I didn't know in a place that didn't know sound. I was blind, and lost in the light. I would remain like this for all eternity.
An infinite passed. Time seemed to race by and I felt weary of nothingness. I was impatient for anything—anything at all. I would have given everything for an answer to my nonexistent cries. Where was salvation? Where was hope? Where was I? My being was floating through an endless sea of white night.
Just as I was about to lose all hope and fall into despair, there was a voice. But it wasn't a voice at the same time. As I swam in the endless void, comforting words floated through my subconscious. They were words I was sure I had never heard before, but they ran through my head in a steady rhythm. The voice was the voice of many and it was the voice of one. It didn't belong to one gender of man and it didn't speak any specific language. It just spoke to me and I understood. It spoke and I heard.
After your toils,
After your snares,
The light has caught you unawares.
Stolen of life,
Fear in death,
You have been given another breath.
Come to a world you have not seen,
Awaken, Child, from this dream.
To a life that could have been,
For this is your chance to live again.
I wanted to ask questions—so many questions with a voice of my own that I didn't have. But I couldn't form them in my invisible mouth or I had long forgotten them by the time I felt I could really talk. To my surprise, the white light all around me got even brighter. I tried to cover my eyes or at least shut them from the light that was burning into my very soul, but there was no way to do so. The light grew and grew until I felt a hot wave of it press over me. The wave cooled and became warm and thin like a summer's breeze. The breeze freshened and I could smell again. The damp leaves of autumn…
It felt like the wind had been knocked out of me. I lay gasping, my face down in the ground. I coughed and wheezed for a bit before I realized how cold I was. Shivering, I pulled my face away from the browning grass and looked to my left.
My hair was blocking most of my view though it baffled me at first. It was a crisp, faint blonde and it was lengthy. I gulped down the saliva in my mouth and ran my tongue over my straight teeth. Shaking, I pulled my hands in front of my face and noted their pure white glow. I was paler than… Paler than… I had no idea.
I tried to pull myself up and look around. There were orange, brown, red, and yellow leaves tipped with green blowing throughout the tough grass I was lying on and some were caught in my long, straight hair. Just as I started to take in the small clearing of a forest I was in, I realized I was naked.
Feeling very human, uncomfortable, and scared, I quickly sat up—regaining my senses. What happened? Where am I?
Looking around wildly for anyone in the area, I was relieved to believe I was at least by myself in my humiliation. My head was spinning and I felt sick with light-headed perplexity. I tried to cover up the best I could, but my arms and legs felt very weak and I soon found out I couldn't stand when I tried and everything felt wobbly. So much for making a dress out of all this grass like a real survivalist…
I felt horrible and alone. My head was swirling and I was sure that the world was doing the same thing. I tried my best, my very best, to remember how I got here, but nothing came. All I could remember was white light… and a poem of sorts… I think.
Tears filled my eyes as I panicked. How would I survive? What if I just wanted to curl up and die? Why can't I remember anything! This couldn't be heaven!
I looked around at the grey skies and dying trees. Past them were things in a forest unseen and a growing, thundering blackness in the sky to my right.
No. This can't possibly be heaven…
Then—back to that age old question—where the hell am I?
I shook my head, drying my tears that were blinding me and tried to scramble up to a standing position. Luckily there was a rather large rock nearby that I used to pull myself up with. I felt like a newborn—learning how to walk for the first time. My legs shook underneath me as my arms and hands clawed and struggled with the boulder to get myself to an upright position. I let out a groan and finally settled on just a leaning position.
I let out a tired sigh. I felt like sleeping I was so exhausted. But… I can't just pass out here! In the middle of nowhere! Something inside me told me I had to get moving… But where was I going? Where was home? Where could I go? Was I supposed to go somewhere? Did I hit my head and simply forget?
I shivered as another fall wind swept through the trees. That's it—I'm going to die. Huh… Perhaps I should just let myself—
"Ho, there!"
"AH!" I screamed and fell behind the boulder. My own voice scared me. I wasn't quite used to hearing sound yet… Everything seemed very strange and new to me… Not your average case of amnesia, I suppose. The voice came from directly across from me, so the boulder shielded me from any perverted eyes.
"Fear not, I come in peace, maiden!"
It was a man's voice—definitely a man's voice. Awkward. Awkward. Awkward. Awkward.
I whimpered and sunk deeper behind my rock.
"What is your name?"
I gulped, very confused. I felt stunned. I tried to form words, but no words of mine seemed to make any sense…
"Can you walk?"
I peered over the rock at the shadow approaching from the trees. He was wearing the strangest outfit I had ever seen—or so I say now. It was an old man cloaked completely in blue—his tall, floppy hat, his dark blue cloak, his robe, boots—everything was a hue of sky blue. He had a white beard and his face looked kind. Although, it was hard to see his face through my embarrassment at having no clothes to describe for myself.
The man must have guessed my predicament because when he tried to approach the rock from the right, I screamed at him not to. He then courteously took off his cloak and tossed it to me from a distance.
"It's not much to give a lady, but it's more than you have."
With agility I didn't know I had, I snatched the cloak off the rock where it landed and ducted back behind the rock. I simply smiled to show my thanks since I wasn't quite sure how my voice was feeling at the moment. As I wrapped the weather beaten cloak about myself, I instantly felt the warmth it could contain and the shelter from the wind.
"Thank you!" I said, voice cracking, as I tried to stand, holding the cloak together with both my hands.
The old man now came up to me to help me to my feet. "You have been through much, young one." He observed as I collapsed. I barely noticed the skeptical look on his face.
"S-sorry. I'm just… shaken..." My eyes fluttered, trying to close themselves into sleep.
"My name is Alatar. Please—allow me to take you to refuge and help. It is not far from where we are. Can you walk, maiden?"
Honestly, I had no idea what he was talking about. Half the words he just said seemed to pass right over my head. "I'm not sure… I'm just confused. And very tired." I mumbled the last part.
"Lean on my staff then—I can do without." He held out an old, gnarled stick to me. Alatar saw the doubtful look on my face, so he insisted. "Please, maiden, you are weak. There is a short but rough walk ahead and you need the support."
Feeling sick to my stomach, I reached out for the cane. I clumsily held it with one hand and kept a firm grip on the cloak to keep it shut against the gentle breeze.
Alatar supported my left arm as I dug the stick into the ground at my right. We made slow progress like this away from the clearing… The clearing where I was born.
Alatar didn't say much as he helped me walk out of the rather small section of woods. He must have understood that I was tired. Of course, he was probably curious why a girl was out in the middle of nowhere without any clothes and had the strength of a toddler, but I was thinking the same thing. Anyway, I had a strange feeling I shouldn't say anything about the White Time (—as I now freely called the time before I woke up. I dunno, it sort of has a ring to it, doesn't it?). It was my first memory of my life that I wouldn't forget any time soon. And I felt it was private.
The trees thinned out and finally disappeared. The terrain grew very flat like a wheat field. The grass was brown and dank. It reached the knees and felt like swimming when you had to wade through it. If you tried to go too fast though, it whipped against you and hurt terribly.
Across the field, only about a hundred yards or so, sat a campsite. The tents were small and cream colored. They were all grouped fairly close together, but it mystified me why someone would gather in the middle of a field. It was so open… And for some reason, I felt it was dangerous.
But dangerous? From what? I chided myself. Still… There was something in the air here that foretold of something sinister. It wasn't something one could easily explain. The air felt heavy and stifled. Like a storm was coming. It was tense.
"Careful." Alatar steadied my shoulder. I nearly fell face forwards into the grass. My legs were giving out as was my mind. I've never been so tired before. I felt like I hadn't slept in a week and I hadn't eaten or drunk for days on end.
"Thank you…"
"What is your name?" Alatar repeated his question from before.
"I..." I thought of this simple question and felt completely baffled. Here was my rescuer, asking a perfectly normal, innocent, first-grade level question, and I could not for the life of me answer it. "I don't know."
Alatar seemed to mull this over for a bit, almost like he was wondering if it was a lie. "You have been through much…"
I couldn't help it. My knees gave way and I fell against the supple grass. Alatar wasn't quick enough to catch me in time. My eyes shut and I immediately started to doze.
"Not now." I felt his hands pull me to my feet. I still had my left hand taught around the cloak to keep it closed, but my other hand had dropped his staff. He now took it back and tapped it against the ground. There was a small light that emitted from its tip.
I was too sleepy to be shocked by this mystery. His signal was immediately answered by a whistling sound. I opened my eyes enough to see that men were coming from the encampment to aid Alatar and me. I fell asleep standing until they arrived, panting from their quick run.
Alatar mumbled some things quickly to the three men who came. I didn't protest as I was picked up off my feet. I dozed for the rest of the walk.
