"I suppose this story must start with the question: do you have faith? Any faith really, in anyone and anything. My faith was always that. My own. It changes and it falters but it never concedes from being mine. I'm not sure where I should start this story, but I suppose it should be with the fact that I am not of this world. Not even remotely."


The sun shone glowing beams upon her face, as the gentle breeze flittered through her untamed curly hair. The bright sunlight bleached the tips of her hair, from their usual raven colour, into a shinny chocolate brown. The brightness of the spring day also blended her hazel eyes to show more green than brown, like leaves of a tree overrunning the bark. Althea Wright embraced the day with a smile spread across her face. She quietly hummed to herself as she sashayed down the pavement, away from her home. This felt to be a good day, she believed, and that should have been how she knew she was wrong, for on a day where everything appears perfect, things can only get worse.

The traffic blared horns onto a ruckus on the London roads, as Althea ducked down the passage and into the underground. She skipped down the steps, passed her ticket through the ticket barrier, then travelled the steep escalator to the underground level. She hovered near the wall as she awaited the train. Time ticked by, the predictable delays were still a mild annoyance, that kept her glancing at the clock. The boredom ticked on, people flattering around their busy days. Her eyes scanned the tunnel, watching the many people, until her they connected with a sight that made her heart stop for a minute. Three children, no older than eight, we're playing too close to the tracks. They'd made a game of jumping over the yellow warning line. Without her permission her body had already begun to rush towards the children, intent on pulling them away quickly. The panic intensified as the steady chugging if the train grew from down the tunnel. The two boys laugh as the girl jumps far, but their smiles quickly wash away as she slips. Althea finally reaches them, quickly pulling the crying girl up and into the awaiting arms of the boys, but as she's pushing them away from the tracks she goes over on her ankle. Time doesn't slow for Althea, she doesn't even have time to think as her body crumpled back and train hit. All turned black.


The blackness didn't change as her eyes openned. She stood surrounded by a black vortex, in front of her were three separate images of boys playing. She looked around, but apart from that all there was was black.

"Chooses." The commanding voice vibrated through the air, making her jump.

"What? No." She spoke into the void, "Who are you?"

"Choose." The command came again.

"Where am I? What's going on?" She glared around as panic built within her.

"Choose." The voice pressed.

"Why should I? What do you want with them?" She demanded, spinning in circles.

"You can only save one. Choose." The echoing voice explained.

"What the hell? No! They're justice kids, I'm not picking one to live over another!" Althea shouts incredulously.

The holographic images disappeared, "Your decision has been made, and accepted." The powerful voice commented.

"Decision? I didn't make a decision!Who are you? How did I get here?" She shouted, with fear controlling her thoughts.

"You saved three children's lives, but sadly died in the process." The voice was grave, and almost regretful in it's tone, as it gently breaks the news. "You have been chosen to be a guardian." It informed after sometime, allowing Althea to first process the notion and collect herself from the panic and sadness she felt.

"Guardian?" She whispered the question, unsure whether she truly wanted an answer or not.

"Your people call them Angels." The voice explained, grave and gentle.

"Who are you?" Came Althea's broken whisper.

"I have many names." The voice evaded.

"Who are you?" Althea's frustration grew as she demanded an answer.

"I have many names from your world alone." The voice reiterated.

"Tell me one I'd know, then." Althea commanded.

"You know many, yet none at all for you no longer look to me, although once you often did." The voice commented.

"Enough riddles! Who are you?" Althea bit back at the voice.

"Your mother called me God." The voice commented thoughtfully. "Where you are going, they call me Eru Ilúvatar."

"Where I'm going?" She exclaimed, not liking the idea at all.

"Watch." The voice commanded, before suddenly images had burst across her vision.

The image showed a woman (Althea was certain it was a woman despite the significant beard she had) holding a baby, smiling at a man who was cradling them both.

"What shall we name him, Thrain?" The woman enquired with a relieved laugh. "Our beautiful little lad." She cooed at him.

"How do you feel about Thoren my love?" His smile was as pure as any proud parent the day their child is born.

"'Tis nice, although I would wish to make a slight change?" She smiled lightly at the man, "Perhaps Thorin?"

"Aye, love. A perfect name." The man kissed her head then the baby's. They both smiled at their new born son. From there Althea watched Thorin's life as he grew.


A still baby Thorin- perhaps one or two years old- appeared in her vision, he was calling for his amad. What an amad was Althea had no idea, but, by the way he was reaching for the familiar woman, she guessed he was calling for his mother.

"Look, Thorin," The woman said as the father placed him in her hold, "This is Frerin, your little brother." She smiled at her children as they both snuggled into her hold.


Thorin appeared about four or five, as his mother again laid holding a baby, his brother seemed about three, as all three children looked up at their mother.

"Make sure you're quiet." The father warned gently.

"Thorin, Frerin, meet Dis, your little sister." Their mother smiled softly at them, "She's going to need to have two brave big brothers looking after her as she grows up, do you think you could do that for me?" She said, in a way one can only speak with children. Both young boys grinned and nodded their heads enthusiastically. The adults laughter filled the room.

"Good lads." Their father complimented.


"You're doing it wrong." A young voice commented to an, about, ten year old Thorin, who was hitting a dummy with a stick.

"Shut up, Dwalin." Thorin grunted as he continued to wack the dummy.

"He's not!" A nine(ish) year old argued. He looked far too much like Thorin to be anyone but Frerin.

"He's not moving his feet." Dwalin pointed out, before using his own stick to swipe Thorin's legs from under him. Thorin landed hard on his butt, and glared at Dwalin, who in return smirked teasingly. Thorin leapt at Dwalin, and the two boys rough housed; not to be left out Frerin quickly joined the fray. Their mothers were less than impressed when they found them, although the scolding did not seem harsh as their fathers' laughed.


Althea watched as Thorin grew, Dwalin and Frerin by his side, spending their time annoying Dwalin's elder brother Balin, and scaring off Dis' suitors, but eventually watched her marry, too. Thorin, Frerin, and Dis all learnt royal duties, and fighting, whilst Dwalin focused upon fighting. They drank too much and laughed a lot, and slowly the four of them grew. She watched Thorin's grandfather's slow descent into madness, and the toll the death of his grandmother had. Then came the dragon. She could feel the fire, smell the burning, she was choking on the smoke as if she were there. She cried with the deaths of the people, forced from their homes, the death of Thorin's mother. She watch a desperate royal family trying to help their people survive. She watched them settle in Ered Luin, watched Thorin become a blacksmith. Then she watched Azanulbizar. And she cried, sobbing tears as she watched Thrain, Frerin, and (Dis' husband) Vili perish. She watched Thorin become the cut off and cold King in exile.

Suddenly the picture were no longer about Thorin, the were about a golden haired boy, Althea knew to be Fili, Dis' eldest son. She watched his birth, as Frerin cracked jokes, just for Dis to bite his head off; Vili rushing in from being at the market, quickly grabbing Dis' hand. Thorin being stoic, although small tears grew in his eyes. She then watched him swear to look after Kili, just after his birth. She watched Fili cry over his father, grandfather and uncle. She watched him grow and learn to be a prince, whilst still being a buffoon. She watched his, Kili and Ori's friendship that reminded her far too much of Thorin, Frerin and Dwalin. She watched as he pranked people, got yelled at by his mother, learnt to fight with his uncle and Dwalin. Watched him defend Kili and Ori and roll his eyes at his strange relatives.

Then it moved on. Although events were too similar, however, these were centred around Kili, who more often than not was far too reckless for her liking. Soon the images stopped, and she knew she knew them. Not simply because she'd watched their lives, but because they were from a book, and some films, and she knew they were destined to die, and that made her cry all over again.

"These are your charges." The voice announced gravely. "You are now their guardian."

"What does that even mean?" She questioned desperately.

"You are their guardian. Guard them." The voice dictated. "You shall be sent to their world. You shall join their quest. Be warned you shall be mortal once more, you can die."

"So it's like reincarnation?" She asked hesitantly.

"Exactly." The voice rumbled. "Your body shall be almost the same, although, with Aulë's blessing you shall be of the race of your charges. Whether you succeed or fail this is your new life, until death takes you again. Good luck." All went black, again.

Whilst Althea was panicking over this, a hobbit, happy in his smial, was being interrupted by a very grumpy dwarf.