Disclaimers: See the Prologue for more information.

The very first italic sentence reminded me of the 2008 movie "Iron Man". Other than that, I was listening to music from "The Shannara Chronicles". I can't help it. The songs set the mood for these chapters, even though this fanfiction story has an original plot.

Chapter One:

An Encounter with Wolves

Twenty-Four Hours Ago…

It was two in the morning.

I wasn't ready to head back to my apartment, with its noisy neighbors and the cars honking their horns at other cars. No, I could spend another few minutes where I was.

I watched the raindrops trickle down the shutters. It wasn't supposed to rain at this hour. But I knew once I stepped into those woods, looming in front of my parents' house, I would enter forbidden territory. Maybe I needed something forbidden to make my life interesting.

To sum it up, my life was grand. I was studying Fine Arts, my second degree, at Wexford University, which is an hour from the nearest bus station in New York City. It was a relatively good drive… if you like country roads. I didn't mind, as long as I could avoid the potholes. My parents were alive and well. I have my own apartment, next to a depot that only sells hot coffee… And while I do have a job and going through a bad breakup with my second boyfriend, I'm doing well. Nothing could go wrong –

All right, that's avoiding the truth. My life was boring. It's filled with the same people, doing the exact same things day in and day out. Not to mention where I worked was a gas station. Don't get me wrong. The people who walk in and out of the gas station are good citizens… but I'm sure no one here wants to hear about my work ethics.

Moving on. This story is about how I ended up… oh, let's just go back to the raindrops and the time being two o' clock in the morning:

I moved a lock of brown hair out of my face. The moon had reached its full peak. Wolves howled in the nearby distance. Wait. Wolves? My dad made sure there were no wolves tramping through our yard, pillaging our chickens and their eggs. He would go ballistic if he heard wolves approaching in the night. And yet, I couldn't help but wonder if these wolves might attack me.

I rushed to the front door. No surprise, as soon as I turned the doorknob it was locked. Oh, that's right! Dad usually left the key under the welcome rug. That was a safe place to keep it. Wild animals, such as the pesky chipmunk or raccoon, could snatch it up. Oh… no, I put it under the rug. I figured it was better than having my parents spy on me for the tenth time this evening. But I was moping too much from my bad breakup. I know, it's not the end of the world, but… I loved my second ex-boyfriend, really loved him, and he just, out of the blue, said it was over with no explanation. I had to stop thinking about him.

I moved the wool rug up. There was the silver key: my only way to get back inside the house. I picked up the key, letting the rug fall as I reached for the door. No wolf was getting me tonight. I fitted it to the keyhole. A blast of light smacked me, sending me in a heap on the ground, a yard from where I stood.

What the hell? I asked, stunned and nearly blind from the jolt of light. That was not normal. I was too exhausted to be stunned. I turned around, only to meet the snarling teeth of a fully grown grey wolf.

The wolf was ready to sink his teeth into me. The way it snarled told me that I had invaded its territory. Hold on. The wolf was on my territory. He wasn't alone, for four other wolves plus one female wolf stopped in a half circle around me. They looked hungry. If I moved too fast, these wolves would have me as their midnight snack. If I moved too slow… a lightbulb blinked in my head. It was a brilliant plan.

Only I looked over my shoulder at my cell phone, which lay face up on the dirt road, approximately two feet away from where I crouched. The wolf still growled at me, ready to pounce. Was my life worth my cell phone? Shaken by the wolves, but daring to rescue my phone, I lunged towards it. The wolves nearly bit off my hand in the process. But the massive wolf in the center, the alpha, put his paw between me and the cell phone.

Oh, so that's how they wanted it? The phone buzzed. It was sending another text. I had to answer it, or risk my friend wondering what had happened to me. The wolf growled, his breath in my face. He didn't want me to take the phone? The alpha and his small pack weren't attacking me. Yet their snarls and growls grew fiercer. Why weren't they attacking? Respecting the alpha's wishes, I moved my hand back to my thigh.

"What do you want?" I asked, hoping to resolve this matter soon. I had to catch up on sleep. I had to go to work in the morning…

The alpha wolf tore off, kicking me in the shoulder with his left hind leg. The blow nearly sent me into a black out. Fortunately, that didn't happen, but the sensation of the kick shot pain through my shoulder blade. The pain didn't last long, but the shock of the kick made me dizzy.

"What was that for?" I shouted at the wolf leader. I probably woke the house. If only… the lights hadn't turned on. Usually my parents turned them on whenever there was a problem… Perhaps the wolves knew I wouldn't hurt them.

Happy to have my cell phone back, I flipped through it to the first text. It was from my friend Jen, who wrote simply: r u okay? I understood text messages only by simple acronyms, nothing further. If someone were to explain texting language, it would be over my head. I felt relieved when it was only this message. Jen, on the other hand, could whip up a text without any trouble. I envied her. I wanted to learn how to text, but I feared I was getting too old to learn new tricks, even though I looked young. Must have been a family trait I inherited, since I wasn't the only one who looked younger than they were…

Before I had the chance to think on these tired thoughts, my phone buzzed again. The message changed to a white screen with a flashing black text that read in bold letters: Low Battery.

"I thought I charged you." I know I had full battery when I stepped outside, taking a breather to gather my thoughts. That was at eight o' clock, hours before the wolves surrounded me, growling in my face.

A loud whimper caught my attention. I looked up, my eyes meeting two bright pairs of light staring right back at me. The whimper came from the alpha wolf. I recognized his deep growls by now. Giving up on the phone, I chucked it a good distance away from me. It wasn't a smart decision I made, but at this hour it seemed like the perfect moment to dash away the dreams of owning a cell phone. I rubbed my eyes. I was too tired to do much, other than sleep on the road. I nearly did, but the alpha wolf whimpered a second time, beckoning for me to follow. Unsure what else to do with my evening, I stood up and trudged towards the animal.

There was a ripple along the edge of the forest. I hadn't seen that before. The ripple grew, forming a silky white cloak, which wrapped like silver veins. I thought I was imagining – no. It was real. I could feel a powerful pull on me. I returned my gaze to the alpha wolf, but no sooner had I seen him that the wolf turned towards the darkness, vanishing through the ripples until he was no more. His pack had also vanished through the ripples. The barrier returned to its invisible state when I stopped in front of it. Before I could see the silk sheet, but now it was as if it wasn't there. Did I already say that?

The invisible hands pulled me closer to the barrier. I felt awake, and yet I wasn't. I peered through the sheet: there was a forest on the other side. The sun rose in the sky. A green hill country lay just beyond the cloak. I didn't have time to touch the barrier, for I trampled through. I looked back once to see my home still in moonlight. I could go back, if I wanted to… but I couldn't. The pull was too strong. Had I fallen into a dream? Was this a dream? I was certainly tired for this forest to be one. I rubbed my eyes again, in hopes that what I experienced was a dream.

There was a tear behind me. I looked back, attempting to touch the barrier. Only a brilliant flash of light jolted me away. That was the second time this evening! Or was it morning? Did it make a difference what time of day it was? I was tired and nothing was going to stop me from getting a good night's rest. And yet when I sat up, the cloak vanished and with it my home. Well, my parents' home, but I was still shut out and inside a forest I did not recognize. The trunks were thicker and the branches were either higher up from the ground or low-hanging and very thick. The green hill country lay just beyond these woods…

I collapsed, my back slamming into the dead leaves and pine needles. I wanted to get up, but my body refused to respond. My ears rang intensely. The invisible pull slammed into my body, reshaping it into something else. My ears were tugged at their top edges, while the rest of my body shrunk. The experience was painful. I closed my eyes. I tried to scream, but even my throat felt changed, as if I understood more than one language… how was that possible? I wasn't very good with languages. Was this some sort of trick?

My voice blurted unintelligible words. Although I was grateful my thoughts had still retained the English language, I knew something about my physical appearance was different. I just didn't know what it was. Exhausted from the harsh pain, my vision blurred into darkness. The last thing I saw, before my world turned upside down, was looking into the eyes of the alpha wolf. Then I remembered nothing.

The stories I read about Girls Falling into Middle-earth doesn't often show how they transformed into one of the races at Arda. Most of these stories just skip to the girl/woman/lady already being a part of the author's chosen race. I decided to show this transformation and how painful the experience is. Thanks for reading so far. I hope everyone enjoyed reading this chapter. :)