Chapter 3 A Loudly Shining Future
She woke up in a pure white hall. 'I'd better not make a habit outta this' she thought as she slowly got to her feet. Feet she was amazed to still possess. She shivered, which caused her to realise she was naked. This made her feel very exposed, which always left her rather crabby.
She hugged herself to keep warm and looked around. Before, she'd thought she was in a hall, but she now realised this place was too big to be just a hall. There seemed to be no end to this place! Everything was white and shiny. It made her feel as if she was somehow soiling this place, simply by being there. Everything looked so pristine, so... not her.
At the same time, this place made her snort in derision. All her life, she hadn't believed in the stories people with near-death experiences had been telling for centuries. "A white light? Come on!" she'd said to the few people that had shared such experiences with her. And now... Well, this was either very ironic or karma proving she was indeed a bitch.
Deciding there was no point in wandering around aimlessly, she sat down and hugged her legs to her chest, to keep herself warm. She felt as if she was being watched, but couldn't sense anyone or anything anywhere near her. That used to mean she was safe, but she hadn't noticed the spiders either, while they sure as hell made enough noise and smelled bad enough for her to have noticed them under normal circumstances. Which it weren't, apparently.
While she pondered on this, she hummed 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' to herself to stop the deafening silence all around her, waiting for anything, something, to change.
She had gone through the entire song at least 6 times and was just about to start singing it, when she noticed there was a less-than-blindingly-white spot right in front of her. Deciding that this was everything that was going to happen anytime soon, she got up and started to walk towards it.
She'd thought everything was quiet before, but it seemed to get even quieter with each step she took towards the spot. By now, her breath sounded like a shotgun being fired next to her ears.
A few more steps.
Now she could hear her heartbeat, beating faster from the pressure she felt on her ears.
Another step.
She could hear her blood rush through her veins.
A few more.
She could hear her tendons strain to keep her legs moving.
Another step.
She could hear her various muscle groups working together now.
A few more steps.
She wasn't even sure what was added now, but it was driving her crazy.
She knew that something had to change quickly, so she decided to hum to herself again. She took a deep breath...and almost screamed in agony as it sounded as if a bomb had gone off inside her mind. 'Okay, no humming then', she thought to herself.
Suddenly, all the noises stopped, but just as she was about to say a Hail Mary, it was replaced. The new... noise was unlike anything she'd ever heard. It seemed to scream and whisper to her at the same time, make her feel euphoric and depressed, vengeful and forgiving all at once.
She couldn't see any creature that could possibly be the source of all this. Yet, she started to hear a voice coming through the music. It spoke to her of things that were, things that are and things that not yet had come to pass. She thought the voice came from the spot, which had truly become a dark spot by now, but the voice warned her to stay away from it. "That spot is the stain of Melkor upon my Music" the voice said. "Your music?" she asked, a bit incredulously, thinking about the Phantom of the Opera in the back of her mind. "Yes, my Music", the voice said.
He then told her what the music was, what its purpose was and how it came to be. He told her it was his masterpiece, that he'd succeeded in this world, while he'd failed in hers and the one he was sending her to. It was all too much for her to take in, yet he did not seem to care, he kept talking on and on.
Eventually, he started to tell her why she was here. It wasn't an accident; he pulled her into this world. She wanted to ask why, but he told her she would find out soon enough. He was losing his patience apparently, because he seemed to talk faster and faster and answered her questions only with short sentences, whereas he used to talk in paragraphs.
He then told her that she was to live in what was called Greenwood the Great, wherever that may be and help some Harry Potter-wannabe called Radagast with his magick.
Before she could start to bitch about that, she suddenly was wearing a non-descript brown dress and standing in a cottage that had obviously seen better days.
There was an old man standing with his back to her. He seemed to be humming something while mixing herbs. She was about to ask who the hell he was and, more importantly, where the hell she was.
"You are in my cottage in Greenwood the Great, I am Radagast the Brown and you are Ashley Magnus, daughter of Helen Magnus and John Druitt." He said, without turning to face her. She opened her mouth and her rational mind shut down completely.
"Who the hell do you think you are, going through my mind without my permission, in some kind of degenerate cottage in the middle of nowhere, dressed like some kind of wacked-out Harry Potter wannabe and not even having the decency to look at me as you do so?" Screaming that caused her to pant slightly.
He turned to her and asked her: "Are you quite done?" 'For now' she thought, but merely glared at him. He sighed and said: ''Well, at least you're not as passive as was shown to me. I did not 'go through your mind', I was told about you by the Valar and Iluvátar himself. I was shown you in the beginning of time, I think Iluvátar explained some things about this world. At the same time, he explained to me what he wanted from me. He wanted me to take care of you, teach you how to survive.'' He turned around and looked her in the eyes for the first time, looking like she was a glass of water that he'd found after years in the desert. A million thoughts and questions bounced through her mind, but the one she blurted out was: "What if I don't want to?" He looked confused. "Don't want to what?" "Survive." He didn't have an answer to that question.
Here's Chapter 3
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