"Thranduil? Thranduil, open our eyes."
"Who's there?!" He called out to the darkness, for that was all he could see.
"You must awaken, my prince. There is much we must discus."
Thranduil opened his eyes as so they were only slits. Through his cracked eye lids, he saw a site that took all of his warrior training to not shout out in surprise. Before him all was black, except for one thing; a girl. She herself was illuminating the room.
"This . . . this isn't possible!" He stammered. Though elves did have a slight glow around them, none, especially a small elfling, had the brightness break through the dark. The small elfling was simply dress with a white gown and gray hair band that kept her loose black hair out of her face.
"Who, er, what are you?" said the prince as he started backing up to the head board of his bed.
She gave a small laugh. "There is no need to fear, Prince Thranduil of Mirkwood. I come to help you."
"With what?"
She laughed again. "With what you ask?" She continued to laugh. After she had finished, she turned back to the prince, who was making his way out of the bed and towards the girl. "I come to help you reclaim your father, of course!"
"Oh. Wait! How do you know that my father has been taken?"
"For one, you just told me. Second, my master is all knowing. He knows all."
"Yes, I know what 'all knowing means", Thranduil replied with thick sarcasm. The small elfling squinted her eyes and snapped, "You want my help or not?"
"Right, sorry. Forgive me, but how will you be able to assist me? You seem very young to be involved with something so dangerous."
She sighed rather loudly. "I am older than you might think. In fact, I am older than you, times ten! Now shut up and listen. The black stone is what the orcs seek."
"Really . . . I have never heard of it. Why do the orcs want it so bad, and how do I find it? There is nothing on such an artifact in the library."
"What part of shut up do you not understand? Now, if there are no more interruptions, I will continue. The black stone is part of an ancient cycle dating back to the first orc." She paused. Then, slowly, she asked, "Um, Thranduil? Do you know how the orcs came to be?"
"A troll and a sea hag had kids?"
"No, something much, much worse." She let out a long sigh. "To understand the present, Thranduil, you need to know the past. Long ago, there lived a wizard. He, unlike the rest of the council of the magic, craved power. World domination was the only thing that would satisfy his thirst. To do that, he needed an army. The first to fall into the darkness and tertiary of the magician were men. Not all, but just enough to take on his next target, the elves. Or so he thought. The elves resisted, and quickly took down his army of mortals. The wizard escaped. Once back in his lair, the wizard began to plot and scheme. And it came to him. Fight fire with fire, or in this case, elves with elves. With time and persistence, he was able to capture a hand full of elves, then, the experiments started. He knew that there was a balance to the world. Happy and sad, day and night, life and death. He also knew each one needed the other to be. For example, you cannot die unless you are alive in the first place. That is how there is death, it was made by life. The elves represent light, so to make dark, one would need to start with an elf. To turn the light to darkness, he . . . he . . ." She could not finish the sentence.
"He tortured them", Thranduil finished, starting to catch. She nodded.
"Those horrible, horrible blood filled screams have haunted so many elves. For once you hear them, they never stop."
"You speak as if you were there, young one."
"No, I have not been there, but I have heard the shouts. They are truly horrifying."
"But that would make you, actually I don't know, being as this story is lost history. But a lot older then the high council."
"I told you before, I am older than you. In fact, I am as old as time."
Something in Thranduil's mind clicked. "You are a messenger of the Valar!" he cried out shock.
"True. Now listen! Once he had weakened them beyond measure, he needed a way to make the ultimate change. That is where the stone comes in. This stone is pure evil, Thranduil. Fashioned from black pearls, hate, anger, and forged in the fire of a dragon, the wizard filled it with his vile magic. With the elves in there weakened state, they didn't stand a chance. One touch from the Black stone and there was no more elf. Instead, there is an orc. You get all of that?"
He nodded vigorously.
"Good", she snapped, "I'm running out of time. All you need to know is in this book." At that moment a brown leather book appeared in her hands. She placed it on the table. "I must leave now, Thranduil. Good bye and good luck. And remember one thing. Trust nobody, for nothing is as it seems." And with that, she disappeared. Once her presence had left the room, all he could see is dark. And all he could hear, were screams.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Thranduil woke with a start. Moon light flooded the room. Thranduil couldn't hold back a sigh of relief.
"I was just a dream", he told himself.
But when he looked over at his desk, the leather book was still there. No, it hadn't been a dream. It had been a vision.
I know, I took forever to update. In my defense, I was in Canada and had writer's block. I want to take some time to thank The Bugslayer for all of the support and Reviews. You rock!