Chapter 14

"It takes darkness to be aware of the light." ― Treasure Tatum

Nina stirred in her sleep and her eyelids fluttered rapidly as she fought to remain asleep. Kili's chest steadily rose and fell under her head, but it hardly registered in her mind. She was fighting off the threat of nightmares as flashes of memories from being captured by Orcs sped by frantically.

"Nina, wake up." Fili whispered in her ear, his voice sounding foggy as she slowly returned to consciousness.

"Fili…" She groaned, subconsciously curling against his chest. She felt safer there. She was also half-asleep and his smell wasn't as bad when she was in such a state.

"Nina you have to stay with me," Fili urged her. She felt pressure against her cut, and realized it was cloth. She groaned at the discomfort and tried to move it but Fili only pressed more. "This will help with the bleeding." He reasoned. He looked her over, seeing how pale she had become. Her cut was almost black in color and festering, and he worried over whether or not she would make it.

"It hurts so much Fili…" She whimpered. Nina thought of her family and her warm, comforting home in Virginia, and she closed her eyes. Fili tried in vain to wake her. She just wanted to go home…

"Nina, Av-'osto." A strange and melodic voice sounded. It was the same voice that had spoken to Nina in the storm. She thought she had imagined it. "You do not know me, but I know your destiny and it does not end with this mortal wound." The smooth voice reasoned. Nina could hardly breathe. "I will heal you this time, but I must warn you that the darkness will again come for you. You must fight it…" Everything went white and Nina gasped at the sudden change in vision. The pain in her side soon subsided, and Nina was immediately overcome by sleep.

It was two hours later when Nina woke. Fili was clanging his chains rather loudly from beside her. She brought her hand down to her side and found only a jagged scar there, no burning pain or blood. It was as if the wound was from long ago.

"Wait!" She shot up from her position of laying on Kili and discovered that she was covered in a sheet of cold sweat and was breathing heavily.

"What's wrong?" Bofur jumped at her outburst. He was the dwarf on watch.

"Sorry, I must have had a nightmare, nothing to worry over." Nina tried her best to hide her shaking. Hardly a moment later, she felt the spot on her side where the scar was start to burn. She clutched at it while trying not to make a scene when the voice reached her again.

The darkness will haunt you in the coming days, you must fight it…

And just like that, the burning sensation was gone and the voice with it. Nina furrowed her brow in confusion as she now recognized the voice to be Galadriel. She had unmistakably been cut by an Orc, and Galadriel had healed her. But somehow Fili didn't seem to remember it, considering Nina remembered him telling her it must have been a dream. Nina frowned again, wondering why that was, but as sleep started nagging at the corners of her mind, she knew she would have to discuss it with Fili later. The sound of rustling broke her from her thoughts.

"Where do you think you're going?" Bofur whisper-shouted to someone. Nina strained to listen, but Bofur and the other person were talking in hushed tones and they moved farther from camp.

"Get some sleep, Miss Nina." She heard the gruff voice of Thorin whisper from somewhere near her. She started a little at him being awake, which only resulted in Kili subconsciously tightening his grip around her waists. She wiggled her way back down next to Kili and tried to close her eyes and sleep.

Nina's mind raced as she thought of the quest, of her home, of Galadriel, and of the choice Galadriel had hinted at. What was the choice and how could it possibly be so important? The thought had crossed her mind that perhaps the choice involved her being immortal. She knew from reading the Hobbit in school that Elves were immortal (though she wasn't any expert on all things Middle Earth, she wasn't one of those fangirls) and now according to Galadriel, Nina was technically a half-elf. She wondered vaguely if that was common or even counted as a race at all. She felt herself subconsciously reach up to feel her ears, since elves were known to have pointy ears. It was stupid to think, she knew, since if she had pointy ears someone would have noticed in all of her 18 years of living.

Then there was the issue of Galadriel herself. Nina hadn't done very much research on the characters of Middle Earth, but she remembered from a classmates' project that Galadriel had a family. This of course begged the question of who they were. Nina vaguely wondered if this would end up like that Adam Sandler movie Blended or something.

"This is stupid," She whispered to herself. With a sigh, Nina closed her eyes. None of this is real, it's all some hallucination. I'm in a hospital on Earth in a coma, and this is my dream. After all, I was working on my essay about the Hobbit when I got knocked out…

And just like that Nina was thinking of Thorin and her essay. The prompt that had been burned into her memory from her pesky teacher circled her mind: Based on the events of The Hobbit, evaluate whether or not you think that Thorin Oakenshield was a hero or a villain. Nina snorted to herself—he seemed more like a villain to her. He was putting his friends—his family—in danger to reclaim a mountain when they had perfectly good mountains anywhere else. Why did it have to be Erebor? Nina sighed again, realizing just how stubborn dwarves were. Her thoughts were interrupted when the ground rumbled beneath her, and she shook Kili to alert him.

"What in Mahal's name…?" He trailed off groggily.

"What's that?" She heard Bofur exclaim from somewhere nearby, and Thorin bellowed for everyone to wake up. Just then she felt a sickening crack, like the sound and feeling you got right before the ride dropped at a carnival. She screamed as she felt the air beneath her fly by—she was falling, and fast.

"Hang on!" Bombur grunted, grabbing Nina to break her fall. The dwarves and Nina landed in a heap together and Nina rushed to her feet, feeling very vulnerable and unable to see in the new place.

"Goblins." Fili growled from beside her. Nina gulped nervously, remembering this part of the story. She tried to relax herself—Gandalf saves them, she reminded herself. Then she remembered that her presence in itself had already altered the story a little, and the bubbling panic started to return. Would they still be saved?

They were dragged forward forcefully by the Goblins, and Nina felt grimy and disgusting bony fingers clutching at her arms and pushing her forward. Dwalin stayed by her side to make sure she didn't fall off of the steep paths made by the Goblins. She looked pale, he thought vaguely. Her face had fear and panic written all over it and he felt a small sense of pity for her in her vulnerable state.

"Who would be so bold as to come armed into my kingdom? Spies? Thieves? Assassins?" A great voice boomed over the din of the Goblins. It sounded like there were thousands of them, thought Nina.

"Dwarves, your Malevolence." Great nickname, Nina smirked to herself.

"Well don't just stand there; search them! Every crack, every crevice." The Great Goblin growled. Nina was glad that she didn't know what he looked like.

"They call him the Great Goblin," Dwalin explained to Nina as they struggled to be free of the aggressive Goblins. She felt Macilril, her sword from Galadriel, being ripped from her side and tossed away. There was a large and growing pile of weapons near them as the dwarves were searched.

"What are you doing in these parts?" The Great Goblin bellowed once the searching ceased. Silence. "Speak!" Still silence. "Well then if they will not talk, we'll make them squawk! Imprison them, for now." He ordered. Nina sighed with relief.

"At least we're not dying, right?" She asked Dwalin hopefully as they were led to the prison cells.

"Perhaps it would be better that we were killed quickly rather than die slowly in prison." This caused Nina to gulp in fear.

"We could try to escape." She whispered to him. Dwalin sighed.

"The Goblin tunnels are a labyrinth, we can only hope that we would find a way out before being discovered."

After what felt like hours, a goblin came in to escort Thorin to the throne room of the Great Goblin, if it could even be called that. Nina remembered from the book that the Goblin tunnels were dungy and gross, and for once she didn't regret not having to see it. Her mind wandered to see if she could remember anything else from the book, and started to feel panic bubble up in her when she couldn't remember the dwarves getting imprisoned.

"This isn't right," She held her head in her hands, trying to remember every detail she could. She mentally kicked herself for not paying a little more attention to the class discussions about the plot. Nevertheless, she had to go off of what she had even though that was only bits and pieces.

"He's been gone a good while…" She heard Fili grumble restlessly in the cell beside her. Nina, having been interrupted from her thoughts, refocused on the fact that Thorin had been taken.

"They couldn't have…hurt him, he'll be fine." Nina tried to comfort Fili, but her voice sounded uncertain even to her own ears. Fili sighed next to her.

"As long as they don't figure out who he really is."

"Why would that be so bad? Maybe his being an important ex-king and all could get us out of here." Nina shrugged as she scooted a little closer to Fili.

"We've been attacked by Orcs, Nina. You and I were captured and tortured because they were looking for Thorin. If the Great Goblin knows that they are searching for him, he could give us up to the Orcs." Fili explained uneasily. Nina could just feel the exhaustion he was experiencing. There seemed to be no good options.

"Bolg," Nina whispered before she could stop herself. All the talk of Orcs had reminded her of the villain in the Hobbit.

"What did you say?" Fili asked slowly. Nina panicked.

"Nothing, just rambling nonsense, you know me." She laughed it off nervously. Whether or not Fili actually bought her terrible excuse didn't matter when they heard the commotion of Thorin stomping back to his cell.

"What happened?" She heard Balin ask urgently. There was a very long pause before Thorin spoke in a low voice.

"Azog is alive." There was a collective gasp from the company. "The Goblin has sent word to him that we are here, and Azog is out for my head."

"What do we do?" Ori asked helplessly when no one spoke.

"We get some rest for now, and in a few hours we will think of some way to get out of here before Azog receives that message. As much as I hate to admit it, we cannot do anything in these cells and you are all exhausted. Rest, and then we will escape this." Thorin ordered, though his voice was empty form the shock he was enduring. With that, no more voices were heard save the occasional grunt as they all tried to clear their minds of the bombshell about Azog.

Nina's mind, however, was racing. Her thoughts were swirling around and around her head like a hurricane with no calm, and she felt like soon they would overcome her. Choice. Bolg. Azog is alive. Fili. Kili. Thorin. The story. The choice. Galadriel. Her family. Galadriel's family. Living. Where's Bilbo? She had so many questions, and Nina wished she could speak with Galadriel or Gandalf even if only for a moment to answer her questions. She thought about how powerful Galadriel was, and wondered if she could somehow be summoned or something weird like that. She cleared her mind the best that she could, closed her eyes, and thought of one thing.

Galadriel.

Nothing. Nina sighed, when had her mother come through for her before anyway?

I am here, my daughter.

I didn't think that would work. Nina responded to the voice in her mind. Galadriel was somehow speaking to her telepathically from Imladris, and Nina found herself surprisingly unsurprised by it.

Are you in danger Nina? Galadriel asked with urgency.

Yeah, I'd say so. We're stuck in the Goblin dungeons and they've sent word to Azog the Defiler that Thorin is here.

The Defiler lives? Galadriel sounded surprised. He was said to have perished in the Battle of Azanulbizar.

I'm thinking his survival has something to do with my presence here. I'm changing the story by being in it, bit by bit. Nina replied.

That is to be expected. You must not tell the dwarves of their fates though, or all will fall apart in the world. Thorin Oakenshield was not meant to rule Erebor according to the Valar, or else he would live. Remember that the Durin line is fated to perish. You cannot change this.

I understand. Nina sighed, feeling defeated. She wanted so much for the three of them to live, because she knew the quest would be for nothing if they didn't. It was exactly the reason why she never liked the book.

Galadriel, I had a question I wanted to ask you. Nina pressed on, determined to find out all that she could while she had Galadriel. In my world, the real world, you have a family. Are they in this world? A long pause.

Yes, I have another family. When I was taken from your world, I lived in a place called Valinor with my family. An evil Valar, named Melkor, killed my grandfather Finwe and took something very important from us to Middle Earth. My uncle, Feanor, then promised that he would find Melkor and retrieve them. However, his quest to Middle Earth was in direct defiance to the Valar and their will, so the quest ended in much bloodshed. It was then that I needed to become the protector of Middle Earth, my destiny and soon yours. I travelled with some others to Middle Earth, not exactly pleasing to the Valar, and stayed in the land of Doriath where I had some relatives of my mother.

This is when I met an elf, a Prince of Doriath. Nina could hear the small smile in Galadriel's voice. His name was Celeborn. We fell in love, Nina, and we are married now. I had a daughter some time later—Celebrian. To make things easier for you to understand, I will tell you that later in life Celebrian married Elrond, whom you already know. Tragically, my daughter was attacked by Orcs some years later and was so troubled that she sailed to the Undying Lands. That is why you have never met her. That is my family, and that is the simplest version of my past. Galadriel concluded. Nina could hardly register that a tear had fallen down her cheek while listening. Her past was filled with sadness and death, the only good thing being Celeborn.

I'm so sorry. Nina said, unable to think of any other comment.

Do not mourn for me, my child, for I have now my daughter Nina to watch grow. I will always love my Celebrian, and I will always have fondness for your sister and father. However you must understand that I cannot get back to them ever, my duties are here. I have chosen to stay with my husband, I love him more than life. Galadriel's words were gentle but firm, and Nina understood why.

I'm not mad at you for making a family for yourself here, Galadriel. You deserve a good life, I can't deny that. Nina assured her.

I love you dearly, my daughter. But you are in danger of much more than just the Goblins and Azog. I fear that much darker forces are looking to control your power and corrupt your destiny. You must fight the darkness, Nina.

And with that, Galadriel was gone, and Nina was left with only a few less questions than before. She sighed, her eyelids drooping uncontrollably. It wasn't long before the poor girl fell into a deep sleep, a nagging notion in her mind that maybe this was no coma, maybe this was real.

"Oh Nina where are you?" Madison huffed to herself. She was crouched under the canopy of trees in the woods where…the accident happened. She was staring intently at the splatter of blood on the tree trunk that had ruined her family's life. She was so lost in her thoughts and possible theories that she didn't even register the sound of leaves crunching behind her.

"A terrible thing, the death of a loved one." A voice spoke out from behind, causing Madison to jump. "I apologize, I had no intention of frightening you."

Madison looked up to see a tall, lanky man with hair that was brown, dusted with blonde. The hair was rough looking and messy though, and it blew gently in the light breeze. His eyes were a piercing emerald, a color that could rival her sisters' blue ones. He smiled gently, a dazzling smile. The man was very handsome and fit, Madison acknowledged. Then she noticed the long, jagged scar travelling from his temple to his chin on the side of his face. This made her nervous.

"No worries, I should've heard you coming." She replied after realizing she had been staring way too long. "How did you know about my sister?"

"The expression on your face, the way your eyes carry that kind of irreparable pain and sense of loss." He replied, walking forward a little. Madison was speechless. "Also there's this thing called an obituary." She gave him a tight chuckle.

"Oh, yeah I guess I'm an idiot." Madison replied.

"No, no, don't feel bad." He gestured to her kindly. "What's your name?"

"You know that my sister has passed away but you don't know my name?" Madison cocked an eyebrow.

"I guess I'm the idiot now." He grinned.

"I'm Madison, Madison Bailyn." She smiled back. "And you?"

"Erich," He flashed his flawless smile. "Erich Arvandor."

"Well Mr. Arvandor, what brings you into these woods?" Madison smiled lightly up at him.

"I have been watching you, Madison Bailyn." Erich's voice went a bit lower than before. Madison's smile faded. "And I know that you have been searching for answers. I am here because I have those answers."

"What are you talking about?" Madison stood up, trying to hide the shaking and desperation in her voice.

"I know where your sister is."

Author's Note:

Weeeelllll who's this new character? Personally I love this guy Erich and I have been dying to bring him into the story...who do you think he is and how does he know about Nina? Also...i know Galadriel's history was really condensed and simplified in that, but I felt like it would be impractical to expect Nina to understand all of the details and the history of everything Galadriel was involved with. Also there's the fact that some of her history that we know about hasn't happened yet...

Let me know what you think of everything going on and leave a review! Until the next chapter!