Update (4-6-20): For those of you who are returning readers, I have updated this story to take place ten years after tBotFA for various story reasons. Seeing as Bilbo lived to overtake the old Took at 130 years of age, 60 is still indeed the prime of his life for those of you who have only viewed the movies. Bear with me, and if I overlooked any time change, please send a quick PM my way, so I can fix it!
*Neither Fili, Kili, nor Thorin have fallen in the Battle of the Five Armies*
"It began with the forging of the Great Rings. Three were given to the Elves, immortal, wisest, and fairest of all beings. Seven to the Dwarf lords, great miners and craftsmen of the mountain halls. And nine, nine rings were gifted to the race of men, who, above all else, desire power. But they were, all of them, deceived, for another Ring was made. In the land of Mordor, in the fires of Mount Doom, the Dark Lord Sauron forged in secret a master Ring, to control all others. And into this Ring he poured his cruelty, his malice, and his will to dominate all life. One Ring to rule them all." - Galadriel, Lady of Light
Ch. 1 - Unexpected News
Cracked and mangled feet marched in iron chains, fire smoldered and raged, screams and ash filled the air, no light could penetrate the thick clouds. All things stunk of rotting, burning, and decay. Orcs whipped small-figured servants forward. Many dropped dead, muddied and faceless with their linked chains still dragging fallen bodies in the mud.
And above them all, a great, fiery eye looked down upon them, and the fire slowly roasted them all alive…
"Bilbo! Wake up!"
Bilbo bolted straight up as if he'd been prodded with a white hot poker in his back, panting, with his nightshirt sticking to his skin with sweat. The morning sun was shining through his bedroom curtains in Erebor, and as his heart slowed, he could make out the sound of birds flitting about outside, most likely searching for worms in his potted plants.
"Only you would sleep late on your birthday!" Kili was grinning at the door.
"It's way past sunrise! It used to be you dragging out the blankets from our beds to wake us up in the morning, not the other way around." Fili added, wagging his finger, "I know you know that we know you know you'd be loath to be unready for your party tonight!" Bilbo laughed shakily, thankful for his older companions' enthusiasm.
"Was it those dreams again?" Kili asked turning serious, "You say you've been having them almost every night now for ages."
"Maybe you should see Oin about it. He's good with that sort o' thing," Fili offered as he meandered into the room. "Sometimes we can hear you screaming from our rooms-"
"It's just a dream," Bilbo rebuffed. "Let's not talk about it. Indeed, there are enough matters in this world to worry about without adding this to it."
"But-"
"No buts!" Bilbo grinned groggily, "It's my birthday, so I get to choose what we talk about over breakfast."
He was right when he said that the world knew enough troubles. There had been stories over the last few months, of smoke coming over the Misty Mountains and of orcs and trolls venturing further and further from their usual homes. What had caused these small incidents, no dwarf or man knew, yet Erebor seemed safe for now. However, something was definitely brewing to the south.
"Since when have you become so high and mighty?" Fili grinned, kicking the side of the bed and chucking a random set of clothes to Bilbo to change into. Bilbo glanced at them and back at Fili, disgusted in his color choices.
"Oh, don't worry about him, Fili. Let the poor hobbit get ready," Kili replied. "Hurry up, Bilbo - you don't want to miss the preparations; you should see the cake Bombur's made for you! Well, what's left of it. We had a piece or two, just to make sure it was fit for our widdle baby ex-burglar, of course."
"Baby, indeed." Bilbo chuckled, sorting out more tasteful clothes from his closet. "I'm sixty and in the prime of my hobbit life!"
"That's still more of a baby to us!" Fili grinned, dragging Kili out the door.
Bilbo laughed, his dream forgotten. Sometimes those two friends seemed never to grow up.
"Thorin, surely you're not still working on that!" Balin looked over the shoulder of the great Thorin II Oakenshield who was struggling with some complicated leatherwork. "The party is starting within the hour!"
"It is not my fault that leather is harder to work with than I anticipated," he grumbled, finishing the last of the decorative stitchings.
"Valar bless you, you know you could just give Bilbo an 'ancient' rock and he'd be content." Balin chuckled heartily as he continued, "You should have seen him a moment ago when he saw the decorations. He said they were 'too much'! Really, they are just gems hanging from silver twine outside our great hall!" Thorin scoffed.
Fili and Kili, like most of the company, had taken quite well to to the surplus of food and being fed like the royalty that they were, unlike Bilbo who usually thought the attention was too much. He always ended up flustered when people bowed to him, and he always insisted on fixing his own meals, even though the servants nearly always beat him to it. During his last birthday in Erebor, he'd even given half his gifts away to those who needed them more once he got back to the Shire.
"Really, why would I need another ruby candlestick holder?" he'd mutter. "Ori likes it much better than I do, though of course it is lovely. I just don't feel right with such a grand item collecting dust in my storages."
"Eh, it's finished now," Thorin insisted and picked up his gift and heading toward the center of the busying and bustling. Contrary to past Bilbo-birthday celebrations, the party this year was being held outside the mountain, on the plains by the small forest. The whole area was alive with lanterns and decorations, which despite being lavish, Thorin was convinced Bilbo appreciated anyway.
"Uncle!" Kili greeted the older dwarf. "Gandalf still hasn't arrived. Uh, you don't suppose something has happened do you? He'd never miss Bilbo's birthday."
"I'm sure he's fine, nephew," Thorin insisted. "It takes quite a lot to get that wizard down. Stubborn old goat that he is."
"Who are you calling an old goat, Thorin Oakenshield?" Thorin must have received a grand fright, for Gandalf was standing just behind them, having obviously just come from the east on his little wagon cart. As usual, he looked quite smug in his wizardy sort of way.
"You're late," Thorin sniffed, crossing his arms.
"A wizard is never late," Gandalf replied smartly as he tapped his grayed temple. "He arrives exactly when he means to."
"Did you bring them?" Fili asked the wizard hurriedly, running up to him and trying to virtually tear apart the cart. "You promised you would, you know. Wizards keep their promises!"
"All in good time, young one of Durin, these are best enjoyed under cover of darkness!" the wizard replied to him with a smile.
Naturally the party was a grand affair. After all, it was his birthday. Of course, holding a celebration outside under the stars was quite odd enough for the likes of dwarves, but they understood Bilbo's preferences. The Dwarves of Erebor had learnt that, despite his odd ways, the young hobbit of Durin was worthy of their respect. Half the growing city had been invited and the other half had shown up anyway, and the hobbit of Erebor had learnt that, despite their rowdy ways, the Dwarves of Durin were among his most treasured friends.
Bilbo held Fili's gift up to the light of the setting sun: a rabbit carved from snow-white marble. The details were incredible. Were it not so cold, Bilbo could almost believe it was a very still-positioned, very alive creature.
"I figured Beorn would approve," Fili replied smugly. "He always enjoys seeing our 'little bunny' on his birthday journey here." Bilbo scowled, but there was no real malice in his look, instead the two friends simply broke into laughter.
"Come on, my turn!" Kili cut in, "My gift next, good fellow - finest material you'll find in Erebor, next to the Arkenstone, of course!"
Bilbo didn't have much of a choice, seeing as the gift was thrust under his nose by the impatient younger twin. Upon opening the parcel, Bilbo realized it was a small crystal ball filled with water, diamond dust, and a tiny model of Erebor with every crack and boulder somehow carved and fitted directly in the center. Every movement caused the diamond dust to swirl inside, invoking the appearance of snow.
"It wasn't easy makin' that, I'll tell you," Kili mumbled around his chicken as he tore viciously into a leg "That crystal is hard as diamond. You could throw it at our Lonely Mountain, and it wouldn't break. It took me months to get it right."
"Thank you, old friend! It seems almost a shame simply to leave it on my mantelpiece. I'll have to think of a more cunningly contrived safe-space for it."
"Quit showing me up Kili," Fili growled under his breath with mock anger. Kili punched his brother in the shoulder.
Bilbo snatched his goblet up just in time to save it from being knocked over by the twins falling over the table and onto the ground.
"Can we ever have a celebration that doesn't include you two rough-housing like a bunch of children?" Thorin sighed. No one seemed to care, in fact, most of the Dwarves were now cheering the two on. Dwalin was even taking bets. Bilbo laughed and alternated cheering for both of them, it had been a long time since he'd had such fun. It was almost impossible to believe that it had been years since their quest to retake Erebor.
Suddenly, the cold, golden Ring burned hot through his coat pocket, and Bilbo jerked his arm to instinctively fish it out. Before he had even touched the small object, it had cooled, but when his finger brushed against it, it was as if he had been transported to another world.
Forests were leveled, and stumps lay smoldering, poking up from the ground like tiny welts on blackened flesh. Screams could be heard far off and muffled. In the distance, approaching a tall black tower, marched weary hobbits, chained to each other and nearing death. They were driven on by the whips of the grotesque orcs behind them. Each figure - one by one - became swallowed by the smoke surrounding the foot of this menacing dark tower. Atop its highest point stood a white-garbed man, calling out to the sky in a foul voice. Suddenly, ash and rock fell heavily from the sky, and Bilbo was jerked from his terrible vision.
"It's hard to believe that you are the youngest," Thorin remarked with dry humor, nodding to where Kili had Fili in a head lock without looking away.
"Y-yes, it is, isn't it..." These visions were entering Bilbo's waking world now.
Shaking his curly head, the hobbit drew a trembling breath and suppressed all feelings of fear and trepidation. Luckily, no one noticed his mini break since all the Dwarves were too occupied with settling their bets on the twins. Only wizened old Gandalf narrowed his eyes from across the long table at the flustered hobbit as he thoughtfully blew smoke rings from beneath his broad wizard's hat.
The corners of Thorin's mouth upturned slightly, and he handed Bilbo, who had only just regained his composure, a package wrapped in soft cloth. Bilbo unwrapped it feeling his eyes widen when his fingers brushed against leather. It was a sheath for his sword, Sting, made of dark brown leather engraved with silver patterns around the side. Magnificent gold thread held it all together. It had always been hard for him to find a proper holder for his sword, seeing as it was only more of a letter opener to most. Before Bilbo could react, a cheer went up from the loud crowd gathered around Fili and Kili as the eldest of the two finally pinned the younger.
"Do you yield?" he dared.
"Never." Kili only managed a growl since Fili had his face pressed into the ground. In a flash, he was up and pinning Fili. The tousle seemed like it would never end, yet it was interrupted by the sound of an explosion, followed by a bright spray of red across the sky.
"Gandalf's fireworks!" Fili exclaimed. "He's lighting them!" Bilbo bolted upright. He could have sworn he had heard this sound before - but not here. His mind instantly flashed to the loud thunderous cracks of the orcish whips leading the hobbits of the Shire to their doom. The Shire...
"The Shire!" Bilbo frantically scrambled to his feet.
"Yes, I'm sure the Shire has always greatly enjoyed our wizard's fireworks!" Clearly nearing intoxication, Nori put an arm around Bilbo and unsteadily jostled the small hobbit, who realized with relief that he was not in any immediate danger. Bilbo joined the rest of his companions and birthday guests to the clearing where Gandalf was now setting off the various rockets. However, the hobbit's feelings of trepidation and foreboding prevented him from wholeheartedly participating, which he would have done save for these returning dark dreams.
"Wow, look at this one!" Fili whispered as Kili hefted a rocket as tall as Bilbo. It was shaped in the likeness of a dragon. "Kili, pass me that lantern!" Bilbo braced himself for disaster. Quickly Fili took the candle from inside the lantern. He nearly dropped it before the candle lit the fuse of the dragon firework.
"Uh, Fili, you're supposed to stick it in the ground-"
"It is in the ground."
"Outside!"
"It was your idea!"
WHOOSH!
The rocket was off, leaving Fili, Kili and Bilbo with a face full of ash, the twins coughed and turned to each other with a grin.
"That was good."
"Let's get another one!"
Unfortunately for them, Thorin and Gandalf were less than pleased with them since the rocket's lights turned into the shape of a fiery dragon that breathed sparks - an unsettling image to the Dwarves of Erebor to say the least, though they did enjoy watching it burst into flames and disappear with a grand bang.
As the two were sent to wash the dishes in punishment, Bilbo stood in the open air and gazed at the swiftly darkening sky, a bit removed from all the celebrations. He drew his hand over the skin of his cheek, and his fingers came down ashy and grayed from the effects of the dragon's take off. The sight of soot on his fingers unnerved him, and he washed his face and hands thoroughly before returning to the celebrations.
As with most dwarven celebrations, the birthday party had extended long into the night, leaving most of the members drunk and the others half passed out. Giggling like children, Bilbo and company finally made it back to their respective rooms where Bilbo was very ready to fall into bed for a week hopefully without any more nightmares. He entered his room and began fluffing his pillows, humming as he bustled along.
"It is good to see you so content." Bilbo cursed colourfully in Khuzdul.
"Gandalf! You nearly scared me out of my skin!" The wizard chuckled fondly, stoking the fire into life.
"After all you have witnessed, I think it would take a great deal more than my face to frighten you Bilbo Baggins." Bilbo sighed in exasperation. He was neither in the mood or in the right state of sober mind for Gandalf's riddles today.
"I have come about a certain ring you once wrote to me about," Gandalf continued, and suddenly Bilbo was very much awake.
"The Ring?" He muttered, patting his pocket where the ring was kept almost all the time now. He'd written to Gandalf some months ago when the Ring had first begun to weigh more and more on his mind. He found himself hiding it from sight for some reason, like it was some precious secret he couldn't even let his closest friends see, and he didn't know why.
"You think you know what it is?" Bilbo asked.
"I do," Gandalf nodded, "Have you worn it recently?"
"No. Not for a long time. Well, very rarely - only when strange, unwanted visitors come knocking at Bag-End," Bilbo admitted. "I have this strange feeling that, if I do, something… bad will happen. I don't know why."
"You'd best listen to your instincts." The wizard nodded in a cautionary manner. "Take this ring and throw it in the fire."
Throw it in the fire? Was he mad?
"It will damage!" Bilbo argued.
"No, I don't think it will, and if it does, thank the Valar," Gandalf muttered, removing the fire poker to allow Bilbo to very reluctantly cast his precious gold ring into the embers. As Bilbo shifted his weight worriedly, Gandalf let it burn in the cinders for a few moments before lifting it out again.
"Hold out your hand," the wizard ordered. "It is quite cool." Bilbo did so. He flinched out of instinct when the ring fell into his palm. To his amazement, it indeed retained its usual stony temperature.
"What do you see?" Gandalf asked with a knowing tone.
"I see… writing..." Bilbo muttered. Thin gold letters appeared to seep onto the the simple band as if a calligrapher had revealed invisible ink. Bilbo looked upon it in wonder.
"Elvish," the Hobbit continued. "It's written in some sort of Elvish, but I can't make heads or tails of it. It doesn't look like the Elvish I've read..."
"There are few who can," Gandalf whispered gravely. "That is the language of the dark land of Mordor." Bilbo shuddered; he knew of Mordor, of course - of the legend of Isildur and and Sauron in the Second Age. But this ring… surely this thing he'd found in a cave living in the pocket of a creature that fed on dead goblin meat, surely it could not hold a connection.
"After much research, I have discovered the inscription reads: 'One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them.' This is the One Ring of Sauron," Gandalf explained carefully. "It was forged by Sauron many years ago in the fires of Mount Doom, and now dark things are stirring in Mordor once more. The ring wants very much to return to its master."
"But, Sauron was destroyed, was he not?!" Bilbo argued panicking. "I-I've read it… Isildur cut of Sauron's finger, putting an end to his power-"
"No, his spirit endured, within the ring… He will return," the wizard whispered, "As he grows stronger, so will the ring, it will call and corrupt, unless we stop it now."
"I don't want it." Bilbo exclaimed, "Gandalf you take it, you're a wizard you can-"
"Don't tempt me!" Gandalf stood and began pacing Bilbo's room. "No, this ring is beyond my power, but you, it has not corrupted you, for you so far have been taking care not to use it. Therefore, I can only continue to entrust it to you. You must keep it away from those who will use it for evil until I discover a solution."
"But, what if they come for it?" Bilbo asked quietly. "Sauron's servants. If he really is back, then he's going to come looking for the Ring - looking for… me."
"I will go and speak with the leader of my order, Saruman." Gandalf told him, "I have already spoken discreetly with a select number of wise leaders of Middle Earth on this matter. There will be a council at Thranduil's home in Mirkwood. You must make your way there as well."
"Leaders?" Bilbo questioned as Gandalf began to leave. "What about Thorin? The company? Am I to go with them?"
"No. No one must know. You must be alone on this path. Keep the ring safe, I will see you in Mirkwood soon."
Once Gandalf had left his room, Bilbo placed the ring far on the other side of his room. He knew he still had an adventure before him, even if it only was to Mirkwood, and he could not let this damnable ring could not fall into enemy hands. If Bilbo were to escape its corruption, he had to remove himself far from temptation's grasp.
Before placing it safely in a small trunk, Bilbo peered at the golden object that he had once so trusted. He had to be much more careful about it now. He locked the trunk and quietly slipped into bed. Bilbo had never slept so freely in a long while.
Thank you all so much for reading. I have a good idea of where this story may go, so be sure to follow if you are interested and want this story at the top of my priorities. I do prefer to develop stories to be quality over quantity as best as I can, so that you can enjoy them as best as you can. I can't promise any sort of regular posting, so keep an eye out for more Bilbo: The First Ring-Bearer