Elrond felt it first. The rush of energy emanating from one of the trees, it hit him hard and it wasn't long until everyone else felt it too. The.. aura was pushing down on them, their lungs felt like they were collapsing and even the Elven King struggled to stay standing. It was as if the very being- the very meaning- of power was standing before them. The pressure was like a tidal wave, crashing into their bodies at full speed. It was terrifying and exhilarating all at once. The power radiating off the mysterious source made their legs tremble and caused goosebumps to rise along their arms. The wind seemed to follow the call of power and their clothes billowed as strong wind currents raced around the area. It was as if for a split second the world had turned to chaos and then, the dominating aura suddenly disappeared.
Those who had fallen onto the ground slowly stood up. Everyone was still shaking, their bodies still recovering from the feeling of the powerful rush of energy. Those with longer hair were trying to remove their locks from their vision and the young hobbit was trembling in his seat. The old wizard noticed this and mustered up a small smile, placing a comforting hand on the brunette's shoulder. Frodo seemed to come out of whatever daze he had been in previously and looked up at his old friend, worry, fear and concern clear in his blue eyes.
"W-what.. what was that?" Someone said, their voice shaking as they tried to catch their breath.
"Could this be it?" Boromir muttered. ".. Is this the power of the Ring?" One of his hands rested under his bottom lip as he stared at the golden object that had remained undisturbed by the sudden event.
"Perhaps it was annoyed by our pointless arguing." Aragorn spoke. His voice held no humor as he side eyed the son of the Steward of Gondor.
Elrond and Gandalf shared a look. They both had a suspicion of where the aura had come from and neither one of them suspected that it came from the Ring. In their minds there was a chance it came from the Ring however both had sensed that the power had not come from the golden object. It was hard to tell but both were sure that it had come from the trees. The fact that Arwen had said that the creature who had saved her from the dark riders seemed to hide in trees and that, that strong aura had come from that very place could not be a coincidence.
"..Power like this.." Boromir shook his head. "It cannot be wasted. We must use it and fight!"
"How much of our previous discussion do you remember? The Ring is evil! We cannot wield it! As Aragorn said before, Sauron is its master. It will not answer to anyone else." Legolas' words caused Boromir to grit his teeth as he begrudgingly sat down.
"Let us not waste time saying things that have already been said. The time to take action is now." Lord Elrond's voice was as usual: calm. Those who were still standing up sat down in their seats as he continued speaking. "As I was saying earlier, one of you must take the Ring and destroy it by casting into the fires of Mount Doom."
Everyone was silent for a number of moments before fighting once again broke out.
~{*.*}~
Sakura wanted to punch herself in the face.
How could she have been so stupid? Wasn't her chakra control supposed to be close to perfect? How could she make such a rookie mistake? She felt so dumb!
Taking a deep breath the pinkette tried to calm down. After noticing that she had -foolishly- unmasked her chakra and that she had accidentally released a miniscule amount of killing intent, Sakura had moved from her position. The kunoichi had jumped over to where one of the other shorties were hiding and was keeping an eye on them as well as the meeting. She knew that the people down below had sensed her chakra; however she hadn't quite expected their reaction to be so.. dramatic. Some of them had collapsed onto the ground whilst others were shaking like they were leaf hanging onto a tree in the middle of a storm. In Konoha she could unmask her chakra and none of the civilians would even notice. Sure, the civies would be intimidated if she aimed KI at them but the amount she had let loose only moments before was hardly noticeable.
'Perhaps because the occupants of this world are so unused to chakra it effects them differently?' It was a plausible theory however she couldn't be sure that this was true. She knew that those peculiar trees that moved had chakra, she just couldn't sense it until they moved and even when they did it was only the slightest sliver.
The loud rumble of voices interupted her musings and Sakura sighed when she recognised it as the group arguing. They were starting to give her a headache.
~{*.*}~
The voices of those around him seemed to fade into the background as the Ring's whispers grew louder. It was frightening how his mind seemed to focus in on the object's foreign words. The language it spoke was definitely not one that Frodo recognised however the language barrier did not make the Rings calls any harder to resist. A flame seemed to consume the golden band and Frodo looked away.
The background noise rose and the hobbit stood up from his seat.
"I will take it." He said. His words went unheard though for the others attending the meeting were too busy arguing to hear him. He took a few steps forward. "I will take it."
The noise faded as Gandalf turned to face him.
"I will take the Ring to Mordor." Everyone looked at him. Some of them were confused, others surprised and a few weren't even sure what to feel. "Though.. though I do not know the way."
"I will help you bear this burden, Frodo Baggins. As long as it is yours to bear." Gandalf said as he walked towards the boy. The wizard stood behind the blue eyed male, placing a hand on his shoulder.
Aragorn stood up from his seat.
"If by my life or death I can protect you, I will." He made his way over to the hobbit and kneeled down in front of him. "You have my sword."
Gandalf sent a small smile along with a wink to the Elven King who only looked back at him with a face that held no expression.
"And you have my bow." The blonde elf, Legolas spoke, making his way over to Frodo.
"And my axe." Gimli spoke before he too made his way over to the blue eyed hobbit.
"You carry the fate of us all, little one." Boromir started walking over to the small brunette. "If this is indeed the will of the council, then Gondor will see it done."
A shout sounded from somewhere in the bushes and rustling was heard. Samwise Gamgee came running over to stand next to his brown haired friend.
"Mr Frodo's not going nowhere without me."
"No, I believe it is hardly possible to separate you, even when he is summoned to a secret council and you are not." Elrond spoke with a hint of a smile on his face.
"Oi! We're coming too!" Another voice yelled before both Pippin and Merry ran to join their friends.
Lord Elrond looked a mix between annoyed, outraged and puzzled as he watched the two pass him.
"You'll have to send us home tied up in a sack to stop us." Merry finished.
"Anyway, you need people of intelligence on this sort of... mission. Quest. Thing."
"Well, that rules you out, then." Merry muttered to Pippin who was the one who had spoken. Pippin nodded his head before realising what the male had said and sending him an offended look.
"Nine companions." Elrond's eyes hovered over them each. "So be it. You shall be the Fellowship of the Ring."
"Great." Pippin said. "Where are we going?" Merry looked at his brother, surprised someone could be so stupid.
~{*.*}~
Sakura put on her dark cloak, pulling up the hood. The meeting or whatever that had happened yesterday had ended with a group of people standing together. The three shorties who had also been spying on the gathering had run up to the small group, shouting something before standing next their blue eyed friend. They didn't seem to be in much trouble for turning up at the meeting uninvited and Sakura even detected a small amount of amusement coming from some of the people in the gathering.
It was still early but the pinkette was feeling restless and so she had decided to go for a run. She stretched her limbs before sprinting off. She always found running quite relaxing- as long as it wasn't when she was running from something or someone- it allowed her mind time to sort itself out. Even though she had to keep to the shadows so that no one would see her she still enjoyed it and the place around her being so beautiful caused her emerald orbs to wander.
She had been in this paradise of a kingdom for a week and she still wasn't used to its beauty. There was a voice in the back of her head yelling for her to move to a different location and she knew that being in one place for too long was dangerous but the stranger hadn't left yet and she had been following him for so long it didn't feel right to just leave him. He probably didn't even know of her existence so if she did leave then he would most likely not notice her absence but something in Sakura wouldn't let her abandon him. She wasn't sure if it was a part of her being stubborn in a way that she didn't understand or if it was just her fear of change. Maybe she didn't want to leave him because he was the first human she had seen in this land. That was probable but Sakura decided that that was a petty reason. There were plenty other life forms in this world, it didn't make sense for her to be so attached to him. Don't get her wrong, she didn't have any romantic interest in him- it was clear that he already had a partner anyway- she just felt like she had to stay close to him and watch over him. Maybe it was to do with the Ring. It seemed like that golden band was important somehow, she had already decided that she would come up with a seal so that if she needed to seal the Ring she could.
The young pinkette slowed to a stop and muffled a yawn with her hand. She really wanted to sleep but she just... couldn't... It was strange what war could do to someone. Before it they might be the jolliest of people. They might laugh at every joke, smile every morning and sleep every night. They might be able to let down their guard without worries of what might happen, they might be able to eat food without having to check for poison first. She could barely remember the days when her eyes didn't dart around her surroundings, when her senses weren't constantly searching, always on high alert. After war it's only somber attitudes, memories of the dead. Flashbacks of fearsome, gruesome battles and silent tears. Restless nights and tired mornings. Sensory overload and constant anxiety and paranoia. Life after war was but a shadow of life before.
A shaky sigh left her lips and the pinkette shook her head. It wouldn't do for her to think about such things. War was brutal and she needed to focus on getting back home, her friends were still fighting after all.
She leaped up into the trees, sticking to the plant via chakra. She jumped from branch to branch, doing flips in mid-air and never once missing the next limb the trees offered. It felt as if she were flying and a small smile made its way onto her face. She was familiar with the feeling, it was freeing.
The sun had begun to show and the kunoichi crouched on the branch she had just landed on. She held onto the branch she was on with her hands before pushing her legs of the tree's limb so that she was hanging onto it by her hands. The branch wasn't that thick so her hands weren't far off from wrapping around it fully. She slowly pulled her body up using her arms and once her chin was a few centromeres above the branch she slowly lowered herself. Then she repeated it over and over again- basically she was using the branch to do pull-ups.
After doing the exercise for half an hour, Sakura climbed higher up the tree she was in and admired the view. She was watching two birds dive in and out of a waterfall when something caught her eye.
'What?' She sent chakra to her eyes to enhance her sight. Unfortunately, whatever it was, was too far away for her to get a clear view of it even with chakra aiding her sight.
Sakura sighed before climbing down to a sturdy branch. She shunshined through the trees, travelling towards whatever she had spotted.
A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for the late chapter, I know I haven't updated in a while since I took a week off but I hope that this chapter makes up for it?
I know that they didn't make much fuss about the 'Mysterious Aura' but everyone but Gandalf and Elrond think it came from the Ring (Aragorn has his doubts and his suspicions but we'll get onto that later). Next chapter shall feature more on this matter so don't worry.
I apologise for any mistakes!
Hope you enjoyed!