BeneathMisty Mountains, a loud voice echoed :

"YOU CANNOT PASS !" Gandalf yelled defiantly as he stood on the Bridge of Khazad-Dum. Before him was a creature made of Fire and Shadow : a Balrog. The large Demon was standing before the Grey Wizard while the Fellowship was standing at the other side of the Bridge.

"Gandalf !" Frodo yelled as he tried to reach the Wizard but couldn't move thanks to Boromir who grabbed him before the Ring-Bearer could get far. "You fool ! What are you doing ?!" Vitani asked the Wizard with disbelief before her mate Kopa added "The bridge is too narrow for this thing to follow us ! Come on !"

The Grey Wizard didn't responded nor looked at them as the Balrog straightened itself by spreading its arms out as shadows emitted from its body before suddenly erupting into fire with a loud cracking sound. "I am the servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the Flame of Anor…" Gandalf said as he raised his staff forward, creating a shield of light in the process just as the Balrog created a Sword of Fire.

"The dark fire will not avail you! Flame of Udûn !" At those words, the Balrog striked down on Gandalf but in vain as the shield destroyed its sword. The Fire Beast stumbled back a bit as Gandalf's shield disappeared.

"Go back to the Shadow !" The Wizard said with clenched teeth as the Balrog was recovering. In response, the large Beast took a step forward before brandishing a flaming whip and lashing it threateningly.

Responding in kind, Gandalf raised his staff and sword together into the air before yelling loudly " YOU SHALL NOT PASS !" At the last words, the Grey Wizard drove his staff into the bridge , causing a bright flash of blue light to appear. The Fiery Beast waited to see if something will happen while Gandalf was glaring at his opponent. Seeing that nothing was happening, the Balrog took another step forward onto the bridge to strike the Wizard with his whip but suddenly, the bridge collapsed from under it and broke before Gandalf's staff.

The Demon plunged backward into the chasm, still wielding its glowing whip. Gandalf , exhausted, leaned on his staff as he watched the Balrog falling to his doom. As he turned around to join the rest of his comrade, he didn't noticed the Beast lashing his whip in the air. "WATCH OUT !" Vitani's voice shouted in alarm but it was too late as the whip coiled around Gandalf's ankle , dragging him into the edge.

The Wizard clinged onto the bridge but strained himself to keep his grip. Frodo rushed forward to help but Boromir restrained him. Frodo saw his two Lions comrades , Kopa and Vitani, rushing forward to assist the Wizard but Gandalf shouted "DON'T COME CLOSER !" Those words stopped the two dead in their tracks. Gandalf stopped struggling and he looked at the others who stared back at him with horror.

" Fly you fools !" The Grey Wizard managed to say before letting go of the stone and falling into the Chasm. "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Frodo cried loudly as Gandalf fell toward the Balrog, grabbing his Sword Glamdring in the process. As they continued falling, the Wizard was hacking his opponent as they fell into a spacious cavern and straight into water.

Frodo woke up with a shout "Gandalf !". In the process, he woke his comrade, Samwise Gamgee who instantly looked at him with concern "What is it Mister Frodo ?" The Ring-beaver took deep breathes to calm himself before responding softy in a dismissive manner "Nothing...Just a dream..." Then he laid back on his 'pillow' before looking up at the sky which he couldn't see because of the fog surrounding them.

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A few hours later, Frodo and Sam were walking on a rocky terrain known as Emyn Muil ( a vast maze of rocky crags that reach high). The two Hobbits were climbing a hill of rocks and when Sam reached the top , he looked out in the distance and he sighed as he realized that they still had a long way to go but further away was their destination and the reason of their Quest : Mount Doom.

Mordor was casting some orange lighting thanks to the volcanic mountain as well as striking orange lightning every now and then. When Frodo joined him, equally looking at the horizon, Sam couldn't help but muttering " Mordor...The one place in Middle-Earth we don't wanna see any closer…. It's the one place we are trying to get to. It's just where we can't get..."

Then he turned around to face the Ring-bearer before inquiring " Lets face it Mister Frodo. We're lost. I don't think Gandalf meant for us to come this way..." to which Frodo responded by saying in a saddened tone " He didn't mean for a lot of things to happen Sam. But they did..."

Samwise Gamgee lowered his head down in sorrow as he remembered the Death of Gandalf in the Mines of Moria. But suddenly, Frodo let out a pained gasp for air as he faltered on the ground , turning around to seat himself on some rocks. Sam looked at his companion with concern when he understood what was going on " Mister Frodo? It's the Ring, isn't it?"

Panting, the Ring-Bearer brang his right hand to his chest and clenched it over where the Ring was " Its getting heavier..." At those words, Sam setted his bag on the ground to take the time for his comrade to recover and to check their supplies as well. Frodo took a sip from his canteen before asking " What food have we got left ?" " Well, let me see..." Sam muttered as he looked into their supplies. "Oh yes, lovely. Lembas bread. And look! More Lembas bread " The blond Hobbit said with sarcasm as he broke a piece of bread before tossing it to Frodo and breaking another piece for himself.

As they ate, Sam couldn't retain himself and muttered " I don't usually hold to foreign food, but this elvish stuff, it's not bad !" Frodo looked at him with a smile "Heh, nothing ever dampens you spirits, does it Sam? " the Ring-bearer remarked with amusement.

The good moment was kinda interrupted when Sam losted his happy mood to say "Those rain clouds might..."

That night, the two Hobbits were pressed against a rocky wall, huddling under their cloaks protecting themselves from the downpour of the rain and the cold air.

The next day, thankfully, the rain had stopped and our two heroes resumed their quest to the Mount Doom. However, the heavy frog was back once more as the Hobbits climbed the rocks. Frodo was leading the way while Sam was a few feet away from the Ring-Bearer. Some time passed and they were still walking through the rocky terrain when Sam loudly remarked " This looks strangely familiar..."

"Because we've been here before ! We're going in circles !" Frodo remarked almost with exasperation . Suddenly, Sam smelled the air before recoiled in disgust "Uh! What's that horrid stink? I wonder if there's a nasty bog nearby. Can you smell it ?" the blond Hobbit inquired his comrade as he stood on a rock.

Frodo blinked before smelling the air as well "Yes, I can smell it..." The Ring-Bearer said calmly as he approached his comrade before looking at his left side. Slowly, Frodo turned his head toward Sam before whispering in a worried tone "We're not alone..."

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Sam and Frodo were sleeping peacefully under a rocky wall. Suddenly, a low snarling like sound echoed from above the two just as a strange figure appeared out of nowhere. The figure in question was small, thin-like skeletal, belonging to a gaunt creature with large beady eyes and small strands of brown hair at the top of its head.

The creature was slowly making its way silently toward the sleeping forms of the Hobbits "You thieves! You thieves… You filthy little thieves! Where is it? Where is it? They stole it from us. My Precious !" it snarled in anger in masculine voice as he creped closer to the two travelers.

"Curse them! We hates them! It's ours it is… and we wants it!" he snarled as he extended his thin arm toward Frodo's sleeping form. Without warning, the two Hobbits jumped on him : they had pretended to be asleep to lure the creature toward them. They launched themselves up and grabbed the creature by his writes to prevent him to escape before pulling him over to the ground.

Sadly, the creature would never go down without a fight and so he struggled to escape his attackers. He easily managed to break free and pushed them away. The push caused the Ring to knock out from beneath Frodo's cloth. The creature snarled at them before his eyes landed on the Ring. Frodo saw the look in the creature's eyes and knew what was going to happen.

As predicted, the Beast pounced on the Ring-Bearer in an attempt to take the Ring. Frodo tried to prevent the Beast to reach the Golden Ring as the creature desperately to grab it. Thankfully, Sam came to the rescue as he grabbed the creature by his leg , pulling him back off of Frodo.

However, the thin beast turned around and socked Sam right across face, knocking back on the ground. The creature then wasted no time and jumped back on Frodo before reaching over the Ring with all his might while the Brown Haired Hobbit struggled to hold the Beast back.

Suddenly, arms wrapped around the creature , pulling him off the Hobbit : it was Sam. Suddenly, the Beast turned around before bitting him on the shoulder. The Brave Hobbit yelled in pain before the creature clasped his arms and legs around Sam. Seeing his comrade in danger, Frodo instinctively pulled Sting out of his sheath before holding his Uncle's Sword against the Beast's throat which caused the say Beast to stop abruptly.

"This is Sting. You've seen it before, haven't you….Gollum!" Frodo said menacingly as Sting was still pressed against the creature's throat now revealed as Gollum, the Former Ring-bearer before Bilbo Baggins. "Release him, or I'll cut your throat!" The Ring-Bearer menaced as he glared down at Gollum who slowly loosened his grip on Sam. Gollum looked at the two and knew he was doomed so he let out a loud wail which echoed in the air.

The next morning, Gollum cried out again in pain as the group walked among rocks. Gollum had been tied at the neck with Sam's elven rope and was now dragged as the two Hobbits had resumed their quest. " It burns! It burns us! It freezes! Nasty elves twisted it.!" The thin creature wailed as he fell on a rock before throwing himself into another and then falling on the floor.

Sam continued to pull on the rope, full of anger at having to drag this loud Beast who was beginning to annoy him with his complains. " Take it off us !" Gollum pleaded as he gestured to the rope toward Sam and Frodo who were forced to stop when Gollum continued to lay down on the ground, no wanting to move.

"Quiet you!" Sam snarled at him before looking at Frodo who had come closer "It's hopeless! Every orc in Mordor is gonna hear this racket! Let's just tie him up and leave him!" The Blond Hobbit inquired as he looked at his comrade with exasperation.

At those words, Gollum became scared "No! That would kill us, kill us !" to which Sam replied by saying in a harsh tone " It's nothing more than you deserve !" Gollum fell backwards and cried quietly while Frodo looked at him with a calm but also a pained look on his face " Maybe he does deserve to die…. But now that I see him, I do pity him..."

Hearing this, San became confused while Gollum stopped rolling around on the ground, looking at the Ring-Bearer with a happy expression on his face. As he picked himself up on his knees, he pleaded while holding the rope to Frodo " We'll be nice to them, if they'll be nice to us. Take it off us… We swears to do what you wants. We swears!"

Frodo inquired uncertainly "There's no promise you can make that I can trust !" Gollum looked up at the Ring-Bearer before kneeling before him " We swears to serve the Master of the Precious. We will swear on...on the Precious! GOLLUM ! GOLLUM !" He coughed up his names at the last part.

The two Hobbits looked at him with distrust (especially Sam) before Frodo spoke those words " The Ring is treacherous. It will hold you to your word !" Gollum crawled closer and closer and stopped when he was at Frodo's feet before looking up at him " Yes… on the Precious… on the Precious !" "I don't believe you! Get down! Get down!" Sam angrily demanded as he snarled at the thin creature who tried to get away but he found himself crashing to the ground when Sam jerked the rope.

"Sam !" Frodo yelled as he tried to stop his comrade from hurting Gollum " He's trying to trick us! We let him go, he'll throttle us in our sleep!" Samwise inquired as he looked at the Ring-bearer who then turned his eyes toward Gollum who was really scared of Sam's outburst as he gasped for air.

"You know the way to Mordor?" Frodo asked the Creature who looked at him frightened before responding in the same tone "Yes"

Frodo kneeled down in front of the thin creature which caused him to back up a bit " You've been there before?" Again Gollum responded with a simple "Yes".

Without saying a word, Frodo took the rope off Gollum's neck which surprised him greatly. Sam was also surprised by his comrade's behavior but said nothing despise the look of disapproval on his face. "You will lead us to the Black Gate !"

At those words, Gollum took off , moving effortlessly through the rocks on the path , leaving the Two Hobbits behind at bit at the duo tried to keep up with him " To the Gate ! To the Gate ! To the Gate the master says ! Yes !" Gollum shouted excitedly as he leaded the way.

The Hobbits eventually catch up with the Creature who was crouching down on a rock. Suddenly, Gollum turned around toward them and screamed out with a look of anger on his face before running off " Hey! Come back now! Come back!" Sam yelled out as he and Frodo chased after the former Ring-Bearer; Soon the two of them found themselves across a path divided in two. No one knew where Gollum disappeared "There! What did I tell you? He's run off, the old villain. So much for his promises !" The Blond Hobbit remarked as he looked at Frodo who was about to say something when Gollum's voice echoed.

" This way Hobbitses!" They turned their head to see Gollum popping out from behind a rock from their right, surprising them both in the process."Follow me !" Gollum inquired excitedly before ducking back behind the rock. Sam and Frodo looked at each other before the Ring-Bearer ran after Gollum soon followed by Sam who still distrust the thin creature.

(To be continued…)