(A/N Well, here is the fourth chapter. Many, many thanks go to Christian,
one of my housemates for giving me the idea of where this story was going.
Thank you! Please R and R)
Rivendell. A gem that glowed in the beams of sunlight, back dropped by tree- covered slopes and tumbling waterfalls.
Cariana leant on the balcony of her room and gazed outwards. Beneath her Frodo was being reunited with his friends. She still felt disbelief at being sucked into the film, and shock at finding herself in events that she had eagerly watched.
She could feel her magic bubbling up inside her, a fountain waiting to be tapped. It was a strange sensation, but comforting to her. She let it bubble up towards her hand and her mind shaped the trickle.
A necklace shimmered into being, three strands of gold, silver and black plaited together to form one single strand. From it hung a gemstone, a sapphire, carved into the shape of a star.
"How easy this seems." She murmured, before she closed her hand over the necklace, feeling it melt into her palm until no trace of it was left.
"But at home, this would be impossible." How easily she had adapted to this world it seemed. Her mind was focused on Middle Earth, running through the past, the present and the future.
"What is to be done?" she asked herself quietly.
"To be done about what?" came a new voice from behind her. So engrossed in her thoughts had she been that she had not heard the entrance of another. She turned from her distracted contemplation of the view to find Elrond, the Lord of Rivendell behind her.
"To be done about my presence here." She admitted, torn. She would have dearly loved to confess all her troubled thoughts and feelings to Elrond, but knew that by doing this she could alter things. But how could she alter them any more?
"I do not understand Lady." He said, the faintest of frowns drawing across his features.
Cariana made up her mind. No matter what it did to the timeline, she could not carry her thoughts around with her like this. Eventually, they would consume her from the inside. She began to speak.
Elrond listened, his expression sober as Cariana talked. All her thoughts and feelings that she had had since she came to Middle Earth were pulled out and laid bare, open to view. As she talked, she felt the knot of tension that she had not been aware of slowly release inside her, the poisons that it had been spewing forth slowing in their torrent until it dried to a trickle.
Finally, Cariana finished and fell silent. Elrond just looked at her, his dark eyes fathomless. But Cariana could almost feel his emotions battering at her, confusion and resolve.
"Nothing happens without a reason Cariana. Your presence here has a reason," he told her gently. "But it is up to you to find it."
Resolve swelled up in her, bolstering her. He had not questioned the truth of her tale, but took it as fact. "Thank you Elrond." she replied, but though the words may have been formal, the emotion behind them and her expression conveyed her intense gratitude.
She left the room filled with a desire to wander, but with no destination in mind.
She found herself outside a room in an unknown section of Rivendell. She peered in through the partially open door and saw the sleeping form of Frodo. Evidently the exertion of being reunited with his friends had tired him.
He shifted in his sleep and the shirt that he was wearing gaped slightly. But Cariana's eyes were not drawn to the pale flesh that rose and fell gently with his breathing, but to the Ring. It gleamed golden, bewitchingly, serenading her with a seducing song.
Caught by some emotion she could not name, she cast her mind and her new powers out to the Ring.
A monstrous concussion rocked through her skull, and she heard a voice calling words in a strange tongue. She felt herself falling and screamed, but her scream was not audible, but poured out of her mouth in a visible stream, forming into words.
One Ring to rule them all
One Ring to find them
One Ring to bring them all
And in the darkness bind them.
She awoke in a land of flame and ash. Her feet were planted on dull red rock and a harsh wind gusted at her, blowing her hair backwards. In all directions she could see only a barren land, riddled with rocks and pits, from which leaped flame and lava. But it was the sky that drew her attention. Pure black, it was one encompassing curtain, but white weaved in eldritch patterns across its surface, casting the light she saw by across the world. There was no one else there. She was alone, but she did not feel afraid. Instead she felt right, as if this was where she was supposed to be. But where was this? She had a feeling that she knew.
Rivendell. A gem that glowed in the beams of sunlight, back dropped by tree- covered slopes and tumbling waterfalls.
Cariana leant on the balcony of her room and gazed outwards. Beneath her Frodo was being reunited with his friends. She still felt disbelief at being sucked into the film, and shock at finding herself in events that she had eagerly watched.
She could feel her magic bubbling up inside her, a fountain waiting to be tapped. It was a strange sensation, but comforting to her. She let it bubble up towards her hand and her mind shaped the trickle.
A necklace shimmered into being, three strands of gold, silver and black plaited together to form one single strand. From it hung a gemstone, a sapphire, carved into the shape of a star.
"How easy this seems." She murmured, before she closed her hand over the necklace, feeling it melt into her palm until no trace of it was left.
"But at home, this would be impossible." How easily she had adapted to this world it seemed. Her mind was focused on Middle Earth, running through the past, the present and the future.
"What is to be done?" she asked herself quietly.
"To be done about what?" came a new voice from behind her. So engrossed in her thoughts had she been that she had not heard the entrance of another. She turned from her distracted contemplation of the view to find Elrond, the Lord of Rivendell behind her.
"To be done about my presence here." She admitted, torn. She would have dearly loved to confess all her troubled thoughts and feelings to Elrond, but knew that by doing this she could alter things. But how could she alter them any more?
"I do not understand Lady." He said, the faintest of frowns drawing across his features.
Cariana made up her mind. No matter what it did to the timeline, she could not carry her thoughts around with her like this. Eventually, they would consume her from the inside. She began to speak.
Elrond listened, his expression sober as Cariana talked. All her thoughts and feelings that she had had since she came to Middle Earth were pulled out and laid bare, open to view. As she talked, she felt the knot of tension that she had not been aware of slowly release inside her, the poisons that it had been spewing forth slowing in their torrent until it dried to a trickle.
Finally, Cariana finished and fell silent. Elrond just looked at her, his dark eyes fathomless. But Cariana could almost feel his emotions battering at her, confusion and resolve.
"Nothing happens without a reason Cariana. Your presence here has a reason," he told her gently. "But it is up to you to find it."
Resolve swelled up in her, bolstering her. He had not questioned the truth of her tale, but took it as fact. "Thank you Elrond." she replied, but though the words may have been formal, the emotion behind them and her expression conveyed her intense gratitude.
She left the room filled with a desire to wander, but with no destination in mind.
She found herself outside a room in an unknown section of Rivendell. She peered in through the partially open door and saw the sleeping form of Frodo. Evidently the exertion of being reunited with his friends had tired him.
He shifted in his sleep and the shirt that he was wearing gaped slightly. But Cariana's eyes were not drawn to the pale flesh that rose and fell gently with his breathing, but to the Ring. It gleamed golden, bewitchingly, serenading her with a seducing song.
Caught by some emotion she could not name, she cast her mind and her new powers out to the Ring.
A monstrous concussion rocked through her skull, and she heard a voice calling words in a strange tongue. She felt herself falling and screamed, but her scream was not audible, but poured out of her mouth in a visible stream, forming into words.
One Ring to rule them all
One Ring to find them
One Ring to bring them all
And in the darkness bind them.
She awoke in a land of flame and ash. Her feet were planted on dull red rock and a harsh wind gusted at her, blowing her hair backwards. In all directions she could see only a barren land, riddled with rocks and pits, from which leaped flame and lava. But it was the sky that drew her attention. Pure black, it was one encompassing curtain, but white weaved in eldritch patterns across its surface, casting the light she saw by across the world. There was no one else there. She was alone, but she did not feel afraid. Instead she felt right, as if this was where she was supposed to be. But where was this? She had a feeling that she knew.