The Ages have past.  Now, the signs of our days are forgotten, leaving only fainting stories to revive them.  It seems not long ago but time passes differently for me.  It seems an eternity has come and gone, yet all in a moment has it passed me.  Now is the time for all to renew, a cycle fulfilling a circle, and now, those who have not the strength, will be lost, as those who still feel the light come back to us.  The days of the human race will recede, as the world finds room for those whom left it millennia ago.  This will be the dawning on a new day.   A new Middle Earth shall arise…

Those who left us will find their way home…although they will have many challenges and perhaps a new understanding on themselves as they are drawn once again.  Few have seen their true form in the time that they have shared with the earth.  But soon…they will be returned to us; these children of our own.

Brought to Dawn

The next age of Middle Earth

His eyes narrowed, following the cobbled path as it led him further from home.  It had only been lately that he wished to stroll out into the night, feeling as if his legs were weary from rest.  The air was clouded, but still he could make out the stars that shone about the trees that night.  He could sense a tension in the air, a stiffness that shattered the wind and left him in a state of strange uneasiness.  Yet now, he cared little for he wished for nothing more than to keep his pace.  Now well inside the forest, he could feel little cold, and it seemed to him familiar, as if he had passed through before, although in his memories no such place existed.  Gazing at the trunks, he felt an odd presence about him, as if he were not alone.  The oaks about him groaned and creaked as a shallow wind flowed through, but time and again, the air would stop, and yet the slow drawn sound of the trees was still to be heard.  His pace quickened.  Thoughts strung through this mind…visions, words…was this a dream, or perhaps an estranged fantasy that his mind had tricked him into?  Deep inside he saw himself and several others, being told to stay behind...not to pass on with the rest.  They were to be called again.

  His breath came fast now, his feet racing through the underbrush that now turned off the cobblestone into the forest.  Leaving the road behind him, he pushed branches from his face, which clawed their way into his skin.  For now he cared little of anything, only to keep his now fading sanity, and to stop the growing need to bring him so far from the road.  A faint whisper held in the air, his ears picked up the rhythm it made, and soon his eyes darted to the sides, curious to see as to where he was being drawn.  A need suppressed inside was gnawing its way through to the surface; something much stronger than he had ever dared to dream was bursting into view.  Suddenly, he slowed to a stop, his eyes gazing out into a dark nothingness of trees and bush.  Bringing his head to the left, he saw the fire, surrounded by stones, that was lit in a small clearing.  Several gathered there, familiar to him but he knew them not by name.  As he drew near, they looked up to him and he held each in his eyes as if to speak, but only breath came from his lips. 

            "So you have come as well," One whispered, her eyes never leaving the light of the fire.  In them, he could tell an old wisdom was held, something that seemed to stretch beyond the years that she must have known.
            "We have all come here, I too feel that something draws us.  We are needed once again my friends."  She spoke with confidence to her voice, but it was plain her face was flawed by age, leaving her body much more frail than her spirit portrayed.  Most were quiet, only a few spoke to each other, and only then few words were exchanged.  The air was clear here, leaving a cold that brought itself to the very depths of his bones.   Without a word, he brought himself down and sat next to the women, her golden hair lay straight about her oval face.  Her eyes gazed only into the fire, but he sought to bring her attention to him.  Perhaps now he would solve why he had strayed so many nights further into the woods, and to why he felt something inside ready to burst.

            None of these were answered however, as the night grew older, the small gathering sat motionless, none able to bring themselves to ask the questions they could now answer to themselves.  Upon the dawn, the light strayed quickly through the limbs of the great oaks, falling about them as a blanket, and blinding as the sun reached into the sky.

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The moments came by slowly, thought it seemed such a short time as his mind raced to every corner.  Sadly he could hardly think straight and his memory was so fuzzy; as if he couldn't remember what had happened just yesterday.  He shook his head in confusion, his eyes still following the flickering light that still leapt from the fire.  The embers had begun to grow black after a night of burning and he could feel the sun beating on his back now.  What is wrong with me? His brows furrowed, drawing his eyes into a squint, as if trying to focus on something that was too far away.  He and many others had been waiting the night here; he could hear them breathing; hear the movement they made as they shifted from one spot to another.  Now every sound rung into his ears, each scent that much stronger, even his eyes could make out each grain in the dust.  His body seemed to be revolting against him.  Yet at the same time, it felt oddly right.  His face looked up to the elderly women who sat huntched against a tree.  After her simple speech hours before, she had remained silent, perfectly calm and patiently waiting, although he could not tell for what.  His hands reached to the ground, and pulling himself up stood and made a step to the silent figure.  It seemed now many eyes had found him, as if everyone was waiting for him to speak.  The women took no notice of his movement, not until he came to stand next her, and only then she gazed up and met his eyes.   They seemed locked together; he could not tear himself away. 

                "Do you know why we ar- ". 

            "Yes, I know why you are all here.  Why we are all here." She cut his words short, and with a wave of her hand she returned her watch through the trees.   "We are being called.  Can you not feel it?  Everything points to it.  I have not felt this way for ages…it seems to be coming back to me." 

            "Do not speak riddles to me, I do not understand what is happening to me!"  Shouted a younger woman across the fire.   "Nothing makes sense.  Why don't I remember anything?  I can't even remember my home, or my family," At this she bowed her head, pain clearly showing on her face. 

            "What do you want of me child.  I cannot stop this, nor can I control it.  They are coming soon, to reclaim us as their own.  It will all start again.  Middle Earth is rising again, and everything will come full circle."  Her own thoughts were not on what she said, as she seemed concentrated on the trunks further out.

            "Middle Earth?  Is that not something from a story?" A man spoke up.  "I can't remember but I believe it was." 

            "There is no story, not that you are aware of.  Nothing is real to you child, not to any of us.  We have been shrouded in a darkness that had kept us safe and close together these many years.  Everything in your lives has no hold, nor any true value.  Speak the truth, can you remember anything from your childhood?" Silence reined for some time before a "no" was whispered, accompanied by an exasperated sigh. 

            As she looked around she could tell that everyone was drawn into their minds, searching as well for some scrap of memory to hold to. 

            "Then was is happening to us.  What is this Middle Earth you are speaking of?" The young women spoke again.   "Why is everything a blur to us…"

            "You are molding back into your own form young one.  It will take time but you will start to feel things taking change.   The time of Middle Earth has long past, but I can tell you its tale.  Long ago it was this very country.  It held within its grasp the beginnings of man.   There were several cities of men that held the countryside, who lived near the realms of the others as well."

"Others?" The man beside her rasped again. 

            "The other races dear boy.  I speak of the hobbits, elves, sprites, dwarves, orcs, goblins, and a number of others that lived in their own domains."

            "What are you talking about?  They only exist in stories, they are myths, nothing more!" He exclaimed.  Was this woman mad?

            "You will know otherwise soon enough.  Can you not see their images in your head?  You know of what I speak.  Your visions have come to all present.  Soon you will understand.  They will come back to us, and teach us once again what we should never have lost."

            "Who are They that you speak of all this time?" He shouted, more loudly than he had intended, the words echoing through the small clearing.

"The elves of course…what do you think you are child?"  To this he could not answer, his mind numb with a sense of awareness seeping inside him.  His eyes shut, he stood silent before falling to his knees. 

"All in time…we will all know in time to come." She spoke solidly.