Okay, so this isn't very good, but it's an idea I've been throwing around for a few months now. This first part is really short, but I hope to add more chapters later. I've had good feedback on this story from those I've forced to read it. And yea, enjoy.
Lord of the Rings was written by J.R.R. Tolkien. The plot and characters are mine.
"Faces of the Future"
Chapter 1
Changes
My true name, the one I never tell to anyone, is Indra. In the tongue of my people, it means "long time." Among outsiders, I go by the mortal name of Carmen Parker. I've gone by many other names over the years, but this is the only one I feel is necessary for my story.
My history is a long one, spanning thousands of years. Most everyone in the world today knows that history, the major parts of it, anyway. The trouble is, nobody belies it. They see it as fantasy, written as a work of fiction in the 1950's.
My history is the world's history, whether the people know it or not. It happened centuries before the first human record, before civilization fell and began anew.
The story that most people today know is that of that single Ring whose soul purpose was to ensnare the world with its power. How the Ring was destroyed by a being whose race no longer exists in the world today. I met him once, briefly, though he appeared no more than a child to my eyes. I was young then, by the standards of my people, having only seen two-thousand winters.
When the world was safe again, my people left the world of mortals for ever, all but a few. Not all wished to cross the sea to the Undying Lands. We were few, hardly worth mention in the texts of history. I was one of these, with my elder sister, Mallin. We remained in secret, hiding our identities from the eyes of Men and their kindred.
For centuries, Men prospered while all other races faded away, either dying out or evading the eyes of all. Without this counterbalance, the world Men had created tumbled to ruin. The once great kingdoms split as newly-formed tribes took up their own realms in what are now Europe, Africa, and Asia.
My people divided, as well. Some followed the Mortals to the far reaches of the globe, others preferred to maintain their forests in peace.
These forest-dwellers were well-known, despite their best efforts. Their refuges were in the woods of the British Isles, where they became part of local legend, the Fair Folk that wandered the woods during the night.
As for me, I went with Mallin to the south. We settled in the country now known as Greece, in a village outside of Athens.
I watched the culture grow from nothing. I saw the creation of a new way of life, completely separate from the one that had existed before it. New writings were taken up, and soon the wars of Men that had preceded faded away beyond all memory, except for my own, and that of my kin.
I made my living as a sculptor. The first of many occupations I have experienced over the ages. After I grew tired of working stone and masonry, I moved on to study in the temple of Athena.
I became well versed in the literature of the time, and from my place in the temple, I saw their beliefs take shape. It pained me to see the old ways die out. But, it is a rare chance to see a civilization grow from nothing.
Our stay was relatively short. When the Romans took their hold on the Grecian civilization, we fled to the Kingdom of Egypt, now faded from its former glory. After a brief span of ten years, we finally returned to the islands of the north.
The next two-thousand years were spent in varying parts of the British world. Again, we saw civilizations spring from the earth.
Finally, in December of the year 1957, I decided that it was time to cross the sea. Valinor was not my destination, however, but America. I would have gone much sooner than that, but to take a ship across the ocean would have surely driven me mad.
Others of my kind had made the sea journey, but it was not for me. They had set up, in secret, a way for others of Elf-kind to gain citizenship in America and maintain that status for ever.
Never able to stay in one place for more than ten years at a time, I've seen a great deal of what the United States has to offer, and found that photography makes for a very versatile lifestyle.
At the time of this story, I was working as a photographer for a Chicago-based magazine. A profession that I thought would help me maintain a happy removal from dealing too heavily with mortals. Of course, I was wrong.
Lord of the Rings was written by J.R.R. Tolkien. The plot and characters are mine.
Chapter 1
Changes
My true name, the one I never tell to anyone, is Indra. In the tongue of my people, it means "long time." Among outsiders, I go by the mortal name of Carmen Parker. I've gone by many other names over the years, but this is the only one I feel is necessary for my story.
My history is a long one, spanning thousands of years. Most everyone in the world today knows that history, the major parts of it, anyway. The trouble is, nobody belies it. They see it as fantasy, written as a work of fiction in the 1950's.
My history is the world's history, whether the people know it or not. It happened centuries before the first human record, before civilization fell and began anew.
The story that most people today know is that of that single Ring whose soul purpose was to ensnare the world with its power. How the Ring was destroyed by a being whose race no longer exists in the world today. I met him once, briefly, though he appeared no more than a child to my eyes. I was young then, by the standards of my people, having only seen two-thousand winters.
When the world was safe again, my people left the world of mortals for ever, all but a few. Not all wished to cross the sea to the Undying Lands. We were few, hardly worth mention in the texts of history. I was one of these, with my elder sister, Mallin. We remained in secret, hiding our identities from the eyes of Men and their kindred.
For centuries, Men prospered while all other races faded away, either dying out or evading the eyes of all. Without this counterbalance, the world Men had created tumbled to ruin. The once great kingdoms split as newly-formed tribes took up their own realms in what are now Europe, Africa, and Asia.
My people divided, as well. Some followed the Mortals to the far reaches of the globe, others preferred to maintain their forests in peace.
These forest-dwellers were well-known, despite their best efforts. Their refuges were in the woods of the British Isles, where they became part of local legend, the Fair Folk that wandered the woods during the night.
As for me, I went with Mallin to the south. We settled in the country now known as Greece, in a village outside of Athens.
I watched the culture grow from nothing. I saw the creation of a new way of life, completely separate from the one that had existed before it. New writings were taken up, and soon the wars of Men that had preceded faded away beyond all memory, except for my own, and that of my kin.
I made my living as a sculptor. The first of many occupations I have experienced over the ages. After I grew tired of working stone and masonry, I moved on to study in the temple of Athena.
I became well versed in the literature of the time, and from my place in the temple, I saw their beliefs take shape. It pained me to see the old ways die out. But, it is a rare chance to see a civilization grow from nothing.
Our stay was relatively short. When the Romans took their hold on the Grecian civilization, we fled to the Kingdom of Egypt, now faded from its former glory. After a brief span of ten years, we finally returned to the islands of the north.
The next two-thousand years were spent in varying parts of the British world. Again, we saw civilizations spring from the earth.
Finally, in December of the year 1957, I decided that it was time to cross the sea. Valinor was not my destination, however, but America. I would have gone much sooner than that, but to take a ship across the ocean would have surely driven me mad.
Others of my kind had made the sea journey, but it was not for me. They had set up, in secret, a way for others of Elf-kind to gain citizenship in America and maintain that status for ever.
Never able to stay in one place for more than ten years at a time, I've seen a great deal of what the United States has to offer, and found that photography makes for a very versatile lifestyle.
At the time of this story, I was working as a photographer for a Chicago-based magazine. A profession that I thought would help me maintain a happy removal from dealing too heavily with mortals. Of course, I was wrong.