A big thanks to all those who reviewed my story so far. I'm very happy you like it and hope you'll like the new chapter, too.

Of Valinor and the Two Trees

As it is told in the beginning of Time, the Valar eagerly started their mighty task of achieving the world of their Vision. Melkor was, as always, over-eagerly trying to help them wherever he could, but his help was little appreciated, for whatever he touched seemed to mysteriously fall apart.

After even the patient, because most of the time completely stoned, Lorien had chased him away, he wandered around aimlessly, looking for something to do, when he came across Varda.

With huge wondering eyes he watched her as she created the beautifully sparkling stars she intended to place into the sky, to bring a little light into the darkness. Finally, when Varda had made a great number of stars, she noticed Melkor and asked him to assist her, as she had been too occupied with her task to notice Melkor's recent misfortune.

She told him to hand her over the stars, so she could put them into the sky. He did as he was told, but when he picked up the first one, his hands trembled with awe and the star slipped out of his grasp. It crashed down into the heap of stars that lay on the ground, ready to light up the sky, and a sweet clanking sound filled the air when most of the fragile shapes broke into a thousand pieces one by one.

Varda glared at Melkor, and let out a loud shriek that made the remaining stars burst and hurt the ears of every living creature in the whole of Arda. The other Valar instantly ran to the source of that bloodcurdling scream, and came just in time to rescue poor Melkor from being strangled by a furious Varda. He instantly backed away from her while he murmured  'just wanted to help'.

Unfortunately, Varda heard that, let out another enraged shriek, and threw a glare of doom at Melkor that almost scared him to death. He ran away in shock and Manwe finally found him curled up behind a big rock, sucking his thumb and murmuring to himself.

Manwe had pity with his unfortunate brother, but knew he could not convince the others to let him help again. So he sat long in thought next to the miserable Melkor until he had an idea which would get Melkor out of the way while making him feel useful at the same time.

Proud of his cleverness, Manwe blew some bubbles, happily jumped onto his feet and called for the others. He explained at large the need to get more information about the regions in the North until the other Valar had almost fallen asleep and Varda impatiently kicked his shin. So he finally concluded his long speech with the suggestion to assign this honourable task of exploring the North to Melkor.

They looked at each other questioningly as they were still half-asleep and it took them a few moments to realize what this would mean for them. Then they broke into thunderous applause and congratulated a very proud and beaming Melkor to his important assignment.

They hurried to get everything packed and ready for Melkor, so he could start on his mission as soon as possible and finally gave him a tearful good-bye.

But as soon as he was out of ear-shot, a collective sigh went through the gathered Valar and they broke into happy cheering, dancing around the place happily.

Then, with Melkor far away,  they eagerly resumed their labours and started building a beautiful town.

But Arda was still a pretty dark place for the few stars Varda had yet managed to craft and set into the sky, before a helpful Melkor dropped and broke them into a thousand pieces, gave not very much light and the natural light floated through the air scattered and dim. Creating a beautiful world in such a faint light is not an easy task and finally even the Valar, who had not noticed it before in their eagerness, realized that. They looked at each other helplessly as they stood in the Twilight and did not know what to do. So they sat in silence for a long time.

Then Lórien, who had absent-minded eaten some of Yavanna's grains - and thus had unintended discovered the amazing effects of poppies, suddenly had a vision while he watched a bored Manwe blowing bubbles into the air. He took Aule 's arm and led him away, a wide grin on his face. When they returned after some time, they had created two mighty lamps that looked like oversized bubbles, filled with the light they had collected from the air, and with the help of all Valar, they put them onto two mighty pillars.

One was placed in the North, and the other in the South, and the world was finally lit up. The Valar blinked and looked around wondering as they were finally able to actually see what they were doing. Aule blushed and quickly hid the object he had last been working on behind his back before one of the others could see it.

So, after a long time of hard work they had at last created a lot of beautiful things; plants and flowers grew and blossomed all over the world, and animals came forth and enlivened it.

The Valar had chosen an isle in a great lake in the middle of the world as their new home, where the lights of both lamps mingled and so brought forth even more beauty than anywhere else.

There they build themselves a wonderful city with beautiful large houses and gardens. When finally everything was as they wanted it to be, they happily started preparations for the first real party on Arda, and were soon busily decorating their new-built homes with flowers.

Melkor had frozen in wonder when the first rays of light had reached him, and danced around the hill he had climbed gleefully, until he stumbled over his own feet and rolled down the hill, landing in a huge puddle of mud. Cursing his bad luck, he had resumed the exploration of the Northern mountains and its innumerable caverns and glens, after taking a much needed bath in a nearby river as he was now covered in mud all over.

Now he was on his way home, humming merrily for he was happy to return home at last. Suddenly he stopped and stared at a strange thing in front of him. Something that had not been there before.

It was the Northern Lamp the Valar had set up, which stood up high on its pillar and emanated a cool silver light. Curiously, Melkor moved closer and reached out for the shimmering pillar as he stared upwards, and admired the beautiful shining light. But with his next step, he stumbled over a rock and fell full force against the pillar. The column started swaying heavily, and with a loud roar the bubble-shaped lamp slowly slid off its foundation.

Melkor watched it fall down with wide fearful eyes, and put his hands over his ears to shut out the loud crash when the lamp forcefully hit the ground. A small crack appeared, and Melkor watched in open-mouthed horror as the crack extended quickly, tearing the earth apart . 'This is not happening' he murmured frantically, as he watched the destruction that  rapidly spread all over Arda. The Earth trembled, and mighty tidal waves crashed onto the lands, eventually reaching the Southern Lamp and destroying it.

Finally the lands and waters had calmed down and a shocked silence had spread.

And Arda lay in darkness again.

Considering the destruction that the crash of the lamp had caused, it was a comforting darkness, but none could yet see the real dimension of destruction, and therefore none appreciated this darkness as they should have.

The Valar froze in their preparations when darkness fell and the earth began to tremble, and looked around unbelievingly. They gathered on a wide meadow near their new-founded town and discussed what could have happened, when suddenly a huge wave flooded over their homes and swept them away right before their unbelieving eyes. Shocked they stared at what now was left of it, and started lamenting over their loss.

That was how Melkor found them when he had finally managed to find his way back home through all the chaos he had caused.

The guilty expression on his face instantly told the other Valar who was responsible for the catastrophe, and they chased poor Melkor away, who in his panic fled northwards and hid inside one of the huge caverns in the mountains he had discovered on his mission.

The other Valar then held a council about what they were to do next, and after long consideration they decided to move to the uttermost West, and fortify their new home against Melkor and his permanent bad luck.

They built mighty mountains, insurmountable by those who were not welcome in their land, and then started creating a whole new beautiful world.

They called their new homeland Valinor and their city Valmar the Beautiful of Many Bells. There they build their houses and their gardens, and gathered everything that was beautiful on Arda.

But still they lived in darkness. They felt very grievous about that after they had seen the beauty of a lit world, but yet did not know what to do about it. They could not gather any more light that was drifting through the airs, for it had already grown dim and few, so creating another lamp was out of question.

Finally, a frustrated Yavanna threw her grains to the ground and stomped away, for she knew those seeds could not grow without any light, and her gardens would never become as they were before the destruction of the lamps. Nienna, who was still unhappy, because no one wanted to marry her, sat down and started crying heartbreakingly.

Her endlessly flowing tears flooded the ground, and  suddenly one of Yavanna's grains sprouted and quickly grew into a beautiful tree with dark green leaves and white blossoms. A silver dew dripped from the flowers and it radiated a silvery light that bathed the world in its cool glow.

The Valar curiously gathered around the tree and admired its beauty, but none perceived Nienna and so she cried even more.

Then after some time, the tree the Valar had by then named Telperion, went to sleep and its silvery light grew dimmer and finally faded.

But in that moment a second tree grew and its leaves were of a light green. It bore golden blossoms that spilled a golden rain upon the ground and emanated a warm golden light.

The Valar were overjoyed by the beauty and warmth of the golden light, and began dancing around the Two Trees. They called the second one Laurelin, and Lórien brought his most potent herbs to celebrate the birth of the Two Trees. So for the next days none of the Valar was able to do anything useful as their minds were in a constant haze, due to Lórien and his herbs. But eventually they perceived the periods of waking and sleeping of the Trees, which alternated regularly, and they started counting the time by this blossoming and sleeping of the trees.

Varda gathered the sparkling dews of both trees and put them into basins of various sizes. Those were partly inside a huge and most beautifully decorated hall, and partly spread around this hall, making the first and most beautiful water park of the world, complete with saunas and massage parlours.

So began a joyful time for the Valar and they completely forgot about the miserable little

Melkor, who was still hiding in shame in his cavern in the Northern mountains.