Chapter 1: The Prophecy Untold

This is one early but cloudy November morning.

A girl peers behind the windowsill of a school bus jampacked for a field trip. She sadly watches the rain touch and break at a drop into a million cylindrical pieces on the glass window, as she waits for someone to occupy the seat next to hers. A gray and black backpack already worn of use sits beside her, with a button proudly displaying the phrase "Manic Depressive" in red letters hangs from a strap rustily.

She sighs ironically as a group of drenched students halts from marching across a dead football field to board the bus that has been waiting since forever. A hunched gruffly figure in a cheesy yellow raincoat plopped wetly beside her, just after she was able to pull out her ancient backpack in time. "Do you have any idea how stupid it was to march out in the rain like that?!!" a girl's voice bloomed from under the hood just after it was pulled down.

Silvery blonde hair fell down her shoulders, all wet and tousled up because of its being cooped up inside the raincoat hood. Her strong muscular tanned arms straightened a t-shirt larger than her size, clinging to her skin because of the water. The latter and the dry one, sat up and examined the boyish figure of the new comer, holding the raincoat and her backpack. "Uh... Clae?!" Green eyes fixed on the starer's blue ones. "Do you think wet annoyed people would like to be stared at after ignoring their wails of tragic experience?"

"I can tell," said Claene McCraig, the early one who got into the bus in time before unexpected rain fell rolled her eyes at indespicable Ashley Kingsford. The female class jock who's too boyish to be popular. Clae might have prim and proper curls with her darkbrown hair and a brain to go with that, and Ash might care not if she wore mud-stained soccer jerseys still unwashed from last week's training to morning class, but both have the same passion that brought them together: Fiction and Writing.

Clae shook her head and clucked her tounge, as she rolled the raincoat into a cloth pillar and squeezed the water on top of the nerd in the seat in front of her before returning it to the pouting blonde beside her. "Gaffer would have to make the tardees wait and march in the rain as she had told us yesterday, Ash," she reasoned out, as she took a portable battery-operated blowdryer out of her backpack. "This roadtrip is important to her."

Seeing the other girl's non-plussed look on her face, made her say, "Well, of course... it isn't too important for me after all..." Ash stuck her tounge out at her as a lock of flying blonde hair (caused by the blowdryer) hit her on the face. "Ah well, this is a waste of our time..." Ash groaned as she sat impatiently on her seat, arms crossed. "We could be sneaking a laptop from one to another so we can finish our slashfic. I mean, our tolkien fic..." she changed her statement with a sheepish grin, noticing the petrified look on her friend's face.

Clae shook her head in a shiver and said, "Don't worry, this day will be fast as you and I predicted it. Don't expect any surprises. Nothing memorable can happen today while Gaffer's in charge."

Ash grunted. "Enclosed Arboretum Roadtrip," she sniffed. "Are we there yet?"
Clae smiled as she turned the blowdry off. "Just you wait."

"Just you wait" turned out to be an hour later.

"McCraig! Kingsford!" The annoying voice with the clipped British accent suddenly jarred the duo awake. Mrs. Gaffer, the Biology Teacher. How pathetic. "Chop! Chop! The sun won't wait for you, you little mothballs! Get your sleepyheads up and awake!" Apparently, the double has fallen asleep in the bus, and have continued to look drunk till the second portion of the trip to the Arboretum.

"We'll have our pancakes after that litany, room service," Ash muttered rudely. Gaffer halted, so did the entire fieldtrip team. Clae was able to nudge Ash awake in time, before she slumped all over the floor, asleep. "Be careful of what you say, Kingsford," the teacher suddenly turned into a blowfish, her cheeks blooming in a bright tinge of pink. "Or your last trip will be Detention - back in Kennedy High!" Clae opened her mouth to object and defend her friend's honor when - "You too, McCraig! You're becoming a disgrace like this snotbag here, how shameful."

Clae glared. Ash gulped.
Then the blowfish threw her one last look, and whipped the sneering fieldtrip troupe behind her.
The duo was left in the hall, still sleepyheaded.

"C'mon Clae," said Ash, cloning her friend's angry look. "Let's ditch 'em." Clae slung her backpack on her shoulder and nodded as both jumped away from the hall, refusing to follow the path their class did. For a while, the coast was clear. Till a girl appeared from behind a pillar, who turned out to be spying on Clae and Ash.

This is Sheiane Sandman. She is the cheerleader/class president/rich kid who hates Clae's famous talents for writing in the school journal and Ash's notorious attitude and MVP award for the Soccer Team. And she's one pure Tolkienist and Lord Of The Rings fan who's got a crush on every so-called-hottie in the line, except for Viggo Mortensen and Sean Bean. And Andy Serkis, perhaps. And now, she's up to really leading the duo into detention.

"Shea Sandman saves the day again from those incompetent rascals," she said under her voice, chuckling as she led her Prada Boots in the direction where Clae and Ash were headed.

"I can't believe this. You call this a tree?"
"No, I think its a plant. And its dicotyledon. Notice the parallels on the leaves..."
"Uh, Clae... I don't need a Biology Lesson. I could ask Gaffer."
"If you could find her. Don't you like this better? Its free and with less off-topic blabber."

Both stood in front of an unusual tree standing enclosed inside a glass. Unusual, because it has a very small trunk, but its branches were spreading far and wide, cramping against the invisible glass imprisoning it. A small square window stands in the middle of an adjacent side, allowing an observer to poke a hand in the enclosement and touch the plant.

Ash examined Clae with her previous statement and shrugged. Clae rolled her eyes and continued staring, not noticing a hidden figure watching them closely. Ash tied her blonde hair into a frizz, and slung her backpack off her shoulders and placed it on the floor. She stepped closer towards the enclosed plant, standing on a platform that holds the glass, and poked a finger inside to touch it.

Light screened from behind the insides of the tree, making Clae drop her jaw. Ash ignored this, bit her lip and tried to push in her entire hand to stroke the tree. Suddenly, the light burst and sent the girl plumetting to the ground, landing on the foot of her best friend. "What the-" Clae exclaimed. "Whoa," Ash muttered, trying to get up on her feet.

Clae gave her a hand and pulled her up, but she stood shakily. The former shook her head unbelievingly and stepped closer to put in her hand too... when a cloaked hand suddenly closed upon her wrist. Cleff looked up and gulped. A man dressed up in grey robes with his face hidden under a dark pointy hat, clutched her wrist, preventing her from touching the enclosed plant.

"Uhm, sir -" Clae started, when he released her hand. "You shouldn't test the power of this tree," a deep sovereign voice echoed from the stern face withered by time. "You know it is threatened by her power." He looked at Ash. "And yours too." He peered sharply into Clae's eyes.

"Po-Power?" the golden haired child croaked. "When? Why? And why are you dressed up like Albus Dumbledore? The Harry Potter Convention is in the other building." The old man gave her a sharp look. "Okay, you must be one of the maintainers..." Ash whispered, obviously intimidated by his look.

"This tree," the old man explained. "Contains a crystal of the a cousin of the Silmaril." He touched it once with a finger, and bright white light gushed through the spot where his finger was. "S-silmaril?" Ash said shakily, her voice bewildered. "Yes," the stranger replied. "Light gushes out whenever it is touched by a higher being, just like the elves. It was said, when it is touched by a valar, it releases all the power it has, only for the god not to harm the tree. The crystal was its protection."

Ash and Clae exchanged queer looks and shrugged. How could they be valars? And why was the man talking about... Lord of the Rings stuff? This was a Biology Area. Not a Literature Fair. "Thanks for warning," Clae muttered, dragging a wide-eyed Ash away from the man and the tree. "We'll stay away from that tree..."

"Wait."

The man pointed at the ground. The duo halted abruptly... when Clae realized that she's missing her bag. "Where's -" Hey eyes fell upon the thing the robed man was pointing at. "My bag." A smile spread under the man's shadowy hat, unseen by anyone. "You left something," he added. Clae looked at him weirdly and picked her bag up... findout out that it weighed ten pounds heavier.

"What the-" She looked inside and saw the thickest book she had ever seen. "How-" Ash pointed, bewildered.
"Its my token of understanding to you." said the old man, who seemed as if the girls asked a favor of him. "If you will ever need me, which I know you will, this book will lead you to me."

Clae slipped it back into the bag, after ignoring Ash's weird looks. "Thanks," she mouthed, when a question circled her conscience that she didn't really mind asking. "Who are you anyway?"

"Mithrandir," he answered. "I must go now. If you need me, seek and you will find."
With a wave of his hat, he crossed the hall and was gone.

Clae and Ash exchanged dark looks, as they looked back at the tree, that was still gushing forth white light, obivously still intimidated by their prescence. "How could we be..." Clae whispered. "Valars?" Ash shrugged. "We can't be... can't we?" her friend replied, a knowing look in her eye. Clae shrugged, as they continued walking towards the end of the corridor, following the path the strange man took before he disappeared.

"Oh yeah, by the way..." Ash suddenly added, that made Clae think and stop.
"Is that bag getting heavy? I can carry it for you."

Could it be true that two ordinary high school students could be valars in disguise?
Or was it a trap into destruction?

Notes: Claeren McCraig's (Clae/Cleff) elvish name is Idril Narmolanya. Ashley Kingsford's (Ash) own is Larien Anwamanë. For future reference.