Boromir, son of Denethor, found himself standing and thought it odd. He had felt the black-feathered arrows pierce him, had felt the rough bark of the tree as he sank against it. He had been dying. He knew it all too well. And yet, he was standing, and there was no more pain, and the darkness that had been encroaching at the edges of his sight was gone.
Boromir laughed. The Steward's Heir would live to fight again! But the triumphant mirth died on his lips when he looked down and saw his body. His face, he thought, looked peaceful enough. But the body was pierced by many shafts, and his Horn lay next to him, cloven in twain. Kneeling next to him was a tall man, his careworn face broken with grief, and behind the kneeling figure stood an Elf and a Dwarf, their heads bowed in sorrow.
"I've seen worse," came a voice from behind him. Boromir whirled in alarm, only to see that the speaker was a maiden. She was dressed in a long black gown, and her skin was as white as the snows on Mindolluin. She appeared young, but when Boromir looked into her eyes, they were as deep as starlit pools, deeper and older even than those of the Lady of the Golden Wood. She smiled at him and held out her hand. "It's time to go, Boromir."
"But my companions," he cried. "I cannot leave them now, in their hour of need. And what of the Halflings? I-" The protests died upon his lips as he continued to glance between the woman and his companions. They were smoothing his hair and beard, cleaning his face and removing the arrows - dressing him as one dresses a corpse for its final rest. He forced himself to look away.
"They'll be fine," she reassured Boromir, with a smile that was both friendly and compassionate. "Come," she repeated and held out her hand once more.
Hesitantly, Boromir took her hand. It was cool and as slender as a willow wand, but there was strength in it, as ancient as the foundations of the world. "Where are we going," he asked.
The maiden answered Boromir with an enigmatic smile and led him through the tunnel, toward the Light and beyond the Circles of the World.