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Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli watched with panic pumping their hearts and were crouching on the floor on a lower level as the stone of the entrance platform crumbled over the Neo cage. Shrieks and horrible squeals were, mercifully, barely audible over the falling rocks. Black blood started oozing out of the pile of stone, making it look like it was bleeding.
Out of the corners of their eyes, they could see Gandalf's white cloak and staff on a higher level to their left and the glowing iridescent blue of Frodo's Sting climbing up the stairs to the beyond on their right.
Above them was a ceiling so high that they could not see it except for huge slabs of stone and looming columns. Everywhere they looked, they could see designs and architecture that were made in horrible mockery of the once-proud cultures of Middle-Earth's Free Peoples. Instead of being bathed in the glorious light of the sun that made all things beautiful, the heart of the Lair was submerged in the fiery, hellish glow of hundreds of furnaces.
One by one, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli rose to their feet, weapons firmly clasped in their hands. Everywhere around them, they heard the thundering of the Dark minions' footsteps.
Suddenly, a black arrow shot out at them from the shadows. Aragorn swerved out of the arrow's path and parried Anduril to block the next one.
A volley of arrows shot at them from the shadows on both levels. Legolas drew his bow and let fly several of his own arrows into the dark, each of his aims true to their mark. But, even with Aragorn and Gimli by his side to help block the arrows while he shot his own and those he caught, the attack forced him and his friends to back up.
Because of the dancing, confusing light of the fire, they didn't see the hole in the centre of their level that reached to the level below them. Aragorn took a step back onto nothing and fell into the hole with a yell.
"Aragorn!" Legolas dropped down to his stomach and grabbed Aragorn's arm, disregarding the arrows flying above him. He tried pulling him back up to the platform and relied on Gimli for protection from the attack. "Come on, buddy. Just hold on."
Try as he might, Gimli couldn't hold off the persistent volleys of arrows long enough for Legolas to be able to pull Aragorn back onto the platform. He had enough strength and skill to know what angle an arrow shooting at him would bounce off his sturdy Dwarvish armour so he could concentrate on repelling more of the attacks.
The ground rumbled again, making Legolas' grip on Aragorn's arm slide a few inches. Both of them looked at each other in fear while another huge thud slid Aragorn down even more.
"Legolas, whatever happens to me, just keep on going; keep fighting." Yet another vibration in the ground shook them both, leading to only a grip of their hands between them. "Oh, shit, I'm going to drop."
"No, you're not, Aragorn. Hold on." Summoning as much strength as he could, he started pulling him up, carefully avoiding the incoming arrows. "You're almost there, man. Come on."
Aragorn reached up, inches from the very edge of the platform, when he saw an imminent threat to all of them if he didn't take action.
"Legolas! Behind you!"
Looking several times bigger and menacing from Legolas' point of view, a Hunter cast a gigantic shadow across him, Gimli and Aragorn. It had several large gashes courageously made by Gimli and black arrows were sticking out of its back from its fellow demons' missed shots. Blood dripping from every orifice and off its claws, it truly looked like a creature released from the deepest depths of Hell.
Its monstrous claws, soaked in its own blood, were raised high and outstretched, ready to crush its enemies into a mass of pulp and bone.
Without thinking, Gimli and Legolas jumped sideways, away from each other. Right after he rolled and put his feet on the ground, Legolas realized what he had done with his heart stopping and quickly looked over the platform.
"Aragorn!"
He watched as Aragorn landed below and rolled to try and absorb the shock from falling almost twenty feet from his platform. The Hunter then came for him, distracting him from his dear friend. Using his Elven-warrior strength and white knives, he managed to block the Hunter's vertical attack while Gimli attempted to bring it down with his heavy two-edged axe.
The dual attack of Gimli's axe and Legolas' long, pearlescent knives successfully made the Hunter draw back for a moment, giving Legolas some time to look down to see Aragorn.
Even at such a distance, Legolas' Elvish eyes saw that Aragorn took the fall heavily, affecting his upper body the most since most of his weaponry was strapped to his shoulders, waist and back. He was looking back at Legolas, holding his left shoulder and favouring his left side while he stood. Legolas' acute hearing picked up the words he said and the Elf's eyes saw the expression on his face.
"Namarie, mellon nin," he whispered to Legolas with a grin. "May the Valar allow us to meet again."
Perhaps he sensed something Legolas couldn't detect but he immediately turned and ran as best as he could out of sight. His Lorien cloak swished into the shadows, leaving no trace of him for Legolas to see.
"Aragorn! ARAGORN!"
His preoccupation almost led to his death since the Hunter, enraged, rushed to attack him without him taking too much notice.
Legolas felt the rumblings beneath his feet. He heard the bellowing of the Hunter as it raced towards him with its deadly claws outstretched. He even saw the dark shadow pour across him but he did not do anything until it was barely two meters away. Only when the triumphant roar of the monster was that close did he notice and whirl around to stare in fear at it.
For a split second, he saw his widened blue eyes and terrified face in the reflection of the Hunter's own blood-red, mutated eyes. In that fraction of a second, he saw not the Prince Legolas of Mirkwood but the young boy Leo Grayfield who just let his closest friend drop into the shadows and out of reach.
Gimli, possessing a speed believed to be impossible with all his armour, came sprinting from Legolas' left side and football-tackled him down to the ground, pushing the both of them out of immediate harm's way.
The Hunter's claw came down immediately, crashing into the sold rock that separated the different levels. The stone was too strong to be cracked or damaged too much by the Hunter's blow and caught its wickedly long black claws, keeping it still while it tried to get loose.
"Don't worry about Aragorn, Legolas!" Gimli said as he pulled the Elf forcibly to his feet. "Keep your mind on more pressing matters, like that gigantic Hunter!"
"But... Aragorn..."
"... will be fine! That Man can take care of himself," Gimli snapped at him. He saw that the Hunter was just about ready to pull itself out of the stone and start on a mad attack on them. He armed himself with his trust two-edged axe and growled to Legolas, "You of all people should know and trust that insane kid enough to know that he'll be okay."
"Yeah," gasped Legolas with a weak voice. "Yeah, he'll be all right." He said with a stronger tone, "He'll be fine. You're right. He'll be okay."
"You know I'm right."
The Hunter brought down its deadly claws in a horrible hacking motion, ripping the ground up and sending great vibrations throughout the level. It was repeatedly pierced by Legolas' amazing precision with his old, trusty Lorien arrows and his own modern poison-tipped arrows. The great Hunter could feel the poison seeping through its black veins and slowing it down. It barely even felt the small Dwarf chop its leg with his axe or the fresh arrow that Legolas had let loose into its collar.
"The poison," Legolas said with a small grin, "it's working."
Just as he finished that comment, the Hunter let out one last pitiful roar and collapsed onto its knees. It remained there, glaring at the boys for a moment. It sunk lower to the ground and its eyes closed with the appearance of falling asleep.
"Is it...?" Gimli breathed. He kept a firm grip on his axe as he crept forward.
The Hunter's eyes snapped open, black blood pouring from them. In one last act of vengeance, it whipped around and threw itself into the field of wriggling pods. Its claws burst several of them but the vibration it caused when it the ground awakened many, many more.
Legolas and Gimli watched with bated breath as the first vibration sent a wave across the huge field of pods. As if to reinforce the resonance, a second wave flew across the field, completely independent of the first wave. At once, many oozing pods grew and inflated like so many grotesque, slimy balloons growing from the ground. Legolas could hear the screeching of Neos mingled with the low snarls and roars of the gigantic Hunters.
A flurry of movement beyond the field caught Legolas' eye. Trying not to think about his fear, he focussed his Elven eyes to see what it was.
"Orcs, Neos and Hunters," he said softly, "along with Uruk-Hai and Berserkers." He took a deep breath. "It has been an honour to battle alongside you, Gimli."
"It has been an honour just to be your friend, Legolas," he replied gruffly. "But you already know that."
Legolas chuckled softly, pulled back his bow and waited. Just out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw flashes of white light dance across the stone.
The Orcs and Uruk-Hai continued to march from beyond the field of pods but both Gimli and Legolas could clearly hear that all the Dark creatures were chanting a war song in complete unison. Their armour crashed with one another as they banged their fists and weapons against their chests in rhythm of their fear-inspiring song. Each crash and thundering step brought more Orcs and Uruk-Hai and led the whole army towards all the members of the Fellowship.
All the while, several pods had grown to monstrous proportions. Through the sickly translucent film that was laced with pulsing black veins, a silhouette of a Hunter was seen in each of the stretching pods. Small pods with the shadows of Neos were also growing and squirming, itching to emerge from their ungodly wombs.
The nearest Hunter pod ripped open with the sound of an explosion from the pressure the Hunter made against it. The monster opened its enormous jaws with long, razor-sharp teeth and roared a bellow that shook the ground.
In under a minute, almost a quarter of the whole field had awakened and emerged from their pods. They each let out an ear-splitting cry when they exploded from their slimy cages. Each of them had to take a fraction of a moment to realize their purpose of life and set out to do their simple task: Find the Holders of Light and destroy them in any way possible.
The Hunter nearest to Gimli and Legolas gazed upon them and immediately recognized the Light in them. With slime still dripping off its body, it started to attack them.
At once, seeing that it was going to try and attack Gimli first, Legolas rushed forward and let loose a diamond-tipped arrow into the Hunter's chest. He could hear bone and sinew break as it pierced the Hunter's body. The Hunter emitted a loud, pained cry that merely added to the chaos.
By now, the Dark creatures had been really whipped into a frenzy by the close presence of Legolas and Gimli along with the Orcs and Uruk-Hai's chants and the echoes of the cavern. The Neos relinquished what little control they had over their destructive instincts and began attacking anything that moved, be it Orc, Uruk, Hunter or Light.
Gimli side-stepped Legolas and buried his axe into a Neo's skull and chopped another attacking Neo in half with only two broad, sweeping strokes. Legolas quickly stashed his bow onto his back and whipped out his knives to join him.
Even with the powerful forces of both Gimli's incredible strength and Legolas' swiftness, they found it difficult to keep the frenzied Neos from killing them in a swarm.
Suddenly, the legendary sound of a horn rang through the Lair of Darkness. Everything halted and all sounds were silenced. The Horn sounded again, clear and brilliant as it was at Amon Hen. The rich and proud song of the Horn of Gondor heralded the ancient and forgotten city of Minas Tirith and the country of Gondor.
Ever Dark creature on that level looked around fearfully as the trumpeting of the Horn sounded again and again. The sound bounced off the walls, reaching every corner of the Dark Lair and filled the air with an other-worldly feel. It scared them. It shot a fear and intimidation in the Dark creatures that unearthed the deep memories of the Men, Elves and Dwarves of Middle-Earth. The demons wailed frightened sounds when the well-known memories of the Wars of Middle-Earth and the unbeatable courage and strength of the Free Peoples resurfaced in their collective minds.
The air grew cool and became less humid and stuffy. Ripples appeared where they couldn't have been as distant cries of an ancient tongue rang through the air. Faint tendrils crept through the ripples as if to check the environment.
Then, everything went silent. The Horn of Gondor ceased.
Another Horn answered the first call. It came from everywhere yet nowhere at once. Faint and distant at first but it grew louder with every trumpet blast it made.
Legolas and Gimli felt the sound of the Horn coming from deep inside them. They could feel the magic of Light calling and guiding their allies who they had once fought side by side with so many long millennia ago. As the Horn grew louder and louder, they could feel the spirits of Middle-Earth come closer and closer.
The ripples appeared again in every spot imaginable. Pearly wisps of ghostly energy flew out of all the ripples, yelling and chanting ancient war songs of Gondor, the Rohirrim and of all the Moriquendi, Sindarin and Calaquendi cultures of all the Elves.
Grinning and with hearts flooding with relief, Legolas and Gimli watched as the plain white wisps of energy gradually formed the beings of Men and Elves of Middle-Earth, ready to battle. They saw the dozens of different banners representing the kingdom and ruler they served under fly high in the air, caught in a wind only the spectres could feel.
The ghosts wasted no time, scattering and battling the Dark creatures as soon as they crossed the barrier between the dead and the living. Familiar armoury, weapons and methods of battle were seen everywhere on that level with the pale spirits spreading out to every corner of the Lair.
However, the new Army of Middle-Earth was driven by the magic of Light. Unlike the Dead Army of the War of the Ring, their weapons could be deflected and they lacked the ability to drain the life out of their enemies.
What resulted was an actual war between Light beings against Dark. But the demons of Darkness had one ability most of the beings of Light did not: the ability to die. Despite the fact that after the first surge of Light spirits came through the Army of Middle-Earth grew slowly, the number of Dark creatures was gradually being decreased but not fast enough.
Legolas and Gimli were doing their fair share of the fighting against the Darkness when a voice called out their names.
"Legolas! Gimli!"
They turned to face the voice to see a team of Elves rush through them to battle the group of Orcs and Uruk-Hai they were fighting. Coming up behind the Elves was an old friend, still dressed in the armour and weaponry they had last seen him in.
"Haldir of Lorien," Legolas said respectably and gave a slight bow. "You are most welcome here, my friend."
"Your welcome is most gracefully accepted and honoured throughout all Elves and Men in the Army of Middle-Earth," said Haldir, "especially the allied feelings from the Prince of Mirkwood and the great son of Gloin, Gimli the Dwarf."
Being respectful to the Lothlorien Elves for once, Gimli gave a small smile and bowed his head for a fraction of a second.
"Legolas, Gimli. Although we have no fear of death and can defeat the army of the enemy, you must help us by stopping the flow of Darkness. Watch out to your left." He helped the boys with his whirling long sword to shield them from the incoming arrows.
"What do we have to do?" Gimli asked Haldir above the noise around them. He swung his great axe into an Orc who got too close.
"You must destroy the spawning creatures in that field. In the middle is a large pool that is the food source for the whole Lair. It connects to every single pod in the field and if that is poisoned with the power of Light, we believe that it will destroy the whole field."
"What did you say?" Legolas called over his shoulder as he ripped apart a Neo with his white knives.
"We have to cross that fucking field of spawning death and use the Light to poison the shit-filled hole-in-the-ground that the Dark creatures call the food basin to kill them all!" Gimli yelled.
Legolas sharply turned to look at Haldir to confirm the order. One look from the Lorien Elf told him that it was their mission and there was little chance of survival.
"Let's go, Gimli." He grabbed the Dwarf's hood on his cloak and forced him to follow him into the field of ungodly pods.
Throughout that level were battles and scenes of war. Everywhere, there were the pale ghosts of Middle-Earth fighting mercilessly against the Dark creatures. Their silvery weapons met with black metal and pierced armour, flesh and bone. They were, in fact, exact counterparts of their bodies that had once walked the earth five millennia in the past. They reacted and moved the same way and their figures remained as they were when they swore loyalty to the rightful King of Men and the Fellowship. They even fell and obeyed the laws of gravity and science.
But the biggest differences, which turned to their advantage, were that their weapons, although spiritual, could draw blood and that the spirits were not alive or dead, so they could not die nor suffer injury.
Each swing of the weapons of Light clashed with a sword or drew the black blood of Darkness. Each attack sharpened the edge of a sword of Light as it sliced through the live sinew of Dark flesh. Soon, the level was stained with the splatter of bloody limbs, mutilated corpses and the bloodbath of Light destroying the rampant Darkness.
A team that was helping Haldir's troupe of Elves was Eomer and his group of Rohirrim. Together, they formed a formidable force that had united under the proud banners of Rohan and Lothlorien.
A Hunter, being driven to wild and powerful destruction by an Orc standing on its shoulders and commanding it, began to stomp towards Legolas and Gimli, who were desperately making their way through the field of pods. Bellowing with rage and confusion caused by the absolute noise in the echoing cavern, it made a destructive path heading straight for the two boys.
"Eomer!" Haldir shouted at him and shot a long Lorien arrow at the Hunter. "We must get it away from them!"
Gliding through the Lair on a great spirit-horse, Eomer turned about and galloped towards the Hunter. Haldir, using a trick that Legolas had previously taught him, grabbed the horse's harness and swung himself into the saddle, right behind Eomer, in one fluid movement.
To anyone who was watching, Eomer and Haldir appeared to be alive and full of energy. Their outlines seemed to become less blurred and even their equipment looked to have solidified and become real.
The spirit-horse raced across the stone, through the growing pools of black blood without a single ripple, and ploughed over any Dark creature that was in its path. As quick as the wind itself, it galloped up to the Hunter and jumped in front of it, allowing its riders to attack.
With Elvish accuracy, Haldir shot the Orc-rider squarely between the eyes, leaving nothing but a straight hole in its head. Eomer grasped his spear tightly in his hand and hurled it at the Hunter's head. These two attacks crossed each other in midair before meeting their targets at the exact same time.
A shower of blackness burst from the back of both Dark creatures' heads and poured down to the edge of the field, mingling together.
The Orc toppled off the injured Hunter with little more than a miniscule fraction of life still within it. The giant monster itself keeled over and crushed many pods with disgusting splashes of slime.
Splatters of black blood exploded and mixed with the thick, viscous sludge that kept the monsters growing. The whole mixture burst from the pods and struck the walls of stone around them. The chaos and destruction seeped into the pods and roused many more creatures from their sleep. The noise and the scent of blood lured many more Orcs and Uruk-Hai from deep within the Lair.
Legolas and Gimli were winding their way around the writhing pods, racing the reach the giant pool of bubbling mass. Their feet splashed through the overflowing residue of filth and exploded pods.
Many of the creatures in the pods uttered guttural moans as they passed and their claws reached out slowly to grab their flesh. Those that managed to break the barriers of their hellish wombs tried to follow the boys but almost always gave into the temptation of sheer madness and chaos that was war, which Legolas and Gimli were running away from. Those that resisted the temptation were easily killed by the hand of either Gimli or Legolas before the creature reached them.
As the two boys reached closer and closer to the pool in the middle of the field, the disgusting stench that pervaded the whole cavern grew stronger and stronger. When they reached the edge of the pool, they almost retched at the strength and the source of the smell.
Protruding from several places in the bubbling sludge were various pieces of rotting corpses. Humans, Orcs, Neos, Uruk-Hai, Hunters, Parasites... all of their bodies were thrown into the pool to rot and feed the growing creatures. A quick glance over the surface of the pool showed that the majority of the bodies were human. Undoubtedly, the sick and elderly or those who were unsuited to be Hosts were killed for this purpose.
The top half of a man's body was floating near the surface not too far from Legolas and Gimli. The very top of his head was above the ooze but the rest of him was completely submerged.
Under the surface, his skin was pale and sinewy, being eaten away by the acidic compound of the Dark sludge. Several of his fingers were missing as well as a large chunk from his abdomen. Muscle and white bone were clearly seen through the compound, falling off gradually and dissolving into nothing and being mixed in with the rest of the disgusting mixture. However, his face seemed most disfigured with his jaw brutally knocked halfway off his face and half his face partially dissolved by the acidity of the mixture. One of his eyelids was being eaten away and the eye was protruding out of its socket.
"Oh, God, I think I'm going to vomit," groaned Gimli. "The festering swamps of the Dead Marshes and the burning pile of Uruks Eomer made for us smelled better."
"Please don't throw up," Legolas said, trying not to throw up himself and to ignore the overwhelming smell and disgusting sights in front of him. "Watch my back, all right?"
Legolas crouched down next to the pool and let Gimli fight off any and all enemies who came. He rummaged through his pockets, desperately looking for the small, crystal vial that was so crucial to their mission. At last, after a moment of searching and four attacks from Parasites, he withdrew the Light of Earendil.
"Aiya Earendil Elenion Ancalima!"
In his hands, the sparkling radiance of the Light shimmered vibrantly and purified the air around them. Without being told, he knew what he had to do.
"With what grace and power that lies within me," Legolas said softly in his native Sindarin, "let the Light of this world pierce the Darkness and reclaim the life it once had!"
The little vial of starlight shot bright shafts of light from between Legolas' fingers. He pulled off the stopper on the bottle and poured out the sacred Light into the pool. Despite its size, the liquid light of the stars never stopped flowing.
The liquid sank through the sludge, slowly at first, but it began to spread quickly. The faint glowing that flickered near the bottom grew bigger and stronger by the second. In an instant, the light was shining through the compound like the sun, stars and moon combined in a dark night.
By instinct, Gimli pulled Legolas away from the very edge of the pool and watched with him as the light spread through the sludge, changing it to a crystal-clear substance. A dark mist rose from the pool as the mutilated, dissolving bodies dissipated when the Light touched and destroyed the Darkness within them. Gimli could almost hear the sighs of relief come from the souls who were trapped by the magic of the Dark Master. He watched as the mist faded and disappeared into the peacefulness of fulfilled death.
Soon, the Light overflowed from the pool and into the field of birthing pods. It flowed through the field in the pattern of a web, winding between the pods and pulsing veins. Each particle of Darkness it touched was destroyed and purified. In a matter of minutes, the absolute purity and potency of the Light of Earendil had devastated the army of the Darkness. Any Dark creature foolish enough to come into contact with it was killed almost instantly.
"Whoa," Gimli said in amazement as he and Legolas watched the wave of destruction the Light caused as it spread. "Is there any left?"
"Yeah." Legolas looked closely at the vial after he put the stopper back onto the vial. "It looks like it hasn't even been used."
The Light of Earendil was indeed still filled to the top with the power of the stars.
At the same time, they looked at the clear, harmless product of Light and the absolute destruction it left behind as it flooded over the field. They looked from the withering pods of dying creatures to the Light in Legolas' hand to the dissolving Orcs who were chased into the now-Light field back to the Light in Legolas' hand.
"Magic of the Elves," Legolas said simply with a grin. He carefully put the Light of Earendil, which was dimming itself for the moment, back into a pocket within his clothes.
They were just about to go and help the ancient Army of Middle-Earth when something dropped down from a higher level, made a tremendous splash and dissolved within two seconds of being submerged in the solution. The mist that rose from the splash swirled and disappeared in a flash.
"What the fuck was that?" Gimli yelled and searched what he could see of the upper levels.
Legolas, too, looked up and saw a glimpse of a bright, shimmering blue before he heard a familiar scream echo from deeper in the Lair. He felt his hear stop when he suddenly felt a void within himself.
"Legolas...?"
"By the Valar, no..." Without waiting, he sprinted around the clear pool, through the field and deeper into the Lair. Gimli followed close behind with his armour clanking like usual and frantically asking him who screamed since the Elf obviously recognized the voice.
"Who was it, Legolas? I could barely hear it with this thick helmet on my head. It sounded vaguely familiar but I'm not quite sure..."
Slightly out of breath, the two boys came to another opening in the ground that linked all the levels of the Lair together. They looked down and saw a sight that broke their hearts.
"Oh, God, no," Legolas said. He sank down to his knees and stared down to the level below them. "This can't be happening..."
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A/N: Not much character development, hmm? But I think TSFD needed a chapter just for destroying things, since the sudden fall of a powerful force usually isn't because it was done neat and tidily.
If you have any questions, I don't mind being asked. E-mailing me is probably the best way to get a reply, but I feel better if people reviewed. That's just me, though.
3 chapters left.
Next chapter: The Path of Redemption.