See the first chapter for all the notes and disclaimers, nothing has changed. The song below is called Away From Me and is by Evanescence
My Time in Mordor
Chapter 2: Take me away from me
I hold my breath as this life starts to take its toll
I hide behind a smile as this perfect plan unfolds
But oh, God, I feel I've been lied to
Lost all faith in the things I have achieved
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The next few days were fairly peaceful. The Nazgul, as the old man had called them, had made no attempts to get her, though she vowed not to let that lull her into a false sense of security. On the second day Sereina asked the man if there was any other way for her to protect herself and he had showed her the armory. Gleefully she had picked out a light sword and had started practicing with it. Though she knew from what the old man said about the Nazgul she would never be as strong as they were, it still comforted her to know that she could at least defend herself.
With her almost constant training she had little time to think about anything else. Because of this the next week went by quickly. Every now and then she would completely forget the threat of the wraiths but would soon remember and berate herself for her carelessness. When the man told her there was no known way for her to get home she had immersed herself in the books she had found in the library that outlined the new worlds history. Once or twice she had found Sauron's name along with his old master's Melkor. Even with more knowledge to emphasize his danger she nearly forgot him. That was until a warm night two weeks after her near capture.
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Sereina was woken that night by one of the all too familiar shrieks that were the Nazguls'. The windows were open so she was allowed the faint sound of rain and the even fainter sounds of hooves on stone. Another shriek sounded, this one much closer, and Sereina sprung into action. As she scrambled for the flint needed to light the candle she half fancied she could hear the clang of armor against stone. Finally a spark hit the wick and a small flame rose unsteadily.
The sound of armor had grown louder and out of desperation she ran forward and pushed the writing desk's chair under the doorknob. She jumped back and watched the knob rattle as one of the wraiths tried the door. She heard a slight hiss on the other side of the door and jumped as one of them threw themselves against the door. The wood bulged slightly but did little else. After a moment a glimmer of metal caught her eye and she wore as the sword crashed through the chair, rendering it useless as a hindrance.
Once more the door was tried, this time with success and five of the wraiths flooded into the room like a blight. The one holding the sword stopped in front of her and the others fanned out behind him. The one in front, she thought it was the leader and could recall the old man saying he was called the Witch King of Angmar, walked toward her and reached out as if to pluck the candle, which she was holding before her like a shield, out of her hands. As he approached she could feel the fear rising to choke her like it had the first time she had met one of its kind. Feeling panicky, and knowing it would mar her judgment, she tried to push the fear down but was distracted when she noticed the wraith's gauntleted hand had not moved any closer. As she looked at him his head tilted and she could almost feel his confusion.
Almost a minute passed before she heard a raspy sound and it took her a minute to figure out that the Witch King was laughing.
"Why doesn't it surprise me that that wretched wizard would have a ward against us?" he said, lifting his head. His voice was raspy, like sandpaper rubbing together and Sereina flinched when he spoke again. "But you do realize that it will but out, don't you? Not even that will stay."
"No, it won't burn out," Sereina replied, looking at where the wraith's face would be, hoping she sounded surer than she felt. At the moment she felt distrust creeping through her as she wondered why the old man had not come to her aid. Surely he had heard the wraith. She swore to herself and wondered why she hadn't been taught a sure way to be rid of the Nazgul. Anger started to rise but her attention was pulled back to the wraith in front of her as he raised his sword and brought the flat side down toward her head.
Sereina raised the candle as if to ward off the blow and was surprised when the blade stopped about a foot from the candle. The wraith hissed and swung again to no avail. Sheathing the sword he tried to reach around the candle and grab her but was once more stopped. Realizing that he wasn't going to be able to capture her the Witch King motioned for the others to leave. After checking to see if all the others were out of the room he slowly lowered the hood of his cloak. It took a moment for her mind to register what she was seeing but when it did she took a step back out of surprise. Now she remembered where she had heard the name Sauron before. One of her friends had a slight obsession with Lord of the Rings and a full-blown obsession with the evil in it. Vaguely she could recall her friend going on about Sauron and his invisible servants, who were ironically called the Nazgul.
When the wraith had taken off the hood the only thing visible was two glowing red eye, which she had assumed had been concealed by the shadow of the hood. Once again it spoke, it's voice sending a chill down her spine. "We will return and then you will know true terror." With a sweep of his cloak he turned and departed.
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Sereina looked at her reflection in the water and let what the old man had said run through her head once more. After finally gaining the courage, she had asked him why the first wraith she had come across had commented on her virginity. The old man had told her that the spell they wanted to perform on her would be given more power if she were a virgin. She still didn't quite understand how it would help the spell any and had eventually stopped trying to get information out of the old man.
Sereina frowned as a piece of her hair fell into the water. Slowly she pulled back the long auburn strand and tucked it behind her ear. Above her pale reflection the water was stained orange, pink, and red. She looked up and noticed how far the sun was down. There was only a blood red sliver left and as she looked at it she was reminded of the Witch King's eyes. A shiver ran up her spine and the sun finally winked out, leaving the world a dull gray with only a few clouds to illuminate it.
Sighing happily, she leaned back and looked at the full moon. She had always liked the night more then the day and soon her worries seemed to melt away with the new calm she felt. She watched as the stars slowly came out and then lay completely down as a slight breeze picked up and tickled her face.
Still feeling content, but knowing she should not stay out all night, she stood and grabbed the sword she had started to carry with her and snapped it into place. Taking one last look around she started to walk back.
As she walked she noticed that it had suddenly gotten very quiet and found herself growing nervous, even though she told herself it was nothing. Needless to say she jumped when the all too familiar shriek sounded through the night. For a moment she wondered why the wraith didn't find a quieter way to communicate and then ran in the opposite direction of the noise. After a few moment of stumbling through the underbrush and making enough noise to drown out an army, she felt the wind change. It now carried the stench of decay.
Stopping abruptly she listened for any sounds and heard a soft crack off to her right followed the unmistakable sound of a sword being drawn. Knowing she couldn't out run the wraith she removed her own sword and braced for an attack. When the attack did come she realized how unprepared she was. To the right the foliage burst open and she screamed in surprise. She barely had time to react when the wraith's sword descended toward her. Out of pure instinct she brought her own sword up. When the two blades collided the blow was so strong that she almost dropped the sword as it was deftly pushed aside by the wraith's blade. Sereina hadn't really though about how hard it would be to fight someone who was actually trained with a sword like the wraith was. Taking back her former decision she turned and ran. The wraith must have realized it would soon have a chase on its hand if it didn't do something and swung the flat end of the blade as hard as he could at the back of her head, effectively dropping her. Sereina gave one last attempt to stand as light headedness took over her, but failed. The last thing she felt was being flipped over and lifted off the ground by an unnaturally strong hand.
