A/N: The Dreamers is a band that I made up for the first story: "Dreamer." The Dreamers is Tammy, Kristy, Cal, and Jim's favorite band. In the story "Dreamer," they won backstage passes to a Dreamers concert.
Chapter One – The Dream
Everything was dark. Suddenly, a voice whispered in some strange tongue. "I amar prestar aen. The world is changed. Han mathon ne nen. I feel it in the water. Han mathon ne chae. I feel it in the earth. A han noston ned 'wilith. I smell it in the air. Once that once was, is lost, for none now live who remember it.
"It began with the forging of the great rings." There were three beings with long flowing hair and pointed ears. All of them were tall. "Three were given to the elves, immortal, wisest, and fairest of all beings." Seven shorter beings with beards came into focus. "Seven to the dwarf lords, great miners and craftsmen of the mountain halls." Then, nine humans were visible, all cloaked in black. "And nine…nine rings were gifted to the race of men, who, above all else, desire power. For within these rings was bound the strength and power to govern each race.
"But they were all of them deceived, for another ring was made. In the land of Mordor, in the fires of Mount Doom, the dark lord Sauron forged, in secret, a master ring to control all others." Hot molten metal was poured into a mold of some kind. "And into this one ring, he poured his cruelty, his malice, and his will to dominate all life. One ring to rule them all.
"One by one, the free lands of Middle-earth fell to the power of the ring, but there were some who resisted." An army marched forward into battle against the evil creatures of Mordor. "A last alliance of men and elves marched against the armies of Mordor, and on the slopes of Mount Doom, they fought for the freedom of Middle-earth."
"Tangado haid! Leithio i philinn!" One of the elves, with long dark brown hair, cried to his troops.
"Victory was near, but the power of the ring could not be undone." A monstrous creature in black armor from head to toe swung its large mace around, sending all in its path flying through the air. This creature advanced upon a king, and the king was slain. " It was in this moment, when all hope had faded, that Isildur, son of the king, took up his father's sword. Sauron, the enemy of the peoples of Middle-earth, was defeated.
"The ring passed to Isildur, who had this one chance to destroy evil forever, but the hearts of men are easily corrupted, and the ring of power has a will of its own." Isildur and his men rode alongside the river. Isildur was wearing the ring on a chain around his neck. "It betrayed Isildur to his death." An army of hideous creatures, not unlike those in the previous battle, ambushed the party. Isildur was slain. His body floated down the river face down with arrows protruding from his back. "And some things that should not have been forgotten, were lost." The ring that Isildur once had in his possession settled at the bottom of the river. "History became legend. Legend became myth. And for two and a half thousand years, the ring passed out of all knowledge. Until, when chance came, it ensnared a new bearer." A hand reached into the water and retrieved the ring. "Who took it deep into the tunnels of the Misty Mountains, and there, it consumed him."
"It came to ussss…my own…my love…my own…my preciousssss," a creature hissed from with in a dark cavern.
"The ring brought to Gollum unnatural long life. For five hundred years, it poisoned his mind, and in the gloom of Gollum's cave, it waited. Darkness crept back into the forests of the world. Rumor grew of a shadow in the east…whispers of a nameless fear, and the ring of power perceived its time had now come.
"It abandoned Gollum. Something happened, then, the ring did not intend. It was picked up by the most unlikely creature imaginable…"
"What's this?" the creature asked as he picked the ring up from behind a rock.
"…A hobbit. Bilbo Baggins of the Shire."
"A ring," Bilbo said.
"Looooossst!" Gollum screamed from the depths of the cave. "My love…my preciousss is looooossst!"
Bilbo looked up in fright and fled.
"For the time will soon come when hobbits will shape the fortunes of all."
The voice grew softer, kinder, and more urgent as everything went dark once more. It was almost a whisper.
"We await your presence in Middle-earth, tithen pen."
Tammy shot up as she awoke. This wasn't the first time she had this dream. She had had that same exact dream every night for the past two weeks.
'I have had that dream too many times for it to be mere coincidence,' she thought.
Then, she rolled over and attempted to go back to sleep, though sleep never came.
"Can you believe it, Tammy? He asked me out! He actually asked me out!" Kristy said. Then, when she noticed that Tammy wasn't even listening, she said, "Tammy…Tammy…earth to Tammy…"
"I don't think she heard you," Cal said. The four friends were walking to their first class of the day, which they all had in common.
Then, Jim waved his hand in front of Tammy's face. "Hey, Tammy." Tammy didn't even blink. "Tammy, the Dreamers are over there. They want to talk to you." Still nothing.
"I think we lost her," Cal said.
They began to get worried. The only time Tammy ever got like that was when she had a dream about a major catastrophe that had to be stopped.
Kristy forced Tammy to look her straight in the eye. "What's wrong?" she asked, concerned.
Once Tammy focused, she replied, "Nothing. Everything's fine. Why?" She only hoped that her friends bought it.
"You went into zombie mode," Jim informed. "There's only one thing that causes that…when something major is going on."
"So, what's going on?" Cal asked.
Knowing that her friends knew her too well for her to just get away with lying, and that they wouldn't leave her alone unless she told them, she decided to explain. "Well, I've been having the same dream every night for the past two weeks. It explains the history of this place called Middle-earth. At the end of the dream, this eerie voice says 'We await your presence in Middle-earth, tithen pen.' I've had this dream way too many times for it to be nothing. Besides, the urgency of it was pretty strong the last time I had it."
"I don't know, Tammy," Kristy said. "I mean, I don't doubt the fact that you had that dream or the fact that all of your other dreams like that came true. But, come on. How could you even get to this 'Middle-earth'? How do you even know it exists?"
"I don't know," Tammy admitted. "But I can't just ignore it." Then Tammy felt a wave of dizziness. She swayed in her step and stopped, waiting for the dizzy spell to pass. When it didn't, she closed her eyes and grabbed Cal's arm for support.
"Are you okay?" Cal asked.
"I'm fine," Tammy insisted, while it was obvious that she wasn't. She had gone pale and her hold on Cal became more like a death grip in an attempt to stay upright. Then, everything went black.