Chapter 1: It begins

Elrond's point of view*

Elrond was sitting in his study, working, as usual. He sighed, wishing that he did not have to work all the time. He dropped his quill onto his desk and gasped as he felt a sharp pain in his head. Images flashed before his eyes. Burning houses, a bright burning star, crumbling buildings, a scorched land, and a blue, white, and green orb.

"Earth..." a voice whispered in his head. Elrond looked around, but no one was in the room with him. He winced as another image flashed across his vision.

Humans, but with a crazed look in their eyes. Fighting. One took a bite out of the other one's arm and ate it, smiling. The one who had been bitten screeched like a wild animal and threw them self at the other in a whirl of teeth and nails.

"... the flare is upon you... beware a terrible end, for it will happen to you... there is nothing you can do... the flare is upon you..." the voice chanted in a soft voice, laughing , then it left, quite laughter fading into silence.

Elrond stared in horror, then put his face in his hands. He sighed. It must have just been a figment of his imagination. It had to be. There was no such thing as 'Earth.'

Suddenly there was a knock at his door. Elrond did not get up, too lost in thought. The door opened.

"Ada?" Elrond looked up to see Elladan and Elrohir. He stared at them, but did not answer, still too caught up in what just happened and trying to reason with himself that it was, in fact, just his imagination. That nothing like what he had seen could ever happen and that there was no such thing as Earth.

"Is now a good time or..." Elrohir started, looking at Elrond awkwardly, not really sure if his father was staring intently at him, or at something behind him, or if it was just a bad time and his father was trying to signal them to go by staring at them or something along those lines.

"No, no. It is fine, come in. Sit down." Elrond gestured for them to sit and sat up in his chair, gathering himself. He picked up his quill and cleaned up the ink that had gotten onto his desk, then put his quill back in its place.

"Okay, so, Estel seemed a bit weird this morning..." Elladan explained, looking a bit concerned.

"No, not weird, agitated." Elrohir corrected his brother, earning himself a glare from Elladan, but he just gave Elladan a look. Something unknown passed between them, and Elladan stopped glaring at Elrohir.

"Are you sure you weren't causing this 'agitation'?" Elrond inquired, raising his eyebrow.

"We weren't this time. All we did was say hi," Elladan insisted.

"Then he glared at us and told us to go away! That's not normal." Elrohir added. Elrond sighed.

"I wonder why someone would tell you two to go away." He muttered sarcastically, then shook his head. "I'm sure Estel is fine. You are dismissed." Elrond waved a hand towards the door, signaling the twins to leave. Elladan and Elrohir shared a glance with each other, then left.

Elrond rubbed his temples, then went back to work, but not before a new thought entered his mind: What if it wasn't his imagination?

Estel/Aragorn's point of view*

Aragorn was dueling with Legolas. He could tell that Legolas was holding back, trying to make it more fair.

"Come on Legolas, I know you can do better!" Aragorn smiled, blocking another blow from Legolas.

Aragorn suddenly lost his balance when he blocked the next blow Legolas threw at him. Soon he was lying on the ground, Legolas's sword aimed at his throat.

"I win." Legolas smirked, then held out his hand to help Aragorn up.

Aragorn slapped it away, more than slightly annoyed. Legolas just looked at him in confusion, looking slightly hurt. Aragorn got up by himself, stumbling slightly.

"You did not win! I was distracted! You cheated!" Aragorn yelled, scowling. He picked up his sword from where it was on the ground and sheathed it.

"I did not cheat, and you know that." Legolas frowned, looking into Aragorn's eyes. "What has befallen you, Mellon-nin, that has made you so short-tempered?" (My friend)

Aragorn stopped scowling at his friend. He was regretting his sudden anger, in fact, he had no idea why he was angry in the first place. Usually he would just take Legolas's hand and ask for a re-match.

"Goheno nin, Legolas. I did not mean what I said. Nothing has happened to me. Boe i 'waen." With that he turned around, leaving a confused Legolas behind him. (Forgive me) (I must go)

"Daro, Estel!" Legolas shouted, but Aragorn just kept walking, wanting to be alone and sort things out by himself. (Stop)

Aragorn absentmindedly rubbed his temples, then sighed, dropped his hands from his head and continued to walk to his room. He locked the door behind him, making sure that no one could disturb him, then he sat down on his bed and sighed. He assessed himself, and he felt fine. His headache had passed, and his balance was fine. He shrugged. His balance was probably never off, for Legolas's blows could be hard sometimes, hard enough to knock him off balance even when he was ready.

"It was probably nothing." Aragorn muttered to himself, then unlocked his door and headed for the stables. He quickly and quietly made his way down to the stables, stopping only once he had reached the stall that held his horse.

Her name was Roheryn, and she was grey. She was at times ragged-looking but she was a very good horse.

"Hello, Mellon-nin." Aragorn whispered, stroking Roheryn's head. Roheryn leaned into his touch. (My friend)

A few minutes pass as Aragorn tacks up Roheryn. After he is done tacking her up, he makes sure the girth is tight, then he grabs her reins and leads her out of the stables. As soon as Aragorn is outside, he mounts Roheryn.

"Gwaem, Roheryn. Noro lim!" Aragorn kicked Roheryn's sides, sending her into a canter. (Let's go) (run swiftly)

Aragorn sighed in pleasure as the wind whipped his face, sending his hair flying out behind him. He rode Roheryn over the bridge at Bruinen, water raged under the bridge, but he still did not stop to worry as he usually might have. Aragorn steered Roheryn over the stretch of open ground and through the woods, although Roheryn was trained so well that even if he were not guiding her, she could, and would, make it through the woods and open land.

Aragorn finally pulled Roheryn to a stop when he found a nice, quiet place, that he was sure no one would disturb him at. He sighed, and sat down, leaning against a tree. He closed his eyes and relaxed, happy to finally have time to be by himself.

Aragorn's eyes snapped open and he looked up at the sky. It was clouded with dark clouds, about to rain, although before the sky looked clear.

Aragorn ran a hand over his face. He must have fallen asleep. He stood up, happy to find that Roheryn had stayed nearby, he walked over to her and straightened up her tack.

Suddenly thunder boomed and the clouds released their burden, sending rain pouring down. Aragorn cursed, then kicked a nearby rock, sending it tumbling across the ground. He took a deep breath, then mounted Roheryn. He kicked her sides.

"Noro lim!" Aragorn commanded Roheryn, and so she took off, Aragorn riding on her back. (Run swiftly)

Aragorn galloped through the forest as rain poured down around him. He wished he had brought a cloak, but he knew that wishing would not do anything, so he just did what he could and kept riding.

They made good time, and soon they were back at the stables, although both were drenched. Aragorn untacked Roheryn, put her back in her stall and headed back to his room. Aragorn's head had started hurting again, but he just assumed that he was catching a cold, since he had gotten pretty wet.

As soon as he got into his room, he locked the door and went into the bathroom, filling up the tub. As the tub was filling up, he stripped off his wet clothes, tossing them to the side. As soon as the bath was filled, he hopped in. He took his time, making sure to get all the dirt cleaned off him.

He got out of the tub, then dried himself off. Aragorn started to put on his nightclothes, but as soon as he had his pants on, he realized he needed to empty the tub, so he did that.

After Aragorn had emptied the tub, he finished putting on his nightclothes and yawned. He had slept for a while in the woods, but his ride had taken quite a lot of energy out of him. He walked out of his bathroom and flopped down on his bed, closing his eyes, relaxing. He hoped his headache would be gone by the morning.