A/N: Hello. This is where things will go differently as Bilbo will begin to suffer the Ring's effects as Frodo did. And with that, the threat of the Ring will become clear. I have none more to say for now. Until next time...

Chapter 3: Riddles in the Dark

Down in the caves below, there was a giant body of water. At the center of it was a hermit's hut and a boat where this hermit was. He had on a brown loincloth with a balding head, pale skin, and almost no teeth, and with what teeth he had left, they were as sharp as knives. And he continuously made this guttural noise to clear his throat that if you heard it right, you'd hear him saying "Gollum". As this sad creature fished in the boat, he spoke to himself, addressing his mind to have gone decayed as he spoke on behalf of two people when he was the only one.

"My precious. It is my precious. Hello, my precious."

As the creature dug his hand in the water, he found a fish flopping about before he caught it, denying it any chance of swimming away as he spoke.

"Bless us and splash us. Food for my precious."

Before it could eat, however, the creature heard Bilbo's voice speaking from afar as the owner of said voice tripped in the water before Kira helped him up.

"Eggs and bacon. Spoons all polished. Warm muffins and sweet butter."

"Let me help you up."

Upon noticing the two, the hermit became curious.

"What is that noise, my precious? My precious does not know."

To sooner find an answer, he swam towards them just as Kira had an idea on how to look around.

"Okay. Elrond called it Flamestoke, right? I wonder..."

With that, Kira drew Flamestoke from her scabbard tied around her waist before a bright orange glow came from it and gained the survivors' amazement.

"Bless my soul."

"It really works!"

Perhaps it worked too well, for thanks to the light, it exposed a ring on the ground as it glowed ancient runes onto it before Kira noticed and spoke to Bilbo.

"Is that what I think it is?"

"Hello. What's this?"

Hearing this, Kira remembered what Gandalf had told her about it as it echoed in her mind.

"It is altogether evil and can corrupt and destroy anyone who wears it."

Having been told of this again, Kira spoke up to him as Bilbo picked it up.

"Careful, Bilbo. We don't know if it's the same ring Gandalf warned us about."

"Either way, it'll make a nice souvenir to show the neighbors back home, if I ever get home."

Hearing Bilbo speak about Home so casually, Kira began to get homesick herself as she sighed before she spoke.

"At least you have a home to get back to. Nekron took away mine, along with so many of my friends. My brother, Larn, and I are all that's left of the Northern Village now."

Hearing Kira's sad tale, Bilbo felt bad for her as he tried his best to comfort her.

"I'm terribly sorry about that, Kira. You shouldn't have had to endure such a calamity."

"It's alright, Bilbo. At least I know Larn is alive. And that's all the more reason to find a way out of this place."

But before they could even begin, they heard the hermit's guttural clear of throat before they looked to the direction it came from, seeing him behind a rock before Kira spoke to him.

"Huh? Who are you?"

"Bless us, my precious. Tasty morsels they would make us. What... are they, my precious?"

In spite of its confusing talk, Bilbo understood enough of him as he spoke.

"This is Kira of the North Village. And I am Mr. Bilbo Baggins."

Hearing his name, the creature became interested as he spoke to Bilbo and Kira.

"What iss a Bagginses?"

"It's a family name. We've lost our Dwarves, our wizard, and our way."

"And we want to know how we can get away from here. What's your name?"

The only answer to Kira's question was a harrowing swallowing sound from his throat as the hermit approached.

"Gollum. Gollum."

"Gollum, huh? That's... a bizarre name."

As Kira tried to be polite, not quite sure if he really was hungry and considering dining upon them, Gollum took notice of her sword and didn't like it one bit.

"What's she got... in her handses?"

"In case you get any ideas, we're armed with blades that came out of Gondolin: elvish blades."

As Kira answered boldly, Gollum hissed as he backed away before Bilbo spoke.

"That's better."

Faced with the elvish blades, Gollum decided not to chance it and became quite polite.

"But perhaps we sits here... and chats with them a bitsy, my preciousss? They... like... riddles? Perhaps they do. Do they?"

Hearing this, Kira was beginning to understand his usual speech patterns as she spoke.

"Well, I'm not much for riddling, actually. What about you, Bilbo?"

"Do I like riddles? Well, yes. After a fashion."

Having an idea on how to get high ground on his prey, Gollum spoke up to the two stragglers.

"They must have a competition with us. If precious asks, and they doesn't answer..."

Before he went on, he panted for a moment before he spoke.

"We... eats them, my precious."

Hearing this, Kira and Bilbo were taken aback instantly.

"What?!"

"Oh, I say!"

"But if they ask us, and we doesn't answer, uh-uh... then we shows them the way out."

With the terms set, Kira and Bilbo were inclined to agree as they spoke.

"Oh... Very well."

"It seems we have no choice."

"My precious... We makes the first riddle. Voiceless, it cries. Wingless, flutters. Toothless, bites. Mouthless, mutters. Can it... guess... the answer?"

At that moment, Bilbo couldn't come up with the answer for it immediately, much to Kira's worry.

"Half a moment."

"Don't you know this? I thought you liked riddles."

Fortunately, Kira's thoughts were correct as he'd heard something rather like this riddle before and thought of the answer as he got his word back. However, that didn't mean Gollum wasn't on the prowl.

"Are they nice, my precious? Are they juicy? Gooey? Yucky? Are they scrumptious?"

As Gollum prodded at Kira's chest, she exclaimed in surprise before Bilbo got out his weapon to force him back.

"If you please!"

As Gollum cowered back from the sword with another hiss, Bilbo spoke his answer finally.

"Wind! Wind is the answer."

With Gollum taken down a peg by one riddle, Bilbo took his turn to make a riddle.

"Now, my turn. A box without hinges, key or lid, yet golden treasure inside is hid."

With that, Gollum recognized it from his previous time on the surface as he spoke.

"Let us give us a chance, my precious. Eggses. Eggses it is."

"Oh, bother."

With Bilbo out of luck in the first round, Kira was beginning to understand riddles now. As she tried to come up with one, though, she could only think about the joke that the men always used to tell in her village before she spoke.

"Let me try. What do you put in a barrel to make it lighter?"

Hearing this, Gollum considered it child's play as it laughed before it spake the answer quickly.

"A hole! Of course, a hole!"

Knowing that Gollum had cracked the code on that riddle as easily as opening a jar, Kira became flustered.

"Blast it all."

And with that, Gollum took another opportunity to speak before Bilbo.

"Us now. Now us, my precious."

"I'm aquiver with anticipation."

"Now... This thing, alls things devours. Birds, beasts, trees, flowers. Gnaws iron, bites steel. Grinds hard stones to meal. Slays king, ruins town. And beats high mountain down."

Given this riddle, poor Bilbo tried to come up with any name of Goblin he'd ever heard of, but found none at all, at least no one that did all those things at once. It was entirely different, and he felt as though he should know it as he spoke.

"Hmm. Well, uh, interesting, heh. Yes, now, uh, let me see."

Seeing Bilbo stagger for a moment, Gollum spoke up, trying to confirm his situation.

"What does it answer? What does it answer?"

"Just a moment now."

Alas, Gollum would neither give him a moment nor an inch as he crept closer.

"Hmm, my precious... will they taste delicious? Yes, they will."

As Gollum crept closer, his tongue sticking out to taste first before sinking his jaws in, Bilbo spoke up, too frightened out of his mind to think.

"Give us some time."

"What?! What does it say?!"

"I said time! Time!"

Hearing this as an answer, Gollum began to grunt in a flustered flummox of disappointment as he staggered back in anger and tiredness of the game before Kira spoke.

"What's wrong now?"

"It guess! Time is the answer."

"It is?"

As Kira looked to Bilbo, she didn't realize it was out of pure luck that they're still standing here as he spoke.

"Oh, I knew it all along. That's an old one. Now, fun's fun. Couldn't we get out of here?"

However, not willing to let his meal out of his sight, Gollum crept closer to the two and sat down by them as he spoke.

"No! It's got to ask uss a question, my precious! Yes, yess!"

"Oh, blast, I can't think of another one!"

Regardless of Bilbo's statement, Gollum was still very anxious as he spoke viciously.

"Ask! Ask!"

With that, Bilbo was left with no other choice as he spoke.

"Oh, very well."

As he tried to think of it, Bilbo had his hands in his pockets and felt the ring that they found but forgot about as he spoke.

"What have I got in my pocket?"

Having asked this to himself Bilbo inadvertently got Gollum on the edge as he became frightfully upset.

"Not fair! Not fair to ask my precious what it's got in its nassty, little pocketses!"

Realizing that he got Gollum on the ropes, Bilbo spoke to him again.

"I'm sorry. That's my riddle. And if you can't guess it, you lose and show us out."

"It must give us three guesses, my precious! Three guesses!"

"Very well. By all means, guess away."

Quickly trying to come up with the answer, Gollum began to spout out the first guess that came to mind as he saw his hand in his pocket.

"Handses!"

"Wrong. Guess again."

"A Knife! A knife, it is!"

"Wrong. Last guess."

As Gollum got pushed to the brink of losing the game, he'd begun to get very nervous as he rocked back and forth, wriggling and squirming as Kira started to grow nervous.

"Bilbo, are you sure it's the best idea to let him be like this? He could snap at us any moment now."

Bilbo knew very well what Kira meant by this and was aware of it himself. Although he deigned not to waste his last guess, Gollum could not be trusted to keep any promise at a pinch. Any excuse would do to slide him out of it. But they still had their elvish blades, of course, so when that situation does occur, they'll be ready as Bilbo spoke to the slimy thing.

"Time's up!"

"String, or nothing!"

"Both wrong, I'm afraid."

And with that, the game had ended in Gollum's defeat as he mourned the loss of his food.

"My precious runs out of guesses. My precious loses."

As Gollum cried at his defeat, Kira reiterated him about his promise.

"Well? What about your end of the bargain? You have to show us the way."

Hearing Kira's words, Gollum looked up and spoke a reply to her.

"Did we say so, my precious? Show the nassty Kira and Bagginses the way out, yes, yess. But first... my precious shows them... his something pretty."

Hearing of this from the slimy hermit, Bilbo became curious while Kira became impatient.

"You wish to show us something?"

"Hopefully the way out."

"Cross, it is, impatient, my precious. But it must wait, yess, it must. We can't go into the tunnels so hasty. We must go and get some things first. Yess, things to help us."

"Well, hurry then."

As Gollum went onto the boat and swam back to his cabin, he had a different plan of his own to enact his capture of the prey using what he had received so long ago as he spoke.

"My birthday present. My precious finds a ring... on his birthday... long ago. A golden ring. A magic ring."

Indeed it was. This particular ring was the Ring of Power. If one slipped it on the finger, that one would become invisible, but not in the full sunlight. Fortunately, Gollum was surrounded by the dark, thus giving him advantage against his enemies, be it Goblins, Orcs, Subhumans, and these two stragglers. And yet, not even Gollum could grasp the true power of the Ring, assuming it's the same one that Sauron lost over the ages. Regardless, he sounded satisfied as he rummaged through his oddments to seek after the"present" as he spoke.

"We must gar my precious' birthday present from its hiding place."

With that, he panted as he searched for the ring before Kira spoke to Bilbo.

"It looks like he's a sore loser, and he doesn't plan to help us out of here anytime soon."

"If it comes to another round of riddling, it wouldn't matter; he'll never guess my pocket contained this."

As Bilbo got it out, Kira became worried about what could happen, considering how long Gollum had been living down in this chasm.

"Wait a minute. I think I know how Gollum's managed to survive down here."

"Really? How so, pray tell?"

"That ring. The Goblins traveled in those tunnels, right? So, Gollum must've used it to... to eat them."

"Oh, I say! And I thought us being eaten was the worst he could do to us."

"You're missing the point. Sooner or later, the Goblins are going to figure that out and capture it. And when they do—"

"They'll give it over to Nekron. And then Sauron would return. But how are we to know it's the same ring that Sauron used?"

"I don't know. We'll need to bring this to Gandalf to be sure, but we can't risk using it until then."

At that moment, Gollum's loud shriek interrupted them before Bilbo spoke to her.

"It's becoming difficult not to consider."

At his island, Gollum screamed and grunted about, mourning the item missing from his island.

"Where is it?! Where is it?! My golden ring! My magic ring! Lost, it is. Lost... Lost! CURSE US AND CRUSH US! MY RING, LOST!"

At that moment, Gollum figured out the answer to Bilbo's question, as well as what could've happened to his present.

"My precious remembers. He wears it before... and he drops it on the shore. Curse it! Curse the Bagginses! Curse Kira! They've found it! My ring! My birthday present!"

And so, with vicious abandon, Gollum quickly pedaled to the shore as he shouted while Bilbo spoke.

"My, he does carry on."

Before Bilbo could put it on out of fidgeting, Kira noticed this and stopped him.

"No, don't! You don't know what it'd do."

Upon looking at his fingers, Bilbo realized what could've happened to him as he spoke.

"My goodness. Thank you, Kira. Though, I still would've wondered what could've happened."

"He called it his birthday present and lived here alone all this time. What do you think happened?"

As Kira spoke of its effects, Bilbo became very surprised as he put it away again.

"I'd rather not think anymore of that. What do we do?"

"We have our elvish blades. They'll be more than enough for that thing."

With that, Kira drew her Flamestoke out as Gollum approached and reached the sword before dashing at the two.

"My precious will find it! Will find it! The Bagginses, and the Kira! My precious will crush them and smash them!"

"Get back! I'm warning you!"

However, Gollum was filled with such rage of loss and suspicion in his heart that no sword has any terror for him as he leaped at Kira and began to claw and bite at her as she yelped from the pain and tried to get the creature off of her as she was forced to smash her back on the wall to remove him. However, in his fury, Gollum moved upward to her front, causing her to hit her back on the wall with enough force to bruise her back before she fell to the floor with Gollum laughing at his overworked meal before Bilbo's worry grew more and more as he looked to the ring he held in his pocket. In normal circumstances, knowing full well what it would do, Bilbo wouldn't consider it, but with Kira's life at stake, there was no other option that'd guarantee her safety. His own elvish blade wouldn't be counted out, but if Flamestoke couldn't work on Gollum, what chance would his own weapon have?

"ENOUGH!"

As Bilbo shouted, Gollum was taken aback by the Hobbit's sudden shout of anger as he noticed a red-orange glow coming from the ring as Bilbo held it while Kira looked on in amazement.

Meanwhile, at Ice Peak, Nekron felt a dark and powerful presence flowing through him as he groaned, catching his mother's attention as she ran to him.

"My son! What has happened?!"

As an answer, Nekron balled his hands into his fist before he took as many breaths as he could while standing up before seeing a dark figure of a silhouette above them as he spoke.

"Father?"

Upon hearing his name, Juliana looked to see him and became aghast in surprise as well as he, for he was thought to have perished.

"The Bearer of the Ring, the Wearer of the Ring

Stands on the very brink of fate

Staring into eyes of darkness and despair

That rise and shrink with hate"

Meanwhile, as Gollum cowered at Bilbo's presence, he spoke boldly to the hermit.

"Show us the way out and trouble us no more, or you will be the one crushed and smashed here!"

Seeing the true power of the ring for himself, Gollum knew not to temper him any more and quickly agreed to it as he spoke in a hasty, nervous tone.

"It's... off to the back-door! My precious must make haste to the back-door! Yes, yes, yess! To the back-door!"

As Gollum showed them the way, the ring's glow faded as he fell to the floor exhausted before Kira helped him up.

"Bilbo. Are you okay?"

"I'll live. That was the most bizarre effect I've ever had."

"I should expect it to be. Just don't do anything like that again, okay?"

"I'll try."

With that, the two of them followed the hermit and climbed through the tunnels.

Meanwhile, the darkness daunted the mother and son further as he spake to his progeny.

My son. The ring has returned. You've felt it, too, for it is linked to our lifeblood.

"The ring?"

Upon hearing of this, Nekron was granted the reprieve he needed. The Arkenstone alone granted him but a limited range of his power. But the ring of his father will ensure that his conquest will finally reach its end with success.

"At last, we wait no longer. The One will help us destroy Fire Keep and all who stand in our way!"

Indeed. But to succeed, I must return...

Confused as to how the task can be accomplished, Juliana spoke to the silhouette.

"How can it be done?"

To answer, Sauron spoke of the elements they'd obtained through means of conquest. Granted, they saw no other purpose than retaliation for stealing one of those elements in the form of the Arkenstone, the creation made from Earth as it was made from a common rock by Dwarves. Another element was a Lapis Lazuli from one of the Dale which the Subhumans took away, and the Aviary Diamond taken from the Lord of the Eagles by their Goblins' attack was the last on the list.

The four elements. You've already claimed the Earth, Water, and Air. But the Fire is out of reach.

"The Flame Spark? But Fire Keep has it."

No. The girl does. One named Teegra

Hearing this, Nekron was taken aback by disbelief as he spake in this tone to his father.

"That wretched concubine has it?! How?!"

It matters not, my son. Soon, Jarol's failure will be complete, and the One Ring will be mine...

Meanwhile, Bilbo and Kira came across the back-door that Gollum mentioned and the hermit spoke to them.

"There it is, the back-door..."

With that, Bilbo went forward as he spoke.

"Thank you."

As he did, however, Gollum felt he wasn't ready to depart his present as he crept closer before Kira sensed it coming and got her Flamestoke out before she turned to Bilbo.

"Go on ahead, Bilbo. I'll catch up."

With that, Bilbo nodded to her and got out of the back-door before Gollum attempted to plead to Kira.

"Don't kill us. Don't hurt us. Let us live. Please. Please, let us live. Just... a little longer. Live."

As Gollum continued his pleas, Kira saw how wretchedly pitiful he had become, but she cane to know it wasn't his fault. She was told it could corrupt and destroy anyone who wears it. Who knows how long he's had it for? Even it's Master wouldn't deign to guess.

"Gollum. Gollum. Lost... lost... we are lost. And when precious goes, we'll die. Yes. All of us die! Into the dust... Die... into... the dust."

Having heard enough of Gollum's plea, but not enough to abandon mercy entirely, Kira spoke to the wretched creature.

"How could I kill such a pitiful and cringing abomination? We've come to know the strain of bearing the ring for even a moment, but this miserable creature that's been enslaved to it for years? Go and be off with you! I don't trust you, not as far as I can kick you, but go! If you touch or come near us ever again, I'll hurt you with nasty, cruel steel!"

With that, Gollum had no choice but to comply with Kira's threat as it cowered back into the chasm where it lived as it panted his name before she put her Flamestoke away and spoke to herself.

"It's for your own good. I'm sorry for what the ring's done to you. The burden is ours now."

With that, Kira ran from the tunnel to catch up with Bilbo, who'd long taken off with it.