"Mellon", someone in the cave shouted out and the cave door opened.
The fellowship were bewildered by the sight in front of them. There was a large tree standing. It was dressed with beautiful orbs that shined in the dark. As soon as they took some further step light suddenly came above from snowflakes that was slowly falling from the ceiling and then disappeared a few meters above their head. Behind the tree they saw many books. They seemed endless. Frodo couldn't help but think that there was someone who loved stories more than his uncle Bilbo.
The doors behind the slammed and disappeared as it was replaced with a fireplace instead.
"This is not quite how I remembered the mines of Moria looking like", Gandalf said.
"Nope, Gandalf are you sure we are in the right place?", the dwarf beside him looked around as if searching for someone.
"These orbs...", Legolas said and moved forward as he touched one before falling down instantly and cried.
The rest of the fellowship rushed towards him and got him away from the tree.
"The dwarves. They are all dead", he simply said but only managed to whisper it out.
"Dead? Impossible", Gimli refused to believe that all of them were.
"No, its true. It was as if I saw through the eyes of the dwarves. They were killed by goblins", Legolas had managed to dry his tears.
"It cannot be...", Gandalf said. "Well, I suppose we simply need to walk through the door to recieve some answers he said and nodded towards the giant door at the end of the hall.
Merry and Pippin were the first to get there as they slowly opened the doors. Instead of any threat that they were expecting they stumbled upon couches chairs, a fireplace. There wasn't any type of room that they had ever seen before in front of their eyes. Then a woman walked downstairs. She wore a long black dress. Her hair was short almost like a man and had the colour of fire. She frowned when she saw them.
"Intruders", she uttered the word before taking out two daggers.
"Wait, young lady. We are not intruders", Gandalf began. "We are the fellowship put together to destry the ring of power. We have come to camp here at the mines of Moria.
"You speak the truth", she said automatically.
"And who are you fair lady?", Gimli asked and she her eyes towards him.
"I am Mia. One of the master's maids- The master has told me to help out in the kitchen. Come I shall show you the dining place... but first you all need to shower and take a bath", she said.
They didn't know how but all of a sudden the scenery changed and they were inside a giant pool of water with rosepetal on. Then there was also two teenagers in the room. They wore white clothes and bowed.
"Good afternoon, gentlemen", they said in pair.
Merry and Pippin naturally walked towards the other pair of twins and greeted them. The other pair of twins however ignored them.
"We shall now explain what you see. In front of you is the bath that has rose petal on. Master is especially caring about his looks and uses rosewater to soften his skin and make it glow more as well you get a good smell from it too. To your right you see like a waterfall coming out from a whole. That's your shower. To the left is the view of a garden during the night. Misty mountains and beautiful blowers on the trees. That's a relaxing view for those who wishes to bath. At the right but further back you see some special made beds made for massage. We are Adam and Steve. We are your masseuse for tonight", the two twins said.
The fellowship simply shared a look with one another. Boromir however was the first one to take action. He took off his clothes and he was told by Adam to enter the shower before bath. After everyone had showered they could finally relax in the bath. Gandalf however chose to be massaged by Steve. Another one who got himself massaged and was also moaning so loud that the rest had to tell him to shut up was Gimli.
"Yeah, that feels real good. You have magic hands lad", he complimented the boy.
The boy didn't say anything and pressed a point that was tense.
"Steve, tell me a bit of your master", Frodo asked since everyone else were to busy enjoying themselves.
"Master created me. Master is powerful. Master is good to us".
"What is the name of your master?", Legolas met the eye of the other twin.
"We call him master Xander but his full name is Xander Javier Tokong. He is eighteen years old in human years. However his body stopped aging a long time ago. My master comes from a land far away in the east beyond Mordor and down south. Before his mother died he was sent to live with her almost extinct family. Her family were masters of magic. They could concoct any kind of pill. One famous pill was the pill of immortality. It was also believed that they used those pills to become gods in a higher realm. Master learned his family's ancient art of magic. This realm that he has made is only part of the magic he has. It was only when Master turned fifteen years old that he learned why his mother died...", Steve trailed off and looked at everyone who was drowning in the story. "He killed everyone in the manor. Women, men, children, masters, servants etc. He deemed them all responsible of causing her death. After that he was banned to ever return to his country and he wandered around the world. Steve and I were created while he was traveling through a dessert. Our bodies were made from the soil and sand and given to life by lightning. After that we have followed our master to this place which he found comfortable enough to stay in. Is there anyone out there?", he turned his head to the entrance and you could see the silhouette of a maid behind the door through the white screen.
"Yes?".
"Bring some sake for our Master's guest".
"Yes".
"What is sake?", Pippin who had been swimming around came closer to the edge of the pool.
"It is wine but it was made through the brewing of beer. It is very delicious trust me".
The maid came inside with more maids carrying wooden trays and placed each of the trays beside a member of the fellowship.
"Delicious!", Boromir was quite enchanted and poured more of the bottle inside.
"Agreed", the elf said. "It seems like your master must be someone great. Tell me what is his best weapon to hold in a battle or does he simply use magic?".
The maids bowed and left.
"Master Xander, is skilled with the sword and he uses magic to sometimes enchant the weapons to make them last longer in battle. You see, master do not need to say the incantations out loud. Only a thought of them is enough", Adam had an admiring look on his face. "Now you gentlemen don't take to long in the bath. Dinner is soon ready".
Adam and Steve bowed before leaving. Once they closed the door the fellowship became talkative.
"Gandalf, what do you think of this Master Xander? Is he a person we can trust?", Aragorn took a sip more from the sake and enjoying it more every time he did.
"Well, he hasn't tried to kill us yet", Gandalf said while still lying on the massage bed. He was completely relaxed.
"I think this person seems awesome well except for the whole killing part", Merry said.
"I don't know. What if the servants lied", Sam had a worried look and also did not touch any of the sake in case it was poison.
"For what reason would he lie though?", Frodo was completely trusting the host.
"I don't know. Something tells me that there is something off about him", Sam looked down in the water and tried to piece the puzzle together.
"Relax, will you? As long as he doesn't tries to harm us we will be okay", Gimli giggled as he already was drunk.
"Ah, right didn't they say that dinner would be soon. We will have a chance of meeting him then", Legolas got up from the bath dressed himself. Apparently the maids had also taken their clothes and left some underwear and a robe. Once he had dressed himself he stepped outside.
One of the maids waiting outside stepped forward and told him to follow her. The walked through a big hall of moving portraits. He stopped in front of one of the portraits were there was a woman holding a baby sitting beneath a tree. Her skin was pure white. Her lips were red as blood. Her long eyelashes batted. Her long hair fluttered along the wind. She was swaying the baby in her arms. The maid smiled and explained who the person was. He then came to a path that was lit up with fishes inside some sort of tank that was see through. The fishes curiously got closer to him and stared at him before swimming away. It was if he was under water. After walking some while he finally made it to a usual looking hall with a door that was slide to left in order to open. Before him a sight of tranquiliness awaited. The maid guided him to a table were he saw the figure of a long black-haired male. As he came closer Legolas wasn't sure if he was looking at a man or a woman, an ellon or elleth.
"Take a seat my guest", he said lazily while still looking at the view.
The wooden table and chair was placed on a stone veranda. A bit further down was a garden with a pond. On that pond stood an area made out of stones that was connected to land through a red wooden bridge. Surrounding stone area was some lotus flowers and around the lake was, in a crescent moon shape, stood trees he had seen while bathing. Behind them he saw mountains covered by mists. It seemed like they were high up in some mountain.
"You are Xander Javier Tokong", Legolas stated.
"I am, and you are?", the boy who seemed younger than eighteen years old looked at him questionably.
"I am Legolas, son of Thranduil, the king of Mirkwood".
"I see, than it is an honor to meet an elf prince", he said courteous and returned to looking at the view.
To Legolas, it seemed that the boy was a person of few words. Legolas looked at the face of his host. Smooth skin, green eyes, long eyelashes and luscious peach lips.
"I'm afraid that my companions may run a bit late. I think they got too comfortable in the bath", he said and made the boy chuckle.
Xander turned his head towards him and tilted it.
"Then we shall start the banquet without them. It may be rude but I am hungry".
"So am I".
Xander made a gesture for the maids who went away. When they came back the table was filled with food. Legolas was given a plate and a knife and fork.
"Well, lets dig in then".
Legolas followed Xander's moved as he used the spoons in various dishes to take a part of them. As they started to take the food Legolas heard music being played behind him by the maids. There was a light flute some strings. In front of him many maidens in beautiful red colored dresses and gold accessoaries approached the stone area in the middle of the pond. The music stopped for a moment as it got them ready in positions. Then the music began and they started to move their arms and legs in synchronizing moves.
"Legolas!", Aragorn's voice took him by surprise. He didn't even notice as he was too distracted. "This must be Xander".
"Pleasure to meet you... erm?".
"Aragorn, son of Arathorn", he said and bowed in greeting.
"Xander De Gear, but you already knew that. And the rest of you...?".
"Merry".
"Pippin".
"Frodo".
"Sam".
"Gimli".
"And I am Gandalf the Grey".
"It's a pleasure to meet you. Although I am not quite sure what your reason for visiting me is and now that you all have gathered I might as well hear the story from the beginning. Please take a seat and join this banquet", he gestured to the seats around him. Legolas already sat on his right followed by Gimli, Aragorn, Boromir and Gandalf. Frodo sat on his left followed by the other hobbits. "Lower the music please", Xander ordered the maids and the sound volume from the instruments became lower.
"This whole journey started...", and then Frodo told him about the ring and his uncle he took it out and showed Xander.
"It is indeed a very powerful and tempting object. And if my belief is correct. The ring should be a horcrux".
"A what?", Gimli thought he misheard.
"A horcrux. It is an item contain a part of the soul. My ancestors usually did that in case their body got killed. Because if it got killed a part of the soul was still living inside another form of body and they could use the form with the help of someone else to recreate their body and come back to life".
"Is that true?", Gandalf was ovewhelmed by the explanation. "That does make sense".
"It does. Seeing the effect it has on the ringbearer and from what I've from you about his uncle. A horcrux is a very evil item that turns everyone who has it into someone evil and everyone around it can become malicious. It drives people mad", he said with a concerned look to Frodo. "Luckily it does seem that the ring adjust to the bearer. The weaker the ringbearer is the weaker the power of the ring will be. It was perhaps heaven's will that Frodo became the ringbearer for they knew that anyone else would not do".
"I don't really enjoy this quest too much though", Frodo said and touched his shoulder in pain.
Xander had already heard that he got stabbed by a Nazgûl.
"Frodo, let me take a look", Xander opened the hobbit's rob and slid it partly down from the shoulder. "Evil indeed is still left in this place. Luckily a lot of it has been contained so it hasn't spread throughout the body. Unfortunately if left like this your shoulder will hurt throughout your whole life".
Xander pointed his right hand's middle and index finger at the wound and his eyes began to glow. Gandalf watched in wonder. Frodo got scared but he couldn't moved. The wound opened itself up as blood ran down. A dark mist came out and gathered into a small solid ball. Frodo was in so much pain but as soon as all that black mist had gone away it didn't hurt as much anymore. Xander placed the pill in front of everyone but no one dared to touch it.
"Bring the bottle of tears from a phoenix".
One of the maids came and brought a small glass of bottle with what looked like ordinary water. Xander opened it and dropped a drop unto the wound. The wound immediately healed itself.
"Woah", Frodo said as he could move the shoulders with it hurting. "Thank you so much Xander. I am forever grateful".
"Now, now. That was just a small favor", he chuckled.
"Xander, would you mind if we got a bottle of those... phoenix tears?".
"No, I wouldn't. In fact I might hand each on of you a bottle of them in case of emergencies.".
Some maids stepped forward and place a bottle of phoenix tears beside the members of the Fellowship. Everyone was grateful to the mysterious Xander de Gear.
"Now then as for the ring. I shall weaken its powers even more. Bring me a cloth, a needle and some thread", he ordered another maid.
One he got them Xander sew some symbols they had never seen before. Then he held the cloth over the fire. It was strange how only the symbols began to burn. After that they turned into ash on the cloth. He told Frodo to give him the ring. Frodo looked at Gandalf who only nodded hoping that the young man wouldn't turn against them now. Everyone held their breaths when Frodo handed the chain with the ring. Xander took the ring out easily while everyone else were affected by its voice. He wrapped the cloth around it and Frodo as well as Boromir was no longer affected by the power. Another cloth was wrapped around the enchanted one and was then tied upon the chain.
"Here you go", he handed the hobbit the chain. "Now, I've made it so that you can simply from the clothes in with the ring and the ring would be destroyed that way".
"Thank you", Frodo was really grateful.
They had a long chat until night arrived. The pond that had been a bit muddy was now shining with blue light. The lotus flowers seeds were shining as well. The dancers bowed as the music stopped. Xander applauded and the Fellowship followed.
"Well, now my friends. It might be time to get some rest. I hope that your stay here will be pleasant", Xander said and had a maid show them towards their quarters.
The fellowship walked up towards the second floor were there was each a bedroom for them as well as a shower room. They also had balcony doors that led outside to a big balcony where they could sit outside and look at the stars.