A black Uruk by the name of Vrash blended into the mountain side, his hide covered in gray paints to mask himself further. Oh, how he wanted to draw his blade or bow and make the blood of the man-things run! But he was under direct orders not to engage, simply to observe and report. His eyes narrowed as he saw the pair sauntering towards the cliffside he was nestled in. These were the great warriors he had been sent to spy on? They were mere waifs, just a pair of girls! They walked unknowingly below him before coming to a stop before a set of spiky rocks that blocked the way into Mordor. It was a savage land among the spikes and Nazg knew that no one without a guide would be able to cross them. Even with a guide, it would take days. Nazg smirked and prepared to draw his bow, practically hearing the horns of his promotion ceremony, when suddenly, the blue girl's hands lit up with magic, lifting her and the red head on a platform of ice over the rocks. Nazg gawked in utter horror, his hand moving away from his bow. Sorceresses! They would have to be careful with these
"That would have been a mess to traverse on foot" Elsa spoke, turning to look at her lover. Something didn't feel right when she looked at Anna right now. Anna held herself higher than usual, her body language speaking of surety. What was more, Anna's powers were so raw at this point, Elsa could practically smell them emanating from her. But Edmund's abilities had never felt like this, this was different. Maybe Anna had suffered brain damage in the battle? Elsa supposed it was possible, but her musings were interrupted as Anna tapped her shoulder.
"Look, a cave. We can spend the night there and start practicing tomorrow" Anna said, pointing at a spacious crack in one of the black mountains that seemed to be everywhere in this shadowy land. Even as Elsa changed the direction of their ice platform to move over the spikes that seemed to guard the cave entrance, she wondered more. Anna had sounded different, the way she had when Edmund possessed her. But expecting Anna to stay the same after such a traumatic experience was foolhardy, perhaps the red head merely wanted to appear more confident.
"Alright. Do you want to eat or are you alright?" Elsa asked as she steered the ice platform into the cave. Perhaps a bite to eat wouldn't be a such a bad idea for herself either, these thoughts were getting more paranoid by the second. Anna needed support, not suspicion.
"I think I'll tuck in early. Today was exhausting" Anna replied, stretching her back with a series of pops.
"See you in the morning" Elsa said with a little smile as she created a tent made of ice for Anna to clamber into, which the younger woman did. Elsa made sure Anna entered properly before positioning herself in front of the tent and looking towards the gray skies outside of the cave. There was no mistaking it, the land was getting hotter. It made absolutely no sense, the ash should be blocking the Sun's rays and as such, making it cooler. But instead, this place was immensely hot and to make matter worse, it was impossible to tell when it was night or day. Elsa briefly toyed with the idea of writing about this dreadful place, but discarded it as she pulled out a couple jerkies from the supply bag(that Anna had insisted on carrying the entire journey here). Elsa felt the meat touch her tongue and recoiled a little, the idea of tasting things so...vividly still very strange. But she would adapt. That was the simplicity of life. Problems came up, life adapted, and so on. To take her mind off of the unpleasant meat, Elsa pulled out the book of maps she had brought with her, hoping to see if there was anything she had missed on this land of Mordor.
The book was filled with dozens of pages describing other lands, but Mordor had only one page dedicated to it and a map that looked unfinished, just a ring of mountains surrounding a volcano. The book mentioned that the soil was fertile and the land was bountiful, but little else. As Elsa studied the map, her eyes came upon what appeared to be patterns in the scribbles that made up the drawn mountains' rock. Straining her eyes, Elsa managed to pull out where one word ended and another began. But it was just nonsensical babbling, just "vrapog, vrapog, vrapog" repeated over and over again. The map maker must have thought himself quite funny, Elsa thought, feeling signs of sleep beginning to creep at the back of her mind. Her new life was different, adapting was necessary. Sleep was necessary now. Covering the cave with a layer of ice but for a small hole to allow air circulation, Elsa lay upon a bed of snow and fell into a dreamless sleep
Anna's sleep was just the opposite. Her hands clutching over the ring on her finger, she shivered as the nightly temperatures dropped absurdly. She had taken her heavier clothes off for the desert like climate and the biting chill of the night was haunting her now, making her dreams all the worse.
She could see Arendelle and the Southern Isles(why she could see both did not occur to her), what was left of them. Streets filled with hordes of slobbering monsters that ran about, leaping upon a fresh corpse(even of their own) every now and then. She herself felt a burning rage within her as she saw the creatures mill about, getting a close look at one that was in the process of tearing apart a child's body. Following the monsters were scores upon scores of humans, mopping up after the monsters had their fill. Anna gathered her courage, placing her hands in front of her, and concentrated on the absolute hatred she felt for these monsters. It was easy to get to and felt...good. Anna let forth a gout of flame but instead of incinerating the monsters, she saw the flames engulf Elsa instead.
"Assassin, murderer, monster" a chorus of voices called out from Anna's flanks, nine cloaked figures surrounding the now sobbing red head. Anna's hatred was gone as she curled into a ball, her tears not just from killing Elsa. No, what had frightened her the most was the small sense of justification she had felt, like Elsa had deserved it. Those were Edmund's thoughts, not hers! "Evil, villain, witch" the hooded figures chanted in unison before doing the worst thing they could possibly do: they bowed in respect to her.
The Witchking of Angmar's breath flowed through the air hole in the ice, the greed, pride, and hatred that made up his soul poisoning the air. It was a vile power of the Nazgul, the ability to twist the hearts of all but the most stout. He was initially surprised at the tolerance this little girl had for his Black Breath, but his shock wore away as over time, she began to thrash in her sleep. She was being attacked from three angles, from the power of the undead king, from the Ring, and from her own self loathing and fear. The fact she had been able to resist at all was impressive. But it hardly mattered, even the strongest of rocks could be worn down by constant pounding. This was a fact the fallen king knew all too well. Had he been able to, he might even have a shed a tear for the girl who reminded him of himself as a living man. But there was no pity in the faceless Nazgul. Feeling the beginnings of dawn, the Witchking of Angmar ordered his Fellbeast to return to the dark caves before the light touched them.
Anna awoke with a start as the dawn crept over the black rocks of Mordor. She could feel the dawn. She could feel the light that wasn't there yet. Gulping hard, Anna looked at the ring on her finger, feeling the power within it now. But...it was hers. It had given her more confidence than ever before, it had kept the nightmares from haunting her in the day. So what if it gave out a couple of nightmares? She had been having them before, who was to say it was even the ring who gave them to her!? Elsa would never do that! She had given Anna the ring, the ring that glinted so beautifully even with so little light. It was hers now. Her precious ring that kept her calm in the day. Why burden Elsa with it? Elsa had given it freely, had she not? It was Anna's now. Anna was the Ring's