Disclaimer: I do not own lotr
Prolog
Ashe Everhart looked into the glazed eyes of her son, mirror image of the man she had bred with; a fine man and an excellent warrior. Her jaw clenched tight as she held back the tears. She looked up noticing she was not the only mourning parent; the group gathered around her. With flashing eyes and a fierce rage the group nodded tightly, the unspoken agreement done they disbanded and began preparing for war once more.
The Order of Clarity smirked darkly at one another through the masks that adorned their faces. The plan was almost complete. Most would find it strange that the order in charge of leading a people and protecting them would actively choose to end them, but in all honesty the order no longer cared, they were loosing power and the need for the Divinum Venator was fading. What more could the Order do but let them fade in greatness rather than following their lesser kin the homo Sapien. Of this the Order would stop.
Two days after the death of the children, the Divinum Venator gathered round one another in a dark corner of a forgotten land. Ashe Everhart and Sky Donfall met the eyes of the others, their brothers and sisters.
"We have let them lead us too long, this act shows that they no longer care about our people but of the power they wield" Ashe started, her voice nothing more than a whisper.
"We must cleanse ourselves of the Order and scatter, it is no longer safe in this realm" Sky whispered to the group of twenty warriors.
"No longer can we stand by those that once guided us, they have betrayed us in the cruelest of ways" whispered another.
"It is time we fought for ourselves and broke free of the shackles we once so willingly wore" the passionate whisper from the youngest of the group rang out.
"We breathe together"
"We fight together"
"We bleed together"
"We die together"
With this the group set course for the darkest battle they had ever faced, one against those whom guided them.
The air was cold when The Order of Clarity entered their domain, Sophia looked frantically around. The door slammed shut and locked barring the exit. Lacertus grasped at his sword, Irascor readied his mace and stood protecting Dilabor; whom drew his bow. Castitas stood in the middle of the Order and summoned ancient magic to him, he had prepared for this battle but it was sooner than they had anticipated.
"I must admit you came sooner than we expected Divinum Venator" Castitas crooned out to the hidden warriors.
"That was the plan Order father Castitas" Ashe cooed back, constantly moving and confusing the five betrayers.
"You have broken your oaths and forsaken us, we whom looked to you as parents" Sky continued his voice monotone and dangerous.
"You sent out those most precious and fragile to death and destruction" sounded a soft female voice.
"And in that act have declared war on the Divinum Venator" another whisper floated to them, causing Lacertus to shiver and stumble.
"We have not declared war, we simply wished to save you all from the fate of your lesser cousins" Sophia cried in anguish, she knew that the Order would fall.
"By sending our young ones into a pointless and needless battle earning them their deaths we hold you responsible and thus we have come for our revenge" hissed a cold whisper next to Irascor's ear.
Irascor let out a mad cry and swung his mace in the direction of the whisper only to hit air.
"Stop your hiding, you are nothing but weak cowards hiding behind the shadows!" he cried.
There was a flash of light momentarily blinding the Order members, the five found themselves surrounded by twenty very angry, well armed warriors. Ashe smiled harshly at the five while the others made no attempt to shift the cold expressions on their hate frozen faces.
"What is wrong Order father Irascor? You wished us to stop hiding in our shadows, why do you look so lost?" Edward, a young warrior whispered genteelly.
"Let us just get this over and done with!" cried Castitas, shooting a jet of magic at the crowd, a young girl fell dead to the floor and thus the battle began.
Irascor swung his mace, ducking under the sword of Edward only to be winded by a blow to the gut by the fallen girl's mate James. Ashe threw a small throwing knife at the spell caster, catching him of guard and back firing his spell. He screamed as the hell fire ate away at his hand. Sky smirked at Sophia; the self centered bitch had drawn her twin blades and gutted Elisabeth, an older Divinum Venator with an easy twist of her wrist. She charged at him but Sky ducked, catching the blades with bow and releasing his arrow close range into her skull. With a high pitched kenning she doubled back, her body writhing even after death.
Dilabor cried out at the loss of the woman and in his anger and grief forgot his enemy's strengths, dropping his bow he charged at Sky with his battle ax at the ready. He took all but five steps and fell to the floor, blood pooling around the base of his neck where a throwing knife now laid buried deep in his flesh. Lacertus blocked the blades of one warrior before succumbing to a scythe, the blade emptying his abdomen of his innards over the marble floor.
Irascor snarled at the youngest Divinum Venator, Heather; who smiled sweetly. She ducked under his mace and kneed him in the stomach. Spinning around she ran her left bladed boot across his throat before jamming it into his cranium. She didn't get the chance to dodge the magic aimed at her though and was sent flying back onto a mounted buck, its antler impaling her. The warriors circled the last remaining Order member Castitas.
Castitas was tired and his magic was waning, he knew that he was to die like his brethren, but he decided that he would take as many down as possible. Sky noticed this and hissed out warning only seconds too late. The spell caster released the last of his magic into the environment, killing not only himself but most of the Divinum Venator. Only Ashe, Sky, James, Edward and Missy survived.
Ashe Everhart cried out in pain as her body stabilized after the transportation. Portals hurt; more so when changing realms but the warrior was used to this and clamped her mouth shut. Noticing the events before her eyes she reacted, decapitating an ugly beast attempting to maim a man. The man jumped to his feet charging at the other dark skinned beasts, whose armor was poorly made and weapons were blunt. Following the man's lead Ash jumped into battle enjoying the adrenalin rush and the bloodshed. The battle was short lived though as the creatures could not withstand the onslaught of both warriors.
"Who are you stranger" the man asked, his eyes guarded.
"I am Ashe Everhart" Ash replied in a loud whisper as she sheathed her twin blades after wiping the gore on a rag of the enemy.
"I am known as Strider" he introduced himself to the woman, watching her as she brushed bracken off her strange clothes.
She nodded in his direction to acknowledge him then turned to leave, seemingly uninterested in him.
"Wait Lady Ashe!" he cried, the woman was strange but she had saved his life.
"Yesss?" she hissed softly.
"You have saved my life, ask of me anything and if it is in my power to do so I shall" he replied quickly. She seemed to be caught off guard at this.
"Teach me how to survive in this realm, how to dwell here without relying on others… this is what I require" the strange woman breathed, her voice never breaking past a loud whisper.
"It can be done, alas it will not be simple" she paused and nodded slightly.
"Do what you must…" she replied before slipping into the shadows of the forest to leave him with his fellow rangers.