The Bow
He hung above the world, beyond the edge of the world. Not even crows kept him company, only the wind whistled amidst the sharp teeth of Thangorodrim and it told no tales, spoke words of neither comfort nor pain.
The other, icy Voice that he dared not to name, did not come back for a while, nor did the memories.
When Maedhros closed his burning eyelids, he saw dim and blurred visions but whether those were from the future or the past, he could not tell, nor could he grasp their meaning, for they were all hazy and dark.
He felt as if he were too thin to feel, too much of a nothingness to think, and yet he knew that he would not die, because death was a gift indeed, a gift he was not given. He would have cursed his long life, his adamant will to hold on, had he the strength to curse.
He felt as if he were the string on his own bow, pulled to the fullest, waiting to be released finally, and yet knowing that the release would never come.
He was to be like this for eternity and beyond; stretched above the world in pain.
And then he heard a song. First, the sounds were lonely and lost, exactly like himself; shaking and desperate. But then the tune magnified, it rose against the whispers of the wind, booming more and more defiantly by the minute. Drawing courage from the bare nothingness, it seemed.
And though he did not want it any more, though he resented it, he could not help the hope that had flared up in his soul. And as his heart grew warmer the melody grew louder, and it was glorious and resonating, and it seemed that the very stones of this forsaken place had quivered in fear of its power.
He knew that voice, he knew that song. He knew these sounds, travelling on a tidal wave, rising above the world of shadows to engulf them finally, to cover up the pain and leave the world of darkness buried deep and forgotten... To mirror the sunshine, to laugh back at the sky; these were the songs of the Sea, the wild, beautiful Sea that he ever loved and ever feared. For it was a power that was so foreign to him, so peaceful and calming and yet frightening in its overwhelming majesty. It was a power he could never understand or master, but he could feel it on his skin, in his heart, oh that he could!
The sparkle of hope, the flame that had sprung to life from the ashes of his soul, that miserable, tiny flame that fought to burn still, was now suddenly surrounded by water; by calm, quiet, dangerous water of acceptance, and it flickered against it in vain.
The glory of the tunes was too much to bear, the power was too much to handle. His heart was not strong enough to boil up the water, not strong enough to dry the seas with his burning fire.
Feanor's son was lost amidst the ocean of sound, sounds of his own sins, sounds of regret and pain, sounds of resignation, acceptance of a power that was greater than anything he could have imagined.
He was lost in the truth of what had been done and what still would have to be done, before his age-long misery would be over.
And the son of fire trembled in fear.
'Stop! Stop it!' he wailed in misery, as tears run freely from his dry eyes, burning his skin, his heart his everything with their purifying salt.
The song stopped. Silence was all around.
And then the Voice came, and it sang, but this time not from the wind, not from the cliffs, but from inside, from deep within.
'I'll freeze your bones with ice and snows
Until you howl and scream!
And then I'll give you the wrath of fire,
The warmth you think you so desire,
And you shall burn and bleed!'
And he did not even know whose voice it was in the end, but he felt his own dry lips moving, forming the words.
He felt as their icy venom burned his throat, as it spread in his chest, chilling his very bones, but he could not stop himself from singing on, louder and louder against the winds.
The string that had been pulled to the fullest, that had been stretched to the fullest, now finally found its release; the arrow of madness flew freely to the skies.
'And you shall burn and bleed...'
Again, another short one, after a long break. To those few who actually waited for it, I owe an apology! I am sorry that I took so long! I never fully abandon any of my stories, but inspiration outright refused to come after I wrote the first two sentences of this chapter some months ago.
Pay attention to the formatting here, because it is important (italics, normal, who speaks, who doesn't, etc...). And I know it is more than a bit confusing, but that was absolutely deliberate!
One last chapter though, and then the madness of it shall be over! :)
That's about all I wanted to tell! Thank you for reading, and please, review; tell me what you thought!