Prince Hans was sweating, and that was not normal, since he lived in a rather warm kingdom. This place was unusually hot. He looked around. Then he realized that he was standing in the midst of a long destroyed volcano. There were still a few small lava streams. That explained the heat.

He was walking about when suddenly he tripped over a large boulder and came face to face with a horrible looking, ghost-like creature/person. He was startled and nearly fell in a lava flow. Then the person stood up and Hans did fall backwards, right beside the lava. His clothes got slightly singed but otherwise he was uninjured.

"Who are you?" Prince Hans asked.

"I am Annatar, Lord of Gifts. I have also been called Gorthaur, but that name is SO horrible, don't you think?" Sauron said. "My most commonly known name is Sauron, but the name is also rather…. awful."

"H-how did you know my name?" Hans asked.

"I know many things. I can help you gain what you seek," Sauron said loftily. "Perhaps a kingdom of your own?" he suggested.

"Yes….." he said slowly. "But how do you know so much about me?"

"Let's just say a 'friend' told me," Sauron said. "He's been watching you. You show potential you know."

"So now that we've been introduced, how do we get out of this dreadful place?" Hans asked sarcastically.

"It's not dreadful, this is my home," Sauron replied. Then his voice grew colder and crueler. "Remember, without me, you will get nowhere. I suggest you do not insult me."

"All right," Hans agreed fearfully. Sauron looked really intimidating when he was angry. "But I don't have much of an army," he said.

"Summon those of your army and I will summon my own army," Sauron stated.

Prince Hans awoke with a start in his own bedroom. The sun was just starting to rise and a servant was drawing the curtains. "Rise and shine, Prince Hans," the servant called cheerily. Had the entire thing been a dream, he wondered? It had seemed so real but…

His musings were interrupted when another servant came in with a tray of breakfast.

"Prince Hans! You are already dressed!" the servant exclaimed.

"So what?" he asked crossly. He was starting to think that his 'dream' was not a dream. He looked down at his clothes. They carried a faint hint of smoke and singed cloth. He did not exactly like that Lord Annatar fellow but to become king… It was tempting, he had to admit. He rang a bell and servant came running. "Summon my captain to my study," he ordered. "And send someone up for the laundry." The servant hurried off and Hans changed clothes as quickly as possible. He picked up the cup of coffee and drank it. Coffee usually helped wake him up. He ignored the rest of his breakfast and hurried to his study, where his captain would hopefully be waiting.

Captain Jeremy was not expecting anything important to happen so he had decided to take a vacation. Prince Hans's summons had arrived just before he embarked on the ship. Irritably he ordered his luggage to be taken off the ship as he hurried off to Prince Hans's study, hoping that Prince Hans would not be angry that he was late as he most likely would be.

Arriving outside Prince Hans's study he knocked. He was slightly out of breath, having run the entire way from the docks to the castle.

"Come in!" an irritated voice called out. Captain Jeremy entered.

"Sorry I'm late," he apologized. "I was down by the docks when the servant found me."

"Why?" Prince Hans asked suspiciously.

"I was overseeing the unloading of some wares for your father," Jeremy lied. Telling Hans that he had been planning to take a short vacation would not be a good idea.

"Very well," Hans said reluctantly. "I have some orders for you, Captain."

"I am yours to command," Jeremy responded.

"I want you to gather an army of 3000 if at all possible. Ready ships for that number of soldiers for a voyage of roughly two weeks." The kingdom of the Southern Isles was a large kingdom so Hans figured that 3000 soldiers could be spared. Captain Jeremy rushed off to see to the arrangements, leaving Hans to his contemplations.

He wasn't overly fond of the spirit who went by the name of Lord Annatar. Lord Annatar scared him, to be honest. Prince Hans did not like being scared. He didn't know a thing about this Lord Annatar anyways. Still, he had been disgraced and nobody important wanted to associate with him. The only way to gain a kingdom to reign in was to conquer one, as the spirit had pointed out. However, Hans had no idea of how to fight a war.

Sauron, or Lord Annatar, as he chose to go by for the time being, was not nearly as powerful as he had pretended to be. With the destruction of his ring most of his power was gone. All he could do was inspire terror in people not from Middle Earth and command wars for said people. He had sent one of his nearly gone Nazgûl to find any orcs that were left and send them to Mordor. Most had been hunted down and killed after the final battle of the War of the Ring, as it was called.

All in all, when all the orcs had been assembled, they numbered just under 1000. It was small army compared to his army from before. Now he planned to move the entire army, little by little, to point near Arendelle. He had found a way to this other world called Earth several years back and had been sending a Nazgûl to spy on people there. However, his Nazgûl were all gone now, having completely faded now.