Warnings: A little bit of strong language. Some blood.

Day two, about half past five PM

Zoë

I've got to admit; this trip wasn't what I hoped it'd be. Of course it was nice that I had wished upon a star for something that would give me the power to switch between fictional worlds and mine, and that I could change the storyline to whatever I wanted – in this case, I wanted Thorin, Fíli and Kíli to stay alive, for it'd be so much better for Middle-Earth – but it was harder than I had expected.

One of the disadvantages of my power was that I didn't know where I was going to appear, which lead to me randomly appearing at the most dangerous places.

Thank goodness it wasn't like the Hunger Games. I had appeared in the middle of a fight and had died, which sent me right back to my own, boring world. I could never visit that world again. If I died in a world, I could never go back.

Anyway, I had appeared about fifty kilometres away from where I had to be, so I had walked for the past forty-eight hours. My feet hurt like hell. And now I was standing in front of a huge barricade, with thirteen Dwarves who probably wanted to kill me before I'd get one word out of my throat. It was just insulting.

I wasn't scared, but I had to make sure they heard what I had to say and that they believed it before I died and got banned from this universe.

I shivered. Damn, it was cold. I hoped Kíli would hurry before I froze to death. He was climbing down awfully slowly.

My fingers played with the ring around my middle finger; the only thing that connected me with my world. If I lost it and I died, I would die for real. So I had to make sure I didn't lose it.

I watched as Kíli reached the ground and started to walk towards me. He had a slight limp, slight enough for someone who didn't know to miss it, but I knew, and I noticed. I also noticed the huge sword he was holding in his hand, and I took a step back. I didn't know what the Dwarves had been talking about after Thorin had threatened to kill me, but they had certainly decided that it was easier to stab me than to shoot me with an arrow.

Apparently, Kíli had noticed that I was scared, because he stopped, about three metres away from me.

"I am not here to kill you," he said, holding up one gloved hand in a gesture of peace. "I only want to listen."

I took a deep breath. This was always the hardest part – convincing people that I was from another world.

"Okay," I said. My voice was trembling from the cold. I hated it. It made me sound weak. "I know this'll be hard to believe, but I'm from another world. Another universe, really, and in my universe, your world exists in books. I know how it ends. I wanna change it."

I waited. The Dwarf facing me had a really confused look on his face. It took him a couple of seconds to register what he had just heard.

"So..." he then said, "we do not come from the same world."

"Nope."

"And you know how this story, as you call it, is going to end."

"Yep."

"And you want to change it."

"Hm-m."

"Then may I ask..." He looked nervous, and I honestly couldn't blame him for it. "...how does it end?"

I bit my lip and looked down at the dry grass.

"Thorin, Fíli and you... will die."

I looked up. Kíli was staring at me, eyes wide in shock, and his mouth slightly dropped open.

Then his expression hardened, which was unexpected, and placed his sword on my throat, which was even more unexpected.

I understood it, though. He thought that I was threatening them, that I was part of the slowly growing darkness, and that I was going to say that if they didn't do what I wanted them to, they'd die.

I forced myself to stay calm, despite the sharp point making a small cut in my skin. I hadn't done anything wrong. I was innocent. I only wanted the best for them.

A small sound left my mouth when a small trail of blood streamed down, soaking the collar of my vest.

"I swear, I'm not threatening you," I whispered, my voice hoarse. Of course I knew that I wouldn't truly die, but it still wasn't a nice thing to go through. "You'll get killed by Orcs. They'll attack when the Elves are here, after dawn. There will- There will be five armies."

I was starting to lose my voice, but I needed to go on, to say what they needed to look out for.

Kíli hadn't moved, but the sword's end was making a huge gap in my skin because I was talking.

"Whatever you do..." I went on, starting to feel light-headed, "...don't go outside. The Orcs only want the three of you. Stay... inside."

With those words, my body finally gave in, and I passed out.