Full Summary -

Eva Martinez thought failing the most important exam of her life was the worst thing that could happen to her. She was wrong.

At twenty-four, she never expected her world to end—literally. Yet when she awakens in Middle-Earth, a world that should only exist in fiction, reality takes on a whole new meaning. With one of the most desired pieces of jewelry in history hanging from her neck, she quickly realizes her troubles are only beginning. From the moment she arrives, she is an outsider—her strange mannerisms, language, and the priceless object she carries makes her suspicious to some and alluring to others.

Survival in this world is brutal. War looms, creatures of darkness lurk in the shadows, and a single misstep—whether a wrong word or silence—could turn allies into enemies. But the real danger isn't just the world itself—it's her. Eva doesn't belong here, and every choice she makes, no matter how small, sends ripples through time, threatening to unravel events that were meant to unfold.

The butterfly effect is in motion, each action distorting the future she once knew. Worse still, visions haunt her—fragments of a past she never lived and glimpses of a future now uncertain. With the fate of Middle-earth in the balance, Eva must walk carefully. Because one wrong move could doom the world to a fate it was never meant to face.

Author's Note -

I'm a big fan of realistic situations and this story is no exception.

Granted, the concept of a girl finding herself in Middle-Earth isn't groundbreaking, but I have a story to tell that builds on this idea—along with some added twists and turns. One of the things I'll be exploring is the scarcity of POC in Tolkien's world, especially since most of those that do exist are shown to have aligned with Sauron and Morgoth in their respective times. This theme will play a significant role.

Also, this story will be told in three parts. Each one focusing on different aspects of Eva's experience while in Middle-Earth. Part One, which starts after this prologue, will have a slower pace/buildup for obvious reasons, but by Part Two, the momentum will pick up quickly.

I'll end this note with the following quote that will, somewhat, summarize Eva's experience while in Middle-Earth.

"My experience of life is that it is not divided up into genres; it's a horrifying, romantic, tragic, comical, science-fiction cowboy detective novel. You know, with a bit of pornography if you're lucky."

- Alan Moore

Prologue

Eva

December — the last month of the year and set in the midst of the dead of winter.

Ironically, it seemed fitting for Eva Martinez's current state of life. Had she not been the one experiencing it, she would have shaken her head in pity and thanked her lucky stars that she was not the one facing whatever the other person was going through.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. All she could do was ease her car to a stop beneath the glowing orange light of a lamppost in the nearly deserted parking lot of a community park. Aside from a dark, empty car parked in the farthest corner of the lot, Eva and her white Nissan were the only signs of life.

Flesh and metal running on autopilot.

Given that she left the campus close to four in the afternoon and drove for what felt like hours relying on Google maps for directions, she ended up in one of the many community parks of a city she wasn't familiar with.

Running away isn't going to get you anywhere.

The glowing screen of her phone informed her it was already 7:16 pm. Along with this realization came the sharp reminder of reality: five missed calls and texts, all from the same person — Anna, her best friend since high school and the only one she had vaguely informed about her situation. Thankfully, Anna had kept her promise not to breathe a word to anyone, especially her parents. Otherwise, her mother's frantic calls would have been lighting up her phone by now, adding another layer of chaos to her already spinning thoughts.

With the temperatures dipping to a chilly 60 degrees, it was obvious no one in their right mind would venture into the park this late, with darkness already creeping across the sky. Southern California, famous for its almost perfect weather, always seemed to turn cold and uninviting when December arrived. Eva had thrown on her black hoodie, but it was *barely* enough to fend off the chill, not that the cold was her biggest concern right now. It was clear she was one of the *dumb* ones — in more ways than one — to be out here this late in a park she never been to, alone, with no real plan in mind.

But she needed the space, to be away from everyone.

To be away from her own life.

Eva twisted in her seat, shifting left and right as her eyes scanned the shadows, searching for any sign of life. Aside from the lone, abandoned car sitting eerily at the edge of the lot, the emptiness confirmed what she already knew — she was alone. Her hands tightened on the steering wheel, her fingers stretching and flexing in a restless rhythm. She drummed her palms nervously against the faux black leather, the subtle vibrations of the movements echoing the unease creeping through her.

"Running away won't solve anything, Eva," she muttered under her breath as she pounded the steering wheel with both palms, the sharp sound cutting through the suffocating silence of the car.

She turned to gaze out the driver's side window, her eyes scanning the shadows just beyond the reach of the orange light pooling under the streetlamp. In the murky darkness a flicker of an idea began to take shape in her mind.

A walk, I need a walk.

Common sense scolded her, insisting it was a foolish idea and she couldn't argue — it was. The thought of pacing around her car, staying within the safety of the streetlight's faint glow on the black asphalt felt more assuring and wiser of a choice. With a nod, she reached into her canvas bag, fingers diving blindly to fish out the hair tie she knew was buried at the bottom, tangled in a jumble of forgotten items.

With a few deft twists of her wrist, she swept her dark hair into a loose ponytail, tugging it into place before pulling her hoodie over her head. But then, a flicker of doubt crept in. Pausing, Eva slid the hoodie back off, suddenly aware of how she might appear — even in the solitude of these empty grounds, she didn't want to look like some shadowy figure prowling the area.

Just as she reached for the door handle to slide out of the car, her phone rang, the sudden vibration rattling sharply against the dashboard. Through the faint reflection on the window, she caught sight of the caller's name glowing on the screen, freezing her mid-motion.

This was the sixth time her phone had rung, and though she wanted to ignore it, she knew she owed Anna at least this much. Letting out a deep sigh, she grabbed her phone and stepped out of the car, bracing herself for the conversation she'd been avoiding.

"Hey," she answered softly, her voice laced with caution as the crisp night air nipped at her cheeks.

"What the hell, Eva?! Why haven't you been answering my calls? You can't just send me a text like that and expect me not to worry!" Anna's voice, thick with concern, made Eva wince. She knew Anna had a point. In hindsight, *maybe* that text wasn't the smartest thing — it did come off as overly dramatic now that she thought about it, but she couldn't be blamed for it as she was running on pure emotions.

Eva leaned back against the closed car door as she drew in a steadying breath. She fought to keep her voice from trembling, though the weight of disappointment clawed at her chest, threatening to break free. "I…. I failed, Anna," she admitted quietly, her words tinged with raw defeat.

A beat of silence hung in the air before Anna's soft sigh filtered through the line. "Oh Eva, lo siento [1]," she murmured, her voice heavy with empathy. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

As if on cue, Eva's eyes began to sting with tears the moment the damning words left her lips. Embarrassed, she cast her gaze downward, focusing on the faint glow of the black asphalt beneath her feet even though there was no one around to see her crumble. To her surprise, a soft, shaky chuckle escaped her — unexpected but enough of a response to mask the storm brewing inside.

"Where are you?" Anna questioned through the phone speaker, "I can meet up with yo—"

"I'm somewhere in Chula Vista," Eva cut in with a sharp laugh reeling back the dam of tears from breaking through, "kind of let Google take the wheel on this one." She glanced around her empty surroundings, her voice tinged with sarcastic humor. "I'm the only one in the park. Well, me and this abandoned car. Not a single soul in sight — so, you know, totally safe."

"Eva, that's about an hour away — what are you doing, this isn't you."

Eva could easily detect the concern laced in Anna's tone. Letting out a heavy sigh, she pushed herself off the car door, her posture tightening as she crossed her left arm, tucking it beneath the one holding her phone.

"I screwed up, Anna," Eva admitted quietly. "And the worst part? I studied so hard for this — poured everything I had into these last few days only for my brain to betray me at the last section of the exam. The most important part!" Her voice cracked, rising with the weight of her frustration. "Not only did I bomb the most crucial nursing exam of my life, but the entire program… it's gone, Anna. Down the drain, just like that!"

"What do you mea—"

"We only get two chances. Fail both and that's it — it's their policy," Eva cut in, her voice trembling. "I feel so fucking stupid. I'm probably the only student who messed it up," she moaned, clutching her forehead. "It's like I just set fire to all the money my parents helped me with. How am I supposed to tell them now?!"

"Look, Eva — todo va a salir bien [2], don't—"

"No! It's not fine! I'm twenty-four, and I've wanted to be a nurse since middle-school," Eva burst out, her voice cracking under the weight of frustration. "I've done everything — taken all the right classes to get into this program and even then I needed to get financed and now what? What am I supposed to do now? There's no—" she froze mid-sentence as the orange lights above her began to flicker erratically, sliding through her spiral of despair.

Her dark eyes darted upward to the light pole above her, its flickering glow casting fragmented shadows around her feet. She glanced across the empty parking lot, scanning the other lights. Each one of them mirrored the chaotic dance of the bulb above her, each flickering in rapid disjointed succession.

"Eva?" Anna called her through her phone speaker.

"I think the lights are about to go out — they're flickering like crazy," Eva said, her gaze darting to the other two distant light poles at the opposite ends of the empty lot. As if her words carried some unspoken command, the light abruptly died, plunging everything into darkness. "Well, there it is," she muttered. "The lights are out. Looks like the houses nearby just went dark too."

"Okay, you know what — leave," Anna told her, clearly bothered. "Come over to my place, you can stay here for the night."

With the lights extinguished, the world around her was swallowed by the natural darkness of the night. The only reprieve came from her phone screen, its faint artificial glow casting a cold, solitary light on her face.

"I think the whole block just lost power — everything's gone completely dark over here," Eva remarked, her voice tinged with quiet awe as her gaze drifted upward. The inky sky stretched above her, unspoiled by artificial light, revealing a dazzling sea of stars. She exhaled softly, a hint of wonder breaking through her. "On the bright side," she murmured, "the stars look incredible tonight."

"Okay…" Anna said slowly, "yeah, that doesn't sound strange at all."

"You know," she admitted, a wistful note in her voice, "if I'd been better with numbers, I might have gone into astronomy." It was a childhood dream she had long since tucked away before reality shook her to her senses.

"Eva, I think it's time for you to come home," Anna said firmly. "It's not safe for you to be out there alone…"

Eva let Anna's voice fade into the background as her eyes locked onto a particularly bright object in the sky. At first she dismissed it as just another star scattered across the vast, dark canvas above. But the longer she stared, the more certain she became — it wasn't a star. There was something different about it. Narrowing her eyes in an instinctive attempt to sharpen her focus, though it didn't do much good, she finally snapped back to the present and interrupted Anna's rambling. "Are you outside?" Eva asked, her tone suddenly curious.

"Which is—no, why? Anna's frustration seeped through her words, but Eva barely noticed. Her focus locked on the sky as she stepped away from her car, head tilted upward.

"There's something up there," she murmured, more to herself than to Anna. "I thought it was a star at first, but it's moving… maybe a plane?" Her voice trailed off as her brow furrowed. "It's getting closer," she added, her curiosity overpowering the turmoil that had consumed her just hours ago. For a moment, the chaos of her life was eclipsed by whatever was unfolding above her.

"Dude, what are you even talking about — did you take something? That's it isn't it? Holy shit, Eva…"

Its movement was unnerving — not the swift arc of a shooting star or the steady path of an airplane. No, this was different. It didn't just traverse the sky; it grew larger, as though it were hurtling directly towards earth. Logic told her this should have sent her heart racing, her survival instincts screaming at her to flee, to put as much distance as possible between herself and whatever was descending from above.

But that wasn't the case.

Instead, an inexplicable calmness settled over her, softening the edges of her anxiety. Her dark eyes remained fixed on the growing object, mesmerized. The fears of her uncertain future and the weight of her disappointment melted away, replaced by a serenity that felt both unnatural and oddly comforting. It was as if the chaos within her had been silenced by the mere presence of whatever loomed above.

"No… no….I think it's a…" was all Eva could breathe out as a searing white light erupted around her, engulfing everything in its brilliance.

—

The Stranger

—

He didn't mean to make this into a habit.

Stepping out of his cozy hobbit hole close to midnight, he made his way to one of the two wooden benches nestled in front of his small, well-tended garden. It wasn't really his fault, he mused, that this time of day — or rather, night— offered the quietest moments to savor life's simple pleasures. As he settled in, the hobbit drew a deep breath of the rich, earthy Old Toby from his weed-pipe he'd been anticipating all day, the fragrant smoke curling upward as he basked in the tranquil stillness of the night.

Though this was no Bag End, his humble perch still afforded him a partial view of the quiet village. At this hour most folk would already be tucked into their beds, lost in dreams. Perhaps a few stragglers still wandered home from the local pub, their laughter and footsteps fading into the stillness. The Green Dragon, though technically an inn, would have closed its pub long before now. He knew this all too well, recalling the countless times he'd been politely yet firmly escorted out with the handful of others who dared linger past ten.

Aside from the occasional rustle of nocturnal creatures wandering the wild, the village felt like it belonged entirely to him.

Yes, he absolutely enjoyed this time of the night.

The hobbit took another slow deep pull from his wooden pipe, savoring the sweet earthy aroma of the Old Toby as it filled his senses. He held it for a moment, letting it settle in his chest before releasing a long, lazy exhale into the summer night. The fragrant smoke lingered in the sill air, curling around him like a comforting embrace. Leaning back against the bench, his arms folded contentedly, he tilted his gaze upward, drinking in the expanse of the clear, starlit sky.

The sight of the stars was enough to bring a quiet smile to his face. Though, for a fleeting moment, he wondered if it was truly the stars or the Old Toby working its magic — either way, he wasn't complaining. He wasn't much of a Star Reader, though he'd heard tales of those who could decipher celestial signs with ease. He could, at least, pick out a few figures here and there and had no trouble locating the North Star. But as for the meaning behind those triangle-like patterns? That was beyond him. Still, it didn't stop him from tracing the points with his index finger, connecting them into a perfect triangle in his mind's eye. The gesture brought a soft chuckle to his lips, a quiet amusement.

He smiled faintly and closed his eyes for a brief moment, the night's tranquility wrapping around him. Perhaps it was time to head back inside.

But then it came—a deafening rumble that tore through the stillness of the night. His eyes snapped open, and he bolted upright, his wooden pipe dangling precariously from the corner of his mouth. His heart raced as he scanned the darkness, searching desperately for the source of the sound that had shaken him to his core.

And then he saw it—a strange, soft orange glow, eerily reminiscent of a torch, emanating from above. His breath caught as his gaze was drawn upward, the pipe slipping unnoticed from his lips and tumbling to the ground, landing with a quiet thud near his motionless feet. He was frozen, eyes wide, unable to look away from the eerie light that had shattered his peaceful night.

His mouth hung open, his wide eyes a mix of awe and growing fear. He had never seen anything like this before. Slowly, almost unwillingly, he rose from his seat, his gaze locked on the fiery object streaking across the night sky. Smoke and flames engulfed the celestial intruder, its fiery tail slicing through the darkness and leaving a dense trail of gray that blotted out the stars.

So close it was that its fiery descent painted the sleeping village below in an eerie orange glow. Shadows danced in its wake, the once-quiet world bathed in the flickering light of something otherworldly. It was no doubt a thing of the heavens—a celestial body burning its way toward North Farthing, carrying with it an ominous sense of inevitability.

In mere seconds, the blazing object completed its fiery arc, crashing into the northernmost point of the Shire. The small explosion that followed lit up the horizon, casting a fleeting glow over the treetops as it collided with the earth. From his perspective, it seemed to have struck near the edge of the forest, roughly three or four kilometers outside of Hobbiton. The distant rumble of the impact lingered in the air, a stark contrast to the serene night that had existed only moments before.

Aside from the faint tremor beneath his feet when the celestial object struck the earth, the world around him seemed eerily still. Without hesitation, he darted from his garden and onto the public path that wound its way through Hobbiton. Turning toward the North, his eyes sought the source of the chaos.

From his point—almost at the crest of Over the Hill—he had an unbroken view of the northern lands, shrouded in shadow. For once, he was grateful not to be in Bag End, as it afforded him a clear perspective of the scene. Amidst the darkness, a fiery glow burned bright among the trees, its vivid orange light flickering against the void of the night, marking the spot where the object had fallen.

His emotions churned in an unsteady cycle—bewilderment gave way to fear, only to circle back to bewilderment as he scanned the northern horizon. All he could see—much to his growing confusion—was that nothing had caught fire. He furrowed his brows, his eyes narrowing as he tried to make sense of it. The trees surrounding the object were bathed in its fiery glow, but there was no actual burning, no crackling flames consuming the forest as he would have expected. The scene defied every instinct he had about such a spectacle, leaving him both puzzled and uneasy.

"How is that even possible?" he muttered, stepping back in disbelief. "A star that large falls from the sky and doesn't burn anything it touches? What kind of…" His words faltered as his gaze darted around, searching desperately for some sign that someone else had witnessed this baffling phenomenon.

For all the nights he cherished the solitude of being out here alone, he now felt an unfamiliar pang of regret. He was actually alone. His eyes lingered on the faint outlines of nearby hobbit holes, their round doors and windows dark and silent. Not a single soul emerged, and the stillness only deepened his unease.

This was too much for him—too much wondering, too many questions rattling around in his head this late at night about matters he had no business dwelling on. Matters he shouldn't concern himself with. He cursed himself for indulging in this terrible habit of staying out past midnight, puffing away on his weed-pipe under the stars.

Had he been a proper hobbit, he would have enjoyed his pipe earlier in the evening, when the skies were still turning and the paths were alive with hobbits milling about. Sure, he'd have missed the serene quiet of the night and the brilliance of the stars, but he also wouldn't have seen... whatever this was.

And who would believe him, anyway? The story was too far-fetched, too peculiar. If someone had told him such a tale, he'd have dismissed them outright. That's exactly what they'd do to him. Hobbits weren't made for strange happenings or wild adventures, and he certainly wasn't going to risk his peace of mind by venturing off to see what had fallen near the woods. No, that was the stuff of children's tales, not the life of a sensible hobbit.

This was beyond him.

He cast one final glance toward the fiery… star, its glow still fierce even from this distance, before tearing his eyes away. With a heavy sigh, he walked back to retrieve his fallen weed-pipe, brushing it off absentmindedly as if to ground himself in something familiar.

Yes, this would be the last time he stayed out so late. No more midnight musings under the stars—he'd had his fill of strange happenings for a lifetime.

Note:

[1] - I'm sorry

[2] - Everything is going to be all right.

If you made it this far, thank you for reading!