Chapter 9: 9 – Journey to Hithlum (2)

The trees blended together and formed shadows of intertwined darkness. The leaves danced with the chill wind, and the air smelled foul. These mountains were dark and lonely.

Finrod Felagund, the eldest son of Finarfin, had a frown as he worriedly crouched and touched the soil beneath.

"No bird or creature roams these mountains, all life has fled. The evil of these woods bodes ill for us." He said as he stood up and looked at me grimly.

The woods were deafeningly silent, and no bird nested anywhere. I looked back at him, "There is no other path."

There was no faster path for us to take, and time was of the essence.

We trekked through these mountains vigilantly, unknown threats seemed to loom over our heads yet nothing attacked.

Night approached and we made camp to rest for an hour.

"How does it feel?" Finrod asked me with curiosity as I made the fire.

"What?" I was confused about what he meant.

He gestured at the fire in my hand.

"It's hard to explain... It's as if I am holding a beating heart... Warm and comforting, yet wild and ferocious..." I replied with a smile.

"If I want to, I can make this heart beat slowly and warmly, but at the same time, it is only a matter of will to make it wild and blazing. It's quite strange... Hard to put into words..." I continued to say thoughtfully.

"Can I look at it closely?" He said as he looked at the fire with intense fascination.

I nodded and he got closer as he pushed aside all his golden hair away from his eyes, staring at the fire in my palm with focus.

"Ever since I was young, I had a longing for the sea and the lands beyond, of what wonders lay within those lands. I was so eager to see the unknown. Since we began our journey, we only tasted grief and the cold of the north, battle, and bloodshed, yet this, this fire that you command, has made everything worth it. For no elf had ever command over the elements, such power only lay with the Valar."

He tried to touch the fire yet it burned him so he quickly took back his hand, "Magnificent. It was not in vain. These lands indeed hold mysteries worth unveiling, one right in front of me."

I felt a little uncomfortable and he noticed it, Finrod backed away and said apologetically, "Forgive me, I got too excited."

Before I could reply, something moved in the shadows. I could hear footsteps.

Finrod noticed it as well, he quickly unsheathed his sword, I took out the bow from beside me and prepared for battle.

"Hehehehe..." A burst of high-pitched laughter echoed in the forest. My hair stood on end, it was frightening.

My eyes caught sight of something red moving behind a tree, a fireball formed in my hand and I threw it in that direction. It illuminated the surroundings, all I saw were sharp teeth and three glowing red eyes.

Finrod turned pale, "Those are... Nameless things! Run!"

I didn't hesitate, we turned in the opposite direction and ran as fast as we could.

'Nameless things?! I remember that Gandalf talked about them somewhere when reading the books... They were supposed to be in the deepest depth of the world, what the hell are they doing here?' I thought in confusion.

"HEEEEEEEEE!" A loud cry shook the forest and trees began falling behind us, my spine nearly exploded from the chill I felt.

"What are they?!" I asked Finrod, he seemed to know about them.

He answered grimly, "Just run!"

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Soon we reached a clearing and no more trees were in our front. I had to catch my breath after running so fast for so long so I stopped a second and turned around.

The trees fell one after another, and soon, whatever it was, became visible under the moonlight.

I wish I had not turned around. I shall not describe the evil I saw for if you think of it... It might find its way across space and time and find you when you sleep peacefully at night, unaware of the terrors in the darkness.

Some horrors are better left unspoken.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" I cried out as loud as I could, and flames burst forth in every direction. My heart stopped beating, chills running down under my skin, I had never felt such fear.

It was as if one walks in a silent graveyard at night, and suddenly hands rise from the graves grab one's legs, and take them under the soil, to a realm of madness.

I fell down, eyes wide, Finrod was the same. Cold sweat covered everywhere on my body.

Being left to the mercy of this creature was a fate worse than death.

"Your flame of life does not belong here." It spoke.

"AAAAAAH!" I screamed for its voice was maddening and bizarrely wrong, too much to be heard by any mortal or immortal.

It began approaching me, I knew I was done for. Finrod fired an arrow, the creature avoided it and that gave me time.

I gathered as much fire as I could, it formed a ball of intense heat between my palms, and I fired it at the creature.

It exploded as flames rained around everywhere, the creature cried out in pain as he retreated.

I felt slight relief when I saw it worked, yet when the flames disappeared, the creature was perfectly unharmed.

I realized then... My fire was far too weak to meaningfully burn it.

I despaired yet I formed another fireball, how could I give up? I had not survived till now to just give up like this to a fate worse than death.

"I will blow myself up and take you with me!" I said with anger as I willed my entire being to be filled with fire. I let loose everything...

I felt my eyes heating up, as they began glowing in an amber color, illuminating everywhere. My body got caught on fire, and a strange primal force seemed to awaken within me, yet it was not complete, most of it was not there. It was sleeping, I felt it. At that moment I understood this was the fire of my soul, my very soul was a big burning fire and my power was the result. Was it because my soul was from another world? I did not know.

"Be gone!" The sky rumbled loudly as if a thousand thunderbolts had cracked. It was deafeningly loud. The creature screamed in pain and ran away. All my power left me when the voice reached my ears, I fell to the ground powerlessly.

"What was that?" Finrod asked nobody in particular as he searched around but found no one.

I, on the other hand, had my face towards the sky so I saw whatever was responsible. My mind shut down under its gaze.

The stars had formed a face, and the eyes were staring straight at me, its gaze was benevolent yet unmatched in majesty. Supreme above all yet kind and filled with infinite grace.

The face vanished as the stars returned to their former place, Finrod gave up searching and quickly approached me to see if I was fine.

A gentle whisper reached me and woke me from my stunned state, "Guest who comes from afar, I await you at the timeless halls."

I felt sleepy since I had used too much power; The exhaustion reached me.

Just as I blacked out, my mind caught up with the current situation and the last thing I thought was, 'Eru Illuvatar!!!'

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