Giving Chase {Lord of the Rings Crossover: Book One}

Chapter One

The world has changed: I feel it in the water,
I feel it in the earth,
I smell it in the air...
Much that once was is lost,
for none now live who remember it.

Lit only by the flickering firelight within Noldorin Forge, Molten gold is poured skilfully from the lip of an Iron Label, the small moulds beneath would soon hold the fate of middle earth...

It began with the forging of the Great Rings.

Upon a black velvet cloth sat three rings, encased inside each ring a single gem was set...

Three were given to the Elves, immortal,
wisest...fairest of all beings.

A polished marble pillar stood alone inside the dwarf lords hall, upon it's top seven rings where set...

Seven to the Dwarf Lords, great miners
and craftsmen of the mountain halls.

It was within clenched hands of kings the nine rings of man were set... each held as tightly as the last..

And Nine...nine rings were gifted to the race of Men who,
above all else, desire power.

Within two boxes of Ivy two separate rings where set, one sat as white as snow whilst the over glowed like liquid sunlight...

Yet two sat forgotten, gifted to a not so distant land,
were green meadows would soon sit frozen, under the white witches clutches.

Within these rings was bound the strength and will to govern each race.
But they were all of them deceived.
..for another ring was made.

In the land of Mordor, in the fires of Mount Doom,
the Dark Lord Sauron forged in secret a Master Ring to control all others.
...and into this Ring he poured his cruelty,
his malice and his will to dominate all life.

One Ring to rule them all...
One by one the Free lands of Middle earth fell to the power of the ring.
But there were some...who resisted.

Across the plains of Dagorad, Isilidur the King of Gondor's son, Leads out an Army against the darkness within Mordor.

A last alliance of Men and Elves marched against the armies of Mordor.
On the slopes of Mount Doom they fought for the freedom of Middle- Earth.
Though not alone.

From Fangorn forest they emerged, for miles their army marched towards the plains of Dagorad. Upon the slopes of mount doom the hopes of the last alliance hung in the balance, what new devilry could this be? Who was this army which seemed to push through the dark as sunlight lit their path. An army of claws and fangs, hooves and swords, winged beasts filled the skies above as the ground shook, at the forefront lead a lion like no other larger than any seen before. Hope began to rise again within the alliance, this was not their end.

Victory was near!
But the power of the Ring could not be undone.

The armies of the last alliance stood strong alongside their newfound allies,  but Sauron soon laid waste to all that stood in his path. In desperate courage, the king of Gondor and a band of beasts lead the charge against Sauron, but soon meet his mace.

It was in this moment, when all hope had faded,
that Isildur, son of the king, took up his father's sword.

Isildur reaches out and snatches up his fathers broken blade and with it severed Sauron's finger freeing the ring from evil's hold.

Sauron, the enemy of the Free Peoples of Middle Earth, was defeated.
The Ring passed to Isildur...who had this one chance to destroy evil forever.
But the hearts of Men are easily corrupted.
And the Ring of Power has a will of its own.  

It betrayed Isildur to his death.
And some things that should not have been forgotten...were lost.
History became legend...legend became myth.
And stories of talking beasts became tales of the night.

And for two and a half thousand years the ring passed out of all knowledge
Until, when chance came, it ensnared a new bearer.

"My Precious..."

".....My Precious"                                                              

The Ring came to the creature Gollum,
who took it deep into the tunnels of the Misty Mountains.
And there, it consumed him.

"It came to me....... My own.... My love....."

".............My preciousness."

The Ring brought to Gollum unnatural long life.
For five hundred years it poisoned his mind.
And in the gloom of Gollum's cave... It waited.

Darkness crept back into the forests of the world.
Rumour grew of a Shadow in the East...whispers of a nameless fear.
And the Ring of Power perceived...it's time had now come.

It abandoned Gollum.
But something happened then the Ring did not intend...
It was picked up by the most unlikely creature imaginable...

"What's this?" A young looking Bilbo Baggins looks down at what lies in his hand, confused by what he had found. "A ring?

A Hobbit....Bilbo Baggins of the Shire.

"Lost!"          "Lost!"              "My Precious is lost!!"

For the time will soon come when Hobbits will shape the fortunes of all.

(Edited: 21/09/2022)