Chapter 1

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Sméagol was overjoyed when he finally seized the One Ring again. He gloated and danced gleefully. Unfortunately, he lost his balance, and fell off the edge of Mount Doom, along with the ring. However, just before he landed in the lava, he felt someone's hand gently grabbing his arm, pulling him away, and flying him upward towards the sky. He blacked out for a few moments as he was transported through a portal. He came to, and found himself lying in short grass in a backyard. He opened his eyes, and sat up slowly, deeply confused and disoriented. He looked around, and saw trees, a fence, and a house. On the other side of the fence, several feet away, he saw a path with strange, heavy-looking objects moving back and forth. He stood up, and walked over to the fence. He saw one of those strange, heavy-looking objects sitting in a small path in front of the house

"W... where are we?" Sméagol said nervously.

"I don't know," Gollum replied.

"Sméagol?" said a soft voice.

Sméagol turned around to see a beautiful angel in a white dress standing behind him. "What is it, Precious?"

"I'm Aini."

"Aini?" Gollum inquired. "What is an Aini?"

"I'm the angel that brought you here. Here." Aini wrapped a knitted blanket around Sméagol.

"Ooh, it's soft," Sméagol said.

She took hold of his hand. "Come inside." She led him through the back door, and they both sat down together on a couch.

"Why does it bring us here?" asked Sméagol. "What happened?"

"Well, you almost died. It's the only way I could save you."

"Died?" Sméagol was still very disoriented, and still trying to recall what happened.

"Yeah, you fell off the edge of Mount Doom. You almost landed in the lava."

Sméagol thought for a moment. "Mount Doom?" he said to himself.

"You bit off Frodo's finger to get the ring back."

"The Precious," he said breathlessly, finally remembering everything.

"Yeah. I wanted to separate you from it, so it could fall in the lava on its own and free you. Unfortunately, I couldn't transport you here without transporting it, too."

"You have the Precious? Where is it?"

"Well..." Aini said hesitantly, "actually, no, I don't have it with me. I don't know exactly where it is, but it's here somewhere... unfortunately."

"Where's here?"

"You're in Cleardale, Georgia... in America."

"America?""And, it's 2019."

Sméagol was confused again.

"You're not in Middle Earth anymore. You're in the United States of America, and you're in the Modern Age—the 21st century."

"But... why are we here?"

"Well, like I said, it was the only way I could save you. I wanted you to have a second chance at life. You did some pretty messed-up things to the people around you. None of it was really your fault, though. You were a prisoner to the One Ring for so long, and you got sucked in as soon as Déagol fished it out of the river. I wanted you to have a fresh start at life, but in order for that to happen, I had to bring you to another time and place completely. Here, there are no hobbits, no elves, no Middle Earth magic... except for the lost ring."

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