Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Oh come the fuck on…” It had been a horrible day, actually a horrible week. My freshly lit cigarette, my only relief since this forsakened week had begun, had just fallen inside a small puddle on the ground. I should've probably taken this as a sign that today would be an awful day, but somehow I still chose to hope for the best, despite the bullshit life threw at me this whole week.

The week had started in a rather unpleasant way, with a flat tire and a lot of impatient clients at work. Although working as a waitress is usually tough as it is, this week was particularly awful. I had to take public transportation all week and, consequently, didn't get to work on time once. My buses were constantly being delayed or even cancelled. Useless to say my boss was anything but happy about it.

What’s even more frustrating than that is that somehow it felt like I couldn't get a single decent break all week. There was always something else getting in the way: Be it a huge spider inside my bedroom, my meals being burnt or me running out of chamomile, which I desperately needed at this point. At that point it feels obvious to say, I got through double, if not triple the amount of cigarettes I normally do in a week.

Unfortunately for me and my boss, my time management skills and my memory are terrible, and so was my luck this week apparently. I forgot to call a mechanic for at least a couple days and got an appointment in two weeks, which was terrible. Because of the stress I barely slept as well. That meant my service at work was also worse and so on.

Today was Friday, the first day of the weekend. I knew I absolutely needed to get to work on time because it would be packed, and, obviously, my bus was late…again. I was about to text my boss to let him know I'd be late for work when I received a text:

“Don't bother coming to work. You're fired.” Ah…that’s just what I needed to end the week with style.

“Well…there goes my job I guess,” I groaned in frustration. What was I supposed to do then? Go find a new job? If only it was that easy. It was useless to try and talk my boss out of firing me anyway. Nowadays it feels like it's easier to win the lottery than to find a job. Once that man says something, it is final. It sucked ass, but what can a simple 22 year old girl do?

Regardless, crying about it won’t help my situation. I decided to walk back home and hopefully figure out what to do next, and maybe also eat something. That would be great. Thinking about it, I actually didn't eat anything for breakfast. I fell back asleep after my alarm went off and I was barely in time to get dressed and run to the bus stop.

The walk back home was quiet, as usual, I lived outside of town near some woods after all. The only sounds keeping me company were the birds chirping and the soft rustling of the leaves in the wind. Yet, it wasn't enough to soothe my frustrations. I needed to get lost in my imaginary scenarios and my music for a while. It may not be healthy, but I can only think of being healthy when I feel better.

With that said, I put on my Bluetooth headphones and started playing my favourite songs. I needed a distraction, and desperately. So there went my walk back home, lost in my thoughts as I let the notes to my beloved songs carry me to a better imaginary world.

Once I was back home, I wasted no time going inside and throwing my jacket on the couch. I was not in the mood to hang it on the coat hanger. I dropped down on the couch next to my jacket, and sulked for a bit in my misery as my Spotify playlist played the next song. At that moment I felt so tired, so alone and incapable of doing anything right. That was until my cat came to cheer me up, and I couldn't help but smile a bit.

“Oh, Henry, you always know when I need some love, do you?” I asked my furry friend. He just looked up at me purring in response. “Man, I wish I was as lucky as you, you little bugger. You don't have to pay rent, deal with public transportation, or stress about what bullshit work will throw at you…I envy you so much, I hope you know that.”

Henry only got comfortable on my lap, ready to take a good nap. Almost as if trying to show off how carefree and peaceful his life as a house cat was. I sighed once more, petting Henry while lost in my thoughts. That’s when my eyes drifted to the window, somehow just now noticing how nice the weather was. “Huh, not a bad day for a walk in the woods at least...” It was still early in the morning after all, and apparently I won't have anything better to do for a long time. A walk wouldn't hurt.

After begrudgingly moving Henry from my lap to the couch, which he wasn't too pleased with, I went back to my room to get changed into some more comfortable clothes. After picking a large hoodie and my favourite cargo pants, I decided to also do my makeup a bit better. I looked like a hot mess after all.

Once I was ready, I quickly put on my favourite earring. It was small and black with the logo of the band Ghost. I only wore the left earring, both because I think it looks nice and also because I found it to be a small and silly way to defy societal norms. It was barely noticeable most of the time, so it wasn't that big of a deal anyway. I just really like it.

Once I was finally dressed, I was reminded of my empty stomach by said stomach rumbling, like I hadn't eaten in ages. I thought about it for a moment and decided to take a bar of chocolate with me to eat outside. I felt that might help me relax a bit better. I also took the chance to fill my pockets with anything I may need while outside, a habit of mine that proved itself to be more than useful.

Some of the things I chose to carry were a small pocket knife, always better safe than sorry after all, some tissues, my lighter, a pack of cigarettes, my phone, my power bank as well, a pen, some sticky notes, and the chocolate. I know the pen and the sticky notes were really out of place, but I always carry stuff to write with. You never know if you may need it.

With that done, I slipped my converse shoes on and went out for my walk. Maybe converse shoes were not the ideal footwear for a walk in the woods, but I couldn't care less at that moment. Besides, it would be a short walk, or so I thought. I decided to make my way to my favourite chill-out spot in the woods, an abandoned building deep in the forest that only I seemed to know about.

On the way there I had taken off my headphones, feeling like listening to nature and its harmonies for once. At last I was able to enjoy the peace of the forest with all its sounds, finally letting go of most of my troubles and intrusive thoughts. With a peaceful sigh, I smiled faintly, remembering all the times I'd wander these woods as a kid. I had always been a wild child, always running off into the woods, uncaring and unaware of its dangers. All I cared about was exploring, imagining I was going on grand adventures.

I had finally arrived at my destination when I noticed a small portion of it had collapsed. It should've been a bad sign, but at that moment I was too frustrated with life to care. I had just had one of the worst and most unfortunate weeks of my life, and I was not going to let a fallen wall get between me and peace. I decided to go in anyway with the intention of reaching the first floor. I often went there to hide from the world, which is what I needed.

Unfortunately, life seemed to have different plans for me. When I was almost at the top, the stone stairs collapsed underneath my feet, sending me falling backwards towards the ground. Everything happened so quickly, I barely registered any of it, I just remember a sudden pain to the back of my head and the world went black. I'm not sure how much time had passed when I woke up. I just knew I was anywhere but at the abandoned building.

Chapter Text

The first thing I noticed when I woke up was a sharp pain to the back of my head. It was the only thing I could concentrate on for a while. That was until I finally managed to sit up on the…grass? As I looked around, I gently rubbed the back of my head in a desperate attempt to soothe the pain. All I remember was falling down some stairs- no wait, they collapsed, yeah. I was at the abandoned building when it gave out under my weight, but I'm not there anymore somehow.

“Where…am I?” Was all I could muster. I was at the foot of a mountain, surrounded by hills and rocks. I was so confused I just sat there for about 10 minutes or so. Without even thinking, I tried digging through my pockets, scared I had possibly been robbed and taken to this strange place somehow. However, I miraculously still had all my belongings with me, along with some stuff I had forgotten about putting in my pockets.

Some of the stuff I had on me that I didn't pack with me when I left were: deodorant, cat food, painkillers, a can of pepper spray, two eyeliners, dark red lip gloss and some chapstick. These were some rather strange things to have on me, but some of the stuff, such as the pepper spray, was useful for, say, self defense. Although I already had a pocket knife on me but the more the merrier.

My first instinct was to get my phone to understand where I was, ignoring the new cracks on the screen. Much to my dismay, there was no line. No connection, no roaming data, nothing. I was in the middle of nowhere all alone. Great. I supposed this could be a good survival exercise. A fun way to test how long I'd be able to survive. In all honesty, I was not too concerned about my fate. It's not that I wanted to die or anything, I simply wasn't worried. I've spent most of my childhood wandering in the wilderness, I could handle myself just fine. I was just very indifferent to my predicament I guess. I supposed I was going to experience this like a fun test to see how much I could rely on myself and myself alone. Besides, this place looked stunning so far, and the air also felt way more clean than what I was used to. Wherever I was, I was definitely far from civilization.

I shoved my phone back in my pockets as I stood up. I rubbed the dirt and dust off my clothes while grumbling about my favourite clothes getting ruined, damn it. How long have I been laying here for? The dirt and mud were stuck to my clothes, I must've been out cold for a long time. I was thinking about how I'd clean my beloved outfit when I realised I still hadn't eaten anything. It would seem the only thing I would be eating for a long time was going to be the bar of chocolate I luckily remembered to bring with me. Not the best, but certainly better than nothing. The sun was starting to set, which wasn’t a good sign. I decided to get moving and find shelter before something or someone not-so-friendly found me first.

As I took my snack from my pockets and unwrapped it, I looked around to try and find any kind of distinguishable landmark. That would be a great start. On my left there was a big mountain range that seemed to go on forever. Frankly I didn't feel like hiking at that moment in time. Instead, I chose to ignore the mountains and looked for anything else around me that I could've relied on for directions. I was not dressed appropriately to go up the side of a mountain anyway. Especially not one that seemingly didn't even have a path.

That's when I saw a huge lake not too far from me. It had a small stream of water that went down the hills and into a nearby forest. Man, this place truly did look stunning! The lake was still and perfectly reflected the clear sky above. If I had come here for a walk I would've definitely stopped by to take pictures, but I digress. This was not the time, I had to get moving. I then remembered watching a survival documentary a while back. The expert said to always be aware of the direction you’re heading. As much as those documentaries often felt staged, I knew the guy was right. It was important to know where you might be, and since I didn't have a compass with me, I quickly looked for the sun. The sun rises East after all, I could use the sun as my compass.

The sun had started setting behind the mountains, coloring the sky in beautiful shades of orange and gold. So that was the West, great. That meant the stream of water was going East, since it was going the opposite direction. That was already a good start and I was feeling proud of myself, but I had to get going quickly. The sun was setting, and I didn't know what surprises the night had in store for me. I kept my cardinal direction in mind as I decided to follow the water while eating my makeshift meal. Where there's water, there’s plants, and some of those plants have to hold fruits of some kind…at least I hoped.

I shoved the plastic wrap inside one of the many pockets of my cargo pants as I decided to wash my face before following the water. I wanted to wash the dirt off my face and also the make-up, since I wasn't going to need it on. Besides, I really needed the refreshing feeling. Once I was done I got back up and started following the water. The small stream widened gradually, turning into an actual river. I was hoping that the forest would at least provide me with something edible. I could also climb a tree for a safe place to rest for the night in case I found nothing else. As I walked, I let my thoughts wander for a while, wondering how I even came to be here. Maybe I walked here and forgot about it. Although it was very unlikely, there were very few alternatives. If someone had taken me here, why did I still have all of my belongings? This didn't make any sense, but I still kept pushing forward.

I was happy that at the very least the sky was clear. Luckily, I didn't have to worry about walking in the rain, or any other negative weather. Actually it was quite nice here, wherever “here” even was anyway. There was a soft and pleasant breeze, and the temperature was strangely fine. I was neither cold nor warm, a rare but nice occurrence since I always feel cold. The only things keeping me company on my walk were the soft breeze and the occasional chirping of birds, which grew more and more distant as the sun set.

I should have probably moved quicker when I had the chance, for now the only light guiding me was that of the moon and the stars above me. This definitely wasn't the best thing in my current situation, considering my predicament. However I couldn’t help but notice something strange; despite the poor lighting, I could still see pretty well. I brushed that thought off though, blaming it on the hunger and exhaustion clouding my mind. I started considering lighting a fire with what I could find when in the distance I started hearing voices. A lot of voices, growing louder and louder. Whoever it was, seemed to be approaching me far quicker than I’d wish. They likely already knew I was there.

I started weighting my options for a moment; I could either try to ask for help, or I could hide and try to get by on my own. Thinking about it, asking for help would only work if these people were friendly. I had no way of knowing whether they were or not though. I didn't even know where I was, I couldn't risk being chased in an environment unknown to me. I was leaning toward the second option by that point, but before I could decide I was taken out of my thoughts quite abruptly. All I saw was something flying mere inches from my head, bouncing off the rocks next to me. “The hell?” I said as I looked at the object, which was now on the ground by my feet. An arrow. Wait, a what?

I stared at the arrow as the realization of what just happened settled in. My blood ran cold as I froze. I heard the voices growing louder, along with the noise of frantic footsteps and animalistic howls in the distance. The voices were wretched, rough and menacing. I could barely make out any words, but from what I could understand, some were chanting and some talking about how they were going to kill me. Some were complaining about being hungry, and I really hoped I was not on the menu. I genuinely hope I misheard them, especially on that last part, but something inside me told me I did in fact hear them correctly. I don't know what the hell got into me, but I stood there until I finally saw the source of those voices.

These creatures looked like men, but with grey skin and sharp crooked teeth, they barely had any hair, and their eyes were big with slit pupils. They all wore medieval looking black armor on top of dirty torn clothes. They gave off a horrible stench, so strong I could already smell it even with the distance between us. All of these “people” wielded weapons such as battle axes, spears, swords and even a bow. At this point the possibility of them being in any way shape or form friendly was, without the shadow of a doubt, out the window.

I was horrified, in disbelief of what I was seeing. What the fuck was going on?! I just wanted to go for a walk in the woods and instead I woke up in an unknown place, now being hunted down by horrible humanoid creatures. And one of them nearly shot me in the head with a damn arrow. An arrow of all things! What the hell is this, the medieval era?? They clearly thought so, judging by their attire and weapons, but this wasn’t the time to shame them for their poor fashion taste. Nor to judge their strange choice of weapons. I could do that later, or literally any other time I was not about to die.

At this point I finally snapped out of my trance, wasting no time sprinting off. I was trying to put as much distance between me and them as I possibly could, like any sane person would do. I don't think I've ever ran so fast in my entire life, but there’s no time to congratulate myself on that. I didn't even think about turning around to see if they were close. I’d like to believe horror games have taught me better than that. I may not be a survival expert, but I was not going to run into any obstacles to look behind my back. I already knew what was after me, and I didn't need to look at their ugly faces again.

However, my thoughts quickly drifted back to those howls from a moment ago. They sounded very much like actual animals. As much as those unpleasant creatures looked anything but human, they clearly spoke English. I doubted they were the ones to make those animalistic noises. So what then, that meant there were wolves nearby? Would they be friends or foes? Would they even be actual wolves, considering what kind of creatures are hunting me down? I guess my questions were about to be answered far sooner than I wished as I heard very heavy steps approaching me quickly, along with growling noises.

However, almost as if receiving my daily “fuck you” from life, I had of course tripped over a rock and fallen. This all felt so ironic in a messed up way to say the least. To think about having learned from horror games, only to make such a grave mistake. Said mistake ironically being what I wanted to avoid at all costs. It would probably be funny if my life wasn't on the line right now. At that very moment I was almost tempted to not get up, knowing I had blown my chances of survival with such a stupid and chiché mistake. However, I barely had the time to consider that option. Just as I had hit the ground, what I could only describe as a massively overgrown wolf leapt above me. The massive creature landed at least 10 feet from where I was. It would seem my unfortunate mistake had just saved my life for once, maybe my luck was turning finally.

The wolf-like creature turned around, snarling at me as it approached me slowly. It slowly stalked closer, likely thinking of its next move as it studied me. This beast was honestly massive, perhaps even as big as a grizzly bear…not that I'd know. I'm fortunate enough to have never come face to face with one. At that moment my fight or flight reflex finally kicked in, I started grabbing rocks from around me and throwing them at the giant wolf. My desperate act of self preservation seemed to stop it for a short moment. That was until a second and then a third wolf came from behind me. I guess the wolves here were genuinely this big, since all three were huge. Well that was anything but a good thing to say the least.

“What the actual fuck?!” I yelled out in shock. It wasn’t everyday three humongous wolves attacked you after all. At this moment my mind started working overtime in a desperate attempt to find a way to survive. I knew outrunning them was not an option, but what could someone do in such a situation, really? I had just been attacked by some hunched over, grey skinned, horrible smelling, threatening and, frankly speaking, very ugly humanoid creatures, and now three giant wolves. Just how is someone even supposed to react to such a thing, let alone comprehend it? Speaking of which, said astonishingly ugly “people” were now a lot closer than I’d ever want them to be. It was now or never.

I got up from the ground and ran as fast as I could, hearing the wolves take off after me. Not after long, the three sets of footsteps became one as the other two wolves were going to attempt to cut me off and surround me. It was a hunting strategy wolves often used that I was aware of. I was so close to the forest, if I reached it I could at least run through the trees and slow them down, or so I hoped. These massive things would definitely have a hard time chasing me if I ran in zig-zag patterns between the trees. However, that would have been the case if I had been lucky. But I’m Y/N, I am not lucky. Just as I had entered the woods and started hoping for the slightest chance of survival, the wolf behind me threw me to the ground. The animal shoved me with so much strength all air was pushed out of my lungs.

-- TW: Gore --

I knew there was no time to recover as the wolf was definitely towering over me. I only had the time to turn around, now facing the beast, as I barely dragged myself a few feet away. The beast wasted no time biting my right knee, yanking me back toward itself. At that moment, all of my thoughts were interrupted by a sudden wave of pain to my knee, so strong that I stopped reasoning for a moment. I let out a scream, my voice cracking as the wolf's ears twitched at the sound. The only thing going through my head was pain, and I reacted without even realising it.

I punched the wolf in its right eye, with strength I never imagined I was even capable of. The wolf instinctively let go of my leg with a pained whimper. Fortunately it didn’t tear my leg off even if it did undoubtedly have the strength to do it. I couldn't help but let out another loud pained cry, but I was not done defending myself. I dug through one of my pockets, taking hold of my pocket knife. I didn't even think once before stabbing the wolf as many times as I could. I aimed at its neck and chest and used all of my strength as I screamed. Its blood quickly started pouring on me, staining my clothes and my face as the creatures started bleeding out at a rapid pace.

The wolf let out a pained gurgling whimper before collapsing on top of me, choking on its own blood. Its head crashed onto my chest, knocking the wind out of me. When its heavy body fell right on my wounded knee I felt another wave of unbearable pain wash through my body. The pain was so intense it paralyzed me for an instant, leaving me only able to cry out. Once I could move again, I frantically kicked the now deceased beast off of me. However, I made the mistake of looking down at the wound. My cargo pants had been ripped apart, and the wound was clearly exposed.

There was a very clear bite mark around my knee cap, some bits of my flesh were still barely attached. It was dangerously deep and blood kept flowing out of it like a fountain. Through all the blood I could make out what looks to be a bone and my muscles, which spasmed from the pain. The injury was so bad there was no doubt I'd get some kind of infection or disease from this. That was if I'd even survive. The scene was so gory and disgusting I barely held back the urge to throw up, but I reminded myself that there was no time for any of that. I got up as quickly as I could in that state, careful to not put much weight on my injured leg as I did. I tried desperately to ignore the agonising feeling to my mangled knee, only succeeding for a short period of time. There was no time to cry or to take a break, I had to get the fuck out of there and quick.

-- TW over --

I limped desperately as I heard the other two wolves reaching the spot I was at previously. They howled and growled angrily before they took off after me once more. Their enraged cries were terrifying, enough scary to keep me running a little longer. As the wolves chased me down, so did those horrid creatures, their heavy footsteps and rough voices growing louder each second that passed. I limped as far as what was left of my leg would allow me, which wasn't far even with all the adrenaline, until I crashed into a tree. The pain was so unbearable I could hardly breathe as I let out pathetic gasps for air and pained moans. If there was anyone else in these woods, they had definitely heard the commotion. For a second I actually found myself hoping that help would come, but deep down I knew I couldn’t rely on any help from others. I was forced to face these horrible foes, alone and severely wounded, likely on the brink of death.

Just as I had almost lost all hope, an idea came to me. An idea so insane that it could actually work. It was so stupid that it could actually work if I was lucky enough, and I was ready to gamble on that. I shoved my bloodied pocket knife back in one of my pockets before desperately looking for what I needed. I turned to press my back against the trunk of the tree for support, facing my foes. I finally found what I needed. The deodorant I miraculously forgot in my pockets, and my trusty lighter. Apparently my forgetfulness and the need to always be ready for anything was going to be my saving grace. At least it would give me a chance to survive, however slim that chance may be.

I held the two seemingly harmless objects in front of me in the most threatening way I could muster before shouting at the wolves and wretched men. My voice cracked as a slight hint of desperation slipped in as well. “Stay the fuck away from me or I won't hesitate!” As expected, my scream didn't do much to scare the humanoid beings. They stared at me, seemingly confused, before exchanging glances between each other. My attempt at threatening them only seemed to amuse them as a roar of laughter filled the air. As they laughed, the wolves stalked closer, staring me down. “You actually think we’re scared of you and your weird rocks, foolish she-elf?!” one of those grey people spoke, provoking a cheer from the others.

They didn’t know what deodorant is? Well, judging by their looks it wasn't not much of a surprise, but an elf? Me? What on Earth were these monsters even on about? As if things couldn't get any weirder and unbelievable, they were now claiming I was an elf? What kind of bullshittery even was this? If it wasn't for the overwhelming agony to my very much mangled knee, I'd be convinced this was a dream. Speaking of my knee, I could already feel myself growing lightheaded and dizzy. Not a good sign at all. However, I had no time to think about any of this as another one of those things spoke up, looking at me like I was a piece of meat.

“She’s a weird one…I say we have some fun with the she-elf before killing her!” The other creatures agreed with the idea, and honestly I didn't want to even think of what treacherous and horrible things they were thinking about doing to me. If any of their previous words about torturing and killing me were anything to go by, I definitely did not want to know what they had in mind at all. However, as out of place it was, I just couldn't help but wonder what the hell they were even on about. As I spoke, I couldn't help but notice one of the two wolves looked…off. It stared deeply into my soul, with what I could only describe as burning hatred in its eyes. I tried to ignore the shivers that it sent down my spine as I spoke shakily.

“I believe there's been a misunderstanding…I have no idea what you mean by elf. I have no idea where I am or who the hell you are, but I swear this is the last chance you have to leave me alone.” I tried to reason with them, despite knowing it was probably futile. One of the other creatures wasted no time talking in an annoyed tone. “What did you take us for, idiots? Dumb cretins?! I'll tear those stupid pointy ears of yours off and I'll force them down your throat!” The others cheered in response, clearly negotiations were off the table. If I had been in a better state, I would’ve likely responded in some way, but the pain to my leg stopped me.

At that moment they all started approaching me once more when the angry wolf barked at them loudly, stopping them in their tracks. I had an awful feeling they definitely knew I killed their friend, if their furious snarls were anything to go by. I just hoped the other wolf was their friend and nothing else, but even then I was fucked regardless. Despite both wolves being visibly pissed, the smaller one of the two simply started circling me quietly. The bigger wolf snarled and growled dangerously as it stalked closer. I had no idea how to feel about any of what was happening, or even how to process it, but I knew I didn't have much time left to act. Lord, this wolf was huge, pissed, and ready to tear me apart, but somehow I didn't care anymore. I started feeling all of my bottled up rage finally threatening to spill out at any moment. I may have been very confused about all of this, but I was sure of one thing. If I were to die here and now, I wasn't going down without putting up a fight.

“Fine, don't say I didn't warn you fuckers!” I yelled at them as they kept approaching me behind the wolf. At that point I didn't care anymore, it was me or them. I held up my lighter, flicking it on to light the small flame before I sprayed the deodorant right through it. As expected, the chemical reaction that occurred shot out flames directed at the creatures and the biggest wolf. Both wolves whined loudly, scared of the fire as I waved the flame from side to side. The large creatures backed away, running out the woods and back into the clearing. The grey humanoid beings however didn't leave. They jumped back in shock, screaming out from the unexpected shot of fire, but they didn't quit.

Luck was definitely not on my side, at all. After the initial shot of fire, my lighter refused to turn back on, leaving me stranded at such a horrible time. One of the creatures let out an animalistic growl as they started running at me once more ready to kill me. This was it. I could not defend myself anymore. It was over. I accepted my fate as I closed my eyes and put my arms in front of my face in a desperate attempt at covering it from the incoming blow. However, said blow never came. Instead, all I heard were swoosh noises cutting the air and those creatures letting out more animalistic groans.

As I looked back at them, I saw some of the creatures laying on the ground, dead. Others were trying to run away and others were looking around. I then realised what was happening. Someone was shooting these creatures with arrows. Most of the creatures had been killed. Only a small number of them ran back to the mountains where they likely came from. I quickly shoved my lighter and deodorant in my pockets. I knew that whoever had saved me had definitely seen my little stunt, and I was not letting anyone take my few defenses from me.

As I looked around, my head spun dangerously, the adrenaline quickly wearing off. I felt a wave of nausea and light-headedness so strong I barely kept myself from crashing to the ground. I started sinking to the moss covered forest floor. My back was still pressed against the tree that had supported me until now as my saviors finally stepped into view. My vision was already starting to blur dangerously, but I could still see them, somewhat. They looked like normal people at least, that was a relief. They all seemed to have long blonde hair and wore long grey capes. All these people held bows and arrows…what the hell was up with these people and bows? Some of them quickly started pointing their weapons at me. Not that I blamed them though. I was a stranger covered in blood, with a mauled leg and a makeshift flamethrower.

As I now sat on the soft moss, I looked up at these people in a daze. One of these people approached me, trying to communicate with me. I didn't know if it was my awful state, but I swore this man was speaking gibberish. His accent sounded oddly Italian for some reason, which for a second made me believe I was mishearing him. He was speaking my native language after all, it’s not possible I didn't understand a single word of my own language. However, this day had already been so crazy I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case really. Although I did consider the chance they were actually speaking a different language that happened to sound like Italian.

“..I’m sorry, what..?” I asked meekly, my voice strained and weak. I didn’t think they actually understood me. They all stared at me for a moment without saying a word. Although they were probably just surprised at how messed up I looked. The one that just spoke and another person exchanged glances for a moment before the first one spoke to me again. This time, my mind was unfortunately too clouded for me to hear them. My vision grew blurry and dark as I started hearing a ringing noise in my ears. Suddenly the moss underneath me was strangely soft and comfortable, a nap wouldn't hurt, right? Before I knew it my head felt so heavy and my eyes started closing on their own. I could faintly make out their concerned voices before I let the comfort of sleep carry me away.

Chapter Text

I opened my eyes again, my sleep interrupted by the awful ring of my alarm. I pushed the blankets off my head as I reached for my phone, turning off my alarm. I was anything but ready for another awful day at work, but oh well, the bills won’t pay themselves, right? I sighed and closed my eyes for a moment, thinking of the awful day that was yesterday. The dreaded Karen had come to the restaurant I worked at to ruin my day. She obviously had to order a dish, requesting to change three ingredients and take away two other ingredients. Basically like those people that order a cheeseburger but without the cheese or the burger. Lord, I'll never understand how some people can find satisfaction in ruining someone else's day.

I groaned quietly, thinking of all the ways today could go wrong before I snapped myself out of it. The day had not started yet, it wasn’t certain it would be awful. Negative thoughts were a recurring problem for me as of late, and I had to snap out of it. Bad thoughts certainly were not going to help me. I opened my eyes once more, sitting up on my bed as I rubbed my eyes tiredly. “Another day, another slay..” I encouraged myself as I grabbed my phone, wanting to at least listen to some music as I ate breakfast. Well, actually that was the plan until I saw the time.

Something feels wrong…

“8:47?! When the hell did it turn this late?!” I yelled out at myself. Oh lord, I must've accidentally fallen asleep after I turned off my alarm and didn't realise it. There was no time for breakfast, I was still in my pajamas and my bus was in 13 minutes. Damn it, not again, this was the second time it happened. I basically flew out of bed, getting dressed for work and brushing my messy bed hair at record speeds. Of course I did not forget to feed my little friend Henry before leaving for work. If anything he was my first priority regardless of my duties. I ran to the bus stop, and I was miraculously 5 whole minutes early for my bus, at the expense of my breakfast though.

This can't be right…

Once I caught my breath again, I decided to silence my frustrations with a good old cigarette. Unfortunately smoking was a bad habit I had picked up from my previous relationship, and it had not left me since. Not even months after said relationship had ended. Actually wait, had it already been a year? Oh well, why bother remembering actually. I brushed off the thought of that unfortunate experience, now was not the time to be sad. Today was going to be a great day, I told myself, and just as I had lit my cigarette, it slipped out of my hand. If this wasn't so frustrating I would've probably found the timing funny. “Oh come the fuck on..” It had been a horrible day, actually a horrible week. My freshly lit cigarette, my only relief since this forsakened week had begun, had just fallen inside a small puddle on the ground.

This feels familiar…

At that moment I felt a cold shiver run down my back. I was suddenly hit by an almost overwhelming feeling of dread and anxiety. As if something was horribly wrong, out of place even. I took a moment to calm down and tried my best to shake off the feeling. I must be imagining things, surely. I gave up on smoking and tried scrolling on my phone to distract myself until my bus came, but it never did. It would seem my bus was cancelled, again. I sighed in frustration, already knowing what was going to happen once I got to work. I was about to text my boss to let him know I'd be late for work when I received a text.

“Don't bother coming to work. You're fired.” Ah…just what I needed to end the week with style.

Wait…what?

I've been here before. I could've sworn I have already lived through all of this. Something was wrong- no, really fucking wrong here. What in the hell was going on? Why was I reliving this morning? Where did those grey creatures go? Where was the forest I ran into for shelter? Where did those strange men with long hair go? Wait, was all of that even real? Was this real? Was I real??

Where was I?

“So it is as I was told.”

What the fuck was that?? I looked around frantically, shocked and honestly terrified. Was I hearing voices now? Did the sleep deprivation finally kick in or was this some kind of fucked up dream? As I looked around, the world surrounding me shifted, twisting and changing and before I knew it, I was suddenly back home. I was about to pinch my hands when I realised I wasn’t in control of my body anymore. This must've been a dream for sure. I watched as I threw my jacket on the couch before letting myself fall next to it. My cat Henry then jumped on my lap. My body- no that sounded wrong, I started petting Henry as I watched myself living this morning once more. No wait, yesterday? Lord, none of this made sense.

This is terrifying, to say the least…

The world then changed once more as I was walking through the woods near my home, reaching the abandoned building. I already knew what would happen, so I wasn't surprised by the sight. I watched as I headed up the stairs only for them to collapse underneath me, sending me falling to the ground. Thinking about it, it really was stupid of me to climb those stairs, huh? Just as I expected, I then saw as I woke up in that field once more near the lake. Well that didn't answer my questions as to how I got there. Just what the actual hell was going on? Who was that voice? Was I dead? Was this what hell looks like? Or was this heaven?

“Fear not, young one, for you are not dead. You still have a role to play here. Rest now, for you are safe in my realm.”

…oookay? Well this didn't make my predicament any less weird if I may say so myself. What did any of this mean? A “role to play”? What did that mean? What role, even? And why me of all people? I felt so lost I honestly had no idea how to even respond to…whoever it was that was talking to me apparently. As I thought this to myself, I found myself deep inside the woods I passed out in. I was sitting on the moss against the tree from earlier. I had no time to ask any questions however, as my eyes landed on a breathtaking sight. In front of me stood the most stunning and beautiful woman I had ever seen in my entire life. She had long wavy golden hair, a beautiful long white dress and shining yet piercing ocean blue eyes that stared straight into my soul. She smiled and spoke to me, however her lips didn't move.

“I am known as Galadriel, young one. As for your purpose, it shall become clearer to you once the time will come. Now rest, you have endured enough already.”

And just like that, my eyes shot open as I bolted up in a sitting position. Just who the hell was that lady? I guessed she was just a figment of my imagination. She looked way too ethereal to be real, besides it was just a dream. I then shook the thought of her out of my mind, I had to figure out what to do next. It took me a good while to realise I wasn't on the mossy forest floor anymore, but rather in a comfortable bed. However, whether that was a good thing or not was still a mystery. I imagined the strange people that saved my life took me here for whatever reason. Since I was alone though, I decided to at least take a moment to look around. I was laying on a king-size bed with silky white and grey covers on it. All of the furniture in the room seemed to be made of wood carved so precisely and beautifully that it looked unreal.

In front of me on the other side of the room was a huge wardrobe. Next to it was a desk with a big mirror hung on the wall in front of it. The mirror was of an asymmetrical shape, and its wooden outline was carved to resemble tree branches supporting it. This room was truly something beautiful. It felt like watching one of those rich people showing off their super aesthetic house on TikTok, except I was in it. Somehow I had missed the two beautifully carved wooden nightstands on each of the beds' sides, both having elegant looking lamps on them. On one of the nightstands were all my belongings…wait what? Did they dig through my pockets?

My eyes snapped down to my clothes to find my hoodie and cargo pants were nowhere to be found. Instead, I was wearing what I could only describe as a strange plain grey nightgown. Or was it a dress? Oh lord what the hell was going on? So these people not only snooped around and looked into my pockets, but also undressed me? Well this felt like the plot of some horror movie, or one of those silly stories on Webtoon or something. My thoughts then drifted back to my leg. I wasn’t sure what I expected when I moved the covers, but a strange bandage made of leaves was certainly not it. I stared in disbelief as I realised I didn’t feel that much pain actually, just a mild uncomfortable sensation. So these people also healed me in some kind of strange way.

Although the gesture was kind to say the least, I couldn’t help but wonder why. Why did they do any of this? Why the new clothes and the bandages? I mean, I did know my clothes were covered in dirt and soaked with blood, most of it not even mine; and sure my leg was messed up…but why? I was just a stranger, in their territory nonetheless. I led those “people” that attacked me in their lands as well, I probably caused a lot of issues to them. Why did they do any of this? As these thoughts flooded my mind, the door far on the left side of the room opened, snapping me out of my thoughts.

A pretty lady opened the door with one hand, holding a small tray in her other hand. She had long curly blonde hair, soft blue eyes and…pointy ears? That was a bit strange, but I had seen way worse just a few hours ago. She wore some kind of grey top with a turtleneck and a short grey skirt with tight trousers and a tight shirt underneath, both black. She also wore pretty brown boots. She peeked her head inside the room to look at me, likely checking if I was awake yet. As she saw I was indeed awake, her expression briefly turned into one of mild surprise before going back to her neutral stare. She closed the door behind herself and approached me, placing the small tray on one of the two nightstands, the empty one to be precise. I was still unsure on how to feel about them touching my stuff, or literally changing my clothes. I was still a bit uncomfortable, but I tried to not let it bother me too much. These people still helped me after all, I didn't want to be rude.

The lady next to me likely noticed my discomfort as she tilted her head, looking at me. I was very unsure of how to act in all honesty. This situation was very, very weird, and I felt rather uncomfortable, but I didn’t want to anger her either. Besides, her staring at me like I was some strange creature didn’t help me relax at all. She was quiet for a moment before she tried talking to me, but unfortunately I didn't understand a single word. Oh, so they were speaking a different language after all. Well this was rather inconvenient. “I'm sorry miss, I don't understand…” I told her awkwardly. She didn't seem to understand the words I said though. I hoped she at least guessed what I said since I spoke in a different language. I then realised that if none of these people spoke English, I was in a lot of trouble. I tried to not give that thought too much weight though, at least not at that moment.

The lady looked at me quietly, her face contorted slightly into a small frown as she likely thought of a way to communicate with me until her eyes lit up. She pointed to the tray and then at her mouth before pointing at me now. Well that was a rather belittling gesture, but I tried to not let it get to me. She likely didn’t mean it in a rude way, at least I hoped. I looked over at the tray curious. I was so preoccupied with my thoughts that I failed to notice the tray's contents. On it were a cup of water and what looked like some kind of bread. It was square-shaped, flat and had an X shaped dip in it, splitting the square loaf into 4 triangles. I looked at the lady a bit unsure before I reached for the water. For what was probably the first time in months I downed the whole cup of water without hesitation. I hadn't realised how much my throat hurt until I drank, probably from all the screaming. I then hesitantly reached for what I assumed was bread. It was surprisingly soft, almost spongy but not in a bad way.

I glanced over at the lady, who just nodded to me with a faint smile, still basically studying me, but I ignored it. I was hungry after all, all I had for the whole day was a bar of chocolate. I carefully took one of the triangles off the loaf, taking a small bite of the bread. My eyes went wide as I was suddenly hit by the flavour of the bread. Despite being very small and simple, it tasted wonderfully. It felt like eating a cloud, it had a faint flavour of vanilla, which I honestly adored. I'm a basic bitch, what can I say? The lady’s smile slightly widened as she looked a bit surprised at the sight of me downing the whole piece of bread eagerly. I quickly realised I already felt full from just that small piece of bread, that was really strange and surprising to say the least. What were these things even made of? Lord, they were amazing! How did I live 22 years of my life without this divine blessing?

I noticed the lady was looking at me with a mix of curiosity and wonder, again like I was a strange creature. Ok, this was certainly starting to get on my nerves, but I was still her guest. Mama didn't raise a disrespectful prick after all. I probably got a bit too eager though as I tried to get in a more comfortable position, only to wince in pain and let out a soft whine. Right, my knee got fucked up by a giant wolf, I almost forgot. Man, whatever these people did to soothe the pain was really good. I almost forgot I was wounded for a moment. The lady gently pushed me back on the bed before she lifted the covers. The lady carefully unwrapped the strange bandages to reveal the disgusting wound on my knee. It still looked horrible, but then again a giant wolf almost tore it apart. I was a bit shocked however to find it looked somewhat better. Again, these people must have crazy good medicine.

She got a small container with a strange green-ish cream in it and she gently rubbed it on the wound. I let out a small pained hiss, trying my best to not move my leg. I’d rather not be any more of an inconvenience than I already clearly was after all. She glanced over at me, giving me a sympathetic look before she continued. At least she didn't look at me like I was a dinosaur this time. Pretty soon she was done and she wrapped up my leg once more with new “bandages”. I knew she would likely not understand me, but I still thanked her, again gotta be respectful. After all, she was going out of her way to help me, even if she was probably told to do it. Much to my surprise she smiled at me as if she had understood me. I felt a little encouraged by this, so I decided to at least try to ask for her name.

“I’m Y/N” I said slowly as I pointed a finger at myself before pointing it toward her. “...And you?” the lady smiled at me, responding in a soft voice: “Im Niamh. Gellon len covad.” I…genuinely have no idea what she just said. I could guess, but that'd be rude and unproductive. I gave her an awkward smile “I don't really know what you said…but nice to meet you, Niamh.” She smiles at me and nods before taking the tray once more. She left the loaf of bread on my nightstand and walked out of the room, leaving me alone with my thoughts. Well these people were a bit strange, or at least she was…but still they had saved me.

I then looked back at the other nightstand, seeing all of my stuff was there including my chocolate bar wrap. I reached over and took the wrap in my hands. It was always a habit of mine to never tear the plastic wrappers of sweets. I looked at it for a moment as I wondered why they had not thrown it away, it was just junk anyway, but oh well. They probably thought I cared about it or something. I was starting to doubt these guys know what a chocolate bar is. I placed it back where it was as I looked at all my other belongings. Unfortunately the sticky notes were completely soaked in blood, definitely from when I slit the wolf's throat. Not the best thing I've ever done, nor one I wanted to even think about. I loved animals, I really did, if I could have I would have avoided this incident all together. I doubted I'd ever get over that poor wolf, but I had an awful feeling it wouldn't be the last life I'd be forced to take. Regardless, I really didn't want to have any more blood on my hands, or even to think about it, so I tried to get myself distracted from these thoughts.

I glanced at my phone, the screen was even more cracked, but it was just the protective glass. I would be surprised if the thing even turned on anymore in all honesty. It took a few nasty tumbles and hits after all. My heart then leapt for a moment as I remembered about my cigarettes. I grabbed the pack, looking inside to see if they were still intact, and thanked the lord they were. My cigarettes were safe at least. That was a great thing, I doubted they sold cigarettes here, but I digress. One by one, I then checked all of my things for damages of any kind. I had no idea which God looked down at me and decided they liked me, but aside from a cracked phone screen and the soaked sticky notes, everything else was perfectly fine. Hell, even the lip gloss and the damn eyeliner were working just fine. I was so relieved by this, finally allowing myself a moment to relax as my thoughts wandered.

I sighed, looking down at my lap as I thought to myself. This place was weird…completely new and foreign to me. I had never seen anything quite like this room, or the creatures I've met this far actually. That was both a good thing and also a bad thing since I didn't know what to expect. My thoughts then once more drifted back to the lady from my dream, Galadriel if my memory doesn't betray me. She was so ethereal, almost like an angel. Her voice was so soothing and calm, and yet when she spoke she didn't move her lips. That could also just have been me dreaming though. She told me to stay here and rest, right? But for how long? My leg wasn't going to heal for a good while, I didn’t want to be a burden. I didn't know these people and they were already doing so much for me, I couldn't help but feel guilty. Even if that Galadriel Lady was just a figment of my imagination, these people did help me an insane amount.

These strange people clearly had insane medical equipment though, maybe I'd heal sooner than I imagined. But again, I was still going to be a burden for these people, which I hated. I didn't want to be dead weight for them, I didn't even want to be here. I wished I was anywhere but here honestly. Sure, the place looked nice and the people were helpful, but what about my home? What about Henry? I couldn't stay here, my cat needed me! I needed to find a way out soon. But then again, where even was home? Where was I? I was surprised this wasn't some horrible dream I failed to wake up from. One moment I was on a walk, and the next I was stranded in the middle of God knows where. I really hoped there even was a way back home in all honesty, but I had to stay positive.

As my thoughts wandered, I heard a knock on the door followed by the now familiar sound of it opening. I looked up to see if it was Niamh again. I figured she might’ve forgotten something, but instead it was someone else entirely. At first I didn't recognise him, but then my memories after the attack started coming back. I tried to concentrate as the tiny bits of memory came back to me, filling in the gaps. Before I knew it, a flicker of recognition hit me as I watched the now familiar figure. At the door stood the guy that saved my life the previous day. He peeked his head in the room for a moment before entering, followed by another guy that looked really similar to him.

Both of the men also had long blonde hair and pointy ears, and apparently wearing only grey and black was the norm here. They both wore similar long grey vests- I didn't know how else to describe their clothing. However the one that saved me had long sleeves whereas the new guy only had one long sleeve for some reason. As similar as they were at first glance, the two men were polar opposites actually. The dude that saved me clearly cared about his appearance, his clothes hugged his form neatly and his hair was, well, perfectly put together. Meanwhile, the new guy had a more rough and messy appearance. His hair was tied up in a poor attempt at a half ponytail and it was overall messy, and his clothes were a bit wrinkled. However I also took notice of their deep blue eyes and pointy ears and- lord were these guys tall! They would've towered over me even if I was standing up.

They looked at me, seemingly unsure of what to say, mood honestly. They looked at each other and argued for a bit in their strange language before turning back towards me. Oh dear lord, here we go again with the whole staring at me like I was an alien…great. The guy that rescued me looked very calm as he approached me, stopping a few feet away. The other guy followed him quickly, hiding behind him as he peeked at me with his big round eyes. If he wasn't staring at me like that I would've probably found him cute, but whatever. Before I could be annoyed by their staring, the first guy spoke up. “You make fire. How?” His voice sounded a bit flat, but who was I to judge? A nobody, that's who I was. Besides, he at least spoke some English luckily, I couldn't complain.

I cleared my throat as I thought of what to tell this guy. If he was asking me this question, it meant he likely had no idea what deodorant or a lighter were. Man I was joking when I asked if this was the medieval times. I groaned a bit as I failed to think of what to say, until I got the idea to just show it. However, as I reached for what I needed on the nightstand, the guy just pulled a damn sword out of nowhere and threateningly pointed it at me. Goddamn, that escalated quickly. I immediately raised my hands in surrender as I shouted in fear, stumbling over my words: “Woah woah hey! Put that thing down, man! I mean no harm I swear!!” I was unsure of what God took pity on me, but he understood what I said. He lightly flinched from my raised tone of voice as he slowly lowered his weapon. I let out a quiet sigh of relief, at the very least he wasn't going to turn me into a kebab.

I slowly reached for my deodorant and lighter, his seemingly unwavering and unchanging gaze still glued on me. I then only raised my lighter, flicking it as the familiar small flame greeted me. Man I needed a good cigarette…wait- no, snap out of it! This was not the time for a cigarette. Anyway, the two men had similar reactions, the one that had just threatened me stared at the flame interested while the other guy was flabbergasted. I couldn't find any other words for it, the guy looked absolutely stunned, he was wide eyed, jaw dropped and everything. Just as I flicked the lighter on, I let the flame extinguish as I lowered the small object, this time raising the deodorant. I sprayed some of the pleasant flowery scent on my wrist before I reached it out for them, pointing to my nose.

They both slightly backed away a bit, cautious, not that I blamed them. I couldn't imagine how crazy I looked to them. Probably just as crazy as they looked to me but whatever. I really hoped they got the hint with my gesture, but just to be sure I decided to talk to them, hoping they’d understand. “Smell it. It's not dangerous.” The shorter guy slowly reached out, taking a hold of my wrist as he took in the pleasant scent. He looked taken aback by it, almost fascinated once more, but before he could do anything, the other guy practically shoved him to the side, taking in the scent as well. The first guy looked really bothered by the fact he was shoved, I mean, I would've been pissed too. He immediately fixed up his clothes and his hair with a light frown, oh he was definitely obsessed with looking perfect.

The taller guy kept basically sniffing my wrist like a puppy as I waited for the other guy to calm down once more. This was a bit awkward, I had to admit, but at least it didn't take him much to calm down. He looked back at me, his expression back to neutral as he spoke once more: “How do you make fire?” Ah, right. I forgot to actually explain it. I freed my hand from the human-ish shaped puppy in front of me as I positioned the two objects the correct way. “When you spray this” I gestured to the deodorant “on this” I then gestured to the lighter “it shoots flames. I can't show it here obviously.” The shorter guy just nodded in understanding while the other guy stared at me curiously, almost amazed. Goddammit if I had to deal with one more person that stared at me funny I might just crash out. However, before I could dwell on it, the new guy randomly took a strand of my hair in his hands.

I was about to snatch it away when…wait a second, when did my hair grow out? I stared at my hair surprised, probably looking crazy in the process, but I didn't care. I quickly grabbed my phone and looked at my reflection on the cracked screen, earning confused stares from the two men. It would seem my hair style had changed for some reason, I now had a jellyfish cut. Not too bad to be honest, I didn't mind it too much, even though it still was a big surprise. The two men seemed interested in my hairstyle as well, giving me puzzled looks. Judging by the few people I had met so far, I did have a rather unique and strange hairstyle, not to mention the hair color. Everyone here had similar shades of light blonde, I definitely stood out. With this I was not trying to excuse their rude behaviour however, not at all. I still felt very dehumanised by their looks.

Just as I put down my phone once more, the tall guy gasped as he took hold of my hanging earring. Oh Lord please don't let this guy tear off my ear. Luckily he didn't do it, but he did lightly tug at it, likely by accident. He spoke up finally, sounding excited and amazed. “What this, Orophin??” Orophin? Oh that must've been my saviour's name. Orophin stared at my earring, his face still as neutral as ever as he responded in a very matter-of-fact tone. “Earrings, Rumil.” However, something quickly caught his eye as he lightly tilted his head to the side his facial expression never changing. “Just one. Why?” I just shrugged in response, careful to not move too much as the other guy- Rumil, was still holding my earring hostage. “I just like the look I guess,” I responded casually, but my answer only seemed to make him more curious. Actually it made both of them curious.

Before they could ask anything else though, I decided to at least introduce myself. I knew their names after all, it was fair for them to know mine. “I'm Y/N by the way. Uhm…nice to meet you I guess.” For some reason they exchanged glances before looking at me again, once again giving me a slightly less dehumanising look. “Where are you from?” Orophin asked me slowly. The tiniest bit of hope made its way into my heart as I responded quickly “I'm from T/N, you know how far it is from here??” Nothing. They just stared at me, utterly bamboozled. I started feeling uneasy as I persisted. “You…you know where it is, right? It's in C/N…you…you must know where it is…” The more I spoke, the more unsure I felt, my voice quivering lightly as I muttered those pitiful pleas for any kind of help to go home. Instead, I was met with weird looks and a sentence that shattered nearly all my hopes.

“I do not know what you are talking about.” …what? They didn't know what damn country I was from? But…how? How was that even possible? Just…where in the absolute hell was I? I looked at the guy- Orophin- as I struggled to find the strength to speak, but I needed to. I had to know where I was, regardless of how bad the answer could have been. I finally found the courage to speak, although in a shaky voice. “Where…am I exactly?” Orophin didn't waste any time responding as he straightened his back, his answer almost sounding like he recited it. “We are in Lothlorien, or Lorien for short. Realm of the Lady of the Woods and one of the Elven Kingdoms.” Ok…what the fuck. Who was this "lady”? Why did I even care? And what the hell was an “Elven Kingdom”? This must have been a dream- no, a nightmare. This surely was a nightmare and I was definitely going to wake up soon. Yep. Any moment…

I took some deep breaths as I closed my eyes, calming down before I reopened them and…why was I still here? Surely I should have woken up by this point, right? And yet…these weirdos were still right there. Right in front of me. Still staring at me. Fuck sake, was this actually happening? Why me even?? God, when I said I liked it rough I did NOT mean my life. God should've stopped giving me his hardest battles, clearly I was not his strongest soldier, and yet here I was. Ugh, whatever. None of this made any sense, and frankly I already felt like I didn't care anymore. I just wanted to go back to my house and to my beloved Henry, and forget any of this ever happened. One small issue though, how the hell was I supposed to get back? Never in my 22 years of life have I ever heard of “Lothlorien” or whatever, nor did I ever think all these weird people existed. Dear lord, I was going to need therapy after this one.

I tried to shrug off my internal turmoil as I responded, trying my hardest to not sound annoyed or rude. “Ok…? And where would this Lorien place be exactly?” I was met with confused blinking as Orophin likely tried his hardest to make sense of my ignorance. And yet, his tone of voice didn't change once…weirdo. Ok no that was rude, damn. “We are in Middle Earth. Arda. You do not know this? How?” “Man I have no idea, ok?” I responded without even thinking about it, dear God this was exasperating. The two men then looked at each other, speaking in their strange language as I zoned out for a hot minute, letting the weight of my situation sink in. So…if this was not a dream, which I still doubted, it meant I had somehow ended up in a different world?? What in the Multiverse bullshit was this?

Surely I must have been crazy. Surely I had just somehow gotten lost and had been found by crazy people, right? But then what the hell were those grey ugly ass people? What about those huge wolves? And why the hell did these people all look the same and have pointy ears? Actually wait a second, didn't one of those grey weirdos say I also had pointy ears? Surely not…surely he must've been talking crazy. I almost laughed at the memory of that ugly weirdo calling my ears pointy, that was until I reached up a hand and touched them. My ears…they were pointy…what.

-- TW: Panic Attack --

No…no, this couldn’t be. No this…this wasn’t real. This was not real. None of this was. Just…how? What? Why? Why me? Why me of all people? Why did this have to happen to me? No, please this could not possibly be real…God, what the fuck. This was surely some twisted fucked up joke…but why? Why was it still going on...? I felt a light rush of adrenaline and an intense feeling of uneasiness as I realised that no. This was real. All of this was, in fact, real, and I was stuck in here with no way back. No way home. No way back to normality. My head started spinning as I realised all of this. Every single thing going on here, was fucking real. I must have gone as pale as a ghost, because the two men quickly looked back at me. The taller guy…Rumil, right? He looked rather concerned, meanwhile Orophin just tilted his head to the side and gave me a puzzled look.

Then, without any warning, Rumil stepped closer and crouched down as he poked at my cheek, talking to me in a curious yet concerned voice. “You ok? Feel bad?” I flinched lightly as he touched me, his voice sounding so distant. I tried so hard to make any sense of this, any at all, but I just couldn't. There was no sense, none. I was trembling before I knew it as I felt a knot form in my throat and my vision grew blurry. Oh my God was I about to have a panic attack- no no no come on not now. Not here. I shut my eyes closed tight as I tried to calm down in any way I could, but to no avail. As I was starting to lose focus on the world around me, I suddenly felt a strange slightly crushing weight around me.

It took me longer than I wish it did to realise what had happened. Rumil, a complete stranger who had barely talked to me once so far, was…hugging me. The realisation of his intent then hit me like a truck. He had wrapped his arms around me somewhat tightly to ground me back to reality. I couldn't stop myself from tearing up, but I refused to let these strangers see me cry. I shut my eyes once again, trying to stop myself from crying as I hid my face in his shoulder. I gripped onto his clothes for support, the sensation slowly coming back to my tingling fingers. Eventually I was finally able to slow down my breathing by some miracle, and before he leaned back I quickly wiped my tears away. His hands shifted to now hold me by my shoulders as he looked at me, his voice now a lot quieter and softer,

-- TW over --

“Feel better?” God, this guy was weird, and so was the other fella that was standing awkwardly in the room with us. He was really fucking weird…but he put his safety on the line just to make me feel better. I could've hurt him…I could’ve taken advantage of his naive act of kindness, he didn’t know that…and yet he still did it. Maybe…maybe this guy wasn’t all that bad. Maybe I had been too harsh in judging him. Lord, I felt like a fool. I couldn’t even look him in the eyes, I just nodded as I looked down, ashamed of my quick judgement. I could faintly make out his smile in my peripheral vision as a loud knock interrupted the moment.

Rumil flinched-jumped up, dusting his clothes off as he straightened his back, as if knowing who it was already. The person on the other side of the door wasted no time opening it, bit rude, and the two men's attention was on the new person in an instant. The person was another man. He looked a tad older than Orophin and Rumil, despite being shorter, probably due to his more serious and composed attitude. He had beautiful golden hair, neatly tied in a half ponytail, and just like the other two men, he had two long strands on each side of his face. He had a slightly different vest on and- his eyes, damn. He had these deep blue eyes as cold as ice.

He barely glanced at me with what I believed to be slight annoyance before he looked at the other two men and spoke to them in their strange language. The only word I could make out was a very familiar name, “Galadriel”. Like the woman from my dream? But how? Before I could make sense of this, the two other men quickly nodded as he stopped talking. Neither of them spoke up, neither said anything at all really. They just nodded and started walking out the room, although before leaving, Rumil spared me one last glance. As they exited the room, the new nameless guy gave me one last glance before leaving once more, closing the door behind himself. Well this new guy sure was…something. I wasn’t sure I wanted to see him again from the look he gave me, but I figured I may have just imagined things. Oh come on, I had just shamed myself for judging Rumil too quickly, how bad could this guy possibly be after all?

Chapter Text

Darkness. Warm, cozy, peaceful darkness. I was enveloped in darkness as I blissfully slept all of my worries away. Just a bad dream…is what I thought until I was shaken awake rather violently. I let out a surprised yelp as my eyes shot open. My heart raced at dangerous speeds as I looked up at whoever had just assaulted my peaceful sleep and…Rumil. It was Rumil. Jeez this guy was trying to give me a heart attack or something! “What the fuck, Rumil?! I'm awake!” I yelled out as he finally let go of my shoulders with an exaggerated relieved sigh. “Me think you dead! You sleep lot!” He responded in a strange mix of surprise and…cheerfulness? Well I sure envied him for that. It took me a good while to understand what he was trying to say, especially in my tired and dazed state. Luckily though, despite his broken English, I was still able to understand him…this time.

Unfortunately, this was proof the events of the previous day were not a bad dream, but actually happened somehow. I did somehow end up in a different world, and that still made no sense to me. As I thought about my current predicament, I also remembered what I had done yesterday. After these two left I spent the day basically fucking around. Not that I had much to do sat on a bed. All I could do was sing whatever song that came to mind, sleep and overthink. Not a good combo honestly, but whatever. At least Niamh came around at some point to bring me more water and to check on my leg again. She didn't seem like a talkative person, actually she was very quiet, but at least she was nice. Not that Rumil and Orophin weren't, but at least I had the company of another girl.

I quickly snapped out of my thoughts however as Rumil's big round eyes stared into mine as he waited for a reply. “Why the hell would you even think I was dead anyway? And what time is it?? It's still dark outside!” I grumbled out, still a bit annoyed by the very sudden and violent way of being woken up that felt more like a medieval torturing method. Through the window above the bed I could see it was still dark outside, it was clearly very early in the morning. That's when Orophin responded- wait since when was he here as well? “It is exactly 5:14 in the morning.” …what?! I stared at him in disbelief, taking a moment to process his words and respond, “5 AM?! What the hell? Why would you wake me up so early, man??” Despite my surprise however, he wasted no time responding once again in his usual matter-of-fact tone. “Actually we have to wake you one hour ago.” …what? Huh? What the absolute hell was he on?

“...says who exactly?” I let out in a fake calm voice. “Says Lord Celeborn.” He just responded simply, as if the answer was obvious, seemingly not taking notice of my annoyed tone. I gave him a confused stare as I let out a “Who?” without hesitation. However, Rumil’s eyes went wide and Orophin was taken aback for a moment by my silly ignorant question, but Rumil beat Orophin at responding. “If brother Haldir hear you, you dead! Lord Celeborn our ruler!” I quickly blurted out a confused reply, “Alright no ok slow down, way too much information all at once. Who's this Haldir now? Again, who is this Lord guy and why does he want me awake at 4 in the morning??” This time it was Orophin to respond, and hopefully he wasn't going to lore dump on me. “Haldir is our old brother, you meet him yesterday.” Oookay, that was one question out of the way, I now knew the strange guy's name; and apparently, deducing by his usage of the word “our”, all three were brothers. Cool.

“As my brother says, Lord Celeborn is our ruler, Lady Galadriel’s husband.” alright, so they were brothers…wait, so Galadriel was real?? Goddamn I was not ready for that one. “And he wants you awake at 4 AM because we have to check you. Besides, you sleep long enough." Okay, bit rude but whatever. I thought about my words before I spoke again, “Well technically I did NOT sleep enough though. I fell asleep at like 11, I only got 6 or so hours of sleep, and any self respecting human needs at least 8 hours of sleep.” To say they looked at me weird was an understatement. Rumil once again beat Orophin at replying to me as he blurted out a quick “But you no human. You elf, like us!”

Wait what- oh right, I forgot. I did somehow have pointy ears now. I guess that made me an elf? I was not sure how that worked, but I hadn't been here for that long. Maybe I'd be able to understand all of this, but really I just wanted to go home and forget all of this had ever happened. “Okay, yeah, sure. Maybe I am an elf as well…so what? I still need to sleep.” I said simply, not expecting Orophin to respond so quickly with a seemingly scripted answer. “Actually us elves need only 4 hours of sleep. You sleep long enough.” Again, RUDE. Jeez this dude was not holding back, huh? I sat up on the bed careful to not hurt my knee as I looked at him a bit offended. “Alright alright, I'm awake, there's no need to rip into me like that you know…” He didn't respond however, he just stared at me confused. He probably didn't understand slang, but whatever…I just ignored it.

“Anyway, why does this uhm…Celeborn guy want you to check me? Check me how exactly?” I asked, really hoping this was not going to be an alien movie typa situation. Luckily though, Orophin's answer reassured me to say the least. “We have to see if you walk or no.” Alright, cool, that was fine as long as I got to keep my skin on me. However, one big issue, my leg got fucked up just two days ago. There was no way I could walk already. “Alright look…I get it. I'm a bit of an inconvenience to you, I don't want to be here either, trust me. I'm really grateful for all you've done to help me already…but there's no way I can walk already..” Rumil didn't seem to understand what I said as he tilted his head curiously, but Orophin definitely did “Elf medicine heal wound quick. We need see if you walk.”

Sigh…he was not letting it go, huh? I mean, I was their guest and or prisoner after all, I didn’t exactly have the right to say no. Besides if their medicine really was that good, it was worth it to try. I sighed, nodding a bit reluctantly. “Fine, fine, you win…” I mumbled out as I moved the covers, the two men moving a step back to give me some space to stand. I slowly and gently moved my legs over the edge of the bed, my right knee already buzzing lightly with discomfort. I wasn’t too sure about this, but again, it was worth the try. If my leg was not ready then I could just sit down again. I took a deep breath and counted down in my head, getting ready to stand up. 3…2…1…

I held my breath as I stood up, putting most of my weight on my good leg and…I could stand…? Already? Ok this was going far better than I had expected initially. The two elves- mostly Rumil- looked at me quietly in anticipation as I slowly shifted my weight to also use my bad leg and…I could still stand. I let a relieved breath out as I looked back at the two. Rumil had the brightest grin I’ve ever seen while Orophin barely lifted his eyebrows a little. He wasn’t the expressive type, huh? I was taken out of my thoughts as Orophin spoke up again, his tone as flat as ever. “That is good. Try walking now.” I nodded, although unsure. Despite being able to stand, the buzzing discomfort to my knee was still present, but I supposed I did have to give it a try.

I tried taking a small step forward with my bad leg. As I moved it, the discomfort grew to a slight painful feeling, but I was able to take the small step. I looked at Orophin as I spoke up meekly. “I’m not sure it’s a good idea for me to walk, it still hurts…” Orophin nodded lightly, seemingly unbothered, “We must see how far you can walk. When you can’t we go back.” Go back? What did that even mean? Rumil noticed my confusion rather quickly as he excitedly piped up. “We take you see Lothlorien!” I guess golden retriever guys did still exist after all, huh? I had to suppress a laugh at the thought. This guy was not that bad after all. Maybe, just maybe, he could be a decent friend. Besides, it could be useful to have a friend here for however long I had to stay. I still wanted to go home, but maybe he could help me with that.

With this new found idea, a small spark of hope came back to me. A small one, but still a spark, I had to cling to it. There had to be a way back home, I refused to give up, but for now I had to be patient. I could befriend these two and convince them to help me, I just had to play my cards right. With this new idea in mind, I gave Rumil a nice smile as I went along with it. “Really? Then let’s go!” I said in feigned excitement, both of the elves taking the bait. Orophin just nodded as Rumil bounced excitedly, seemingly so happy he was restless. He quickly took one of my hands as he dragged me to the door, forgetting about my knee. I gasped as I was forced to take a sudden step on my bad leg, which gave out underneath me. I was about to fall to the floor when Rumil swiped his arms underneath mine, holding me up. This guy moved so quickly I barely saw him, damn.

He lifted me up effortlessly as he started rambling and stumbling over his words, apologising. I held onto his arms as my knee buzzed with pain now. Calm down, Y/N, you had to play along…I took a small breath to calm down as I smiled lightly at the troubled elf, trying to reassure him. “It’s fine! It’s ok, nothing bad happened! Everything is fine, I’m ok!” It seemed to work as Rumil let out an exaggerated reassured sigh while Orophin gave his brother a somewhat disapproving look. Yeah, definitely the older brother. Orophin then walked over to the door, holding it open for the both of us without saying a word. Rumil started leading me again, however this time at a more reasonable pace, thank the Lord.

I followed him as I lightly limped, finally taking my first steps outside that door. Finally I could leave that damn room. As pretty as it was, I was starting to grow claustrophobic, man. I tried to push down my slight excitement of my new found freedom as I finally took my first step out of that door and…man. MAN. This place was nothing short of stunning! The sun was starting to rise, its rays lighting up the scenery ahead of me. To my utter surprise, this entire town was built on trees, far far above the ground, and dear lords this place was breathtaking…and blinding also. All the buildings were white, and the roofs of the same color as the golden and light brown leaves, The buildings almost seemed to glow in an ethereal way. There seemed to be just one house for each tree, all of them being connected by these bridges and staircases, which looked as beautiful as they looked terrifyingly unsafe.

Rumil definitely noticed my amazement as he stopped walking, letting me admire the stunning surroundings. Eventually Orophin walked past us, stopping in front of the bridge connected to our platform. He turned to face us, checking if we were following him as he spoke up. “We go. You must know your way around.” His words snapped me out of my trance as I blinked surprised before I nodded. I started limping over to Orophin as his brother walked along with me, still holding my arm to give me support. I was quite surprised by his kindness, but I shook the thought away for the moment. I was too preoccupied worrying about how unsafe the bridge looked. Orophin only took a few steps onto said bridge before he turned to face us again, giving me a questioning gaze.

I just couldn’t make the step however, I just couldn’t. I couldn’t help but look down at the ground far, far below us as my legs lightly shook. Dear lord, I felt lightheaded just looking down. My mind was clouded by the fear of falling off the platform or the bridge giving out when Rumil surprised me once more. He stepped in front of me, facing me as he held his hands out for me to hold, giving me a reassuring smile. “No scared, safe! Come!” This guy…was going out of his way to help me again? I really couldn’t understand him, this guy was so naive, but just so…pure. So unconditionally kind. I just stood there, completely confused by this guy’s motives. I was unable to respond or to move. I could react only when he reached out to hold my hands, taking a small step backwards to lead me.

I was still terrified of the bridge, but having someone support me was…nice. It made the issue seem so small and bearable. I gripped his hands lightly as I followed him onto the seemingly unsafe structure, locking eyes with him to avoid looking down. However, as we walked farther and farther away from the platform, the bridge never gave out. Actually it seemed sturdy enough to even jump on it, it didn't move an inch under our weight. I slowly found the courage to let one of Rumil’s hands go as I gradually grew more confident, slowly limping on the structure. Damn, had this thing been made in my country, it would’ve collapsed in an instant. These guys not only had crazy good medicine, but insane building abilities too, the hell??

Once I was calm enough crossing the bridge, I looked around, still not looking down, as I spoke once more to Orophin. “...so uhm, why are you showing me around exactly?” Orophin gave me a slight shrug, still walking in front of us unbothered. “Lady Galadriel's orders.” Well that gave me more questions than answers. Once again I was taken aback by the fact the woman from my dream existed for real, but that was the least of my issues at the moment. I was very confused by his strange answer and couldn’t help questioning it further. “Okay? But why? I’m not exactly a guest, you don’t even know me really, and I don’t know you nor this place.” Despite my questions, I was given a rather disappointing reply, “I do not know. It is not my place to question Lady Galadriel's orders.”

Well that was a very disappointing answer, but I chose to not persist. Clearly he didn’t know the answers to my questions. Either that or he wasn’t allowed to tell me, which was also a possibility. I didn’t want to push the matter any further, angering this guy was the last thing I should be doing. Instead I just nodded and said a quiet “Got it”, which he didn’t really respond to. The rest of the walk wasn’t too bad, Orophin only spoke to tell me which building was which and which were the main “roads” and where they would lead. Basically just showing me around, but I couldn't pay much attention. My attention was elsewhere. As we walked around Lothlorien, I noticed a bunch of other elves looking at me funny. They all looked basically the same, all with blue eyes and light hair, all wearing grey clothing. They looked at me like I was an alien or something, which, sure I understood, but I didn’t really care.

As Orophin and Rumil showed me around and told me about the strange town in the trees and its streets, I found I wasn’t paying that much attention at all anymore. I looked around at the forest, mostly lost in my thoughts. Sure, the city was stunning and all, but damn…this forest was…something else. The trees were so tall and large, they stood tall like proud giants, letting just enough light go through their leaves and branches. Only the Lord knew how old these trees were. The forest floor was so green, so…alive. The plants underneath grew so tall and had such a bright and lively green color. If one took the time to pay attention, the forest was brimming with life, whether it was plants or animals. There were so many animals happily frolicking in the woods: deer, birds, raccoons, squirrels…I had never seen so many animals at once before.

I was so used to my old boring grey life, so used to my mostly empty and quiet walks in the woods, that the forest’s lack of life was normal to me. I was so used to my everyday life, to the cemented roads, gloomy grey surroundings and polluted air that now I just couldn’t not notice this. Realising how clean the air and how lively nature could be was bittersweet. It was so beautiful and yet sad. I was aware of global warming, I wasn’t stupid, but had we humans really ruined our world this bad…? These thoughts plagued my mind, carrying me away until a somewhat excited voice snapped me out of my depressive train of thoughts.

“Deer in Lorien are the most beautiful, you know. Here they have all nutrition they need to thrive. They are important piece of the circle of life here…” The voice went on and on, happily rambling about the animals. I didn’t pay it much mind until I realised it was Orophin. The usually quiet and expressionless guy now looked like an excited child, unable to contain his excitement about deer? As I glanced back to where I was looking, I noticed there indeed were deer. There was a small group of them happily grazing the grass, and just at that moment I noticed they looked different. These deer were larger than the ones I was used to, and the males had huge antlers. Not just that, but their colors were so lively, and instead of the dull dark brown I was used to, these deer had a lively light brown color.

I looked at them, somewhat amazed by this revelation as my attention was now back to the now excited older elf. Rumil rolled his eyes as he spoke to me once more, “Brother love animals! He talk lot!” Well I suppose I noticed that. I couldn’t help but smile a bit, amused by the thought that this adult guy that had his shit together completely lost it at the sight of a deer. It was endearing, really. Then an idea came to mind, I could probably use this as an opening to grow closer to this guy. If I befriended him as well, maybe he could help me too! Before I could think about it any further, I went for it. I saw an opening and didn’t waste a second taking the chance.

“Oh really? Back where I live I never saw so many animals at once…what other animals are here?” Oh man did he take the bait. He started rambling excitedly, seemingly barely taking any time to breathe. Rumil groaned as if he knew there was no stopping his brother now, and just then I realised what I had done. I mentally facepalmed at myself as I smiled at the absurdity of the situation. As much as Orophin was talking my ears off by this point, I couldn’t find it in me to stop him. This guy clearly wanted to talk about something he cared about really badly. I might as well let him, he was clearly happy to talk…is what I thought for the first hour and a half.

I had no idea for how long he went on about all the wildlife in Lothlorien, but I had no doubt this dude knew those animals better than they knew themselves. If these people had books on animals- which is actually very likely I supposed- this guy had definitely read them all. He could probably tell me the exact page every single fact he said was from too, I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case. Besides that though, Orophin’s rambles were luckily interrupted by the sound of my stomach rumbling. Actually I was hella hungry, damn. He gave me a surprised puzzled look before looking away, seemingly embarrassed. “Sorry, I am annoying you. Nobody asks me about my interest…” He said, a slight hint of sadness in his voice though.

I quickly tried to reassure him, stumbling over my words in the process, “What- no no, not at all! You’re not annoying! I’m uh, just hungry! And uhm- I was wondering what time it is- but you’re not annoying!” Damn, I definitely looked like a fool, but I had to cheer him up. He had to like me, damn it! I needed help going back home! It sounded scummy, but a girl’s gonna do what a girl’s gotta do. I had a cat waiting for me back home and my comfy bed to go back to. Although the bed I had here was not that bad…wait- no shut it! I had a bed back home, I didn’t need to keep living off of these people like a leach!

While my internal conflict was going on, my silly attempt at reassuring the older elf seemed to work somehow. He looked back up at me with hopeful eyes as he let out a quiet “Really?” I quickly nodded with a smile. “Yeah, yeah- really! How about we go eat something now though? I’m starving.” He just nodded, back to his usual poker face as he started leading the way to a staircase that spiraled around the largest tree in the forest. He started leading us downward as he spoke again. “We can eat on ground…if you want.” I was taken aback by the offer, but I had to admit I quite liked the idea. “Yeah, that would be nice.” I responded. The older elf just nodded as we walked down the stairs.

By now my knee felt like it was on fire, but I tried to keep pushing forward. I knew this moment would come soon enough, but I was surprised it took this long really. As I limped, following the two elves, my movements grew gradually slower, and Rumil wasted no time noticing it. He stopped and tilted his head to the side as he looked at me curiously. “Leg hurt?” He asked simply and I just nodded in response. I had to say, for someone who didn’t speak English that well, he was still able to make me understand what he wanted to say. That was quite the skill to have. I didn’t have much time to think about this however as I was suddenly swept off my feet by none other than Rumil. Literally.

I let out a small scream in surprise and froze up for a moment. This guy was definitely going to give me a heart attack sooner or later, I just knew it. I looked up at him with wide eyes as he just gave me an innocent smile. I quickly looked away, crossing my arms. Man this was embarrassing. You meet a guy for the first time and the next day he picks you up bridal style. Talk about rushing things, he could’ve taken me out for dinner first at least. Orophin meanwhile had flinched when I let out that scream and was looking back at us with a slight frown. He didn’t say a word however, just giving us a puzzled expression before going back to walking. Oh so this was normal now, huh? Ok fine whatever I guess.

As Rumil started walking, he held me a bit closer to himself, looking around as we reached the bottom of the staircase. He just admired the nature around us as if him holding me like this was a normal occurrence. This guy certainly was naive, and yet, still so unreasonably kind. I had a feeling it didn’t matter how long I’d spend around him, I was never going to get used to his good nature. I guess the realisation that neither Rumil nor Orophin seemed to care that much helped me calm down about this. He was just trying to help anyway, getting mad was stupid…even though he DID pick me up without even asking, but whatever man.

The two elves walked for a while into the beautiful forest, the sound of the birds chirping happily keeping us company the whole way. Having my mind freed of the constant thought of my leg hurting, I was able to wonder about other things…such as, how old were these guys really? Rumil acted like a hyperactive child, he couldn’t be older than 19, or so I thought. Orophin definitely gave off middle child vibes, so he was definitely older than Rumil…oh come on, speculating was useless, I might as well ask. I cleared my throat as I spoke again to both elves. “So uhm…I hope you don’t mind me asking. Please don’t take offense, but how old are you two? I was just curious.”

Rumil looked down at me curious while Orophin glanced back for a moment, still walking as he responded calmly. “I am little over 5200 years old. Rumil is around 2050.” I couldn’t help but let out a small laugh at that, earning curious glances by them. Rumil tilted his head to the side again, “What funny? Our years funny?” He asked with genuine confusion. My smile slowly dropped as the realisation these guys were deadass serious hit me like a truck in the face. Oh…my God. These dudes actually were centuries old. No, you know what? It was my fault for asking, really. I couldn’t do anything but stare at them in disbelief as I struggled to imagine living for that long. I was already shocked I had lived for a little over two decades, let alone fucking centuries! These fuckers could’ve seen the damn Roman Empire, for crying out loud!

Before I could even begin to comprehend just how long these people had lived, Rumil piped up once more curiously. “How old you?? I say 2000! No, 3000!” As the poor guy started saying random numbers, I just looked at him apologetically, slowly shaking my head. “I’m uh…uhm…22, actually…” I said hesitantly. The two men immediately stopped walking, staring at me as if I had just said the most outlandish thing ever. Rumil stared at me, just as shocked as I was when I heard their ages, while Orophin glanced back surprised. Damn, I was able to make this guy change facial expressions, I guess my age was a huge deal after all.

I supposed it was my turn to break the silence once again as I spoke up, although kind of unsure. “...you two remember I was human before ending up here, right?” The two then looked like they finally understood as they nodded. “That make sense.” Orophin said, once again as calm as ever. Rumil however seemed intrigued by this, as he wasted no time firing out questions about how humans lived and all that sort of stuff. So I spent the remaining time of the walk trying to communicate with this golden retriever of a guy, who, despite not having the linguistic capabilities, still tried his darn best to understand.

I was starting to wonder where exactly these two were taking me until we got to a nice clearing in the forest. The sun shone above us as a light breeze greeted us, giving us a refreshing wave of clean air. I was still stunned by just how pure and natural this world was compared to mine, it was truly beautiful. Rumil carefully put me down on the soft grass as he sat next to me with his legs crossed while Orophin knelt down, digging through his bag. Wait, he had a bag on him? How did I not notice that? Oh, probably because he hid it under his cape, oh well. He got out of it three of the now familiar squares of bread enveloped in that strange big leaf, and he handed one to me and to his brother.

I happily ate my own share, eating just one of the four triangles while the two elves looked at me surprised. I then noticed they had only taken a few bites each for some reason. “Are you guys not hungry?” I asked curiously, not understanding their funny looks. Orophin then responded, seemingly fascinated by my actions. “Lambas bread can fill a grown man with few bites. How do you eat so much?” Ok well, that was a bit rude, but I knew he didn’t mean it that way, so I let it slide. I was actually quite intrigued by this. It would seem that despite me having turned into an elf, I still was not fully one. I was not sure how this worked, but I had a feeling I’d have a lot of time to understand it. I shrugged off that thought as I just enjoyed the peace of nature.

After this, the day flew by very quickly, these two were good company honestly. It was nice to talk to them and basically just frolic in the clearing. However I still couldn’t shake away the thought of my house, my dear Henry and my old life. I never realised how much I’d miss my old life, despite how bland and boring it was. I had never really been that satisfied with it, but now that I was stranded in a seemingly different world, I was starting to feel homesick. I was able to successfully hide my internal conflict from the two elves, who were bickering in their strange language. I smiled a bit at the sight before we heard distant howls.

A cold shiver ran down my spine as I realised it was starting to get late. The sun was setting and we had to go back if we didn’t want to be torn to shreds by those gigantic wolves. I was growing more scared each second at the memories of the other day, but Orophin and Rumil however seemed more confused than scared. They exchanged glances before talking to each other in their language again, this time in a more serious tone though. Orophin then stood up, shoving the bread wraps in his bag as Rumil picked me up with ease. I was taken by surprise once more, but before I could say anything, I was stopped by Rumil’s excited words: “We go home now!”

Home…it didn’t feel right to call that room home. It didn’t feel anywhere near right, but I couldn’t share my turmoil with them. I was aware that bottling it all up was a recipe for disaster, but I didn't really have any choice. Besides, they were already allowing me to stay with them. I was fed, I was given a bed and a roof over my head. Sure, it had just been two days, but it was still two days of free rent and free food. I just nodded in response, keeping my thoughts to myself as we walked back “home”. The walk was calm despite the occasional distant howls. The two brothers chatted in their language as I tuned the noise out, still admiring the beautiful forest around us.

As we got back to Lothlorien and to the room I was given, Rumil set me down on the soft mattress, giving me a cheerful smile. Did this guy ever get tired? He looked restless honestly. I snapped out of my thoughts as Rumil stepped away, letting Orophin step closer with clean bandages in hand. He looked uncomfortable as he hesitated to change my bandage. I immediately offered to change them myself and he gladly handed me the clean bandages. I struggled a bit to figure out how these bandages worked, but I eventually got it, and successfully changed my bandages. To say I was proud of myself for it was an understatement, but I digress.

Once this was done, the two elven brothers soon enough got ready to leave for me to rest. I made sure to wish them a good night, which Rumil was curious about. It took about 10 whole minutes to explain to him what “Goodnight” meant. Orophin had to drag him out of the room for him to leave. I laughed a bit at the sight as I waved at them before my door was closed once more. Once the door was closed, I let myself fall backwards on the bed with a deep sigh, thinking back to the day I had just spent with the strange duo.

They were not too bad, and yet I just hoped they would help me go back home. Not this “home”, MY home. It sounded horrible, I was aware. I hated feeling like I was just using them, but man, I just really wanted to go home. Perhaps if I spent some time winning them over they would help me…I really hoped so, but for now there wasn’t much I could do. At least my leg was healing quickly…I hoped that within a week I'd be independent again. I decided to push my worries aside for the time being though, maybe sleeping on it could help, I was pretty tired after all. With that, I sighed as I closed my eyes, ready to let myself drift off to sleep once more.

Chapter Text

You know those moments where it feels like life gives you a moment of peace only to rip it out of your hands and shove you right back into chaos? Yeah, that was exactly how I felt. Once again my day began with Rumil shaking me awake violently. At least I felt it was violent. “Rumil- stop it! I'm awake!” I yelled out, my eyes shooting open as I looked at the guy. He had his usual cheerful smile on his face, damn I wish I had a fraction of this guy's good vibes. He let go of my shoulders as he responded in his usual upbeat tone: “Sorry! You not wake! I try for 10 minute!” Goddamn it, still there definitely were better ways to wake me up…

I sighed in defeat as I sat up on the bed, holding my head in my hand as it started to ache. “Good morning then I guess…” I mumbled, still a bit annoyed, but I made an effort to hide it. Rumil just stared at me funny however, tilting his head to the side like a curious puppy. Oh wait right, he didn't speak English all that well. He didn't even know what Goodnight meant after all. I might as well explain it to him I supposed. “You say good morning when you wake up or greet someone before lunch.” I explained to him, using the simplest terms I could think of in my half asleep state. Something told me he did understand me as his eyes lit up and his smile widened slightly. “Oh! Good morning!” He said excitedly, yep he understood. I couldn't help but let out a small laugh at his child-like behaviour, which he didn't seem to mind.

However, something felt…off, and for once I knew what it was immediately. “Where's Orophin?” I asked confused as I noticed he wasn't in the room. For some reason it felt strange to see these two apart. Rumil didn't miss a beat as he responded quickly, “Oh he work! Today I look you!” Oh…I guess that made sense, even though it was kinda sad. Apparently not even in a magical world I was able to escape from even the thought of working, huh? But then why was he here? This time it was my turn to look at him curious as I decided to ask him that. He seemed like I could talk to him more freely than Orophin, at least that's what I felt like. “Uhm, do you not work then?”

He just tilted his head to the side again as he responded, unbothered by the question. “Not already! Have to pass test! Am training!” Ah, that made sense I suppose. I nodded in understanding as I decided to push a little more with the questions to see how far I could go. “Training for what though?” Still, he answered in his cheerful tone, “To be Warden like my brothers!” “Ohh, like a guard, right?” I asked quickly in a curious tone, and he responded with a happy nod. Alright, I supposed I could talk to this guy about anything after all. He answered all my questions so far without any issues after all. I knew this was an opening for me to use to get closer to him, so I wasted no time taking the opportunity.

I smiled a bit as I responded in an interested tone. “Wow, that’s so cool you know. I bet you’d be a fantastic warden.” He just looked at me a bit confused. Oh wait- right, I had to use simpler words. I mentally facepalmed at my forgetfulness as I repeated myself. “Ah- sorry. I meant I think you would be a good warden!” His face lit up at my words as he quickly hugged me tightly, which took me by surprise. I jumped slightly at the sudden physical contact, but before I could say anything, he had already let me go. “Sorry! I hope I good! Too energy!” I tilted my head slightly, trying to understand what he was trying to say until it hit me. “Uhm, you mean you’re too excited?” He nodded quickly as he responded: “Yes, that! Thanks you!”

I let out a small laugh at his silly mistake as I corrected him again, trying to not sound rude however, “Rumil, it’s either thank you or thanks.” He laughed a bit as he scratched the back of his head embarrassed. “Okay, sorry! I try learn Westron!” Eh? Westron? I supposed it was their word for English here? If it was then that was cute. I decided to use it to my advantage as well. It was nothing more than that to me, nothing more. “I could help you with that if you want.” As expected, he lit up once more at my offer. He nodded quickly like a happy child. “Yes yes thank you! I want that, yes!” Great, this was a step forward. I just had to keep being on his good side at this point.

“Sooo, what are we doing today, Rumil?” I asked out of curiosity. We had the whole day ahead of us, and apparently we’d be spending it together, only the two of us. His smile dropped as he looked away thoughtfully. Then, out of the blue, he turned to me and spoke up again “Can walk now, yes?” I was a bit surprised by the question, however I was curious as well. I shrugged in response as I moved to sit on the side of the bed. Just like the previous day, I stood up using only my good leg before distributing my weight on both legs. To my surprise, my right knee wasn’t hurting as bad this time. Other than a faint buzzing feeling, I didn’t feel anything else. I looked up at Rumil, giving him two thumbs up.

Rumil quickly went to the door, holding it open for me as he waited impatiently to see me actually walk on my own. Ok, that was kinda cute, I had to admit. I lightly shook my head as I quickly grabbed my phone, cigarettes and lighter off the nightstand, shoving them in my pockets. Speaking of which, this dress had small pockets. At least here they had women’s dresses with pockets though. I walked over to the impatient elf, still with a slight limp, which I had expected honestly. As soon as I walked out the door, Rumil scurried outside as well, slamming the door closed. I flinched at the sudden unexpected noise, but Rumil didn’t mind. He just laughed at my reaction as he took my hand, dragging me away with him. Honestly I was starting to get used to this…

As we reached the platform, Rumil paused for a moment, looking back at me, but I spoke before he could. “Ah- don’t worry! I’ll be fine! I already crossed this yesterday…twice…” I mumbled the last bit, growing increasingly unsure, but for some reason his company made it easier to cross the bridge. What am I saying- I can’t get attached! I had to go home! I quickly shook the thought away as he smiled at me, crossing the bridge with me. He was considerate enough to walk slower as we did at least. I took the chance to look around. The first rays of sunshine were sneaking in through the trees as the forest started waking up; and yet, it felt like every single elf around had woken up long ago. The city in the woods glowed in its ethereal white light as many elves were going about with their lives, some pausing whatever they were doing to look at us. I paid them no mind though.

Rumil’s voice then snapped me out of my thoughts as he spoke in his cheerful tone: “Us can walk in woods again! I know good place!” I couldn’t help but smile at his effort to communicate with me, even though he didn’t speak English all that well. “Alright then, lead the way, friend.” I said with a roll of my eyes, without giving my words that much weight. However, Rumil clearly did. He froze in place as he turned to me with the brightest eyes I’ve ever seen, even from him. “Friend…? Friend??” He repeated in disbelief. Oh lord, he took it seriously. I glanced around nervously before responding to him. “Uhhh…yeah…?” I barely had the time to finish saying that.

Rumil tackled me in the tightest hug I had ever received as he squealed, stealing the attention of everyone around. I tensed up as I squealed in shock, but he wouldn’t budge. He just hugged me tighter and swung me around on the bridge, which frankly scared me shitless for a moment. “Friend!! I have friend!!” He yelled out happily. By now everyone else was looking at us funny, like we had just escaped a mental hospital or something. I mean, considering the situation I felt the same way- but just something about Rumil’s behaviour made me kinda sad for some reason. He took the word “friend” to heart in an instant, damn. I just couldn’t find it in me to tell him I was joking honestly.

The now excited elf dragged me along with him down the stairs to reach the forest floor a bit “too quickly for my liking. I swear I almost fell over a couple times as I yelled at Rumil to slow down a few times. He only did so when we were on the ground though. He stopped walking as he turned to me with an embarrassed smile, and I was completely flabbergasted by his words. “Sorry, mellon nin! I much happy!” I was about to correct him, but his words just threw me out of it. Damn. “...excuse me, did you just call me a melon?” Rumil tilted his head and looked at me confused as he responded. “Uhh yes? Mellon. You are my mellon.” Huh…he had just said an entire sentence in correct English…but still he called me a damn melon.

I frowned at that, crossing my arms as I tried to keep my tone calm. “I’m not fat! …am I?? Am I fat?” He looked at me bewildered as he quickly shook his head, stumbling over his words. “What?? No! No no!! I not say it! I say you mellon! Friend! My friend!” Wait…ooohh. I thought I finally understood what he meant, but I decided to ask just to be sure. “Wait, does mellon mean friend?” He quickly nodded as he smiled again. “Yes yes! You mellon!” Ahh well that made more sense than him calling me a melon I supposed. I laughed a bit as I was embarrassed by the misunderstanding. “Alright, thanks for telling me.” He just smiled more as he nodded, taking my hand again as he started walking again, leading me into the woods.

“Come, come! I know good place!” I laughed a bit at that as I corrected him again. “Rumil, it’s ‘I know a nice place.’” He thanked me as he kept leading the way. As we walked through the forest, Rumil hummed happily to a song I predictably didn’t know. I just sticked to quietly admiring the wildlife as we walked, smiling to myself at how lovely nature was. The walk was kinda long for my standards, but soon enough we got to a huge tree in the middle of the forest. I couldn’t stop an amazed “woah” as I admired the huge tree, which Rumil laughed at. “I said you it a nice place! Come!” He pulled me over to it before letting my hand go, looking at me with a small smile. “Can climb, yes?” He asked me curiously.

As I looked up at the tree, I noticed it had low reaching branches that made it easily climbable after all. As a kid I did enjoy climbing trees, however I still had an injured leg. I gave him an unsure look as I looked down to my knee, but before I could speak, he did. “Oh right! Sorry! We can sit!” He smiles more, trying to reassure me. Man, this guy was way too sweet for his own good. He sat down next to the tree with his legs crossed as he looked up at me expectantly, so I sat down as well with my back to the tree. I looked up at all the branches and leaves above me as I wondered how old the tree could be. It was genuinely huge, it was definitely older than a hundred years in my opinion.

As I was thinking about this, I noticed a squirrel running on the tree, looking down at the two of us curiously. I let out a small laugh as it reminded me of someone, and I spoke without thinking. “Hey, look. It kinda looks like you, you know….” Rumil let out a curious hum as he looked up, letting out a gasp. “Pegof!” He yelled out excitedly, scaring the squirrel as it scurried off to the top of the tree. I looked at him rather surprised by the sudden yell, but the guy was way too excited to notice. “I love pegof! They cute! Much cute!” Guess I knew what his favourite animal was, huh? I smiled a bit as I tilted my head to the side. “Does “pegof” mean squirrel by any chance?” He just nodded quickly, thanking me for helping him out with the English name.

I was about to get distracted once again when Rumil spoke once more. “What animal you like?? You look like bunny! That statement honestly caught me off guard, however I just decided to go along with it. I smiled as I placed my chin on my hand, responding calmly. “Yeah, bunnies are cute.” The next few minutes were spent just like that. Rumil would go on about anything that would cross his mind and I’d respond honestly for the most part. I allowed myself to lower my guard as his questions were just silly and harmless in my opinion. He asked me silly stuff like my favourite color and all that stuff.

I allowed myself to press my back against the tree trunk, closing my eyes as I relaxed for a while, as he was finally quiet for a bit. I took a deep breath, enjoying the sound of the wind blowing and the leaves rustling. The birds’ chirping also helped a lot with relaxing. Then of course Rumil spoke up again. “You like draw?” He asked me curiously out of nowhere. I opened just one eye as I hummed. “Yeah I do. Do you?” He just squealed in response, jumping up on his feet as he started running off. “Wait here!!” I just sat there, shook. Well…that was weird, and also insanely irresponsible. As far as I knew, I was a prisoner to these people, and he just…up and left me alone? In the middle of the woods? Huh…

I could have ran, I probably should have regardless of my leg. I probably should have at least tried. I won’t deny the thought was tempting, but in the back of my head I felt like it was just too good to be true. It must have been a trap or something, surely. I looked around at my surroundings, and yet…nobody was around. There was nothing and no one stopping me from leaving right there and then…but that would be counterproductive. I needed these people to help me go home…I didn’t know my way around here, wherever “here” was. As much as I missed home, I had to be patient. Just smile and nod, keep a low profile and gain their trust…it was that easy.

As I decided that this would be my game plan, I relaxed once more against the tree trunk, digging through my pockets. I got out my cigarettes and lighter and lit one up. I definitely needed one by now, a few days of abstinence were starting to kick in and drive me insane. I had to spread them out though, there was no way they sold cigarettes here after all. These were my last few for a good while, but I might as well fully enjoy them. I smiled a bit to myself as I blew out the smoke, looking up at the tree above me once more. The peaceful sounds of nature around me were the best company at that time, the only thing missing was a good cup of coffee. Beggars can’t be choosers though.

As I peacefully enjoyed my cigarette without a single care in the world, I smiled as the squirrel from earlier was back on the tree trunk. Its quick and sporadic movements really did remind me of Rumil in all honesty. I found it easy to believe his favourite animal would be the squirrel. I watched as it stared at me before going back to minding its business once it knew I was not a threat. I was also finally able to listen to the songbirds happily chirping. This place was somehow very close to how I imagined heaven to be: peaceful, cozy and beautiful. However, unfortunately for me, my cigarette was almost fully gone. Just a few more breaths and no more smoking for the day.

I had no time to complain about it as I heard a faint rustling in the bushes nearby. I forgot all about my cigarette as my head snapped in the direction of the noise, and yet nothing was there. The sound came just as quickly as it stopped. I was certainly tempted to run now if anything. What if it was a bear? Or worse- one of those huge wolves? I couldn’t move an inch as I stared at where the noise came from, growing increasingly worried. My train of thoughts was interrupted as another noise could be heard. A set of footsteps was running over to me. This could have turned so quickly into an ugly situation, but all I could do was sit there and stare, my grip lightly tightening on the filter of my cigarette.

I had to admit there was a part of me that was scared by that point. It could have been anything and anyone at all, but luckily it was just Rumil. The energetic golden retriever elf I was somehow already growing used to. I looked at him relieved, raising my eyebrow as he came back with what looked like a notebook and two pencils in hand. I had probably imagined that noise I suppose. Or maybe it was just Rumil. ”I know you stay! Brother is wrong!” He yelled out happily.. Brother, huh? Why didn’t he say Orophin? Oh right, he had two brothers. Maybe he was referring to the other one. Regardless, I suppose I was right to believe this was a test to see if I’d stay, and luckily I did. I just pushed these thoughts aside as another silly thought came to my mind.

“Did you run all the way without a break?” I asked jokingly. He crossed the distance from here to wherever he lived very quickly…twice. Apparently he made it his mission to keep surprising me as he nodded. Just how much stamina did this guy have?? Damn! Before I could comment on it though, he tilted his head curiously as he pointed at me with his free hand. “What that?? Why smoke?” What was he- oh, my cigarette. He really didn’t know what a cigarette was? I mean, I expected them to not sell them, but they had no concept of smoking? The thought was…oddly reassuring. They didn’t need any harmful ways to make themselves better at the expense of their physical health.

I shook the thought away however as I realised he was still waiting for a response. I really didn’t want to tell him the truth, a white lie wouldn’t hurt, right? “Oh it’s…you know incense?” He nodded with a hum of approval as I continued. “Ok well- this is just like incense, and it makes me feel better.” He looked at me, mildly worried now as he spoke again. “You not feel good?” “What- no no! I di feel good! This just makes me feel a little better! Like uh…like medicine.” He seemed to understand now as he nodded, smiling again as he sat next to me with his legs crossed. He threw his notebook open as he ripped a page off, handing it to me along with one of the two pencils. Oh right, he asked if I liked drawing.

My cigarette was gone by now, so I flicked off the last bits of ash before putting the filter back in the small box. Just because there were no trash cans it didn’t mean I was going to start polluting this place, fuck that. I offered him a small smile as I took the two objects, thanking him. I shifted positions so that I could use my legs as a somewhat flat surface to draw on, looking at him once more. “So what are you going to draw?” He moved away from me as he sprawled on the grass, using an arm to hide his sketchbook from me, giggling. “No saying!” I couldn’t help but let out a small laugh at his childish actions. Alright, fine, no telling. I sighed as I thought about what I could draw. Maybe the tree behind me? No, too complicated. Maybe an animal? Nah. I tried thinking about what I could draw when suddenly an idea finally came to mind.

I quickly got to sketching with very faint and gentle strokes of the pencil. Rumil had likely forgotten to take any rubbers with him, so I had to be careful with the sketch. As I got to drawing, I concentrated on the inspiration for the drawing, but no matter how hard I tried, there were some parts I had to improvise with. Not an issue to me though, I was fine with that. To my surprise, Rumil spoke up when I was almost done with my drawing. “Done! Want see??” He asked excitedly as he clutched the sketchbook to his chest, trying to keep at my own drawing. “Hey, I’m not done! Just one more minute!” I playfully shoved him away lightly as I continued drawing, which he took no offense to at least.

He did however keep asking me if I was done every few seconds until I finally caved in after approximately 13 “Are you done?”. I didn’t have time to turn the page over for him to look at that he had already snatched it from me. His eyes lit up as he looked at it amazed. “Wow!! Is this Lady Galadriel?? So pretty!!” I smiled at his words, looking away embarrassed as I thanked him. “Have to show her! It so pretty!” He said excitedly as he jumped up to his feet. His words nearly gave me a heart attack as I got up as quickly as I could, stumbling over my words. “No no! Absolutely not! I-I don’t think it’s the case really! Please don’t show it to anyone actually!” He looked at me confused as he paused for a moment, a bit concerned. “Why not…? It nice!”

“Look Rumil, just- I don’t really want other people to see my drawings, that’s all…sorry.” He hesitated, but still nodded with a quiet “sorry”. “It’s fine, sorry if I raised my voice. I’m just…insecure about my art, is all.” He nodded, understanding, however the awkward silence that fell around us was so thick I could cut it with a knife. I couldn’t let my relationship with him worsen, I needed his help! Before I could think about my next words, I just blurted them out. “Can we go for a walk?? I’m uhm…tired of sitting! Yes, I would like to walk a bit…” If this was a “make yourself look like a fool” competition, I had certainly won, but at least it seemed to work. Rumil smiled again as he nodded. “Yes yes, a walk is good!”

I handed him back his pencil, which he happily took before leading the way once more. I let out a relieved sigh. He wasn’t mad at me at least, not that I believed he’d be capable of that. This guy was like the equivalent of a Nutella muffin. Speaking of which, I kinda wished I had one now- what?? I was definitely too hungry to think coherently. I looked over at Rumil, unsure if I should ask for something to eat. I didn’t want to seem rude, after all, but my stomach didn’t feel the same way. It rumbled and growled loud enough for Rumil to hear. He turned to me, surprised for a moment before he laughed a bit. He dig around the pockets of his dishevelled messy outfit before giving me…Lambas bread. Again. I mean, sure it tasted wonderfully and all, but again? I had eaten nothing else for three whole days!

I was quite disappointed at the sight of the so familiar food, and Rumil had likely noticed it. He gave me a sympathetic smile as he spoke in an unfamiliarly calm and quiet tone. “So sorry…brother say you eat just this for now…” Well that was something…I wasn’t sure I wanted to properly meet their other brother after all after this, but whatever. I sighed in defeat as I nodded, begrudgingly taking the Lambas bread from him and taking a defeated bite out of it. We then resumed our walk as I ate the bread. As we walked, I quietly mumbled out my next words in a sarcastic tone. “Damn, your other brother must be real fun at parties…” I wasn’t expecting him to hear me, but he did. I was taken aback by his sudden laugh however. “He no fun! Very mean! He only love rules and work!”

I was surprised as Rumil started going on and on about how apparently boring and strict his other brother was. From what I was hearing, this guy definitely sounded like the oldest of the three…and a real party pooper too. I took the chance as the very talkative elf finally took a second to breathe. “You don’t sound like you like him very much, buddy.” I said jokingly with a smile. He paused for a moment before responding, now looking at me. “I do! I like brother! But he just…mean some time! He like laugh of me…” His tone at the end was that of an annoyed younger sibling. It was kinda new from him, but not really out of character considering the type of person- erm, elf, he was.

“That’s not very nice.” I responded, a bit unsure as to what else to say. Luckily it was enough of an answer for him as he nodded. “I know! I want he stop, but he never stop!” I sighed as I patted his back with my free hand to comfort him. “Sometimes people won’t care if they hurt you, Rumil…” I tried to explain to him, but he wouldn’t take it. “But it not nice!” He argued back. I wasn’t sure if this guy genuinely didn’t believe someone could do hurtful things to others on purpose. If that were the case, this guy’s sweetness levels were high enough to give anyone diabetes, damn. I just sighed, feeling bad for this guy by this point.

“Rumil, I know that. It isn’t fair…but some people will annoy you and make fun of you for fun. You should ignore them.” He stopped walking and looked at me flabbergasted, like he had never thought of that before. He then nodded with a smile, “Okay! I do that then!” I smiled at that as we went back to walking. Speaking of which, I looked back at Rumil as I decided to ask him that. “Hey, where are we going, by the way?” He smiled at me as he laughed a bit. “You see soon!” Ah, so he wasn’t going to tell me. Fine lol, whatever. I huffed a bit playfully as I rolled my eyes. “Alright, fine. Keep your secrets I guess…”

As we walked, he kept talking on and on about whatever came to his mind, and I would occasionally nod and hum along. Soon enough the faint sound of water reached my ears, a river. I was rather intrigued by that point, did he want to take me for a swim? I decided to not say anything until we got there, and soon enough we did. I admired the clear water of the river and the scenery ahead of us, the sun rays lighting it perfectly. Actually, this entire forest was beautiful to begin with. I looked around, noticing a small family of foxes on the other side of the river not too far away from us. I smiled as I saw them, seeing them being so healthy and their colors so bright, and Rumil followed my eyes.

He piped up as he often does as the foxes were now leaving, “Ah, rusc! They cute, right?? What call them in Westron?” He asked, hungry for knowledge, cute. I smiled as I responded calmly. “We call them foxes, fox for singular.” He nodded happily as he then stepped in front of me, opening his arms wide as he gestured to our surroundings. “We here by the way! You like?” He asked happily, and I wasted no time nodding with a smile. “This place looks wonderful, Rumil. This entire forest is beautiful.” His smile widened with pride at my words. I could have sworn I heard more rustling in the bushes nearby, but Rumil quickly caught my attention once more.

“It probably an animal! Come!” He then took my free hand and dragged me off as he started running. Unfortunately, his pull was so strong and sudden that I accidentally dropped the Lambas bread on the grass, although I had eaten about half already. “Rumil wait! I lost the bread!” “No worry no worry! It bird food now! Come!” Sigh…I supposed there was no taking that bread anymore. It was just gone forever, fine. I sighed as I followed the elf, thinking about how strange of a situation this was. Although I figured maybe I was imagining it. Rumil then finally stopped in a spot where the waters current was not as strong, and the water not as deep. He let my hands go as he went over to the water, smiling at me.

“Want drink?” “Oh- uhm, I’m not sure it’s a good idea to drink tha- oh.” I couldn’t finish my sentence as Rumil had already kneeled down and taken some water in his hands, drinking it. I stopped just as I was about to freak out about it as I thought about it for a moment. This world was a lot cleaner than my own, there were no signs of pollution actually. Besides, it was moving water, it was clean and fresh. Perhaps it really was that safe to drink. I finally caved in, walking over to him and kneeling down next to him. I was getting thirsty after all…I mirrored his act of cupping up a bit of water and taking a cautious sip. Damn, this water really was clean, at least it seemed so.

As time went on, we spent the last hours of sunlight there, talking about how life in Lothlorien was. At least, Rumil tried telling me about these things, but for the most part I didn’t understand much sadly. Apparently they had a guard system that was so meticulous that nothing could actually do harm to Lothlorien’s inhabitants. Enemies could enter, but would nearly immediately be stopped, so I theoretically didn’t need to worry about the wolves anymore. Or at least for as long as I was in these woods. That was reassuring at least. That was the reason why this time, when the distant howls started being heard, I didn’t worry too much about it. Although I was a little worried about it getting dark, besides I was getting tired.

Rumil took notice of it and quickly got up, giving me his hand to help me up. “Come! It get dark now!” I took his hand as he helped me back up on my feet. My leg was starting to get a bit tired, but I ignored it. I could still walk, besides I didn’t want to be a weight to Rumil again, literally. As usual, he took my hand as he lead me back to my room. He walked seemingly without a care, so sure of knowing the way that he allowed himself to look back at me every now and then. Thinking about it though, he said he was like, what, 2000 years old or so? He definitely had enough time to get to know every single corner of this entire forest. I was still in disbelief about his age though.

This guy was sweeter than honey and acted like a child. I could have sworn he was just an exceptionally tall 17 year old or something. Nothing had prepared me to learn he was not just older than me, but old enough to have hypothetically seen history unfold before his very own eyes. This did bring up a different question to my mind however, and I couldn’t hold in my curiosity as I decided to just ask it to him. “Hey, Rumil?” He hummed curiously, looking back at me as we walked. “Are there any humans here…? I mean, you said you’re an elf, so I was wondering if there are humans.” He looked at me like my question was silly as he scoffed out a laugh. “Yes there are humans! Why?” “No reason…” I said with a shrug.

I had always considered immortality to be a curse. To be forced to live forever and watch as everybody else around you ages and dies. To watch all you’ve ever loved die around you and being forced to start from zero was…a horrible thought. A terrifying one too…but what if everyone else in your community is also immortal? What if all of your kin are destined to never age and watch as others did? The more I thought about it, the more I understood why the elves seemed so distant and distrustful of others. I was starting to understand why they seemed so closed off. Why most of them didn’t speak English, or Westron as they called it. It was fear. Fear of being forced to watch as everything around them dies.

Even the trees weren’t immune. A tree could live for hundreds of years. A tree could grow tall enough to touch the sky, but it would too eventually die. I felt I finally started to understand these elves, as their motives and actions were starting to make sense. Sure, it was still rude of them to treat me like an alien and look at me weird even for having a different hair color; but somehow it started making sense. They had probably pushed the world outside of these trees away so much and for so long that anything different from their norm was now a scary and weird concept to them. In that case I had to admit I was very lucky that one of the people looking after me was Rumil.

He was so open minded and curious and never really judged me. I couldn’t deny a part of me was really appreciative of him. I was thankful for the kindness and lack of judgement this guy had for me. It still didn’t change my mind though, all of this was just…a means to an end. All I needed was his help with going back home and that was it. Call it cruel, but I just couldn’t see myself staying here forever, There had to be a way back somehow, and I was determined to find it. As I thought to myself, we had gotten back to the city in the woods. The last lights of day had just vanished over the horizon as the buildings and bridges started giving off a faint ethereal light.

I also took notice of a whole bunch of fireflies gliding through the air slowly, giving it an even prettier look. I had to admit that if I ever went back home, I would miss all this. The beautiful views, the lack of pollution, the clean air and clear water. All of these things combined made this place look perfect. It was perfect, sure…but it just wasn’t home. I thought this to myself as Rumil accompanied me to my room, stopping in front of my door. He gave me a big smile as he looked at me. “Rest, I see you tomorrow!” He then paused for a moment, seemingly troubled, but before I could ask him about it, he piped up once more with his big grin back.

“Good night!” I laughed a bit at the childish nature of his actions. He remembered it from yesterday, damn. I nodded with a smile in response, “Good night to you too, Rumil.” I said with a small nod. He waited for me to enter my room and close the door before leaving. His quick jumpy footsteps walked off, maybe to wherever he slept, although I doubted it. I doubted this guy ever slept really. I took a deep breath, but as I was starting to walk to my bed, a sudden thought came to mind. I rushed back outside, throwing the door open as I spoke up. “W-wait Rumil you forgot your sketchbook-” …but he was already gone without a trace. Damn he was fast. I figured he was the forgetful type though, he’d definitely find his sketchbook right where he left it.

I sighed, shaking my head lightly as I closed the door behind me once more. Maybe he went to retrieve it actually. I decided to not bother though, I was tired and it was dark, all I wanted was to sleep. I flopped down on the bed, barely bothering to wrap the blankets around me as I thought back to this quite chaotic day I spent alone with Rumil. Thinking of it, we probably were not alone. I heard rustling at least twice, like someone was around, watching. Maybe this was just a conspiracy theory though, maybe I was just paranoid. I decided to go with that as I closed my eyes, ready to sleep it off. It took me a while to fall asleep, but eventually I did. Just as I drifted off to sleep I could have sworn I heard some faint footsteps outside my door, and then the world was dark once more.

Chapter Text

Today was an important day. Today was my seventh day in this strange and unreal place. A week. It had already been a week since I ended up here and I still didn’t have a way back home. At least I had not found one yet. My leg had almost fully healed by now, I didn’t even have a bandage on it anymore. This, however, was not the only reason why today was a special or important day. I had woken up by myself, without being violently shaken by Rumil. Huh, strange. I looked over at my phone on the nightstand next to me, tapping the screen as it lit up. 4:22 AM…and already only 72% battery. Sure, I did end up using it a little bit to listen to some music, but damn, did my phone really die that quick?

I knew the two brothers would soon come here to wake me up anyway, so there was no use trying to sleep any more. At least, Rumil definitely would come eventually. The past few days he wasn’t around all that much. Again, he was a “warden” and had a duty to guard the forest’s borders. I didn’t mind all that much, Rumil was easier to grow closer to anyway. Orophin was more so the quiet type. He wasn’t suspicious, not that I noticed at least, he just didn’t talk all that much unless he wanted to ramble about animals. As these few days passed, Rumil certainly became…clingy if I could say so. Sure, it was good for me, I’d have more luck getting him to help me go home, but man he could be intense at times.

I sat up on my bed as I thought about the past few days when the door nearly flew open. Sigh, speak of the devil I guess…There he was, Rumil, and Orophin too, huh. Rumil smiled wide as he saw I was already awake. He came over to me quickly before giving me a quick, yet tight hug. “Good morning!! Today special day!” He said happily as Orophin walked over to us, as usual keeping his distance from us. “Yeah, I know…I’ve been here for a week already.” I said, still a bit tired. Rumil laughed a bit though as he shook his head. “No no that! Lady Galadriel see you!” …huh? I just looked at him perplexed for a moment. Unfortunately, communicating with Rumil was quite challenging at times.

As I was trying to guess what he could have meant, Orophin spoke up in his usual flat tone. “Lady Galadriel request to see you today.” Oh…well that was something I didn’t expect. I still didn’t freak out though, I smiled a bit as I calmed my nerves. “Oh ok, when?” “At 5.” “Oh, you mean like, in the afternoon…right?” “No. In one hour.” Oh…OH: Oh shit. My eyes shot open as I panicked for a moment. “And you’re telling me this just now??” I flew out of bed, running around the room like a headless chicken as I struggled to choose what to do first to get ready. Rumil’s laugh at my reaction snapped me out of it and brought me back to reality. I turned to look at him with a frown, not too happy about him finding this funny.

“No scared! Lady Galadriel very nice! But not be late! She not like late!” He said as he looked at me as if I was a Looney Tunes character. Uff, home or not, this was enough. I stomped over and tried pushing Rumil out the room as he laughed again. “Yeah yeah whatever! Now leave so I can get ready!” Luckily for both me and him, Orophin didn’t wait a second to leave, probably not wanting to risk any physical contact. I noticed he didn’t like it all that much…whatever! I had to get ready and quick! As the two elves were out the room I closed the door once more, going back to my panic.

I frantically looked around the room, still struggling to decide what to do first. Maybe brushing my hair would be a good start actually. I rushed over to the desk with the big mirror on the wall as I brushed my hair with a brush they had so kindly given me. The brush too was made in carved wood like everything else, these people had a thing for carving details into everything made of wood. Once my hair was perfect, I got to choosing an outfit. Dear lord, what kind of outfit would be appropriate for meeting the damn ruler of a magical kingdom I knew absolutely nothing about and found myself being the guest of?? Oh lord today was the day I’d get publicly executed or something, I just knew it.

I spent a good 15 minutes going through the big closet in the room, but nothing seemed good enough for the occasion. I was about to have a mental breakdown when a voice from out the door made things worse for me. “Ready yet? Lady Galadriel does not like when people are late.” I just groaned/cried as I kept struggling to find something good enough. That’s when inspiration hit me however. My eyes darted to a very simple grey vest and a black corset that lay on the floor nearby. I immediately went for it though, I couldn’t be late, I had to come up with something, anything! As I repeated to myself this was a dumb idea, I looked in the mirror and…actually I liked it.

It looked elegant enough, but not too over the top. Great. I quickly put on some black leggings like trousers and some of their fancy boots. I had no time to look at myself though, I could not be late. I ran over to my bedside table and put on some deodorant along with my earring. I paused for a second, looking at my pocket knife. I wasn’t sure why, but something told me to take it with me as well, so I did before rushing out the door. As I stood there outside my room a bit out of breath, I looked up at the two way older elves for their thoughts. Orophin seemed mildly surprised, while Rumil let out a surprised “Ooh” as he looked me up and down. I was starting to grow worried by their reactions, maybe I looked terrible or I dressed inappropriately for the occasion. All my doubts were shoved out the window as Rumil half yelled: “You look very good!!”

As per usual, Orophin flinched at his brothers yell, but he quickly recovered to nod in approval. “You dress weird, but Lady Galadriel does not judge a lot. Now we go.” Wait- weird? It was these dudes that dress way too simple! It wasn’t my fault for having to improvise and dress decently with what I had! Oh, whatever. I liked the outfit, so it was their problem if they did not. Orophin then turned and got to lead the way as Rumil, like usual, took my hand before following his brother, dragging me along. Since it was way earlier than any other time we hung out, it was still very dark, and yet the elves were already awake. As Orophin led us up a big set of spiraling stairs, some of the elves stopped to watch. As if they knew we were going to meet up with their ruler.

Okay, definitely not pressuring. Nope, not at all. I tried to look down at my feet to avoid their judgemental stares, and dear lord these stairs looked SO unsafe. So instead.of looking down and having a panic attack over the possibility of falling to my death, I looked up at Rumil. I wasn't sure why I was looking at him specifically. Maybe it was the fact he often gave me strength and support, I wasn’t sure. Almost as if knowing I was on edge, he turned to look at me and gave me a reassuring smile. “No scared, everything ok!” I sure hoped so, Rumil…

As we reached the top of the staircase, ahead of us was a bright white gazebo-like structure. It had this magical glow that made it look almost like something straight out of a dream. On the platform between us and the structure were a few guards in full armor, standing proud. They kinda reminded me of the queen's guards in a way, but without the ridiculous hats and nutcracker clothes. They didn't move an inch, they just looked at me, staring into my soul as if determining if I was a threat or not. I shrieked a bit under their sharp gazes. I mean, who the hell wouldn't be intimidated? But my thoughts were all swiftly silenced by a breathtaking sight.

There, in front of me under the gazebo, stood The most ethereal and stunningly beautiful woman I have ever seen in my entire life. She had beautiful long wavy golden hair and she wore a white dress. She had kind eyes and a warm smile. She looked like the perfect mix of beauty, knowledge and strength. Like, if anybody on Earth knew all the secrets of the universe, it would be her. I immediately recognised her as the lady I saw in my dreams on my first day here. Galadriel, or Lady Galadriel as the two brothers called her. She walked over to us slowly…oh yeah, there was a man there as well. What was his name again? Oh yeah, Lord Celeborn or something…

As the two rulers of Lothlorien approached us, their paces slow and their composure that of royalty, I found I didn't know what to do. Should I bow? Should I just- stand there awkwardly?? I started panicking internally until I caved under the pressure. I quickly bowed to them, although probably like a fool, since I had never bowed to anyone before. As I had expected though, I definitely made myself look dumb. How did I know? Because Lady Galadriel let out a little laugh at my foolishness. I was feeling more embarrassed than anything really, that was until I noticed everyone else looked either taken aback or straight up shocked. The guards looked at me like I had grown a second head, while Orophin and Rumil were taken aback and shocked respectively. Even Lord Celeborn stayed quiet for a moment, the silence only interrupted by Lady Galadriel's voice as she spoke softly.

“Young one, there is no need for such formalities. Rise.” Her voice was just as I remembered it from my dream. It was melodic and soft, yet firm and unwavering. She had this display of grace and strength all at once, it was truly fascinating. I quickly rose as she requested, straightening my back as I stood there awkwardly. The guards eyed me once more, but I paid them no mind. My full attention was on the two rulers, who stopped at a reasonable distance from me. I almost didn't notice Rumil and Orophin take a step back. I was tempted to do so as well when Lady Galadriel raised a hand to stop me. Well there goes that. I just stood there once more like a lost puppy waiting for instructions as I looked at them- mostly at Galadriel- In awe.

My awestruck state was short lived however, as Lord Celeborns voice swiftly snapped me out of my thoughts. “I presume you are the wounded wanderer that sought shelter in our realm. Tell me, stranger. Why did you seek our help?” He spoke firmly, his tone intimidating. I could tell he was suspicious of me, I wasn’t stupid. However, I figured that the only correct answer would be the truth, no matter how absurd and unbelievable it was. I mentally prepared myself as I sighed, already knowing my story wouldn’t be believed. It was still worth the try though, I suppose…

“Your highness-” “Lord Celeborn.” He quickly corrected. “Right- sorry. Lord Celeborn…I know my story is a hard one to believe, but it was not my intent to bother anyone. I’m uhm…I fear I may come from an entirely different world…” I paused for a moment, looking up at him for his reaction. He was obviously taken aback, I mean, who wouldn’t be in this situation? However he shockingly nodded and gestured at me to keep talking. Alright uh, good? I wasn’t sure if he believed me or not yet, but this was already a step in the right direction. I cleared my throat as I kept talking, “I uhm, I was just out for a walk and…found myself here somehow. I was attacked by people with grey skin and huge wolves. I figured if I ran into the woods I could lose them, but I…I was wounded. Then I was found by Orophin and some other pe- erm, elves.”

He didn’t respond for a moment, his facial expression stoic and cold. He just gave Lady Galadriel a side eye, as if trying to come to an agreement I supposed. Great, I had probably just gotten myself killed, had I? I was certain I was going to be executed publicly or something when a kind and gentle voice ringed through my head, comforting me. “Fear not, young one. Your story may be unlike any we’ve heard before, but your heart is pure and your words truthful.” I was completely taken aback by this. It was clearly Lady Galadriel's voice, but just how in the hell did she- wait, is she speaking without moving her lips?! I was straight up flabbergasted by this. Dear lord, this was not on my 2025 bingo card, but then again, neither was dimensional travel, and yet here I was.

Lady Galadriel gave me a warm smile as she looked back at Lord Celeborn, and they both looked back at me a few seconds after that. Lord Celeborn still looked distrustful however, not that I blamed him. “Wanderer, your story is rather unusual. You understand that, I presume?” I nodded in response with a weak “Yes” as he continued. “And I suppose you realise you won’t be allowed to stay so easily, right?” He asked, his tone cold yet calculating, as if thinking of how to get rid of me or something. A cold shiver ran down my spine at the thought as I nodded. I couldn’t find it in me to speak, to tell him I didn’t want to stay to begin with. After all, what was I supposed to do all alone? I needed help to go home. With this in mind, I looked up at the Elven lord, who was now looking me up and down deep in thought.

He finally spoke shortly after, his voice a little louder than before. “You shall be granted 3 months to prove your worth and to earn your stay here.” From his tone of voice it was clear the decision was final. I was shocked they’d even consider letting me stay here to begin with, but I had no time to ponder about that as he spoke up once more. “If you are to be successful, you shall be granted adequate living quarters and an occupation. However…” As he said the last bit, his voice took on a colder and more dangerous tone. “If you are to fail, you shall be permanently banished from entering our realm. Are the conditions clear?” He asked slowly, you know, like a maniac. Useless to say I was utterly terrified by then, I just nodded quickly, unable to speak. He seemed satisfied at least as he tilted his head slightly in satisfaction. He then glanced behind me and at the two brothers behind me.

“Orophin shall take on the role of training you with the help of Rumil. Understood?” I was surprised by this, but I figured they wouldn’t have me trained by someone that didn’t speak English after all. Besides, I knew the two, it just made sense it would be them to train me. I nodded in response as I glanced back at the two in question. Orophin quickly yet subtly gestured at me to turn back around, so I did. Lord Celeborn seemed somewhat annoyed that I had turned around. If that was the case then he was undoubtedly being extra patient with me. “Wanderer, such disrespect is not tolerated here. However, I shall make an exception just this once…Now go. Your training begins now.” Wait- what? Huh?? I was shocked by that, what the hell? I looked between Lord Celeborn and Lady Galadriel, but all I got in response was a nod from Galadriel as she gave me a warm smile.

Oh what fucking ever I suppose. I nodded as me and the two brothers began heading off, back down the stairs and toward the forest floor. As we started descending the stairs, it happened again. Lady Galadriel somehow spoke to me directly though my mind, her soft voice slightly echoing. “Fear not, young one. You shall meet multiple hardships in this world. However I don’t doubt you were brought here for a reason. I am certain you are destined for great things.” I was still kinda freaked out by this whole speaking through people's minds deal in all honesty, but whatever, Something told me I will grow used to it eventually. It was her words that caught my attention though. “Destined for great things” …but what did that mean? She spoke like she already knew this, but maybe it was just her usual way of speaking. I was still very much confused by her words, but I figured I could worry about it when the time would come.

Once the two rulers were far enough to not hear me, I mumbled mostly to myself, “Well…that went better than I had previously anticipated I suppose.” Orophin only gave a small nod in response as Rumil couldn’t hold in his excitement. “You stay! You stay! I so happy, mellon!” Wha- oh right, that word meant friend. I sighed quietly, nodding in response to the overly excited elf next to me. I however found it hard to celebrate. Sure, I was given a chance to stay here…but I wanted to go home. Now my goals were pushed back by an extra 3 months. On top of that, 3 months was a very long time to spend waiting, but an awfully short amount of time to physically train. Train for what, even? I had an awful gut feeling I didn’t want to know.

As me and the two brothers walked through the forest, I just couldn’t shake away nor ignore these thoughts. They plagued my mind, silencing every other thought until I couldn’t think of anything else. I just wanted to go home…but what if…what if it was impossible? What if I was wasting my hopes and energy? Was it even worth it to try to stay here then?- “You ok?” Rumil’s concerned voice finally snapped me back to reality. I quickly shook my head a bit as I looked at him, taking a moment to think of how to respond. “I’m, uhm…yeah. I’m good.” However, even the usually upbeat and naive Rumil could tell I wasn’t being fully honest. He didn’t speak any further, just tilting his head to the side as if to silently question me, and unfortunately I buckled under the pressure.

“Look, Rumil. I…you know I’m not from here, right?” He nodded as he kept quiet to let me continue. I sighed as I thought of my next words, although not carefully enough admittedly. “I guess I just…I miss home, you know?” I could have sworn I saw what looked like a flash of fear on his face, but he immediately covered it up with a small smile. He responded quickly, but his tone was shaky. “What? B-but we go home at night…! We go home later! Y-yes, later!” I always had the awful habit of talking too much. Sometimes in life I couldn’t tell I had to shut up. This was one of those moments in life. I could tell I should have dropped the subject there, but for some fucking reason I decided to speak regardless. “Rumil…I’m sorry, but I miss my world. I miss my home, my old life…this is not my home, it’s yours…”

Dear lord he did not take that well. I couldn’t deny seeing Rumils smile fade so quickly was…scary. It felt wrong on so many levels. At that moment I knew I had fucked up. I watched as the usually cheerful and kind hearted elfs smile vanished. He didn’t say a single word, and I wasn’t sure I liked silence better than a crash out, but what really got to me was his face. He stared at me with a mix of emotions, none positive. His eyes were those of someone who had just been betrayed in the worst ways possible. He looked disappointed, even a tad angry and…scared. I tried reaching a hand out to him. I wanted to make it up to him, to fix things, I- wait what? No no! No! I wasn’t supposed to care! I DON’T care!

Rumil, likely noticing how hesitant I was, just walked past both me and Orophin as he now led the way. Orophin seemed a bit taken aback, but other than glancing over at me he didn’t react. He let his brother lead the way as he now was the one walking next to me. I stared at Rumil’s back for a while, not even knowing what to say, or if to talk at all. I felt I had done enough damage as is, but God it felt awful to be the reason someone like him stopped smiling. I didn’t utter a single word for the remaining time walking, the silence heavy as I just wished Rumil would forget about my words and just- talk. I had never realised how used I had already grown to Rumil’s habit of talking way too much before now. The silence would have been deafening if it hadn’t been for the birds chirping and the leaves rustling in the wind.

Man I felt like shit. I didn’t have much time to sulk at least, as we soon found ourselves in a large clearing in the woods. It was clearly some kind of training grounds of sorts. There were what looked like targets at varying distances from us, some farther, some closer. The clearing was also of a somewhat rounder shape, and the outline had less grass and moss. Maybe it was used as some kind of running course? Like the athletics running track. There were a few more things, like what looked like a group of training dummies and some logs that likely functioned as some kind of bench. I looked at the area around me curiously, I was still confused as to what I was training for. I mean, they did say I had to “Prove my worth” or whatever, but they never clarified what they meant by that.

As I was thinking about these things, I noticed Rumil walking off and sitting on the logs mentioned earlier…He still looked just as angry and betrayed as before, and didn’t look at me once. Maybe he just needed some space. I sighed in defeat as I looked at Orophin, who seemed almost oblivious to the bad vibes around. “You can start running on the track. One lap is fine.” He said calmly. So it was a running track. I nodded and got to running, more like jogging actually. He didn’t seem to mind how slow I was going anyway, he seemed busy with getting stuff prepared for later. I wasn’t even halfway into the track that I quickly remembered I actually hate running. I had not ran on a track in years, and I was not happy with having to do so again, although I knew I could not get out of this situation by refusing to run. I supposed if I really wanted to go home, I had to do as these people said…unfortunately.

I tried to remember whatever lessons my old coach had taught me. If I wanted to run for much longer I had to control my breathing, so that’s what I started doing. Although I had to admit having to manually breathe for the whole run was not great, but whatever. Despite having gone at a slower pace, once I completed the lap I was already a bit out of breath, ok, not great. Orophin slightly furrowed his brows as he saw me already tired, but didn’t push the matter any further. Instead he approached me and handed me a…bow? I was completely taken aback by this. I just held the weapon in my hands, unsure of how to react when Orophin also handed me a quiver with about ten or so arrows in it. I held the bow in one hand as I took the quiver in the other, swinging it over my shoulder as I looked at Orophin with a questioning look.

“You have know how to shoot bow.” I nodded in understanding. I supposed it made sense. I did honestly prefer long range weapons anyway, I wasn’t much of a fighter. Actually no I wasn’t a fighter at all. I took a moment to look at the bow in my hands. It was a beautifully carved wooden bow, the carvings were faint, but whoever made it definitely put a lot of time and effort into it. I the looked back at Orophin, who pointed at a spot in the grass with a long stick on the grass. “Stand there. Try shoot the closest target.” I blinked for a moment, looking between the stick and the closest target before I did as he said. I took a moment to look at the target, it was probably 80 feet from me or so. It wasn’t too close, but not even unreasonable far from me. I thought back to the few times I’ve seen people shooting a bow, and I tried to copy the position as I held up the bow.

I glanced at Orophin for approval. He tilted his head to the side as he looked at me, giving a slow nod. I took it as his way of telling me to shoot, so I decided to give it a try. I reached for an arrow and got ready to shoot. Lord, I wasn’t too sure how to aim, the only times I ever used a bow was on fucking Minecraft. I figured it couldn’t have been too different, so I tried. As I pulled the arrow back with the bow string, I realised just how hard it was to actually use a bow in real life. It was hard to use it, and the more I pulled the arrow back, the more my other hand shook. It got to the point I barely had the strength to keep the position, and the arrow flew out of my grasp before I could properly aim. As expected, I did not hit the target. The arrow got lodged into the ground, although not too far from the target. My shoulders slumped down in disappointment as I looked back at Orophin.

He had a neutral expression as per usual. He looked over at the arrow and then back at me before he responded. “You never shot a bow before, yes?” Damn, that sure is one way of telling me I sucked ass. I sighed and nodded, I did expect to suck at this anyway. He nodded and walked off to where Rumil was. I noticed Rumil had been looking at me, but as soon as I looked back at him he quickly turned to look away. I took that as a good sign, maybe we could talk things out by the end of the day, at least I hoped so. I pushed these thoughts aside though as I saw Orophin walking back over to me, holding what I presume is his own bow. He stopped as he got ready to shoot at the farthest target.

I looked at him curiously, taking note of his position as he aimed. He reached for an arrow from his own quiver so quickly and effortlessly, as if he had done that motion millions of times before. I figured that might just be the case since he was literally thousands of years old, but I digress. I looked carefully as he aimed, pulling the arrow back so far the bow looked like it could snap at any moment, and just like that the arrow was gone. The bow shot back to its original shape as the arrow flew off, cutting the air as it was launched at the target. It was honestly impressive how he didn’t flinch or move in the slightest, not even when he released the arrow. However, the most shocking thing to me was the perfect bullseye. I stared in awe as I wondered just how the hell he could be that skilled.

He turned to look at me, completely unbothered by any of this as he spoke in his usual flat tone. “Try again.” Oh- right. I was supposed to shoot again. I let out a small breath as I tried to mirror his position from earlier. I reached for another arrow and tried to aim like him. I still didn’t have that much strength to pull the arrow too far back, but I still tried. I held my breath as I tried to aim. However, as I let go of the arrow, my hand that held the bow lightly shook, compromising the aim. Despite that though, the arrow did hit the target this time. granted, I got the outer circle, but I still hit the target! I looked at Orophin, my eyes lit up, and I felt a rush of pride and adrenaline as he nodded. “Better. Keep trying now.”

The next few minutes were spent with me taking my time taking aim and shooting the arrows at the target. I’d sometimes hit it, and sometimes miss it, but whenever I’d hit it I’d get better. I started getting the hang of it when I had only two arrows left. I had grown a little tired, my arms were not used to this kind of exercise honestly. Orophin did not push further, instead deciding we could take a break and eat something. I wasn’t looking too forward to it however, I had a very strong feeling my own meal was going to be Lembas bread once more; and sure enough, as he reached into his bag he got out of it that very familiar square of bread enveloped in its usual leaf wrapped around it.

I sighed as I took it in defeat, unwrapping the food and taking a bite. Sure, it was good, but damn I’d kill for,,,I dunno. A good lasagna, a plate of pasta, hell even a hamburger! Awh man some chicken nuggies would be fantastic. I watched as the two brothers also got their food to eat as well. They too had their own Lembas bread, but they also had what looked like salted meat and some cheese…MAN. I just sat there on the grass as I watched the two brothers sat on the log, enjoying their meal. I knew their meal wasn’t luxurious or anything, but it sure felt like it to me. I had lived off of river water and bread for a week, damn it!

Rumil took a quick glance at me before looking down at his food while Orophin paid us no mind, just eating quietly. Rumil didn’t say a word, and he stood there not doing anything for a moment before he did something I had not expected. He wrapped up his own salted meat and cheese once more and only ate his Lembas bread. I was taken aback honestly, I was surprised to see him do that. I knew he felt bad I apparently wasn’t allowed to eat anything other than Lembas bread, but to sacrifice that nice meal just for solidarity? I would have never expected that, not even from him. I couldn’t help but smile a little, looking down as I ate my Lembas bread, feeling a bit less alone.

However, before we could finish our meals, I started hearing rustling in the bushes nearby. I looked over in that direction, not giving the sound too much attention though. Throughout the week, I often heard bushes rustling when I went exploring with the two brothers. I was willing to ignore it, but Orophin wasted no time standing up and getting in a fighting stance. I looked at him confused for a moment. I figured it was just some wild animal by that point, I thought there was no reason to be so on edge. That was until I saw whatever was making that noise jump out of the bushes. My blood ran cold as my eyes widened at the nightmarish sight…a giant wolf. A wolf just like the ones that hunted me down a week ago jumped into the clearing, ready to pounce as two more of those beasts joined it.

I stood up along with Rumil, terrified. I was starting to panic when I looked over at Orophin, half shouting at him. “I-I thought you said they couldn’t get this far into the forest!” “They usually do not. Stay back!” Hearing Orophin speak in an agitated tone of voice was…almost as frightening as Rumil frowning, but there was no damn time for that. I watched as Orophin swiftly picked up his bow, readying an arrow as he aimed at the first wolf, which snarled viciously. I then realised my bow also was close enough for me to reach. I picked it up quickly, my hands shaking violently as my grip on the weapon tightened, my knuckles turning white in the process. I only had two arrows in my quiver, Orophin had about five and Rumil did not seem to have any weapons of his own. This was the worst possible situation to be in.

Before the wolves could make a move, Orophin, who stood between me and the wolves, let go of his readied arrow. He instead reached for what looked like a horn from his belt, which was hidden under his cape. His movement was swift and unexpected. He wasted no time blowing the horn. He was calling for aid, great. Now we just had to manage the time until help arrived, but then again, I wasn’t the luckiest person around. One of the wolves charged at Orophin, who dropped the horn. He tried to get another arrow to shoot the beast, but he was too slow. The beast rammed into him, sending him flying backwards, and I barely had the time to move out of the way. I looked back at the now disoriented elf on the grass, these beasts were SCARY strong.

I turned back to the three wolves only to find two more wolves had jumped out of the bushes. It would seem Orophin’s attempt to call for aid had also grabbed their attention…damn it. I watched in horror as the wolf that had shoved Orophim was now approaching me. It snarled angrily at me as I started backing away, the adrenaline was already starting to cloud my thinking. I then remembered I was still holding the bow that was given to me, but I only had two arrows…wait- Orophin dropped his earlier! I looked for it in the grass, finding it was laying right there, right between me and the angry beast…huh, great. Ok Y/N, think! It was still just a wolf, maybe an arrow to the head or in the chest would take the beast out. Sure, I hated the fact I already killed one, but it was either me or them.

-- TW: death (of a werewolf) --

As the beast started stalking closer I decided it was now or never. I braced myself and used all the courage I had in me to run toward the huge beast, who started running at me as well. I had to time this perfectly, it was my only chance. Once I was close enough, the wolf jumped into the air, ready to tear me apart. I dodge rolled just in time, but the creature was still able to land a cut on my left shoulder. It wasn’t too deep, but it still stung like a bitch, but there was no time to think about that. As I rolled, I threw myself over the grass, finally grabbing Orophin’s arrow with my free hand. I immediately rolled on my back and there it was. The wolf was once again charging at me, angrier than before. I didn’t have the time I needed to aim, I just shot the arrow and hoped for the best and…one down.

The beast fell motionless on the moss and grass, the arrow lodged into its skull. I had no time to celebrate though, there were still 4 more angry wolves right behind me. I turned around once more, only to be thrown back by another wolf. I fell on my back, hitting my head on a rock hidden under the grass. Dear Lord that hurt so bad. It took me longer than I wish to regain consciousness, but once I did I wasn’t expecting the sight in front of me. I watched as the two brothers were trying to fight off the wolves, although they were being easily overpowered. Before I knew it, one of the wolves had managed to throw Rumil to the floor, and was now standing over him, pinning him down. However…I paused. I realised this was my one chance to run, to flee.

-- TW: over --

A chance like this was never going to show itself ever again. The only two elves that had to watch my every move were being overpowered by the same beasts that had tormented my nightmares. Nobody had looked at me since I was shoved all the way over here. This was my one chance…and yet, just as I was about to run, I couldn’t. I couldn’t find it in me to run. To leave them to die. No, not the man that saved my life a week ago. Not his brother, who had been nothing but kind to me. In a split second I made my decision, and I looked for my bow. It was right next to me on the grass, and I didn’t even think before I grabbed it along with one of my arrows. I took maybe one second to aim and just shot it. One arrow gone, only one arrow left.

-- TW: vague description of blood and injury --

The arrow lodged itself in the wolf's shoulder just as it was about to bite down at Rumil. It wasn’t enough to kill it, but enough to get its attention and do some damage. The beast whined loudly as its head snapped in my direction. It snarled and growled at me with a hatred I had never seen before. The realisation then hit me like a train, these wolves were here for me. They were here because I had killed their friend. I had no idea why I did it, but I grabbed my pocket knife from my pocket, lifting it in the air to show it off as I shouted at the top of my lungs. “Hey!! You’re looking for this, aren’t you?!” As I shouted, everyone paused their attacks to look at me. Orophin furrowed his brows, likely not understanding what I was talking about, while Rumil looked up at me seemingly in awe.

The wolves’ undivided attention was now on me as they clearly recognised the weapon in my hands. They must’ve been told about the pocket knife, good. They stared at the weapon in my hands, the same that had taken their friend’s life. The same that had been meticulously cleaned as if the wolf’s blood meant nothing. I waved it around, taunting them as I yelled again. “You’re here for me, so let those elves go and let’s settle things!” Somehow my plan seemed to work perfectly. Just one small issue. Where the fuck was the backup Orophin called?? There was no time to wait for whoever would eventually come; however, the wolves were all stalking closer to me, angrier than ever. The one I shot seemed to ignore the pain as blood trickled down its side and on the grass where it walked. As my fight or flight instincts started kicking in, I decided the backup could go fuck itself. I’d somehow try to settle this alone.

-- TW: over --

I then took off running into the thick forest, completely oblivious to wherever the hell I was running to, but it didn’t matter, not one bit. The beasts took off running after me almost immediately, and finally I could test if my theory from a week ago was correct. I started running in sporadic patterns, taking sharp turns between the trees, and somehow it was working. The beasts were having a hard time keeping up for a while, until I started hearing the sound of water. Shit, I was running into the river. I took a sharp turn left and kept running in that direction to avoid the river, but unfortunately one of the wolves got almost close enough to tear me apart. The rush of fear and adrenaline helped me speed up my pace as I kept running like that for a bit.

Unfortunately, life hated me though, and I found the road blocked by a few large logs stacked up. There was no time to run around them, my only chance was to climb them and jump over them. I jumped at the logs, scrambling my way up as fast as I could as the wolves quickly caught up. A couple of them howled, likely calling for their own backup, damn it. I was finally op top of the logs that one of the beasts almost caught my foot in its jaws. I was able to kick its ugly face away as I jumped over the logs, but unfortunately as I got to run again, there already was a wolf there. It rammed into me and shoved me against the logs, and I once again dropped my bow in the process. Well there goes concussion number 2. I fought through my disoriented state as I desperately tried to kick the beast away.

-- TW: death (of werewolves) --

My efforts were futile as two more wolves stalked closer from each side of the one trapping me, and the one that I kicked in the face was now standing over the logs. Well, this was my end, or so I thought. The beast in front of me pinned me down with a paw as it opened its jaws. I shut my eyes closed, praying to whatever God was out there that my end wouldn’t be too painful…but nothing came. Instead, I heard the wolf let out a small whine-like noise and the sound of something falling, and its paw was no longer pinning me down. My eyes shot open to find the wolf dead next to me, an arrow stuck in the side of its head. I turned in the direction where it was shot, expecting Orophin to be there, but Orophin was nowhere to be found. My eyes widened as I found him, the guy Rumil told me about the other day. The guy they had warned me about a few times.

Their older brother, Haldir. He stood there, atop a tiny hill, his bow in hand as he reached for another arrow. Four of the wolves charged at him as the other two started to circle him, but he didn’t budge. He stood there proud, his eyes sharp and cold as he shot another arrow in one of the wolves’ head. Before the wolves could get too close, he had shot yet another one, still in the head, as if this was a joke to him. One of the wolves that circled him also charged at him, and I was starting to get worried, but once again this guy took me by surprise. As the wolves got too close to use a bow, he swiftly threw his bow over his shoulder and instead unsheathed two swords from each of his sides.

I watched in shock and awe as he swung at the three beasts so effortlessly and gracefully. I had never seen a warrior this skilled before. However, he failed to notice the wolf that had circled around him, which was now charging at him from behind. I wanted to shout at him to watch out, but he was already fighting off the other two wolves, as one of the 3 had just fallen to the ground, dead. I then remembered I too had a bow. I had one arrow left, if I was careful enough I could make it. I grabbed my bow and quickly stood up. I got in position as I grabbed my last arrow, aiming it at the wolf. Unfortunately, the fight was happening a little far from me. which meant I had to aim carefully. My hands shook as I pulled the arrow as far back as I could, and just moments before the wolf could pounce on my saviour, I released it.

I held my breath as I watched the arrow fly off. I was terrified I could have missed the wolf or that it could have hit Haldir, but apparently I hadn’t given myself enough credit. I watched as the arrow flew past the elf, barely missing his shoulder as it hit the wolf in the chest area. The animal whined loudly as it lost its footing and tripped on the ground, at the elf’s feet. Haldir looked down at the wounded beast before shooting me what looked like a glare before going back to fighting off the wolves. He stabbed one of the swords into the skull of the wolf I had wounded as he used the other blade to cut open another wolf’s throat. I watched as the familiar sight of the wolfs open throat leaked blood everywhere as it reminded me of the first one I had killed. The reason why they were here.

Surprisingly enough, the last wolf stopped its attacks on the elf as it growled angrily while its friend bled out. It limped away, having been severely wounded by the extremely skilled elf warrior. Haldir just stared coldly as the beast abandoned the fight and fled the scene, and once it was gone he turned to me once more. He sheathed his swords once more as he walked over to me. I cleared my throat a bit before speaking up meekly. “Umh, thank you so much for sa-” “Quiet.” He barked out coldly, and before I could react, he grabbed the collar of my dress, lifting me up effortlessly. I stumbled on my feet for a second before he harshly grabbed my arm, dragging me off, likely back to my room or something. Jeez, Rumil was right, this guy was really fucking rude.

-- TW: over --

He didn’t spare me a single glance, he didn’t give me one moment to recover, he just grabbed me and dragged me off, jeez. He could’ve at least asked if I was ok, but no, nothing. Figured so though, not a single damn person here was normal. I then realised I had dropped my pocket knife when I was shoved against the logs. I tried to stop walking, despite his strength. “W-wait! I-I left my kn-” “I said quiet.” Is all he said coldly as he pulled me back to keep walking, almost making me fall over. Jeez, excuse me…I changed my mind on the guy, I REALLY didn’t like him now. I figured arguing with him or going against his orders in any was was likely a one way ticket to hell; so I decided to shut up and keep my head down. I’d likely never have to deal with this asshole ever again anyway…

We spent the entire walk without saying a single word, not that I’d want to talk to this rude guy anyway. I was mostly bothered by his strong grip on my arm. It wasn’t enough to harm me, but after a while it was starting to sting a bit. I was surprised that he didn’t take me to my room though, but instead kept going up the stairs, over to where Lady Galadriel was. As he dragged me up the stairs, I noticed a bunch of elves just quietly staring, as if they knew something was off. I figured it wasn’t possible that they knew what happened, but I soon saw Rumil run out of a building. He had some bandages wrapped around his right arm, actually they weren’t even properly wrapped around it.

I faintly heard someone call his name, but he still ran over to us. He smiled as he called out my name, at least he wasn’t mad at me anymore. Before he could crush me in a hug however, Haldir stopped walking as he looked at his younger brother. I couldn’t see his face, but judging by how quickly Rumil’s smile faded and how he stopped in his tracks, he was likely glaring at the younger elf. He said something to him in their strange language, his voice just as cold as when he spoke to me. Surprisingly, Rumil didn’t utter a single word. He just nodded quickly as he speed walked back inside the building he bolted out of. Goddamn, he scared the hell out of that goofball? This dude was a straight up monster.

I had no time to think about this as he harshly pulled me once he started walking up the stairs once more. Oh Lord, I was starting to get scared at the thought of what Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn would say. Were they going to get rid of me?? I had likely just caused a lot of problems with the wolves looking for me. Maybe they’d kill me off to not deal with it, or maybe they’d feed me to the wolves- literally. I felt a bit lightheaded as I thought about all the worst possible scenarios, and by the time we got to the top of the stairs, I was barely able to stand up. Granted, It was also likely my two brand new concussions and the fact I was a bit out of breath from the stairs, but still, I was terrified.

I watched as Lord Celeborn looked at us in mild interest, but Lady Galadriel turned to look at us as if she had been waiting for us. I shrinked slightly under their gazes as Haldir pulled me closer to them, again, harshly, you know, like an asshole. He started talking in their language when Lady Galadriel raised her hand to stop him. He immediately shut up as she spoke up. “In the common tongue, munchwarden.” He nodded as he spoke again, his tone of voice now calm and collected and no longer ice cold. “Of course, my apologies.” He then turned to glare at me for a moment, jeez how nice. “I was guarding our realm when I found the prisoner out unsupervised, about to become werewolf food.” He explained calmly, but I still heard the poison in his voice as he called me “the prisoner”. Clearly this guy hated my guts.

Lord Celeborn seemed somewhat taken aback by the mention of what I now know to be werewolves inside the forest. Meanwhile Lady Galadriel just nodded in understanding as she stayed quiet, allowing her husband to talk first. “Werewolves inside our realm…that is quite the unusual event, is it not?” He asked sarcastically as Haldir responded again. “Seven to be exact, my Lord.” The Lord seemed even more interested now as he lightly tilted his head to the side. “Seven you say?” He then exchanged glanced with Lady Galadriel before speaking once more. “Then we are going to need our borders to be guarded more meticulously. We cannot have this happen again.” Haldir had just the time to nod in agreement, but before he could speak he was interrupted by Lord Celeborn once more.

“However…we cannot neglect our guests training either.” He said, his tone a little colder as he referred to me as a guest, likely to correct the rude ass next to me. Speaking of which, I glanced over in his direction, and noticed his mildly concerned face. His brows were furrowed as he looked at his rulers, clearly not liking where this was going, and I didn’t think I liked it either. “You are to be momentarily laid off of your duties as a munchwarden. Your new task is to train our guest.” Lord Celeborn said, his tone final. Haldir looked completely distraught by his words, seemingly about to protest until he stopped. He looked at Lady Galadriel, and I figured she was probably doing the whole talking to people through their minds thing. Still, freaky as hell.

I watched as Haldir took a quiet sharp breath, looking down in defeat as Lady Galadriel turned to look at me. “Fear not, young one. Haldir can be harsh, but none better than him could train you.” And there she goes, talking to me through my mind. I nodded in response, still very unsure about this however. I wanted nothing to do with this guy, and I was sure as all hell the feeling was reciprocated. This was a perfect recipe for disaster, but there was no way to go against their decision unfortunately. I sighed in defeat as Lord Celeborn spoke up once more. “Now go. You are free to rest for the day. Your training will begin tomorrow once more.” And just like that, Haldir nodded at the two rulers before dragging me off once more.

-- TW: violence --

I was very much confused as to why he was dragging me off again, Lord Celeborn said we could rest. I still kept quiet though, if this asshole was going to train me for the next three months the last thing I wanted to do was anger him. I watched as he dragged me to where I had been staying, shocked he even knew where my room was. He shoved the door open and dragged me inside, away from any unwanted watchers, but before I could say anything, he shoved me to the wall. And there goes concussion number 3. I was completely shocked as he grabbed the collar of my dress once more, glaring at me. If looks could kill I’d be 6 feet under, damn.

“Listen to me and listen well, because I won’t repeat myself. I know you wanted to leave my brothers to die. And I know the werewolves were looking for you.” Ohh shit he knew. My eyes went wide as he said this, so he had been watching all along?? I felt my throat closing up as I started panicking. “One wrong move and I’ll make sure you suffer for the rest of your pathetic excuse of a life. You heard me?” I nodded quickly as I held my breath. This guy could’ve gotten me fucking killed by telling the rulers the werewolves were after me, shit. I trembled as I shrunk under his ice cold glare. “Consider yourself lucky my brother likes you. Or I would’ve already gotten rid of you.” And with that, he shoved me to the side, and I fell to the floor. I looked up at him, terrified as he glared down at me, his voice still as cold and calm as ever as he spoke, which only made it worse.

“You’re safe for today. But from tomorrow on I’ll personally make sure you regret ever coming here.” I was scared shitless he was going to beat me or something, but he didn’t. After he said that, he just left the room, closing the door behind himself. As I was left there alone, I dragged myself back until my back was pressed against the wall. I didn’t dare to look away from the door as my heart was pounding in my chest. That…that was fucking terrifying. I started doubting I’d survive these three months, or even a week under this psychopath's watch. I knew he could’ve just threatened me to scare me…but a part of me doubted he was the type to do that. If Rumil was so scared of him, there had to be a reason.

-- TW: over --

I had no idea how long I spent in that position with my eyes glued to the door. I just knew I was able to stand up once more when it was almost completely dark outside. I trembled like crazy as I climbed into the bed, not even daring to get changed first. I was terrified he’d come back to beat me or something, and the fact there were no locks on the door didn’t help. I spent the whole night imagining he’d break down the door or something. I didn’t dare to sleep, I just couldn’t. Not even with the faint throbbing in the back of my head from all the times I had been shoved around. Not even with the stinging pain to my shoulder from when that werewolf cut me. I didn’t want to close my eyes, not even when they grew increasingly tired as the time went on. I fought with all my remaining strength to stay awake, but eventually I caved under the weight of my eyelids. And just like that I finally fell asleep.

Chapter Text

Hey guys, so uh...it's been a while, huh? I apologise, this is not an update, nor will there be one on this fic. I just came here to explain 2 things which will likely answer any questions you may have, so buckle up, cause this might be a long one.

Thing number 1:

I am unhappy with how I've written this fic so far.
As I probably already told you, this was my very first attempt at writing. So if anything this was bound to be bad in all honesty. As you've probably noticed, I did get on to writing a different fic as of late, and I feel I've improved quite a bit thanks to it.
Obviously as one improves, they will see problems and be unhappy with their older works, hell, I'm an artist, I know that. If I look at my 2019 art I will inevitably cringe, but that's besides the point.
I am unhappy with some of the artistic choices I made with this, and even thinking of continuing this feels wrong and uncomfortable at the same time.

Speaking of why I quit writing this, let me transition into my second point.

Thing number 2:

I stopped writing this fic because of the extreme lack of interactions and support.
I wrote 5 chapters (+ the prologue), the fic has in total around 35K or so words, and yet I only got a single comment, on the prologue too. After that? Radio silence.
I had no way of knowing wether what I was doing was good or not. I felt like I was left alone in the dark, having to find my way out but with 0 directions on where I had to go.
Every day that went by I'd anxiously wait for comments, only to receive none. That fucked me up.
Granted, this does have I believe a bit short of 40 kudos and 6 bookmarks, but it's the comments I truly cared about. Besides, when you put it into perspective, this fic has nearly 1K hits now.

Ever since I completely stopped uploading, I only got 3 comments, one of which not asking, but telling me to continue this story.
I physically couldn't write anymore for a while.
Just the thought of writing gave me anxiety and made me feel exhausted. Every day that went by, I felt more and more like dropping this story until I actually did drop it, and even when I dropped it, it took me a long while to write anything after that.
As of recent I noticed it's not just a me problem, but almost every author on here has this same exact issue.

We aren't writing for money or for fame, but for love for the source material.

We're writing to share our ideas and love with other fans. A comment is the bare minimum to tell an author you enjoy what they create.

Before anyone twists my words, I am NOT saying you must write a 10K words essay under every single chapter. Even just a keyboard smash, a few emojis, a couple lines of text, ANYTHING is good enough. And if you feel called out by this, before you attack me for saying this, think about *why* you feel offended by my words.

Anyway, I don't want to leave this on a negative rant, so I will also give you some good news.

As much as I won't update this fic, I will be rewriting it instead, and continuing the rewrite. Reading this again, I feel there are things I could have done better and things I'd change all together. In case anyone here is interested, I'll gladly write a small list of changes you can expect from the rewrite:

- I'd drop the 1st POV in favour of 2nd POV. The 1st POV was used for a reason, but I feel I'd be able to accomplish that just fine by using the 2nd POV.
- I'd include other characters POVs when necessary. It won't happen every chapter, nor often. It will be rare and only where it's needed.
- I'd make the MC a bit more impersonal and drop the usage of Y/N. I'd like to make the MC a bit more relatable to other people as well, while still giving them some features necessary for the plot. Also, I've noticed an increase in people that don't like the usage of Y/N, so I'll find a different way to refer to the MC.
- I'd spend more time developing Orophin and Rumil. Sure, I did have plans for them, along with character traits and all that, but I'd like to revise them and rework them where needed, along with giving them more time to shine.

For now that is all, I cannot think of more changes I'd apply. If I do think of more, I doubt I'll list them as well. I'd like to keep some things as a surprise if I may dare to do so.

Additional news are: I am reading the LOTR books as of right now. Granted, I am just at half of The Fellowship, but I am loving them already, and that's also pushing me to make this story take place in a bit of a mix of the books and the movies. I do love the movies, I grew up watching them after all, but there's just *so* much stuff that was cut out of the books that I just want to include in the story, whereas I wouldn't have been able to include these things if this story was faithfully following the movies alone.

I don't doubt this would end up forcing me to create a sort of different LOTR universe all together, but I will still keep it as close to canon as possible.

Besides this, I do have every intention of reading the Silmarillion as well once I get to it. If I can give this a deeper story that's also lore accurate, I will.

However, you do have to realise that means it will take me a ling while to even begin rewriting this pile of poorly written story concepts. I hope you can accept the compromise if I can make the story even more lore accurate in the process thanks to the delay. I don't doubt I probably did get too eager to write this without really reading the books, but how can anyone blame me? I thought I'd be content only making this accurate to the movies after all.

Besides all these rambles though, I'd like to take a quick moment to apologise as well. I know some of you were expecting an update, and I'm truly sorry for killing your hopes with this, but no. This specific fic won't get anymore updates past this A/N. If you'd still like to see the rewrite or even to get updates or whatever, please check out my Tumblr. I'll post updates whenever I feel necessary.

All this aside, I wish you a good day, and I hope you can forgive me for my choices. It's a hard choice to make, but I don't want to keep you waiting for something that won't come for a long time.