Rhûn Middle-earth Novels & Stories

This baffled me as I kept walking up the stairs. I was yet to see guards whom I always saw everyday damned day but now, where I needed them the most, they suddenly vanish. I seemed to have been walking for twenty minutes when I soon stopped before a wide mahogany door which also had two guards standing by each side. Not only that, but I needed not to ask if Mr. Red eye was there because I could feel his presence. Call me stupid! “Good morning, is Mr….err, Is your boss in?” I asked one of the guards, who appeared as if he was dead. I was yet to get used to the unique appearances of everyone I saw in this castle. I mean, they all looked like 'the walking dead!'.

Metal breast plates folded inside the sphere of death and goo. Once Raven was satisfied she let the spell go and the blood splashed all over her and everyone near. The clanking of the breast plates echoed in the silence. Out of the edges the band of soldiers from Scotland came raging forward. Raven lifted her arms high above her head and then threw her hands back down towards the earth. The soldiers rose up and slammed into the ground. Many didn’t get back up.

Every rustle, every shadow, seemed to harbor a hidden threat. Professor Thorne, her voice ragged from exertion, explained their goal. "The heart of the grove is said to be a pool of purest light, untouched by darkness. Its energy can cleanse even the most corrupted." They navigated through a labyrinth of gnarled roots and fallen trees, their boots sinking into the spongy forest floor. The perpetual twilight seemed to amplify every sound, every fear. Just when Maya felt her hope dwindle, she saw it – a faint bluish glow filtering through the dense foliage.

Magic runes started to appear upon the call of Levi the Envious and Merlin the Necromancer. The runes swirled against each other as if they got a life of their own. Hue of purple shade danced around on the ground’s surface, travelling from one place to another, spreading like a growing vine with the two loyal subordinates as the apex. Both eyes closed, their tongues rolled out to the incantation they prepared. Never had they known that they would be able to use this yet look at them now.

I can see it in his eyes and it scares me more than the knife does. Roran walks past Maya like she is nothing and presses his thumb into the cut on the altar, smearing his dark blood across the white root. The root drinks it and pulses once, and the whole tree shakes beneath us. The same light that hit us before flares again, and this time it goes straight into Cael.

--- Our hands brushed—barely. But the spark was real. A pulse of something primal and old. The space between us shimmered— heavy with what was and what might be again. The shadows moved. Whispers scraped through the trees like bone against stone. The Root That Hungers. It had worn another name once—sacred, seated at Selene’s right hand. Before it tried to consume the Veil. Before the Divine Council chained it beneath Hollowfire. It was never dead. Never gone. Just waiting.

Sparks flew from his body as if striking molten iron, while blood splattered in every corner. The earth trembled beneath his heavy feet. Every swing of Azarukh crushed bones and sent the elves flying backward, their bodies bursting with blood like hollow vessels filled to the brim. Their red eyes glowed in the darkness, reflecting their rage and astonishment, each eye holding a vision of Azarukh himself. The clash of iron against Azarukh's body felt as if he had struck a living, metallic giant. The elves' furious roars echoed through the narrow passages like terrifying thunder, and the earth itself seemed to groan under the intensity of the battle.

With the information they found, they quickly returned to Omem, who in the meantime, had made herbal pouches together with Esmee. 'Listen carefully. The three of you are going to get him back. This pouch is to retrieve Raven from the twilight zone he resides in by the spell. It has the rune sign Eihwaz on it, which means traveling through the worlds. Remember it well! Make sure Raven is himself again before traveling back through a gate. He must be out of that spell! That's vital! ‘Omem looked sternly at them from over her glasses and her voice was curt. ‘This pouch has the rune sign of Elhaz, the oak. This protects you while traveling. And this third amulet is to travel further if necessary

I could barely hear it, and yet it rang loud inside my chest like a heartbeat that wasn’t mine. And standing beside her… was him. King Rhovan. His expression was unreadable. Still. He wasn’t speaking, but his eyes were fixed on the pot in front of her. A massive, black cauldron that seemed to move on its own—no, bubble. The surface of the liquid inside churned and shimmered, glowing faintly like it held something alive. Or dead. Or both. I couldn’t breathe. I wasn’t supposed to see this. I wasn’t supposed to be here.

“Since when did I ever claim to be a hero?” Fenrir snorted in my head, but his voice had steadier undertones. The plan stood. Hollow Oak — east of the river, a ruined furnace marked by a sigil that tasted of old bargains. The shard hummed in its lead box, a captive thing that might sing for freedom at any moment.