[General POV]
The wind brushed against Aldril's face, carrying with it the scent of fresh grass and the faint aroma of flowers beginning to bloom, hiding the bloodstains as if they were being absorbed in a silent ritual of renewal.
The tears that had once blurred his vision dried with each gust, dissipating like petals in the breeze. The scene before him left him in awe: the green grass swayed gently, whispering a lullaby to the rhythm of the wind, as if the earth itself were trying to comfort the spirits of the fallen.
"Such a beautiful view, don't you think?"
A female voice, filled with radiance and serenity, interrupted his contemplation. Aldril, still absorbed in the scene, glanced out of the corner of his eye and saw the elf with whom he had formed a connection in the few days they had spent together. The moonlight gave her reddish-brown hair an unusual glow, and her elegant gait moved with the fluidity of the wind, the natural bearing of the elven race.
"Without a doubt," he said with a slight nod. For a few moments, the world around them was wrapped in a comfortable silence, where only the whisper of the wind caressed the grass.
"I'm glad you're okay, Tauriel," Aldril murmured after a while, causing a smile to appear on the elf's face. With total ease, she sat down beside him, as if that gesture were the most natural thing in the world.
"I would say the same about you, but your expression and the melancholic aura you give off tell me otherwise," Tauriel replied softly, watching him with great affection and concern.
Aldril flashed a tired smile and turned his gaze toward the horizon, where the wind carried away the smoke and smell of the burning orcs.
"It's nothing," he said, though his tone contradicted him.
"If it really were nothing, you wouldn't be sitting here, alone, with that lost look," she insisted. "You can talk to me."
Aldril remained silent for a few moments, before finally exhaling a sigh, his expression reflecting a fragility he rarely showed.
"My arrogance led me to lose one of my friends," he said wearily, his words laden with regret. "I thought I had learned..." He paused, as if doubting himself. "But that's not the case," he confessed, letting out another exhausted sigh.
Tauriel watched him serenely before replying.
"The important thing is that you recognize it, Aldril," she said softly, and after a brief pause, she added: "We all learn, whether through the good path or the bad... and you've already taken the first step, you've accepted that you were wrong."
The silence that followed was not uncomfortable, but one of those silences that spoke for themselves. Tauriel lowered her gaze, as if reliving her own memories before continuing.
"I must admit that I've also lost comrades because of my arrogance and selfishness," she confessed, her tone tinged with melancholy. "My bad decisions led soldiers to their deaths... soldiers who trusted me, and I failed them."
Aldril glanced at her from the corner of his eye, noticing the shadow of guilt in her eyes. But she didn't stay trapped in that pain.
"Despite that, my mistakes helped me grow... and now I am what you see."
With a hesitant gesture, she took Aldril's hand in hers, her delicate fingers running over it softly, as if afraid he might reject her after her confession.
Aldril felt the warmth of her touch, a comforting contrast to the coldness that weighed inside him. He did not pull his hand away. Instead, he held it with the same tenderness with which she had done.
"Thank you, Tauriel."
Finally, the anguish in the elf's eyes dissipated, as if her own words had lightened some of the weight she carried.
"However," Aldril added with a slight smile, "I have to say you've talked a lot. What happened to that serene elf with few words?"
Tauriel raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms. It was clear they had shared an intimate moment, a sincere connection between them... and, of course, Aldril had to ruin it. However, rather than being upset, his comment made her smile.
"Why do you think that is?" she said with a meaningful look.
Tauriel looked at him for one more moment, making sure that the shadow of melancholy on his face had at least faded a little. Then, with the same ease with which she had taken his hand before, she stood up and offered him hers.
"Come on, your friends are probably worried about you," she said softly.
A slight hesitation crossed Aldril's eyes, a flicker of doubt that Tauriel didn't miss. But before he could lose himself in his thoughts, her voice reached him again, firm and sincere.
"I'll be with you."
Aldril looked at her for a moment, as if searching for the truth in her words. Then, with his characteristic humor, he let out a smile before taking her hand and getting up.
The atmosphere between them was harmonious, filled with serene warmth, a silent understanding. They didn't need words to recognize it: in that moment, it felt as though fate had intertwined them in some way.
However, the sudden neighing of Shadow Star interrupted the stillness of the moment, a neigh filled with excitement. Aldril, bewildered, turned his gaze toward his faithful steed, only to be left completely stunned as he saw Shadow Star mounting Tauriel's mare, who was cooperating, being gentle, letting Shadow Star mount her.
The steed, of course, felt the gaze of his master. With disdainful eyes, he sent a clear message: "Stop looking and let me enjoy my moment. Go with your elf."
Aldril let out a laugh as he shook his head in exasperation. The spectacle before him was as unexpected as it was ridiculous, but he couldn't help finding it amusing. Finally, he turned to Tauriel, who was watching the scene between her mare and Shadow Star in bewilderment.
"I guess we'll have to go on foot," he said with a smile, his tone mixed with amusement and slight disbelief.
Tauriel looked at him for a moment, then her lips curved into a smile as she understood the situation.
"Yes, I suppose a walk wouldn't be so bad."
----
In the deep darkness, where time itself seemed to twist and crumble under its own weight, a shadow zigzagged through the dimness, moving with an unnatural twist, like a serpent dragging its body across a ground that was no longer soil, but something else... something strange. Only the slimy friction of its movements broke the absolute silence, a sound that did not belong to this world. The echo of its advance reverberated through the depths, a whisper that filtered into the mind of anyone who heard it, freezing the flesh and breaking the soul.
In the distance, a gem burned brightly, imposing, a blinding glow that defied the laws of the universe, brighter than any star that had ever been seen, a radiance that seemed to rise from the void itself. Its light didn't just illuminate the darkness; it dominated it, crossing through space as if weaving an invisible cloak. The blackness, which had been the absolute domain for a time, receded as if the very nature of the abyss could not withstand its presence.
As the glow touched the creatures that dwelled in those unfathomable depths, the contact was like a lash that tore the very essence of their bodies, leaving them to writhe in a pain that no one could describe. The shadows surrounding them, which moved with precision and coordination, never dared to come too close. They knew that this radiance was the condemnation. None of those entities were prepared to face something so alien to their nature.
And then, something changed. Something that should never have been.
It was at that moment that they felt it. An indescribable power had been unleashed, and with it, a new being had been born. Something that should not exist. And with that existence, a name arose, a name that resonated like a distortion in the very strings of Eru's song, an echo that claimed a right that the shadows could never possess.
A guttural growl emerged from the jaws of those creatures, a vibration so primal and filled with terror that it seemed to pierce the layers of the earth. That sound spread, reaching every corner of the deep darkness of Middle-earth. In the distance, the rest of a Balrog was interrupted, its ancient sleep disturbed by the presence of something it could not comprehend. The desperate and angry growl resonated within its being, making it flee, as if the very essence of its being commanded it to run.
The creatures, those creatures, clamored for the death of that being, a vengeance that seemed both a right and a curse. A right that had been denied them, that had been taken away from them, because they were.
"Nameless creatures..."
***
Filthy orcs!! I'm going on vacation, I'll be back until monday afternoon! The pause attack for the time being! don't miss me haha