The Dawn

Author: Hraboš

Pain. Pain, despair, hopelessness? No, not that. There is always hope, that tiny light in darkness, that rope above abyss. No, he won’t let go. He can’t let go…

“Still having that in mind bro?!” Laugh, contempt. “Still hoping? And in what, tell me, in what?! I am lord here, I rule here, I-“

“GO AWAY FROM HIM!!!” It wasn’t in fact that loud. But unexpected yell stroke both Valar as sharp sword, lowering temperature to almost reaching coldness of the universe. Morgoth lifted head from collapsed Manwë, looking into another eyes, grey as the sea, and they return the look, harsh and cold.

“Well?” said dark Vala, embodied contempt. “What did crawled here? Human, a tiny human! And you dare to…”

“Blah, blah, blah, blah,” a girls’ voice interrupted him. “Speech for a peach! We came for Manwë” – yes, that human girl is not alone – “and we will not leave without him! So fight to keep him or hide in some hole and have speeches there! But for your own good do not try to combine…”

Morgoth made an ugly face. This whelp will get a lesson, and her companions as well, yes, how he will enjoy them, one by one and all together! Darkness comes from his hands, consuming all around – and from the darkness comes to him a flash of light, hitting him to the chest, hit and fall…

Manwë is lifted by strong and yet gentle hands, elf lean him against himself so Valas manacles still are on the ground, while dwarf – or she-dwarf, how can non expert recognize that – lifts an axe, which shines so weird, and ho, ho, ho, here manacles go.

Dwarf blinks.

“Well, such a light, that is something…”

Another elf is kneeling above Manwë, his touches and spells fixing the worst, while other two members of saving group, human males take their position between lord of the Valar and Morgoth. The one, who spoke at first, remain in front of them, cold look concentrated on dark Vala.

Morgoth rises from the ground, eyes almost leaving their place by his malice.

“You…” he says almost madly –

- And freezes.

Girls’ hands are in front of her chest, palms touching each other. Right palm and then hand as well sinks onto darkness so dark that even Morgoth is surprised; left palm and hand is on the contrary lighting with light too strong for the eyes of dark Vala…

Light and darkness get closer to each other and from their touch force comes, which cannot be defeated, force, which leves Morgoth breathless and almost kills him… He hopelessly waits for another strike, which will finish him, but it isn’t coming. Why? That human girl is capable of that! Do I have to live on knowing, tha human girl can destroy me?! NO!!

“What are you waiting for?” He hiss, but not with anger, he’s done. “End this.”

“You have no right to ask my mercy.” The temperature got even lower.

“Power of balance.” Manwë smiles. “I would not believe that human…”

“Only few do, Lord of the Valar,” girl didn’t turn, but she smiles obviously. “Many men do not believe in magic anymore. Many are afraid of it, because it is powerful. And others have problem with that the magic is power and power means responsibility.”

“Those will be the biggest part,” says one of the warriors. “Many humans would welcome their responsibility in hands of someone else…”

Manwë doesn’t try to hide his tears.

But there are also those like you, right? No, you’re not the only ones, I can feel it. There are others, many of them, who did understand, what it means to be humans and no matter they are not here with you in person, their minds are with you and supports you, I feel it in you… but then I and others are useless…”

“NO!!!” Not only they did say that, but the voice came from the whole Arda.

“You’re not and never will be useless,” Girl kneeled near Manwë. “You’re here for Arda and for us, for our dreams and desires, you give us strength and trust in our powers. You are our siblings, if you achieved so much, why couldn’t we?”

“Humans changed and we with them,” agrees the elf healer.” “They do not want us to be only the past and dreams, they want us to be part of their world and them to be part of ours, many of them do everything possible to achieve that and many of us as well. We simply want it that way.”

“But… but…” Morgoth was scared by those words more, than power of the balance. “This cannot be and you know it! There is Music of Arda!”

“Yes? And where?” says the dwarf. “Try to see it!”

Morgoth with smile looks towards the Music…

“What?!”

“Something worse than death,” answered one of the evles. “At least surely for you! You’ve met the Undefined!”

“What are you speaking abo…”

“Undefined, Melkor,” Manwë, maybe bit sad? “Being without fate. That was given to humans from the beginning, remember? They won’t be strict bound to the music of Arda and once they will free from it in full…”

“YOU KNEW ABOUT IT?!”

“I did.” Manwë doesn’t looks on Morgoth but on his saviors instead, “and may you forgive me, friends, I was afraid, and not only I. We were afraid to admit, that Arda doesn’t need to follow the music, we were afraid to meet the one, who changes the fates by only meeting her…”

“WHAT?!”

“What do you have in head, deafy?” Said the dwarf. “Can anyone have in destiny meeting with Undefined? Joining him – I mean her? That they will be friends to the hearts of the mountains? Can? Cannot! We all are aoutside of your previous fate, and I do not think that anyone would love to reverse it…”

“Neither would I,” Manwë smiles and elans against elven healer. “I was… already tired of life and time, but now… Niw I feel, as if standing at the dawn of new day, I, who knew only night before now – and I want desperately to see that day and be part of it…”

Undefined clean her tear and others as well.

“You know, lord-“

“Manwë.”

“-You know, Manwë, we were afraid of that. That you will not dare to live in the world, whith unknown future; that you’ll be too tired by time to stay alive. True, we could survive without you, or the Valar; but it would be much poorer and sad life, then it can be now. So,” She looks at the others, “Shall we go?”

Everyone nodes, they truly wants to be somewhere else and Manwë needs care they cannot give him here. Elf opens the portal, other gather around him and Manwë…

“DO NOT DARE TO THINK THAT YOU WON!!” Morgoth didn’t yet dared to stand up, but his voice was voice of the storm. “You doomed yourself by leaving me alive! I will hunt you, I will whisper to ears, making elves, humans and dwarves enemies of each other…”

“That’s how it should be.”

???

“There was no evil in Aman,” Elf explains, “Nor in Númenor, and how it ended? Evil is part of Arda, it has to be here, as well as winter, hunger or bad times; without them Arda would not be as it is now.”

“Without evil the good is curse for Arda and it is followed by moral doom,” Undefined says. “I should be ashamed that I do not know, who said it, but it is true. In fact, that human awakes in bed in safe house, can eat bread with butter is reason to write a song to honor life. And that is something many people realize, when they are in dirty dump with nothing to eat. Good requires evil, so that anyone can realise that it is good…”

“And what every-one of us have, must be deserved so they value it,” one of warriors adds. “I can’t speak for elves, they live infinitely and do not forget experiences, but it is so for humans, sadly. Give something to human for free, they do not honor it and before you can even turn, they toss it away; but let them hard work for it in sweat and blood and they will be holding it as oyster is helding rock…”

“Marred Arda was in fact never marred, brother,” Manwë smiles in hands of the healer. “It is as it should be for it to be possible to grow and strengthen…”

“Are you…” from the big lord of the fate of Arda is now rabbit in his hole. “Are you trying to tell me… that everything I’ve done… that I was supposed to do?! That I was all that time aiding you… in YOUR attempt to grow?!”

“And for what else does evil exist?” the Undefined smiles. “But now it is only up to you, I suppose. Even you met me, us; your destiny changed as well. But what will that mean, that is up to you…”

Portal is open, Manwës saviors diappear in it one by one and Morgoth… Morgoth doesn’t know. He do not want to serve the plans of the light, he doesn’t want to supports its strength, but… to give up power? To give up HIS Arda? To not keep trying to control as much beings as possible, to gain as great power as possible, all possible richness? He can’t do that, In depth of his mind he is well aware of that, he, who is called the Lord of fates of Arda, is not able to abandon fate he choose for himself…

“WHO, BY THE FLAMES OF UTUMNO, ARE YOU?!”

Undefined, the last of her group, with smile turns towards his anger.

“I’ll tell you for two reasons. The first is that even if you killed me, you can’t stop it, many of those, who follow me, are undefined themselves, disconnected from old Music, it cannot be stopped now. And second reason is, that I want you to understand, that it is the results of your actions, which is returning to you.

I’m Eägil from Telcontar* house.”

*Telcontar – the house of the king Elessar (Aragorn), so doubled bloodline of Lúthien and Beren

There are no other names, as the name (=identity) is only thing that makes it possible to track down undefined ones…