Chapter 81: Chapter 81: Tomb of Angmar
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When the company reached the edge of Mirkwood, they all felt the darkness coming from it. It was not a good place.
But before they could enter, Gandalf suddenly said, "We must leave you."
Everyone looked at Gandalf in shock, who continued, "We don't have a choice, Edward and I need to leave."
"You're joking!"
"He must be kidding, right?"
Different reactions were drawn from the dwarves, and even Edward looked at Gandalf in surprise, he wasn't told either.
Gandalf didn't care about their complaints though and pointed at the path that started, "Follow the path, don't stray from it or you will find yourselves lost. Don't drink from the enchanted river either."
Edward joined Gandalf, and the latter warned, "We will be waiting for you at Erebor, do not enter that mountain without us!"
The dwarves nodded half heartedly, and the two walked away.
Once they were far enough from the rest of the group, Edward didn't have to ask for Gandalf to say, "A Necromancer has arisen in Dol Guldur, and I fear this may be none other than the Dark Lord himself."
Edward gaped a little, finally understanding why Eru told him he had two missions, no sign of Sauron had shown itself in their journey and he was starting to wonder whether his mission would end with the Dragon's death, but it had finally come.
"We go to Dol Guldur then?"
Gandalf shook his head, "If it is indeed Dol Guldur, then the two of us aren't enough. We need the help of the White Council."
At that Edward frowned, and said, "You want to go back to Rivendell? Not only are the Misty Mountains going to be a pain to go through again with the Great Goblin dead and the rest of them in a frenzy, the time to go there and travel to Dol Guldur… The dwarves will have reached Erebor by then."
Gandalf sighed, "We won't be going to Rivendell, the White Council won't move out because I told them to. We first need to go to the Tomb of Angmar, in the High Fells of Rhudaur."
"And where is that?"
"… South of Coldfells, West of the Misty Mountains, North of Rivendell."
"You've got to be kidding."
"This does not please me any more than you!"
Edward crossed his arms, and after a moment said, "Well, you're in luck I'm here."
Gandalf, who was getting ready to ask the help of the Great Eagles, looked at Edward in confusion, but froze when he saw a portal suddenly appear in front of Edward.
"You could teleport all this time?!"
Edward laughed at that, and explained, "Not really, I can only teleport to places I've been, or at least places from which I can form a mental image. I also wasn't strong enough, even now maintaining this portal to the other side of the Misty Mountains is draining me."
Gandalf wanted to observe the portal for a while longer, space magic was not something he was familiar with, but understanding Edward couldn't hold it for too long he quickly walked through it, followed by Edward.
As they stepped on the other side of the portal and the later dispersed, Gandalf exclaimed, "Is this Bruinen?"
They had appeared near a river, and they could see Trollshaws, the forest in which the company fought the Trolls.
Edward shook his head at Gandalf's query and informed him, "This is Hoarwell. I think we should go up Hoarwell, it should lead us to the Tomb of Angmar faster."
Gandalf complimented, "This is a great magic you have. I feel ashamed to be called the wizard here."
Edward laughed and said, "You shouldn't, it's not much."
Honestly, he was surprised Gandalf wasn't capable of teleportation, in his home world teleportation wasn't much of a feat, any Sorcerer could do it and most magicians could do it too. The different magic systems showed there.
Edward was quite tempted to try and transfigure a nearby tree or the ground itself into a boat, but not only was he not sure he could do it, they were going upstream anyway, and his boat would for sure not be strong enough for them to go upstream.
The pair of magicians walked up the river of Hoarwell, and discussed magic on the way. Edward used the nearby stream of water to work on his water magic, and the results were not bad.
While they were leisurely walking to the Tomb of Angmar, the rest of the company were not having as much fun as they did. Getting lost in Mirkwood was quite the terrible experience as they were constantly assaulted by illusions, and they senses were getting mixed up badly.
Then, were the giant spiders, followed by the elves. The wood elves were not as nice as those from Rivendell, and did not hesitate to capture the dwarves. Only Bilbo was still free, wearing the One Ring that made him invisible.
Speaking of the One Ring, Edward had talked of it with Gandalf, he didn't know how many years from now the Fellowship of the Ring would be formed, but if Gandalf knew of the ring's existence right now then why not go destroy it right away?
The two had a discussion, which ended in a misunderstanding.
Edward had watched the Lord of the Ring trilogy, so he didn't know much about the complete lore of Arda. He didn't know there were many rings, he knew there were the three elven ones, those of the dwarves and the ones the Nazgul had, but that was it.
He didn't know there were many other lesser magical rings, and so when he talked about the One Ring to Gandalf, he did not use the words One Ring, he only said 'Bilbo has a magical ring.'
It wouldn't have made sense for him to know it was the One Ring, and since he thought this was the only magical ring in the wild Gandalf would know.
And here was the misunderstanding. Gandalf did know Bilbo had a ring of power, but he didn't know it was the One Ring. So when Edward talked to him about it in such a way, it only reinforced his feeling that this was just a magical ring he had found in the Misty Mountains.
And so Gandalf thought Bilbo had a random magical ring, while Edward thought Gandalf knew Bilbo had the One Ring but didn't act on it because of an obscure reason, so he did not mention the matter anymore.
On a lighter note, as the duo reached the High Fells of Rhudaur, Edward's blood had now turned into a golden colour, the same colour his drops of blood would have when he fused them with a drop of Chi.
But maybe because of the addition of the fragments of creation, he could feel there was still a margin for progression, his blood hadn't yet reached it's peak purity. It would quickly reach it though, he could feel it.
The Tomb of Angmar was desolate, and Gandalf explained, "This is not really a tomb, but rather a prison for the dead. Here are trapped the Nazgul, Sauron's greatest servants."
The two climbed the steps into the rocks with effort, before reaching the entrance. The insides of the tomb were dark, so Gandalf lit up the tip of his staff, lighting the way forward.
And as they entered, the first thing they saw a smashed cell. As they approached, they saw a dark figure in the darkness of the cell, and both unsheathed their weapon.
But as they got closer, Radagast's face was revealed, and he asked, "Why are we here? This is not the best place to meet."
Gandalf sighed as he and Edward sheathed their weapon, and he said, "I fear it isn't, Radagast."
The Brown Wizard pointed his staff at the runes sculpted in the walls and remarked, "Those are dark spells, old and full of hate. Do any of you know who was buried here?"
Edward looked at the other cells, smashed too, and replied, "Isn't it obvious? The tomb of Angmar traps it's king, the Witch King of Angmar, as well as the eight other Nazgul."
Radagast looked scared as the group left the tomb, breathing fresh air once more seemed to calm him though and he asked, "But why did they escape? How?"
With a grave voice Gandalf explained, "The Ringwraiths have been summoned to Dol Guldur."
Radagast doubted, "But it couldn't have been the Necromancer, a human Sorcerer couldn't have summoned them."
"Who said he was human? The Nine only answer to one master."
Radagast's face changed as he muttered, "You can't mean… he's back?"
"We've been blind, Radagast. Blind in our so called peace. And the enemy used that blindness to return. Bolg is not just any Orc, he is a general, and he does not just chase the dwarves for revenge. Sauron is summoning an army, he is preparing… for war."
Gandalf looked ready to go, so Edward sighed, "Gandalf, you know we can't go back to them."
"I started this, I encouraged them, I won't just let them fall to their death as the armies of evil take the mountain!"
Radagast shook his head, "If what you said is true, then the world is in great danger."
Edward added, "The Lonely Mountain may be a strategic point to cover all the North, but even if we arrive there on time and stop the attack and manage to kill the dragon, Sauron will still be there, preparing another attack. We can't sacrifice the war for one battle."
Gandalf was still reluctant, "But…"
"And don't forget, I have my portals. If we manage our time well enough, then we may arrive on time. We've already discussed this, Gandalf, and that's why Radagast is here."
"Am I?"
Edward smiled at Radagast manners, he sure was funny for a wizard. Gandalf shook himself out of his doubt too and nodded, "Fine, we must be quick. Create a portal to Anduin, Radagast will lead us to Dol Guldur with his hares. After dropping us off there, directly go to Rivendell, and summon the White Council."
Edward nodded, and was about to open a portal when Radagast remarked, "Well, you are obscenely fast if you manage to do all this, but I doubt the White Council will listen to him."
He turned to Edward and added, "You look like a great person, but Saruman, who leads the White Council, can be…"
"I've met, yes." Edward turned to Gandalf, who hesitated for a second before taking off Narya, the Elven Ring of Fire, and giving it to Edward.
Both Edward and Radagast looked at Gandalf in shock, who shook his head, "You do need a token to gather them and have them listen to your words, and I don't want to bring Narya to Sauron myself."
Edward looked at Gandalf in the eyes for a moment, before nodding and putting it on.
The three Elven Rings were special compared to the nine belonging to men and the seven of the dwarves, or even the One Ring.
The 20 Rings of Powers were forged by Celebrimbor, an elf, and Sauron assisted him in the forging of seventeen of them. But three of them did not suffer from the curse of Sauron as they were forged by the elf alone, and those were the three Elven Rings, Narya the Ring of Fire, Nenya the Ring of Water and Vilya the Ring of Air.
Unlike the other 17 Rings of Power, one would not feel a surge of power as they put on the ring, for it was not corrupt. Narya was a golden ring with a red ruby-like gem on top of it, and as he put it he understood it's powers instinctively.
He could feel the first effect, which Gandalf had been using a lot, and that was to evoke hope in the heart of others, to resist tyranny and domination. But it's powers didn't stop there, as Edward could also feel that while wearing Narya, the fire elements served him.
No longer could he be burned while wearing this ring, and he could also control fire more easily. However, the Elven Rings were made to protect, so the boost in attacking power was rather minor. Also, the ring had the ability not to make it's user invisible, but itself, and it wasn't just invisibility as Edward couldn't feel it even with his Chi Sense when it was invisible.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone