Epilogue
Your eyes stung as they flung open, searing white light consuming the entirety of your vision. Gasping for air as if you had never breathed it in before, you begged your eyes to adjust to your new surroundings, your fear of the unknown taking hold. You commanded your body to rise, and stand upright, and it obeyed, but not in a fashion you were familiar with. It felt as if you were floating, levitating now over the surface upon which you had been laid. Casting your vision downward, your body was clothed in stars. It was a fabric of unknown origin, clinging to your form like a mist over mountains, with twinkles of light scattered through it. Curious, you moved your hand slowly down to feel it, and gasped when it passed right through you. A strange tingling buzzed from your fingertips up to the top of your head. This made you giggle.
Looking up ahead, the white light was still blinding, but had begun to subside, or at least become easier on the eyes to take in. For the entire environment was colourless, no dimensions of any kind to be made out, no horizon, no earth, no sky, just white space, empty and endless. But then, there was music. A faint sound you weren't sure at first if you were hearing it or imagining it. Though as it's volume increased, it entered your ears and spread within your luminescent figure. The beauty and power of it was overwhelming, and you smiled, crying tears of joy. Invisible instruments and voices made up a great symphony that was unlike any music you had ever heard. It was almost tangible, the only thing in this boundless space besides yourself that could take on form.
It excited you greatly, filling you with a sense of purpose like you had never felt. Suddenly you were spinning, twirling, watching as the stars and mists of you danced about in unison as you floated in time to the heavenly harmonies and melodies. It was bliss. Though something unexpected happened to slow your movements. Without any doubt, you had heard your name called out to you, weaved into the song, yet separate enough to be distinguished. But it was the voice that called it out that took you aback.
It was your mother.
She arrived steadily, emerging into dazzling colour from the all encompassing whiteness. Her form was covered in a gown made of the sea itself, peaceful and tranquil at her shoulders, though it's waves raged against each other at the bottom as she swept towards you, a hem of sea foam moving as if on sand. She smiled at you with her diamond eyes, embracing you completely, and it felt as if your spirits were merging. The water of her did not dampen you though, nor did the colour of her ocean become affected by your starry mist, yet you were as one. Mother and daughter, reunited at last. "My child… I have long been waiting for this time to come." Her voice was almost the same as you remembered it, with an added ethereal quality that made you smile even wider.
"I knew I would see you again. You were watching over me, guiding me. You never left me."
"It was my purpose, my destiny, to keep you in the light. Just as it was your destiny to leave Arda before the darkness would consume you fully."
"The… darkness…" A flash of fire engulfed you, as the images of your life appeared before you, reminding you of the only existence you had known. You had been so caught up in this otherworldly euphoria that you had somehow left all thought of it behind with your earthly body. Halbrand came back to you, your love, your king, your destiny… or so you had thought. Now your tears became droplets of sorrow, of grief for what you had lost. "Mother… this… this can't be my destiny! I… I'm meant to stay with Halbrand… to ensure that goodness endures in Middle-earth…" A powerful sense of dread invaded you as a realisation struck you. "If I'm gone… then… then…" You couldn't bring yourself to say it, so instead, the words came out of you in a different way, manifesting before you the aftermath of your demise.
You and your mother watched on in silence as Halbrand succumbed to his grief, and succumbed to Sauron. The tears were streaming out of you now, a river that flowed down and into the sea that surrounded your mother. This was Sauron like you had never witnessed. It was pure unadulterated power. The display of which you had heard mention of, but never truly believed that the man you loved was capable of exhibiting such force. Yet it was occurring right before you as if you were standing still in the town square having never left. He had dominion over the elements, conjuring fire, summoning lightning, needing no sword to strike his enemies.
Though it seemed he still took pleasure in the elegance of a sharp blade. Your blade. Sauron murdered Olwenna and Padrig, and your pain was immense. But you were not hateful towards your love, even still, even after seeing this horrid sight… you understood him. Fighting because he must, and because all meaning had been lost, taken away from him. The light had fled with you, nowhere to be found within him. As if the sun itself had been extinguished. Only darkness would remain.
You could feel your grief turn to anger, your sorrow to rage, building quickly within your spirit. The mist that covered you began to darken and your stars dwindled as they fell victim to your change. A new voice entered your ear then, as you drifted back the vision to the moments before your lifeless body became no more. You closed your eyes, imagining your spirit back within your flesh, wanting to hear the words spoken as if your dead body was actually listening. The language was black speech, and although you had never heard it, you understood exactly what it meant.
"And now the fire that burns so blindingly… is our love immortal, burning for eternity."
Sauron's lament, once lines of a loving stanza he had sung to you by the fire. Now they took on a different meaning. Your spirit could not take anymore. The demented screams that escaped you now were carried on a black smoke that billowed quickly from your mouth. The sound clashed almost violently with the serene orchestra that had brought you such joy only moments earlier. It was twisted, deformed, inhuman. It was all you were now.
"Hold onto me, daughter…" You could hear your mother's peaceful voice on the edge of your shriek, your dark music. You turned to see her waves reaching for you, the hand of her spirit outstretched. The screaming endured, and she was enveloped by your charcoal plumes. "SEND… ME… BACK…" you cried, demanding to leave this place, to be apart of it's blissful music no longer. "You want me to remain in the light… I cannot do so here! For parted… Sauron and I will only bring darkness to whatever realm we occupy. I will infect this place, mother… I will be a plague upon it! Is that what you want?"
The smoke from you was fast filling the white space, the music drowned out and replaced by your haunting. Now your mother's tears flowed down and into her ocean. "The time at which your life ended… was a point of no return. There was only shadow ahead. It was the last chance to ensure you left Arda with light in you. I had to protect you."
"Why?" you shouted at her, monstrously.
"Because a mother loves her daughter… and would sacrifice anything to keep her."
"What have you done!?" The weight of your mother's actions hit you with blunt force. "All of your interference only led to our darkness being unleashed! Halbrand is lost!"
"My child… I am afraid his dark descent was inevitable… I had to spare you of it… save you."
"SEND ME BACK!" you demanded hopelessly, not even questioning if your mother had to power to do so or not. She seemed to be responsible for ripping you out of the arms of your love, why would she not be able to return you to him?
"That is something that I cannot do. Your spirit belongs with me now. Until we are called upon to serve our greater purpose."
The opaque fumes that had emanated from you had now completely covered the realm in which you both resided. The music could be heard no longer, and now peace, bliss, was something you would perhaps never find. Existing now in eternal heartache, parted forever from your love, only able to look upon him from a great distance, and watch as he continued on in his world, without his queen by his side…
*****
The lands of Mordor trembled under the power of the fiery mountain, its eruptions sending the blood of Middle-earth up into the sky and down upon the ground, scorching it. New vibrations suddenly began to clash with those of nature, for a great army was marching in, invading the ash covered plains, bracing to war with their enemy. The dark lord stood atop his dark tower, Barad-dûr, a looming symbol of his power within his domain, threatening and evil. Lightning in the distance provided a striking backdrop for the Nazgûl as they flew across the impending battlefield, the screeches of their fell beasts echoing across the landscape. Sauron watched, amused by the attempts of men and elves to conquer him.
His charcoal armour sounded in the air with every step he took, pacing on the precipice of his tower, gazing downward as his orcs howled and readied themselves to fight in his name, banners of The Eye blowing fiercely in the wind. His muted brown hair flowed out long behind him, underneath the six spired crown he wore, signifying his rule. He had grown rather fond of the idea of wearing one ever since his first kingship. Indeed it was the very same crown, only transformed by his own forging, crafted to represent his presence now as the dark lord. Sauron's thoughts of his brief time in Pelargir were never far from his mind. In fact, the city still stood all these years later, untouched by his shadow since the day he left.
Since the day you left.
He grinned, closing his slitted eyes, taking in a deep breath, feeling as if your spirit was passing into him. Sauron always felt you near, for though you had died, it was as he had said, your spirit would always linger, stoking the fire of his beating heart. "Oh my love…" he whispered to you, "Look who comes for slaughter…" he snickered devilishly, the fast drumming of his heart your response as his excitement took hold. It was then he turned to face you, the one ring on his armoured finger, glistening in the flames of Mount Doom, it's power unmatched, transcendent, making the dark lord almost a being of pure omniscience. Feeling it's pull, he glanced at it proudly, for his achievement was great. Though it was not what he considered to be his best work. That, was what he gazed upon now.
For in the very centre of the summit of Barad-dûr, there stood a statue. A monument, an effigy… of you. Wrought in blackened iron, your love had crafted an image of you, capturing your beauty, your love, and your reign as queen. For on your form was shaped your diadem atop your head, and your wedding gown which Sauron had captured expertly, down to the detail within the billowing sleeves of pearl. He had recreated the way the dress had moved, even with this statue as still as the night, it looked as if it were fluttering elegantly in the wind.
This sculpture was also your tomb, and the last touch added to the dark tower upon its completion. Inside the great forge of the mountain, your love had fused your ashes within the iron, giving you new life, a new vessel from which to rule. Sauron stepped towards your ethereal figure, gazing up at the soft smile he had carved on your face, and he took off the sharp metal glove from his left hand, revealing his wedding ring. He had never removed it. Placing that same hand upon your own ringed finger, connecting the two bands of your love he had made for you both in Pelargir, Sauron beamed up at you as a single tear shed from him. The wind blew around him then in a circular motion, just as it did that day when your ashes had spiralled around him in farewell. He couldn't help but let out a loving laugh, and just for a moment, he was a humble blacksmith again, working a forge on Númenor, greeting a beautiful woman who had stumbled upon his workshop. And now, he beheld his greatest creation. The meaning of his life.
Sauron kissed your hand gently, grateful to have his queen by his side. As it was destined. Though together, but very much apart, the darkness was victorious over the light, and the shadow of Sauron, of Barad-dûr, of you swept across the lands, and the lady of light was ever out of reach.