A Light From the Shadows Shall Spring

I dreamed again of the bright and beautiful clearing, and watched the children play. But soon, a dark cloud moved over the land and I suddenly was the little girl. I looked up to see the clouds begin to swirl into a black mass, and then, into a terrifying, fiery red eye. I looked around for the boy and called out to him. "Estel! Estel, where are you? Hurry! We must get inside! Estel!" I panicked and realized I could not find him anywhere. Somewhere far away I heard someone whisper, "I'm right here." The voice sounded strangely familiar, but still there was no one there. I felt myself begin to cry because I felt something terrible had happened to him, and I felt that it was my fault. The eye began whispering to me, and I covered my ears, not wanting to hear the voice that made my stomach drop. Suddenly, my dream changed, and I was now in a large cave. There was an old man sitting on a throne wearing a crown. He seemed to be withering away before my eyes and I tried to run up to him and help him but a younger man wearing a crown stopped me and there was a green flash of light and I was suddenly nowhere. I was in a black void. I felt completely lost as I tried to call out. "Frodo? Sam? Merry? Pippin? Anyone?! Someone please help me!"

Somewhere far away, I heard someone calling my name. I tried to follow the voice, but it was so hard to find them. I felt a hand on my shoulder and then felt myself slowly waking up. I kept my eyes closed for a moment and just listened. "Cecilia," the soft voice said. "Cecilia, open your eyes. You're quite safe."

Slowly, I cracked open my eyelids, noticing instantly that the light was very bright here, wherever 'here' was. For a moment I wondered if I had died, seeing as no real place could have light so bright and pure. I eventually worked my way up to having my eyes fully opened and I looked around. The first thing I saw was an older man sitting to the left of my bed. He was dressed in all grey and had a long beard, and was holding some sort of staff. He smiled gently at me and said, "Hello, Cecilia." I blinked a few times and attempted to sit up, but found that I was very stiff and it was still painful, so I decided against it and said, "Um, hi." I felt more than just one pair of eyes on me, so I quickly scanned the beautifully decorated room and noticed Aragorn was sitting in a chair across the room, as well as a man with long, dark hair and pointy ears, who was standing near the large window near the corner of the room.

"Cecilia," the man next to me spoke, "My name is Gandalf Greyhame. I expect you will have many questions for me, but before we get to that, I have a few questions for you that may allow me to better assess your… situation. If you don't mind, that is." He smiled at me and I couldn't help return a small one of my own. "No, I don't mind." I said softly.

Gandalf looked straight at me, his eyes staring intensely into mine and he asked his first question. "How did you come to be here, in Middle Earth, Cecilia? I need to know everything you can tell me." I furrowed my eyebrows- not at his question, but at the name of my location. I knew where I was now, but I didn't really know where I was. 'Middle Earth' was also a place I had never heard of.

I took a deep breath and although it was painful, I made myself sit up so I could talk to him. "Well, I was backpacking through New Zealand, and I was walking up past this ravine when I saw something that was really bright. I went to see what it was, and turns out it was a tree. A pure white tree. I'd never seen anything like it." Gandalf was listening intently and I noticed that Aragorn and the other man had now turned to give me their full attention. I felt slightly uncomfortable under the many different gazes, but I continued anyway. "Obviously, since I've never seen anything like that in my life I was curious and went to touch it. Well, the second I did that something weird started happening. The ground under the tree started shaking, like an earthquake almost, and I tried to back away from the tree, but my feet were stuck in the ground- I couldn't move them. I saw the ground start just, sinking into the earth and leaving a huge, gaping hole behind it. So, I reached up to try to grab onto one of the branches but they were too far away and before I knew it, the ground underneath me was just falling down into this void. I was falling down this dark hole in the ground and I tried to grab onto something, but there wasn't anything for me to grab onto. It felt like I fell for a really long time, and I couldn't ever see the bottom. Finally though, I landed in some forest on the ground, and I landed on my right leg, hard. I was surprised I didn't break anything. When I looked up to see where I had fallen from, I didn't see anything. It was just the night sky. No tree, no mountains, nothing."

The three men in the room hadn't taken their eyes off me throughout my entire story, but now, they all looked to each other as if they knew something I didn't, but didn't want to be the one to have to say it.

Finally, I turned to Gandalf and asked, "Can you help me though? I have to get back home. I don't even need to know how I got here, I just need to go back."

Gandalf's face fell, and he looked down at the ground, and I could almost hear him wishing I hadn't asked that. "I'm afraid," he began solemnly, "that returning to the world you came from is not possible." He looked up at me with sad eyes and then said, "You have returned to the world from whence you came, many, many years ago."

I looked around from face to face and saw they all believed the same thing. "I don't understand!" I cried. "What do you mean? I've never been here before in my life!"

"Not in this lifetime, no, you haven't." Gandalf said darkly.

I felt hot tears form in my eyes as I became more confused by the second. "You don't understand though! I have to go back! I can't stay here! My family will wonder where I am!" I had slowly begun to rise from the bed in the midst of my agitation and was now beginning to stand.

Aragorn got up and quickly tried to get me to sit back down, but I swatted him away, even though the wound in my side protested vehemently. I clasped onto the pained area through my shirt and backed away from them all, heading towards the door. "I can't stay here, " I said quietly, my voice shaking. "I won't stay here. And if none of you will help me, then I will find someone who will."

The man who had been standing in the corner walked towards me calmly and spoke for the first time. "My dear, I understand this new knowledge feels like a heavy burden to bear. But please, sit, and I will explain everything."

My first instinct was to run straight out of the door, but something in the back of my mind told me to trust him. Reluctantly, I made my way back to the edge of the bed where Aragorn was still standing tensely. He offered me his hand to help me sit back down and I took it, suddenly feeling drained. Once I was seated, I let go of his hand and he returned to the chair he had formerly occupied. The man with the pointy ears looked out the window and then began speaking.

"Many years ago, there was a King from Dunharrow known as the King of the Mountains. At the end of the Second Age he pledged his allegiance to Isildur at the Stone of Erech, and told him that he and his men would come to his aid in the War of the Last Alliance. However, when the time came for the King and his men to come to Isildur's aid, the men abandoned their oath."

I took my eyes off the man for a second to glance at Aragorn, and he looked strained, as if he did not want to hear this story. I wondered then, why did he stay?

The man continued, "Furious, Isildur cursed the men and swore they would not have peace until their oath was fulfilled. The men hid in the White Mountains until their death, where they were cursed to remain there. However, Isildur wanted to further punish the King. The King had a newborn child just before he and his men abandoned their oath. Her mother had died in childbirth and the King sent his daughter to live here, in Rivendell, where he thought she would be safe from Isildur." The man looked down, as if he didn't want to go on. We all stayed in silence for a few moments.

At last, he said solemnly, "She was not, however. Isildur cursed her, banishing her from Middle Earth in her twenty-seventh year. The girl was a very close descendent of the Dúnedain, and 27 years old was still very young. He banished her from the realm of Middle Earth, casting her into a different world where she would have to serve one hundred life spans before coming back to this world. It was his intention that time in Middle Earth would stop for her, and once she returned, she would be the exact same age as when she left, only with the memories of a hundred cruel lifetimes. He vowed that she too would suffer for her father's cowardice once she returned… For a time, many seemed to think this truth was a legend. Very few people knew of her existence before she disappeared. There are paintings of her done by the Elves who knew her during her time here, and she has since been known as The Lost Lady of Dunharrow. However," he turned to look at me for the first time and continued softly, "her real name was Aegliriell." My ears perked up at the sound of the name. I had heard it before. I racked the corners of my brain and suddenly realized that was the name Aragorn had called me the night we had met.

I scrambled through all the information I had just received and tried to put two and two together. The only explanation I could come up with was that they were insinuating that I was this girl. This still didn't make any sense to me.

"Wait, so… I mean, are you trying tell me that I'm that girl? Is that what you're getting at here?" I fumbled over my words and knew I must sound stupid, but I couldn't think of anything else to say. This was too far-fetched for me to believe.

Gandalf nodded slightly and looked down as he spoke, concentrating. "It is true you have returned sooner than Lord Elrond or I had expected. Although it would seem there are pieces to this puzzle that we have not yet come to find." His eyes were far away and I was as confused as ever.

"But how do you know I'm not just some look-alike who really is just here by accident? How can you be sure?" I said, desperately trying to prove them wrong. Lord Elrond smiled sadly at me. "Because, my dear, you found the tree, and this was by no accident. You look exactly as you were the day I last saw you. Your hair has even returned to its proper shade."

I furrowed my eyebrows, completely lost as to what he was talking about. I reached up to pull a strand of hair down from the ponytail that had no doubt been tied while I was unconscious. Bringing a long lock in front of my eyes, I gasped in shock and felt my eyes go wide. I had expected a bright golden blonde to greet me, but what I found was a color that could only be described as the color of dark, angry storm cloud. My hair was not a golden blonde, but a dark grey color, with the faintest hint of purple.

Before I could say anything, there was a knock at the door and a tall, slender man who resembled the man Gandalf had referred to as 'Lord Elrond' swiftly walked through the door and whispered something to Lord Elrond before departing quickly. Lord Elrond looked to Gandalf and Aragorn and said urgently, "Frodo will wake soon."

The three of them made to leave and Lord Elrond announced we would continue our conversation soon. I watched as he and Gandalf exited, but Aragorn stopped short of the door and turned, slowly coming back to the bed and kneeling down in front of me. He took my hand and, bowing his head said, "Welcome back, my Lady."

I wanted to say 'thank you' or something to that affect, but the words felt wrong on my tongue. I held his eyes for a moment and said, "You tried to tell me… I'm sorry I don't remember you. Or anything else for that matter." I looked away, suddenly feeling ashamed for the way I had dismissed both of his comments to me he had made on our journey. He leaned his head to the side, trying to make eye contact with me and gripped my hands with slightly more pressure and said, "You may yet remember more than you realize, my Lady."

I looked back to him, confused by his words. His voice was soft and gentle as he explained, "You've been having dreams that remind you of the past. I have heard you speak while you dream sometimes. You…" he hesitated now, and he looked as if he was internally debating on whether he should tell me anymore than that. I wished he would. I was still so confused; I barely ever remembered my dreams once I woke up. At last, he continued, "You called my name- my childhood Elvish name- in your sleep on our journey here, after you'd been cut with the Morgul blade. I was certain it was you after that."

I had no recollection of the dream he spoke of, so I wasn't sure what to say. He released my hand and stood up. "Do not fear, my Lady. You will remember. I'm sure of it." He spoke with such confidence, and I imagined he had wished this would at least give me some hope, so I gave him a small smile, not wanting to make him feel bad, but once he turned, it was gone.

I stood and began pacing. The logic I currently possessed would not let me wrap my head around this new information. This was not possible. This was not scientifically possible. How could a mere tree be a link between two very different worlds that had never heard of each other? I wished desperately if all this was a dream that I would just wake up now. I felt sick with confusion as my temples began to throb.