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Note: This story is done in 4 {four} sections. The first section was done between May '85 and August 1985. It contains the tense moments just before the entry into cyber and the actual landing in the cyber realm of Angmar by LND and Angmar. [This section may be lost. Check with B.J. O'quinn.] The second section was done between November '85 and February 1986. Here are told of our adventurers first assumption of their cyber powers, abilities and personaes. LND and Angmar start their journey to Anglhach, from which they can then travel to Otherwhen. The mistrust of Angmar and Niel facing/coming to terms with the Nazgul occur here.The third section was written from February '86 to March 1986. LND and Angmar reach a border fort where they find news of the realm. The fall of the realm is heard, LND and Angmar start the final lap of the race to Anglhach. After a brief scirmish, LND and Angmar reach and ascend Anglhach. Time is running out for the rescue of LKO and the Doctor. The point of entry into Otherwhen is decided. The fourth and concluding section is written in mid April of 1986. This is the end of my contribution to Scott and Barbara's Forum story. Discribed herein is the peak of Anglhach, the transfer across cyber realms and the entry into Otherwhen.)
LND had already ridden on into the slight declevity that was the top of Anglhach with the remaining baggage hor- se. Looking about the shallow bowl all LND could note were four equidistant stone pillars. They were all smooth and unmarked, round, unworked stone about seven feet tall. The only remarkable thing about them was the pale, colourless grey of them in contrast to the reddish black of Anglhach's bulk. Leading the baggage horse to the centre of the square formed by the odd pillars, LND dismounted and dropped his horse's reins . There was no place for them to go ... There was no litter or debris collected in the hollow at all. Not even a sign of any winged creature ever having been here before. A vague sense of uneasiness which had been with him ever since he had set foot upon Anglhach, suddenly bloomed into a full fledged premonition of a great and strong magic about to be released. An evil and tainted magic, old yet still vitally strong, almost alive ... A slight moan seemed to rise from the ground beneath LND's feet. No more than the merest whisper of a sound, yet distinct. The horses lookedup, stamping their feet and whickering their nervousness. Glancing briefly at the horses making sure that they weren't about to bolt, LND headed toward the entrance to find Niel. It was high time that they left this place, if they weren't already trapped! It stank of ancient evil and corruption far too much for him to bear. Looking east Nazgul/Niel saw only the rolling plains growing ever more barren and wild toward the Wilderland. They were as empty of life and sign of omen as he then felt. Hope for the realm or for himself would not come from that direction. Tearing his gaze away toward the south, he sighed. Close at hand the elves were just reaching the base of Anglhach. The main party was rapidly heading toward Manus's doomed position. They would reach it just after dark, if they kept that pace. At the edge of his vision were the dark mountains and the pass. Smoke was already rising from the fortifications, and with is far sense he could hear the sounds of combat. All hope from the South had left a week ago, now all that would come from there would be enemies. No longer a kingdom to be won lay there, nor even this to be his to hold any longer. A terriable longing came upon the Nazgul. To just be with or behold his Love again once. To join her again, this time never to be parted, was almost too much to withstand. But he had one last duty left to perform before then. This split person he was, half one and half another had yet some unfinished business to attend. To know each half better, more fully before going to a final resting place was part of it. To find justice, if not vengence was another part. Now that he/they would go to the final journey, to the final place of confrentation. To decide not just his future, but that of some of his dearest comrades. At last the Nazgul dared to admit to himself the attraction and fellowship he felt with those strange others. Others he had met on the quest across the cyber multiverse in which he was taken by his realtime twinner - Niel. Niel sat back within the Nazgul's mind merely enjoyed the scenary while the Nazgul reflected. The land reminded him of the Scottish highlands, or perhaps the Urals, Caucus maybe even Colorado... Lonely, wild yet beautiful... "Yes Niel, it is beautiful, but now it is forever denied us. Look well with my eyes, you will never see it again. Are those other places you thought of really like this one?" "I'm not sure," Niel said,"I have seldom traveled out of my own state, country. I've read of them, seen maps and pictures of those places. It is the waste of a life and a great shame. We are both exiles, you from your country, me within mine." The Nazgul dismounted and looked over the edge of the cliff. There were at least a dozen elves now gathered down below. Three started up the trail immediately, while the others arranged their dead. So great was their haste, that they rode right into the midst of the trapped area without stop. Flames rose leaping toward the crown of Anglhach as the trap activated. The elve's death cries mingled with those of their horses was hideous to behold. Instead of a clean death and a journey to Mandous's halls, their soul force was consumed by the spell and stored with that already in the mountain. A very faint shudder shook the mountain as a low moan sounded from it's stone. Not since the rings of power were forged had such magic as this been cast. Arcane rituals, best forgotten has been evoked. Not even Sauron the Great knew that his master spell had been copied and changed to this. Now, if only the Gods would give him some time, he would be gone before they could investigate this event. "We have already tarried here too long. Now we must hurry and leave before it is too late!" Said the Nazgul. "Yes, now for the final stages of this," our hour upon the stage" and I'll leave you in peace forever." Niel said. "I hope your land is not too diffrent from mine or the one that we go to. There is a feeling in my bones that I might yet live to see it." the Nazgul said. "Lets hope so most fervantly!" Niel responded. The Nazgul grunted in satisfaction as the flames died down over the ward he'd laid. Not even the elve's armour or weapons had been left.The conversation in his mind between himself and that strange other had taken only an eyeblink. Turning he urged his horse onto the summit of Anglhach and the place where he would cast his last spell in this world. Halfway in he ran into LND hurring out. Stopping the Nazgul raised a sardonic eyebrow. "Let me speak, but be ready. I think I know what is troubling him." Niel spoke. "Very well, but quickly if you love any of our lives!" the Nazgul replied. "What's the matter Ronnie, the horses giving you trouble?" Niel asked while dismounting. "Not really, something happened, something evil and this place all ready stinks of evil so bad it sickens my stomach! Let's get out of here! Now!" Ronnie/LND exclaimed. "It's exactly one minute too late to run. The elves are downstairs knock'n on the door. The trap I set caught a few, but they'll get around it shortly. So there's no time to loose!" Niel/Nazgul said. As I passed this news along to Ronnie/LND I was leading my horse on into the crown of Anglhach. "You set that spell I just felt?" asked LND's voice from behind me. The abrupt guardedness of his speech warned me that I was treading on ever thinning ice. This next hour was going to be very tense and hard. "Afraid so, if they'd been just men, I would've been able to use a simple holding or maze spell. With elves, there wasn't time to set up anything else which would've stopped them. So I did what I had to do. If there was any other way to have stopped them, I'd have used it. Just try and bear with me for another two hours. Or if you have a better idea, let me know." Leading my horse over to his and the baggage horse, I tethered mine to his saddle horn and then turned to him. "Remember - just as with you, there are two people in this body. 'I' don't like or want to take anymore lives than are absolutely necessary. The Nazgul only did the most logical thing which time allowed. This is a diffrent land from back home or Otherwhen. We play by the home team's rules and use our combined judgement whenever possiable. All right?" It was LND who answered me. This was no youthful high- school student caught in the doubt of a strange situation. Rather, a tried and true warrior in his prime. A master wizard and a leader of men. "Speak not too glibly. While part of me is now a youth whom you may confuse, remember that the other half has listened to you. And once we reach Otherwhen - I shall lead. Do I make myself clear?" LND asked. "Perfectly. But until then, do as I say and quickly!" Leading my horse and his on to the centre of the four pil- lars, I and the last Lord of Angmar took off their saddle bags and strode quickly back to Ronnie/LND. Kneeling, I opened the saddle bags and removed a set of pouches from one and a small travel box filled with vials and flasks from the other. Quickly opening them and setting them up in order of use we looked up at Ronnie/LND. "I know that this is hard for both of you. Yet both of us, the Nazgul and I agree on this, I hope you at least keep it in mind, even if you don't believe me ... us. A person is greatly shaped by where and when he lives. How he is brought up. What happens to him in his life before this moment. All of this makes the man and how he acts. When ever a situation goes beyond what he knows, he does the best that he can by how he was raised. No one starts out as totally bad, not really, just under diffrent conditions." LND looked down and made no sign that the speech had made any impact on him except for a slightly creased brow. Turning he walked our of the summit to the edge of the trail. Looking down he saw the elves studying the warding spell while another sped off toward the pass, leading a couple of spare horses. Suddenly one of the elves spied LND standing silhoutted against the sky and loosed an arrow at him. As is the wont of elven archery, it caught him squarely as aimed, in the belly. Grunting at the impact, LND pulled it from his sword belt where it had lodged after failing to pierce his armour. Tossing the arrow back at it's owner, he turned and went back down into Anglhach's crown. Seeing Nazgul/Niel bent over a low stone table mixing the various magical powders and liquids he stopped. The blackish stone hadn't been there the first time he had come in. Moving in alittle closer he asked "Can I help you with anything?" Without looking up from where he was grinding a lumpy solid into a fine powder in a hand pedestal, Nazgul/Niel said, "Yes, make a mixture for warding and the drawing of the runes of power. Then fill and light the censers here with in- cense and the powder from the green flask. The measure is one part to five." Taking the flour fine powder and sprinkling it into a silver bowl filled with liquid, Nazgul\Niel spoke as he slowly stirred the contents. "Ronnie, I'll borrow the Nazgul's mouth for a moment and give you a few comparisons to think on before he has to start the verbal componet of the spell here. You've studied more physics than I have, so pardon my obvious error's and tell me what you think about this theory. Cyber is like a wild Hilbert space, and TRON. Or our universe and the cyber universe are just diffrent shades, layers or like pages in a book, levels of reality. And who is to say if it is theirs that is the the primary or last reality? Does it really matter?" Apparently Ronnie/LND had come to an agreement on dual body usage. As LND continued to mix the componets to the wards spell, Ronnie replied. "I don't think it would matter very much at all. Who ever could learn to travel to any other level, with control would be very ..." "Yes, they would be." "I wonder how close someone else is? If some of those mysterious disappearnces were accidents or contrived? Or if who ever developed this is the first time someone has been able to make the Big Jump?" "Beats me, maybe some day we'll know. But first things first - what rules apply here, which of the ones we're used to, and which ones don't?" "I guess you'd be the best one to answer that Niel." "Or you in a short while. But right now I think our host's are too busy." A grunt came from the Nazgul as he paused to set aside the bowl and began to mix the final combination of liquids to the spell. "LND, are you finished with the componets for the wards?" asked the Nazgul. "A moment more and all we have will be ready." LND replied without looking up. "Save a very small bit for after we cross over. I don't anticipate trouble, not yet. But it's always best to be safe." "Agreed... Balthar, if it is indeed he, shouldn't be too close." "Be sure that is a five to one mixture in the censers and that it is course ground, not finely powdered." "Course, not fine - five to one." Both figures returned to their final preparations while entropy raced and dragged by at the same time. One dressed in black and silver, the other in azure and white. To the West the clouds had started to gather into a massive storm front. It flickered along it's wind swept edges with great sheets of heat lightning. After a moment of silence Niel spoke up again. "Magic is a force here, though if it is like a psi talent or rather like the field of gravity, I can't tell yet. But Anglhach here is comparable to a large capacitor needing only the proper access points and procedures to tap. A very large capacitor..." "I see, so to go to Otherwhen, we just tap it's power and we're off." Ronnie said. "Almost... ugh! Finished! (the Nazgul broke in) LND?" "Just now." LND said straightening. "Lay a line from here to the open space between those two pillars." the Nazgul instructed, pointing to the nearest pillars before continueing. "Then connect the rest of the pillars to that line and wait inside. Mount and hold onto those horses! Be ready and remember the exact spot just before the village where we will be coming in. I'll take the image from your mind just before we cross. O.k.?" "Yes." "Be sure to hold on, this should be alot easier than when we came in... I hope!" Niel interjected. "Let us all pray to Bahamut it is!" Ronnie/LND answered while carefully measuring a line ruler straight to the pillars. "I shall!" The Nazgul quickly stowed the last of his componets in his saddle bags. Noting the storm and it's approach, he stood settling the bags on his shoulders. Taking up the remaining censer, he walked over to the table and placed it carefully at his right hand. Glancing up at LND's progress he drew a wand from his belt and lit it from the censer. Remembering the open chants and movements to the spell, he paused gathering in all of his strength. LND completed his last line and began the closing passes with his censer. They should beat the storm's approach by several minutes Niel/Nazgul thought with satisfaction. Beginning the opening chant, the Nazgul made the first sweeps with the smoking wand. Instead of drifting, the smokey tendrils of black and yellow hung suspended in the air, forming runes of power. Focusing the enormous energies harnessed in suspension within Anglhach. The Nazgul's voice rose and fell as the spell was evoked. From bare whispers it rose, short then longly stressed words accompanied the forming runes, taking shape to harness and channel the powers below. Rising higher to a near inhuman wail and beyond, his voice summoned the power, raising it up from deep within Anglhach where it had slumbered for years untold. The storm seemed to be speeding up, coming closer faster than it had before. But the preliminary spell opening the power of Anglhach to be tapped was over. Suddenly the enormous power surged up through the age darked rock, surged up into the Nazgul. All the light except that of the wards fled Anglhach's crown and shoulders, expanding slowly like some vast evil volcanic cloud. Far below, the elves cried out in fear and fled, for the rising shadow above them was a dark from beyond even the Eldar Days. The Nazgul felt the long dormant forces in Anglhach rise up to the summit and surge up through the stone below his boots to the alter. Then form there it crossed over into his body through his hands and feet. It was like a torrent of a rain swollen river pouring into him. Sweet and bitter, at once more addictive than any drug and much more powerful than any spirit it swelled into him. All of his senses expanded further than ever before, becoming ever more sensative and intense. He could hear everything, from the beating of the fleeing elves fluttering hearts, the drip of spilt blood in the passes Manus guarded, to the wind flowing around Orme's horse's mane. And still the power grew. So this was the feeling of a God. The incrediable awesome power of irresistable might. Already his mortal body seemed but the puniest blade of grass, and the elves but brittle twigs! Who would dare to even stand before Him, much less to challage Him? As the raw power grew within him, so to did the knowledge. For was this not the very place where Morgoth bled and died? Was not Anglhach the stone which sucked up His heart's life blood, and the blood of countless other sacrifical victums? Even as the power grew, the Nazgul knew it's limits and how shortly it could be wielded. Truely now he was a God, but only for a moment. Here, now, if a God had come to Him, He could fight and kill Him. This then was the plan of his Father's. To in the end rule all of Middle Earth and be second to none. Even Sauron would have been dust before Him or His descendants. With that final thought, He channeled as much power as the ring on his hand would hold, then began the opening of the planeshift spell that would take them from this world to Otherwhen. Lightnings of purest black and white rose and fell upon the summit of Anglhach. The pillars around them became arc points for the ravening energy as ozone filled the air and was swept away by the hurricane winds which lashed the peak. Draining the last erg of stored energy from the stone, the Nazgul turned to face his rapidly approaching foe. As much as the plane shift spell had drained Him, even with the filling His ring left Him more than enough power to deal with this demigod. The power which filled Him brought more than might though. It was an ancient power and filled with malice and evil which knew no bounds nor limits. It's corruption and taint were only seconds behind the might and knowledge that came to Him. And it possessed Him totally. Orme, mightest in strength and fierceness of the Valar, destroyer of Morgoth was gallopping across the sky to finish off the last remaining evil in Middle Earth.
Anglhach's peak. At eight kilometers distance he knocked his bow and prepared to loose at the centre of the darkness which was now Anglhach's peak. Suddenly as he drew to his fullest, the dark cloud contracted, then vanished from the mountain's peak. With eyes keener than any elf or eagle's, he spied the men and horses upon the peak. Hesitating only a second to examine the men, he chose the one who had no inner light or flame, just a darkness more utter than any night. The mighty bow sang and the great golden arrow hummed straight and true as a laser to it's target. As the last erg of magical energy trickled into his being and the prepertory seeking spell cast, the Nazgul summoned the darkness to him. He knew to the millimeter how far away Orme was, felt his gaze fall upon himself, heard the release and flight of the arrow on it's way to him. Not even diegning to expand his physical body, the Nazgul created a shield made from the darkness and power that had flowed into him. Deflecting the arrow with his shield, he drew forth a dart from the power within him and cast it back. Not at Orme, but his great white mount, catching him full in the centre of the chest. The mighty stallion stumbled then fell to the earth quivering and convulsing. Not in more than two thousand years had any foe struck a blow against Orme or his mount; nor succeeded in harming either. Now though the sorcery and posion in the head of the dart spread quickly through the mighty steed. His agony was terriable to behold. Orme stood where he had fallen to the ground for a moment, witnessing his mount's horriable suffering and agony. Then he realised that it wouldn't end. Not until someone killed the poor beast. Him.
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