All stories begin with those who wander but aren’t lost. This one begins with a wizard who did, indeed, wander and now is, unfortunately, very much lost—but mostly in his thoughts. Gandalf has seen great many things come and go since his arrival to the Middle-earth, but lately things were more on the coming side and not enough on the going side. The Dark Lord was resurgent in little details, in the way the leaves trembled on the wind, the way less stars twinkled happily in the sky at night, in the way dark things gained strength and power across the land of Middle-earth.
Gandalf came to Moria not looking for treasure, or battle, or anything else one might expect. He only ever stepped over the threshold to take a peek at how things were, and upon finding them impossibly, utterly bad, couldn’t just leave. The dwarves are dead. All of them. Not one, not two, not half—all. Every single dwarf in Moria is dead, and Gandalf stands amongst their corpses with grief and sorrow in heart.
Moria itself is dead. And not even one soul in Middle-earth heard of this tragedy.
The forces of darkness sneaked on them unexpectedly and massacred all of them. Gandalf shakes his head. It’s too soon, it’s all too soon. He needs more time to figure out the ring, to figure out why Bilbo lied, how it all clicks together. Why the ring seems so important. Gandalf steps away from the dead dwarves and into the next hall of Moria. He has to find out how much time he has left, and there is only one way he knows how. If he is right, if the Dark Lord claimed this place—he doesn’t have long. Several years, maybe. Maybe not even that.
Gandalf steps cautiously while moving through one hall to the other and avoids corpses as much as he can. It would be bad luck and definitely a bad idea to disturb anyone here. To make even the slightest noise. To be discovered. It would certainly mean disaster to himself. Gandalf holds onto his staff and freezes. Then turns.
There is someone else here. And it’s not a miraculously alive dwarf.
But who?
[nick]Gandalf[/nick][status]Dreamer[/status][icon]https://i.postimg.cc/L4LNPVyy/gandalf.jpg[/icon][sign][/sign][LZ]<br><center><a href="https://swmedley.rusff.me">IDENTIFICATION CARD</a><br><br><img src="https://forumstatic.ru/files/0018/1a/00/18603.png"><br><br><b>Gandalf the Grey</b>,<br>a travelling wizard</center>[/LZ]