Beauty

Mirkwood

Tiberius POV

The legions marched towards Mirkwood and soon arrived at the edge of the forest, looking at the forest I see fog and many vines covering both the trees and the ground, I gulped as we finally entered the forest a bit fearful in our surroundings. As we continued our marching soon the entire legions have entered Mirkwood. The Romans expressions are wary and uneasy as they inspected their surroundings while the auxiliaries looked happy as they felt they have arrived in sacred lands.

"This place is creepy" I whispered to myself

"It really is your majesty, we must be careful as we march the legion in this forest, it is a good place for an ambush." Garen heard my whisper and speak his thoughts to me.

I agree with his remark and continue to inspect my surroundings after Garen's remarks might come true. I grew nervous at the lack of sound in the forest other than the legions feet marching, horses hoof trotting and the clanking of armors and shields.

"Should we send scouts around the surroundings?" I looked at Thorin asking for his opinion.

"It is unwise, even us dwarves don't know what creatures and dangers within the forest, after the shadow of the Dark Lord Sauron fell upon it, and men began to call it Mirkwood, or Taur-nu-Fuin and Taur-e-Ndaedelos in the Sindarin tongue. From then on, Mirkwood became a haunted place inhabited by many dark and savage things.

I gulped as I heard him say the name Sauron, Gandalf explained to me the history of Arda, saying that we are in the third age, a weaker age compared to the first and second age. He said that the first age was the age of Elder days when the Valar roamed the world and other races grew in strength and numbers when the magical two trees of Valinor shined upon the land bringing great prosperity to all the races.

The age ended after the War of Wrath when one of the Ainur named Melkor later known as Morgoth was cast out into the void outside of Arda after he corrupted the elves making them into orcs and destroying the two trees of Valinor. A great war that spanned for forty years that marshaled millions of soldiers at both sides which ended in the victory of the alliances but with the cost of the land of Beleriand sinking to the sea and decline of all races.

I think nervously that the Roman Empire stands no chance against such forces and powerful beings, for a being to make those orcs and breeding them in the millions would have destroyed not only Rome but all of the known world back in our land, I continued to recall the history lesson that Gandalf told me.

After the first age the Valar decided to limit their interference in the mortal realm because of the great destruction that occurred during the War of Wrath, they left to go to the undying lands where they only invited the elves and a select few to enter. It is said that the undying land is physically not in Arda after Eru transported it into another realm. Morgoth greatest lieutenant Sauron which was far weaker than Morgoth survived the war and left to go to middle earth, where he established himself in Mordor and slowly corrupted man and the other races weakening them and making them his servants while mustering forces to conquer middle earth. Another great war occurred named the War of the Last Alliance and ended with the defeat of Sauron.

In the age we are in right now is said to be the age of great decline when only a few elves are left as they leave middle earth to go to the undying lands and the dwarves and man decline in numbers as they experienced great plagues and wars. I think about the unbelievable history of this land and wonder if this is really earth but looking at the moon I assured myself we are still in earth, if not I do not know what to do and may lose my legions due to false hope if they learned this is not our world anymore.

We continued our marching until nightfall, we tried to make camp but the big trees of Mirkwood made it impossible to cut them down to build Rome's famous fortifications, we tried to keep the legions camp as close as much possible with one another to fend off any creatures that might wake in the dark but still we have no choice but to divide the legions into different camps while building wooden stakes from the trees we cut which were from smaller trees as walls while sentries patrol the camp wary around their surroundings.

At night while everyone was asleep I once more dreamed about Bilbo's golden ring, I heard whispers saying I must take it before Gandalf steals it. I woke up in the middle of the night covered again with sweat, I went out of my tent to calm my mind and roamed the camp while my Praetorians follow me when I saw from the distant red lights.

"Stay here, I will shout if anything happens, I want to be alone"

The Praetorian nods and saluted while they turned around glancing around the surroundings.

I walked towards the lights and found a small lake where I see many fireflies, I walked around the small lake when I heard a beautiful sound. I stopped and closed my eyes to listen to the sound, I opened my eyes and walked towards the direction of the sound when I finally clearly hear it, a beautiful voice is singing a song which I do not understand but I feel the feelings of the voice singing it, I walked towards the voice and stop not far from the singer and opened my eyes wide.

"To the sea to the sea the white gulls are crying, the winds is blowing and the white foam is flying, west west away the round sun is falling, grey ship grey ship do you hear them calling....."

I continued to listen while my heart beats fast and my palms sweat like a waterfall as I looked at the singing figure. Fireflies are flying around her illuminating her figure and I see her hair which was like a golden sun, she wore wore a tiara with a golden leaf attached to it, she has pointy ears and accessories which are unique but beautiful, she has luscious lips which I just want to kiss and her gentle aqua green eyes which made me hard to stare away from. I continued to stare at her as she finished her singing.