Chapter 2: We find out just how bad our situation really is.

WARNING: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS STONE MEN WHO ARE REALLY DWARVES, FRUSTRATED HEARTHSTONE TRYING TO COMMUNICATE WITH ARAGORN, COOL MAGIC FROM HEARTHSTONE, EXPLANATIONS OF COOL MAGIC, PERTHROS, A CONVERSATION WITH A TALKING SWORD, AWESOME ARAGORN STRENGTH AND MAGNUS CHASE WAKES UP AND COMPLETELY FREAKS OUT!

(SORRY IF YOU FIND ARAGORN'S THOUGHTS RACIST, BUT TOLKIEN DID MENTION (SOMEWHERE) THAT 'DARK SKINNED MEN' PLEDGED THEMSELVES TO SAURON, SO NATURALLY ARAGORN IS NOT GOING TO BE THINKING THE NICEST OF THINGS ABOUT THEM) D:

Aragorn:

"Excuse me?!" the dark-skin beneath his blade rasped indignantly. "I'm a dwarf you racist bastard!"

Legolas staggered back and Aragorn's blood boiled. The traitor of men, one of the dark-skins who pledged their allegiance to Sauron dared to claim he was a dwarf and insult his friend, not to mention, an elvish Prince? He raised his sword to put an end to this filthy man's life, seeing a flash of fear in the man's eyes with grim satisfaction.

The man attempted to run, but to Aragorn's surprise, he crashed to the ground like his legs were stuck together. His sword clattered on the stones and he growled. The dark-skin desperately tried to get away, lifting his sword to pathetically parry his next blow. Aragorn twisted his wrist slightly, and the man's sword clattered to the stones, out of his reach. The man reached for it, and then his face suddenly started to go a pale gray. His skin made strange crackling noises and he froze in place. Within seconds, he was completely made out of stone. Aragorn stared. Strange... Just in case this was a trick, he raised his sword, knowing it could easily cut through the statue man. Then, out of nowhere, someone in brown clothes wearing thin cloths around their neck striped red and white jumped in front of him. He had a Y shaped staff with a strangely marked glowing stone floating in the crook of the Y. His other hand was raised up and his face pleaded with Aragorn to show reason. Aragorn hesitated, and took in his appearance. The first thing Aragorn noticed was his eyes. His pupils were strangely reflective, giving him a look of innocence, yet not without wisdom. His face was delicately carved, and then Aragorn saw his ears. They were the pointiest ears of any elf he had ever seen, but this was an elf, no doubt about it.

Aragorn lowered his sword and couldn't help but stare a little.

"Why is your friend now made of stone?" Aragorn demanded. The strange elf didn't respond. Aragorn waited impatiently while the elf waved his arms about and gesticulated for no apparent reason. The Elf stopped, realizing something. Then he groaned and put his head in his hands.

Aragorn growled; his patience was thinning. Was the elf mute? He did not think it was possible for elves to be unhealthy nor have defects. Perhaps he was cursed? A thump shook the ground and he looked up to see an actual Oliphaunt thundering towards them.

"Legolas!" he yelled. Legolas looked up from where he was fighting orcs and instantly understood what Aragorn wanted. He nodded and dashed toward the oliphaunt, proceeding to scale it using arrows embedded in its thick hide. Aragorn decapitated a pair of orcs that had slipped through the protective circle of ghosts around him and turned back to the elf and the dark-skin that had turned to stone.

The elf was attempting to pull the stone man away and escape. He stopped when Aragorn saw him and pointed at the sun, then at the stone man and then mimicked the position the stone man was in, freezing in place. The sun...had turned the man to stone? Like a troll? How strange...

The elf then tugged at the stone man's arm uselessly and looked to Aragorn, pleading for help with his eyes. Aragorn sighed, helping the mute elf carry the dark-skin to the shadows of a wall. The elf then reached into his pockets and brought out a small clay stone of sorts, the same size as the one floating in the crook of his staff. He whispered strange words to it, making the black jagged line painted on it glow white. He then threw it as hard as he could to the ground, and it shattered.

Suddenly, the sun seemed to disappear. Everything was pitch black. Aragorn yelled and there was a crackling noise and a gasp.

He could still hear the sounds of battle around them, and wondered if the powerful magic had just surrounded their general area in dark. Whatever it had done, the light returned a few minutes later and Aragorn sighed in relief. He then demanded, "Who are you?!"

"Well for starters, I'm Blitzen. This is Hearthstone," the dark-skin said, no longer made of stone.

"You are Istari?" Aragorn asked the elf. The elf and the man looked confused.

"What is Ish-Tar-ee?" the dark-skin asked.

"How can you practice magic if you are not an Istar?"

"He's learned something called rune magic. That," the dark-skin pointed at the marked stone floating in the crook of the elf's staff, "Is a rune stone. This specific one is called Perthro. It symbolizes an empty cup, because you have to sacrifice everything to be able to learn rune magic."

Aragorn took all this in quietly, considering what the man had just said. He sensed no lie in his words, but it was all so foreign and confusing. He came to the conclusion that this pair was not from Middle Earth. They came from some other world, they had to...

"You are not from Middle Earth," he decided.

"Yeah. We're not. I'm from Vanaheim and Hearth is from Alfheim. And Magnus, who is unconscious somewhere around here, is from Midgard. You probably have no idea what I'm talking about, but basically those are three of the nine known worlds in the world tree. Middle Earth is the unknown tenth. We'll have to add you guys to the list now that we accidently discovered you. I guess that means there could be many more worlds we have yet to discover, who knows?"

"Nine other worlds? That is unbelievable, yet I sense no untruth...You must tell me more about these other worlds in the future, however, I believe you had better search for your unconscious friend before someone else finds him." Aragorn said, and Hearthstone nodded and dashed off. Blitzen and Aragorn followed after him, and they rounded one final corner to see the elf tucking green fabric into his pocket and gently lifting a muscular young man with wavy, shoulder-length locks. Aragorn gasped when he saw what was beside him however. A glowing sword with symbols like those on the magical 'runestones' floated in midair, humming loudly.

What happened next terrified and bewildered Aragorn so badly that he stumbled back into a wall.

The sword spoke.

Aragorn:

What happened next terrified and bewildered Aragorn so badly that he stumbled back into a wall.

The sword spoke.

"Hello. Who are you?" the sword hummed.

Aragorn jerked back in alarm and his shoulders slammed painfully against the unforgiving stone wall. He recovered his wits quickly however, and bowed, "I am Aragorn, son of Arathorn. What are you called?"

"Jack."

"Jack...Are the runes on your blade what allow you to speak?" Aragorn asked, studying the magnificent sword in awe.

"Uh...I dunno...maybe?" the sword Jack hummed.

"You are truly a magnificent blade...Jack...Could I perhaps...hold you?"

" Sure you could! But it would probably be..." the blade hummed, but before it could finish the thought, Aragorn's fingers had closed around the hilt. Suddenly he felt more tired, his limbs more sore, as if he had been fighting hard for quite a while.

"Whoa dude...You're strong man! How are you not passed out right..."

Aragorn wobbled on his feet slightly, and stiffened his legs to stand up tall. He gave the blade a few test swings and the blade hummed, "Wow, you actually know how to use me! Normally I just do all the work!"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I slice up something, and when I return to Magnus' hand he will feel as if he did every action I performed himself. Earlier, I sliced up fifty or so ugly things, so when you touched me, you instantly felt like you had done all that yourself."

"Interesting...But just so you know, they are called orcs."

"orcs..." the unconscious young man groaned. "Why does that voice sound familiar? Blitz? Hearth?"

His eyes locked on Aragorn and he screamed, "GODS OF ASGARD!"

He gesticulated wildly towards them and their eyes widened to saucers as well. What had he told them?

Magnus:

My head throbbed. I vaguely heard someone saying, "...are called orcs." The voice sounded familiar, like someone I knew from a soup kitchen or something. And orcs? Why were they talking about the Lord of the Rings? Why were they here, in an undiscovered tenth world?

"Orcs?" I tried to ask, my eyelids fluttering, but it came out as more of a moan than a question. I attempted again with more success, "Why does that voice sound familiar? Blitz? Hearth?"

"Hey kid. We're in a place called Middle Earth. This is Arag..."Blitz started. I gasped and sat bolt upright, my eyes widening. Okay, I seriously had hearing problems. I had just imagined that I heard Aragorn talking about orcs and Blitz tell me we were in Middle Earth. Either that or I was having a really vivid dream. My eyes focused, the brightness fading to a manageable level, and I yelped, "WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?"

My eyes locked on the person in front of me and I attempted to restrain a scream. Right in front of me was the actor who played Aragorn. I had hit my weird limit of the day.

"GODS OF ASGARD!" I howled, and figuring it would be best not to ruin the story, I signed rapidly, We're not in a tenth world! We're in a book known as the Lord of the Rings!"

Their eyes widened and Hearth signed back, If we're in a book, how are we going to get back?

That's the problem! I signed, I don't know!