Estateillio

Goblins

• There was only so much magic could do and preventing half-rotten wood from breaking under the assault of goblins for a long time was not one of them, even if said goblins were severely harmed when touching it and with a powerful elf and a maia constantly pouring more energy into the spell, as much as they could channel through thin air without having it create too great of a ripple that it would alert something or someone - the sleeping balrog namely.

• Estateillio had hoped that their attackers would grow impatient and turn on each other in their bloodlust, but that evidently was not the case. Time dragged on and the goblins relentlessly tried breaching the door, even though many of them had already died to the burns of her magic.

• There were dozens of them, she observed as she felt for the great hall, and they were bloodthirsty, for it had been a long time since anyone had stepped into Moria, but quickly that was tinged with fear and it took her not a second to figure out why as the wrathful presence of shadow and flame washed through the room and filled her with dread. The balrog had awoken and it was not pleased.

• "Se cuivië", she whispered and within seconds Halieth and Hráven had thrown together a plan on how best to deal with the changed situation and she dropped the spell and for a moment there was confusion amongst the goblins as the wood stopped burning them, but then they caught on and with combined force and returned bloodlust they threw themselves at the doors which broke immediately at contact, having taken a lot of damage under the influence of magic.

• And they were met with silvery blades and a furious elleth and Estateillio tore through their frontline as if they were nothing and she was too swift for their blades to hit anything but empty air and so strong that bones shattered easily under her blows.

• She spun elegantly, slicing open two throats with Helfarth in her left hand and impaling a third on Narth in her right at the end of the movement and shoving the corpse onto another one who stumbled and fell and when it landed in the ground it too was dead, its head rolling away and its black blood dripping from the longer, but thinner, blade.

• And because that last kill had only required her to hold her blade in the right place at the right position, she was able to turn her attention to a fifth goblin and her sturdier and stronger blade sliced it cleanly in half, cutting through its ragged armor as if it were butter, for her twin swords were some of her many weapons that were created using a steel-mithril alloy and thus were superior to the armor of orcs and goblins.

• And though she killed many of their foes, the others too got to join the fight, for Gimli would not let an elf steal all the kills and thus Legolas too followed the elleth, and while the three did a good job, some managed to enter the room, only to be quickly dispatched by either Aragorn, Boromir or Gandalf who had stayed behind to protect the hobbits who too helped where they could, but tried to stay away from the worst of it, as they had been instructed (Sam hit a few over the heads with his frying pan and took great delight in it).

• And then the last goblin fell to the ground and there was silence for a second, everyone catching their breaths, before Estateillio declared: "We need to get going. More are in their way, darker things." And since everyone was by now keen on leaving the darkness of Moria, they quickly traversed the great hall - or at least tried to, for the balrog's presence grew ever stronger and at the opposite end of the hall a fiery light appeared and a growl shook the earth.

• "We are too late, it has come for us", the elleth whispered quietly and stepped towards the smouldering presence that probably even Aragorn and Legolas could feel by now and Gandalf followed, leaning heavily into his staff, preparing for the battle that was inevitable now, for they would never be able to outrun a balrog.

• "Go to the tunnels and do not leave them, whatever might happen next. Should things go ill, make for the bridge of Khazad-Dûm and head to Lothlórien, you'll be safe there. Do not, under no circumstance, try to intervene, it would be your death", Gandalf instructed, while Estateillio quietly cast the spells she knew she could use, mostly those that altered her own hröa, making her even stronger and faster, more resistant to heat and fire.

• "What is this new devilry?", Boromir asked and it was Estateillio who answered, voice grave and full of hate: "A balrog, one of the Úmaiar, a demon of a time long gone. I had thought I had slain them all, though evidently it is not so."

• And then she turned slightly and the fiery glow of their approaching opponent highlighted her silhouette and gleamed on the scars of burns on her right temple, just beneath her hairline, and when she spoke again there was no mistaking her age, her power and all that anger and sorrow and nameless terror she had experienced: "This one will soon join its kin."

• And with drawn blades she slowly walked away from them, towards her foe and with a last "Stay safe!" Gandalf followed her and Aragorn, knowing that they could be of little help against a balrog, ushered the rest of the fellowship towards the exit of the great hall, though they stayed there rather than moving on, for they wished to not completely abandon their companions if that could be done, and so they tarried and watched.

• And out of the tunnels a great being arose, cloaked in shadows and flame, with wings that seemed like smoke and a blade of pure fire.

• And it saw the light of the elf and the maia and it roared its challenge as it recognized the slightly darker (than normal for an elf) skin old Estateillio and an old scar on its side ached again as she attacked with a great cry and in her swords glinted the memory of dragon fire.

• And in a cave deep beneath the surface of Arda, hidden in the bowels of the earth, there the three positively ancient beings, two of which had existed before time, met in battle.

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Here's the next chapter, hope you enjoyed!
"Se cuivië" means "it has awoken".
Since I would one day like to write my own story and I take this as an exercise, I would like to ask you what you think of my writing so far. Is the story coherent? Are there any obvious plotholes so far? Are the characters compelling and do their decisions make sense (mostly asking about Estateillio, because she's my only real OC so far. The other one, who will be a bit more important for the story than your average OC elvish healer that appears in a chapter or two and then never gets mentioned again, will be properly introduced soon though (I mentioned her once in Interlude I))? Is the way the story is told fine and not too scatterbrained?
Anyways, stay healthy!
AT