Coldness. Darkness. Pain. The only things Lúthien could feel, it began with simple beatings by Eris's men for he was too wasted to even hold a simple stick. They punched and kicked until she coughed up blood, yet she didn't resist.
They used their magic to drop the temperature in Lúthien's cell so that she'd be too weak to even consider making fire. She trembled and shivered like madman, yet she didn't resist.
They stripped away all of her clothing, leaving absolutely nothing. Then bound her hands and feet and hung her by her wrists to ceiling of her cell. Lúthien didn't resist.
The men took turns whipping her, marking up her beautiful skin with bloody lashes. One, two, three, four and so on. They continued until she couldn't count them anymore, but still Lúthien didn't resist.
When they dropped her on the floor and dumped ice cold water over her body, it stung her flesh wounds. She didn't resist.
She couldn't feel it when each man took a chance to slice a piece of her because she was numb. Completely and utterly numb, she didn't even acknowledge them. She refused to give them the satisfaction.
Lúthien could've chosen to let the dragon blood heal her wounds to even then she rejected its aid. She also could've attempted to fight back once removed her bindings, but she did not.
It had been almost two weeks of round the clock torture and Lúthien knew that Eris couldn't really step it up from there. Soon the beatings and the harassment became repetitive.
She lay there on the floor of her cell with ice beginning to grow absolutely everywhere. In her hair, her eyelashes, lips. A normal person would've been able to last this long, but Lúthien did notice that her fingers and toes were beginning to turn blue. Even still she didn't allow her new powers assist.
Later that day, Eris came to visit her. She didn't open her eyes when he walked through the door, nor did she move when knelt by here side and placed a blanket over her body.
"Are you ready to comply?" She slowly nodded in reply, for she was too cold to speak
Eris pried her frozen arms and legs from the floor and scooped her up, keeping the blanket over her body.
As he carried her back to her chambers, he thought about whether or not he should kill her. Eris figured since the dragon blood hadn't healed any of her wounds that maybe her body was beginning to reject it. That maybe his test had failed when in reality Lúthien learned to control it herself.
When he arrived at her chamber, there was a steamy bath waiting for her. Eris was quick to remove the blanket as her gently set her in the water. Slowly the frozen ice began to thaw and eventually some color returned to her cheeks.
"Eris?" She finally spoke after some time had passed
"Lúthien?"
"The water is growing cold." Lúthien shivered
"I'll warm it up then." He simply looked at the water and it began to warm up again
"No, I think that you should come in here with me. They say skin to skin is the best way to truly keep a person warm."
"Is that so?" He figured he'd might as well have his way with Lúthien and kill her once he was finished
"I read it in a book once."
"Well if you read it, then it must be true." Eris began removing his clothes, Lúthien kept her eyes closed for she feared he'd be able to see the fire in her eyes.
Once he sat comfortably inside the basin, he pulled Lúthien by the arm so that she'd be closer to him. Eris's hands swiftly moved to her waist as he placed her on top of him. Once she was straddling him one palm traveled down to cup her rear. Despite feeling completely disgusted by it, she kept her composure. Lúthien couldn't afford to mess this up.
"You said skin to skin right?"
"Mmhmm."
She played along, pretending to be aroused as he had his way with her breasts. Eris's hand kneaded one while he took the other in his mouth. Lúthien wanted to vomit, she could feel her body growing warm again, it wouldn't be long before he'd notice.
So she wrapped her arms around him as she began to plant kisses on his neck. Eris groaned once and lifted Lúthien's body slightly so he could beg for entry. Her hands immediately went to his hair and she curled strands around her fingers. Soon she cupped his face between both palms as she finally opened her eyes.
"I hope you rot in hell." She murmured. And with all of her strength and anger she twisted his neck and deafening crack echoed throughout the entire room.
Eris would remain limp, but only for a short amount of time. Lúthien quickly hauled his body out of the basin and dropped it on the ground next to her. She instantly lunged for his belt which had a dagger in it, and took it into her hand. There wasn't any time for hesitation, it was now or never. With all the force she could muster, Lúthien jabbed the blade into his chest and began cutting it wide open. Without another thought, she stuck her hand inside of him and didn't retract until his heart was in her possession. The very moment she grabbed hold of it she yanked it out and threw it as far away from her as she possibly could.
Everything happened so fast, Lúthien's head began spinning and her stomach churning until she finally turned away and emptied her stomach all over the stone floor. She immediately rose to her feet and began to make her way to the door, but then she remembered what Abraxsis had said.
"Burn the body."
She instantly turned around to face the bloody mess that was Eris. Lúthien released all the repressed rage that had been building up inside of her. She sparked a hungry flame in her palm and chucked that fire at Eris, setting his body ablaze.
As she dressed herself and grabbed her bag of belongings Lúthien began to hear screams of panic from outside. When she looked out from her balcony, the protective barrier could be seen fading away into nothing.
"Abraxsis its time! Go! The barrier is gone!" Lúthien called out to him in her mind as she made her way out into the corridor.
She sprinted down the halls, her footsteps sending echos down both ends. There didn't seem to be anymore there until she rounded the corner where a man attempted to stab her with a knife. Luckily she saw him in time to immediately step back, but she didn't go completely unharmed. He managed to slice her left eye, leaving it dripping in blood. Lúthien threw a punch which then released an entire ball of fire hurdling in his direction. It ended up hitting him directly in the face and she left him crying out in pain on the ground.
As Lúthien continued to make her escape there was a earth shattering ROAR which was followed by the shaking of the entire mountainside. The dragons were breaking free, but they'd knock down the entire mountain in doing so. Soon everything would begin collapsing, so the moment she made it outside Lúthien headed straight for the valley.
At the same time she could see the dragons emerging from within the mountain, sending boulders tumbling down towards the valley. Most of them shot into the sky and flew as far away as they possibly could, but a few remained to take their revenge. Some shot down into the valley causing the ground to shake like an earthquake with their violent landings. With all of their anger, they began sentencing everything to fiery grave.
I'm the meantime, Lúthien came a cross a horse that was tied up against a burning tree. It reared and threw its head in fear, trying to get free. She dashed towards it, taking the sword that was attached to its saddle in one hand and the reins in the other. With one strong swing the old ropes snapped and Lúthien quickly mounted the frightened creature.
She didn't have to tell it to run, the animal instantly shot itself into a gallop not daring to stop. Within a hour they were two were miles away from the burning valley, Lúthien didn't know where she was going exactly but then again it didn't really matter. As long and she was far away from that wretched place, she'd be content.
From that moment on, she rode all night and they didn't stop until her horse grew too tried to go any further. They remained close to the river and followed it downstream so that when they needed to rest they'd have a source of water to drink from. Lúthien even bathed in it once, and found it quite refreshing.
At night she'd look up at the sky and look at the stars and despite everything that had happened her, they'd make her forget everything even if it was just for the night. The following morning, Lúthien observed where the sun rose and set to determine which direction she was headed. She then learned that she had been traveling East.
*+*
Three Weeks Later
In less than a month, with swift travel Lúthien and Haru (it is what she decided to name her horse) had arrived at the Sea of Rhûn. They had traveled as far East as they possibly could.
She had heard that watching the sun rise over the water was one of the most beautiful things in the world.
Haru walked alongside the water, his hooves sometimes got wet whenever the tide pushed the water towards shore. But he didn't mind. He and Lúthien patiently waited for the sun to rise, the sky was barely turning blue and the stars had just begun to fade away.
She often thought about what she was going to do, knowing that the sorceress Onna was planning on taking over all of Midle Earth. As of right now, she was the worlds only chance. But by how much? That was the real question she asked herself but didn't have the answer to.
Slowly, a ray of light-the sun finally began to rise above the horizon. Lúthien had Haru stop so that she could just admire its beautiful colors. Even though there were a few clouds in sky, the colors the sky turned were magnificent.
It wasn't until the sun was about half way into the sky that she heard a familiar chest vibrating roar. It startled Haru, and he tossed his head because remembered how afraid he had been in the valley. Lúthien looked up to find Abraxsis soaring through the sky.
"You found me."
He landed smoothly on the sand, sending a few gusts of wind their way.
"We're connected after all."
"I'm so relieved that you made it out alright, what've you been doing all this time?"
"I needed to make sure my brothers and sisters were somewhere safe."
"And you?"
"They've got each other, besides I figured you'd need me more. I also never got to thank you for freeing us."
"A life for a life, right?"
"You're one awfully strange being."
"Have you heard anything about Onna?"
"You killed Eris, and most of his men were killed in the valley. She's weak, it'll take some time to recover from her losses." Lúthien remembered that night in the basin
"I did what had to be done."
"Where will you go now?" He asked cocking his head to the side
"Not sure, but I think it'd be smart to at least inform the nearby kingdoms about Onna. They deserve to know, so they could at least prepare for her attack."
"That would be the Woodland Realm wouldn't it?"
"Yes I'm fairly certain."
"Getting there would be a lot quicker by air than it would by land." Lúthien looked down a Haru
"I think you're right." She swiftly dismounted Haru's back and began removing his heavy saddle. After she tossed it to the side, Lúthien walked around to see his face.
"Thank you for bringing me all this way, I'll never forget you Haru." She planted a gentle kiss on his muzzle before taking off his reins and dropping them in the sand. "You're free now." The stallion simply neighed in understanding before running off into the distance
After Haru could no longer be seen, Lúthien finally turned to Abraxsis.
"So about that ride?"
*+*
By nightfall the two reached the Mirkwood forest. Abraxsis landed fairly close to the palace, totally smashing a few trees in the process. It was fairly certain that the collapsing of the trees was loud enough to be heard or felt from the other side of river. They didn't have too much time before the palace guards would come to investigate.
"You obviously don't fit in the palace, so I'm going to have improvise."
"Meaning?"
"I'm going to have to transform you into a person. You'll be able to shift into your dragon form whenever you see fit. I can't just show up with a dragon, they'd surely attempt to kill you."
"Alright."
Lúthien reached into her bag a pulled out and orb the size of an apple, holding it out to Abraxsis.
"This may taste bitter, but please don't spit it out. It's my only one."
He lowered his head and opened his horrifyingly sharp jaws so that she could place the orb in his mouth. She wasn't lying when she said it'd taste bad, he had never eaten anything so disgusting in his life. Even then, he refused to allow himself to spit it out.
It took a few minutes for it to take effect, but eventually Abraxsis began to shrink and his long wings transformed into arms, his claws to fingers. He was becoming human, and if Lúthien was honest with herself, he turned out to be quite handsome. He had jet black hair with sharp cheekbones and he was dressed in a dark coat and pants along with boots. But if anything was of surprise, it was his eyes. They were golden and glowed in the dark.
"Wow, you didn't do half as bad as I thought you would." She just rolled her eyes
"Come on, they'll be on their way soon. And if not, there will defiantly be someone standing at the gate."
"How do you know all of these things?" Lúthien stopped to look back at him
"I...I'm not quite sure. But everything here just seems so familiar, I don't know why."
"Well you are an elf, is it possible that you have been here before?"
She didn't respond, instead she turned back around and continued to make her way through the forest. Eventually they reached the bridge that lead straight to the palace gates. The one that stretched all the way across the river.
The moment she set one foot on that bridge, she had a vision of a child. A little girl running across the bridge, she was calling out for help. The guards aimed their bows at her, and then she leapt from the edge and plunged into the river.
"Woah..." it all happened so quickly, she began to stumble backward but Abraxsis held her up
"Are you alright?"
"Yes, I just suddenly became a bit light headed. I'll be okay."
"Who goes there!?" One guard called from the gate while another aimed his loaded bow
"My name is Lúthien." She announced, pulling back her hood to reveal her face "I've come to speak with your King."