They had left her alone in the great hall of the King, in the semi-destroyed palace of Fornost. Roswehn opened her eyes, and did not understand how she had come there, what sort of place was that, and why she was standing in front of that gigantic black marble throne.
Regan had momentarily freed her from her influence. Basically, two souls shared the same body, and now Dale's girl had regained possession of her faculties. The last thing she remembered was the acrid smell of the cloth that had been pressed to her face.
She put her hands to her temples, desperate. "Gods help me ... I'm losing my mind!" She wept.
"There are no gods to help you here ... they do not listen to you, but I do." said a deep voice.
The girl looked around. There seemed to be no one besides her, in that huge dark room. But then she glimpsed a human figure sitting on the throne. The posture was casual, a long leg was bent to the chest, and with one hand he held up his head. The creature seemed bored, or afflicted with some sad thought. She approached with fear to distinguish the features and immediately saw that he was an Elf.
Long black hair came down to his waist, he wore an iron crown, with a blood-red jewel right in the middle. The skin was whitish, but it was a pallor similar to that of sickness, it was not the usual pearly whiteness of the Elves. A rebellious tuft fell to cover his eyes, and below, Roswehn saw a creepy grin.
He wore black trousers, he was shirtless, and wore black leather boots.
"And who would you be?" the girl asked, without being sure she wanted to hear the answer. She had a terrible feeling.
"My name is Melkor." the creature said, raising his face a little. He stared at her.
Melkor ... thought Roswehn. Melkor ... when did she hear that name? She concentrated and in a moment she found the answer. The girl put her hand to her mouth without being able to hold back a scream.
"MORGOTH!" She shouted, then she tried to escape, but an invisible wall stopped her run after a step. The woman fell ruinously backwards.
"Do you think you can run away from me?" the creature was seraphic. No, of course I can not, thought the woman, laboriously sitting down on the floor. In the fall, she had hurt one elbow. If the creature was really who he said he was, she had no hope to get out of that situation alive.
Roswehn was in the presence of Evil. The absolute Evil of Middle-earth. She hoped it was just a trick to scare her.
"No, you can believe me, you are in the presence of a God, dear. I wait for your tribute." the Dark Elf said again. He was reading her mind.
Roswehn looked at him. She was terrified.
"You lie, Melkor is the name of an Ainur, an Ainur who chose the path of terror and death... if you are him, you should use another name." the woman replied. "...Morgoth."
"This thing about names ..." the creature continued, "...is tedious, isn't it? You called yourself Regan all your life until recently, and now ... Roswehn ... this generates confusion. " Melkor said. "An unbearable confusion." he stood up and walked toward her. He was tall and slender, had a feline elegance in moving. He offered her the sharp-fingered hand to help her up, but Roswehn did not dare give him hers.
"Do not be afraid, if I wanted to kill you I would have already done it." He smiled. His facial features were not ugly: on the contrary, his face was more masculine than those of the other Elves and the eyes were big, dark and piercing. His lips opened in a more convincing smile.
"They have struggled to bring you here, it is not my intention to waste the efforts of your subjects." he told her, "... let me help you, woman."
Roswehn gave him a hand and the creature grabbed it firmly. Once standing, the Elf looked at her from head to toe.
"As I was saying, this thing about names has annoyed me by now. Morgoth is the name with which the worms that inhabit Arda know me, but originally I was Melkor: the Ancient King, the most beautiful and powerful of the Valar. All creatures, things, spirits, everything is bent to my will, and you too will be, soon. " the Elf said.
"So... you are the one who rebelled against Eru Iluvatar, who denied his existence, who turned away from the Light to drag himself into the darkness?" asked Roswehn. She still did not believe it, she tried to convince herself that that dark creature was an ordinary elf paid by his kidnappers in order to terrorize her and get something from her. It could not be Morgoth, the master of Sauron.
"You are stubborn, Sauron is my subject, it is true, but unfortunately he is powerless until the One Ring is far from him." said the black being. "Not even those men out there know my identity, they believe I am a ... Necromancer." and he laughed.
"And why are you revealing yourself to a humble human girl? Why on Earth do I have this honor?" she asked sarcastically.
"Because unfortunately I see that you have not yet accepted our offers, and I want to try to convince you in person." the Elf answered. "You have not yet understood that you are a chosen one, you will bring this whole Earth under my command, and you will be rewarded for it."
"Ah yes, I know your promises, Regan the restless spirit has told me: I'd become the High Queen of Gondor and Arnor, I'd have the love of Thranduil ... all lies of an evil being. Do you believe that a fake diadem would ever impress me? You all think I'm so stupid ... " she snarled.
The Elf laughed. "I like your anger, you could be my bride ..." he approached her. "Hey, this is an idea: I could marry you, I am sure you would be a very good wife, the perfect wife of an evil being like me. Thranduil and Haldir seduced you with their mind but not with their bodies, sad losers...but I would give you exactly what you want ..." he caressed her face, her neck and slowly ran her fingers over the breast. "... even though, my dear, I'm afraid I would not be a good husband."
He looked Roswehn in the eye and she saw that his irises had turned yellowish, they looked like the eyes of an animal. She shuddered and moved away from him.
"What do you want from me? Can you tell me?" she asked, in a whisper.
"I want you to surrender to your destiny and let Regan free to return to that throne." said the being, grabbing her by the wrist. "I want you and Regan together to recall the legions of Numenor, and to declare war to the Elves, the Dwarves, the Istari and all the Men who stand against me, and I want you to find that boy, that Aragorn, and bring me his head. " he said at her. "Is it clear now, woman, what I want?"
"If you are so powerful, why don't you do it by yourself?" she asked.
The Elf let her go abruptly. "Good question." He answered. "Because those valiant defenders of the Good, whom you have known ... the white witch of Lorien, the Gray Pilgrim, that boring leprechaun of Rivendell, strenuously oppose me.The Eldar do not let the grip on this Earth and try to convince with their empty talk about love all free creatures to fight me...and they succeed, you know."
"Yeah, so it must be." she said angrily.
The Elf gave her an evil look, then smiled. "You pretend to be on their side ... yet, you let the Haradrim bring you here." He grinned. "How come? Forgive my curiosity, but this doubt fills my mind..." he said, turning his back. "... you did not oppose Regan, if you had wanted, she would have left you long ago."
There was silence. Roswehn did not know what to say. The being continued to give her back, intent on gazing at the great hall.
"This was indeed a magnificent palace, once upon a time ... Oh, Arnor was the greatest realm that Men have ever seen, bigger than Gondor, more powerful than Gondor, with a huge army defending its borders ... imagine, they managed to push back my legions of Orcs ... and they were five times more numerous. " he turned back to look at her. "... but then I won."
"Yes, the beasts of Angmar slaughtered all the inhabitants without mercy for anybody, I know the story well." Roswehn answered. "I do not understand why Regan chose to become a follower of whom you say you are. Morgoth exterminated her people."
"Because her people were weak, dear. She knew that they did not deserve to live.The world is not for the weak, for the cowards, for people who hide in their house rather than fight. Regan was exceedingly noble to let my armies destroy a population of rabbits. A population that now we will rebuild, and it will be strong this time, it will be ready to dominate.You do not understand the greatness of this vision. " the Elf spread his arms, emphatic. Roswehn saw dark streaks on his body, that was muscular and well sculpted: it was as if the veins, full of his black blood, had emerged to the surface. An unpleasant vision.
"I only understand that this place is dominated by madness, I will not be an accomplice of this nonsense." said Roswehn. "I do not care what's going to happen to me, do not count on any kind of help from me."
"Oh well ... this annoys me, because you see, without you, nothing of what I've been planning for millennia can become true. I'll have to find a way to convince you. " the Elf told her.
Two men entered the salon at the point. They grabbed Roswehn by the arms. "Let me go...it's an order!!" she tried to pretend she was Regan. The creature laughed. "Good try, but they know you're not their Queen for the moment. Do not try that again. "
The Black Elf approached the woman and took her face in his hands, to force her to look at him. "You do not have to be nervous, you're going to live a memorable experience ... Well, maybe not really pleasant ... but you can imagine that I'm Thranduil to enjoy it more."
Roswehn struggled. "But what ..." then she lost her consciousness.
Morgoth looked at the two men. "Bring the woman to the Great Thalamus."