Chapter 1
Zor
More of a Zor than You
An idea that I had kicking about.
In the airless void between planets it existed, but not much else could be said about it. A small wisp of some etheric stuff that was not quite matter and not quite energy that occupied a small area of space in a long, eccentric orbit around the star. It would pass through hydrogen atoms as it went, adjusting their velocity and vector by a meter per hour and a fraction of a degree or so but it would pass through solid matter with no noticeable effect. Even so, for all it's unsubstantiality it could perceive the world around it, it could think extremely complex thoughts and it could remember and recall a vast stretch of time with boundless clarity.
But mostly it seethed.
It was not always like this. Long ago it was something much, much greater. A being of immense power, one of those who had helped shape the world (or at least part of one that floated before him) and one that he had sought to bring Order to the chaos that most of his fellows not only allowed, but encouraged. He'd fought and struggled for millenia against the folly of his fellows in which which his adopted master was cast down. But by cunning, invention, subtle manipulations and careful manuvering he was nearly in a position to remake the world in his own image until, by sheer stupid luck he was undone by a single fatal blow by the most ridiculous of plays actually working and reduced to this. Milena had past, in which it's thoughts had mostly reduced to a steady cycle of smoldering rage and bitterness over the hand that fate dealt him.
To anything else that lived in this universe, the legacy of this former great being was all but forgotten. But never the less it was observed by two entities that existed beyond it, both vast beyond measure. One of said Great Being was aware of it as part of it's minor awareness of everything in what was it's domain which gave it no real consideration. It's part in the tapestry of fate had been plaid out. The adrift consciousness knew this being well and had directly interacted with it at times and knew that it was aware and unconcerned with it's plight.
The second being was another matter entirely, which observed the shade with a strange interest. It was an entity on par with the previously mentioned Great Entity, though it's powers in this universe were strictly limited to perception. There were many such Great Beings in truth, shaping universes as prime movers. The first Great Entity (the Elder of the two) took a more hands on approach, the second (the Younger of the Two, having arisen from a universe which gradually succumbed to entropy in some long distant past) simply set things in motion and watched them unfold and something stirred in its unfathomably vast mind. Part of it was pity, part of it was curiosity, part of it was it's sense of humor and there was much, much more to it. But sufficed to say it had an interest in this being.
And so a dialogue between Great Ones was made. It was a calm exchange between two masters of their respective crafts who while not above joshing those that they respected over their differences of opinion, but well beyond the capacity of any mortal method of communication to adequately transcribe in all it's vast details. However, in the end an agreement was struck. For the briefest intervals Eru Iluvatar opened the gates of the world so that AC could reach in. And so where once there was something now there was just empty void.
It was a warm night, even as the coming dawn slowly began to illuminate the Western Sky. It was somewhat muggy from a thunderstorm that had passed through during sunset, though now only a few clouds gently rolled across a mostly clear sky still speckled with stars, four planets and dominated by three moons. These lights were suddenly supplemented by another, a burning streak moving through the sky at immense speed and to any observer on the ground, steadily growing and most intense at it's head. As it neared the ground a small chunk of it broke off before it's main mass slammed into the ground like an artillery shell.
Though nothing with a mind sophisticated enough to appreciate it watched this was a most peculiar occurrence. Meteors fell from the sky every once and a while, but this one was different. First of all after impact it burned despite crashing into bare stone. For about half an hour it blazed, illuminating the small gully with flickering crimson shadows. Stranger still as time went by shapes appeared in the blaze, moving and shifting and the sounds which echoed from the blaze, groaning and hissing and reverberating. Then suddenly the blaze rose into the sky in a blazing pillar from which arcs erupted. Ten meters above the ground it distorted and flared out into a flat disc. At it's rim the swirling flames sturred like the crest of a wave while in it's center a swirl of black vapor blossomed up and solidified into a thin black almond shape. For a few seconds it turned about erratically, casting a harsh beam across the surface. It lingered on one smoldering patch for about a second before continuing on in it's search. Then abruptly the fires snuffed themselves out, leaving the black figure at the center in the air to fall to the ground with an resounding thud.
After touching down, the black form slowly resolved itself. It bent in places, split in others, narrowed, widened, twisted and took on color and texture. After a few seconds a male humanoid figure lay on the ground. It was taller than most men at two meters, had pail skin, reddish blonde hair, pointed ears and a thin athletic figure. After stirring for another minute he opened its eyes. For a split second they glowed like windows into a forge before the calmed down. The first thing that he saw as his arm feeling up against the rough sandstone taking in it's texture. Both being able to touch and feel solid things and having arms and legs after millennia adrift in the endless void was incredible. Things that he had previously known that he would never have again. He soon scrambled to his feet (spending a few seconds to marvel that he had feet and legs again) and felt up the rest of his body. He inspected the rest of this new body that he had and found it in better condition than it had been for more than three millennia before his ultimate downfall.
For the first time in eons, he felt something other than boiling rage and hatred: first confusion, then fascination, then wonder, then joy. For the first time in an even longer span, he wept. Sobbing tears rolled down his cheeks as laughed. "Is this? Can it Be? I...I can't believe this! I don't believe this!". He wondered what else he could do. He turned to a random hunk of sandstone and punched it, shattering it into a rapidly expanding cloud of gravel while he remained unscathed. He concentrated and felt a silken robe appeared. Then a suit of monstrous spiked armor. Then he took on some other forms. A human soldier clad in fine armor, an empty armor suit with hooded robe, a woman in a silk dress, a pirate captain, a peasant, an orc warlord and more. All the while he laughed at the simple joy of it all. Then he turned into a wolf and ran along, then he turned into an giant bat and took to the air on long leathery wings as the sun crept over the horizon.
As a bat, while still exultant, he took in his surroundings in finer detail. He noticed the moons, the sun rising in the west with an orange color and the landscape beneath him. As far as The Eye could see there was a barren field of sandstone, sand and gravel. It looked a lot like a desert, save for the muggy humidity and the various and streams that were surrounded by greenish blue mats. A few of which sprung up away from the water. He recalled some glimpses he'd taken of the Moon, Carnil, Alcarinquë and Lumbar after the Downfall and how things had changed up in the heavens (as well as some more up close and personal views of things after his fall) and some musings he had of other stars. Even so he'd never had expected something like this.
Regardless eventually he focused his attention to a small blackened spot not too far from his landing site. The giant bat flew in and then resumed the original elvish form in traveler's clothes and walked over to the impact sight near one of the pools. It was easy to find find as it had burned away the surrounding plants, whatever sort of plant they were. They were short stubby greenish blue stalks about as the size of a man's toe topped with a bulging sphere. Occasionally one of said spheres would pop in a brief haze of greenish blue dust. Even stranger were the small "insects" that floated around. These were bug sized, but were built like wagon wheels, had four wings and spun through the air like tops. 'What was Yavanna thinking when she made these?' He thought as he paused for a second to take a look after touching down before continuing on. What was more surprising was a stone near the crash sight. It was a lump that was close to flat across one side which faced the small crater, but into it's surface were etched a simple message in neat tengwar script...
Mairon of Aule
I have released you into one of my worlds in restored condition. The world of your origin is beyond you forever. I shall not give you further aide, nor shall I interfere in your affairs. Consider this a Fresh Start.
-AC
Sauron stepped back in fear. Whoever or whatever this AC was it had a power well beyond him, the Valar or even Melkor. Did Iluvatar make greater beings than the Ainur that he concealed? Were there more beings like "The One"? The ramifications of this were incredible and his mind raced with implications of this. He had only this being's word to work on, but what if this world held perils that a thousand Melkors could not overcome?
Even so his graze drifted over to the crater and it's center. Inside sat an mass of newly made igneous rock the size of a loaf of bread, but he also caught a glint of sunlight off of it. He picked it up and then crushed it in it's hands. Among the crumbling fragments fell twenty lustrous objects. He knelt down, picked one up and held it in his hand.
He smirked as he slipped on The One Ring.
Lord of the Rings and the Middle Earth mythos belongs to the Tolkien Family, certain aspects of this were made by Warner Bros and New Line Cinema
The Last Question was written by Issac Asimov
The Last Question was written by Issac Asimov
Prologue
In the airless void between planets it existed, but not much else could be said about it. A small wisp of some etheric stuff that was not quite matter and not quite energy that occupied a small area of space in a long, eccentric orbit around the star. It would pass through hydrogen atoms as it went, adjusting their velocity and vector by a meter per hour and a fraction of a degree or so but it would pass through solid matter with no noticeable effect. Even so, for all it's unsubstantiality it could perceive the world around it, it could think extremely complex thoughts and it could remember and recall a vast stretch of time with boundless clarity.
But mostly it seethed.
It was not always like this. Long ago it was something much, much greater. A being of immense power, one of those who had helped shape the world (or at least part of one that floated before him) and one that he had sought to bring Order to the chaos that most of his fellows not only allowed, but encouraged. He'd fought and struggled for millenia against the folly of his fellows in which which his adopted master was cast down. But by cunning, invention, subtle manipulations and careful manuvering he was nearly in a position to remake the world in his own image until, by sheer stupid luck he was undone by a single fatal blow by the most ridiculous of plays actually working and reduced to this. Milena had past, in which it's thoughts had mostly reduced to a steady cycle of smoldering rage and bitterness over the hand that fate dealt him.
To anything else that lived in this universe, the legacy of this former great being was all but forgotten. But never the less it was observed by two entities that existed beyond it, both vast beyond measure. One of said Great Being was aware of it as part of it's minor awareness of everything in what was it's domain which gave it no real consideration. It's part in the tapestry of fate had been plaid out. The adrift consciousness knew this being well and had directly interacted with it at times and knew that it was aware and unconcerned with it's plight.
The second being was another matter entirely, which observed the shade with a strange interest. It was an entity on par with the previously mentioned Great Entity, though it's powers in this universe were strictly limited to perception. There were many such Great Beings in truth, shaping universes as prime movers. The first Great Entity (the Elder of the two) took a more hands on approach, the second (the Younger of the Two, having arisen from a universe which gradually succumbed to entropy in some long distant past) simply set things in motion and watched them unfold and something stirred in its unfathomably vast mind. Part of it was pity, part of it was curiosity, part of it was it's sense of humor and there was much, much more to it. But sufficed to say it had an interest in this being.
And so a dialogue between Great Ones was made. It was a calm exchange between two masters of their respective crafts who while not above joshing those that they respected over their differences of opinion, but well beyond the capacity of any mortal method of communication to adequately transcribe in all it's vast details. However, in the end an agreement was struck. For the briefest intervals Eru Iluvatar opened the gates of the world so that AC could reach in. And so where once there was something now there was just empty void.
Chapter One (Day Zero)
It was a warm night, even as the coming dawn slowly began to illuminate the Western Sky. It was somewhat muggy from a thunderstorm that had passed through during sunset, though now only a few clouds gently rolled across a mostly clear sky still speckled with stars, four planets and dominated by three moons. These lights were suddenly supplemented by another, a burning streak moving through the sky at immense speed and to any observer on the ground, steadily growing and most intense at it's head. As it neared the ground a small chunk of it broke off before it's main mass slammed into the ground like an artillery shell.
Though nothing with a mind sophisticated enough to appreciate it watched this was a most peculiar occurrence. Meteors fell from the sky every once and a while, but this one was different. First of all after impact it burned despite crashing into bare stone. For about half an hour it blazed, illuminating the small gully with flickering crimson shadows. Stranger still as time went by shapes appeared in the blaze, moving and shifting and the sounds which echoed from the blaze, groaning and hissing and reverberating. Then suddenly the blaze rose into the sky in a blazing pillar from which arcs erupted. Ten meters above the ground it distorted and flared out into a flat disc. At it's rim the swirling flames sturred like the crest of a wave while in it's center a swirl of black vapor blossomed up and solidified into a thin black almond shape. For a few seconds it turned about erratically, casting a harsh beam across the surface. It lingered on one smoldering patch for about a second before continuing on in it's search. Then abruptly the fires snuffed themselves out, leaving the black figure at the center in the air to fall to the ground with an resounding thud.
After touching down, the black form slowly resolved itself. It bent in places, split in others, narrowed, widened, twisted and took on color and texture. After a few seconds a male humanoid figure lay on the ground. It was taller than most men at two meters, had pail skin, reddish blonde hair, pointed ears and a thin athletic figure. After stirring for another minute he opened its eyes. For a split second they glowed like windows into a forge before the calmed down. The first thing that he saw as his arm feeling up against the rough sandstone taking in it's texture. Both being able to touch and feel solid things and having arms and legs after millennia adrift in the endless void was incredible. Things that he had previously known that he would never have again. He soon scrambled to his feet (spending a few seconds to marvel that he had feet and legs again) and felt up the rest of his body. He inspected the rest of this new body that he had and found it in better condition than it had been for more than three millennia before his ultimate downfall.
For the first time in eons, he felt something other than boiling rage and hatred: first confusion, then fascination, then wonder, then joy. For the first time in an even longer span, he wept. Sobbing tears rolled down his cheeks as laughed. "Is this? Can it Be? I...I can't believe this! I don't believe this!". He wondered what else he could do. He turned to a random hunk of sandstone and punched it, shattering it into a rapidly expanding cloud of gravel while he remained unscathed. He concentrated and felt a silken robe appeared. Then a suit of monstrous spiked armor. Then he took on some other forms. A human soldier clad in fine armor, an empty armor suit with hooded robe, a woman in a silk dress, a pirate captain, a peasant, an orc warlord and more. All the while he laughed at the simple joy of it all. Then he turned into a wolf and ran along, then he turned into an giant bat and took to the air on long leathery wings as the sun crept over the horizon.
As a bat, while still exultant, he took in his surroundings in finer detail. He noticed the moons, the sun rising in the west with an orange color and the landscape beneath him. As far as The Eye could see there was a barren field of sandstone, sand and gravel. It looked a lot like a desert, save for the muggy humidity and the various and streams that were surrounded by greenish blue mats. A few of which sprung up away from the water. He recalled some glimpses he'd taken of the Moon, Carnil, Alcarinquë and Lumbar after the Downfall and how things had changed up in the heavens (as well as some more up close and personal views of things after his fall) and some musings he had of other stars. Even so he'd never had expected something like this.
Regardless eventually he focused his attention to a small blackened spot not too far from his landing site. The giant bat flew in and then resumed the original elvish form in traveler's clothes and walked over to the impact sight near one of the pools. It was easy to find find as it had burned away the surrounding plants, whatever sort of plant they were. They were short stubby greenish blue stalks about as the size of a man's toe topped with a bulging sphere. Occasionally one of said spheres would pop in a brief haze of greenish blue dust. Even stranger were the small "insects" that floated around. These were bug sized, but were built like wagon wheels, had four wings and spun through the air like tops. 'What was Yavanna thinking when she made these?' He thought as he paused for a second to take a look after touching down before continuing on. What was more surprising was a stone near the crash sight. It was a lump that was close to flat across one side which faced the small crater, but into it's surface were etched a simple message in neat tengwar script...
Mairon of Aule
I have released you into one of my worlds in restored condition. The world of your origin is beyond you forever. I shall not give you further aide, nor shall I interfere in your affairs. Consider this a Fresh Start.
-AC
Sauron stepped back in fear. Whoever or whatever this AC was it had a power well beyond him, the Valar or even Melkor. Did Iluvatar make greater beings than the Ainur that he concealed? Were there more beings like "The One"? The ramifications of this were incredible and his mind raced with implications of this. He had only this being's word to work on, but what if this world held perils that a thousand Melkors could not overcome?
Even so his graze drifted over to the crater and it's center. Inside sat an mass of newly made igneous rock the size of a loaf of bread, but he also caught a glint of sunlight off of it. He picked it up and then crushed it in it's hands. Among the crumbling fragments fell twenty lustrous objects. He knelt down, picked one up and held it in his hand.
He smirked as he slipped on The One Ring.
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