This was it, I was ready. I mounted Sunset with the pallantir in my satchel on one side and the rest of my weaponry on the other. Riding between Mithrandir who had Pippin behind him and Legolas with Gimli, I said not a word. My face was blank of all expression. All I did was concentrate on the task at hand. Legolas and Mithrandir both looked at me on occasion but I betrayed nothing. If there was any fear, my heart felt it naught. The closer we got to the Black Gate, the colder everything inside me felt. That was the way it had to be in order to pull off what I had to do. Aragorn rode in front with flag bearers near him and Eomer with Merry in the middle as well. Finally we all lined up at the Black Gate.

Aragorn, Legolas with Gimli, Eomer with Merry, Gandalf with Pippin, and a flag bearer rode toward it. I stayed behind and monitored the men and watched silently, with one hand on Sunset's reigns and the other patting the satchel with the black orb. As Aragorn called out Sauron to surrender, the gate opened and a very peculiar and ugly creature came riding out on horseback. It was unlike anything I had ever seen and it made me raise an eyebrow looking at it. The thing had the worst teeth I had ever seen on anything which included goblins, orcs, and Uruk-Hai. But then I suppose hygiene was not the number one priority for Sauron and his monsters.

I could tell what Aragorn thought of it myself even from the distance of where Sunset and I were. It appeared from what the thing said as it clearly was the Mouth of Sauron that it wanted everyone to believe that Frodo was dead due to the Mithril shirt it threw at Gandalf. I narrowed my eyes then because it was clearly lying; had Frodo been dead, so would Sam and it never mentioned a second Halfling. Filthy, degenerate, scum. Just as I thought that, Aragon took its disgusting head off of its emaciated shoulders and that concluded that. As they rode back the gates started to open.

"I should have given Aragorn my shurikin, using his beautiful Anduril on the likes of that was just a waste." I whispered to Sunset who seemed to neigh in agreement. Then as the riders returned to their positions and faced what was about to be the onslaught of the century, I whispered in Sunset's ear:

"I am going to have to use the pallantir now so do not fret, my darling. I will not leave you. We shall face this battle together but there is something I must do first. You must trust me no matter what happens later. Just stay strong." Sunset neighed uneasily.

Just then Aragorn rode down the flanks to get his brethren ready, made sure that his men were prepared to whatever end.

"Hold your ground, hold your ground! Sons of Gondor, of Rohan, my brothers! I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down! But it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!"

I knew they would not let him down. None of us would. Then looking at Legolas, Gimli, and Mithrandir, he said:

"For Frodo."

The magic words that launched everyone toward the massive army coming at us from the opposite direction; and for me to reach out and grab the Pallantir and look straight into it. Now it was my turn. I took hold of the black orb as Sauron's eye appeared to me. I smiled evilly at it and said:

"Oh no, you can do better than that you massive non corporeal eyeball! I am right here! See me! Look upon me. I am the one that got away remember? When you weakling had no power or strength! SEE ME NOW!!" I all but roared at him and raised my eyes toward the actual eye as it found me amongst the fighters and speared me with its glance. I dropped the pallantir back into the satchel for I got him right where I wanted him.

As he proceeded to try and hurt me, the runes on my armor, Sunset's armor, and Altherial started to glow as I unsheathed her and reared Sunset back on his hind legs with a war cry. Payback time; I looked down only briefly and then my eyes started to glow a reddish crystal color. I laughed loud, so loud in fact that it made the earth tremble under Sauron's tower. The power I was evoking, I was directing straight at him.

"What? You have always been a coward! Servant of Morgoth and nothing else! My aunt showed you that once; I am her child, SEE ME COWARD OF HELL!! You will not take Middle Earth! Today you will lie in ruin by the grace of the heavens and all that is good and pure in this world. You wanted to possess me? Elves are weak? Do I feel weak to you?? You cannot touch me but send out your army of horribly toothed goons to fight men, elves, dwarves, and eagles? WE ARE ONE! YOU FEAR DEATH AND DEATH YOU SHALL HAVE; AN ETERNAL ONE!"

As I finished the sentence, the eagles swooped in to take out the Nazgul and their riders as I continued with my hellish crystal stare I felt no pain, no joy; I was ice cold and scorching hot at the same time. A conduit of power; my mission was to keep him staring at me and forget about the two hobbits making their way into Mount Doom.

Apparently some of the orcs and wraiths saw that I was standing still and came at me but with Altherial being at her most powerful, I had no problem removing the heads of even the highest to reach wraith as Sunset flipped me into the air and onto the Nazgul's back. Before the wraith could do anything, I took off his head and then proceeded to cut off the Nazgul's head off its neck as we both fell toward the ground. I landed gracefully back in the saddle of my beloved steed who moved just enough to catch me. We both continued to fight the orcs as I kept tossing mental insults to Sauron with my eyes blazing like hot coals in a crystal after shine:

"Did you like that, you incompetent freak? How about I come up on that tower and shove my sword in your eye? What will happen? NOTHING!!! BECAUSE YOU ARE NOTHING!! WE WORSHIP LIFE AND DIE FOR THOSE WE HOLD DEAR; YOU WORSHIP DEATH BUT IT LAUGHS AT YOU! AND WILL GLADLY TAKE YOU NOW!!!!"

Just as I yelled that last insult, the ground shook and Sauron's eye shot away from me and shrieked, I glanced toward the volcano and saw the Nazgul take off toward it. Then a few long moments later a different shriek came out of the eye as Barad-dur started to collapse in on itself and the volcano started to erupt. As the ground started to shake and the orcs run away, I felt the inside of my body being pulled apart. This was it. We won but at what cost to me? As Sauron was imploding into nothingness, his last act of vengeance was to take me with him and this is where my real struggle with him began. I mentally called upon the power of Anor and the Eldar that made the runes on my armor glow as bright as the sun on a hot summer day.

Meanwhile, I heard Legolas give a shout as he struggled with something at his throat. Instinctively, I knew it was the Varyamir Crystal and that it had probably burned him. Sure enough he ripped it off the chain, dropped it on the ground, and with his boot crushed the blackened stone into nothingness. The stone that was of pure white in the beginning was charcoal black when it was destroyed, taking the last of the evil to attack him with it. He looked down and rubbed his chest so I knew the burn was not bad; just enough to remind him of what he must do. The rest of the necklace stayed hidden beneath his clothing and armor. I on the other hand was not getting away so quickly from the battle within.

The tug of war was endless and unrelenting. The pain was scorching as my eyes went from crystal white to scorching red. The battle of good vs. evil was now inside of me. I closed my eyes briefly and when I opened them, they were crystal white as I stared at Sauron with victory on my face as he was obliterated with a final seismic boom. As my eyes returned to their normal blue, I started looking around as many celebrated while others were looking on in horror at Mt. Doom erupting. I saw the eagles still there and called out to Gandalf:

"Mithrandir, go get them!"

He nodded as I gave him the pallantir and told him to drop it into the volcano on his way. He looked at me distractedly, took the thing, and nodded as he and the eagles took off to get Frodo and Sam. Everyone was cheering and I was happy for them as I started really looking around and noticing that my vision had gone blurry. Each time I would blink and when my eyes would recover, the surrounding landscape would have a white-ish tint to it. Sunset started neighing uneasily. I was still holding Altherial as with each shift of my head, time started to slow down. Voices began to fade and have a buzzing sound. Everything was going white. No more colors or shapes anywhere.

Then I dropped Altherial and that got the attention of those around me as Sunset neighed louder, he was panicking and trying frantically to get someone's anyone's attention as I would never purposefully drop my sword on the ground....ever. Just as I saw Legolas' head slowly--to my blurred out white vision--turn toward me, I followed Altherial and fell off Sunset onto the ground. Footsteps and voices were suddenly everywhere and near me but I could not hear or see anything.

The last thought I had before I slipped away and the white world overtook me......was that this sacrifice was worth it.....

To be continued....

*Legolas' reaction to Hedraliel falling off of Sunset: