Thranduil pushed his sons out of the way when the ground beneath them started to show some cracks. Thranduil himself was too slow and when Legolas and Phoenix had recovered from the sudden knock against their backs, all they saw was their father falling into a huge cleft in the ground. He was not screaming though, he only hoped his sons would make it out alive.

Phoenix and Legolas both leaped back to grab their father's hand but he slipped right between their fingers.

"No!" they both screamed, their tears burning behind their eyes.

"Fly, you fools!" they heard their father's voice faintly in the abyss beneath them. For a moment, the princes were too shocked to do anything but then Legolas grabbed his younger brother by his elbow and dragged him along.

They ran and ran, but they were not fast enough.

The royal family all died that day.

~*~*~*~*~

Narsil reached with her hand towards Varonwe who stood at the other side of the ravine while Caladhiel held her onto her left arm. The gap was too large for the Dúnadan to leap over. But it was his only option and if he did, he would reach the boarder of Ummamrod's power. The ground Narsil and Caladhiel were standing on was not rumbling nor did it show any signs of falling apart.

Varonwe's face was pale and his eyes were bloodshot and swollen. He still couldn't believe he had been too slow to save Victoria. It more felt like a bad dream than reality. He also wasn't sure how he had managed to reach the border of the forest without falling into the abyss. His mind was still playing Victoria's death over and over again, but his body must have acted on its own.

"Jump," Narsil said, she reached even farther and Caladhiel gripped her arm tightly. She didn't like the fact that the elleth was leaning so far over the edge. Caladhiel glanced over her shoulder, perhaps someone else should come and help too, but Arwen, Amarië, Aragorn and Elrohir were in shock. Elladan's and Ayleen's death had frozen them to the bone. If it hadn't been for Caladhiel and Narsil, they wouldn't have reached the boarder of the forest as well.

"I'll catch you," Narsil assured Varonwe. However, Varonwe continued to stare into the gap while everything around him fell away. His mind seemed to be miles away. Caladhiel suddenly realised Victoria was not there. But, the two had been inseparable. The realisation hit her hard. No, no, no. Not her too. For a moment, Caladhiel closed her eyes, but quickly pulled herself out of the emotions. Now was not the time to mourn. Though it was a question whether there would ever come a time to mourn or if they would all die by the hands of Ummamrod.

"Varonwe!" Narsil shouted in an attempt to get his attention. She could not bear it if they lost someone else while they were this close. His puffy eyes snapped towards her and without any other hesitation, he jumped towards Narsil's outstrechted hand. For a split second, he wondered what would happen if he would redraw his hand and let himself fall into the abyss. But he did not and his fingers enclosed Narsil's wrist. As he should have done with Victoria. Guilt filled his heart, he felt so guilty. Why couldn't he have been faster?

Narsil almost lost her balance due to the sudden weight but thanks to Caladhiel's iron grip and steady stance, she managed to haul Varonwe up. Her hand rested on his shoulder while she scanned the area; where the beautiful green forest should have been, there was now nothing else than a gaping black ravine from which they could not see the bottom. If there even was a bottom.

All of Greenwood was wiped away.

Some elves had managed to reach the boarder, but it weren't many. Most had fallen into the abyss.

"What must we do now?" Narsil wondered and she looked at Caladhiel, her captain but not even the red-haired elleth had an idea. Caladhiel sighed and focussed her eyes towards the sky, trying to fight back the tears. Her homeland was destroyed. Most of her friends she had known while growing up were probably dead. And the royal family was nowhere to be found. She felt like she had failed as a captain of the forest guard.

In the west, the sun started to rise and suddenly Caladhiel saw something out of place. There were two people flying in the air. One with some kind of invisible force while the other used fire. Narsil saw her strange look and followed her gaze.

Narsil almost started to shake in fear when the clouds started to wallow and clash with each other once again. Ummamrod was coming back. If he unleashed his power again, Narsil did not know if they could outrun him again. They had been lucky this time, but the second time could turn out very different.

But, when the face of Ummamrod appeared in the clouds, the two persons in the air hit him with everything they had. The creature roared in pain when the flames hit him and screamed when the flashes of white light out of the other hit him as well.

Narsil's and Caladhiel's heart leaped with joy. Perhaps not all was lost.

~*~*~*~*~

Eragon and Arya flew on their dragons towards the commotion they already had seen from the mountains where they had surfaced. They had never encountered such thing before but the entrance they had found in the desert of Alagaësia had led them to another world. Arya nor Eragon had recognised any of their surroundings and both knew their country by heart. This was not their world. But that did not matter for now; they had to find the Shade and his army of Urgals before they would and try to conquer this world as Galbotorix had tried with Alagaësia. Just as before, Eragon would not stand by and watch.

The rising sun warmed their backs and while they were flying towards the massive thundercloud in the distance, they kept an eye out for any Urgals beneath them. The creatures were however nowhere to be found and Arya and Eragon started to get the feeling the commotion in the distance had something to do with the Shade and his Urgals. What if they were too late?

~*~*~*~*~

With all her might, Norin send the flames in the direction of Ummamrod. She gritted her teeth, he would die. This would be his last day on Middle Earth.

Next to her, Caligo let his spirits fly towards the creature in the sky. They jumped out of him with high screeching sounds and exploded in Ummamrod's face. With every spirit that left, Caligo felt his power grow weaker; as the power of the Shade came from the dead human spirits that had been trapped inside of him by some powerful spells. But now, Caligo was releasing them with one last command: destroy Ummamrod and the spirits gladly did as he said.

It could've been a beautiful light show if only their lives hadn't depended on it. Ummamrod had to be destroyed or every life in Middle Earth would perish.

Norin almost stopped firing at Ummamrod when she saw something unexpected in the corner of her eye. Dragons! Two of them, to be exact. A blue and a green one. Where did they come from?

Caligo became even paler than his usual colour already was when he spotted the two dragons. The dragonriders were here! How had they found him? But as soon as he asked that question, he already knew the answer: they must have followed him to the desert. He should have been more careful. Moving a group that large wasn't hard to oversee. Especially if it were Urgals.

~*~*~*~*~

Eragon and Arya were not sure what to make of what they were seeing. The Shade and someone they did not know were battling a huge face in sky. Was it bad? Should they help them, or should they capture Caligo before he could do something to turn on them?

~*~*~*~*~

Narsil couldn't believe her eyes. Not one but two dragons were flying towards Ummamrod and his attackers.

"There are people riding them," Caladhiel murmered in awe and now Narsil saw it as well. On the back of the dragons sat someone.

"Dragon riders?" Narsil muttered, a bit unsure.

~*~*~*~*~

Norin decided to ignore the two dragons as they did not appear hostile and besides, all she cared about was Ummamrod.

"Caligo!" someone shouted over the tumult and Norin blinked a few times. Were there people riding on the dragons? And they seemed to know Cal.

"What is the meaning of this?" another voice, female, shouted and Caligo paused for a moment.

"Ummamrod." He decided to tell them the truth. With the help of two dragonriders they surely would destroy Ummamrod who was already growing weaker with every blow that hit him.

Eragon stared at the face which was roaring furiously as it couldn't do anything to dodge the blows. It looked as if it was trapped in the cloud. So this was Ummamrod. They had heard a lot about him and knew what he was capable of.

Arya and Eragon glanced at the huge abyss beneath them. It seemed he had already started and then they decided to help Caligo and the girl they did not know the name of. The dragons Saphira and Fírnen turned their heads towards Ummamrod and unleashed their dragon fire while Arya and Eragon chanted spells.

With one last scream, Ummamrod suddenly fell out of the sky and he no longer was only a purple face in the sky. A huge body followed and Ummamrod fell into the void he had created himself. And as he disappeared into the darkness, the ground closed but the forest did not come back. Ummamrod was defeated.

Norin was exhausted, never before had she used so much of her power and her vision blurred. The flames she had used to fly disappeared but before she could fall as well, the blue dragon Saphira caught her with her claws.

With a simple spell, Arya captured Caligo and the Shade let his head hang in shame. Now that he had no longer so many spirits inside him, he could think clearer. His thoughts were no longer clouded by Ummamrod nor the bad spirits. He knew however that the dragonriders would not grant him mercy and he was in peace with that. He did not even try to break the spell that Arya used to bound him. He deserved it.

Eragon and Arya send their dragons towards the ground and the few people that were standing on edge of the now closed gap, jumped away when the two creatures landed.

Saphira carefully put down Norin and immediately, Arwen jumped up and ran towards her. She had to make sure her little sister was alright. Tears ran down her pale cheeks, she had been so brave. Arwen was very proud of Norin even though her heart was still filled with sorrow because of the lost of her brother Elladan.

Narsil stepped closer to the two dragon with Caladhiel right behind her. The black-haired elleth looked up to meet the eyes of the riders and she noticed their ears; they were pointed. They were elves? "Who are you?" she asked them.

Eragon pointed at himself. "I am Eragon, this is my companion Arya." He hesitated for a second, what else should he tell them? He couldn't imagine how strange this must be. Perhaps dragons weren't even common in their world. "We're... We're not from around here," he decided to say and Narsil grinned.

"I already guessed that."

'Do you think they know what dragons are? ' Eragon asked Saphira in his mind and he could feel the dragon shift, as if she was shrugging as an answer.

'They do not seem to be too startled by my sight.'

Arya pointed at Caligo who was still flying in the air but bound by an invisible chain around his neck towards her. "He will bring no other trouble anymore. We're taking him with us to be punished by our laws."

Caladhiel frowned. Had he summoned Ummamrod? But he had helped to destroy him afterwards. It didn't make much sense to her, but Caladhiel decided to let it rest. It had been a strange and awful night. She had no energy left to ask for more information. They would let the intimidating dragonriders handle it. They had other things to worry about. They had people to mourn about. She did not care what would happen to the man, as long as Ummamrod was dead and she would never see them again. Narsil probably thought the same as she didn't react as well.

Eragon and Arya waited a few moments for an answer but when it was clear there would be no reaction, they decided to leave again. These people had probably other things that acquired their attention. The dragons jumped into the air and the group set course back to Alagaësia and would make sure the entrance towards this world would be destroyed.

It was not the fate of this world to face the things of Alagaësia ever again.

~*~*~*~*~