Essinger.
The Tower of Orthanc.
As deep and heavy as tall towers, they are spread throughout the black marble hall.
After the two wizards chatted for a while, they each began to think deeply.
Gandalf the Gray stood with a heavy expression and a frown on his face.
The white-robed Saruman sitting on the bench seemed to have a calm expression, but there was a hint of gloom hidden under it.
"As long as we move fast enough, we still have time to deal with Sauron."
After a moment of silence, Gandalf said without hesitation.
Even though Saruman is pessimistic about the current situation in Middle-earth.
"time?"
Saruman raised his face from the shadow of his head and asked Gandalf: "Where do we get the time?"
"Sauron's power is almost restored."
"Although he has not yet been fully reincarnated, his soul still possesses powerful magic."
"Although Re is enclosed in a fortress, he knows everything."
Saruman continued talking to himself: "His sight can penetrate clouds, shadows, land, and even flesh..."
Gandalf frowned and looked at Saruman in front of him, but he clearly noticed something strange.
"Maybe I shouldn't have come looking for Saruman..."
Hearing Saruman's attitude that was completely different from his own, and the words in the other person's mouth started to change.
Gandalf secretly regretted his trip to Isengard.
At this moment, Gandalf suddenly turned his head and stared at Gandalf and said slowly: "Do you know what I am talking about?"
"A huge eye surrounded by flames..."
Gandalf continued softly: "That is the Eye of Sauron."
"It is gathering evil forces. Soon, it will gather enough troops to attack Middle-earth..."
Gandalf frowned more and asked: "How do you know this?"
"Of course I saw it with my own eyes..."
Saruman spoke lightly, and Gandalf immediately thought of something: the Palantir gem, also known as the "Sphere of True Knowledge."
"Saruman, did you use the True Sphere?"
"This is too dangerous!"
Gandalf was startled. As he spoke, he immediately looked around and saw a round sphere covered with black cloth on the stone platform in the corner of the hall.
Then he strode forward.
Saruman followed Gandalf's footsteps and walked to the stone platform. He raised his hand and lifted the black cloth covering it.
"Why?"
“Why be afraid of using it?”
Saruman spoke nonchalantly.
"Because the whereabouts of the other True Knowledge Crystal Balls are unknown, we don't know if anyone else is using them."
Gandalf said as he immediately took the black cloth from Saruman's hand and quickly covered it with the deep black crystal ball on the stone platform.
It was just the moment when he covered it with black cloth and his palm inevitably touched the crystal ball of true knowledge.
Gandalf instantly saw a terrifying giant eye burning with flames in his mind.
"That's the Eye of Sauron!"
"Why does it appear on this crystal ball of true knowledge?"
"Did Sauron just look at this place?"
At this moment, Gandalf suddenly reacted and realized a terrifying possibility.
He seemed to notice something strange about Gandalf.
Saruman walked to the bench in the corner with a playful expression and looked at Gandalf: "There is no time, Sauron has already launched his action."
"Those nine have left Minas Morgul."
"The nine?"
Gandalf looked at Saruman with a surprised expression.
"It's those nine, they disguised themselves as black knights and crossed the Essing River as early as midsummer eve..."
"Have they arrived in the Shire?"
"They will find the One Ring and kill its bearer."
Saruman spoke with a cold expression.
"No, Frodo..."
Gandalf's expression suddenly changed, and he immediately turned around and walked out of the hall.
Saruman had a sneer on his lips and just waved his hand.
"Bang bang bang bang!"
The four thick stone doors were immediately closed together.
"You don't really think that Hobbits can fight Sauron, do you?"
Saruman on the bench spoke slowly.
Gandalf turned to look at Saruman with incredible anger and disappointment in his eyes.
"This time, no one can stop Modo's victory."
Saruman ignored Gandalf's look and finally stated his purpose: "Let us join them, Gandalf."
...
Mirkwood.
Deep in the woodland kingdom.
In a hall with exquisite shape and exquisite decoration.
A group of elf girls with long brown hair, tall figures, and delicate looks were playing musical instruments.
Not far away, the Elf King Thranduil was lying on the couch, tapping his fingers and closing his eyes to relax.
At this time, an elf adjutant wearing silver armor walked quickly to the elf king and whispered a few words.
Thranduil frowned and pondered for a while, then sat up, looked at the adjutant and ordered: "Let Legolas come to see me."
"yes."
The elf adjutant left quickly.
Thranduil waved away the playing Elf Girl Band. After sitting on the couch and meditating, he immediately found some paper and quickly wrote a letter.
Not long after, Legolas appeared at the door of the hall.
"Father, are you looking for me?"
"Well, you go to Rivendell and give this to Lord Eldron."
Thranduil nodded and handed the envelope to Legolas.
after an hour.
Legolas, armed to the teeth, walked out of the Woodland Kingdom alone.
Speeding towards the vast forest ahead.
...
Early morning after rain.
Everything on the washed earth becomes extraordinarily fresh.
The eastern sky is white with dawn.
East of the town of Bree.
In a sparse forest.
A team of six people is marching.
Two tall and four short, this team is naturally the Morgan team that just came out of Bree Town.
Last night, I escaped the tracking of the Ringwraiths.
Early this morning, the six-man team left Bree.
Because what follows is a wilderness mountain road.
So don’t even think about riding a horse.
Before leaving, Morgan bought a lot of food supplements at the Black Knight Tavern and put them into the dimensional ring.
This time everyone in the team only had to carry their own small bags.
Everything else was put into the dimensional ring by Morgan.
This magical scene naturally fell into the eyes of Aragorn, who had just joined the team.
However, he just glanced at the ring on Morgan's hand and stopped paying attention.
"Where do you think we will go this time?"
"how could I know..."
"Can't you just ask Morgan?"
"Why don't you ask?"
Listening to the discussion behind the team, the four little hobbits kept talking.
Morgan, who was walking in front, couldn't help but suddenly thought of the dwarves in Lonely Mountain.
I remember the time when the Lonely Mountain Expedition and the dwarves gathered together and chatted tirelessly like this.
I didn't expect that these hobbits would be like this when they gathered together.
Come to think of it, this journey to Rivendell won't be boring anymore.
"Uncle Morgan, where are we going next?"
At this moment, Frodo's voice suddenly sounded from behind.
Morgan looked back at the four little men behind him and said, "Rivendell."
"Our next destination is Rivendell."
After Morgan finished speaking, the four hobbits started talking again.
"Rivendell?"
"It's where elves live, right?"
"Morgan wants to take us to meet the elves?"
"The legendary elf?"
"I haven't seen what an elf looks like. What about you, Merry?"
"What?"
"Have you ever seen an elf?"
"No."
"Where are you, Frodo?"
"I haven't seen it either..."
The sound of joy continued from behind.
In front, Aragorn, who was walking side by side with Morgan, suddenly turned to look at Morgan and said, "Morgan, is that one of yours also the Lord of the Rings?"
"Why do you ask?"
Morgan turned to look at Aragorn and smiled.
"The power of your ring is very magical. Apart from the Lord of the Rings, I can't think of any other ring that has such power."
Aragorn also smiled.
For a ranger like him who had spent most of his career in the wilderness.
He understands better than anyone how practical equipment with magical storage space capabilities can be.
"I don't know either."
"But it shouldn't be. I showed it to Gandalf."
"It's a pity that he didn't find anything."
"But it doesn't matter. I've had this ring for so long and I haven't noticed anything strange."
Morgan shook his head with a smile and continued: "Maybe it's just a magical magic ring."
"After all, there are too many secrets in this world."
Hearing Morgan's words, Aragorn also nodded: "Even Gandalf couldn't find out. It seems like that's the case."
Indeed, even Gandalf, who had lived for countless years and was extremely knowledgeable, couldn't find it out, so that's probably it.
But Aragorn just asked casually.
After all, with Morgan's strength and reputation, if there was something really strange about the ring in his hand, it would have been exposed long ago.
What he actually wanted to ask more was Morgan's true identity?
As a human being, he can survive from the expedition and war on Gushan to this day, and still look extremely young.
In the entire world, except for the Dúnedain, whose life span is far longer than that of ordinary humans, no other race of humans can do this.
And now Aragorn, as the sixteenth patriarch of the Dúnedain people, naturally has the obligation, responsibility and necessity to find out Morgan's true identity.
Not to mention Morgan's own strength, what makes Morgan even more powerful lies in his strong relationship network with the dwarf kingdom of Erebor in the north and Thorin Oakenshield, the king of the Vale State, and with the Elf King Thranduil of Mirkwood.
Aragorn could fully imagine the terrifying power hidden behind Morgan.
If Morgan was really of "Dúnedain" blood living on the outside...that would be great.
It's just that Aragorn thought a lot in his mind, but he still didn't speak easily.
Because he once asked Gandalf if Morgan had told him his identity or other explanations.
But Gandalf said that Morgan was not interested in those, and he didn't care whether he was a Dúnedain or not.
It was because of Morgan's attitude that Aragorn couldn't speak rashly.
Because it might not be a big deal for others to ask, but as the current leader of the Dúnedain people, it would be difficult for me to ask.
After all, his relationship with Morgan is far from reaching the level of Gandalf and Morgan.
After thinking again and again, Aragorn did not ask.
The six-man team moved on.
As it gets brighter, the red sun rises in the eastern sky.
The warm sunshine of autumn shines on the earth.
It's been raining for several days.
Today I finally saw the sun again.
Walking on hilly land with sparse forest.
The mood of the entire team also became brighter along with the sky.
Half a month later.
The six-person team walked out of the vast Chit Forest and arrived in front of the Weakwater Swamp.
The sky was overcast.
Looking at the stinky swamp in front of me as far as the eye can see.
Except for Morgan and Aragorn, there were no unnecessary expressions on their faces.
The four hobbits looked at the dense skeletons that could be seen everywhere in front of them, the huge vampire gadflies hovering above the smelly muddy water, and a muddy path that was not a road at all.
Everyone's expressions immediately became hesitant and difficult.
"Can we take a detour?"
Meri asked looking at Morgan with a ponytail next to him.
"No, we avoided the avenue."
"If we bypass it, our travel time will be at least one month longer."
Morgan shook his head and said.
He naturally knew that the swamp in front of him was difficult to navigate.
But in order to avoid the Nazgul, the team gave up taking the main road. This swamp was the only way to go.
After hearing this, several hobbits immediately gave up.
"You don't have to be afraid. This swamp is not that big. If we hurry up, we can get out in about three days."
Aragorn smiled and comforted several hobbits.
Compared to other larger and more dangerous swamps he had walked through, this swamp was just a small swamp.
"Let me lead the way. I have experience with this."
Aragorn said, stepping forward.
Morgan nodded, he was familiar with the road from Shire to Rivendell.
But he has never walked through this swamp.
Aragorn was familiar with this.
He once went deep into the larger and more terrifying Death Swamp in Modo, and even caught Gollum there.
Aragorn stepped forward, struck a few times with the wooden stick in his hand, and was the first to step into the smelly swamp.
Four days later.
The team of six walked out of the weak water swamp.
Ten days later.
Walking on the bare wilderness.
The six-person team saw a huge mountaintop in front of them from a distance. On top of the mountaintop, stood the ruins of various tall man-made buildings.
In a vast expanse of bare wilderness, the ruins on the tall and abrupt mountain tops ahead are naturally eye-catching.
Several hobbits felt a little surprised.
But in Aragorn's eyes, the look was full of complexity, emotion, and sadness.
This summit has extraordinary meaning for him, who is a descendant of Arsedan and the royal family of the Kingdom of Arnor.
"That's the top of the world."
Aragorn looked at Fengyunding and whispered, then looked to his side: "Morgan, shall we rest there tonight?"
Morgan, who had already seen the change in Aragorn's mood, only hesitated for a moment and nodded in agreement.
He is no stranger to this Fengyunding.
After all, every time I go to the Shire, I can always see this majestic ruined mountain from a distance on the road.
Morgan, who had memories of the plot and was afraid of accidents, originally did not plan to go up.
But this is the first request Aragorn has made to himself.
Morgan couldn't say no.
at this time.
"Rumble..."
"Rumble..."
A dull thunder suddenly sounded from the dark sky.
The sky was getting gloomier.
Morgan looked up at the sky, which was a sign before heavy rain was coming.
Now there was no reason to reject Aragorn.
after an hour.
At Fengyunding, under a huge ruin on the summit, the six-man team panted and looked thankfully at the pouring rain in the open space a few meters away.
"Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa..."
The heavy rain washes over the whole world wantonly.
The six-person team hid under the rubble and prepared to start today's dinner.
at the same time.
It was getting darker and darker.
In the torrential rain.
A dark team was galloping towards the top of the wind and clouds.
