The adventure of a lifetime- The Lord of the Rings

Khazad-dûm

Gandalf lead us straight through to the bridge of Khazad-dûm. It was huge, and there was quite a lot of fire about. I felt extremely uneasy, knowing there was something there waiting for us, just not knowing what. The distant screeches and other indescribable noises made my stomach twist.

We raced down staircases. It all happened so fast. I was confused, and terrified. Gandalf fell behind and ushered Aragorn to lead us on.

We had to jump across a huge gap in the staircase. As each person jumped, a chunk would fall off and the gap became bigger. I almost lost my balance as a chunk crumbled under my foot, Merry pulled me back. Boromir picked us both up and jumped with us. Pippin was tossed across after us, Merry and I grabbing his arms and pulling him up, as he landed another piece crumbled. My heart raced. Aragorn chucked Frodo and Sam over. Once the five of us were together again I breathed a sigh of relief.

Everyone had made it across, yet Gimli still found a way to act stubborn in this situation, refusing to be tossed. I'd imagine it was something to do with the fact he was in front of an Elf.

"Mind the beard!" Gimli shouted as he barely made the jump himself, resulting in Legolas pulling him up by his long beard.

We soon made it over the large bridge. Though, once we had gotten safely to the end, it was noticed Gandalf had not quite kept up with us.

The huge demon-like creature which had caused all this commotion rose. Was he seriously going to try and battle that wretched thing!?

"You cannot pass." I heard Gandalf say, though this only angered the creature even more.

Gandalf wasn't having it. "You shall not pass!" He shouted once more, slamming his staff into the ground causing a blast of light to hit the Balrog.

It knocked the Balrog back, sending it falling into the void below. Just as Gandalf turned to catch up to us, its huge fiery whip took one last swing and grabbed onto Gandalf's leg. It pulled him down, leaving him hanging onto the edge of the crumbling bridge.

"GANDALF!" Frodo screamed, being held back by Boromir.

I tried to bolt to the bridge but Aragorn put his arm out to stop me. Why was no one going to try and help him!?

The rest of us were too stunned to speak. None of it felt real to me. Gandalf uttered one last sentence before he fell, which was "Fly you fools."

I was in utter shock. My brain tuned out the sound of Frodo's screaming, and everything felt like a blur. I felt a ringing in my ears. I could barely make out who was dragging me through to the exit.

I was almost blinded by the sudden daylight. It was such a relief being back in natural light. But at that moment I couldn't appreciate that since we'd just lost the leader of our group.

Everything happened so fast. Seconds later Merry and Pippin had collapsed on the floor beside me. Sam was on his knees sobbing, and Frodo was nowhere to be seen.

I felt absolutely awful. I heard Pippin say between his cries how it was all his fault. Merry was doing his best to reassure him that it wasn't, through his own tears.

I wandered off as I couldn't bear to hear the crying anymore, it was all too much. My heart couldn't have been anymore broken in that moment.

Everything that had happened in the past month flooded through my mind. Why was I even there? Why were any of us even there? The incident had made me question everything.

Merry was right about what he said at the camp. I really didn't belong there.

Aragorn wiped his sword. "Legolas! Get them up!" He ordered. So he was suddenly in charge now!?

"Give them a moment for pities sake!" Boromir argued.

"By nightfall these hills will be swarming with orcs! We must reach the woods of Lothlórien. Come, Boromir, Legolas, Gimli, get them up!"

I felt stubborn as ever. I refused to get up until Legolas physically forced me to. Eventually I willingly walked with the pack, still sulking.

"On your feet, Sam." Aragorn helped Sam up and patted his shoulder. "Frodo!" He called to the hobbit, who was wandering off in the distance.

Frodo turned around, tears streaming from his eyes. Lord, he must've been beyond heartbroken. Out of all of us, he was always the closest to Gandalf. The wizard was someone he knew he could trust no matter what. Having someone like that taken away from you, I couldn't imagine it.