Death Is A Lie

Talion

I gasp deeply. A blasted ghoul bit me in the shoulder and it hurts like liquid fire, and it didn't help that another ghoul spat into it. The poison is already making me weak. When I hop off the beast, my knees give out. Lithariel hops down next to me cautiously.

"Talion? Are you alright? We only have one more day of travel can you walk?" I groan.

"I-I think so...d-don't worry I'm fine." I add on for her sake. "If I die, just sit next my body, I'll be revived shortly."

"It's that bad?" She gasps.

I try to answer, but all I can see is a blur. I fall to the ground rather ungraciously and fall into a death vision.

"Talion." Celebrimbor looks at me, his grey eyes full of confusion. The roars of battle echo behind us in a muffled cry of sorrow.

"Celebrimbor." When he doesn't answer I snort. "Now that we have introduced ourselves to each other, what would you like to tell me?"

"I foresee great death here, Talion. Núrn may have great beauty in it, but that does not make it safe, there are many dangers yet."

I nod, touching the piece of fabric I saved from my wife in sadness. "Celebrimbor, I have already lost so much, how can I cope again?"

"You must." He sighed also. "When I was an elfling, my grandfather was slain. When I worked in Godolin my father was killed following the oath he took. My mother soon followed into the undying lands. My wife and daughter were slain in cold blood by Sauron himself. Do not assume we haven't lost because we do not have the gift of death."

"Some gift that turned out to be." I scoff.

"It is a gift Talion." Celebrimbor smiles sadly, his long brown hair blowing in the wind. "We are weary of the world. I, Celebrimbor Curufinion Finwëion, I was weary. Only death saved me from that fate, which was equally as grim. To fade away, waste away whilst your race failed and to sail to the undying lands for the rest of eternity. There is no worse fate then that."

"But why does our death always seem shrouded in shadow? If it was truly a gift, as your immortality is, wouldn't it seem more enticing?" I sigh. "Everyone I knew is dead, it wasn't pleasant, and now I am alone."

"Your death is what is shrouded in shadow. The Dark Lord and his black captains did this to you. Even now don't you wish you had died with your family? That is what it is to be denied the gift of death. Any man afraid of death is so because Morgoth the vile, scrooge of my grandfathers, he put this veil on death, to sway men to his cause. And yet ever did he fear them." He sighs, and I see the weariness in his face. "For three thousand years I have been dead, unable to join with my family, and do you know what it feels like?"

"I have been without them for but a few days, is this what it is to die?" At this he chuckles, his grey eyes sparkling, and I see how his wife came to love him over a political affair.

"Yes, Talion. It is what it is to die, to be without. I was lucky, one member of my family survived. My oldest daughter Gailthîr, she yet lives but where, I cannot tell." He is suddenly cut off as the dream shakes. "We are awakening, Talion! I have but one warning more. Be careful to distinguish between your head and your heart. It is my final warning!"