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George was currently studying the Cabala spell for the Stone Giant, a magic system that was made so much easier to perform due to the advancements in modern magic.
"Continue!"
Learning a new magical system naturally requires a lot of practice, and George had plenty of experience in this area.
Furthermore, Sherry, as a legitimate cipher decoder for the Puritan Order, had grown up studying magic in the Puritan way. She had seen and learned quite a bit about magic, with her specialty being Earth magic, though she wasn't limited to just that.
So, fully absorbing all the magic in Sherry's mind would take quite some time.
While George was focused on studying and practicing the new spell, his body suddenly stiffened, and he murmured to himself:
"It's happening again!"
A new vision, a new memory, appeared in his mind.
"Humans, Elves, Morgoth... Could it be... Middle-Earth?!"
George slowly sat up from the ground. After processing the new memories of this human body, he couldn't help but exclaim.
He had, of course, seen The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies, all six of them. At the time, there were many things he didn't understand, so he had specifically researched some of the background material.
Now, with the memory of his new human body, he quickly realized that he had arrived in the fantastical world of Middle-Earth.
What surprised him, though, was that the timeline of his current incarnation wasn't set in the Third Age during The Hobbit or the Lord of the Rings timeline, set sixty years later.
Instead, it was thousands, possibly even tens of thousands of years earlier, in the extremely dangerous First Age.
During this period, the great Dark Lord Morgoth had not yet been cast into the void by the gods, and Sauron, the Dark Lord who forged the One Ring, was still merely Morgoth's lieutenant.
The terrifying dragons, like Smaug, capable of destroying entire Dwarf kingdoms, were nothing more than low-ranking members of Morgoth's dragon army.
And the Balrogs, the fiery demons that nearly killed Gandalf, weren't a rare few in this age—they were numerous.
Though dangerous, George also saw plenty of opportunities in this time. The Elves of this era were incredibly powerful.
Most were high-ranking Light Elves who had bathed in the light of the Holy Trees. They had lived in Valinor with the Valar (gods) for long periods, learning many abilities and spells directly from the gods.
At this point, the Valar still resided in Valinor, in the far west, and had not yet sailed away from Middle-Earth.
The world's shape was still flat, not the later spherical form it would take.
If he were lucky, he might even have the chance to travel to Valinor and learn magic from the gods.
Unfortunately, his current incarnation was human, not an Elf. Without contributing significantly to the world, a mortal would never be allowed to step foot in Valinor.
He had once hoped he wouldn't have to deal with another chaotic, mismatched incarnation, preferring to be a mature human male. Now that he was indeed a fully grown human male, he found himself wishing he had been an Elf instead.
Elves, after all, could return to Valinor if they sincerely repented and were forgiven by the gods.
Speaking of Elves and the gods, it was a long story. He only knew the general outline.
In essence, in the eternal void, there existed a great deity named Eru Ilúvatar. He was the all-knowing, all-powerful Creator, the creator of Middle-Earth.
Ilúvatar split his essence into countless spiritual beings and imbued them with will through the immortal flame. Of these, fifteen were major, and countless others were minor. The major ones were known as the Valar, and the minor ones as the Maiar.
George thought of them as the difference between a high god and a lesser deity.
Ilúvatar, along with these spiritual beings, composed the symphony of creation, bringing forth the universe and the continent known as Middle-Earth.
The Valar and Maiar arrived on this land and, with their divine powers, began to shape the barren world, transforming it into a land filled with mountains, rivers, plants, and various creatures.
They created two great lamps to light up the beautiful continent, awaiting the birth of Eru Ilúvatar's children.
Ilúvatar intended to create two races on this continent, who would become the main inhabitants of the land: the Elves and the Men.
This marked the beginning of the Two Lamps Era.
However, one of the most powerful of the Valar, Melkor (who would later become the Dark Lord Morgoth), was unwilling to share the continent. He wanted to dominate it entirely and become its ruler.
Thus, he destroyed the Two Lamps and, with the corrupted Maiar (including Sauron and the Balrogs), waged war against the other Valar and Maiar.
The battle between the two sides was so fierce that it began to tear apart the beautiful world the gods had created.
Because neither the Elves nor the Men had been born yet, the gods did not want their war with Melkor to destroy the world before life had even begun. So, they withdrew to the far west of the world, to a land separated by a great ocean—Aman.
There, they used their divine power to create a perfect paradise, a realm of the gods, and planted two sacred trees of gold and silver, marking the start of the Two Trees Era.
After a long time, the first Elves were born. They possessed beauty so stunning that even the gods were enchanted, and they were granted eternal life.
Melkor captured a group of Elves and, using evil methods, twisted and corrupted them into ugly Orcs to mock Eru Ilúvatar.
This act infuriated the gods, who together defeated Melkor and imprisoned him in Valinor. They then suggested to the Elves that they move to the more beautiful realm of Valinor to live.
A small group of Elves refused to leave their homeland and chose to stay in eastern Middle-Earth. These became the Silvan Elves, also known as the Wood Elves or the Dark Elves.
Most agreed to the move, but some, during the migration, became stranded in central Middle-Earth due to unforeseen circumstances. These became the Sindar, or Grey Elves.
The reason for their name is that their kingdom's King, Thingol, had once visited Valinor and seen the Two Trees. He had been blessed by the power of the Trees.
Among the Elves who went to Valinor, some had visited before but, captivated by the sea, chose to remain by its shores and on its islands, becoming the Sea Elves.
The remaining Elves truly lived with the gods in Valinor, basking in the light of the Two Trees, learning knowledge from the gods, and growing stronger.
The first group of Elves to arrive in Valinor settled beneath the Two Trees. They were known as the Vanyar Elves, with golden hair and fair skin. They were the most powerful and beautiful of the Elves, beloved by the King and Queen of the Gods.
In the films, Galadriel, the Elven Queen, is a descendant of the Vanyar Elves, which is why she possesses such great power.
The second group of Elves to reach Valinor settled on the outskirts. They were particularly interested in the craft of the god Aulë, the creator of the Dwarves, learning the art of forging and creation. They were known as the Noldor.
Both the Vanyar and the Noldor were Light Elves, the higher class of Elves.
Everything seemed perfect, but when Melkor's sentence was over, he pretended to have fully repented and was forgiven by the gods. He began sowing discord in Valinor, making the Elves believe that they had been imprisoned unjustly. This manipulation led many Elves to betray the gods and return to Middle-Earth.
(End of chapter)