I watched Rita (my mother or grandmother, I still hadn't decided what I should call her once I did) going through a messy pile of papers and parchment scattered on her desk. It was a familiar sight, Rita was an academic of sorts. I wasn't sure exactly what she studied. From the sketches of ruined buildings and the strange hieroglyphics that covered the walls of her study, he hypothesized some ancient civilization or bygone era, he knew she wasn't a normal person by how despite her age she carried dozens of books with ease.

She also seemed to follow a religion, although she seemed to hide it from other people. In the last few months, I spent many hours observing her (I didn't have much else to do), meticulously going through dozens of books and ruined tomes, and writing small notes in journals and on leftover sheets of paper. Seeing patterns that seemed unrelated, seeming preoccupied with many things.

At first, I had been fascinated by her work, but since I could barely understand the new language, let alone read, it quickly became boring.

So today I would try other methods to distract my head, meditation closed my eyes. No thoughts or worries bothered his mind, he was even more relaxed than after a Meditation session.

He couldn't remember the last time he felt so peaceful if he ever felt that way.

Tiny specks of light appeared around him. Not many at first, then hundreds more, thousands, too many to count. The whole world burst into flames, but his eyes were closed.

He was at peace and didn't have to worry about anyone or anything. There was only him, but he was not alone, the few rays of sunlight touching his skin coming through the window of his room touched his face, almost as if announcing his presence.

He couldn't remember the last time he felt so at peace if he ever felt that way.

The specks of light appeared all around her. At first, there were not many, then hundreds more, thousands, too many to count. The whole world burst into flames, but his eyes were closed.

Myriads of tiny dazzling particles swirled around him in apparent chaos. He could sense that there was some underlying pattern. He could almost see...

But something brought him back, a hard pat on his back, along with a sobbing cry, worried I opened my eyes only to see Rita with a terrified look on her face.

"I thought I would lose you, I'm sorry, I'm sorry... I'm a bad woman."

I didn't know what was happening until I noticed my breathing, I felt suffocated. I had forgotten to breathe while I was meditating.

I had to calm her down, it wasn't her fault, it was never easy to see the tears of a person you care about, that's why I had a need; to speak for the first time.

"Mita."

Her eyes just opened and she pulled me closer to her chest as her tears ran down.

"I'm so sorry Dirhaël, Grandma will take better care of you" She said between whispered sobs. as she cradled me in her arms.

While it was not the best method, I enjoyed it. I acquired another name from Rita, Dirhaël, it didn't seem a common name for the humans around here and had more similarities with the elves, I didn't know what meaning this had for her, but she seemed to like it. So did I.

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It had been 8 years and in a matter of a month I had learned to read and in two I had finished the 8 books that grandmother had in the library, grandmother noticed my intelligence and negotiated with the elves to supply me with some books whenever they could, with that I would have found out about the deal I had with them, apparently they needed someone to inform them about a possible revolt or malicious idea in men.

Something smart for everyone, in a supposed human revolt, the humans would be easily decimated, I had seen the abilities of the elves in a confrontation with a bear in the forest a few years ago, they were stupidly agile and strong, one of them easily took care of the creature.

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Humans, on the other hand, seemed very ordinary in comparison, weak and unarmed. Surely right now I could take on an adult human with little effort. I had the knowledge and the system that boosted my strength.

On the other hand, I have experienced more about the system, it allowed me to develop physical and mental abilities at an extraordinary speed, I was close to having the physical condition of an adult and I feel that my thoughts and analysis develop faster, it also helps me to retain more information.

On the other hand, there was the energy, not only could I control it but I could control it by receiving a notification from the system that I had unlocked a state

Dirhaël (level 1)

Race: human (elf 36,5%,????)

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Vitality: 9

Strength: 6

Agility: 5

Mana: 1

Stamina: 3

Intelligence: 34

Wisdom: 19

The growth of his stats had been frustratingly slow.

On the other hand, I have solved another mystery that was going around in my head, what world was I in, something the different books I had read helped me with, I was in Arda, or rather Middle-Earth, a fantasy book world, I was never a fan of the franchise but I read the books and was forced to watch the movies and series.

I knew we were past the first age and we are just at the beginning of the second, which was a weight off my mind because Melkor would not be a problem in my life, but Sauron his lieutenant was waving his hands all over the place with the goal of ruling everything. Something he may not be able to achieve according to history but his victims are counted by tens of millions.

I don't want to be one more of his digits and for me, they could erase this village from the map but I owed a lot to grandmother, I had to take care of protecting her and guide her to a safer place since the location of this village is close to where in the future would be the lands of Mordor, that to an obvious end full of tragedy for these lands, I would have to wait for the perfect moment, the elves don't allow the crossing of the mountain ridges of people

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Today like any other day I was in the shed with grandma helping her in the care of the plants, I had learned what grandma called the basics, which allowed me from time to time to prepare medicines with her supervision, not that it was something dangerous to manipulate ingredients but if the use of some tools and any superficial cut prohibited me for a whole week to return to prepare medicines.

The days continued and with it, my routine of light exercise and learning what I could from my grandmother, she was a knowledgeable woman, and her knowledge was varied and broad; advanced botany, geography, mathematics, medicine, culture, and etiquette. Surely in my world, she would be a historical figure for her great knowledge and for the time.

It was clear that she was no ordinary woman, but I never asked because it would be hypocritical to want to know her secret, even if I hid mine. I didn't know why she wanted to teach me etiquette and when I asked she always claimed it was what separated us from the beasts.

"Dirhaël I have already told you to reduce your moments of introspection, or at least remove that creepy look, that's why no child comes near you" Grandma interrupted, as she watered her plants like every morning "You can even see the fear you cause the poor wretches".

"You always warn me how stupid they are and that hanging around them too much will make their behaviors rub off on me" I retorted as I used to do every day with each of her reproaches.

"Jummm brat, you are far from having the right to retort and leave without a punishment, go prune the bushes plus bring firewood, today we will make pork stew" He replied, giving me my everyday punishment.

As I headed into the nearby forest after pruning all the bushes I noticed how the winds whistled around me as I stood atop a hill looking north where the trees dominated; their green tips were yet another addition to the sea of green that dominated everything beyond where I could see. Whether it was the ground, the hills, the mountains, or the sky.

Knowing that their destiny would be none other than a land where the sun would not illuminate their meadows and desolation would be commonplace, was what saddened me most about knowing the consequences of Sauron. I am no fool, it may well be my task to confront him, but I knew he was closer to a god than a mere mad wizard.

"Hey, freak" a shout accompanied by a thump of a rock came from behind me and brought me back to the surroundings.

As I turned around, I saw one of the reasons I believe this village is beyond salvation, a boy of about 9 years old named Ilmar and his friend Trodan, children poisoned by the villagers' gossip but without the villagers' sense of prudence.

I have always tended to ignore them, understanding that it was not partly their fault and that it could only be blamed on collective ignorance, but lately, they have begun to use violence against me and my continued silence has motivated them to continue and worsen their behavior. Further emboldening their actions.

Now I had to teach them a lesson, I didn't like to hit children but I guess we were evenly matched as I was a child just like the two of them, without waiting for them to know what was coming I quickly picked up the stone they had hit me with and threw it towards Ilmar's face, I approached with a firm sprint towards them while I prepared a dynamic and fast tackling position taking advantage of their surprise for being the first time I defended myself against them.