Chapter Text
Celeras
by Malare
Chapter 1
Stumbling over
The town lay silent under the shroud of a stormy evening, rain cascading down like a curtain drawn across the world. In a modest office tucked away from the tempest's fury, Charlotte, an archaeologist and illustrator, lingered amidst the relics of ages past. Her fascination with the lore of Middle Earth and the allure of historical artifacts often enveloped her in a world beyond the mundane. Little did she realize, as she delved into sketches and thoughts of distant realms, that this stormy night held secrets that would intertwine her destiny with the very histories she so ardently admired...
Charlotte was one of those girls who admired Middle Earth and read its books and history, cultivating a deep knowledge of its places and people. She'd never guessed this fascination would one day save her life. As an archaeologist and illustrator, she thrived on anything with a few hundred years of history. Even though Middle Earth's long history was fictional, she adored how the places aged and evolved. The events of the first and second ages fascinated her for their impact on the third age. She dreamt of exploring Nargothrond's empty halls, wandering Gondolin's ruins, and strolling through birch woods. Although she loved the woods, she could never endure the call of the sea long enough. Born in a coastal town, where she had plenty of time to bury her mind in books, she sat at her desk drawing the artifacts that her team had brought to light during the past few weeks: a few shards of middle-aged kitchen pottery and fragments of one or two necklaces. Lost in music, her bright blue-green eyes captured every detail. Fully focused, she failed to notice her co-worker, Jonathan, placing a cup of tea on her desk. Startled, she gasped while holding her pen in the air, checking her drawing for errors.
"Jonathan, you did it again! I told you to announce yourself somehow when I am drawing. You know that."
Charlotte attempted to seem angry at Jonathan, but she was never particularly good at portraying anger. Jonathan used to say that Charlotte always reminded him of a squirrel attempting to reach a nut wedged between two trees.
"I'm a little sorry, my dear Charlotte, but if you didn't escape into your alternate reality, I wouldn't have to announce my presence," he said with a smile, taking a sip from his mug.
"You know better than anyone that my imagination is almost infinite. Even a few shards allow me to feel the passage of time and give me glimpses and thoughts of how things might have been, how people lived, and what they saw and felt. It's almost as if I can feel a connection just by touching an artifact or the stones on which they walked. And it feels really profound." She looked at him, but she knew he understood what she meant. Jonathan understood her deep empathy for the past. They both shared a profound connection to history. Charlotte took a sip from her mug as well and folded her hands around it. Her fingers always got cold after a while of drawing, so Jonathan once gave her fingerless gloves just for drawing so that she could still hold the pens with warm gloves on.
"It's getting late; we should head home. The university turns off all the heaters after 9 p.m. to reduce costs," she said, glancing at her computer screen. "Most night-owls use blankets, sports jackets, or tea to keep warm, but tonight is extra cold and rainy."
"You're right. I'll just finish up here and head home. What about you?" he asked, sipping his tea.
"Well," she replied, "I was planning to go home and get some rest. I attended a conference for the last two days and just got back this morning. Maybe next time we can have some wine and bedtime sweets?"
He smirked, "Any chance to change your mind?" She shook her head with a smile, "Not tonight, I'm a bit exhausted from the last few days. But next time for sure."
Jonathan sighed. "Ok then. Don't work too long, it's getting really ugly outside." He patted her head and bid her goodnight. Charlotte reciprocated the wish and waved her mug at him. "See you tomorrow, and thanks for the tea."
Before continuing, she took a mouthful of tea and placed the mug on a nearby desk. She heard Jonathan say "Bye again" from the corridor, followed by a squeaking noise as Jon rode his old bike home, leaving her alone. Now she understood his wine-bedtime sweet invitation: the poor guy was driving home in the pouring rain, and she was here by car... Sorry, Jonathan, but now is not the time to feel guilty! Back to work!
Only a few lines were left, indicating that after another half-hour, her work for today would be done, and she could start making notes for the next day. When she finally finished, she grabbed her rain jacket and backpack. Stepping outside, she zipped her jacket, feeling guilty for letting Jonathan ride his bike home in such awful weather.
She walked to her car, throwing her belongings onto the passenger seat.
Despite the windshield wipers' efforts, the rain resembled a silver curtain. Swearing about the weather, Charlotte left the parking lot and turned onto the street. Her home was not in town but in a nearby village. Normally, it would have taken her only ten minutes to drive there, but under those circumstances, it took her twenty minutes to reach the country road. It was harvest time, and the road was muddy from tractor wheels. Her car slid a bit, causing her backpack to fall from the seat and her iPad to slip under her feet. "Shit!" Charlotte attempted to slow down while holding the wheel with one hand and fumbling for the iPad with the other. She briefly looked down to see if she could find it, but then it happened. The wheels screeched, and Charlotte attempted to counter-steer, but the road was too slick. With a dull noise, she ended up in the roadside ditch.
"Oh, shit! Shitshitshit! Wonderful!" She knew that this would happen! "This is a joke, right?! Oh, come on, Charlotte!" The car was stuck in the ditch, and Charlotte tried to remove the airbag that had just deployed. She now regretted not accepting Jonathan's invitation. Maybe this was the immediate consequence of not getting the hint and driving him home. "You're such a bad person, Charlotte. You're actually so bad that the equivalent of Jonathan's driving home wet is you ending up at the roadside. Wonderful!" Finally, she put the reason for her misery back in her bag and searched for her phone to call her car insurance, wanting to ensure they would tow her car to the nearest garage.
However, there was no signal.
Charlotte stared at the screen, feeling frustrated. "Oh, how wonderful! It's getting better and better," she thought. Looking outside, she noticed that the rain was still pouring down heavily, and she couldn't see anything beyond the darkness. Despite this, she believed that she wasn't too far from home and decided to walk the rest of the way. She couldn't imagine staying in the car when the village was only three miles away. She grabbed her things, turned on the red alert lights, put on the hood of her jacket, and stepped out of the car.
As she walked, the rain mercilessly poured down on her, making it impossible for her to look up without getting a wet face. She began to worry that Jonathan would tease her the next day. Hoping that the village was no more than three miles away, she continued on her journey. She thought to herself, "Charlotte, my girl, it could have been worse. Be glad you put on your sneakers after the conference. Ballerinas would have been totally inappropriate right now."
The ground grew muddier, and Charlotte wondered why the farmers hadn't cleaned the streets after the rain. She could barely see the asphalt of the street anymore, just grass and mud everywhere. It didn't take long before her shoes became soaked. "What a wonderful day," she muttered sarcastically. She looked back and realized the car was gone. Had she turned on the lights? She ran back a little, but the car was nowhere to be seen. Charlotte figured that the battery must have been dead, and the car heater wouldn't work either. She didn't want to spend a freezing night in the car, so she decided to continue walking towards the town.
Checking her phone again, she saw that there was still no signal. Charlotte turned around and kept walking, thinking to herself, "Maybe I'll end up in the newspaper tomorrow. Car found abandoned at the roadside." The rain was now falling even more heavily, and fog began to rise. She was convinced that she had already walked two miles towards the town, but she couldn't see any lights anywhere. It was only when she stepped into a puddle of mud that she realized that the asphalt was gone. "Yuck!" she exclaimed, pulling her foot out of the mud only to step into another puddle. "Just perfect!"