To enter the Unseen Realm, Kael currently knew of only two methods: wearing the One Ring or being wounded by a Morgul blade.
But both methods were clearly impractical.
The One Ring's corrupting temptation was so powerful that even Maiar like Gandalf dared not touch it. Though wearing it would allow entry to the Unseen Realm, the likely outcome would be corruption and becoming Sauron's servant.
Not to mention the Ring was currently being kept by Tom Bombadil.
As for being wounded by a Morgul blade, such a method of self-harm was not something Kael considered.
Morgul blades were poisonous. After stabbing an enemy, part of the blade would remain in the wound and continuously drill deeper into the body until it pierced the heart.
Without timely treatment, as the blade fragment moved toward the heart, the victim would gradually become a ghost-like being, becoming a lesser wraith under Sauron's dominion, subject to the Nazgûl and Sauron's control.
Even if the victim received treatment and the blade fragment was removed, the wound would be difficult to completely heal. Like Frodo, even after being treated by Elrond, Middle-earth's best healer, he would feel very unwell each year on the anniversary of being stabbed. Only by going to Valinor could he be completely cured.
Kael couldn't possibly wound himself just to enter the Unseen Realm.
Since both methods were unworkable, Kael could only seek help from the "know-it-all" father-in-law, Elrond.
In Rivendell, walking through the quiet tree-lined corridors, Kael was strolling alongside Elrond.
Upon hearing Kael's inquiry, Elrond stopped and turned, frowning slightly.
"You want to enter the Unseen Realm?"
Kael nodded.
"I want to capture death's essence from the Unseen Realm to forge a magical item that breaks the boundary between life and death."
Kael then explained the principle of the Resurrection Stone to him.
Hearing that the Resurrection Stone could summon spirits of the dead, Elrond showed surprise.
"The souls of the dead all enter Mandos' halls to receive judgment of fate. Unless Mandos permits it, no spirit can leave there and return to the world. If your Resurrection Stone can do this, it would be a treasure no less valuable than the Philosopher's Stone!"
Kael shook his head, explaining. "It's not truly summoning souls back, but rather soul projections. They're more real than ghosts but more illusory than physical bodies, more like projections of the living's memories and thoughts."
"That's already quite remarkable," Elrond said. "If it could truly summon spirits of the dead, that would be a power belonging only to Mandos, lord of the dead."
Then they returned the conversation to how to enter the Unseen Realm.
Elrond said. "The Unseen Realm is essentially part of this world's spiritual aspect. Those dead who haven't been summoned by Mandos and remain in this world all enter the Unseen Realm. The Nazgûl are typical Unseen beings. In the real world without Sauron's provided disguises, they are vague and formless.
Of course, this doesn't mean the Unseen Realm is an evil place. It contains both dark and light spiritual beings, having no inherent good or evil. Powerful beings like Lady Galadriel and Lord Glorfindel can freely perceive and exist in the Unseen Realm without external aid and without being harmed."
"But if you want to enter the Unseen Realm, you need external assistance and must ensure you won't be harmed in the shadow realm."
Elrond looked at Kael with a serious, solemn expression, warning him.
"The Unseen Realm isn't safe. The living entering it will be sensed by Unseen beings, and in the Unseen Realm your magic becomes meaningless. You become like an ordinary person, easily attacked by Unseen creatures.
Moreover, you cannot stay there long. If you remain too long, your body will be transformed into an Unseen being, unable to return to the real world! Are you still willing to take this risk?"
Kael wasn't frightened, smiling calmly as he nodded. "For the Resurrection Stone, I must try."
Seeing this, Elrond didn't try to dissuade him.
He brought Kael to his palace, pulling out a scroll from his collection of books and handing it to Kael.
"This is an ancient magical formation for communicating with the Unseen Realm, created by an elf long ago to find elven spirits who refused Mandos' summons."
Then he took out a black sword wrapped in leather inscribed with sealing spells, handing it to Kael.
Kael remembered this black sword. It was the Morgul blade that the Brown Wizard Radagast had given to Gandalf, the weapon of the Witch-king of Angmar, chief of the Nazgûl.
"You need to find a place filled with the aura of death, then at midnight's threshold, activate the magical formation and use this Morgul blade as a guide to enter the Unseen Realm."
Elrond said very seriously.
"But you must remember. After entering the Unseen Realm, absolutely do not stay longer than a quarter hour. Most importantly, absolutely do not let Unseen beings harm you. If injured, your body will rapidly weaken, gradually becoming an invisible ghost, wandering the Unseen Realm forever!"
Kael became serious upon hearing this, nodding. "I understand. I'll be very careful!"
Elrond knew Kael had good sense, so after careful instructions, he said no more.
After bidding farewell to Elrond, Kael returned to Weathertop with the magical formation scroll and Morgul blade.
Arwen also knew of Kael's plan. Though she showed worry, she didn't try to dissuade him, only gently telling him to be careful.
After studying the magical formation scroll for some time, Kael began preparing to enter the Unseen Realm.
First, he needed a place filled with death's aura, somewhere many people had died. In such places, the boundary between the Unseen Realm and the real world would be weakest, so occasionally Unseen beings like ghosts would linger there, seen by ordinary people in the real world, giving rise to terrifying rumors.
Kael first thought of the Barrow-downs.
Unfortunately, the Barrow-downs had been mostly cleared out by Kael. Now the death aura there was weak, and even the Barrow-wights had weakened and fallen into slumber, unable to emerge and wreak havoc.
So the Barrow-downs were ruled out.
Next, Kael thought of Fornost in the North Downs, former capital of Arthedain. The Witch-king of Angmar had led his evil army to capture this place, destroying the kingdom of Arthedain.
Both sides had fought bloody battles there, with countless Dúnedain warriors, human soldiers, and the Witch-king's evil creatures dying in battle, littering the battlefield with bones.
The war was so brutal that many dead were hastily buried near the defensive ramparts, or their bones simply piled beside the embankments, earning the name "Dead Men's Dike."
Without hesitation, Kael chose this location for entering the Unseen Realm.
Bidding farewell to Arwen, Kael used Apparition to return to the North Downs.
He chose an area near the defensive ramparts where the fiercest battles had occurred, once a battlefield meat grinder where every inch of soil was soaked with the blood of Arthedain warriors and Angmar's legions.
Even after a thousand years, the mark of death could not be erased, leaving behind a rich aura of death.
The silence was absolute. No birds sang, and no insects chirped. Even the wind seemed to whisper secrets of the long-dead.
Kael began drawing the magical formation for communicating with the Unseen Realm on the ground, his hands steady despite the oppressive atmosphere. The ancient symbols seemed to pulse with their own malevolent life as he traced them in the dark earth.
After completing the intricate pattern, he placed the Morgul blade at the formation's center, its black metal drinking in what little moonlight filtered through the clouds. Then he quietly waited for darkness to fall.
As time gradually reached midnight, Kael activated the magical formation.
The surrounding rich death aura converged toward the formation like invisible rivers of shadow, creating an invisible fluctuation centered on the Morgul blade. The very air grew thick, heavy with the weight of a thousand forgotten souls.
The surrounding environment became dim, as if draped with a layer of hazy veil. Colors began to drain from the world, leaving everything in muted grays and blacks. The boundary between life and death was broken at this moment.
The moon above took on a bloody hue, and the originally silent surroundings began echoing with faint whispers and cold, eerie laughter that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once.
Looking at the gray, dreamlike, mirage-like scene within the magical formation, as if inside and outside the formation were separated by two different worlds' spatial divide, Kael stepped in without hesitation.
Instantly he felt like entering icy water, the cold seeping through his clothes and into his very bones. He couldn't help shivering as his limbs felt frozen stiff, each breath forming visible puffs in the suddenly frigid air.
Enduring the cold that bit at his exposed skin like hungry teeth, he walked to the formation's center and picked up the Morgul blade.
The moment his fingers closed around the cursed weapon, Kael's surroundings instantly transformed completely, becoming a gray, misty world that seemed to exist between heartbeats.
The surrounding scenery and objects remained unchanged but seemed drained of color, becoming gray and dim, as if shrouded by eternal shadow. Everything possessed an ethereal quality, like looking at the world through gauze, giving a cold, deathly feeling that penetrated to his soul.
This was the Unseen Realm, a domain between life and death where the natural laws held no sway.
And the Morgul blade was the key to entering the Unseen Realm, its dark power serving as an anchor in this twilight existence.
Upon entering the Unseen Realm, Kael carefully observed his condition, finding all his possessions intact. His clothes, his equipment, and even the Ring of Power around his neck all remained solid and present.
But when he tried waving his wand, it was like a wooden stick with no response. The familiar warmth of magic that usually flowed through the wood was completely absent.
He couldn't even sense the magical power within his body, as if that vital force had been severed from him entirely.
Though Elrond had warned him beforehand, Kael still felt extremely insecure. A cold knot of fear settled in his stomach as the reality of his vulnerability hit him.
His greatest reliance, magic, was useless in the Unseen Realm.
He seemed to have become an ordinary mortal again, stripped of everything that made him powerful.
What made Kael's expression even more grave was that in the real world, there had been nothing around him but empty battlefields and ancient ruins.
But now in the Unseen Realm, the vicinity was densely packed with Unseen beings, evil spirits that materialized from the shadow-stuff of this realm like nightmares given form.
These spirits included orcs with rotting flesh hanging from their bones, trolls whose massive forms loomed like dark mountains, wargs with glowing red eyes, and even humans whose faces were twisted with malice and madness.
Mandos' halls only summoned the souls of elves, humans, and dwarves who had lived honorable lives.
As for evil creatures like orcs, trolls, and wargs, their souls remained on Middle-earth after death, either entering the Unseen Realm or wandering about before finally dissipating into nothingness.
The human spirits before him weren't fallen Arthedain soldiers but evil humans who had followed the Witch-king of Angmar in life and continued to serve darkness in death.
After dying in battle, they feared judgment in Mandos' halls, so they refused the summons and chose to become ghosts remaining in the Unseen Realm, forever trapped between worlds.
In the Unseen Realm, these spirits were more solid, radiating dark aura that made the air itself feel poisonous. They were far more real than the ghosts he'd seen on the Paths of the Dead, and infinitely more evil too.
Their eyes gleamed with malice and hunger, looking at him with greedy longing as if seeing delicious meat after years of starvation. Spectral drool fell from gaping mouths, and clawed hands reached toward him with desperate need.
"It's a living person! I smell his living aura!" One of the spirits hissed, its voice like grinding bone.
"Fresh life force! So warm, so bright!" Another moaned, floating closer with predatory intent.
Then these sinister, terrifying, twisted Unseen beings surrounded him densely from all directions, their forms shifting and writhing like living shadows. They exuded the smell of death and decay that made his stomach lurch, their bodies rotted and hideous, skeletal in form, advancing menacingly toward him with hungry anticipation.
The temperature dropped even further, and Kael could see his breath misting in the frigid air as dozens of malevolent spirits closed in, their claws and teeth gleaming with supernatural malice.