Facing hundreds of Unseen beings, though Kael couldn't use magic, he wasn't panicked but stood calmly in place, his breath forming silver clouds in the frigid air.
Sure enough, when those spirits charged forward with claws extended and mouths agape, they crashed directly into the magical formation like hitting an invisible wall of force. The impact sent ripples of ethereal energy through the barrier, and though only feet away from Kael, close enough that he could smell their putrid breath and see the hunger burning in their hollow eye sockets, they couldn't advance another step.
The spirits howled in frustration, the sound like grinding metal mixed with dying screams. They slashed wildly with spectral weapons, their forms writhing and contorting as they tried to destroy the formation's protection. Ghostly claws scraped against the invisible barrier, sending sparks of dark energy cascading through the gray realm.
But no matter how viciously they attacked, how desperately they threw themselves against the magical ward, the formation remained unmoved, its ancient elven magic holding firm against their assault.
Seeing this, Kael secretly breathed a sigh of relief while silently thanking Elrond for providing this life-saving magical formation.
However, though the spirits couldn't breach the formation's defenses, their claws and weapons were leaving their mark. Hairline fractures spread across the invisible barrier like a spider's web, each impact sending new cracks racing toward inevitable collapse.
Moreover, his mission was to collect death essence. He couldn't waste even a precious second entangled with these ravenous Unseen beings.
So Kael took out the star-glass vial containing Eärendil's Light and shook it with deliberate purpose.
The brilliant, holy white light from the star-glass became the only true color in the gray monotone of the Unseen Realm, blazing like a miniature sun in his palm. The radiance cut through the shadow realm's perpetual twilight, casting everything in stark relief.
Eärendil's Light, originating from the radiance of the Two Trees of Valinor, was fully restraining and agonizing for Unseen beings.
The spirits instinctively recoiled from the sacred light, shrieking in pain as if the radiance were acid eating at their incorporeal flesh. They retreated in writhing masses, their rotted, hideous faces contorted with unwillingness and desperate longing but unable to bear the purifying glow.
"Cursed light! Make it stop!" one wailed, covering its face with skeletal hands.
"We hunger! We thirst! Give us your life!" Another moaned, reaching toward him even as it fled.
Kael ignored these spirits and their pitiful cries, holding up the star-glass like a torch as he walked out of the magic circle. The light carved a protective sphere around him as he searched the desolate battlefield for his true quarry.
The surrounding wargs, orcs, and evil human spirits followed Kael from a distance like scavengers trailing a predator, not giving up on finding opportunities to attack. They stayed just beyond the light's reach, their eyes gleaming with malevolent patience.
Kael's eyes soon lit up as he quickened his pace toward a nearby location, his boots crunching on what might have been ancient bones or crystallized shadow.
He saw a wisp of black mist drifting near a pile of spectral armor, looking alive as it constantly roiled and churned like liquid darkness given form.
Though just a small wisp, barely visible even in this realm of shadows, it pulsed with concentrated death energy. The very air around it seemed to wither, and even sound appeared muffled in its presence.
Even the surrounding spirits seemed wary of this manifestation of pure death, not daring to approach within several paces of its influence.
Kael didn't risk touching it with his bare hands but took out a prepared black bottle, its surface carved with protective runes. Carefully, he guided the wisp of death essence into the container using gentle magical gestures, watching as the dark mist swirled and settled into the obsidian vessel.
This bottle's material came from fragments of black stone wall Kael had cut from the Paths of the Dead, its surface smooth as glass but cold as winter ice.
According to Elrond, this was obsidian with special properties. Not only could it clear the minds of spirits on the Paths of the Dead, but it could also preserve invisible substances that existed between the realms of life and death.
Since death essence was inherently invisible to the living world, containers made from this mystical obsidian were the only vessels suitable for its storage.
Having collected one wisp of death essence, Kael wasn't satisfied. The bottle felt almost empty, containing barely enough power to craft a simple charm, let alone something as complex as the Resurrection Stone.
From what he knew, the Peverell who made the Resurrection Stone had waited at the Veil of Death for several years, patiently gathering wisps of death essence like a fisherman collecting pearls from the depths of an otherworldly ocean.
So just one wisp was nowhere near enough to make a true Resurrection Stone.
But death essence wasn't common even in the Unseen Realm, manifesting only where the veil between life and death grew thinnest. After methodically searching around Fornost's ruins, stepping carefully through the spectral battlefield, Kael had only collected a few more wisps, each one precious as liquid starlight.
Those evil spirits continued following from a distance, their forms flickering in and out of focus as they maintained their vigil. They stared at Kael with greedy, longing, cold gazes that never wavered, waiting for the protective light to fade or for him to make a single mistake.
Kael wanted to venture farther into the Unseen Realm to collect more death essence, but seeing the sand in his hourglass nearly empty, the last grains trickling through with increasing urgency, he had to stop his search and quickly return to the formation's location.
As a living person, he couldn't stay long in the Unseen Realm, or the realm itself would begin to claim him. His skin was already taking on a grayish pallor, and he could feel his life force slowly being drained away.
Then he'd have no chance to leave, becoming just another trapped spirit in this twilight existence.
Though the Unseen Realm and real world were two sides of one coin, they were like parallel lines that usually didn't interfere with each other.
Ordinary beings couldn't see the Unseen Realm, and Unseen beings couldn't affect the real world. Each lived in their own realm, separated by barriers as old as creation itself.
Unseen beings like the Nazgûl could appear in the real world because Sauron and the One Ring's power gave them the ability to traverse between the real world and Unseen Realm.
Or like the mountain folk spirits on the Paths of the Dead in the White Mountains, they were bound there by ancient curses and unbreakable oaths that anchored them between worlds.
Kael quickly returned to the formation's location, his pace urgent but controlled. Under the spirits' unwilling howls and malicious gazes, before the last grain of sand fell through the hourglass, he inserted the Morgul blade into the formation's heart and released his grip.
The moment his hand left the cursed weapon, the surrounding environment instantly transformed. The spirits' forms and howling quickly faded like smoke in wind, their desperate clawing becoming mere echoes.
The originally gray, dim environment regained its color and brightness, as if someone had lifted a translucent shroud from the world.
He had returned to the realm of the living.
Only he remained in the surroundings, standing alone on the ancient battlefield. The silence was profound, broken only by the whisper of wind through long-dead grass and the distant hoot of a night owl. The round moon hung in the sky like a silver coin, bright and clear against the star-scattered darkness.
Kael exhaled deeply, his breath no longer visible in the warmer air of the real world.
The atmosphere in the Unseen Realm had been oppressive, dark, and bone-chillingly cold, like being submerged in an arctic ocean where even breathing became a struggle. The very air had felt thick and poisonous, carrying the weight of countless unquiet deaths.
That supernatural cold had gradually invaded his body over time, making his blood feel like ice water and his bones ache with phantom frost. By the time the hourglass nearly ran out, even his heart had felt about to freeze solid in his chest.
Moreover, his most relied-upon magic had been completely powerless in the Unseen Realm, leaving him as vulnerable as any mortal man.
Without Lady Galadriel's gift of Eärendil's Light, facing so many hungry Unseen beings, forget collecting death essence. Even returning safely would have been impossible.
He looked at the formation, its lines already fading as the surrounding death aura was nearly exhausted. The ancient symbols flickered weakly before going dark.
Clearly it couldn't support another entry to the Unseen Realm, which was somewhat regrettable.
"Looks like I need to find other places," Kael muttered with a frown, already considering his options.
But looking at the black obsidian bottle in his hand, Kael's face showed a smile of satisfaction.
This journey had been dangerous but ultimately successful. He'd managed to collect precious death essence, the first step toward creating the legendary Resurrection Stone.
Death essence was formless and immaterial. To ordinary people in the real world, this bottle would appear to contain nothing but empty air.
But Kael could sense a small mass of cold, death-filled energy swirling inside like captured starlight, potent with the power to bridge life and death.
Kael looked around the battlefield one final time, then waved his hand to erase the formation's traces, leaving no evidence of his supernatural activities. With practiced ease, he used Apparition to return to Weathertop.
Though he'd left the Unseen Realm in time, Kael wasn't completely unaffected by his journey between worlds.
He spent several days lounging on the castle's sun-warmed lawn, soaking up the life-giving rays until his skin took on a healthy tan. Only then did he finally dispel the last lingering traces of otherworldly cold from his body, feeling truly alive again.
Then he began planning to enter the Unseen Realm once more.
To enter the spectral realm, he needed to find another place where many had died violently, leaving behind a concentrated aura of death.
Kael's first choice was actually the Dead Marshes, that cursed swampland where phantoms danced.
That was the battlefield of the Last Alliance, where countless elves, humans, orcs, and other beings had perished in the final struggle against the Dark Lord. The death aura there was so concentrated that dead faces appeared in the murky water, and phantom lights flickered through the mists like will-o'-the-wisps, a death land eternally haunted by spirits.
Therefore, the barrier between the Unseen Realm and the real world was weakest there, where one could even glimpse Unseen beings breaking through the boundaries between life and death.
The only problem was that the Dead Marshes lay too close to the Black Land of Mordor.
If Kael ventured there, he'd face not only numerous hostile spirits in the Unseen Realm but would also likely attract the Eye of Sauron itself, making the endeavor exponentially more dangerous.
So Kael regretfully abandoned the Dead Marshes as an option.
Instead, he focused his attention on Dol Guldur, the Hill of Sorcery.
Dol Guldur had been Sauron's stronghold during his time disguised as the Necromancer. That accursed place was steeped in evil and death, its very stones soaked with centuries of dark magic. Originally a fortress built by the Woodland Realm elves as an outpost of beauty and light, it had been corrupted and occupied by Sauron, forcing the Woodland elves to abandon their creation and migrate north.
Kael first traveled through the fireplace network to Lothlórien, the golden wood's eternal autumn a stark contrast to his grim destination. Then he used Apparition to reach the foreboding spire of Dol Guldur.
But sensing the fortress's pervasive dark aura, thick as poisonous fog, he couldn't help frowning in concern.
Since the White Council had jointly banished Sauron from his stronghold, Kael had expected Dol Guldur's malevolent influence to fade with time. But after so many months, the dark aura here remained as persistent and choking as ever, clinging to the ancient stones like a cancer.
This was clearly abnormal and deeply troubling.
Kael cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself, the magic wrapping around him like liquid shadow, then Apparated directly into the fortress to warily observe the surroundings.
He discovered the stronghold was occupied by large numbers of orcs and massive Olog-hai, trolls bred to withstand sunlight. Their guttural voices echoed through the corridors as they went about their foul business. Giant spiders lurked in dark corners, their multitude of eyes gleaming with malevolent intelligence, while wargs prowled the outer walls and other creatures of shadow made their lairs throughout the complex.
These beings had made themselves at home, hiding inside the fortress's twisted buildings and even digging extensive underground cave networks beneath the foundation for better concealment and coordinated activity.
Suddenly a gust of wind blew through the courtyard, carrying Kael's scent despite his magical concealment. Several wargs lifted their muzzles, sniffing suspiciously at the unfamiliar smell. Their eyes began to glow yellow in the darkness as they caught his trail, and they instantly looked warily toward Kael's hidden location before releasing bone-chilling howls that echoed off the fortress walls.
Other orcs and Olog-hai grabbed crude weapons, their armor clanking as they emerged from hiding places to look around with growing alarm.
"Intruders! Someone's here!" An orc captain snarled, hefting a wickedly curved blade.
Seeing his concealment was compromised, Kael stopped hiding and waved his hand to cancel the Disillusionment Charm, revealing himself in full view of his enemies.
Upon first seeing Kael materialize from thin air, the orcs showed savage, confident smiles, as if mocking his apparent overconfidence in facing such overwhelming numbers alone.
But the next second, as if remembering something from their collective racial memory, their expressions transformed into masks of pure terror. They began retreating in panic, their weapons trembling in their clawed hands as recognition dawned.
"It's him! It's the bane of orcs, the Black-robed Wizard!" one screamed, his voice cracking with fear.
Hearing this dreaded title, other orcs gasped audibly, absolute terror enveloping them like a suffocating blanket. The very air seemed to grow colder as legends became reality before their eyes.
"Run! It's that accursed wizard! He's come for our lives again!" Another wailed, dropping his weapon in his haste to flee.
The orcs had no courage left to offer resistance, panicking as they scattered in all directions like rats from a burning building. Even the battle-hardened veterans among them, scarred by countless fights, turned tail and ran without shame.
The dim-witted Olog-hai reacted more slowly to the threat, watching the orcs flee in confusion while staring at Kael standing calmly on the fortress wall. They scratched their massive heads with boulder-sized fists, too stupid to understand why the orcs were running from this single figure.
Kael gave the fleeing orcs no chance to escape his judgment. Since he and Sauron were sworn enemies, seeing these servants of darkness, he naturally wanted to continually weaken the Dark Lord's forces wherever he found them.
So he removed the Ring of Power hanging on its chain around his chest, the golden band catching the moonlight as he slipped it onto his finger. Immediately, he felt his magical abilities multiply exponentially as he summoned Fiendfyre with his full, enhanced power.
The cursed flames erupted from his outstretched hands like liquid destruction, enhanced by the Ring of Power until they became towering infernos spreading everywhere with ravenous hunger. The fires took the forms of massive Balrogs with wings of shadow and flame, serpentine dragons with eyes like molten gold, and coiling basilisks whose fiery gazes could kill with a look.
These manifestations of Fiendfyre moved with terrible intelligence, rapidly consuming all combustible materials throughout the fortress. Orcs, Olog-hai, giant spiders, wargs, and other creatures of darkness were caught in the supernatural flames, their screams echoing through the night as they were reduced to ash and memory.
The inferno surrounded the entire Dol Guldur fortress like a crown of destruction, the flames reaching toward the stars as they purged every trace of evil from the ancient stronghold. Even the underground caves weren't spared, as tongues of fire snaked through every tunnel and crevice, leaving nothing but cleansed stone in their wake.
The soaring flames could be seen even from the highest mallorn platform in distant Lothlórien, appearing like a second sunrise in the southern darkness.
The fire burned for what felt like hours, fed by centuries of accumulated evil, until the last dark creature was utterly destroyed. Only then did Kael wave his hand with casual authority to stop the raging Fiendfyre. The manifested Balrogs, dragons, and basilisks bowed their flaming heads before obediently extinguishing without any resistance or thought of turning on their master.
Looking at the Ring of Power gleaming on his finger, Kael felt deep satisfaction course through him.
This was his first time unleashing the ring's full potential, and the power was truly extraordinary, intoxicating in its scope and precision.
Without the Ring of Power's amplification, relying on his natural abilities alone, he couldn't have controlled such massive Fiendfyre with such perfect discipline, much less commanded three separate manifestations of the cursed flames to obey so completely.
Having thoroughly cleansed Dol Guldur of its evil inhabitants, Kael looked at the star-filled sky above the now-silent fortress and began preparing to draw the formation for entering the Unseen Realm once more.
The death aura here was thick enough to cut with a blade, perfect for his purposes. Soon he would venture again into that gray realm between life and death, gathering the precious essence needed for his ultimate goal.