I awoke to a wonderful sensation, the big elf titties in my face as my now very much child form was held against the bosom of a very ample elvish woman who was singing in the elven tongue to my ears.
The soft singing hitched slightly as she felt me shift, and then her beautiful voice caressed my ears. "Ah... Little Othorion you have awoken from Lórien's domain."
I was shifted around in her arms, even with myself giving a mumble of a reply. The woman tittered with joy as she held so she may look upon me more easily and the vision of a long blond-haired elf woman with kindness clear on her face filled my eyes.
"Little Othorion." She whispered as she gently poked my soft cheek making me blink as she continued. "Your eyes burn like a soft golden sun, and yet in the outside of your eyes you have speckles like stars. Truly, you were born of the Valar's grace."
She held me a bit tighter as she looked past me and said with an empty gaze. "The Valar are not so blind, it seems. After Ceydra and Melontios fell within the Misty Mountains, I thought I would need to follow the next ship to the Eternal Lands."
Her hand gently stroked my face as she whispered. "Ah, a child abandoned on my lord's very front door. What else could this be but if not the Valar giving me a second chance?"
My mind then faded away as a soft hum unnaturally soothed my mind. Yet even then, I dreamed of stars being woven into a song of creation. Mountains growing to the rhythm of the war drum. And life was sung into the world in an orchestra of countless different forms.
I awoke at some point with my body having been moved from the woman's arms and into a well-padded bed made out of perfectly carved stone and wood that was very low to the ground.
And with a bit of effort, I sat up a bit... And I inspected my surroundings along with myself.
First, I was inside of a well-cared-for room that although very well cared for. Had obviously seen use over a great many years.
And as I inspected myself, I realized that I had been de-aged to the form of like a three-year-old, physically it seemed. So while I wasn't a baby... I was basically just a toddler at this point.
'At least I get to pretend to skip the whole potty training phase... Please, if there is a god in this world, allow this world to have plumbing.' I prayed before I refocused on myself in particular.
While I had been turned into some kind of demi-god elf with pointy ears included. I still had all my limbs and such, and longer hair than I would like. But there was one thing I noticed as I looked as close as I could to my skin.
'The curse of divinity from Marika...' I mused as I could see in the lines and pores of my skin golden and silver lines that almost invisibly ran through my skin.
Then the door to the room opened, and I looked over to see the form of the woman who was holding me previously.
There was a pause as her gaze met mine, and I realized she was also carrying a bowl filled with some kind of soup or something.
"You are awake." She said softly before she visibly took a breath and walked over before putting the bowl on a side table, and brought a chair over to sit in front of me.
I nodded as she continued. "Do you have a name?"
I paused at that as my name of Jake Bariss just felt... Wrong.
She also seemed to realize my confusion as she said carefully. "Lord Elrond has adopted you and given you the name Othorion Taltharion. And-"
Drawing off she paused before she said softly. "Lord Elrond declared that I would act as your mother and caretaker."
So... I was de-aged to a fucking toddler by my sponsor due to how elves clearly aged so much slower than the mortal races.
"Did... Was I left with a note or anything?" I asked quietly.
The woman shook her head before she gently took my hand into her own and she spoke. "My name is Celestine. I hope you can be carefree in my care as you grow up."
I slowly nodded as we both were clearly unaware of how to go about this thing. As I had been literally thrust onto this woman without warning.
Still, I accepted the name even as a soft gurgle rang out from my stomach, which made Celestine give a soft giggle and she reached for the soup to bring it close to me.
"Here... Let me feed you then, Othorion." She said softly, and seeing the larger bowl and ornate spoon, she carried.
I didn't put up a fight as she began feeding me a rich stew of some sort.
Now that I knew that I wasn't in a threatening situation. I focused more on my cheat in particular.
Blueprints of weapons of power, not only in the form of swords but in magical constructs, and the glorious truth of the universe ran through my mind.
I could feel the divinity and power of the glinstone stars running through my veins, with my divinity preventing the astral power of the stars from turning me into the gems and crystal like other Grandmaster Glinstone Sorcerers faced.
And at my core, I could feel it. I could feel the ability to channel the power of the shard of the Elden Ring within myself to go to the Lands Between.
'Was the Land's Between pulled closer to this universe?' I wondered as my ability did make sense... Kinda, as I would need to gather special materials from the Land's Between to make legendary weapons.
As where else but the Lands Between would I be able to find multiple dragons to slay and get materials from? Here? My mind imagined the fucking massive Smaug running into early game dragons you come across in Elden Ring.
Where else would I get samples of the Scarlet Rot to make weapons or otherwise get the pieces to make my own Elden Ring?
But yeah, Smaug would utterly destroy any Elden Ring dragon in just size alone, until we got to the larger dragons that were in lore much larger than shown in-game.
"You need not be lost in thought, child. Regardless of what happened, you have a home here now." Celestine spoke, which pulled me out of my thoughts.
I gave a small smile and I said softly. "I... I will try."
With that, she seemed finished in feeding me with her taking to show me the bathroom, which consisted of a normal toilet yes. But one that used water that came from a pipe above to flush away any mess down a pipe that led deep into the earth.
Then she led me around her four-bedroom house and showed me where everything was. The kitchen also doubled as a store room for preserved food. Especially grains and vegetables in particular.
But also... The house was painfully empty despite the many decorations, decorations that had also clearly been removed from a couple of walls. I could see where paintings had been removed very notably.
Then there was the empty bedrooms. And as Celestine showed me them, she made no mention of the previous occupants as she stared with dull eyes at the once occupied rooms.
"Do you have any books to read?" I asked to pull Celestine from her thoughts.
As seeing as I wasn't going on training trips, or in any rush or danger... Hell, I had no idea where I was in the LOTR timeline. Learning about the world itself was the best course of action.
Celestine nodded and, with my hand hers, she said gently. "Yes, Othorion. I do have a small library next to my own bedroom."
She brought me towards her bedroom, and as she said there was a small sitting room rest next to it with a window that let in a lot of natural light. And the right wall was a giant bookcase that was covered with a blanket.
"You need to cover books when you aren't reading them, Othorion. Otherwise, it ages them quickly when they could last for much longer outside of sunlight." She spoke as I confusedly moved the blanket aside.
Then it hit me... She meant it aged books by the logic of elves who were immortal.
Still, I looked at the books, and it hit me that although I had the common tongue and elvish fused into my mind. I still... Coudn't read.
"Can you teach me how to read?" I asked with a hopeful look to Celestine.
And the elf smiled, and I felt her soft hand land on my head as she whispered. "Of course... I would love to teach you Othorion."
Celestine gently led me to a long couch that was padded with what felt like countless feather's and before I could react, she pulled me into her lap with a large book laying in my lap.
"This book is a history of Middle-earth told by several bards and their stories collected and put together into this book. It isn't so dry and you are definitely not an uneducated child ufufu." She giggled lightly.
And so Celestine began to slowly read to me while tracing her words across the tightly written script that was used for this world.
Thankfully! The world's script was written in a 26-letter format similar to English so after a while. I was able to start to put things together.
Though it was going to be a long while before I truly understood written things in the common tongue. Let alone understanding written Elvish.
After an hour of reading to me, Celestine spoke as she played with my gleaming golden hair. "Othorion, I need to go speak with someone. Can you please stay here for a couple of minutes?"
I nodded as I realized she likely needed to go get Elrond to tell him I was awake. Or at least tell one of the servants, perhaps.
Still, I watched the beautiful elf who was supposed to be my adoptive mother move with elvish grace that left no sounds as she left.
Leaving me alone in the room for what I knew with how swiftly she was walking. Only a couple of minutes to be.
And in that time, I thoughtfully pulled the book over, and I went to the very back of the book to see the latest of tales. According to the book, anyway.
But seeing the wall of text and no pictures, I could only give up, as I still needed to learn the common tongue's written word for now.
'Hmm, trying to see if the events of The Hobbit would be weird if I asked if Smaug was killed. Well, it doesn't really matter with my age currently.' I thought as I moved the heavy book aside.
And then my not even a couple of minutes later... I got to meet my new 'father' in Elrond Peredhel, the wise lord of Rivendell.
There was a moment of silence as our gaze met, and then I couldn't help but ask helplessly. "Do I need to call you father now?"
To which Elrond's face twitched as he himself was almost certainly asking the same question.