Chapter Text
The Fall Part 1
The hammers in the halls of Aule were going down in a constant rhythm. The heat of the giant ovens brought small beads of sweat onto the foreheads of the concentrated smiths. No one spoke, yet still the work went on flawlessly, as usual among the spirits who served Aule.
“Hey Mai.” Mairon tried to ignore the words he was just focusing on some very small metal parts, which hopefully would be part of a chandelier at some point. “Mai…” The words continued but still he didn’t react. “Psst Mairon.”
A little piece of metal hit his head. “Common now, I know that you can hear me.” Mairon sighed and looked up. Curumo was standing next to him. His silly grin made him look like a fool; Maybe because he was a fool.
He was even foolish enough to stop his work, although it was far from break time and lord Aule didn’t like it at all, when someone didn’t work, like they were supposed to.
“What”, hissed Mairon, he didn’t have time for Curumos jokes. He had to focus. The chandelier was for the halls of the high lord Manwe at it should be finished as fast as possible.
“Look over there.” Curumo nodded to the other end of the hall. Although he didn’t want to look, Mairon still risked a short glance in the direction. Lord Aule was standing there, near one of the entrances of the hall and he seemed to argue with someone.
“What do you think, who is he talking with”, wondered Curumo full of curiosity. “None of my business”, replied Mairon, grabbed his hammer a new and continued refining the little metal pieces, so they would form little stars. He knew that the high lady Varda would like this kind of design.
“Oh common, don’t leave me hanging, I’m just curios”, laughed Curumo. “You aren’t curios, you are lazy and annoying”, said Mairon. Curumo only grinned. He didn’t take anything serious, except for his own words. He was very focused on his voice.
Mairon sometimes thought that Curumo would have a better home in the halls of lord Irmó or lady Nessa, who both liked poetry, while lord Aule didn’t like it at all.
“Who is that?” Curumos smile turned into a very interested look. Again Mairon looked up and cursed Curumo for his distracting behavior. At the other end of the hall, lord Aule was now standing in front of another Ainur, who must’ve been hidden in the shadows of the entrance till this moment.
It was a big man or better, a huge man. Lord Aule was big, but this Ainur overtopped him in height with nearly two heads. He had incredibly long and dark hair, which seemed to float around him like a dark coat full of sin.
The Ainur looked down to lord Aule and so his face was hidden from Mairon. “Who cares, who he is, we have to work, especially you. You know what will happen, when lord Aule finds out, you weren’t working again”, warned Mairon and continued working.
Of course he was curios too, but surely this Ainur was no one special, maybe a servant of lord Namó, they often were as dire as this guy. “Mairon.” Suddenly Curumo hit him on the shoulder. “For Erus sake, what”, shouted Mairon and lifted his eyes again.
The big Ainur had turned around and now his face was clearly visible. Not only Maiorn and Curumo, but also everyone also stopped working at once. The skin was pale and also a little gray, like the old ash of a very hot fire. The mouth was thin, with lips as red as fire, which now formed a little smile.
The face itself was very elegant, formed with the same precision as every Ainur, but it had sharp edges, which spoke of danger, as did the eyes. The eyes of the Ainur were black like the void. And still a fire seemed to be burning within them, like the eternal flame.
Those eyes stared at all the servants of Aule, as if they were nothing but a joke. Slowly everyone lowered their eyes again, for they couldn’t stand the force of their gaze.
Then the eyes found Mairon, their fire was pointed at him. For a few moments they fought with their eyes, then the lips smiled even wider and the eyes continued their journey through Aules halls. “Melkor”, whispered Mairon in shock.