Aragost, Dunedain Ranger

Ea began with a great song. A grand an ethereal chorus, carried out at the will of The One, by the many whom he had spawned, the Holy Ainur. And together in choir did they shape all that was and will be from the emptiness of the Void before. For Eru Illuvitar was the Flame Imperishable, and his will be done, and he commanded that the World be created separate from the Outside, and so it was.

All Ainur now known by name to the many who are known as the Children of Illuvitar, took part in the Great Song, from Great Manwe, to Grim Mandos and from beautiful Varda, to Merciful Nienna. And even the Mighty Melkor, who would become later known as Morgoth, The Black Enemy, lent his hand in the crafting of the grandest work to even be writ, for stone and stream and sky were all worked into being in those eldest days.

And from these beginnings, did all that would come after sprout, for it was in the endeavour of creation that Melkor did first feel the need for Domination, and yearn to break and destroy all that would not yield to him and his bountiful strength, and though Eru knew of his desires, and made use of them and the discord they provided to bring even greater glory into the shaping of the world, creating blazing deserts and freezing tundra, and yet all of this just gave more vibrancy to the life that was being born in the world of Arda.

And so did progress the passage of time, for now the very concept of time had come to be, and in total Fifteen of the Holy Ones did descend to the world of Arda to become the Valar, and countless lesser spirits with them, though many more remained Beyond with their creator, and the Histories would come to pass, with the Two Lanterns becoming the Two Trees, which would be felled by the Morgoth and Ungoliant. The Quenyan Elves would awaken at Cuivienen and divide across the land into Avari and Sindar and Noldor and more as they journeyed Westwards towards the Light. The Dwarf Fathers would awaken within the Earth, and the Greatest of these would travel southwards for many leagues until he came across that shimmering surface and its crown of Stars, and there build the grandest city any dwarf would ever live to see. And eventually so too did come the race of Men, favoured of Eru, and blessed with his gift of , though they did not understand it.

And the First and Second Ages would come and go, in the same way as the pages of a book may turn, and in the Third Age, there stood a Kingdom known as Arnor. Twinned to Gondor much farther to the south, Arnor suffered greatly over the years, from plague and from degradation and ultimately from invasion from the north, until at last it was broken, and the King of Arthedain did command his people to go into the hiding and live amongst the lesser men as their shepherds and protectors. And the many relics of Arnor, saved from long fallen Numenor, were lost or scattered into the keeping of these last remnants who now stalked the wilderness.

But of all of these relics, one more than any other stood out beyond all comparison. One relic that could set its barer above the Valar in distant Valinor, and equal in standing perhaps even to Eru Illuvitar himself, at least to all who lived upon the world of Arda. For this relic was a simple book, that had once borne within its pages, the full score of the Great Song from the Beginning. On those pages every note and every harmony had been written with painstaking detail, by the hands of one of those Holy Ones who had remained behind in the Timeless Halls, and so whose name was never shared with Men. But when the Valar had come to Arda, the book had come with them, and though any Child of Illuvitar who looked upon those pages would find them blank, for the book was not of mortal substance, nor written in mortal inks, and so was beyond them in all ways, the invisible song did still remain.

And it had, in the Second Age, found itself in the keeping of Elendil the Tall, and when he and his sons and the many Faithful sailed from Numenor before its downfall, the Book found its way along with them, in addition to the Palantiri and as much else as could be saved.

Passed from King to Heir it was along the lineage of the Kings of Arnor, and kept in safe keeping first in Annuminas and later in Fornost Erain, until the last days of Arthedain where it was amongst the many relics scattered to the four winds.

And yet for so many millennia, none had dared write anything within its pages, for while they knew not what it was, all who looked upon it knew it to be a relic of great power and holiness, and the books keepers were all of the Faithful, who had refused the seductions of Sauron and Melkor and would not be turned. They kept to their duty, and as they shielded the realms of men from incursions of Orcs and Trolls and other ailments of Evil, they also shielded the Book from all hands that might think to seize it. And their devotion was truly necessary, for if Sauron had any inkling of its existence and what it could do, he would have searched for it thrice as zealously as he did for the petty trinket to which he had bound his essence in a feeble bid for dominion. But it remained forever outside of the Dark Lord's knowledge, as it had remained beyond the knowledge of the Dark Lord who came before him, who might have traded two of the Silmarils for it if he had not known of its power, and would have abandoned all three in an instant if he had.

Until at last, the tome known as the Book of Beginnings, came to rest in the hands of the first Weak Link in the chain. Aragost, son of Eruantion and Mirihendiel, named in honour of one of the Chieftains of the Rangers, and who went by the name of Wolf Dunedan when amongst the Common folk of Eriador. And in one act of shame, he did open the book, and gaze upon its bare pages, and though knowing that this book was rightful property of the Heir of Isildur, wherever they may be, into its first page he did pen his name, and declare it belonging to him.

And thus did the Strength of Men break, and their futures shatter and vanish as dust on the wind. And in time all the beings on Arda would known of what transpired, for not a single thing could exist upon that world nor any other within Ea, that was not changed by the books influence, as the world was made anew in an instant, and the past changed from its far future, for the power of Eru is timeless and eternal.

If any had the slightest idea of what would come about as a result of this one act, they might prefer that Morgoth had claimed Victory in the First Age. But only for a moment, as they were themselves changed in accordance with the new rules.