Okay I know what you are thinking yet another story where someone from our world gets sent into the Lord of the Rings world, and in this case you are right in thinking so. I however hope that my story will be slightly above the run of the mill another person in middle earth story. I have never written a Lord of the Rings story I usually stick to Batman or Pirates of the Caribbean. I have written some decend OC's for the Batman world and thought I would try my hand at LOTR, I hope Alanna does not turn out to be a Mary Sue. Please just give this chapter and maybe the next one a chance before deciding to bail on the story.

California Year 2988

Alanna Harrison was presented with the opportunity of a lifetime. She as well as 10 other graduate students were selected for a very unique program that had been started by the university's own Dr. Laver a man who had been an apprentice to the Dr. Kimbel who invented a successful time machine. Alanna studying history thought this program would be a chance for her to possibly get to time travel which would be amazing, however she was very confused when she enter the room to find that most of her fellow students were not history majors but instead various major that seemed to have next to nothing in common.

She luckily spotted one familiar face a guy by the name of James who had been in a few of her classes fall quarter. He seemed just as confused as she was about why such random people had been chosen for this program. They both soon found out however when Dr. Laver talked to the group informing them they would be gone for about a year studying in various places, however they would not per say be time traveling. Dr. Laver's invention rather took the traveler to an alternate universe that was featured in popular works of literate, he had discovered about 10 different places that he could locate with this machine. The reason the students had been so diverse was because there particular major would help them adjust better to the new world they would be residing in, like Kyle the aerospace engineer would be better adjusted to enter the world of 2001 A Space Odyssey than Alanna would have been, seeing as she knew little about space ships.

What puzzled Alanna was when she received her card, it read

"The Lord of the Rings, all three novels."

She was confused because she wondered what these novels had to do with history, and if she remembered correctly from when she read them back in high school, there were a lot of battles in those books. Why did Dr. Laver think she would be ready for that? She was however relieved to discover that James would sort of be like a partner in this project because he had received The Hobbit, so they would at least be going to the same world but in different times. She wanted to wait until the end of the class to talk to Dr. Laver so she waited patiently while he explained the general goal of the project.

They would be given a month to prepare for their journey and each student would be given a budget of 2000 credits to purchase whatever they might need for the expedition. Their objective was to try to their best ability to follow the events of the story, find out what the author did right or wrong, or to try and get any bits of the story the author may have left out.

As class came to an end and people began to file out talking amongst one another with excitement Alanna approached Dr. Laver.

"Dr. Laver I was wondering why I was assigned Lord of the Rings, I'm not exactly sure how I am prepared for this?"

"Well your department said you were very good at what you do and since you have only a month I thought someone who was as good as you at interrupting information about a culture from written text would be able to learn how to assimilate into the world of Middle Earth quite well. You're probably going to have to try to learn another language or at least some basic phrases but you and James can work together on most of your prep work so that helps I suppose." Said Dr. Laver with a shrug. On one level his lack of concern made her feel like there was nothing to worry about, on the other hand she felt that he wasn't too worried what might happen to the students in this new world.

"I suppose, but aren't there battles, like major lots of people die battles in that book, I can't engage in hand to hand combat. What if I die?"

"You're president of the archery club, you'll be fine plus in this world women wouldn't really go to battle. Alanna if you want out of this program all you have to do is say so, no one is forcing you to participate." He said.

Alanna paused for a moment, this program was the opportunity of a life time and she had always wanted to have something like this happen in her life. Imagine what she could learn for an experience like this, and she would be written down in history, one of the first few to travel in the world of literature. On the other hand she could be written down as one of the first few to die in a tragic alternate universe related accident.

Dr. Laver seemed to notice her struggle and said "Why don't you do the research for now and in a few weeks you can let me know your decision."

"Thank you Dr. Laver." She said before leaving the room. Once she was in the hallway she heard someone calling her name and turned to see James hurrying after her. He was rather tall and lanky so he towered over the crowd of people.

"Hey, Alanna right?"

"Yeah, so what do you think of this whole program?"

"Seems pretty amazing, plus I mean you and I get to go to Middle Earth, we will get to see things know one had ever really seen, like Elves, Dwarves, Hobbits, lots of things really. I bet we could get a book published on our journey." Said James with excitement.

"I know it's quite an opportunity, but aren't you afraid of dying or something?" Said Alanna not really wanting to rain on his parade but still feeling the need to be realistic about all of this.

"Sure I am, but I'm sure most people are. Do you think the first colonists in space weren't worried of dying. I heard some of them freaked out and were terrified but they stuck with it and now earth has an empire stretching over most of the solar system. Sometimes you have to do something for the betterment of humanity."

"You make it all sound so noble now, a minute ago you just sounded like a crazed fan boy." Said Alanna with a teasing smirk.

"Well yeah I mean my dad was into retro stuff like that, I grew up on watching the movies on the old blu- ray player." Said James with a shrug.

"They have movies of it, I've only read the book for a reading assignment but that seemed like ages ago." Said Alanna.

"Yeah, since this is out only class and only homework this term do you want to go back to my place and watch them? It could be like our first crash course in the world of Middle Earth."

"Sure sounds great." Said Alanna with a smile. She had decided that James was right, the pros of this expedition would outweigh the cons. In one months time she would be heading to Middle Earth and she still had so much work she had to do.

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Over the next few weeks, Alanna and James grew very close because they were constantly together, studying Sindarian the language of the Grey Elves, or learning about the different races in Middle Earth. Alanna also began to practice her archery in more length than usual and James tried to teach her how to use a sword but she seemed to be failing miserably at it, much to James' amusement.

They had already thought of their sort of back stories as to who they were and why they were in Middle Earth. They had even purchased some authentic as possible garments and Alanna purchased a bow and some arrows while James spent a great deal of money on a Elvin looking sword. Also whenever they were around each other they did their best to speak more like the people of Middle Earth would have spoken. Like today for example the two of them were over at James's place and Alanna has spend the night only because she fell asleep on her book which she was doing some last minute studying on before they would have to leave.

"Good morning Lady Alanna, I hope you are well rested?" Said James with a smile already dressed in his tunic and cloak.

"Good morning James, I fear however my rest was not well, excitement and fear kept me waking most of the eve." Said Alanna rubbing her eyes and stretching.

"Okay can we talk normal until this afternoon, cause we're going to have a whole year of sounding like we are in the Middle Ages." Said James, knowing that this afternoon was when they would all depart on their journey. "And you know what else I'm listening to some classic rap before we go." He said talking out his remote and turning on the sound system. The song "Get Low" causing Alanna to bust up laughing.

"What's so funny?" He said looking at her confused.

"You!" She said through laughter. "You are dressed like a character from Lord of the Rings standing in a modern kitchen listening to such a ridiculous song, it's funny."

"Well go get your tunic on and join me then who knows when else we will have a laugh like this." He said rolling his eyes.

"Fine, I have to go back to my apartment and get ready though, give me 20 minutes okay?"

"May Elbereth protect you, and may her stars shine on the path of your life" Said James with a smirk. Alanna just rolled her eyes, James loved that farewell because he knew she had a hard time trying to say in elfish in fact the first time she tried it sounded like utter nonsense.

Alanna drove home, realizing it would be the last time for a year she would do so. At one of the stop lights she tried to comb her fingers through auburn hair which looked like she had slept on it weird which she had seeing as her pillow was Return of the King last night.

Once home she showered and dressed in her tights and tunic. She brushed her hair and braided in into a single braid going down the middle of her back. She grabbed her cloak and rucksack with was filled with a map of Middle Earth, a few apples, a canteen of water a loaf of bread and some salted pork. She pulled on her boots and grabbed her quiver and bow, right before she left the room she paused in from of her mirror for awhile.

It felt strange to see herself like this, she wore no makeup and her tunic was loose fitting but the green color brought out the green in her hazel eyes. She was impressed out how well her outfit matched that of a normal Middle Earth resident, the only thing that seemed slightly out of place was her necklace, she knew they did not have necklace's with Celtic symbols on them in Middle Earth but she wanted just one thing to remind her of home. The necklace was a family heirloom that had been given to her by her mother and she always kept it close to her. She pulled on her cloak and then exited the house saying goodbye to it for a year, not knowing what adventure lay in store for her upon her journey to Middle Earth.

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That afternoon when she arrived at Dr. Laver's classroom all the other students were their dressed in their respective outfits. Each student was called up one by one to enter the machine and then be sent to their respective lands.

"James!" Said Dr. Laver calling out his name, Alanna and him were one of the last two to leave.

"Wish me luck." He said with a smile before heading towards the machine, there was a bright light and a loud noise and he was gone. For a brief second Alanna felt a wave of fear that quickly passed when she remembered what she was heading for.

"Alanna, are you ready?" Asked Dr. Laver noticing her slight pause.

"Yes, I am." She said stepping into the machine. It was a strange sensation; she was temporarily blinded and could describe the sensation as similar to when someone used an old flash camera to take a picture of you in the dark. When she landed on solid ground she still felt as though she was moving and also felt slightly dizzy.

Once she got over the feeling of sickness and after making she all of herself and her stuff had arrived she stood up not remember when she had fallen over an looked at the scenery around her to her back there was a vast forest and in front of her but rather far across the plains was a mountain range. Judging but the scenery she seemed to be in Middle Earth but now came the task of finding out where exactly she was, and at what point in the story had she arrived. Little did she know the being who would have the answers she seeked was on his way out of the forest not knowing he was heading right towards her.

Praise and or constructive criticism are welcomed, please no flames, if you don't like the story, just don't read it anymore. This story will most likely span a little before the movies to a little after the movies, so I have quite a lot of writing ahead of me.