(Author’s Note: This story is rated PG-13 because of its dark and slightly graphic content. It reflects the absolute evil of the Witch-king and is meant to show how Sauron could come to corrupt a man so entirely that he would allow himself to become an agent of death).

Darkness. Darkness. A horrible darkness! My dreams are only dark, full of shadow, phantoms, pain… It was not always this way. Once I could feel and I was more than the specter I have become. Who am I now? I do not know. All there is left of me is shadow and voice.

You are mine. Mine to control and use. You will be powerful because I will make you a name to be feared by all.

I do not feel. I am past feeling. Feeling is illusion. Feeling is weakness and compassion is death. If you let yourself give in to it, all will be lost. Stop feeling! I must stop!

If you let yourself feel, you will lose all you have sought after, all you have desired. Do not feel, do not think.

Yes, that is it. No thinking and then there will be no feeling. If I look around me and consider what is real, I will linger on it and then emotion will well up in me. Listen to the voice. It is truth. How could the voice lie to me? Before the voice, I was weak, nothing, a king without true subjects and a sincere kingdom. Now the voice has made me strong; the voice and the ring I wear on my finger.

The ring… it came to me long ago. Ages ago. So long I cannot recall. But I do remember when I first laid eyes on it. Beautiful, it was and is. It gleams like lightening and power flows from it like violent waves punishing a feeble shore. It is strong and I have become strong along with it. Yes, I have controlled it because the voice has shown me how to make it mine.

It is yours. I gave it to you, because you of all men I deemed most worthy to gain it. No one else could wield its power like you do.

I am power. The ring and I have become close, so near our flesh is almost like one. There it sits on my finger, yet some days I do not see it, because it is part of me. The ring and I together have become true, raw power.

Burning, burning! I feel it burning through my very skin! I can endure the pain, the test. It is a trial to see if I am strong enough to let it remain a part of me. I am! This pain will not deter me. I can control what this ring wills and does. It will not defeat me!

Yes, it will not defeat you. You are more than it. You control it, it does not control you. But your wife, she has more control than it, does she not?

My wife… I remember the first time I saw her. Young and impressionable and ready for love, she was beauty unbounded! My life I gave over to her if she would let me be hers. I would have done anything for her, walking to the ends of the earth if she asked me to on a whim. She was my very being and we were one. My love for her was so deep… No! Do not feel. Do not think.

No! She is not more powerful than I. She cannot control me! Do you not remember? I sent her away. I made my choice. She did not understand my position, my honor, my reward. She hated the ring and abhorred it to the very day I forced her away from my kingdom. She did not see its value. So childish and weak, I do not know why I did not see her true colors before: a lying snake, full of malice and deceit. Oh, what evil beauty can cover!

A snake she was. But you need not fear her any longer. You have won and she is gone. You are mine and the ring’s and we will make you more than she ever could.

Yes, yes. I can trust you alone. You have let me see deeper into this earth than ever before. Oh what my eyes see! Shapes and visions that lesser men, foolish men are denied by their pathetic ignorance. I am not like them. I have intellect far superior. They think there is evil in the world? Ha! I do not think, I know. I have seen it walking the earth, passing by their windows, forcing its way through their doors and choking the very breath out of their throats. I am not ensnared by it, because I can see it. I have been gifted by the ring and it has kept me from evil.

Ah, the dead! If men could but see what I see. Death a gift? Never! The dead are all around me and I see their anguish, tortured by their unending existence. Their pale, white eyes see nothing and they are captive to a life that is no life at all. They exist, but they cannot call themselves alive. What horror lies in their eyes! I will never die. I have been promised years without end.

You will live forever and never die. You will brandish unending might for all the ages of earth and beyond. You cannot be killed by a man. You have passed out of their grasp.

Yes, but how? I know I have passed on. I know I am more than I was. But I want to see it now, before me! How? Tell me how!

You must let yourself become mine completely. The ring’s task is nearing completion. You must become wholly mine. Then death will have no choice but to bow to your will.

I want it to kneel before me like my subjects, in fear! Death will be mine to control. No longer will I tremble at its approach. I will be the master of life. It will quake in my hands!

Yes, it will. You are in command of it and it obeys only your voice. You can use it. That is the only way to become complete in me. Use your power. The ring has given you the ability to do so.

Yet, there are still two who stand in your way. You have two heirs. The ring is enticing them. You cannot let them have it. Show them that you rule death. Kill your sons!

It is here before me. The knife that tells me I can choose between life and death. The ring is mine! Death is mine! They are asleep in the dark. They cannot see me; I am invisible to their eyes. This is the test, the final test. After I accomplish this task, death will be bound because I will show it who is sovereign.

Blood pours on the ground. Dark red pools before my eyes swirl. Yes! I am above all! Death you cannot have me, because I have wielded you. You are mine! They lie in their decaying flesh as proof I have passed the test. Take me now! Make me complete!

You are finally mine. Let darkness in, let it flow through you without restraint. It is pouring in!

Precious burning, how it fills! I am collapsing, writhing. The ring… it is disappearing. I see it becoming finally and totally one with me. My flesh is clear and hidden. My form is gone. Now I will wander the earth oblivious to the eyes of men! They can never stop me or kill me!

Stand. You are strong and more powerful than any on earth. Come to me. You will be the Lord of my dark ones, for you alone have shown your worth by proving death no obstacle. If you can kill those of your own flesh, you can kill those farther removed. Come and stand by my side and exert your newfound power on those of weaker minds!

I stand. The burning has gone and has left behind charred remains of weak flesh. I am no longer man. I am darkness itself and darkness cannot be defeated. I step over the bodies of my sons and walk out into the night. I pass the innocent, the useless. They cannot see me. But soon they will fear me above all others. I am going to my master and I feel his might on my finger. The invisible ring calls out to him, for he has the Ring above all rings. Now I see it. He is the answer to all. He will rule and I with him. He has always been in control. How did I not see it before?

Come, Lord Sauron! I am yours and I will ever serve you. Give me missions of death to fulfill! No mercy, no feeling you will find in me. I will be all you desire!

Yes, you will and are. You are what I have desired for ages and the downfall of your race has begun. Evil will reign on this Middle-earth. You are my creation: Lord of the Nazgul, the Black Captain, the Witch-king, my servant forever! I am your god!

I stand before a dark tower. I have arrived at my home. He is here! I see him in all his glory, flamed and bright. He is filling me, filling me… the Ring. I see it! Illuminating his being! The Ring… it is boring a hole through my mind! Aaaahhh! Now I feel! I feel it and I am drawn to it. I feel again and it is true feeling. I am the Servant of Sauron, Lord of the Earth! I am the Witch-king!