-=[ #7 - The Fall of Numenor, the Tree in Gondor ]=-

You climb up on the foot of the pedestal and lean over the basin.
The water is still. In it, the reflections of stars are motionless.

Suddenly the stars disappear, and the water grows dark.

You see, from a great height, far below a large island with a tall mountain in its centre.

A great fleet leaves the island from the western port, a multitude of ships all heading towards the West, their masts as a forest upon the mountains, their sails like a brooding cloud, their banners golden and black.
A slight shimmer runs across the surface of the silver basin.

You see the air darken and the sea around the island grow stormy.

Waves rise and fall, breaking against the shores of the island.

The view turns to the sky, covered with dark storm clouds.

You see enormous birds fly across the sky in a line, the West burning red behind them and their wings glowing beneath them.

Lightnings strike from under the wings of the birds.

You see the island again, and a great green wave rushing towards its shoreline.

The great wave rises higher and higher, as if striving to reach the sky.

Galadriel turns west, her eyes focusing on something far, far away that only she can see.

You see far below a few human figures rushing around in panic.

One of them is ascending the island's mountain.

Fire bursts from the mountain, and the earth reels.

Then the green, foam-plumed wave rushes over the island, overtaking the tiny figure on the mountain just before it reaches the top.

The whole island disappears under the great wave.

The sea boils furiously where the land used to be, the only unmoving point the tiny island where the top of the mountain was.

Lightning strikes the tiny island, and then the vision starts moving east, leaving it behind.

Far below, nine ships can be seen, fleeing east, battling the furious waves.

Waves race below, many leagues of the sea seem to scroll by.

A shoreline comes into view, lightnings striking the rocky crags.

The vision is moving eastward, following the storm.

Fields, hills, mountains and forests pass below at great speed, lightnings striking the landscape here and there.

A great mountain ridge comes into view below, and the flight slows, circling one of the mountains.

A lightning strikes the mountain top, and the whole mountain seems to shake, rocks breaking off and rolling down its slopes.

Just east of the mountain, a lake glitters below and then a strange forest comes into view, its tree-crowns the colour of pale gold.

A slight shimmer runs across the surface of the silver basin.

A great, branching lightning strikes the top of one of the golden trees, which shatters, splits and breaks into flame.

As the fire dies, the tree stands bare, with a charred, split top.

A strange, silvery light shimmers in the charred split and then fades.

The tree is now barely visible, obscured by rain, as if the sky was crying for it.

As the rain clears, the tree is again visible, covered in golden flowers.

Only the split tree-top is charred and barren, and there is a faint, silvery shimmer around it.

The vision fades, and you find that you are looking at the cool stars twinkling in the silver basin.