Destiny's Harbinger: A(n Unhinged) Merlin and Young Justice Crossover

Chapter 12: Aftermath

When the weekend arrived, Merlin was strong enough to conjure a portal for Jason. I could tell it sapped at his energy, but I was pleased that Jason was with us. After reassurance from Merin that he was on the mend, Jason wandered down the Vault to get a better look at the pentagram, the outline of which still remained.

"I haven't seen a spell like that before," Jason announced when he returned upstairs. We sat around the table with cups of tea. "But I recognize elements. The decagonal shape predates the Old Religion and is typically used for occult purposes, usually necromancy. But there are no signs that anything was summoned or brought back to life. The ground is undisturbed, there are no scorch marks, no lingering malice. It's strange. I don't think I've ever encountered a summoning or rebirth that left behind no evidence at all.

"Inside the pentagram is even stranger. For necromancy, there are usually a few characters or symbols, often runic in origin, sometimes Latin depending on the flavor of spell, in the middle of the pentagram. This one is filled with triskeles, some that predate our origin, some that were popular by the Druids of our time, and some more modern ones. Usually, in the world of magic, triskeles are associated with Druids and nature and other peaceful practices. Seeing it in conjunction with the pentagram is strange indeed," Jason said.

Merlin looked troubled by the news, but Jason had made some other observations.

"Along the outside of the pentagram was a spell. That's fairly traditional. There's a written component and usually a spoken component, sometimes accompanied by the use of a magical object or maybe a potion or herbs, depending on the application. This pentagram has three rings of writing. The inner layer appears to be a form of Welsh that post-dates the earliest Primitive Welsh, but predates Modern Welsh. The outer layer is Latin. The middle layer is the strangest part. The markings are faint, so I can't quite tell the language, but it's some sort of Brittonic that pre-dates the language we spoke in Caer Leon."

This information troubled Merlin. His hands were clasped around his favorite teacup, but I knew the drink had gone cold. He was thinking.

"I've never seen those languages used together," he mused.

"Neither have I. Even without being able to fully discern the Brittonic language, there are a lot of unanswered questions. It's not the language of the Old Religion, which is the strange part, knowing Morgaine," Jason agreed. "But looking at the big picture, I'm completely baffled."

We were quiet for a moment. I tapped the side of my teacup to reheat my drink. It was a trick Merlin had taught me.

"Why did she perform the spell work here? She could have easily taken what she needed and done it elsewhere," I pointed out.