A Couple of Merlin Short Stories

The Fear of Death One: A Creature of Magic

     In the small hours of the night when the stars howl, the moon screams, and gods weep, the darkest of magic stirs in its sleep. Long has it hidden away, kept itself isolated, immobile in its fear. Fear. The great motivator of cowards, and thieves. Fear. That which moves men to be great, women to lead, and the world to change.

     The kingdom of Camelot also fears. It fears magic, and magic fears Camelot. Magic has felt the blood of its children fertilize the tyrant king's lands for years. It fears and shies away. Rejected from the land, it found its champion. A child born with eyes of gold and blue and hair as dark as the small hours of the night. 

     But the dark magic found no solace in a living avatar. There was no child, no human who could ever bear its power, its fear. Instead, the dark magic writhed and twisted and hid away making itself small, less of a target. Some drew upon its strength, using the dark magic for terrible deeds. Even the dark magic feared the Caillich and her charges. So it grew smaller still.

     Dark magic found itself unable to saturate the earth. It killed the land and anyone inhabiting it. The only one to survive a land that hosted dark magic long ago was the fisher king. Even he was gone now. Dark magic had nowhere to flee.

     Instead, it coalesced. It condensed and formed itself into something new. Just the earth long ago. A creature was born. Dark and terrible to behold. 

     But still, the dark magic feared.

     It hid away, invisible to the eyes of those who might abuse it further. Magic cannot ignore its many different aspects. Magic and those bearing it will see dark magic's new form. See it and fear it as dark magic fears all. The darkness awakens the fear in others, those who choose not to fear, who shove it down in order to complete their tasks. Fear cannot be ignored by those of magic and those of magic cannot escape it.

     Dark magic lashes out as if a wounded dog wandering to and fro. It wants to live. It wants to heal.

     It cannot.

......................................................................................

I know. A new short story. I haven't even finished the Angels yet! I am complete and utter garbage. But at least I don't smell. Usually.

No idea how many parts on this one.

Anyway, a ton of stuff has happened in real life quite recently. I finished my first semester of college. I got a new job, lost it 'cause of COVID-19, got another new job. Been taking care of my niece and nephew for a hot minute so their dad can help their mom. 

I now know what it is like to look into the eyes of someone you love and know and who loves and knows you back and see nothing. No recognition. Just pain, fear, and confusion. It sucks. Cancer sucks. Brain lesions suck. 

On an unrelated note, I got back into Merlin. We'll see how long this obsession lasts (again).

Anyway, love y'all. Thanks to new readers. Kisses to the old hats. Cheers to everyone.

~ Sereh

This the headcanon I'm basing this on:

A creature who causes fear so greatly in a person they either succumb to the fear and let themselves die or the creature kills them. Plot twist only those with magic can see the creature. The strength of their magic also affects how clearly they see the creature and therefore how terrified they are, like Gaius would be able to make out the shape of the creature and be nervous but someone like Merlin or Morgana would see the thing in HD and become frozen to the spot unable to breathe because of the absolute terror flooding their minds. 

Second plot twist, the creature can also awaken the inborn magic everyone has in them. Basically everybody has some magic when they're born, it's how they can connect to the old religions magic when learning from 'scratch'. It's that sixth sense people have when they know something isn't right, or they have some abnormal intrinsic talent for some activity like Gwaine and his freakin amazing sword skills. Some have stronger suppressed magic (Morgana) some have less. Merlin, obviously is different in that it was never suppressed, thus why he is so powerful). 

Third plot twist: Arthur doesn't have any magic that can be awakened. He was born of magic so he is sustained by magic. The magic used to give him life used his own innate magic to keep him alive. He was never supposed to have existed so to stop him from just disappearing one day, considering he was originally just a dream, his magic keeps him alive. So he can't use it. Think Frank Zhang. If he uses magic he's basically using the thing keeping him in this reality, his life force. When it's all gone: POOF! No more Arthur. His magic knows this and so prevents him from using it. 

HAHAHAHA!!!

I don't own Merlin.