Chapter 1: Merlin
I'm nobody special. I'm a perfectly normal person who lives in a small, unimportant village on the edge of a small kingdom. I'm not unique, different, or extraordinary in any way, shape, or form. I'm also lying to you.
My name is Merlin. As I said, I live in a small village called Ealdor. I live with my mother, Hunith, in a small, ordinary house. I'm skinny, clumsy and tall and the result is unimpressive. To the other lads in Ealdor, I'm weak. In reality, I'm more powerful than them all combined. But no one can ever know.
Magic is forbidden on pain of death. That is, anyone found guilty of having magic will be executed. I was born with magic, and I have kept it a secret for the most part. The only people who know are my mother and my friend, Will. But if anyone else were to discover me for what I really am, whatever that may be, well, it wouldn't be good to say the least.
Ealdor is small. Besides me, there are few my age, that being fifteen. Will is a year younger than me, but he is muscular and works plowing the fields during the day. The farmers didn't want me for field work, so I take care of the sheep.
I wake up before dawn every day without fail, grab my staff from beside the door and proceed to round up all the sheep in the village along with a scrawny old dog with no name. He's the ugliest thing you could ever not hope to see, so that's what I call him, Ugly.
Ugly is a good friend though. He's there every morning to help me get all the sheep out to a field where they can graze and keeps me company when I go to fetch their water. He's old and stiff, and with so many old injuries, it's a miracle that he can still move. No one knows how old he is or he came from. He's a bit of a mystery, like me.
With no one but each other for company all day, I've gotten to know Ugly quite well.
He leans his head against my knee and I scratch it for him.
"You like that don't you, Ugly."
He pants eagerly.
It's a simple life, but it's all I have ever known. Part of me wonders, "why am I like this?" Am I destined to be something great, or will I spend my whole life in a small village hiding in fear of what I am, and wondering what that could be? I have so many questions. Yet somehow I doubt that I'll find answers by watching sheep and talking to a dog who looks like the result of a fox and a rat who had one too many drinks.