Chapter 1 – The prophecy
"Finally! We found you!", David exclaimed as he and the others faced Merlin. It had been a long journey, but finally they had found him.
"It is nice to have so many people visit me and be so full of joy of seeing me. Please, come in.", the dark haired wizard said as he looked at the group that had been guided to his disguised castle by King Arthur and his knights. He waved his hand and welcomed them into his castle.
David, Snow, Killian, Henry, Robin, Regina and King Arthur walked into a great hall. There was a giant wooden table standing in the middle, but no chairs. With a wave of his hand, Merlin made eight wooden chairs appear out of thin air and motioned towards them. "Sit down, my friends. And then be so kind to explain me who you are and why you come to me.", he said as he sat down at the head of the table.
A brown haired young man with stern lineaments came through a door, that the others had not seen before he appeared with it, and carried a big jug and a tray full of mugs. He wasn't very tall and didn't look very friendly. He eyed the newcomers in suspicion. After exchanging a look with Merlin, he bowed and left through the door again, the door disappearing with him.
After Merlin had helped himself to the beverage in the mug, which seemed to be white grape juice, he looked at Arthur, waiting for an explanation. But it was Snow, who spoke first.
"We are sorry for the surprise. But we come here in an urgent matter. Our daughter, Emma, has sacrificed herself and became the Dark One. And now we need your help to destroy the darkness."
Merlin watched them silently, as Snow and David, with a little help of Regina, explained who they were, where they lived and what had led to Emma becoming the dark one.
"So, you have to help us. We need to save her. She is responsible for the happy endings, but there has to be a way she can get hers, too. I know the darkness is strong, but she is stronger. She has strong magic, she is the product of true love, she is the savior!", Henry begged at the end.
At the last word, Merlin's eyes lit up for a short moment, but no one seemed to notice.
Finally, he let out a deep sigh. "It appears she is a very powerful, strong and kind woman. That makes me even sorrier to tell you, that I can not help you."
All of them looked at the wizard in shock.
"No, this is not right! Your apprentice said that you are the only one who can defeat the darkness! You have to save her!", Killian shouted angrily, standing up in his seat.
"I can see your hurt, but I can't. If I could, I would have done it the first time the darkness came. But I couldn't destroy it, so I attached it to a human soul, binding it with the dagger to control it. That was the best I could do and that hasn't changed. And I'm afraid I will only make you feel worse when I tell you what is the only way to destroy the darkness.", Merlin explained.
"Tell us, we have to know. There has to be a way to save her.", David begged, clinging to his wife's hand. She had the same desperation in his eyes as he had.
"The only thing that can destroy a darkness is the strongest light magic. That once has been a fairy, but she has sacrificed her life to save all the realms from an evil threat. She left a prophecy about the next strongest light magic. There are only fragments of the prophecy still preserved, which even I don't possess. But what I know is…", he paused and sighed deeply once again.
All the others looked at him, painfully waiting for the solution, as he went on.
"What I know is, the strongest light magic comes from the savior's blood. I'm so sorry. The only one who can save her, is herself. But she can't, because the darkness will not let that magic out. And it can not be destroyed within a body."
Snow sobbed heavily and threw herself into her husband's arms. He caressed her back, pressing his head to hers, as tears streamed down his face. He had heard her cry in this painfulness twice in his life. The last time, when their son was taken from her right after giving birth to him.
And the first time, when he had carried Emma away from her.
The mood was horrible and they decided to leave soon. They had to get back to Story Brooke and figure out what to do next.
Merlin expressed his sorrow for not being able to help them and saw them out, watching from the distance as they used a magic bean to get back into their world.
~~~~~~~~~~Magic~~~~~~~~~~Magic~~~~~~~~~~Magic~~~~~~~~~~Magic~~~~~~~~~~Magic~~~~~~~~~~Magic
After they had left through the portal and King Arthur had led his man out of the protection spell guarding the castle, Merlin's servant went to stand beside him.
"We have finally found the savior, master. What now?", he asked Merlin.
"Well, they are heroes. They won't give up that easily. And if they came from the Enchanted Forest, they will have many fairies in there little town. And hopefully they will get the prophecy from them. We just have to wait a bit longer, Edric."