He'd watched, watched as the world around him slowly changed into something he barley recognised any more. Gone were the castles and kingdoms, the knights and nobles, the dragons and magic. Truth had become legend, legend had become myth.
He'd watched as everyone he'd ever known loved or cared about grew old and died around him. Watched as the world forgot such things as honour and duty and it gave way to the world he saw around him with what seemed like far to many people occupying the same space, with the constant roar of planes trains and cars, where someone could walk past the same people everyday and never know their names.
And he'd waited, waited for that one day he believed in his heart would come, sometime he had to remind himself to live in this world and not just exist. He wasn't sure any more how many years, decades, century's had past but still he waited.
His shoulder length white hair and beard whipped around him in the breeze as he walked, his mind and soul were old so why not have a body to reflect that.
He came to a halt at the same spot he came to on more days that he would care to admit, and looked out across the water. The spot where so very long ago he had laid someone very special to rest.
He'd played the events of that night over in his head countless time wondering if there was something he could have changed, something he could have done to stop it happening but each time one word rang in his ears, destiny. And he'd learned long ago no matter what anyone did there was no changing destiny.
The war against magic was long since over, and all of Albion had indeed been united, however, it was a somewhat hollow victory in his eyes with the price that had been paid on both sides.
He wasn't sure how long he sat looking over the water, an hour, maybe two. Sometime in the past he'd wondered why he still felt drawn too this place the way he did, then he would remember what the great dragon had once told him. Two halves of the same coin.
With a sigh he got up to leave just has the wind whipped around him again much more fiercely this time. He stopped, it felt strange, it felt almost...Magic.
He was no longer the old man as he spun around and cast his eyes over everything. The wind was howling now, the waves on the water were lapping viciously at the bank, the Autumn leaves were swirling everywhere making it almost impossible for him to see anything. In frustration and without thinking he did something he hadn't done in a very long time, he used magic.
Time slowed down too almost a crawl, the wind and the leaves no longer obstructing his vision he could see the water clearly and what he saw almost made him lose concentration on the spell, because there in the water slowly rising was the vessel he had sunk so very long ago. The vessel he had clung too the hope of seeing again one day. He watched as it travelled to the bank and out stepped a young man, blonde hair blue eyes, still wearing chain mail armour bearing the crest of Camelot. It had lost it's shine over the years but hadn't rusted thanks to the spell he had felt an unexplained need too use at the time.
The blonde stepped onto the bank and the spell was broken. The wind ,though not as strong now, picked up again and the leaves fluttered around them.
"Merlin?" The blonde asked sounding horse and confused.
"Arthur!" The now dark haired young man exclaimed before rushing forward to embrace the other man.
The great Dragon had been right, Merlin wasn't sure what this could mean but he was sure they would find out. He could feel it now, Kilgarrh had been right. Arthur was the once and future king.