The Real History of Magic
I don't own the characters:
Chapter 1: Merlin's Rise.
A/N: The church stuff will probably drive a lot of people off, but just get through it, I promise it's not a big part after the beginning.
Arwald, King of the Isle of Wight, grew disturbed at the destruction of his beliefs, and the conversion of his people to the "damned god," Christ. In the year 686 AD he ordered his mystic men to end the incursion of Christianity by any means necessary, after weeks of experiments the mystic men discovered a ritual to summon a demon and bind it to their will for one request. To summon the demon a black ritual of sacrifice was required, and the power of the demon depended on the importance of the sacrifice, so while following his own orders Arwald's mystic men sacrificed their king in an effort to summon a demon king to fulfill their goal. The great demon Pan, prince of the incubus and patron of the perverse, was summoned and bound by the mystic men, who charged him with the debasing and destroying of Christianity. Pan knew of Christ and the protections he had put in place to guard those of his faith, and with that knowledge he sought to destroy the protection by creating the prophesied Anti-Christ. The virgin girl Adhan who had been intended as a gift for the summoned demon, became the tool by which he would fulfill his duty to his summoners. He impregnated her and removed her memory of his summoning and her pregnancy before sending her on her way.
In the months before she was due to deliver the cursed child she came upon a church in Canterbury. She learned of Christ and accepted him. Feeling the protection from evil fail to take hold of her spirit, she took to confession, explaining what she knew of her pregnancy to a priest at the church, who called upon the archbishop for guidance. Archbishop Theodore of Tarsus saw the evil taint that had a hold not on the young girl, but on the child she bore, he knew the child would be a great force for evil, or good if it could be made whole. Theodore sent word to the Vatican and asked for guidance and knowledge from the great library. On the day of the child's birth two men arrived at the church in Canterbury, the first was the messenger from the Vatican, bringing with him scroll from the library and guidance from the pope and several cardinals. The second was the displaced bishop Wilfred, who was in the process of returning to Northumbria from the Vatican where he had successfully convinced the Pope to overrule Theodore on a number of matters. While the advice from the pope and the scrolls from the library showed that it was possible to cleanse the child of evil it would not be possible to make him whole. Many cardinals had written their belief that the child could not be saved and should be destroyed for the sake of the church. Despite their urging Theodore, along with the help of an intrigued Wilfred purged the child of evil, moments after his birth. The young girl, Adhan did not survive the birth of her child long, but she managed to name him, Myrddin, before breathing her last.
Papal decree in hand Wilfred made his way from Canterbury the next day, but so moved was he by the death of the young mother, forced into a virgin birth, that he brought the babe with him, hoping to teach him the ways of Christ and to contain whatever unholiness might linger with him. Upon arriving in Northumbria and presenting the papal decree to the King of the land, expecting to return to his position as bishop. Instead he was set upon by guards who had been ordered to imprison him. The babe in his arms sensed Wilfred's panic and let out a cry, his first since birth, and suddenly Wilfred found that he was safe, many miles outside the city of York. Upon realizing what had happened the holy man preformed the "rite of expelling evil" immediately. Hoping that whatever power the babe possessed was either not evil in nature, or could be purified out of him. He did not have the time to test the babe for developing evil and instead fled from the land, choosing to travel south and spread the word of Christ. For years Wilfred traveled and taught, before starting a church in Selsey. Myrddin was taught to control his power, and it was explained to him why he was different. He grew and was good, he had compassion and knew God. At the age of eleven Wilfred took Myrddin to the school of Canterbury where he was to receive a formal education in the rites and ways of the Church so that he could fulfill a great purpose in the name of God.
For seven years Myrddin studied at the school of Canterbury where he found many talents given to him by his powers. It was during this time that Myrddin became truly favored of God and was blessed with the ability to glimpse the future and influence it's path. When combining this with his natural abilities to know the past and understand the present Myrddin was always able to be exactly where he needed to be to influence the outcome of any situation along the proper path. Despite his great abilities Myrddin never felt himself above his peers, and never used his power for evil doings. For his great kindness he was rewarded with stalwart and loyal friends who cherished his wisdom and enjoyed his company. During Myrddin's travel following his final year at Canterbury he heard whispers and fearfully told tales of a demon on earth, and the creatures who followed him. Following the tales of the demon Myrddin traveled to many places in Europe, crossing mountains and seas and growing his power all the time. For six years he chased the whispers until finally he caught up to the demon in the land of his childhood.
Myrddin faced the demon who created him and felt a blackness in him that he had never known before. For the first time he felt hatred. Over the six years that Myrddin had chases tales of this demon he encountered horrific creatures, his half brothers and sisters were wretched and filled with darkness. Only a very few allowed him to expel the evil from within them, and of those most were to young to have a choice. This demon, his father, darkened the world with exactly what he was know for, perversion. He had perverted the form of hundreds of creatures and people in many different ways, most of which were evil. It was in this time that Myrddin knew he was meant to be a perversion too, a perversion of Christ himself, to lead these other beings in a war against god, and to win against Christianity. The power that welled up inside him sought release, but he held it in due to the number of people witnessing the confrontation, which was happening outside the church in Selsey where Myrddin grew up. Seeing his demon father set his eyes on his childhood father figure, Myrddin reacted, pulling all three to a flatland in the east. This is where the battle between the demon prince and the favored one took place.
While Myrddin did battle with the demon, Wilfred preformed many rites to weaken it. In a fit of rage the Demon attacked the old priest, goring him on one of it's horns. The horn broke off as the demon was blasted from the side, but it was too late, and Wilfred died during the battle. Myrddin's grief was immeasurable and in a moment of sadness he drew the horn from his father figures body as the demon renewed the attack. With the horn still in hand Myrddin charged the power within him and called out his wishes in the language of the lord. "Begone from this world and endure the endless torments of hell for the evil you have unleashed upon it. I strike you down and I cast you out. There is no return for the way will be shut up. The pathway to earth from hell will cease to be and those in hell will weep for it's loss until the plain of fire is naught but an ocean of tears." Myrddin hoped his power would recognize what he wished it to do, but didn't know how to control it enough to force something so complicated. He was surprised when a light so bright and white in color that it nearly blinded him shot from the tip of the demons horn and struck Pan, who had been screaming in pain from the moment he heard the lord's language. Myrddin could feel his power being pulled out of him and through the horn, he knew that so long as he could supply the necessary power his words would come to be truth and so he pushed all his will into the spell and watched as the demon was banished to hell. The force of the magic used in the battle and in the destruction of the path from hell was so great the land around him was forever changed. The once beautiful flatland had been turned into a marsh.
Myrddin was about to pass in to unconsciousness when the voice of the lord spoke to him, telling him that with the path from hell closed the path from heaven will soon be shut as well. He told Myrddin of the power of the mystics, which would be cut off to them, and the knowledge of the language of the lord, which would fade. He blessed Myrddin and his line to keep these powers and this knowledge, and he appointed Myrddin to do his work on Earth. When the lord was finished speaking to him Myrddin fell in to a deep sleep and didn't wake up for many days, when he did wake he found himself in a cave, guarded by the creatures of nature, or a version of the creatures of nature, for these were the creatures that had been in the flatland during the final battle. all of them had been perverted in some way, but it seemed, that none of them had been changed in evil. Myrddin believed that it was a combination of the demons power changing them, and his own power purifying them. Chief among the many creatures changed seemed to be the firebirds. There were not many, but Myrddin could feel their power and was drawn to it. One of the firebirds sang to him and he felt as if he was not hearing the song with his ears but with his soul. He wept at the beauty of the song and when he pet the firebird he was filled with a warmth that he could not bear to be without. From that day forward he kept the firebird with him until his death.
Upon returning the Selsey he was greeted warmly by all around and when he told them what had become of the demon he was lauded as a hero. He traveled by foot to Canterbury to return to the only other place he could call home. When he arrived there he found that news of his battle with the demon had traveled faster than him, and he was greeted by many people wishing to gain the favor of someone powerful enough to defeat a demon. He heard many Anglo-Saxons calling out to him by his name in their language, Merlin. He spoke with the archbishop who advised him to travel to Rome, where he should tell his story to the Pope. Myrddin agreed and a week after arriving set out from Canterbury to Rome, to inform the Pope of what had happened and to help with the state of his half brothers and sisters who had not yet been cleansed. He traveled by foot as much as possible again, allowing him time to grieve for Wilfred and to plan the course he wished his life to follow. When he arrived in Rome they were expecting him. He was greeted at the gates as the young master Merlin and was allowed in to the Lateran palace where the pope resided. After a night's rest Myrddin met with the Pope and told him the tale of his life, starting with how he was conceived and explaining that he was raised in God's favor before going on to detail all of the horrors that Pan had created in the world and ending with casting the demon out, closing the path from hell and the Lords explanation of what would happen. The pope was a fair man who had held his position just over a year, and upon hearing that the way from heaven would shut he began to despair, it was only when Myrddin told him that he was to be the source of God's power on Earth that the Pope began to see hope for the world. The Pope spend several days thinking on the situation before calling for Myrddin to come to him. When he did he officially recognized Myrddin's appointment by God and gave him the title "Merlin, the left hand of God." The Pope hoped to have Merlin use his powers to contain the taint left in the world by Pan.
A/N: Imagine this is a history of magic textbook, except instead of going on about Goblin rebellions this will hopefully cover everything from the beginning of real magic (which is different from religious mysticism, even if the Egyptians were pretty good at that) all the way through Grindewald. This is my first Harry Potter story and I plan on it being at least 3-4 more chapters about this length. Also, the details in this chapter were kept removed and cold as much as possible on purpose because of how old the events were. Most of what they learned would have been from the journals of other people or word of mouth retelling.
Pan really is the demon of incubus and the patron of the perverse, and Merlin really was born to a virgin/demon pairing in an attempt to make an Anti-Christ, I just fooled around a bit with how it happened and why. Most of what happened so far is based in history with the story of Merlin mixed into the history as much as makes sense.
The Marsh where the battle happened was the Romney Marsh.
Let me know what you think of the story, or if you have suggestions, other than on length, about my writing I'd love to hear them.