Hello everyone! I'm glad you glanced at my story. I would appreciate any honest reviews. Also, I anticipate this to be fairly longish (2 sequels after this), and I will try to adhere to the established storyline as much as possible, although I have taken some artistic liberties. I look forward to hearing from you!
Also, Disclaimer: I don't own any of the right's to Merlin, but you probably knew that already.
Merlin's Heart-Chapter 1
It had been far too long since Addy had gone on a proper vacation. She needed a break from work, from the craziness of London, from her life. Just a few days of hiking and I know I'll feel better, it always used to make me feel better, she thought as she packed up her Jetta and began her trip west. Life here is just too clausterphobic, to confining. How long had it been since she had gone back to the woodlands she had grown up in? Two years? Five? More? She just couldn't remember.
As the congestion of the city began to slowly give way to open farmland and small villages, she felt herself begin to relax. The sun shone agreeably in her rearview mirror. the cars she passed seemed to whip by with childlike energy. The farther away she got, the better she felt. However, it wasn't always like this. She remembered her youth, how she couldn't wait to get out of the small little hamlet on the edge of the hill-strewn forest. How narrow-minded everyone had seemed to her then. I'll go off to the city and never look back, she had thought. How naïve! London was far less the sophisticated city she had imagined and far more of the scurrying, frantic jungle she had feared. She desperately needed to get away.
It was only midday when she finally arrived outside the forest hiking trail she had often traversed in her youth. Really, not much had changed. It was slightly more overgrown and slightly less looked-after. But then, this place had always been out-of-the-way. That was precisely why she loved it. She unpacked her gear from her car, and doubled checked that she had all the important stuff with her: mobile, GPS, rations of water and food, trail map, first aid kit, extra socks, poncho, and a lighter. She didn't really expect to need any of it, save the water and food. She had planned on hiking a couple of hours just to get the feel of the place again, to get the smell of the city out of her clothes. Then, she would return tomorrow for a real journey. She smiled and felt the sun warm her face. No cars here, no people bumping into you, nothing but the wind and the birds. She could breathe here.
She wasn't even winded when the sun started dipping below the tree line. That was her internal signal to return to her car. Spotting a large rock jutting out of the forest floor, she climbed up to get a seat on top. She emptied her pack's contents on top of the rock and studied the GPS to try to figure the best way back. Turning on her mobile to check the time, she jumped when a very loud branch crashed nearby, causing her to lose her grip on the phone. It slid down the side of the rock and disappeared into a small fissure at the base. Cursing, she rushed down the rock face to retrieve it.
As she hit the bottom of the rock, the ground at the base, which had looked solidly covered with weeds and dead twigs, suddenly fell apart under her. Before she could cry out, she was falling, sucked into the earth beneath the boulder. She scrambled to find a hand grip in the rock she had just slid down, but couldn't stop her sudden, rushing decent into the earth. Her feet jostled underneath her as they sought to stay on top of the wave of loose pebbles and sandy silt that was plummeting her down. She grasped desperately at every twig and fissure in the soil, but the momentum wouldn't let her stop. The rocky ground scraped and bruised her, until at last, she slid to an abrupt halt. Tumbling forward violently into a dark cavern, she felt her leg twist painfully underneath her and she shrieked.
The sound of her cry echoed in the empty cave and she sensed that it wasn't as large as she had feared. There was a very small pinprick of light coming from the shaft she had just fallen through, but not enough of it to see very far in. It was cold down here, and damp, and instantly fear rose in her chest. She picked herself up shakily, her leg feeling very sore and useless but not broken. Brushing back the long, dark hair that had come loose from her elastic, she hopped forward to the edge of the shaft and peered up.
I fell through that? She thought sickeningly. She could barely see the top, some 20 meters above her. The shaft ran downward at a very steep angle, and she sincerely doubted her ability to climb back out that way on her own.
"Dammit!" She exclaimed and turned back to the cave that had trapped her. Off in the distance, she saw a glint of something on the debris-strewn rock. Hopping forward on her good foot, she nudged at the item and her heart leapt into her throat. It was her mobile! Thank God, she thought, as she picked it up and turned it on. It was working, but predictably, there was no signal. "Fat lotta good your gonna do me!" She said to it, turning it off and sliding it into her pocket. She cursed again for leaving the bag with all of her supplies on top of the rock. There has to be a way out of here, she reasoned. Just calm down, don't panic, and find it! She pushed away all negative thoughts about dying and starvation far, far back into her mind. She would not allow herself to think that way.
After she had explored the exterior of the cave, using the wall to balance herself on, all she could determine was that it was long and not very tall. But it was also more or less empty, free from any wild animals or other dangers. She hobbled on hoping desperately that it would open up into the forest at any second.
Just as she was beginning to think about turning around and trying to crawl up the shaft, she noticed a smallish glow of light in the distance. It was a several meters in front of her and she scrambled forward quickly as best she could. Her leg was aching fiercely now and she had bitten back the tears several times when she had stumbled on the unseen and uneven path. Could the light be the way out?
The light grew brighter as she neared, illuminating the cave around her in a soft, golden glow. For the first time, she could clearly see the walls of the tunnel. They weren't solid rock after all. They were made of a translucent crystals that caught the light ahead and radiated it back. She felt like she was in a room made of pale sunlight. The source of the light was just ahead now, and she noticed that it was coming not from outside the cave, but from a single crystal in the edge of the wall. Its glow pulsed and changed colors randomly to its own irregular rhythm. What could be making it do that? Addy wondered. Strangely, it wasn't the least bit frightening to her. It was beautiful. The colors were friendly, muted, and warm. She felt safe by it, like it was protecting her. Reaching out to touch it, the colors suddenly swirled and collided into a single image. A face. A man's face. She became very still. A curious sense of déjà vu washed over her. That dark hair, those icy eyes. I know that face. But how?
Her hand reached forward, reached out to the crystal rock and the face of the man, and suddenly light erupted all around her. It blinded her and threw her backward, as the sound of thunderous waves filled her ears. Battering her backward, the sound of the ocean pounded in her head. She could feel herself falling but never landing. Her stomach rolled and flipped as all sensation of place and gravity fled. The roaring noise of pulsing water only got louder and more painful. She could feel herself screaming.
At last, it all became too much, and she succumbed to blackness.