A/N - Welcome to the fully revised version of "Morgana sa scáthán - Morgana in the mirror" Thanks so much for your continues support of my work! I really appreciate it! I'm so sorry for the lack of updates but A-Level exams are killers so you'll just have to be patient for a week or so!

Thanks so much!

Feel free to drop me a review and I'll be sure to PM you back!

DFTBA

Shancy.

xx

Dedicated to PenMagic and MagicOfEveryKind and Chamelaucium

Chapter 1

The sun pooled through the arched shaped windows and lay to rest upon the sleeping young warlock. It was not uncommon for him to be woken by the dawn, he was mostly awake if this was the case, and however today was no ordinary day. Something in the rays of light told him so, they lacked their usual warmth and instead came to rest upon his face, illuminating the dust on his bedspread.

Though it hadn't been the uncertainty of the dawn that had awoken him from his slumber that morn.

He had awoken with a start, sweat dripped down in heavy beads from his brow, his hair was sticky and his tunic seemed glued to his chest with a thin layer of perspiration. Merlin tried to re-gain his breath, sucking air greedily into his lungs, his chest rose and fell with each gulp which broke halfway through the previous. He collapsed back onto his makeshift cot, two wooden boards nailed together with a wrought iron nail that dug into the small of his back if he lay for too long on one side, and found his thoughts drifting to the vision that had broken his sleep so violently.

He was lying by the side of a lake, not a mile in the distance stood an ancient fortress, its mighty battlements has gaping holes piercing through the masonry. From the little merlin could see it was large enough to house a kingdom twice the size of Camelot, yet it lay in ruin. A mighty battle had been fought here in times not so different from Merlin's own.

He was confused, disorientated. The world spun around his head like a child with a spinning top. Merlin struggled to lift his head from the muddy shore, his hair coated in a thick dense mud and his tunic was stained with crimson, which, if seen from some distance, would instantly be mistaken for blood but was in fact the same silt that adorned his curls. Despite his valiant efforts to free himself from his muddy confines Merlin, too weak to even so much as speak, fell flat onto his face.

The grey waters sloshed about the bank, green and black weeds swirled beneath the depths, light glinting and bouncing off of the top of the rippling waves. There was a faint smell of seaweed and Merlin began to feel sick. Then all of a sudden a voice floated through the air, another joined in and another until the entire plane was filled with tiny voices, each struggling to be heard over the others. All sang the same flurry of notes, shorter ones directly following a series of longer ones and it was this pitter-pattering of muted minims that'd aroused merlin from his weary state.

"Emerys" they whispered, a faint breeze cast over the top of him like some ancient spell, as if the voices were the whispers of some giant. But all merlin saw was the charred remains of what were probably a once beautiful kingdom.

He tried to raise his head, this strange new wind whipping about his face, upon discovering he had indeed regained his strength, he drew his knees up to rest underneath his chin and sat huddled in a pile by the edge of the lake.

"Emery's", Merlin whipped his head around to face the mighty gorge walls but yet again saw no one. "Who's there?" he called out to the rock face, though it remained silent.

"What do you want from me?" he all but yelled. Had not all of the Kingdom perished they surely would've mistaken him for a mad man suffering some excruciating mental pain, though I doubt many would've taken pity on him. For the ruins merlin currently resided in were no more pleasant then, then that are now.

"Don't be hasty to know us by name Emerys, for many have taken that path and have not yet returned" they chorused.

"Then why are you here?" merlin shouted "What do you want?"

"Tis not something we feel any want for doing Emerys. We come only to bestow unto you the prophecy that was handed to us centuries ago, when the great fortress of Arandyr that we currently reside amongst was merely a pebble upon the ancient mountain at Atheniyr. You see Emery's, this was always the way it would be. We would come to you in a dream, and deliver the prophecy the 3 headed goddess herself entrusted to us before your birth."

"Kilgarragh told me of but one prophecy, you know the one of which I speak for you call me by my given name. What is this that you entrust upon me so freely?" He asked the sky, unsure of a more suitable place to direct his question.

"We know not of its purpose, just of it's worth. To you. And to Camelot itself." Said the voices, delivering each syllable with ease.

"Tell me of what you speak then, oh faceless ones" said Merlin, arms outstretched he spoke again "I will hear your mistresses wishes, for I am not afraid of her."

"Very well young Warlock. Come stand by the pool"

Merlin took a few tentative steps towards the water's edge and peered into the gloomy waters.