7 Years Later

Merlin rode on his horse towards Camelot. It has been many years since he has been this close to Camelot. Everything about the forest and layout of the land came flooding back to him. The memories of hunting with Arthur, riding to go on a quest, everything came back to him.

Merlin went to the far north, magic was practiced there. Uther could never get there because of the perilous landscape. It was in the north that Merlin was the most, moving from village to village. The north was also filled with people who didn't know magic, but still accepted it as a part of their life. One of those normal people taught Merlin how to fight without magic, with any kind of weapon and his hands.

Merlin was angry with Uther and Arthur for six years until he had learned to meditate. He looked into the other world and learned how to forget about his past and move forward. Only then was Merlin able to truly accept his magic for what it was. It was not a curse. It was not a gift. It was a part of him and nothing more. Now Merlin was going back to Camelot to fulfill the destiny that he had tried to live six years of his life forgetting.

Merlin arrives at Camelot in an hour and ties his horse in the public stables. Walking towards the citadel, Merlin observes the changes that have been made in Camelot. Merlin frowned when he didn't recognize the lifelessness of the streets, and the absence of guards. He especially didn't recognize the gaping hole in the east wall.

Merlin stared at the ghost town in front of him before he heard a twig snap to his left. He barely had enough time to turn before a bag was shoved onto his head and a fist connected with his stomach. Merlin fell to his knees and someone else ran behind him and tied his hands with a piece of rope.

Merlin sensed another fist come towards him from the person that punched him the first time. Merlin kicked the person behind him that had put the bindings on his wrist and rolled to the side. The person that had tried to punch Merlin ended up punching the person that Merlin kicked. A grunt came from the man that got punched and Merlin had two seconds before the next attack came.

In those two seconds Merlin analyzed the situation he was in as best as he could with the bag over his head. There were three people attacking him, all men, one had put the bag on his head, another punched him, and the last tied his hands. Merlin could easily use most of his senses to see, but he could not directly attack well enough with his hands tied. He would have to get them to attack each other and kick whenever he could.

The attack that was coming towards him now was coming from the biggest and strongest man of the three. It was a punch aimed at Merlin's shoulder. Merlin waited until the man's fist was an inch away from his shoulder before ducking. When Merlin ducked, the man walked past merlin by a few inches and Merlin spun around and kicked the man in the back which sent him into another one of the men.

The smallest man, the one that was still standing, was now all that was a threat to Merlin. The man took out a sword and ran at Merlin. The man lashed a hand at Merlin, but Merlin used his magic to break free of his bindings and caught it. The man's other hand, the one with the sword in it, came at Merlin now. Merlin caught it but was surprised when he found out that neither hand had a sword. Merlin did not realize that one of the men that he had knocked down had gotten back up until the hilt of a sword collided with his back.

Merlin fell to the ground and rolled over before two men jumped on top of him, the smallest and the biggest. The medium sized man walked over to his head. Merlin felt a hand grab the bag and pull it off his face. At first, Merlin blinked a couple of times from the sun, but when his eyes focused he saw the man that had taken his bag off and his eyes widened.

"Leon!" Merlin smiled then turned to the men holding him down. "Percival! Gwaine!"

"Merlin?" Leon asked.

Percival and Gwaine got off of him and stood next to Leon to see if he was telling the truth or not. Gwaine smiled when he realized Merlin was telling the truth, "It looks like someone's been practicing his fighting skills."

Percival helped Merlin up from the ground. Merlin looked around at Camelot then back at the knights. "What happened here?"

"Morgana." Leon said. "Her forces have been constantly harassing Camelot. It started about a year after you left."

"That's why we attacked you." Gwaine said. "We can't be too careful in times like these. But since you don't have magic, we know that you are not part of her army."

"Why haven't you repaired things?" Merlin asked.

"We are in a time of war." Percival says. "Everyone is too scared to leave there homes because we get attacked almost every day. And we can't keep Morgana's forces away from Camelot because we have too few soldiers to go out and fight in their home. We can't get more soldiers because the soldiers that we do have are constantly fighting and don't have time to train new recruits."

Merlin sighed when he heard this. He knew that this was all his fault. Merlin's magic was the only thing holding Morgana away from Camelot. At least she hadn't completely taken over the kingdom, but that was probably just plain luck.

"I should have been here to help." Merlin says out loud.

"Merlin, this was not your fault. There was nothing anyone could do to stop Morgana from attacking Camelot." Leon says. "We are just thankful that King Arthur hasn't died yet."

"King Arthur?" Merlin asks.

"Yes," Percival says. "Uther died after two years of fighting with Morgana's forces. An assassin somehow broke through the guard post."

Merlin never wished so much in his entire life to go back in time. Merlin sighs again, "Sounds like Camelot needs a miracle to save it."

"No." Gwaine says. "Merlin, my friend, what Camelot needs right now is a guardian."