Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this fic!

The story will be widely following the plot of each episode for now. It won't be accurate to a T, considering the huge difference that has been made in my AU. But I do hope you like it!

An uneventful month had passed since Arthur visited the Disir. Well, uneventful for Merlin at least. Arthur was in over his head. The first two weeks since he and Merlin had visited them were spent convincing his privy council that sorcery was not all evil, that the Old Religion should have a place in Camelot. For those like Sir Leon, who had grown up under Uther's reign, all they knew was that magic was evil, that it twisted the hearts if men and turned them corrupt. It was almost impossible to convince them of the truth; some of them even thought that Arthur was enchanted.

Once he had successfully convinced them that he was not, in fact, enchanted, he'd petitioned Gaius to show his council what good magic could bring. They had all been around since before the Great Purge, and thus they all knew of Gaius' history, though they rarely, if not ever brought it up. Gaius, having hope for a better future for Camelot, agreed without hesitation.

The people were divided on Arthur's choice. Those who had lived before the Great Purge celebrated the return of the Old Religion to Camelot. Others, who had only known hatred for sorcery, were angered by this new ruling. Arthur spent over two weeks quelling riots at the gates of Camelot. He did all he could to prove that magic was not evil, but he knew that as king, he couldn't please everyone. Merlin was by his side throughout the entire ordeal, secretly protecting Arthur from numerous assassination attempts from neighbouring kingdoms who disagreed with his decision, and even citizens of Camelot.

Merlin had wanted to tell Arthur about his magic for the longest time, since the decree was made, but he was afraid that somehow Morgana would find out. Thus, he continued to keep his secret from everyone. Not even Guinevere or the knights knew of his powers. He would later come to realise that was a good thing, but for now it pained him to continue keeping this secret from everyone, especially Arthur. All he knew was that Morgana could never learn of his secret.

Ismere

A raven landed at the window closest to Morgana and cawed. Morgana was startled from her slumber, and she got out of her bed to retrieve the note that was tied to its leg.

My lady Morgana,

I bear news from Camelot. Arthur has decreed that magic will no longer be outlawed. The Old Religion has a place in Camelot once again. Do with this information as you wish.

Odin.

Morgana frowned. This would mean... Arthur was no longer actively hunting down her kind. Morgana's eyebrows creased. She had condemned Arthur for his hatred of sorcery and the Old Religion. At her right side, Aithusa made a questioning sound.

"Magic is no longer outlawed in Camelot... but Arthur would never welcome us into Camelot again. I-I don't know what to do anymore, Aithusa. How do I know if Emrys is even still hunting me down?"

Aithusa nuzzled her hand in response, dking her best to be affectionate, despite not being able to comfort Morgana with words.

That night, Morgana slept fitfully, despite continually wearing the healing bracelet that was gifted to her by Morgause.

"Despite all that has changed in the last month, we must not let Morgana back into these walls for I fear she still means harm toward our king. She does have a claim to the throne of Camelot after all." Guinevere was sitting on the throne in the dream.

Morgana woke with a start. Her face soured as she remembered the dream she had had. Despite her past friendship with Gwen, she couldn't allow that serving wench to have her throne any longer. She knew what she had to do. She prepared herself to depart for the Dark Tower. Soon, she would claim her throne and rule Camelot as its rightful queen.

Camelot

Merlin and Elyan rushed to Gaius' chambers, somehow carrying Leon and Percival with them. While Merlin stayed with Gaius, Elyan went to inform Arthur of what had happened, hoping beyond all hopes that he would find his sister safe and sound with his king and brother-in-law. He barged into Arthur's chambers, yelling Arthur's name.

"Arthur!"

"Merlin, do you ever learn how to-" Arthur stopped short, noticing that the panting man in front of him was not his manservant. "Elyan, what can I do for you?"

"We happened upon a snake nest while riding with Guinevere, Leon and Percival were hit. I told Gwen to flee, I had hoped she had made it back home," Elyan said, while still gasping for breath.

"Sit down, Elyan. Catch your breath." Arthur drew up a chair for the knight. "Guinevere never made it home..." Arthur paused for a second.

"We have to go after my sister." Having caught his breath, Elyan stood up, looking at Arthur for a plan.

"Gather the knights and Merlin."

Minutes later, they had all gathered in the armory. Leon and Percival were seated in the circle, quickly recovering from their snakebites.

"Gaius told me that the snakebites were made by dark magic. He fears Morgana is behind this, that she has taken Gwen," Merlin started off.

"We would be walking into a trap, sire," Leon voiced out from his seat.

"What would you have me do, Leon? Abandon my queen?" Arthur looked both exasperated and terrified at the sane time. "We depart at first light. Pack only what you need. Sir Leon and Percival, are you both well enough to join us?"

They both stood up together. "We would walk into the mouth of hell for both you and our friend, our queen. We will join you on this quest."

At first light, the men departed for the place where the knights and queen had been riding. From there, they spent the day following the tracks they could find, hoping it would lead them to Gwen. Merlin even tried discreetly using magic to see if he could find anything useful, but to no avail.

Night soon fell upon the men, forcing them to make camp. However, Arthur was insistent on continuing.

"We have to keep going," he insisted. "We have to find Guinevere."

"Sire, its too dark to follow the trail. We'll have to pick it up in the morning," Percival explained.

Arthur finally relented, getting off his horse.

"We depart at dawn," he announced.

The men made camp, settling into a light slumber after eating the dinner that Merlin had cooked them. Suddenly, the whole group was startled awake by Leon and Percival's screams.

"There was a tower-" Percival started.

"I could only feel despair-" Leon interrupted.

"The land surrounding it-" Percival continued.

"It was completely barren!" They both realised they had had the same dream, and continued describing it.

"Surrounding the barren land, was a vast expanse of forest, which seemed to be impossible to get through."

Before they could continue, Arthur interrupted. "The Dark Tower," he said authoritatively.

Merlin opened his mouth to ask what that was, but Arthur noticed before Merlin had even said anything and began to explain.

"It's a legend we all heard as young kids in the palace. It was a place that no man wanted to enter, as it would fill the heart with despair. They would not be able to feel anything else until the despair consumed them and they lost their minds."

"And we're going there?! It's surely a trap set by Morgana! I mean, those dreams that Sir Leon and Sir Percival had were not normal," Merlin interjected.

"You expect me to leave my wife alone with Morgana in that place? Who knows what Morgana will do to her?"

Merlin looked down guiltily. Arthur sighed, and his face softened.

"You can turn back if you want to, Merlin. Before we enter the impenetrable forest, if any of you want to turn back, I will not stop you. We do not know what horrors lie in wait for us there, so I will not blame you if you decide to turn back."

"We're with you, Arthur," Merlin looked at his king, his face only showing loyalty. "As we said, we would travel to the mouth of hell and back for you. And plus, Guinevere is our friend too. We won't leave her behind."

"Then it's settled," Arthur announced. "Tomorrow, we journey to the Dark Tower to save Guinevere."

"Okay! Can we all go back to sleep now? I for one was having a wonderful dream where I was eating a wheel of cheese. Anyone else have that dream?" Gwaine quipped.

No one replied, they just groaned and rolled their eyes, going back to sleep, for tomorrow would be a long day.

Hope you guys liked chapter 1! Honestly I have no idea what I'm doing, there wasn't much change with this chapter in the show. But I do know that next chapter will be huge. Hope that builds up the suspense ;)

Anyway, I can't reply reviews because there's an issue with where I live, so I will respond to relevant ones here!

brtstph: In the episode of the Disir, he spoke up against the return of magic because he thought it would save Arthur's life. Mordred was fatally injured and only the Disir could save him, but they said they would only listen to Arthur if he brought magic back. Merlin didn't want Mordred to live cause he saw the vision of Mordred killing Arthur, so to save his life, Merlin spoke against the return of magic, but that doomed Arthur in the end because the Disir healed him so he could kill Arthur.

The rest: Thanks for all the positive reviews! I'm glad you guys like it:) I'll try to make it as interesting as possible and keep the updates regular:)