A/N: Kamusta kayo? (In Filipino it means 'how are you doing?') It's me again with a fresh new chapter. Thanks so much to those who reviewed my previews chapter and for the encouragements. I treasure every review you guys make.

Also, thanks to those who added my story to their Story Alerts and Favorite Stories. I'm so glad that a lot of you are tuning in to this, and this gives me great motivation to write more.

Hope you will enjoy reading this as much I enjoyed writing it. Please review and comment. Thanks!

Disclaimer: BBC and Shine own the rights to Merlin and the characters of the show. I don't get paid to writing this. I only write for fun.


CHAPTER 9

NIGHTMARES

"Hunith, are you alright?", Gaius' voice snapped Hunith out of her stupor. They were having dinner when Gaius noticed his sister's behavior. Her worried filled eyes fell on the old physician's concerned face.

Gaius sighed, "Before Merlin left, he told me to take care of you. You should be eating your supper or you'll get sick."

Hunith looked at her untouched plate of food, gently stubbing it with her fork. "I'm sorry Gaius. I'm just so anxious for Merlin."

"Hunith you should know by now that your son is capable of taking care of himself. I've seen him go through many difficult situations and he eventually gets through them unscathed."

"I know that Gaius.", Hunith wearily said, "But . . . I don't know. I feel bothered about his trip to the forest."

Gaius could feel Hunith's worry. He understood how strong a mother's concern is for her child and he couldn't blame her for feeling that way.

The physician reached his sister's hand across the small dinning table to comfort her, "There is no need for you to worry too much. I believe he will return, he made a promise, didn't he?", Gaius said with a smile.

Hunith gave a weak grin, "I hope so Gaius. I really hope so."

She wanted to believe that Merlin will come back. But deep within her, she knew something was terribly wrong. The sensation she felt was like her heart was sinking into the depths. But she couldn't tell Gaius about it. She doesn't know if he would completely understand.


Merlin stayed face down flat. He moaned as he felt the soreness in every inch of his lanky frame. He had fallen from a tremendous height and it really took him by surprise. First he was walking on solid turf across a forest clearing then suddenly he was plummeting into a dark sinkhole. Parts of his body were constantly assaulted by rocks and roots sticking out from the sides of the sinkhole as he fell. Instinctively he used his magic to slow down his descend but his reaction time was too late since after a few seconds he crashed onto the thick bed of dried and decaying leaves. Somehow he managed to survive the fall, those few milliseconds of slow down seem to have helped. The bed of leaves was thick enough to break his fall but the force of his weight crashing on it made his body felt like it turned into jelly. Once he got over the shock Merlin slowly sat up while rubbing his head. He winced when he felt a burse on his crown.

Merlin looked up to gauge how far he had fallen. He could be more than forty feet deep beneath the earth. The top of the sinkhole seemed to be covered by leaves supported by twigs and branches. He could see the small gap that he had fallen into. Sunlight streamed down from the gap shining upon him. It looked like somebody had purposely covered the sinkhole and made it into some sort of trap. Probably to catch wild animals, or perhaps, Merlin thought, young warlocks like him.

Wrinkling his nose he smelled something horrible, like rotting flesh. Probably from some dead animal that got trapped in the hole. He coughed from the awful stench and covered his nose with the sleeve of his jacket.

"Great! What have I gotten myself into?", he exasperatedly said and coughed again. He noted how his voice echoed all around him.

Merlin slowly stood up and looked around. With minimal light that was coming in from the gap above him, he could only vaguely see his surroundings. Beyond the curtain of sunlight was pitch black darkness, he needed some light.

Merlin knelt on the bed of leaves and felt around it with his hands, soon he found a broad dried branch. He raised the branch, aimed his other hand on its end and muttered, "Forbyrne.", his blue eyes glowed golden and the tip of the branch burst into flames.

Using the blazing branch as a torch Merlin could now see where he was. He was definitely inside a very wide cavern. There were stalactites hanging on the high ceiling and stalagmites and boulders sticking upward from the ground. Although the cavern was wide and high but Merlin felt suffocated to the place since the only way out of it was the hole he had fallen into. Cobwebs hung all over the cavern which made the place feel evermore creepier.

But what really made Merlin cringe was what he saw scattered on the cavern floor. Skeletons of different shapes, sizes and species. His mouth gaped at the sight.

Merlin looked at the bones. He was reminded of Gaius' books on animal anatomy that he had been reading. Some of the bones belong to horses, some looked like deer, and there were some that Merlin wasn't familiar of. Some of the bones seemed to have been in cavern for a long time because they had turned white. But some were still in the last phases of decomposition. Revolted by the smell Merlin wanted to throw up, but he stopped himself from gagging before he could expel his last meal. Now he knew where the horrible smell was coming from.

As he waved his torch back and forth to see his surroundings Merlin noticed something from his left peripheral about two yards from him. There was figure leaning against a boulder and it wore a dark gray cloak covered by its hood. Curious, the boy walked closer to the figure. He wanted to see what was underneath the hood. Cautiously he reached out his hand on the hood of the cloaked figure then quickly yanked it. Merlin stumbled back in shock when a skull fell from the hood and rolled on to the ground. His wide terrified eyes were fixed on the skull. It was human, and it was dead, very dead. But how did it get there? He suddenly had a notion that there could be more bodies in the cavern. Reluctant but determined the boy decided to investigate.

As he walked deeper into the cavern, he swung his torch from side to side looking for other human remains. And sure enough he saw another body on the ground. From the looks of what the corpse was wearing - rusted armor, chainmail, and sword – the body belonged to a knight from another kingdom. From the crest he bared and the design of his armor, the fallen knight came from Mercia.

Merlin trotted further into the cavern and saw another body. Its eye sockets appeared to be staring above. Beside the body there was another unfortunate soul. It appeared he had recently died, it hadn't been reduced to bones like the others. But Merlin noticed a dagger pierced on dead body's midsection and its wrinkled hands holding the dagger, as if the person deliberately killed himself. But why?

Continuing on Merlin saw another humam corps, and another, and another. There were so many bodies that he stopped counting.

The cavern was a death trap, and Merlin was inside of it. He wondered why there were a lot of human remains in one place. The enchanted forest was well hidden from the outside world and no person can go in or out unless magic was used.

Until Merlin recalled what Anhora said, that only a chosen few were given the privilege to undergo the rite of passage and that the tests could be mortally dangerous.

"Oh no. . .", The young warlock choked when he realized that the dead bodies belong to those chosen sorcerers who also underwent the rite of passage but had failed and died in the cavern. And this made his stomach turn.

How many young sorcerers were chosen to go through this rite, how many had failed and died in the tests? Apparently, from the number of bodies, a lot were unsuccessful. And Merlin feared that he would suffer the same fate. Dread started to seep within him as he thought of that probability. But it wasn't death that really scared him the most, it was failure. With much at stack in his life, in his destiny, failure was not an option for him. He started to react to the fear when he broke cold sweats.

The boy cleared his head by shaking it, he didn't want to let fear paralyze his judgment. He calmed himself by breathing in and out, trying so hard not to pay attention to the stench of death that hung in the air. He forcefully willed his mind to think.

He tried to look at the bright side, at least he was still alive, thank God for that. If there wasn't a cushion of dried leaves to break his fall he could have been a goner. Probably some of the young sorcerers died from the fall. But if the others survived the fall, what could have killed them? What bothered Merlin the most was the body that had a dagger impaled on its chest. What could have caused the man to kill himself?

The cavern was quiet, too quiet. Then all of the sudden Merlin heard something growling from behind him. Warily Merlin turned around.

Slowly coming towards him from the shadows was a pair of glowing yellow eyes looking straight at him. Its sharp teeth were gleaming from the light of the torch. It was a huge animal, and the beast looked like it came from the stuff of nightmares.

Merlin took slow steps backward, he wanted to keep a distance between him and the horrid creature. But his slow retreat came to a halt when his back came against a boulder, Merlin was cornered. He pressed his back hard against the huge rock almost flattening his backpack in the process. He was desperate to get himself farther away from the creature.

His heart was beating so hard, fear overwhelmed him like never before. He hadn't been this afraid in his entire life, and he couldn't understand why. But whatever this creature was, it emanated a strong sense of fear, and the warlock could feel it. The growling creature came closer and closer, until the tip of its nose was right in front of Merlin's cringed face.

The huge wolf was as tall as a horse and as big as a bear. Its fur was black as midnight. Drool dripped from its mouth as the wolf longed to taste its next victim. Merlin shivered, he wanted to run away from it but he was so petrified that he couldn't move. The wolf's glowing topaz eyes stared at him, and Merlin inadvertently looked into them.

Suddenly Merlin was not inside the cavern anymore. He was back in Camelot inside the empty throne room.

"What am I doing here? How did I get here?", he said mystified.

Then from behind him, he heard a very familiar voice called his name, "Merlin."

The boy spun around and gasped when he saw her. "Morgana. . ."

Merlin couldn't believe it. The woman he tried to kill months ago was standing right in front of him. She was wearing the same green dress that she wore on that fateful day. Merlin's mind was flooded with images of Morgana gasping for air and dying in his arms.

The Lady Morgana glared at the servant. Her beautiful face was rigid with anger.

"I thought you were my friend.", she said with venom her voice, "I thought I could trust you. But you tried to kill me. You poisoned me!"

Merlin stared at the lady with guilt filled eyes. He wanted to believe that what he had done to her was right. She was a traitor for becoming an instrument of Morgause's spell. But deep inside him he regretted doing that to her. He was her friend, the one she trusted about her secret, her magic. He cared about her in a way that he understood what she was going through with her magic, because he also went through the same thing.

But all of that changed when she decided to join the sorceress.

It was the most difficult decision that he had ever made in his entire life; to kill a friend, to betray her trust, for the sake of hundreds of lives. It was something that he had to do. However that act had tormented him ever since.

"I had no choice Morgana." Merlin tried to explain, "You were the cause why everybody in Camelot fell asleep. You were the vessel of the spell. I had to do it or else everyone in the kingdom will die."

"Liar!", she shouted startling Merlin. She pointed an accusing finger at the boy, "Because of what you did to me you will suffer the consequence."

"Morgana, no!", Merlin cried out.

Her jade green eyes glowed golden and a strong gust of wind filled the throne room.

In the blink of an eye he was in a different place, he was still in Camelot but this time he stood in the great hall in front of the throne of King Uther. Seated beside him was Arthur, with his head hung in weary and shame.

The furious king condemningly pointed at Merlin, "With accordance to the laws of the land, I sentence you to death, for practicing sorcery and committing treason to Camelot."

Merlin gasped. They knew, they knew he has magic. And king was going to execute him for that. Gaius wasn't there to defend him. He was alone.

"But I've been loyal to you and to your son my lord.", he said trying to defend himself, "I've used magic to protect him and this kingdom."

"Sorcerers are not to be trusted.", Uther said, "How can I believe you if you have been practicing magic right under our noses? You will be executed at dawn. Guards, seize him!"

"No, wait!", desperate the servant looked at his prince, "Arthur, you've got to believe me! I will never betray you. I'm here for you. I'm your friend."

The prince gazed on his former servant. His face unmoved, "I do not have friends who lie to me.", Then Arthur stood up and walked away from the great hall.

Merlin could only watch as the one he swore to protect vanished from behind the door. He never felt so alone in his life.

"Guards, arrest him.", Uther ordered.

Just when the royal guards were about to take the boy, the scene changed again. This time Merlin was in the streets of Camelot. The kingdom was ravaged by war. The castle and the town were consumed by fire. Most of the houses were burned to the ground. The destruction was far greater than the damages that the Great Dragon made when it unleashed its fury. Merlin could hear screaming and shouting from the town's people all around him. People crying for their dead loved ones. The kingdom was in utter chaos. Merlin ran towards the castle gates and into the courtyard. From a distance he saw Guinevere kneeling beside two people sprawled on the stone ground. She was mourning for their death.

Merlin approached the maidservant, he wondered who the people were that Gwen would pour out her tears for them. When he got close, he saw who they were and his heart crumbled into pieces.

"Gaius, mother . . . no.", Merlin said in shock as he gazed at the two lifeless forms.

Gwen looked at her friend with tearful eyes, "You failed to save them, Merlin. You failed to save us all."

Merlin staggered backward, slowly shaking his head from side to side, "No, this can't be . . .".

His mother, Gaius, his only family, they were dead. And he hadn't saved them, including the whole of Camelot. He failed them all.

Merlin was taken to another place again. He was in the middle of an open battlefield. A great war had ended and death was all Merlin could see. Knights and soldiers bearing the Pendragon crest were scattered on the blood-damp earth. There wasn't a single living soul in sight. Only Merlin was walking among the dead. A tattered Pendragon banner flowed in the chilly wind. Merlin knew what this meant, Camelot was at war and had lost.

The boy turned his head sights to his right, he noticed a golden blond head amongst the dead. He ran towards the fallen knight. When Merlin finally got to the blond knight his heart sank along with his whole body as he knelt beside the body of Prince Arthur. A sword through the prince's heart was the cause of his death. His blue eyes stared emptily on the grey sky.

Arthur was Merlin's destiny, the warlock failed to protect the prince.

Merlin started to sob. He poured out his grief as the rain began to drizzle. His life's quest was over. All the people he cared about and everything he had fought for were gone. He had failed them all. There was no sense for him to live, there wasn't anything to live for. He wanted to end it all, he doesn't want to suffer any longer.

With his mind blanked with anguish, the boy pulled out a dagger from Arthur's scabbard. He held the blade with both hands and aimed the sharp point at his gut. He raised his hands and was about to plunge the knife into him when suddenly he heard a strangely familiar voice inside his head.

"Merlin, wake up!", Merlin knew that voice from anywhere. It was Kilgharrah, the Great Dragon. "You must fight dragonlord. You are stronger than this."

The boy came back to his senses. He suddenly become aware of what he was about to do.

"What am I doing?", he confusedly said.

Merlin blinked rapidly, waking himself from his nightmare. He was back in the cavern with the big black wolf still staring and flashing its teeth at his face. The wolf was showing Merlin things that he feared the most; the consequences of killing Morgana, being executed by Uther because he has magic, his inability to save his loved ones and the kingdom, and lastly, failing to protect Arthur. Merlin hadn't realized these fears before until now. They were deeply hidden within him. And he knew now that the wolf was using his deeply hidden fears to incapacitate him.

So that's how the other sorcerers got killed. The wolf was using his powers to bring forth their greatest fears through nightmares petrifying them and ultimately led them to their deaths. If Merlin hadn't woken up from his nightmare he might have had the same fate.

The young warlock looked into the wolf's eyes again, only this time the wolf's power couldn't touch his mind. Merlin understood how the wolf's power worked and this knowledge gave him some of protection against it.

Merlin had had enough of the wolf's tricks, and its bad breath. It was time for him to act.

"Get off my face you over grown dog! Extis!", he shouted.

A sudden powerful force sprang out off the warlock sending the big wolf flying backward. It gave out a loud yelp as it hit the hard stony wall at the end of the cavern and the wolf crashed onto the ground.

This was Merlin's cue to run. He sprinted toward the other end of the cavern, going back to the spot where he had fallen. But he could feel the big black wolf gaining on him. The pounding of its paws hitting the ground made the cavern tremble. The wolf's bark echoed like thunder.

Merlin knew that the wolf was a creature of magic and it can't be killed with conventional means. He can't run away from it forever, so he had to think of something fast.

Suddenly Merlin had an idea. It's crazy, it's idiotic and it's suicide, but he'll get killed anyway if he doesn't do it.

He quickly turned to the direction of the dead knight he saw earlier. The young warlock took the rusty sword from the knight's boney hand. Merlin hastily shrugged off his knapsack and dropped his torch on the ground.

In order for him to do what he was about to do, Merlin needed to muster not just his power, but also every ounce of his strength and courage. Merlin took a deep breath as he intensely glared at the wolf lunging towards him.

He held the sword with both hands and said, "Brechdan an weal d'feluac!"

His power flowed into the blade and it started to glow. It's light illuminating the cavern. Merlin made the sword into a magical weapon for killing magical creatures, just like what he did with Lancelot's lance when they killed the griffin and with Arthur's sword when he killed the Questing Beast.

The big black wolf was closing in, its angry eyes were unwavering, determined to get the young sorcerer who had defied its power.

With the glowing sword in his hands Merlin let out a battle cry and charged.