AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yeah, this one's a bit short... :/ oh well. You'll get a longer, better one hopefully soon! It'll be up on Sunday for sure, Wednesday if these characters demand me to write more about them sooner. So, as always, please enjoy this chapter~
Merlin wandered around the cavern for a bit before he saw a wall covered in strange words. It took Merlin a while before he realized it was that language in that book Gaius gave him. The old magic. While Merlin didn't know the language that well, he was able to get the basic idea the wall was trying to say.
Here lies the Crystal Cavern, where magic was born. The crystals here can foresee the future. Only one capable of powerful magic can accurately see the most likely outcome of future events.
Merlin wandered around for a bit, afraid of looking into the crystals. However, he couldn't help himself, and a flash of random images went across his minds eye. He saw flames leaping at a large structure, blood spraying from a chest wound, and a glimpse of the tundra with dead bodies strewn about everywhere. Merlin gasped and walked away from the crystal.
That wall said only someone capable of powerful magic could accurately see the future. Accurately. Merlin hoped that his magic was not that powerful. He felt like it wasn't. He wasn't anything special - just another magic-wielding tribute.
Eventually, Merlin found his way out of the cave. When he did, he saw that he was facing the back of the Cornucopia, and that Freya was on the other side of it. He could see her getting up. Merlin immediately started running toward her. However, flames interrupted his line of sight.
Flames hitting a large structure. He'd seen that exact image just moments before in the crystal. Merlin felt a cold shiver run down his spine.
The dragon came into view, and Merlin started running toward Freya again. The dragon took a look at Merlin and began flying toward Freya as well. However, the dragon was faster, no matter how much Merlin willed his legs to move faster. Not surprisingly, he was running at a superhuman speed, but the dragon was faster still. It's hands impaled Freya to the ground, it's claws going straight through Freya's chest. The dragon detached itself from the girl and flew off.
With a powerful flash of gold, Merlin was right by Freya's side. Blood was spraying from her chest wound. That, too, was an image he had just seen in the cavern. Merlin felt dread creep in on him. The next one had been corpses strewn about the Tundra...
However, Freya was in need of his medical attention.
"Freya!" Merlin shouted, placing his hands on her chest wound. "You're not going to die! I won't allow it!"
"It's... okay... M-Mer...lin..." Freya gasped out. She was obviously in a lot of pain.
"No, it's not!" Merlin argued. He whispered a string of magical words, and his eyes flashed gold. Freya didn't feel any pain, but blood was still going every. It was all over Merlin's clothes, it was all over the sandy ground...
"Freya! Freya, stay with me! Freya!" Merlin felt tears start to come down his face. He mumbled a bunch of other magic words, but nothing would fix her. She was too far gone.
She opened her mouth to tell something to Merlin, but he couldn't hear her. He heard a cannon just as Freya's whole body went slack.
"No!" Merlin shouted, picking up her body and hugging it to himself. This couldn't be happening. It was impossible. Absolutely, utterly impossible...
All Merlin felt was rage. He was mad at the Capital, he was mad at Panem, and he was definitely mad at this dragon. Freya did not deserve to die like that. It was as though the dragon kept Freya alive just to tease him, then struck her down the second he had a chance to save her.
Merlin watched helplessly as the dragon flew away, breathing fire on other poor, helpless tributes. It was the middle of the night, and Merlin was pretty sure the anthem had already played. Either way, Freya's death was not okay.
He intended to prove that.
Merlin picked up his district counterpart and carried her to the lake.
"Ratis ad stagno veni!" Merlin whispered. With a flash of gold, a raft materialized on the lake. He then grabbed the few plants and flowers around the lake and placed them on the raft. Merlin carefully placed Freya on the raft, and placed what was left on top of her. With a simple flash of gold, the raft pushed forward into the middle of the lake. He could hear the angry roar of a helicopter.
"Forbærnan," Merlin said defiantly. The raft burst into flames, and Merlin knew that his face would be forecast in every district and on every tv in the Capital when people woke up to watch the latest news in the Games. After all, it was the middle of the night. No one was up to watch. And, of course, everyone knew that he had magic now. He'd used it in front of everyone.
Oh well, Merlin thought. It was bound to happen sooner or later. It wasn't like he'd get out of all this alive anyway.
Although the dragon had come back, Arthur was very glad that it didn't stay for long. It began breathing fire on the Cornucopia and taunting them, but it randomly jumped up and flew toward someone else, killing them. When Arthur saw that the dragon was leaving, he commanded everyone to go back inside the Cornucopia and get some rest. It was pretty late, anyway.
No one noticed when Merlin defiantly returned to the Cornucopia. All they remember is waking up in the morning and feeling relieved to see Merlin there.