Wow, I must admit that I expected people to not believe that he was truly dead and make up excuses as to how he could still be alive or reborn, but apparently I was wrong in that assumption. Too bad really, I would have found it quite amusing to have to resort to writing replies that would heavily indicate that he was dead, without me ever directly lying about it.
Oh, and now this: One of my friends, which I have been discussing this story and the following with, has told me that he was not sure whether I was cruel or generous to Mercury for letting him live, and I believe that he might have a point, but I am not done with Mercury yet.
A better tomorrow?
Mercury POV
A gasp, quickly followed by a deep breath, escaped Mercury's mouth. His entire body ached, itched and tickled at the same time. He could see a myriad of colours, smell a million different fragrances, taste everything he had ever eaten, and he heard a thousand different sounds all at once. His eyes felt like hot white iron had been sunk into them, while they at the same time also felt like he had put them into ice, but he could not open them, they did not obey him for some reason. The same accounted for the rest of his body, but Mercury only had a faction of a second to register all of this, before he was swept away into unconsciousness.
When Mercury next came to awareness, he was still half-asleep. His senses had stopped playing tricks on him, so he was able to recognize the soft bed and pillow with the warm blanket, which he was currently lying in. He thought he could hear the chirping of birds and feel a gentle breeze caress his body.
Mmm, soft bed. Don't want to get up, Mercury's drowsy mind thought to itself, before full awareness kicked in, I am alive?
He instantly fully awoke and took the deepest breath he had ever taken, and then another and another, like his life depended on his ability to draw in as much air as possible. His eyes flashed completely open, but were just as quickly closed again, because they had not adjusted themselves to the light yet.
His back was arched, and he almost instantaneously tried to sit up, but was pushed down by a gentle yet firm hand. "Breathe slowly", a voice spoke, but Mercury was unable to identify anything in the voice besides the words.
Mercury slowly did as he was told, while his eyes kept flashing open and then close just as suddenly from the immense amount of light, which he saw through them. A gasp could be heard from the unknown figure as he did so, but Mercury knew not the reason behind this.
After a while, his eyes finally adjusted somewhat to the light, so that he could now see who was holding him down. It had been Arya, who had held him down and told him to breathe slowly, but why she was even here, Mercury could not understand, as he had clearly betrayed them all.
She held a completely emotionless mask on her face, but her eyes betrayed that something had greatly shocked her. Probably that I am alive, Mercury reasoned to himself, before he asked in a cracked voice, "Kilgharrah?"
"Safe", she murmured, before forcing a cup of water to his lips, which he only reluctantly drank from.
"And Galbatorix?", Mercury asked in a slightly stronger voice.
"Dead", she simply spoke, before she retreated back out of his vision, "Eragon is to arrive soon. You may talk later then".
Mercury thought about a lot of questions, the primary being why he was still alive, but he held his tongue and instead opted to study the room, which he had been lain in. It was a fairly large room with a window, which had a view to a beautiful garden. Bookshelves lined some of the walls, and a fireplace could be seen at the far end. Arya sat in a chair next to the door, which was at the opposite side of the room as the bed. She seemed to be studying him with an intensity, which unnerved Mercury greatly.
Strangely enough, all of the colours in the room seemed to be deeper and more nuanced than Mercury had expected, and even the shadows seemed to be more lit, like a person had lighted them with a flashlight, but had avoided to let the light hit the surrounding areas, which were being lit by the sun's rays.
Mercury could see the wood in the shadows so clearly that even though they were at the opposite end of the room, he could still distinguish each of the grains in the wood.
This discovery astounded Mercury, as he was fairly sure that either his eyesight had changed or someone had taken the time and money to draw up each and every line in the house, make all the shadowed areas appear lighter and colour everything in vibrant colours.
He tried rubbing his eyes, but when he opened them again, everything still looked the same. What has happened?, Mercury managed to ask himself mentally, before the door went open and Eragon walked in. He looked to be torn somewhere between annoyance and curiosity, but when he laid his eyes on Mercury, he gasped in shock, before he quickly hid his reaction again.
"Could someone tell me why I am still alive?", Mercury nervously asked the two.
"We can talk about that after we have finished questioning you", Eragon said in a cold voice, "we have not told anyone about what really happened in the throne room yet, because we wanted you to get a chance to explain yourself, before we passed judgement on you".
"We?", Mercury said in a doubtful voice.
"The Eldunarya convinced me to not just throw you in prison, before you had explained what happened and why you were able to wipe the memory of their conversation with you", Eragon continued in a slightly irritated voice, before almost shouting, "why did you do it? Why did you betray us, the Varden and all of Alagaësia?"
Mercury gave a tired sigh, as his viewing of his plan in his mind was still fresh, before he said in a slow and careful voice, "I did it for tomorrow's sake".
"Whose tomorrow?", Arya said in an emotionless voice.
"The dragon riders', the elves', the humans', the dwarves', the urgalgras'...and Kilgharrah's", Mercury calmly but hesitantly spoke, while he only added the last part as a small whisper, but he was sure that they heard it.
"By betraying them all to Galbatorix?", Eragon asked confused.
"Yes", Mercury said with a small sigh, while he averted his gaze away from them.
"Why?", Eragon continued.
"I felt his power firsthand at Belatona, and I realized that you would never be able to beat him", Mercury said detached, "I knew that I would be able to kill him eventually, but I needed resources, unrestricted access to Urû'baen along with the rest of Alagaësia, and more time, decades to be exact. Once Galbatorix had been removed from power, you and all the dragon riders to come would have been released from your oaths, and would be free and able to rebuild Alagaësia".
"What exactly did you plan to do, and how did you avoid your oaths to Galbatorix?", Eragon asked with a little bit of fear seeping into his voice.
Mercury released a small nervous chuckle, as he said, "I think it is best for your own peace of mind that you do not know of what I planned, but before you say anything, know that I had the Eldunarya's approval to go ahead if I deemed that your attempt had failed, even though they cannot remember now". "I swear", Mercury finished in the ancient language to underline his statement, but he was unsure of whether he was grammatically correct, as he only had the few words, which Galbatorix taught him, to rely on.
"How can we trust your promise, even when it is in the Ancient language, when you broke much more detailed oaths mere minutes after you had given them", Arya said, clearly not trusting Mercury's words, even when they were in the Ancient language.
Mercury took a deep breath, before he said in a calm voice, "I had months to figure out how to circumvent those oaths, but since I never expected this to happen, I have not had it this time. Besides, if you need proof of the Eldunarya's approval, then all the proof you need is the fact that their memory of our conversation was erased. Do you really think that I could overpower them and erase their memory without their consent?"
He speaks the truth, Umaroth said to everyone present, to think that any one person could overpower all of us would be folly.
"I see", Eragon thoughtfully spoke, "wait, you said that you intended for us to rebuild Alagaësia, what would you have done in the meantime?"
"Been dead", Mercury said in a nonchalant way and shrugged, "and everyone in Alagaësia would have cheered at the fact that I had died".
"Why? If you killed Galbatorix, then people would have cheered you as a saviour", Eragon said confused.
"No, trust me they would not", Mercury said with a small chuckle, before continuing in a serious voice, "now that I have answered your questions, can I please get an answer to why I am still alive, as I clearly and quite profoundly remember dying?"
"You have Kilgharrah to thank for that", Arya said, "my mother told me that when he heard your mental cry, he rushed straight to the rock cliff, despite several warnings from the elves, and brought your body back to them and practically ordered them to heal you", at this she halted, before Eragon took over.
"Your body was far too damaged to even attempt to repair it, besides the fact that you did not breathe", Eragon said slowly, "Kilgharrah was not entirely happy about that answer, in fact I believe a few of the elves still does not dare to venture near him".
"What happened?", Mercury said with an undertone of irritation and warning present in his voice, as he was quite tired of them dancing around the answer.
"You need to understand that dragon magic is unpredictable and outside the dragon's control", Arya softly said, while she averted her gaze from his face, "Kilgharrah could not have known what would happen when he healed your body of its injuries and gave it life again".
Mercury instinctively reached for his face with his right hand and felt around it, but he could not feel any deformities or anything that should not have been there. His skin still felt the same, his ears still had their shape, his hair seemed the same, although a with a bit more colour than it used to, and his eyes still held their normal shape.
Arya stopped him by grabbing his hand, and with her other hand, she handed him a mirror, which he took in both hands and looked at. In it he could see his face staring back at him, his skin tone seemed the same, as did his hair, but he let out a gasp when he reached his eyes.
They still had their outer shape, but that was about the only thing, which had remained the same. His irises had changed their colour from their usual grey to shiny silver, and his pupils had changed into thin cat-like pupils.
No, not cat eyes, dragon eyes, Mercury realized with a jolt, while he gently poked his left eye to ensure that they were real. When he retracted his hand, the pupil had dilated into a rounder shape due to the lack of light his hand had caused, although it still had a pretty oval shape to it.
"Some of the wiser elves might be able to bring your eyes back to their original-", Arya started to say, but was cut short by Mercury, "no. No do not try; I think I would rather keep them as they are. They were a gift from Kilgharrah".
Hmm, silver dragon eyes, Mercury mused to himself, I wonder if they are connected to that silver-wave that I saw sweeping over my dying mind, and then realization hit him, no, not sweep over, but envelope, renew and overwrite. So this is how Angela's prophecy came true; not by the death of me, but by having Kilgharrah override my dying life-force. Now I guess that my eyes truly are the gateway to my soul, Mercury silently chuckled a bit at the last part.
"Where is Kilgharrah?", Mercury softly asked the two.
"I had Saphira take him out hunting, while we questioned you", Eragon answered.
"Understandable", Mercury simply said, before a small smile graced his lips, "have any of you seem my weapons and armour, as I believe I have a debt to fulfil?"
Arya cleared her throat for a moment, before she said, "your sword, as you know, was broken by Lord Barst, and most of your shurikens have vanished without a trace, most likely taken as trophies. Your armour...well, it was quite a steep fall, and when you hit the rock cliff, most of your armour was torn to shreds, but your body continued to slide down the edge and would have fallen off and landed somewhere in Urû'baen, if your cloak had not caught on to a rock, which left your body hanging down from the cliff, but it tore a great hole into your cloak as well".
Mercury released an irritated sigh, while he ran his hand down his face, before he said, "so, my armour is torn to shreds, my sword lies in pieces somewhere and my shurikens have been stolen as trophies...does anyone have a crossbow that I can burrow for a moment?"
"What?", Eragon exclaimed confused, "what do you need a crossbow for, and why are you not more upset about losing all of your equipment?"
"To answer your questions", Mercury said with a small smile, "I need the crossbow, because I am not very proficient with a bow, and because I promised Kilgharrah two freshly caught and well seasoned deer as payment for flying me to the keep, and as for my equipment", Mercury then replaced his small smile with a look of non-caring, and said with a shrug, "well, I always just considered them expendable, tools to be used and replaced if necessary".
"Oh", Arya said with look like she had something that she wished to share.
"Yes?", Mercury said with a raised eyebrow.
"My mother, the queen, wished to show her gratitude to you for saving her life and helping to defeat Lord Barst, so she has had her most senior elves try to repair your sword and armour", Arya slightly hesitantly said.
"And how did it go?", Mercury asked with a suspicion that it had not went completely as planned.
"Your sword was easy enough for Rhunön to fix, as it was only of dwarven make and the enchantments were easy enough to remake, as was the materials used for your armour, but...", Arya said and paused.
"But my enchantments on the armour were not so", Mercury finished with a slight sigh and a small smile, before he continued in a slightly amused voice, "I figured that that might be the problem, when you hesitated".
"Some have been easy enough to replace, but others", Arya said with a slight awe in her voice, "others they could not find any words that would even remotely fit what they did".
"Understandable, as I did not know of the Ancient language's importance to magic at the time, and simply formed the enchantments as I intended them to work in my head", Mercury simply said, "I will redo them once your mother has finished with them", before a thought struck him, "wait, how long was I out?"
"Three days", Eragon said, "despite not having a single scratch on you after Kilgharrah had finished, you still would not wake"
"I see, probably because my body needed to reboot and readjust to the new life-force", Mercury thoughtfully said, before adding, "what has happened in the meantime?"
"Reboot? New life-force", Eragon said, but was waved off by Mercury, who simply said, "I will explain later", before Eragon accounted for all that had happened since the battle, where among it was how Nasuada had been declared High Queen, and that her ceremony was scheduled later today.
"I guess my hunting trip will have to be postponed then", Mercury thoughtfully said, "do you know where my backpack is? I have something in it, which I brought along just for an occasion such as this".
"I will have someone bring it to you then", Eragon said, before he started to exit the room, closely followed by Arya.
"Wait, one last question", Mercury shouted, "the Word, do you know it?"
Eragon stopped dead in his tracks, before he turned around with a slightly amused face, as he said, "I guess that I should not be surprised that you knew about that as well, but to answer your question. No, his magic clouds my mind and prevents me from remembering it".
"Understood", Mercury said with a small nod, before Eragon and Arya again moved to exit the room.
Not soon after they had left, Mercury felt Kilgharrah's consciousness reach out towards him. You are up!, Kilgharrah exclaimed.
Thanks to you apparently, Mercury said, before adding in a slightly accusing tone, what you did was stupid, reckless, dangerous and you really should not have done it...but I am glad that you did.
Mercury could feel Kilgharrah's happiness across the connection, you will always be my hen mother.
And you will always be my little hatchling, Mercury lovingly replied, but I guess that I should rather call you soul brother now.
Mercury could feel Kilgharrah's confusion, so he sent him his memory of his last moments in the dead realm, along with the part of Angela's memory that detailed his imminent death.
You knew that you were going to die?, Kilgharrah asked slightly hurt.
Actually no, I had forgotten about that prophecy right up until I started to plummet towards the rock cliff, Mercury answered to soothe the wild dragon's worries.
I see, why did you not tell Eragon about this?, Kilgharrah asked.
How did you- Saphira, Mercury said slightly surprised, before he added, I might some day, but right now I only want a select few to know.
Is there anything else that you wish to tell me and not them?, Kilgharrah asked.
I think you might have given me dragon eyes, Mercury said and sent Kilgharrah the picture where he first saw himself in the mirror, along with a couple of pictures of how his eyesight had improved.
Your eyesight was pretty awful before, Kilgharrah said amused.
Compared to yours it was, but I need to get dressed for the ceremony this evening, so I cannot get you your deer yet, Mercury quickly said when a maid turned up, which was carrying his backpack.
What are you going to wear? Not that I understand you two-legs desire to constantly wear clothes, Kilgharrah curiously said.
I have explained it to you several times, Mercury answered, before continuing in a slightly mystic voice, and I am going to wear something, which Alagaësia has never seen before, before he cut off the connection.
To make something clear, Kilgharrah might have unknowingly given Mercury some of his own life-force, but Mercury does not get any dragon-like abilities, besides the physically changed eyes, which btw holds more significance than I have shown you so far, but I will soon.
