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Prologue II
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"Merlin!"
Merlin jerks awake at the shout.
King Arthur Pendragon, dressed haphazardly in cream-white shirt and rumpled trousers, furiously looks down on him with crossed arms. Merlin blinks squinted eyes up at him, utterly confused.
"You really are the worst servant in the kingdom. It's nearly noon!" The king grabs ahold of the servant's paper-thin blanket and hauls it away from him. His unkempt blonde locks humorously flop down his head at the aggressive movement. "I've had to dress myself." Yeah, that's clear as day.
Merlin yelps as cold seeps through his nightclothes. By the soft light streaming through his room's window and the crisp smell in the air, Arthur is definitely exaggerating. It's far from noon! But it is also far from dawn, past the time Merlin is supposed to wake.
"Get up, up, up!" Arthur flicks him on the forehead. Merlin scrunches his nose and rubs the assaulted area. The king strides towards the servant's small cabinet, shoves it open, and ransacks it. "My schedule is full today. A council meeting. Have to perform an execution. Watch a lancing practice. Have to judge a garland competition again, if you can believe it. I can't make do without a servant."
Merlin sluggishly gets to his feet, head fuzzy from sleep. "I had the weirdest dream." He doesn't remember much of it now. It involved his father, a contest, and chickens somehow. He shakes his head, attempting to dislodge the fog around his mind.
Arthur roughly throws Merlin a worn red tunic and a pair of trousers. The clothes land on Merlin's head, and he sputters.
"If it's about going to the tavern, keep it a dream, Merlin," Arthur replies. Disgust fills his features as he takes the entirety of the servant's chambers. "Get dressed. And clean your room once in a while."
Merlin snorts, removing the clothing from his head. "You clean your own room once in a while."
"That is what I pay you for, isn't it, Merlin? Besides, you just use magic to do your chores, anyway."
Merlin stills, pausing in smoothing out the creases of the blue tunic in his hands. "What?" He asks around a laugh even as his heart skips a beat. Merlin lifts his head to find Arthur much closer than he expected the other man to be.
"Did you think I would never find out?" Arthur cocks his head to the side, azure eyes frosty and blank. The action chills Merlin to the core. He wants to take a step back, away from the slowly prowling king, but his feet won't move. "Did you think your lies would save you forever, Merlin?"
"Arthur, I —" He swallows around the lump forming in his throat. Deny it, deny it! But the lump has blocked all the words from escaping his own mouth.
Arthur closes the gap between them, standing mere inches away. "Then, let's see what you really are, shall we?" The king's eyes are dark and deadened. "After all, I do have an execution to perform."
A shlik, a thump, a revolting squish noise.
The warlock's gaze drifts down to the dagger sticking out of his own chest, Arthur's bloodied hand wrapped around its hilt.
Merlin sits up on the bed with a loud gasp, hand flying to claw at his chest. A soft thick blanket falls on his lap and his magic vibrates outwards like a tidal wave in the air.
The curtains of the room splayed open, abruptly bathing the room with harsh sunlight. The desks and cabinets rattle ominously, wood creaking and the hangers inside clacking together. The torches, which George has just extinguished, burst back to life with large flames. The said servant himself almost drops the plates in his arms in shock.
Theo yelps as he falls out of his bed, startled awake by the noises. He groans from the floor, pain spiking in his head. Mordred peeks out from under the covers, bleary eyes unamusedly taking in all the commotion.
Merlin frantically looks around, sweat sticking to his skin and mind whirling in panic. His eyes search for Arthur, needing to explain to the king that—that—
After several breaths, he comes back to himself, and only finds three sets of eyes staring at him.
Right. Djinns. Camelot filled with magic. Scary Queen Ygraine and an unfamiliar familiar Prince Arthur. The Apprentice Exam and its three gruesome tests. Balinor, his not-father, as Camelot's Court Sorcerer. An amicable Mordred. A more amicable Morgana. Himself, accepted as Balinor's apprentice and the talisman he received because of it.
He runs a shaky hand through his hair and stutters out a "S-Sorry" to the occupants of the room.
Theo picks himself up from the ground, glaring at the sun streaming from the outside. He pulls the curtains closed, blanketing the room in a much softer light. "It's time for breakfast, anyway," he says around a yawn. Mordred sits up, blue eyes alert and curly hair tousled in gravity-defying angles.
"Quite," George replies with his usual aplomb, placing down platters of meat and fruits upon the desks in the room. With a gesture and muttered spell, he snuffs out the flame of the torch nearest him.
Embarrassed by his display, Merlin summarily smothers the flames from the other lit torches. It's not his first nightmare, and definitely not the first time he woke up with his magic messing up his room. But he's usually alone when it happens.
Merlin gets off the bed, approaching the food with enthusiasm and shoving the nightmare at the back of his mind where it will stay there with the others of its kind. His stomach grumbles at the appetizing smell wafting in the air, reminding him of his missed dinner the night before.
"Today is your first day in the castle so I have brought your breakfast in your room," George says as the three apprentices gather around the dishes. "Starting tomorrow, however, you'll have to get your breakfast from the kitchens and eat in the dining hall. I'll be taking you to the kitchens later so you will know where it is."
The servant pulls the curtains wide open once more, and Theo winces.
"Good Goddess." Theo turns away from the light, eyes squinted and a hand massaging his temples. He looks to Mordred, frowning as the other man casually places food on his plate. "How are you not in pain? You drank as much as I did!"
"I don't get headaches from drinking," Mordred answers with a tiny shrug.
"Ah, to be young," Theo laments before cramming a giant piece of cut beef into his mouth.
Merlin nods in sympathy with Theo; he always gets the worst headaches after a night of drinking. Thankfully, Gaius always has a foul-smelling foul-tasting cure prepared just for that occasion.
They eat their breakfast as George cleans up the room. Merlin watches him fold the blankets by hand, and then sweeps dirt off the floor with a spell.
All in all, it's not truly a terrible way to start the morning.
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Summary:
After being chosen as the Court Sorcerer's apprentice, Merlin has to juggle multiple lessons from different fronts and discreetly research a way home. It doesn't help that he and his fellow apprentices attract trouble on a weekly basis, endlessly exasperating their mentor.
A Camelot filled with magic-users provides a wealth of opportunities to hone the skills the warlock could use to protect a certain prat and his kingdom. But as Merlin uncovers past hurts and grows closer to the people he never expected to befriend, one niggling question blossoms in his mind. Its answer is one Merlin refuses to acknowledge.
Heinous plots, unlikely friendships, a plethora of shenanigans, an improbable confidant, and a mysterious phenomenon.
Merlin's stay won't be boring at least.
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A/N:
Hello to those still tuning in!
I haven't finished the first draft of this, not by a long shot, but today is a very special day so what the heck.
First of all, thank you Somebody (you know who you are 😉) for the very generous kofi donation! Second, you don't know how much I've been tempted in the past months to go to the comments and reply to all your kinds words and encouragements. I could barely stop myself! I'll just say: nothing I write will be better than your theories and imaginations!
You're all so awesome, and I really hope the months have treated you well. If not, then I hope you don't lose hope! In stories, it always gets the ultimate worse before it gets better. Hopefully, we're past the worst of it!
I'll update next weekend but after that, no promises, really . At least my stint on original writing has taught me how to write consistently. I'll try to turn the 20K (which is less than half of the 2nd arc, dammit!) into 50K in two months. Wish me luck!
Also, I decided not to separate the arcs into different story posts. So I guess you can find the whole mess of this story here in one place lol. Maybe I'll create a proper and clean epub for them someday.
Lastly, have you checked out the absolutely awesome AWW's Musings by antieyes in AO3? If not, you should definitely give it a read! And have you seen Schoernchen (Shyorn)'s new and fantastical art for this fic?
Wash your hands, wear a mask outside, and please do what you can to still stay safe!
~ Vividpast