So you can blame this chapter for the delays. I wanted to get it just right. I hope you guys like it. Thanks for staying with me all these months. I have taken a lot of liberties with the myth and how powers work in this world, I guess I tend to leave my mark on things. Don't get too upset over that.
There is only white. I try and speak only to realize there is no sound here. Only sight….wait a minute. I look at my hand and nothing is there. There is no sight. There is nothing. I'm nothing. I can't even feel sadness…or regret. I feel nothing. How can I think and not feel? Oh god this is boring.
"Oh come on, It's not that boring" Veronica says, "seems peaceful". She's there, all of a sudden.
"I can't even speak", I mouth out.
"Oh right…hold on" she says and then colors, sounds and feelings all rush me so fast I almost faint. I feel the heat of the sun, the warm sand under my back. I smell the ocean and the feel the lazy heat afternoon on my body. I open my eyes, I know where I am and it breaks my heart.
"So this is your happy place?" Veronica asks, looking around at the sun-soaked, white sanded beach, "not bad" she says, "Where?"
"Tuscany" I say, "or nearby anyway. It's a pretty hidden beach. It's an unofficial siesta right now, everyone except taco guy is lounging around"
"The taco guy?" she asks.
"Smell that" I tell her. She closes her eyes and smells the sizzling beef and melted cheese, all topped off with the aromas of garlic and onions being fried in butter, "Oh my" she says with a smile. I look at my body, it's there, sweaty, kind of hairy and free from any scar or stitches forced upon me under Horvath's loving care.
"So then….I'm dead? This is the end?" I ask her, my voice quivering more than I want it to.
"Oh Dave…the thing with the death is, it clouds you ability to see"
"Jesus…stop speaking in goddam riddles" I scream out. I'm hurt and angry…but not at her. But I can't shout at Horvath, I can't scream at him. I can't tell him, he ripped my heart out and crushed it under his feet. I can't ask him why why why until he gives me an answer. I can only shout at Veronica, for some odd reason. So I give her my most hateful glare.
"I'm not speaking in riddles, Dave. I've been very clear…I told you, you're different"
"Yeah? Different how? I couldn't stop him…I couldn't stop him from…I thought I was different…I thought I could change him…I thought he…"
"Loved you?" Morgana asks kindly. I look up at her, startled. And then I break down. I start crying, bawling. She puts her arms around me and I weep into her shoulders for God knows how long.
"There was so much hate in his eyes…" I say, wiping away my tears.
"I know, I know" she says soothingly and for some reason, I miss my mom. I wish I could see her again. Just once more.
"For what it's worth, it's not your fault. His choices led us here…for what it's worth, you could've been happy" she says kindly. Happy…what an alien notion. I scan the beach until I find what I'm looking for. A middle-aged man lounges on a chair, his feet crossed, his eyes closed. A boy sits by the chair, sketching Latin runes he was taught the night before into the sand. This is my happy place, after all. There's a half-finished joint in my hand, in a few minutes I'll head out for a swim. Horvath will be up by the time I get back, he'll take me into the cabin we always rent and we'll make love…This was just a few months ago. When my life felt complete, when everything seemed to make a twisted sort of sense. My happy place. What an idiot, I think.
"David, we don't have much time" Veronica says.
"Time? For what? The way I see it, I have all the time in the world" I say, getting up and walking to meet the coming tide.
"Oh David…you still don't see, do you?"
"See what?" I shout, "I'm not different. That doll was chock full of Morganians and he cut them all down without breaking a sweat. Why did I think I was different?"
"You cannot access your power until you know what you are" she says.
"What? What am I?"
"You're not a Morganian and your most certainly not the Prime Morganian"
"What do you mean? That's what Horvath spent the last two year turning me into…"
"Perhaps…" Veronica says turning away, "But that's not what you became"
"What?"
"Do you know how much control you need to have with blood magic? How much care you have to take not to cross the limits. Oh sweety…" she grazes my cheek, "I told you love will save us all. Whether it was intended to or not"
The way our magic works is through faith…internal and external.
I guess Veronica loved Merlin more than any of us
Oh God…I know what I am. Veronica smiles at me. I know what I have to do.
"Can I…do it?"
"You're the one living out there…you tell me" she says.
I take one last look at the beach, "It'll never be the same, will it?"
"Nothing ever is" she says sadly.
I let out a deep sigh, "You said death clouds our ability to see…to see what?"
I look inside myself, I know where my core is now. What my power comes from. I feel the beach surrounding me and I start making it go away. The beach starts evaporating into light. Except this time I'm doing it. Veronica looks around and laughs, "That's it's not really an ending"
I want to ask her what it is then, but I already know. The beach goes, I feel my body split into millions of grains of sands and I start calling them together. Time does not mean much here, I realize not even a second has passed since Horvath burned me up, I feel the millions of grains of sand my body is to become and I start calling them together. I move them away from his hand and fly towards the vase. He doesn't even notice.
The sands come together, pretty much the same way Morgana had been forming with the smoke but I'm faster. So much faster. When I come to, I feel my heart start beating again. I didn't realize how much I had missed that feeling. I look around, I'm inside a massive chamber shaped like a pyramid. Not a pyramid at all though, obviously. The walls are done in shades of jade green, there are many stories complete with waterfalls emptying out into ponds, ornate furniture strewn about and even a small zoo with odd looking animals. Guess this is where Horvath got his obsession from. The only thing missing is a sky, as the walls seems to close on top. I send out a sensory and find her almost immediately. I can warp there, and she won't even feel me coming.
She's sitting next to a green pond, looking at the Koi fish swimming around inside. "As far as prisons go, this is pretty good" I say.
She turns around startled, "I…A prison is still a prison, even with jade walls and my little pets…Did…did Horvath put you in here"
I think for a second, circling around her, "In a way, I suppose he did"
"He can't do anything right" she snarls, "Oh well, now I have someone to play with until he opens the seal"
She takes me in, head to toe, "However shall I start? I could flay you and keep you alive for a while, but that's too common…I suppose I can cut of your legs, see you crawling around for a while…Sorry, you'll have to forgive me, It's been ages since I've had any fun"
I just smile. It seems to piss her off, she flicks her wrist and sends a spark of pure green energy at me. I deflect it without breaking a sweat. Her smile melts away.
"I…no" Morgana says and sends another bolt towards me, I catch it this time. Damn, I didn't even know I could do that. Her eyes wide open, she stares unbelievably at my hand. The energy starts changing color in my hand, it becomes less erratic, less volatile. It almost feel like water, it turns golden. I send it back at her, she screams as she tries to deflect it and fails.
"What…what is this power?"
"It's not Moganian, that's for sure" I say, nodding my head.
"HOW COULD YOU HAVE MORE POWER than me?"
"Because I'm not a Morganian. I'm the Prime Horvathian" I say. She attacks me again, I don't even blink, "Your right, Horvath messed up"
"Wait…wait until the seal is broken then Horvath will…"
"What? He'll what?" I snarl at her. She shuts up.
"You think he's more powerful than me?" I ask her.
"Of course, he taught you, you can't be more…"
"Can't I?" I ask, "You really don't see it? He learned from you. He draws his power from a largely forgotten witch that terrorized a castle, centuries ago. I draw my power from an empire, a multi-billion dollar empire. I draw my power from dividends, and stock options, and our restaurants, from Forbes and fucking android apps and the thousands that work for us. I'm a child of this century. I'm relevant"
She seems stunned, comprehension dawning on her face.
"Your core is an army, if that…I'm a fucking empire" I say and for the first time, I see fear in Veronica's eyes. I don't like seeing Veronica like that, "Get out" I shout and start feeling for her. I sense her deep inside Veronica, trying to hide. I see her, and I pull her out.
With an inhuman scream, she bursts forth from Veronica's mouth in pure energy. Morgana. In her true form is swampy green, slimy, toxic. She disgusts me. She screams at me. I clutch my fist and she's gone. Now and forever, gone.
I breath out. I knew I'd be powerful, but I had no idea. Veronica opens her eyes as I recover my breath, "Dave…you did it" she whispers. I smile back at her.
"Couldn't have done it without your help. How did you contact me, btw?"
"Btw?"
"Just go with it" I answer.
"Well, she let her guard down every now and then. Once or twice a century, but she did"
"I could take you with me" I say, "Leave Horvath with an empty urn"
"No…if he realizes you are alive…what you did…he will break the empire to kill your power"
"So what are you going to do?" I ask, taking her hand.
"I'll pretend. I had her in my head for over a century, I can pretend to be her for a few more years. I'll wait"
"Wait for what?"
"You" she says with a smile, "Both of you"
I give her a hug, "Thank you…for everything". And then I picture New York in my mind, the congested allies, the smell…oh God, the smell..and then I'm there. Away from Veronica. Away from Horvath.
Three Years Later
Mr. and Mrs. Horvath were on the cover of TIMES again. The couple of the century. Great benefactors if the article is to be believed. But then again, maybe she's having a nice effect on him. The empire continues to grow and so do I. It spreads around the world and each month it gets harder to hide from it. But it's never impossible, not with my resources.
I'm out for my evening run. The Indonesian jungles are famous for their wildlife (mostly reptiles). I find they tend to stay away from me. By the time I get back to the mansion, there's a another delivery. This one's quiet large, four guys are barely handling it.
"You know where to put it, Anthony" I say to the delivery guy. We see each other daily, sometimes more than once so we're on first name terms.
"Sure do, Jack" he says, handing over the form for me to sign. I go into the kitchen and make ice tea for everyone, we have the drinks and a couple of smokes and then they go. Till tomorrow. I head into my foyer and inspect the latest addition to my collection. It measure 7 feet by 3 and it set within a 1930s bronze frame.
"Beautiful" I whisper. That makes 2,355 mirrors in the house now. Should be enough to get his attention, no matter where he's travelling. But I'll keep adding to it. Keep expanding my collection and one day, one day, I'll get up in the morning, take a look in the mirror and not hate what I see.
So this is it, guys. Please leave your reviews at the door, let me know if I came through with the ending. You have no idea how much your reviews and support have meant to me over the course of this story.
I'll be launching a Merlin fanfic next. I think this tale helped me pin point a lot of my own weaknesses as a writer and I will be addressing them before my next venture. Hope to see you guys there, it will be largely, an Uther/Merlin pairing with a healthy dose of angst, tragedy and dungeon-style, hardcore S-E-X thrown in. Its definitely more of an adult story, from my POV anyway, humor and even redeemable characters will be rare, at best. But in my opinion, it will be a better yarn than this. I want to finish it before I start uploading it, so we can avoid delays like this book had. Hopefully, I'll see you guys there. Till then, peace out.
