Arthur woke up to the shrill ringing of his phone. A glance at the digital clock on his side table told him it was 4:00am at night. The curtains obscured the light outside, but even then Arthur was sure it was still pitch black outside, or at least as dark as it gets in downtown of a city that was always awake.

Groaning, he reached to the side table, looking around with only one eye open, and bit out a curse when he picked up the phone to see the name it displayed.

"What the fuck do you want right now at god forsaken o'clock Morgana?" Arthur didn't even bother trying keeping his displeasure out of his voice.

"Arthur..." She spoke, her voice weird and hushed, signaling Arthur to the fact that something might be seriously wrong.

"Is everything alright?" He asked in what he hoped was a calmer tone.

"Did you buy it?"

"Buy what? What are you fucking talking about?"

"I am serious Arthur. Have you bought it yet?" Urgency bled into her voice.

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about. You woke me up in the middle of the night to play cryptic riddle games?"

"So you haven't." Morgana sounded disappointed. It was almost like she wasn't even listening to what Arthur was saying.

Arthur just groaned, collapsing into bed and closing both eyes, one hand holding the mobile to his ear.

"When you find it... Don't walk away." Morgana declared in a warning tone finally, and then disconnected the call.

Arthur squinted at his phone for a second, then threw it on his side table again, and got comfortable in the bed. He still could manage to catch a couple of hours of sleep probably, despite Morgana's insane attempt at calling him for no good reason at four in the morning. He briefly wondered if she has sleep dialed him. That was the only thing that made a lick of sense.

If you ever asked Arthur why his steps slowed down a few days later, and why he bothered glancing at the display of that particular shop, he would be able to give you no answer. In fact he won't even be able to answer why he gave his driver the day off and decided to walk to his office instead- it was a barely 15 minutes walk but Arthur never liked the rush hour crowd in the downtown, and liked to go from his very posh apartment, to his very posh office, in as much comfort as possible. But that day, he felt a restless itch under his skin, and something made him want to take the journey by foot. That same something made him stop in his tracks and stare transfixed at the display of an antique store.

At the display of a golden lamp in particular.

There was nothing fancy about the lamp, except that it was old, and unpolished, and the most normal looking thing in a display full of weird things, and yet Arthur couldn't look away. He felt drawn towards the antique, wanting to feel the cool metal under his palm, and rub the pad of his fingers on the markings on it.

Shaking himself out of his ridiculous fascination, Arthur took note of the shop's name. "Witch's Den". Snorting, he inwardly reprimanded himself for becoming that weird rich guy who wanted to buy stupid things because there was too much money to waste. Strangely, he had taken the same route to from his apartment to his office for the last 5 years, and he was sure there was not a single shop here that he wasn't completely familiar with, but Witch's Den was something that he had never noticed before. He would think it was a newly opened shop, but even from where he was standing he could see the dust settled in the display, and the chipped corners of the racks. It wasn't a new shop, and it certainly did not belong in this area, where everything was as modern as sleek as it comes.

Mentally shaking himself, Arthur continued his way to the office, but try as he might, he couldn't get the image of the lamp out of his mind. It stayed with him during the meetings with his advisory council and his father, it nagged him as he made calls to his important clients, and it chipped at the corners of his focus as he planned the next move in expanding his already substantial business empire.

Arthur Pendragon, son of Uther Pendragon- business magnate extraordinaire, was born into a life of riches and luxury. Their company, Pendragon Inc. which Uther started as a small company that developed and sold electronic equipment, had grown into the a business empire. From the mobile phones to the military gadgets, Penn Tech. was coveted and very much in demand. He never knew what it was to want for something. He had a sharp mind for business and tactics so he involved himself in the company at young age, taking business, management and economics as subjects in his GCSEs, going to the best programs for further studies, and was now CEO of his father's company at an incredibly young age of 32. He loved his house, excelled at his job, and could be qualified as the one person who had it all in his life. If some days he wished he had someone to share his luxuries with, that his father looked at him as more than a subordinate, that he could just sit in his very comfortable couch with someone and have a movie marathon and share ridiculous jokes... well, nobody needed to know that.

On his way back from office, the sun was setting, an orange hue making the summer evening resemble something from old period movies. Witch's Den was somehow even more prominent now that Arthur had seen it once. Even from a distance Arthur could swear he could see the lamp that had fascinated him, glinting in the fading sunlight, and this time Arthur was too exhausted from his day to resist the draw. He stepped into the shop, which was as ridiculous as any other antique shop Arthur had ever visited, with things ranging from old tea kettles and obviously fake first editions of books, to old furniture and useless metallic artifacts scattered around a messy room. Ignoring everything, Arthur walked straight to the counter.

There was an old lady standing there, who was as cliché as one can get. Her white hair were messy, and tied in a braid that looked like it had not been redone in days; she wore many many strands of beaded jewelry that would have been in fashion at least a century ago, and her clothes were black, and dusty, just like the rest of the shop.

"Hello Arthur Pendragon." She said before he could even open his mouth to speak.

"Uh- Wha- How do you know my name?"

"Who doesn't know your name these days?" She titled her head to a side and looked at him with her creepy big eyes that were lined with black kohl, and seemed to be disturbingly old, even for her age. Her point was valid though, and Arthur just shrugged.

"I came here for the lamp that's on display?" Arthur started the sentence as a statement but ended it in a question; he had rarely ever felt so unsure before in his life.

"Of course you did." The witch smirked. No! Not witch! The shop owner! Arthur was too tired to be thinking straight right now, and maybe he shouldn't be making decisions like buying a freaking antique lamp after spending 14 hours in his office. Too late now.

"Can I see it?" He asked, and the lady nodded, and went to retrieve the said object, with a strange glint in her eyes.

She came back with the lamp cradled in her palms, and Arthur felt his entire focus narrow on it, a strange ringing sound in the back of his head increased till everything blocked out, and he felt a very visceral need to snatch the lamp away from the old woman's hands and hold it in his own. His hand twitched involuntarily towards it, and at the last possible second he glanced up at the woman's face, and asked,

"May I?"

That made her jerk her hand away, and look at him with evil mischief in her eyes. "No."

With that she went behind the counter, putting the lamp on the surface, between herself and Arthur, and Arthur wanted to scream with frustration because it was so close, and he wasn't allowed to touch it.

"I want to buy it."

"They always do." Her default tone was cryptic, but this was just menacing.

"How much?"

"You're sure, Son of Uther?"

"Yes. Stop kidding around. How much is it for?" Arthur could feel desperation creep into his voice, for some strange reason he couldn't even name. All he knew was that he wanted that lamp to belong to him, as soon as possible.

"One million dollars." She said, smiling. Arthur just gaped at her for a whole minute.

"Are you shitting me?" Arthur said through clenched teeth, making the smile on her face transform into a grin.

"You can afford it. Or do you think it's not worth it?"

"That's insane. Your price is more than this whole place."

"That's true." She seemed to ponder over the fact, but then looked him in the eye and stated. "But this lamp is of more value than this whole place too. That's what it's going to cost you. Take it or leave it, your choice. Stop wasting my time, if you aren't interested." Her voice grew harsh by the end, and Arthur, who was not used to someone talking to him like that, just wanted to stomp away from the place. Tomorrow he could buy the entire place, and make sure this insolent woman never found another place to set shop.

She seemed to have read up on his thoughts, because she gave him a feral grin and said, "Do remember though, if you leave without buying it today, you will never see it again."

She was bluffing. Arthur was sure she was bluffing, because no one else would spend a million dollar on a plain, old looking lamp... or was she? There was something in her tone that told Arthur she meant what she was saying.

So was he willing to risk it? He asked himself, and was furious and frustrated to find that the answer was in negative. Arthur had never wanted something as badly as he wanted that lamp, consequences be damned, and his heart sunk at the thought of losing his chance.

There were also Morgana's words ringing at the back of his mind... When you find it... Don't walk away... She could not be talking about this lamp, that was impossible, but what if she was? She had sounded so grave and sure.

"Okay." He bit out, accepting defeat, and took out his checkbook from his pocket.