The world must burn
The way was lonely, marked by ashes and strewn with corpses, but Nimueh had no doubt that one day her accomplishments would be recognised. Those pitiful non-magical creatures were difficult to exterminate, like every vermin; like cockroaches, like bedbugs in the bed. Though small and defenseless, they clung to life, they clung to the world, even when they were being killed en masse.
Cornelius Sigan was closest to getting rid of them all, but the problem with Cornelius was that he had no intention of sharing power and began killing other sorcerers as well. Nimueh only killed other sorcerers when absolutely necessary. She killed traitors, like the boy who recently appeared at the side of Prince Arthur, the magically created spawn of Ygraine. But that little traitor, a lover of humans, didn't die when she poisoned him; the spawn of Ygraine desperately came to his rescue and, against all odds, saved his wretched life. And that only deepened the problem she hoped to solve quickly. The last thing she needed was a quite powerful sorcerer with the mind and heart of a human. Merlin had to be powerful since he killed Mary Collins, whose abilities were truly impressive. Poor Mary. She loved performances and believed she had a great plan. The death of a son for the death of a son. She was of the opinion — and it was hard not to agree with her—that the healing fire burned too weakly, that Uther needed to be enraged again, as did all those with magical abilities who still claimed that parasites could be tolerated, even protected. It also gave her an opportunity to get rid of a son who was a stain on her honour. Thomas, that inept child, would faint from exertion when using magic to move a cup across the table. Giving his life for the cause would be an honour for him; it would remove the memory of what he couldn't become. Nimueh gave her blessing. She was very curious about what would happen, and the outcome indeed surprised her. She didn't expect Mary's death, she didn't expect Merlin.
Gaius, standing by Uther's side, didn't matter much. He had considerable knowledge but no greater abilities than poor Mary's son. But Merlin worried her. Magic on Arthur's side, a mere human, protecting him of his own volition, serving him willingly, devoted to him like a dog, though hidden. For heaven's sake, she had never seen a sorcerer so stripped of dignity. But still, maybe she could turn him against the humans, just as she turned Uther against them by taking his beloved Ygraine. Ah, she truly succeeded at that. She was proud of how she turned Pendragon into a useful tool. That idiot killed his own subjects, among whom were no sorcerers of any real value. If by chance someone's child died, a child who could move objects just by looking at them, or someone's grandmother, whose touch could soothe pain, so much the better. The families of such people sought revenge, fanned Uther's anger, and the world was set ablaze. And the world had to burn so that the strongest, resistant to the inferno, the most deserving of life and power, would remain.
In Camelot, there was a girl whom Nimueh planned to bring to the isle in a year or two. She was a girl destined for greatness, a powerful witch, perhaps a High Priestess in the future, Uther Pendragon with magic. They needed someone like Uther Pendragon with magic because the world had to eventually burn and be reborn anew.
The girl... Morgana would set the world on fire, Nimueh had seen it multiple times in visions. But this Merlin... His image haunted her, yet she couldn't say much about him except that he was somehow strangely connected to Ygraine's spawn. She had heard prophecies of a powerful sorcerer, so foolish that he would lay his power at the feet of a human king, that he would give all power to humans, that he would annihilate magic in its present form and make it serve that littering the earth of vermin who would spread and attribute every work of magic to his own wisdom. She had heard prophecies... And she hoped they were just stories from the Druids, who have always had a tendency to fraternise with ordinary people. Her hope was extinguished at the last moment before she died.