Chapter 8

Gaius' office must have been in another building since they had to once again go through Kilgharrah's red door, this time into halls that were completely white with no windows an a faint sterile smell. Soon they were knocking on another door and letting themselves inside after a faint voice from inside told then to go in.

The inside of the room brought a smile to Merlin's face, from to to bottom and as far as he could see the place was as Gaius as it could possibly be. It reminded him greatly of Gaius' living space back in Camelot because of the books spread throughout the walls, shelves full of vials and herbs, and several tables full of beakers, bubbling concoctions, and strange artifacts. The only difference Merlin could really notice was the place being much cleaner than the place back at Camelot and having many more tools, some of which he recognized from the human world and many others he didn't. The most nostalgic part of the room though, was the middle aged man sitting at a table full of opened books with his nose buried in one of the leather bound tomes.

- Oh! Marcus, I didn't know you were going to be visiting today, what with the opening ceremony and all. Though I was surprised to find you were not attending...- At this point Merlin stopped listening, he was standing half way behind Marcus so it was probable that Gaius hadn't seen him, he turned to one of the tables because of an odd feeling of deja vu that drew his his eyes to a bubbling substance over the flame of what he recognized as a Bunsen burner. Merlin's magic, which was getting settled after reawakening in his body, stretched itself to the dark purple substance and through it he could feel something wrong in the magic contained in the brew, an impending sense of wrongness that kept increasing.

Merlin heard someone say his name in the background and that was when whatever Merlin's magic was sensing reached a peak. The potion, whatever it was, exploded with the force of a small grenade and at the same time Merlin's eyes shined golden. In front of him was now a small cloud of fire surrounded by distorted space which Merlin thought could be the shock waves from the explosion, the objects which had been on the table were now reduced to pieces floating in the air all over the room. Merlin's attention was drawn by a loud gasp behind him and out of habit from camelot fear gripped his mind but once he turned he saw that the reason was not his magic but rather a very large piece of glass, surely a piece of one of the tools from the now destroyed table, was frozen in the air mere centimeters from Gaius' right eye. It came as a strange realization that he had once again saved Gaius in their first meeting, after all, had he been a second late the large piece of glass would have easily pierced right through his old mentor's skull.

- That was... close.- Gaius said as he took a slow step back.

- Gaius! I've told you not to do any of your dangerous experiments in this office! Or at least put up some spells in case something like this happens!- There was some anger in Marcus' eyes along with some fear but then they changed to relief. - Thankfully no one is hurt. Now lets fix this jumble, shall we?-

- No, no, it's only appropriate that I clean my own mess.-

Gaius let off a short stream of words in that language that was incredibly familiar to Merlin and the chaos caused by the explosion started to slowly fold back on itself. The splinters of the table went back to their places and reattached themselves, the pieces of plastic, metal and glass floated back to their original positions and once again took on a recognizable shape, the dense cloud of flames slowly went back to their liquid state, and in less than 20 seconds the room looked like the explosion had never happened. Gaius went over to the purple liquid which had caused the whole dilemma and leaned over it, he stirred it and gave it a quick whiff while mumbling something of which Merlin could only catch. -...too much catalyst...- and -...over cooked...- he then straightened up and turned to Merlin.

-Young man, you have already saved my life and we haven't even been introduced yet.- The smile he offered was so much like the one his old mentor always showed him back in Camelot that Merlin couldn't help but return it wholeheartedly.

- I was about to do that right before a certain something interrupted us.- It seemed as if Marcus would not readily forget the incident in order to ensure Gaius took a little more interest in his own health. - Merlin, this is Gaius, an old friend and colleague of mine. Gaius, this is Merlin, my cousin and, if you help us a little, a future student in your academy.-

-This is your famed cousin then, no wonder he has such reflexes. I didn't know you had found him though .- Gaius said after a quick handshake.

- I had a strong lead and found him just hours ago.-

-So that's why you told me to prepare all those papers for a new student. Tell me, Merlin, which magical school did you attend before coming here?-

- None.- Aithusa had revealed that he was new to all of this so he supposed that truth was also part of his cover.

- But... Marcus, the paperwork you told me to prepare are for the entrance to the second level of the academy. There has to be some kind of background for me to enroll him and thats without taking into account the standard test required for acceptance, besides if he has no experience he won't even survive a day in the practical classes!-

- Which is exactly why I'm coming to you rather than going through the conventional means. Right now, just like you said, Merlin is not qualified to enter the academy, but in the month we have between now and the start of classes I'll personally make sure to pound all the material he needs into his head. I know it's a short time to teach someone four years worth of classes but using his talents and some of my tricks I know we can make it. So please, I need this favor from you.-

Gaius had that exasperated look on his face that merlin knew so well from his past but as he always used to do with Merlin he gave in to the request.

- Fine, I'll do it, after all I do owe him my life. Besides if he can handle the classes for the first week it means he's as able as anyone else, if not he'll come asking to be taken out before the week is past.-

- Thank you Gaius, I owe you another one.-

- Don't mention it, I probably owe you just as many favors. As for you, Merlin, it was pleasure meeting you and I wish you the best of lucks, you'll probably need it if you plan to learn so much content in so little time.-

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The next month was a wind whirl of activity for Merlin. The first week was the slowest, Marcus assigned him a group of books to read and Merlin would spend his day in the academy's library. The first day Marcus offered to teach him a spell for speed~reading but Merlin told him of his interesting ability to take in immense amounts of information, which according to Marcus was much more efficient than the spell.

The first time Merlin went into the library he was flabbergasted, the place was not just beautiful but also immense and awe inspiring. As Marcus taught him how to move around and find specific books in each section he mentioned that although the building was not the tallest it was the one with most interior space in all of Albion. Merlin found out after asking about the negative numbers in the elevator that though the building had 10 floors full of accessible material there were another 11 floors underground that spread out for miles and miles around but special access was required to enter any of these. Marcus told him that these floors were full of books, magical objects, and archives of all kinds which were divided into sections and one could only get access to these sections according to their careers, jobs, or classes. The lower down the books were the less people had access to the information or objects hidden in there. He also said that the underground floors were the most secure and guarded place in the academy and that no one, not even the king, had access to the entire underground floors.

That first week Merlin committed to memory all that was assigned to him, and with the free time he had he explored the entire place and read whichever book caught his eyes. The upper library was full of all types of books, one floor was even dedicated to everything human, every non~magical piece of knowledge that could be found relevant was tightly packed in there, Merlin found that whatever he could think off he could find in there. He did not go often to that floor but rather spent his free time hunting for the books he could feel gave off a type of raw magic that called to him, a lot of these Marcus had assigned for him to read as part of his speed learning. After reading only three books on "practical and theoretical magic" Merlin understood that the book on magic from which he had learned back in Camelot, and that he kept in his satchel along with the sidhe's staff and his own, would be considered nothing but a child's picture book in this place. Some of the spells found on these books made Merlin's magic tingle in anticipation, but Marcus had told him only to read, that the time for practical study would arrive, and arrive it did.

The magic practice started on the second week, to Merlin the first day was the worst. On the first day Marcus took Merlin to a room that he said was enchanted to keep all damage caused by magic inside and that would not break, he made Merlin cast every spell he knew before coming to Albion, many times, and in as many dummies as could be found. After 6 hours of being pushed to concentrate harder, put more magic into his spells, and use the most powerful enchantments he could muster Merlin finally collapsed from exhaustion. When he woke up 14 hours later, with a worried Aithusa besides him, Merlin felt like he had received a beating from Arthur himself. When Marcus came into the room Aithusa snapped at him but he then went to explain that he had done it to gauge how strong merlin was, what type of spells he was used to casting, and some other aspects which would help Merlin's progress. He then informed Merlin that he was incredibly powerful but that the spells he used were outdated and inefficient, which Merlin had understood while reading the books on basic magic, the spells he had learned back in Camelot used 10 times more the amount of magic than the spells he had spent hours learning in the last week.

The rest of that week was spent by Merlin using 4 hours with Marcus learning how to cast the new spells he had learned, how to control his raw magic, and how to use his innate abilities as a warlock to use his powers more efficiently. The rest of the day he spent in the library reviewing or learning new things, sometimes Aithusa or Kilgharrah got him out of the books and took him on a walk around Albion, both the city and the academy. Merlin was still in awe of the variety of the places in Albion, one moment he was was walking alongside the border of the forest and the next he was staring at a patch of dessert with a pyramid on top, which Merlin found was the center for research on Egyptian magic.

At the end of the end of the second week Marcus declared that Merlin had mastered the basics of the first level of Albion academy thanks to Merlin's incredible learning abilities and that they would start on preparing him for the classes he would be taking. Marcus said that Merlin would need to use twice as much time for practice study and for that they would need the help of someone else. The next week Merlin started having an extra four hours a day of hands on learning with Gaius as his teacher.

...

Next chapter:

Merlin's first lesson with Gaius and some more history on Albion and the other kingdoms.