Yinko
He will seek out magic users in other parts of the world later on in the story, when he goes travelling around with Morgana, which will be a seperate story if all goes to plan.
Right now I'm focusing more on the Camelot stuff before expanding out. He's got ten years in this universe so there's plenty of time for exploring.
Somehow I can see cloning a powerful magical creature as something that can go horribly wrong. Still I'll give it some thought.
JanusGodOfPossibilities
No I haven't see that show.
Jump Chain Gothic 5 - Merlin
Part 16
Crystal Cave. Valley of the Fallen Kings.
The Crystal Cave, which was a large cave which was filled with crystals, as the name suggested, but it was far more important than it might sound. According to the seer, Taliesin a man who I soon hoped to met, it was the place where magic began, though it is unclear whether he meant that the cave was the source of all magical energies in the world or if it he meant that magic was discovered by someone who'd entered the cave
In the time before the Great Purge, followers of the Old Religion talked about the cave with reverence, yet I'd found that there was actually very little written about the place, at least in the books that I'd read so far, and I'd read a lot as my near-ascended mind allowed to be absorb a lot of information very quickly. Of course I had only had a limited selection as books weren't so easy to come by in this world.
Thanks to watching the Merlin TV show I'd always had a rough idea of where this cave could be found for some time now, and thanks to probes, which were under Cortana's control, I'd been able to find the place, yet despite that I'd put off coming here as I hadn't felt that I was ready for this place.
Now things were different. I had a sense that things would change for me soon, that I would be forced to make some difficult choices in the future, and that I needed some kind of guidance. That was why I'd come here now, because this place was not just some cave with pretty crystals in it, this was a place of power were someone could through see through time and space.
The cave could even restore the magic of someone who had lost their powers, so it might be able to boost the magical abilities of someone like myself who didn't have as much power as those who had been born with magic. I didn't want to be one of the magical power houses of this world, but it would be nice if I had a bit more juice so to speak.
There was a man waiting for me at the entrance of the cave. At once I knew that he was Taliesin, who had been a Seer to the great Kings, in the time of Old Religion. He was suppose to have died hundreds of years ago, yet he still appeared when Merlin visited the cave in the show, and he was here now. He looked like an old man in simple robes, but I knew he was much more than that.
I suspected that he was in fact dead and the power of the cave allowed him to return to act as a guide. In the last part of the final season of Merlin the young warlock's own father, who had died years before, appeared when Merlin visited the cave so the the man I was seeing right now might be a creation of cave, a way for it to communicate with visitors. If so then in some sense the cave was alive.
"Welcome Sir Gothic" greeted the Seer.
That he knew I was a knight was no surprise as I was dressed as one, but the fact that he knew my name was a bit more impressive. Scrying didn't give people sound only sights, which made me think that the man I was seeing was in fact a manifestation of the cave. Much like how Luke saw his father when going into that cave while training with Yoda, only this cave was good rather than evil.
"Master Taliesin" I said.
Respectfulness seemed very wise right now. Besides I was sure that he was a master of his craft, and therefore worthy of the title. And even if this wasn't him then there was no sense in being rude.
"Your friend should wait outside" Taliesin said next "The cave would not welcome her".
Cameron was here, out of phase, she spent a lot of time watching over me while going unseen, she was like some sort of guardian angel, only with the halo or the wings, or well anything angelic really. Plus in some cases magical and technology didn't mix well together, this could be one of those times.
That Taliesin knew she was here was no big shock. The Great Dragon could see those who were out of phase so it made sense that a Seer could, assuming he was the famous Seer. If he wasn't then nothing he did or spoke of would surprise me.
"Wait out here" I ordered my Terminator.
I couldn't see or hear her, but the reverse was not the case, she would have heard me, and she would obey.
"Follow me" Taliesin instructed.
I did as asked and I was led deep inside the cave. I sensed the power of the crystals before I ever saw them, and the sight alone was impressive enough to make having come here a worthwhile trip.
"So why have you come here?" I was asked.
I was amused by the fact that the Seer had to enquire.
"Don't you know?" I asked back.
Taliesin gave me a small grin.
"The crystals show me many thing Sir Gothic" the Seer told me "But not everything".
I nodded upon hearing that. I hadn't expected this place to tell anyone too much about the future. There were things I wanted to know, but I was sure that there was a lot I didn't want to know about.
"Look into the crystals Sir Gothic" the Seer said while pointing deeper into the cave "I can't control what you will see, so I can only hope that it will useful to you".
I walked further in so that I had crystals all around me, and then they began to show me things. For a few moments it was all too much for even my mind to focus on, however before long I was able to start processing what I was seeing.
While the future was always in motion it could also be shaped by those with the will to change things. Fate had a hand in things, but free will existed as well. I knew this because I had altered the fates of whole galaxies with carefully planned actions and clever use of information.
Because of this the crystals showed me many futures, some of the images appeared and vanished quickly, and I knew that this were possible futures, just unlikely ones.
The images became easier to understand and I was shown what I guessed to be more likely futures. I saw myself killing Uther Pendragon, crossing blades with Prince Arthur, duelling with different powers against sorcerers and sorceresses, some I knew of and some I didn't recognise.
I saw Morgana quite a lot, and not always at Camelot. In many of the images shown to me by the crystals we seemed to be in exotic locales. As the images passed before my eyes I began to understand that unless I buggered things up, Morgana and I would be spending some of our time while in this world learning from the magic users of different cultures from all over this world.
Our travellers together wouldn't end there. We would got to places not just in this world, but in others I'd not yet ventured to. Also I saw us on the bridges of sailing vessels and a few different starships. By the looks of things she'd get past the culture shock I'd worried about.
My hope was to talk Morgana away from Camelot so that she could avoid her destiny, and it seemed that I would have that chance. However I also a slightly older version of myself sitting at the Round Table, an idea that made my inner geek squeal like a teenage girl meeting her favourite pop idol. If that feeling could be expressed as a sound it would shatter the crystals in this cave.
By the looks of things it might be possible for Morgana and I to leave Camelot and then return later once Uther was six feet under and Arthur was king. I could imagine him forgiving me for running off with Morgana if I did something to earn my way back into this good graces. Heck he let Mordred become a knight, so I would just have to save Arthur's life as well.
That idea seemed to be a promising one, as I saw myself and Arthur fighting together against threats I couldn't quite make out. However I did notice that Arthur carried Excalibur into battle, which answered one of my questions about the future. I would have to stand by and let people die so that Merlin would have to ask the Great Dragon to create the famous sword.
There were more visions now, fainter images, which made think that they might be far into the future. I saw myself with a silver bladed lightsaber fighting alongside what had to be the Avengers, guess a Marvel Jump could be in my future as well as a Star Wars one.
More possible futures were now being shown. Me in the world of Harry Potter, as a child, having chosen that for some insane reason. I saw myself in the world of Elder Scrolls as a mighty wizard who could alter reality with a gesture and few well chosen words.
I saw myself in some other places that I knew by sight. The Doctor's TARDIS for example. The Watchtower which was used by the Justice League. The home of the Charmed Ones. The bunker that the Winchesters had as their home and base of operations. I saw myself in the Senate Halls of the Old Republic in the Star Wars galaxy. Plus lots of places I didn't recognise.
Not everything that I saw was pleasing to the eye. I saw horrors as well as wonders, monsters, demons and other things that could prey upon mankind. I knew that I would have to face them even though hunting evil creatures wasn't really a purpose of mine.
By now the images were barely visible, little more than blurry still images that faded away before I could take them in. I did make out a few things, however they were totally lacking in context and I got the sense that they were so far into the future that they might as well be guesswork.
The power of this place had its limits, and the glimpses into the future came to an end. I didn't think my magical powers had increased but that was okay, as I figured that before I left this world I'd return to this cave one time. I would get what I desired as long as showed patience and respect.
"Do you see what you desired to see?" I was asked as I headed towards the exit of the cave "The meaning of what the crystals show you isn't always apparent".
I wasn't sure how to respond to this question, because I wasn't totally sure as to what I'd been expecting when I'd arrived here. I didn't have enough experience with things like visions to understand if this experience had been a good one or not. Although since I'd not seem images of death and doom I figured that my time here hadn't been as tramatic as it could have been.
"Let's just say I'm not disappointed" I replied.
I was about to leave, as while this place wasn't unwelcoming it was sacred so I shouldn't just hang around, when Taliesin reached out and handed me two crystals.
"One is for knowledge, the other is for a weapon" was all he had to say on the matter.
I left the cave and stood outside it for a few moments so that I could examine the two small crystals I'd just been given.
"Knowledge and a weapon" I muttered to myself.
I engaged my brain and sussed out what was meant by 'knowledge' in just a few seconds. The more rectangular shaped crystal did look like one of the crystals the Ancients and the Goa'uld used to store data on, and it was very magical. Perhaps it was meant to be part of the holocron about magic I was planning to build.
My intention with that device had been to download all the information I could gather while in this world on the subject of magic into a crystal and then install an VI to act as interface. If I were to use a magical crystal as the data storage device then it could become something more than a database. It could be much like the holocrons used by the Jedi and the Sith.
The other crystal I wasn't so sure about, not until I saw the answer when looking into the crystal, I saw the lightsaber I'd seen myself holding in one of the visions, and so it was obvious that this little gem was meant to be part of that weapon. I didn't know enough about lightsabers to fully understand what role the crystal played in that device, but I knew that it was very important.
These were indeed great gifts, and they had clearly come from someone or something that far more powerful and wise than of the mortal users of magic in this world. Perhaps the Triple Goddess herself wanted me to have these items.
If this was indeed the case then I wasn't going to look a gift goddess in the mouth. I would take the two crystals and place them in my Cosmic Warehouse. Then I would make good use of them when the time came. For now I would return to my life as a knight and bid my time until the opportunity to leave with Morgana presented itself. Which I was sure would be soon, and hopefully soon enough to avoid a lot of trouble.
(Line Break)
Camelot. Albion.
As I escorted Morgana and my cousin Maeve through the marketplace I kept a close eye on her. At some point around this time she was suppose to fall ill because of some warlock with nasty burns on his face nearly killed before curing her as part of a plot to get close to the King. As of yet this hadn't happened, although it should have, so I knew that meant canon events were changing. Not all of them but enough that I couldn't be sure that things would play out as expected.
Still it was possible that the magic user with the scars had simply been delayed from carrying out his plan, and that he would make a move before too long. He'd be hard to miss so if he did plan to slip one of his magical bugs onto Morgana say by bumping into her in the marketplace I should be able to see him coming.
He might be able to disguise himself with magic, or just do what he did in the show and send Morgana some flowers, so my ability to protect her was limited, but this didn't mean that I shouldn't try my best. And I could at least monitor the young woman.
I might be able to heal her if she did get sick, however since magic would be involved I couldn't be certain about that, and I rather avoid having to find out. Sure I could let Morgana die and then just put her in the Sarcophagus, but given that she had the potential to become evil within her I'd prefer not to stick her in a device that was known for corrupting people, even if the risk of that happening were rather low.
The best course of action to take would be let the warlock heal her, and then use my beaming tech to send him into orbit, thus saving everyone a lot of trouble, but that could wait until he actually turned up. For all I knew he'd been killed on his way here by bandits.
Another issue I had think about concerning Morgana was what to do if I was able to convince her come away with me once she'd turned against Uther, which would be sometime in the near future. I knew from the show that once the king had calmed down he would worry about Morgana's wellbeing again and send troops out to look for her. In the show he did this and did stop sending men out despite their losses until Morgana was returned to him.
I had a few options. I could clone Morgana, and not give the clone the Mystical Sensitivity gene so that the copy shouldn't have any magical abilities. The clone wouldn't know that she wasn't Morgana and while her no longer getting nightmares would be odd to some, no test they could run would prove that the clone was a copy.
The clone could live out Morgana's life and not have the real Morgana's problems, but what I do with the clone if we ever returned to Camelot? Once Uther was gone it would be much safer for us here in Camelot, and did want to come back in order to become a knight of the Round Table.
I couldn't just kill the clone, I could stick her in stasis and set her free later, but that seemed cruel, even if it was humane option. The clone could live out a great life in a new universe and I could supply the clone with great wealth as a reward. It was an option to consider if nothing else.
At least keeping an eye for threats gave me something to do while wandering around the market. At the moment Morgana and Maeve were deep in conversation about noble lady stuff, and Morgana's maid, Gwen as she mostly called, was actually getting Cameron to chat about something. Clearly my Terminator was making good use of her ability to blend in with humans when required to.
As we went around the market, the two noble women looked for presents for Prince Arthur, his 21st birthday was coming up, but mostly they were just shopping. I'd already used my Virtual Construction technology in order to make something nice for the prince's birthday.
The ceremony that would confirm Arthur as crown prince, officially making him the air to the throne, even though really he already was, would take place the day after the prince's birthday. Meaning that the festivities would be spread out over two days, and only be ruined when Arthur's Uncle, who'd been killed by his father about twenty years ago, made an appearance at the ceremony.
It wasn't so odd for somebody's Uncle to turn up at an important occasion and ruin the event, but generally speaking they didn't come back from the dead and start killing people. Or at least they hadn't in my original family. Mostly they'd drank too much, did some silly dancing, and gave me some money.
As for the prince's present from me. I'd already taken care of that. I'd used my Virtual Construction technology to create for him a fine dagger that might just be made from steel, but it was very good steel, and the handle was ivory. Not true ivory of course, I didn't kill some poor animal for it, however the prince wouldn't know the difference.
I made careful note of the kinds of thing that drew Morgana's eye as when I took her away from this place I intended to make sure she had things that were make her comfortable in her new home.
Which would be in a fortress, surrounded by ice and snow, and filled with things she wouldn't understand. As such it would be important to make sure she had a bedroom that was decorated in styles she would enjoy and would be filled with things she could understand, and hopefully also enjoy. This should make things easier for her, and help to combat homesickness.
What caught the eye of Morgana and my cousin were the pretty things, as I'd expected, as well as the nice smelling stuff, such as perfumes. Morgana seemed to like them a lot, so I made a mental note to replicate stuff like scented candles and soaps for her. I intended to spoil her quite a bit during our time together.
The eyes of the womenfolk were also drawn to jewellery. I wasn't someone who carried much for accessories. Even my formal clothing which was worn at special events was more practical than decorative. I valued objects for their uses not their appearances.
This was why my Cosmic Warehouse was mostly full of data disks and other means of storing information as well as physical examples of my kinds of advanced technology that I felt would be needed at some point and couldn't be easily copied.
Of course since I had matter replication technology only a few rare materials couldn't be mass produced by me, which rendered stuff like silver and gold worthless to me. Even diamonds were easy for me to create as they were made out of nothing more than tightly stacked carbon atoms.
By the looks of things this shopping trip was going to take a while, and it would come out of my pocket since my cousin didn't even have a job. Thankfully I could just replicate more money as I needed, yet I still couldn't help sighing when Maeve asked me for some more coins.
For me no matter where I was in the whole multiverse, shopping remained the same painful experience for me. Perhaps it always would be.
(Line Break)
Camelot. Albion.
Sir Owain was a young and brave man however he was inexperienced when compared to a Knight of Camelot such as myself, and no match for Arthur, yet the young man, a boy really, felt ready to take on the prince in an important test. Should he fail he'd have to go back to training as a squire, but should he succeed he would be knighted by the king.
I figured that Owain would soon pass the test, as he was one of the two knights who in the show was killed by the Wraith that my magical teacher would soon raise from the grave.
While I could prevent that in a number of ways, one way would be destroy the body before it was raised, but if I did that then Merlin wouldn't create Excalibur with the help of the Great Dragon, and according to the visions Arthur would need that sword. Which meant I shouldn't prevent its creation.
Alas I could not think of way of saving the young man without preventing the sword's creation. The duel would be to the death, and while in theory I could save someone who'd recently died either by using my powers or the Sarcophagus, however I'd never put that to the test.
I couldn't just bring him back to life and let his resume living in Camelot. Uther wouldn't accept a miracle he assume that someone had brought Owain back with magic and then he'd have his soldiers mistreating his citizens again as they searched the city for a sorcerer.
So I would restore Owain to life if possible, wipe his most recent memories, and stick him into stasis until after Uther died. Once Arthur was king I could send Owain back to Camelot and Arthur would accept it as a miracle like he did for Lancealot in the show.
That was the future, right now Owain was about to face the Prince in combat as the final test. He didn't have to defeat Arthur, he simply had to avoid defeat for a certain amount of time. I remembered my test, although it was just a memory, I'd done well enough, nothing remarkable, but I'd held my ground.
Owain did better than I remembered doing during my test. He not only held his ground, he actually managed to land a blow on Arthur before getting knocked on his ass, but that was after all the sand was in bottom of the timer. Once the test was done we knights went to congratulate the new knight.
"Congratulations Sir Owain" I said.
It wouldn't be official until the knighting ceremony, which would be soon, but there was harm in flattering the young man. Hopefully he'd live long enough to get some use out of the title.