AN: Lyrics from Linkin Park's song New Divide, used solely for setting the tone of this chapter. I don't own them or Merlin.

There was nothing in sight
But memories left abandoned
There was nowhere to hide
The ashes fell like snow*

"Merlin, you silly man. What are you doing?"

"Sleeping."

"If you were truly asleep, you wouldn't have answered me." He could almost hear Mithian rolling her eyes at him in exasperation.

"Maybe...I like to talk in my sleep."

"Well, then, I think it's time you woke up. You can't spend your days drowning away in the comfort of a warm bed."

"Come closer and we can drown together."

"I'm too far away for that now, my love. But, there are others who would gladly join you, or lend a hand to save you from the despair."

"I can't reach them...Not anymore. I fear that I burned those bridges long ago."

"They are still with you, and one is closer than you think..."

And your voice was all I heard
That I get what I deserve...*

He blinked and stared down at the book on the table. Its words seemed to come alive on the page. He knew he'd read them before, but this time they held a deeper meaning...one that filled the void he'd been experiencing for so long. Although, he couldn't quite remember where the emptiness had come from to start with.

A niggling in the back of his subconscious told him that his life was wrong. He pushed the feeling away without a thought, and turned back to the leatherbound doctrine before him. Peace overcame him.

The power of the Ori enveloped him like a blanket and drowned out the screaming voices of his past life.

There was one voice, stronger than the others. He felt as if he was really hearing it, and not as an echo of who he had been. After many hours of sitting at the table, poring over the Book of Origin, the screams had not ceased. They hadn't left him as the other voices had.

Standing, he picked up his staff and a smaller version of the book he had been reading. He was determined to find who the voice belonged to and offer them the path that had been gifted to him.

As he opened the door, he was pleasantly surprised to see the Orici coming toward him.

She was the embodiment of all that he now believed; created as the bridge between the greatness of the Ori and the humans who worshiped them.

"Hallowed are the Ori." He said with a bow, and waited for her to pass.

"Hallowed are the Ori." The Orici said, returning the greeting. She smiled at him and took his elbow. "Walk with me."

Her touch silenced the torment he felt coming from the voice within him, and he happily allowed her to lead him away from his initial path.

"I will be leaving soon. I must lead the Followers of the Ori and guide the non-believers into the Light of Origin."

He felt his heart sink. "I wish to go with you, Orici. There are many..."

"No!" She said sharply, and then smiled at him, trying to take away the sting her voice had left. Adria feared that taking Merlin back to the Milky Way would result in the same problem she had experienced with Daniel, but leaving him in the Holy City was also a risk. His friends were still on the loose and she could sense his connection to the dragon. The closer he remained to the center of the Ori's power, however, the more control she had over his thoughts and impulses.

"You are needed here. You're still weak, from before you accepted Origin. The Ori are healing you, but it will take time." She stroked her hand along his forearm seductively. "When you are stronger, you will be granted knowledge beyond your wildest dreams. The Ori have decided that you shall stand at my side to help guide all the people of the universe to Origin."

Merlin smiled. He liked the idea of helping others to see the light. A part of him worried about the Doci, who had stood as the bridge between the Ori and the mortals for generations.

As if his thoughts had manifested, the Doci came around a corner. He differed from the other Priors, to signify his higher standing among the order. The robe was as pale as his skin and hair, with a high collar that wrapped tightly around his neck and up to his chin. On the chest, a large metallic decoration dipped down in an inverted triangle with a stone in the center - similar in color to the crystallized, embryonic dragons in the staves many of the others carried.

The metal decoration rose to the base of his throat, where it split apart and flattened. It continued up along his collar bones and past the top of his shoulders into the air, to frame his head in an open-ended oval. Merlin could see that it was the symbol of the Ori and embossed with runes of Origin.

The Doci's eyes glanced over Merlin, before turning to the Orici. "All is ready for your departure."

Adria kissed Merlin on the cheek. She left him standing in the long hallway and joined the Doci.

He watched her walk away, and despite his desire to return to his chambers, he found himself curious. He felt the strong need to leave this place and accompany her to the other galaxy. The weakness she had alluded to, didn't seem like a good enough reason. He was strong in his conviction to the Ori.

After a few moments, he followed the path Adria and the Doci had taken. He stopped outside of the door to a room that could have been a dining hall, or a conference room at one time. Inside was a long, ornate table; fruit that never seemed to spoil sat in a decorative bowl in the center.

From the crack in the open door, he could hear an argument taking place in the room, between the Orici and the Doci.

"You shouldn't have given him the knowledge of a Prior. That is reserved for the most devout of followers."

Adria scoffed. Her heeled shoes clacked against the floor while she paced. "You attempted it with Daniel Jackson...and failed."

"And then you succeeded, but he still managed to break free from your control, Orici." The Doci could barely be seen through the gap with his back toward the door. The Doci's voice was thick with contempt.

"That won't happen this time. This 'Merlin' doesn't have the real Merlin's subconscious shielding him from our power. I know everything that goes through his mind."

"What of the drakkon? What of his companions? I have word that they have met with the Resistance and are attempting to gain favor among them."

"It won't matter soon. We just need to keep him away from beast as long as possible. It is weakening and soon the creature will bow to our will."

The clicks from her shoes paused, "He said some very interesting things, before he was subdued. He called me Morgana, and implied that I should have some sort of connection to the drakkon that was captured before my birth. He is a mystery, even to the Ori."

"Or perhaps, it is knowledge they do not wish to bestow upon you."

Standing outside the door, Merlin squinted his milky-colored eyes. The name the Orici had spoken made him feel something he couldn't describe. The Ori had taken away all that had held him to the mortal world. They had filled his soul and burned away feelings of love and hate. The Orici was the Ori's way to transcend into human form, and he had assumed that was the reason for the peace he felt. She had been gifted with all the knowledge of the Ori, yet she didn't know the reason for the creature, or for him.

However, there was still something of himself flickering deep inside. It caused him a pain that was only abated in the presence of the Orici.

Morgana...

He felt as if he should know that name. In his dreams and meditation, her face plagued him and the voice of the beast still called to him.

Quickly, he moved away from the door and headed back toward his room. His previous quest to visit the creature came back into the forefront of his mind, but he knew he would have to wait until the Orici was gone.

Aithusa stared blankly ahead into the wall of flames.

The thoughts and demands from the otherworldly beings were but a constant din. For centuries, she had slept in ice-filled caves, keeping the body of her one true friend safe from the ravages of time. The silence in the ice had been both comfort and torture.

Her soul had been a part of a battle before she had even been hatched. The first time she had heard his voice, she had rejoiced.

The second time, she had found him in a forest and he had smiled upon her. Even at such a young age, she could feel the bond between them. It should have grown and been strengthened by his care, but when other men had come, he'd sent her away.

Time and again, until she had found Morgana. The little white dragon hadn't thought beyond her instinctive desire to save the woman. A part of her was kindred, though the woman did not possess the the actual bond that would have allowed Aithusa to grow and thrive. She had been kind to Aithusa, and had loved her more than the Dragon Lord who had hatched her.

For two years, they had clung to each other...comforted each other...in the dark pit of The Sarrum. Aithusa had used her power to feed her energy into her mistress; energy she would have normally shared with her Dragon Lord. She had starved, not only from malnutrition, but also because the bond she shared was incomplete.

Morgana had given her love and comfort. The Priestess could not reciprocate the need that Aithusa had for the magical energy, even though she had tried. The pit and the chains, as well as her desire to keep Morgana safe, had kept the dragon from answering her Dragon Lord's call.

When they had finally broken free, she no longer heard his voice calling to her, and she hadn't the strength to call out to him. Her fear that he would turn her away had been strengthened with the stories Morgana told her of Camelot.

It seemed her mistress had been telling the truth.

At the mines under the castle of Ismere, Merlin had turned her away once again. Then, outside of the Cauldron of Arianrhod and again at Camlann.

Days after the battle, Aithusa had gone in search of the only one who had never turned her away. She had found Morgana's body just a few leagues from the lake, and she had sensed Kilgharrah's presence close by. The young dragon hadn't understood why her elder and her Dragon Lord had been a part of killing Morgana.

When she had finally tracked Merlin down on the shores of Avalon, he hadn't seemed to want anything to do with her. Neither could see the pain the other was feeling at that moment, and Aithusa was too young to understand that it had nothing to do with her.

Once again, Aithusa had been lost and alone, blaming herself, as she felt Kilgharrah die miles away.

She had slowly made her way back to Morgana's body, and curled up next to her mistress.

The young dragon had been awoken a short time later, when a blue faerie lit on her back. He'd spoken of how there was a place among the stars where Morgana might be revived. Unfortunately, he hadn't been able to tell her how to get there, but he did offer her the suggestion of ice.

Far to the north, laid fields of snow as far as the eye could see. They never thawed with the coming spring, and the permanently frozen wasteland would preserve the body of Aithusa's mistress until such time when a path through the stars could be found.

It had taken all of the young dragon's strength to carry Morgana to the land of eternal ice.

Years passed, then decades. She had found a vast cavern deep in the frozen hills where she could keep Morgana safe.

Occasionally, Aithusa would leave her mistress in search of food. To the south, caribou and elk roamed in vast herds. For awhile, she had kept herself fed off of the creatures. Until one day, when she finally heard the voice of the man who had called her from the egg.

Her words to him had been as sharp as the crystals of ice that clung to Morgana's frozen body. Although he had attempted to make amends, Aithusa's own heart had turned cold against him.

Again and again, throughout the centuries he would call to her. As time passed, his summons were few and far between. Each time, he would ask about prophecies and the king he had lost on the day her mistress had died.

The world of man grew up around her. Soon, the herds had begun to dwindle and men who saw her fled in terror, only to return with more of their kind. Their weapons couldn't begin to hurt her, but she had feared what might happen if they found her mistress' body in the cave.

There were times when she would find herself on the shores of the lake, searching for answers.

Finally, the day came that the path to the stars had been opened. She had grown in size and strength. Carrying Morgana's body through the stars was no longer the burden it had been when she was young.

It took weeks of travelling, before she had finally found the pale man in the gray robes who knew what she was, and wasn't afraid of her.

Little did she realize that she would be subjected to more pain than she had ever endured before, even in those early years after her hatching. She longed for salvation.

They had taken Morgana's body away from her and imprisoned her. The woman Morgana had transformed into, hadn't recognized her on the few occasions when she had visited.

To this new woman, Aithusa was simply 'the beast' or 'the creature.'

Aithusa cried in pain and anger. Her soul begged for release and freedom, even if it meant death.

Then, suddenly, his mind had touched hers. She had been completely unprepared and had assaulted him with wave after wave of the anguish that clouded her mind. For the first time, however, she had felt something other than despair from hearing his call.

Months passed, and then his voice was gone; drowned out by the flames that surrounded her. She had spent so much time in the cold that their heat was a type of torture she had never experienced. The Ori used the bond she had given to Morgana to eat at her soul.

The day came when she felt him again...her Dragon Lord. Although she tried to tell him to flee, she felt him coming closer instead; searching for her.

This time there had been no motive beyond finding her. He hadn't wished for anything more. He had come to save her.

Just as quickly as he had appeared, his link to her had vanished, leaving the void inside of her more raw than it had ever been before. He was close...so close...and yet so far away.

Aithusa's eyes were the only part she could move, as the rest of her body was chained to the floor with a magical field.

Shifting her vision to the side, she saw him.

He stared at her with eyes that were clouded by the Ori's power. His skin was pale and marred with symbolic scars.

For the longest moment they simply stared at each other, and then he turned and walked away.

So give me reason
To prove me wrong
To wash this memory clean
Let the floods cross the distance in your eyes
Across this new divide*