Chapter 8
Warning/s: None
Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin.
A/N: Second to last chapter! Hope you're all enjoying xx
Merlin embraced the whirlwind now, enjoying the few moments of peace that it gave him in between tasks. This next one – The One – was going to be either very easy or very hard. He had to capture the very essence of her being, and in what?
When he landed, Merlin found he was not only equipped with the curved blade, but with a small bottle as well. He rolled his eyes – Erran really did think of everything, and before it was too late unlike Merlin.
The One was again like a human, but all different skin tones and disproportionate limbs. Merlin arrived crouched behind a table, automatically given cover, and observed The One for a while. She was working on another table, murmuring to herself in a distressed tone, and grinding and chopping herbs on a small board.
Merlin sighed inwardly – how was he supposed to know how to capture her soul? She wasn't like the Shadow Snake, who had the odd, bulbous sacs all over his body which contained his being. Even as he was thinking this, her hands slipped – probably because her arms were different lengths and one was far more muscular than the other – and the knife cut open her finger. Instead of blood, a blue, swirling mist flowed from the lesion, which she quickly inhaled through her nose, the cut closing almost immediately afterwards. Merlin grinned – this was going to be another easy one then.
Slipping out from behind the table, Merlin approached The One from behind, uncorking the small vial and raising the sword. In one vicious motion, he gripped The One's stolen head and revealed her neck, slicing open. The blue mist flowed out like blood from her neck, and Merlin was able to catch it all in the vial. The body sagged against him, and he dropped it in disgust. Parts of it were already rotting away, and it stank just as bad as the Crops' Reaper's decaying food did, if not worse.
"Easy," he said aloud, eying the full vial.
This was the last one. The Aeger. Once he finished this, he had done the entire thing.
Swallowing his nerves, Merlin rummaged through the shelves in its 'room', hoping to find a disease suitable for The Aeger. He had caught the attention of the beast the moment he had arrived, so he was having to run quickly to evade capture, no time to catch his breath.
None of the bottles that contained the diseases were labelled, so Merlin was having to go purely off how strong the stored disease looked and how much of it there was. He assumed that The Aeger was going to need something strong to hinder him, and finally Merlin came across a bottle full of green blobs floating around in a viscous orange liquid, the bottle absolutely full to the brim of it.
Shaking, Merlin uncapped the vial carefully and threw the cork to the side, ready to throw the vile concoction over the creature.
It attacked from behind, nearly causing Merlin to drop the precious bottle. He spilled a little, but it went onto the floor and not onto him, which he was grateful for, and barely thinking about what he was doing, Merlin threw the bottle over his shoulder and watched as the substance splashed all over The Aeger.
Immediately, the creature shrieked in pain and curled up, shaking violently as if to try to get the liquid of itself. He screamed something in a language that Merlin didn't know and collapsed, vicious burns appearing all over his body.
Merlin scrambled backwards, eager to avoid any of the illness from catching him, and ran away. He didn't trust The Aeger not to give chase suddenly, so he scampered until he caught sight of a spiral of lilac following him. He stopped and allowed it to catch up with him, ecstasy that he had finished all of the tasks.
Erran was just as happy as Merlin, though he was more reserved in his joy. Emrys, he rumbled. You have done us a great deed. We will never forget this, ever. We are in your debt.
Merlin smiled, feeling light-headed with the relief. "Don't mention it," he said humbly. "Can I go back to Camelot now? Not that I hate it here, but that prat will probably have gotten himself mortally wounded by now."
Erran laughed, a deep grumble. Of course, Emrys.