For Ship.
A translation of At the end of the world by Ship.
THE STORY IS NOT MINE!
this is a translation of the Italian story 'At the end of the world' by Ship.
Cover image by Jessica
CHAPTER 5 OF 14
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Merlin finished arranging his bedroll, putting on the ground the medicine bags, from which he had stolen some ointments he had given to Lancelot to cover his scent during the journey.
He turned his back to the group to sit for a moment. Once on the ground he turned back toward them.
They had stopped at a shelter, dug in the mountain, after riding for a whole night.
Eventually, they had had to travel for many hours. The sandstorm had made impassable many roads. Freeing them would have taken too long. Therefore, they had taken a less traveled and more inhospitable road...
But the journey had become too long and they had to stop when the heat had become suffocating.
In that moment, Arthur was busy discussing the road with Leon, looking at the map between them. They wanted to find the best path to try to stay as closer as possible to the high road. Merlin was happy to find the time to observe him after a long day.
They had not spoken since they had had sex hours before and after exchanging a few words about the yellow fever in the cave. Throughout the night, they had ignored each other.
Arthur had not even tried to find his eyes. He had acknowledged him no more, almost as if Merlin didn't exist. And Merlin didn't know how much longer Arthur would keep punishing him.
It was perfectly clear that the prince was pushing him away because he was still angry with him for what he had said to him while he was taking him...
Because of the devaluation of what they had shared, namely even his authority.
Certainly, his Alpha pride was forcing him to stay angry in silence, but Merlin suspected that there was something much deeper in his hostilities: he perceived Arthur's distance as the imposition of a reality, which Merlin, as one of his subjects, would have to get used to.
Now he was one of his subjects ... and the prince had power over his life. Thus, he was giving him time to realize that he was in a new situation: Merlin was no longer a free man and therefore, he had to accept the new dynamic between them.
In fact, despite they were ignoring each other, it meant that what had happened was clear, and had changed everything.
At least for the Prime.
In front of the group, the Alpha seemed to have made a choice.
The fact that he had not informed Merlin of it was only a detail.
There was no need for words or explicit revelations to reveal what had happened. Everything seemed to go as nature intended, simply by using their common instincts.
At that point, in fact, watching the knights, Merlin was almost convinced that everyone had guessed that the two of them had been together.
That their leader had chosen a new mate.
The others did not know how long it would last …of course... a Prime Alpha could change several partners in life, since the Bond with Omegas was forbidden. But they could feel it, sniff it in the air, that Arthur considered him differently now.
The reverence they were showing him when talking or when speaking of him to Arthur, their respect, had changed after he and the blond had loved each other by the Lake.
In fact, the thread of their thoughts remained united, like a pack that thinks with one voice. They seemed to feel each other. They shared things and when the situation of one member of the pack changed, especially if he was the leader, they could perceive it immediately.
Therefore, the knights paid him a different attention, as if his words had suddenly become important ... and a couple of times, Gwaine had even talked to him as if he was happy that he had joined their group that way.
But if the Alphas seemed to be sure about the nature of his relationship with Arthur, between them, however, things was still erratic.
When with him, the prince was distant in every gesture.
He kept Merlin waiting on purpose, to exercise all his power, to avenge his wounded pride and to continue dominating him.
Merlin could feel it...he felt that somehow Arthur was still denying he was a Beta.
He probably could not accept the idea, to get used to the fact that his instinct was telling him a different thing from what reality was imposing upon him. And this continued to leave him tense, unhappy, like a wolf that finds a trace that leads nowhere. Having to let go was driving him crazy even if that idea kept staying in his head.
Seeing his Alpha like that hurt him. But in that moment, more than ever, he couldn't reveal himself.
Doing so would mean losing more than his freedom... he'd lose his life if they happened to be unable to refrain themselves from establishing the Bond, now that they had taken each other physically.
The problem was: once freed their nature, would they be able to deny it again?
The chemistry they had shared, while they had loved each other, had been just a glimpse, but it had already clarified irrevocably how compatible they were.
Being together had been beautiful and unique, despite they had not loved each other completely, despite the fact that Arthur's Knot had not tied them and that Arthur had not bitten the glands in his neck.
It was for that reason that Merlin was absolutely certain that refraining from establishing the Bond would be almost impossible if the truth were to come out. Arthur would go crazy if he discovered the truth about him now; he would become a caged animal until he claimed Merlin for himself...
One thing was to immediately recognize each other and at the same time to deny the Bond ... forcing to stay away from each other.
Another was to make love, taste each other physically, and subsequently deny the Bond, because unable to create it.
The risk was for them to give in, be punished, condemned and killed.
He closed his eyes for a moment, sinking into sadness. Swimming in the sensations that terrified him, he even managed to get some sleep, defeated, without noticing that someone had approached him and prepared a bedroll next to his, putting down his personal things and walking away.
When he awoke, Merlin realized that it must not have been much since he had fallen asleep.
In fact, the others had not finished arranging their things and their bedrolls yet. They were still intent on setting up a small camp.
He recovered and rubbed his eyes with one hand. He was hungry and really needed some water.
He completely emptied his bag, thinking to fill later. He got up and walked over the others to help them.
When he finished, he sat in circle with the others. They ate beef jerky with roots from the previous day, without talking too much to regain strength.
Arthur always seemed lost in his thoughts. He merely threw a look at Merlin every now and then, to see if he was all right and if everything was ok.
After the meal, Merlin started to write his diary to stay focused and relaxed. He updated the events of the last two days, the new destination, his new status and the names of his new companions... and as he did so, he strained his ears, listening quietly and timidly to Arthur and the knights speaking clearly of their mission for the first time, even if without going into details.
In that moment, no one seemed to mind him too much and Merlin, listening to them, found out that the group had being away from home for a year.
Apparently, the Alphas had to be back there for a few days only a couple of times. They were engaged in the frantic search of an elder, a descendant of some ancient people. They called him "Catha". The man, from what he could understand, was necessary for the interpretation of a missive, written in an ancient and incomprehensible language, vital for their people.
Some concern raised in his chest at hearing that story, because he couldn't fully understand it. But somehow, he could feel its power, the expectations of the others. It was destabilizing him.
…
He got up, leaving the others. He decided to sleep again and this time he wanted to do it a bit longer. So, he laid down on the pelts, turning onto his side.
He closed his eyes. But, no more than a few minutes later, someone laid down next to him on a bedroll that Merlin discovered only then had been placed next to his.
Arthur…
Arthur, with his strong and musky smell, his heat and intrusive presence, remained quite beside him, staring at the ceiling.
Merlin could feel him behind him, invading him with his presence, while the Alpha slowly began to take possession of his every cell again.
He tightened his arms around his own body, pretending to be asleep. He was already unable to think straight, when Arthur's heat slowly entered his nostrils and slipped on his skin first and then on his senses, slowly.
An intoxicating drug, a healing balm. His pheromones hovered on him, stroking him without really touching.
His breathing choked, when he heard Arthur turning around, moving slowly and laying against his back. Merlin felt him stretching his arm around his waist, wrapping him like a blanket, possessively, giving him peace, unconditional surrender and pain at the same time.
His heartbeat seemed to reach his every nerve. He seemed to speak to his senses and for a bit longer, Merlin chose to remain silent, savoring the moment.
He stood still for a few minutes listening to him. Then, Merlin bite his lip strong, when he felt Arthur moving and breathing on his neck, below the ear; when he felt him depositing a light kiss there. His lips were parted and hot.
He could not let that happen again...
It would mean a never-ending torture.
His nature was giving in to him, but his rationality opposed that contact between them with all its might, exactly like the first time, when he had surrendered between anger and pain, scared of being found out as an Omega.
He could not help but turn around and meet his eyes.
"Arthur?"
The Alpha kissed the curve of his jaw, with his eyes full of desire. The blond was excited and Merlin understood that he had just started his dance to take him again.
"Stop..."
He had to at least try...
Arthur continued to hold him in a vice. Merlin could feel Arthur's excitement increasing, his desire growing as the Omega's fear and tension.
"I know what you're trying to do ... I didn't say I accept it ... I will not be your mate... I don't..."
Arthur bit his neck, silencing him.
"I haven't asked for your permission. I don't need your consent to take what I want..."
His voice was raspy, ready to defeat Merlin's reason, to impose his will even if the brunet was rejecting him.
Merlin stiffened. But Arthur started to caress him more ardently, calming him down by force.
Merlin's voice came out strangled.
"Haven't you ignored me all day?"
He felt him smiling bitterly on his skin.
"Only because if I had approached you, I wouldn't have been able to help but take you nonstop..."
That said, Arthur turned him completely, taking his face with force, capturing his lips, imprisoning them in a long, intrusive, powerful and hot as fire kiss.
"We are surrounded by the others!"
Arthur hardened his gaze and Merlin felt his body beginning to give in. He could not control it.
"My men know your new role in the group very well. Nobody would be surprised"
Merlin felt his anger getting stronger...
"What if they spot us? I'm not going to..."
Arthur didn't let him go, stubborn. His flesh was hot on him, "We are far from them and almost in the darkness. They will not find out, unless you moan too loudly..."
"NO..."
Merlin struggled and Arthur had to tighten his grip even more, almost hurting him, in order not let him run away. Then, he bite him again, winning.
"You've been in a world without Alphas for too long... certain dynamics are absolutely normal for our race. It's just how Alphas are. No one minds other's business ... certain things are considered natural. Apparently, you have forgotten what it means to live in a world that includes the coexistence of our races... living only with Betas has deleted everything. You'll have to get used to this again"
Merlin tried to free himself again, failing.
"One thing is to know it... the other is to have sex with other people sleeping nearby. I've no intention of doing that!"
Arthur's eyes traversed him straight across. Merlin could feel all his frustration.
The brunet heard him getting up. Arthur grabbed him and lifted him up...
"What the hell are you doing?"
Arthur put him on his shoulder and Merlin hanged on his back, while Arthur grabbed the pelts from the bedrolls and carried him away, holding him by the knees.
He shouted while he struggled, but no one lifted a finger.
In fact, he could vaguely hear Gwaine and Percival laughing. They were amused by his protests.
"Let me go! Where are you taking me? I don't want to..."
.
A much smaller and darker side room opened in front of them after a few steps. Merlin's head spun when Arthur put him down...
Arthur had laid the pelts on the ground and Merlin could read in his eyes that all his resisting had excited him even more. The prince was panting; his skin taut. His power passed through Merlin from head to foot, going in his every muscle, increasing his instincts.
He almost begged him to let him go.
"You don't understand, do you? You cannot submit me! It would only be just another shag"
Merlin resorted again to those harsh words; those he knew would hurt him the most, because he was afraid. He didn't know how long he could keep a cool head. He didn't know how long he could deny his Omega instincts without giving in...
He was afraid he would beg him to establish the Bond with him, asking him to claim him completely.
In fact, the desire to have him was winning over everything else. It was for that reason that he kept denying himself, despite he wanted him with all his heart.
He heard Arthur laughing in a deeper voice this time, sneering, not giving up.
"So, that is all there is? Fine! We'll just fuck then. We'll do this your way. It looks like we'll have to be happy with only that... it didn't look like you had hated it that much last time, after all..."
Merlin saw him stripping naked in the shadows. His thick and hard Alpha penis froze chills in his blood, in his groin...
"Come here"
His order pushed him down in his darkest and hidden instincts...
"...Merlin."
He swallowed a few times, while Arthur approached him, determined.
Arthur hand grabbed the back of his neck in a tight grip, pressing a hidden spot that, as an Alpha, he knew would defeat the brunet. He released him only when he felt him relaxing under his touch...
"Only sex then, Merlin? Are you sure it will be enough for you in the long run? All those shivers... all those moans repressed and sent back in the bones whenever you begged and will beg me to take you again and again ... will you be able to ignore them? Are you really sure this is just sex?"
Merlin closed his eyes, remembering the violent tremors and the groans in his ear, while he had to bite his lip hard or stick his nails into Arthur's back not to scream with pleasure...
Arthur had lived their love in pure and absolute empathy, as his equal: it was impossible to deceive his instinct...
He squeezed his fingers around his arm muscles.
"Weren't you an Alpha of few words?"
Arthur smiled, stopping a groan. Then, he jumped on his lips; this time capturing them with a bite, ripping uncontrollably sobs from Merlin's chest.
Arthur started to undress him, while also Merlin was undressing him, feeling him trembling under his fingertips, impatient due to the desire and condemning Merlin to surrender.
He could feel Arthur's desire against his skin, his erect and hot penis looking for him. He slipped between his legs and tried to find his groin. The blond moved against his increasingly warm skin...
Arthur, now in full Domination Phase, clawed Merlin's thigh with his hand, lifting it to lean against him even more. Then, he went down to bite his chin, his closed eyes and from there, down again, forcing the brunet to tilt his head back. Merlin clung desperately to his shoulders to stay on his feet, crushed by his ardor, but also by their own passion.
"So, this is how you like submitting yourself?"
These words scratched his soul, because they told him that Arthur knew he could not resist him...
"Submitting? Never..."
Arthur laughed loudly, pulling him down on the pelts. He spread Merlin's legs and prepared himself to take him, clenching his muscles in a vice, while he slowly rubbed his majestic and virile penis against Merlin's smaller and eager one, to excite him more. Then, Arthur found his entrance and penetrated him with one thrust, taking his breath away.
Merlin screamed. His cheeks were on fire, his lips red and wet and his eyes rolled back in his head.
Every breath was a huge effort.
"Tell me... isn't it better when you let go and give yourself to me?"
Merlin sank a sob into his shoulder, moaning on his skin when Arthur thrust deeper. The Alpha was taking him so slowly it was almost a torture.
Arthur was taking all the time in the world and, as he entered and exited from Merlin, he stared at him, capturing his every shiver, writing it in his own eyes, thoroughly enjoying his surrender...
His breath was hot and Merlin felt like flying at each thrust and then hurling to the ground at the next.
"I want to hear you begging ... ask me to pleasure you..."
"Never..."
Arthur laughed again, increasing his pace, fast enough to feel the blood in his mouth when Merlin bit his lip harder...
But when the blond lifted one of his leg up, changing angle to sink in with more control over the thrusts, Arthur triumphed, because Merlin could not stifle a scream anymore, which sprang high and full with pleasure. The brunet arched his back, turning his head and offering his neck. Instinctively he grabbed the blond's face, putting it against his Omega glands, because he wanted Arthur to bite and claim him.
His own gesture scared him. He froze, while an also amazed Arthur hesitated for a moment, sniffing his skin. And then, he pushed in again, going crazy due to the effort to refrain himself. Then, the blond suddenly moaned so hard to fill the air around them only with his voice. Merlin too indulged himself in the pleasure and fear of what he had just done, praying that the other had not realized how much he had wanted his bite, the Bond...
In the end, Arthur collapsed on top of him, panting. He let go of Merlin's leg slowly, wrapping it behind his back, staying in him until his erection allowed him, waiting for his breath to return to normal, before re-opening his eyes...
Then, he finally pulled out and stared at him, pinning him with his eyes, hard.
"You may not want to ... but when I take you it's impossible for you not to accept me ... or want me, in the end"
Merlin breathed deeply, sinking in the blue of Arthur's eyes, still filled with pleasure...
"Can anyone go against a Prime?"
Arthur nodded, angry about his answer, dejected by the fact that Merlin gave in to him only during this moments, but not during the rest of the time.
"Just now... You've offered me your neck ... you wished to be bitten by me?"
At those words, Merlin died inside and hoped with all his might that the voice wouldn't betray him.
"You had hurt me... for a moment. I just... had that reaction to release the tension ... that's all"
Arthur kept staring at him, unconvinced. Then, he nodded and moved, collapsing beside him and embracing him again from behind, glued to his back once again.
A few minutes later, Merlin heard him drifting off to sleep, while he finally relaxed and fell asleep in turn, tired more because of the internal battle with himself than for the sex just had, or for the journey.
He was defeated and angry over losing his freedom. The fact that he kept falling in Arthur's arms every time was eating him away from inside.
The Alpha wasn't doing a lot better than him: rejected, confused, torn between wanting to dominate him and the pride that forced him to stay away, he was exhausting himself in turn... and Merlin had no idea where this situation would lead them to.
They had slept several hours. The heat must have dropped, because Merlin felt cold when he awoke.
He realized that Arthur must have got up when he no longer felt his warmth on his back or his breath on his neck.
He stretched lazily, happy to be away from Arthur's eyes. He could breathe again.
He had slept very soundly. It had been forever since he had managed it. The breath of the other man had lulled him, calmed him, relaxed him and transported him to a different world, made of Alphas and Omegas, their belonging together. The dream to live in a reality that was now unthinkable, but still terribly important, made his actual world even more painful and dark.
Morgana had spoken of Arthur's mission, of his desire to rebuild a reality that contemplated the coexistence of all races, as they deserved. And although he couldn't imagine how Arthur may realize such a thing, he decided to investigate the matter, perhaps by asking directly to him without exposing himself.
He had no idea what the Alpha wanted to do, considering that the land was much closer to death. No one knew how many more years the sun would grant the survival of life, since everything was falling apart day after day.
The climate had become an enemy that ruled the lives of all. It dictated the rules, imposing cruel laws. Humans' future was scattered in the wind, like the dust that consumed the bones.
Merlin sat up, grabbing the clothes he had abandoned somewhere. When he turned around, he saw Arthur coming into the room. He had food with him and a water bag that he handed to him as soon as he arrived.
The Alpha stared at him while speaking.
"You have slept for more than four hours. Are you OK?"
Merlin nodded, redressing.
How could he tell him that he hadn't slept like that in a long time? That being near his Alpha, near him, had calmed down his perpetual inner tension, dissatisfaction and fear of tomorrow? That he felt complete only in his arms and that that was what worried him the most? That it was becoming almost impossible for him to hide himself?
How could he admit that because of him he missed his very being? That he had been feeling more and more Omega since he met him and that he had a mental and physical need to surrender to what he truly was, to what they had, even if he had to choose?
How could he admit that if forced, Merlin would choose him?
However, the problem was that it was something he couldn't decide just thinking about himself, given that it could kill the both of them... he could not ... pick for Arthur.
He looked away in order not to die crushed by all those thoughts. He tried to keep his self-control.
"Yes... I'm fine, thank you. I was just exhausted. I haven't slept as I should in days."
Arthur nodded. He handed him the bundle with the bread and meat. While Merlin was drinking, the blond sat down next to him again, slowly, staring at him and eating too.
Merlin didn't turn around as he bit into the bread.
"The others?"
Arthur finished his meal quickly, hungry.
"It is not their habit asking questions."
Merlin swallowed, accompanying the bread and meat with a new drink of water.
"I didn't mean that. Are they all right? Are they still sleeping?"
After eating, Arthur laid down, arms behind his head, and stared at him.
"Only Gwaine. Leon and Percival are repairing a couple of saddles."
Merlin nodded, continuing to eat slowly. His stomach was a hole that he could not fill.
"Earlier ... with Leon, I have heard you talking about the journey while looking at a map. Do you think it will take much longer than expected to arrive to Gedref?"
Arthur stared at him imperturbably.
"Circumstances permitting, we will travel a lot tonight; we will find another refuge and will ride again tomorrow night. We should reach the sea a few hours after the second departure"
Merlin nodded: he had forgotten that Gedref was close to the sea. He bit into the bread, finishing his meal.
"I heard that there is only one village of Betas in that land. The healer I was looking for should be there. Finding him shouldn't take us too long"
Arthur nodded, staring.
"Do you know his name?"
Merlin denied with his head.
"No... The traveler who told me about him said he did not remember ... but he had heard that this man had found some answers about the yellow fever. Whatever they are, we must listen to them"
Arthur stared at a point on the ceiling and Merlin continued.
"Are you worried about your people? About your kingdom?"
Arthur turned, looking at him like a real leader. His tone was sliding on his skin, dominating him.
"Yes. Nevertheless, I must continue my mission. I cannot abandon it ... if I did, we would lose our last hope. They trust me. My people are sure that I will bring them an answer and I don't want to disappoint them"
Merlin turned, asking him what he had wanted to know for a while now.
"I keep hearing about this mission ... about looking for this Catha person... what this is all about?"
Arthur staid still.
"Don't you think I should be informed? Now that..."
It cost him a lot to say it aloud, but when Merlin expressed himself, he realized that it had been more difficult to hold that question than to admit it.
"... I'm also part of the clan Pendragon?"
Arthur stared at him. Then, he slowly nodded and Merlin felt the solemnity of that moment on his skin.
Arthur was about to talk to him for the first time as someone he trusted. He was including him in his life and the one of his people.
It warmed his heart.
"We all know that the world has reached the end of his days. All humanity knows we are at the end..."
Merlin even held his breath in order not to break the confidence between them in that moment.
Arthur continued.
"No one knows when it will happen. But everybody knows that one day the sun will explode, so strongly that it will completely erase the life on Earth, which will have no defenses against its power. We also know that solar flares are increasing in frequency; the solar wind that caused the sand storm two days ago is yet another proof of this fact. Everything is indicating that the moment is approaching. Do you agree?"
Arthur waited for Merlin to absorb his words before continuing.
"We have only one hope to save us, and it is contained in an old writing, inherited from some wise eldest, who seem to have put some directives in a missive, written in an ancient language, incomprehensible to everybody but to a select few. The parchment was handed down and never translated, for fear that, once readable, it would fall into the wrong hands. My father had heard about it... He had spent half of his life looking for it... and when he found it, the man who had it was killed before he could tell its secrets to my father. Now, the document is in my hand, partially translated, and I have to track down another Catha, a seer and priest, as the one who had given us the missive ... so that he can translate the rest"
Merlin focused on his words.
"Why are you so sure that this document contains the solution to save the human race?"
Arthur stared at him.
"Because it is a legend as ancient as my own people... passed down for millennia. We were not sure of the existence of the document. But when my father had tracked it in the hands of the Catha ... and had talked with him ... everything suddenly had seemed real and possible. We have one hope. We have to believe in it and do everything to keep it alive."
Merlin slowly nodded.
"The Catha that gave it to you... is dead. How? Why hadn't he finished translating it?"
Arthur stared at him and Merlin read all the torment Arthur was feeling, all the pain that that answer was costing him.
"He was an Omega. He had been living as a hermit for decades ...hidden."
Merlin felt his heart breaking. Arthur knew what horrible things his race did and was suffering because of that.
"When my father had found him... he had recognized an ally in the clan Pendragon, the people keeper of the ancient secret, and had talked with us, revealing that the legend was true, absolutely true. Perhaps, he had sensed that it was time to reveal it completely"
Merlin stared, bewildered.
"Why is your people the chosen one for such a great secret?"
Arthur shook his head.
"I don't know... We hadn't had time to find out, along with the rest. Someone had followed my father to the Catha unknowingly: some Alphas wanted to capture and enslave him. While the man was translating the text, reading it aloud to my father, someone attacked with crossbows and the both of them were killed"
Merlin swallowed.
"He was translating orally? Then, how do you know the partial translation of the missive?"
Arthur looked down.
"I was there too. I have only been luckier. My father had protected me with his body during the attack and I had survived"
Merlin felt his pain.
"Did you write the translation after that?"
Arthur nodded.
"I would have never been able to remember it otherwise. I have been protected it with my life for a year now"
Merlin stared at him, tense and lost in him.
In all his strength.
Arthur was not only an Alpha…he was a leader.
A great leader, as Lancelot had immediately realized ... the first between the two of them to see his greatness, while Merlin had been still lost in the contemplation of his Alpha essence, submitted by his smell.
Merlin continued, reacting to his senses that were ready to be turned on.
"This new Catha we are looking for... he too is...?"
Arthur couldn't look at him in the face, as he replied what he wanted to know, knowing to be contradicting every common thought of their civilization and going against the racial laws.
"Yes, he is an Omega too. It is difficult to trace him because everybody believes he is a Beta. He lives among them. This is why we have visited every village of your race. Only the Southern ones are left."
Merlin felt close to the man they were talking about.
What else had they in common besides the ability to heal?
"But how will you find him if he cannot reveal himself?"
Arthur shrugged as if it were obvious.
"I know his name. I'm the only one who knows it. Not even my men know. And when I find him, he will reveal himself to me as soon as I tell him the name of the Catha that has sent me to him. Only then, I'll show him the missive"
Merlin felt as if the world had started moving again after a long time.
He could see a future along with the Alpha. He felt he was embracing Arthur's same destiny and hope, as he watched him talking so passionately ... with the right tension that could lead to the success of the mission.
Watching him, he could not help but understand why the other members of his clan followed him and put their lives in his hands.
Arthur was really a King ... he looked absolutely destined to do great things and Merlin was sure that if all of them had a chance, Arthur would find it.
"A mission of vital importance then..."
Arthur nodded, relieved to have talked with Merlin.
"If all of us survive... if our civilization were to have a second chance, my first duty will be to restore dignity to all races, create new laws about coexistence, give Omegas their freedom, readmit the old natural laws, now forbidden, and with them the Bond and retrieve the Betas confined at the end of the world..."
The projects unveiled by Morgana...
Merlin felt like dying in front of such beauty ... such a future.
"But how can a simple letter change the fate of an entire planet? How can it stop the destructive force of the sun?"
Arthur ran his hands over his face, tired.
The shoulder was now healed, but he carried on his shoulders the weight of those revelations and seemed worn out by the tension of the speech.
"I have no idea. That's why I have to find the last Catha ... the man that Balinor had told me about"
"B... alinor?"
"The Catha who was killed"
Merlin felt as if a lightning had struck him during a storm.
He felt its force hit him while hearing that name.
His father, whose name was Balinor, lived as a hermit to run from the law.
A long time ago, a lifetime ago, his Omega family had been captured, destroyed. His eight months pregnant mother had been captured, taken away and sold to a community of Alphas. He hadn't seen her since he too was sold to a different clan of the north, when he was only six years old. His father had traveled with him during the journey and had been able to free the both of them. They fled. But then, they had been found again. Merlin had been recaptured and his father had kept running.
At some point, over the years, he had even presumed he was dead. Then, by chance, he had found out his father was living as a hermit in a forgotten land, hidden from the world...
Waiting, perhaps?
For the change? For the right man to start it? Was this the reason why he had revealed everything to Arthur and his father?
He had believed in them?
If the man had been really his father, of course.
What a strange coincidence...
Was it possible that the Omega Arthur was talking about really was his father Balinor?
He just couldn't explain the Catha thing. But he was so small when life had separated them, after all. He couldn't even have known that his father had been an expert of ancient languages and legends.
Merlin swallowed nervously, staring at Arthur who was getting up to give him an order...
"Let's move now. We have to wake up the others. Soon, it will be time to leave..."
Merlin stood up and Arthur stared at him as always: as if he was looking into his soul.
Smiling down at him from atop of his domain.
"You don't want to be my mate, but you must obey my orders like the others. Let's hurry up"
Merlin's stomach filled with stones as Arthur left.
He could feel once again the loneliness that invaded him whenever he was away from his Alpha.