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 13 OF 14
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"Emrys... Emrys... EMRYS..."
Merlin jumped, rubbed his eyes and looked around. He sat up at hearing that voice inside his head. He was tense. He waited for the umpteenth time a new signal that didn't come after sleeping for a couple of hours.
That echo had kept ringing in his conscience for a whole day. However, he didn't know where that voice came from, or what it wanted to tell him.
In the beginning, the first time he had heard that sound in his ears, he had remained awake and alert, yet he had immediately thought it had been only a dream...
But then the voice had returned over and over again and at that point, he could no longer ignore it. Merlin began to think it was the soul of the dragon inside of him that was calling him, now awaken. It was as if it was waking him up after a long sleep or from the oblivion of years and years of absolute unconsciousness of what he really was, now that they were getting closer and closer to the end...
And to the truth.
The brunet focused on his surroundings, realizing where they were.
A rocky cranny was covering Arthur and he, in front of them there was the sea. Finally, he could start to feel the evening breeze: that day had been very hot and for that reason, Heat aside, they had to rest more than expected.
In a couple of hours, with a more acceptable temperature, they would continue their journey.
Arthur and he had started to ride towards the split mountain after the stop at the manor, but the journey was turning out to be longer due to the long stops and now, after having made love once more, they would travel again.
Conscious of the world once again, Merlin realized that despite everything, they couldn't say that they hadn't enjoyed his Heat, because, despite the journey, they had found the time to mate several times, as nature wanted, and the Omega was grateful for those hours of peace and deep intimacy, absolutely unexpected. He turned silently around and observed his Mate: he was not asleep, if anything, in the last few hours he had not even rested.
Merlin did not know how Arthur did it, but sharing his Heat seemed to have even invigorated Arthur and fatigue seemed not to belong to him.
The king was sitting beside him, partially covered by a light fur. Now they were no far from the split mountain where Merlin said they would find the sword Excalibur, the portal.
"Arthur... you didn't sleep?"
In response, the voice of the Alpha rang calm and relaxed in his ears, but also deep and concentrated.
"I was not sleepy"
Merlin moved, snuggling against him, feeling Arthur's warmth on his skin once again.
"Are you still looking at that scroll?"
Arthur nodded, staring at the picture he had in his hands and that he had drawn at the manor with a charcoal, showing Merlin's birthmark, which once on paper had gained just the appearance of a map, showing a constellation.
When he had drawn it, Arthur had also added some specific points, indicated by some moles that had appeared on Merlin's skin and that the Omega had never had before. They had suddenly imprinted themselves on his birthmark, moving like a perfect copy of Arthur skin, which possessed them exactly in the same way on the heart, on the muscles that had touched Merlin's birthmark when he had taken him hours before, and when, although he did not know yet, they had conceived their child.
Merlin reached out to touch the moles that Arthur had on his skin, drawing their shape, stroking them slowly, staring at them once more.
"The moles inside of it ... they are identical to yours. Same shape. Same colour"
Arthur nodded.
"Yes and united with your birthmark they become like stars: they form a constellation. They form a dragon"
Merlin nodded back and Arthur, as enchanted and enraptured by that form, continued.
"But what does it mean? We know that it is the way home, but we don't know how to read it as a map"
Merlin continued to stare at Arthur. He had learned the figure drawn on the paper by heart now, but he knew that his mate was right.
"I know... and I'm very sorry"
Arthur could feel Merlin's sadness on his skin.
After what Merlin had revealed to him, that is, that he was the last Catha, the last direct descendant of the people of the stars, the last Dragonlord, they had had no more time to talk about it. The Heat had captured them again, preventing them from thinking about anything else.
"I still cannot believe it... that I have had the Catha I was looking for by my side for a whole week"
Merlin smiled.
"Well... it was difficult to know, wasn't it? Since even I didn't know to be him"
Arthur nodded.
"My biggest fear is only one. If you're not able to read the star map or interpret the prophecy to its fullness, if no one can do it in your place ... how could we hope to find safety? How can we know where we're going to end up to, to fight the unknown, to reassure our people?"
Merlin felt his heart sinking, because Arthur was giving voice to his darkest fears.
"I don't know. I hope that once in front of the sword, when you will have pulled it out, when you, the prince of the prophecy, the leader of the Chosen Ones, will have opened the portal, we will find all the answers we seek. We cannot do otherwise for now"
"It's... unacceptable ... as a distorted world, which has upset all laws, has deprived you of your identity, life and family, but also of a very important destiny, that had to remain sacred and untouchable in order to protect not only you but also all of us"
Merlin nodded, looking down.
"But we cannot complain too much about these things. It won't help us"
Arthur shuddered, knowing that his mate was right, but anger overwhelmed him nevertheless.
Merlin had seen his life being tore apart day after day, as it had happened to so many Omegas, succumbing to unjust and cruel survival laws.
"As an Alpha, I belong to the category of men that has abused their power the most in the last hundred years..."
Merlin stared at him, firmly this time.
"You cannot carry the weight of everything on your own shoulders. You couldn't have done anything to change things before. However, remember these considerations for when you'll have to build our new world"
Arthur nodded, looking away from the map and staring intently at him.
"What does it mean? How does it feel like to be a Dragonlord? How do you feel to know that your home has always been elsewhere?"
Merlin stared at him intently this time, insecure.
"I am not so sure yet. I will never really know, because no one has ever told me or explained it to me before. But I know that inside me there is another soul that now has awakened"
Arthur looked away, absentmindedly.
"The soul of the dragon..."
Merlin wanted to tell him that in fact the souls in his body were three now, including that of the new life that was blossoming in him, but he refrained himself.
"I think it's a call. Something originated inside me and that means belonging, identity. Before knowing the truth, I have always lived in inconstancy; I have always felt incomplete, as if something was missing, a piece that would have helped me understand myself completely, fully understand what I wanted... discovering the truth has been like opening a door inside me and letting in the light"
Arthur stared at him.
"It's the feeling I felt when I first met you. As if by having allowed you to take place inside of me, I had found my true self, my path"
Merlin came up and captured his lips.
"The Alpha meets the Omega..."
Arthur caressed his face slowly, moving a strand from his forehead.
"No... At least it's not just that. It is my soul that recognizes yours, and my body adapts accordingly. It's like a feeling of emptiness that is filled up, existing no more. It's ... the endless that finds the end"
Merlin felt those words piercing him slowly, reaching inside him so intensely that he almost hurt.
"It's beautiful what you have just said"
Arthur slightly smiled.
"That's how I feel"
Merlin got closer to him, watching the sea below the cliff crashing violently against the rocks, ruffled by the solar wind. He felt a sudden sadness inside, at the thought that the new life that he and Arthur had created would never know all that beauty on Earth.
He wiped some sweat from his mate's neck: the heat was becoming unbearable and threatening to dehydrate them.
He shrugged. Who knows how the other survivors were making this last journey? His mind moved from the two of them for a moment and Arthur felt it.
"I am very worried too. For my people ... for my friends, for my sister Morgana and her mate, Mordred. I hope they are fine"
Merlin smiled, filling his own soul with that happy thought... something to be shared with Arthur and that he had not told him yet.
"Mordred... your people's doctor... you know… he is an Omega. The first time I found it out from Morgana, she had immediately sensed that I was one too"
Arthur stared at him.
"Really? I can't believe it! That witch of my sister hasn't told me anything about you! Did she really know immediately you were an Omega?"
Merlin nodded, staring at him, and Arthur continued.
"I have had my suspects about Mordred for a while actually, even if she hasn't told me anything. However, when seeing them together, I have always thought that a bond like theirs could only exist between an Alpha and an Omega ... I'm happy for them. One day they will be able to be together, like the two of us"
Merlin lowered his head.
"Mordred... he is my brother"
Arthur clenched his jaw, stunned, staring at him.
"Didn't you... said that your mother is dead? How? And how do you know?"
Merlin nodded at his confused gaze.
"I know that my mother came to your kingdom when we were separated ... and that she gave birth to him before dying. However, I've never met him, though."
Arthur stared at him intently.
"You must be looking forward to see him then! Mordred... I can't believe it! He too is a pureblood then... without knowing it, my sister and I have mated with two descendants of the people of the stars, fate evidently"
Merlin smiled.
"I have an incredible desire to being reunited with him now"
Arthur put his arm around him, sensing his concern, and Merlin continued.
"You... Mordred, Gaius... are my family now. I don't want to lose any of you"
He touched his belly at that, knowing that he had omitted the most important thing. Arthur smiled with conviction.
"Everything will be fine. They will arrive soon. All of them"
Merlin leaned his head on his shoulder, gently. Then, Arthur continued.
"We have to go now. It would be better to get dressed. We must continue"
Merlin sighed.
"I fear that it won't be possible, Arthur"
Arthur turned around, recognizing the desire in Merlin's wet eyes, burning due to the Heat, and smiled, reaching out to grab his waist, sitting him in his lap.
"Hasn't the intervals between the waves of Heat shortened?"
Merlin smiled on his lips, kissing him.
"It's your fault... you grant no respite to my hormones..."
Arthur laughed, throwing his head back, and Merlin made their groins match with a waist shift, taking Arthur inside him without waiting for the other to move and penetrate him.
"Mmmm... Merlin... I love you when you're lost in this fever. The Heat dresses your skin in a way that makes me crazy. Your boldness surprises me every time"
Merlin smiled, excited, and began to slowly swing on top of him, riding him. Arthur's hard member was a stick on which to move in order to follow the rhythm of the wave of passion, riding him languidly; Arthur's hands were clawing his buttocks; his nails were stuck in the Alpha's shoulders; his parted and soft lips were open, begging...
"Take me, Arthur..."
The movements of Arthur's pelvis became hard and intense at that request, reaching inside him as deep as possible, making the Omega moan loudly and strongly...
"Mmmm... you drive me crazy, my Alpha..."
Then, it happened.
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If it hadn't been Merlin the one to dominate their making love, if Arthur had been on top of him, maybe things would have been different and Arthur's reflexes would have prevented the attack. But by then, nothing could be done, not even complaining.
Arthur sniffed the smell of danger immediately, but since he was under Merlin, he could not move fast enough and the two errant Alphas, apparently coming from nearby, attacked them from behind, surely attracted by Merlin's Heat.
They tore the Omega away from on top of Arthur in a flash, leaving him on the ground, helpless and desperate due to the helplessness of not knowing what to do. The two Alphas had Merlin in a terrible vice. They kept him naked and helpless standing there between them, subjected to their worst intentions, which Arthur, as an Alpha, could feel in the air, from the smell of violence reaching him and in the pheromones of the two bastards.
Their voice was a desperate sentence.
"Oh ooh oooh... Look what we got us here! A Heat, shared and free without being subject to any control, and even a Bond!"
Arthur snapped, angry and blind, feeling the danger.
"LET HIM GO IMMEDIATELY OR I'LL KILL YOU!"
The two enemy Alphas laughed loud at his growl, since Arthur was outnumbered and still on the ground. They were dominating the scene from above and of course, they had Merlin firmly in their hands. They knew that his Alpha-mate wouldn't react and risk to endanger him.
"Uhhh... how impetuous! At least not before we had some fun and joined the party..."
Merlin threw his mate a desperate look, submitted to the violence of the two men who were dragging him on the ground in a clearing next to their bedrolls. However, in that moment, the brunet was more concerned about Arthur's reaction, who was growling aloud, clearly beside himself.
"I TOLD YOU TO LET HIM GO OR YOU WILL REGRET IT!"
"Aren't you hugely outnumbered, Prime, to show such an attitude? However, do not fear. We'll let you go and be magnanimous, when we're done"
That provocation exploded in Arthur's veins like a bomb, blinding him with rage.
The two men's laughter raised up high and strong, while Arthur grabbed the sword at his side and reacted, even if they weren't expecting it...
At that violent reaction, the two Alphas snapped and stepped forward at the same time.
Merlin was thrown to the ground and at the same time, the two enraged errant Alphas began to beat Arthur up, who had got up and was fighting, naked, with an uncontrollable rage.
One of the Alphas took out a dagger and the combat escalated under the Omega's eyes, with Arthur sinking his sword in their flesh, hitting them repeatedly...
Now free and ignored because of the fight, Merlin grabbed a big heavy stone, hitting one of them strongly from behind, and Arthur, taking advance of that unexpected event, pierced both Alphas with his sword, fiercely killing them. Then, he stood in front of his Mate, exhausted, tired due to the fatigue, the fear and the fight.
Merlin stared at him, fully realizing what had happened only in that moment. A fact that had occurred only in a matter of minutes, worried in return for his Mate.
"Are you OK? Arthur!"
The Alpha stared at him. Then, a splatter of blood started to drip from his buttock and down his leg, making him losing his strength and lucidity.
Arthur fell to the ground and everything became black in an instant, while Merlin ran to his side, filled with fear.
00000
The blue of Arthur's eyes was wet and blurry, when Merlin saw his man regaining consciousness and returning with his eyes on him, several minutes after closing the wound.
At that point, the Omega was completely covered by his mate's blood, his heart was bursting in his chest due to the despair and tears were running down his cheeks.
He had dressed and bandaged Arthur as best as he could. In fact, the situation was final: the wound was very bad and, as a doctor, Merlin knew that Arthur wouldn't survive the killing stab he had suffered.
The dagger of the wanderers had pierced the Alpha's kidney and a piece of the blade was stuck in his flesh, so that within a short time he would die.
"Arthur... you should have let them take what they wanted... I'll never forgive myself for this... you..."
Arthur tried to speak, but a wave of pain washed over him and he cursed, before continuing.
"They... would have... I was not going to sit here and watch them raping you, Merlin... death would have been better"
Merlin wiped the tears in desperation, while his Mate continued.
"... I'm dying, aren't I? My wounds are too serious. You cannot help me in spite of all of your medical skills"
Merlin began to cry desperately, while Arthur clung to him, getting up slowly.
"What are you doing? No! Arthur... you have to stay down... you can't..."
Arthur shook his head.
"We cannot waste time here. We have a mission to complete and this changes everything. Let's hurry up and leave immediately. Take me on your horse ... let's go to the sword. At least I'll open the portal before ... before..."
Merlin shook his head hard through the tears.
"No! I don't care anymore. I'll stay here with you. Let the world die and fall! I don't want to live without you... if it is supposed to go this way, I will follow your destiny!"
Now standing, Arthur smiled weakly, clinging to him.
"Merlin... no. We can't let our personal issues and selfishness win. Our mission comes first. It's the most important thing, even in this moment. I will do this thing in any case, but I want you with me. It is my duty, as it must be yours. We can't waste time... You will have to follow me. I'm giving you this order as your Alpha and you cannot disobey my orders"
Merlin fell at his feet, defeated.
"Don't you understand? ARTHUR! I will not survive the pain of losing you! We... won't survive all this. Me... and the life that is growing inside me. I'm carrying your child. I found out yesterday ... and not even he wants to leave you!"
Merlin didn't know why he was so sure, but he just knew it was a boy.
"A SON..."
Arthur felt a terrible pain piercing him to the core at those words. He shook his head slowly. Then, he offered him his hand and helped him to his feet, defeated, desperate, but determined.
"You're carrying my baby... this is enough to cement my belief even more. Let's go to the sword. If the two of you should not survive, my life would have had no meaning so far, and neither everything we have shared... the Bond... everything"
Merlin continued to weep in despair, while Arthur slowly dressed, more and more pale, and invited him to do the same.
"We can't even lost ourselves to the pain... we may not have the time to do it. You know that the Chosen Ones deserve the chance to go back home. We can't be the ones to decide to take it away from them, nor to have the right to decide of their lives, or even to condemn the extinction of the entire human race. It's not just us two..."
Merlin continued to get dressed, crushed by his Mate's words, deeply upset.
It was the King who was talking in that moment, clarifying that before being a man, he was a sovereign and that before loving someone, he was obliged to love his people and to sacrifice everything for them, himself first.
He knew that Arthur was right, but he was unable to think, to get over his grief.
"Arthur..."
His sobs reached deep in Arthur's soul, as thousand nails in his heart, and the Alpha, in order to soothe his Mate, slowly touched his belly, stroking it while smiling, as he became more and more pale.
"I just received the best gift of my life. However, let me take care of the two of you now. Knowing that the two of you will be safe will be the fulfilment of my destiny"
00000
Merlin would have never thought that a horse could fly.
It took them only an hour, instead of two, as expected, to reach the split mountain. Once there, they moved down towards the cranny that, once inside the canyon, now familiar and never forgotten by Merlin, would lead to the rock where Excalibur had been waiting since time immemorial.
They had galloped at full speed, at least as fast as Arthur could take, and in that moment, the fact that they were already there broke the tension in the hearts of the both of them. However, Merlin had not stopped crying since leaving, silently, unable to stop the tears, or the pain.
Merlin looked at Arthur, sitting in front of him between his legs, bent over the neck of the horse: it was getting harder to breathe for him and he had almost no strength left to do so… defeated by his wound and the pain.
The Omega started to speak to his Mate, in order to keep him awake.
"We made it. Near that cavity, the mountain opens with a deep split and becomes a gorge by the sea ... the rock with Excalibur is located there"
Arthur nodded weakly, with no strength, lost in the arms of the force that was taking him away and handing him to death.
"Let's hurry"
With a broken heart, Merlin kicked the horse and it moved, while also his limbs ached due to the tension, at feeling his Alpha's pain and suffering.
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When the mountain suddenly opened before them, the blue of the sea filled the gorge by colouring the air with a sky blue light, and the salt air hit them. The both of them stared at the wonder of their surroundings, breathing in the remains of their last moments together.
Merlin hugged Arthur, getting lost in the warmth that was inexorably abandoning him, and his Mate relaxed at that touch, enjoying it.
"Merlin... I can't take it anymore. Let's hurry. Where is the sword?"
Merlin dismounted, tying the horse to a rock nearby. Then, he helped Arthur down, resting him against himself to continue the last part of the journey on foot.
Arthur's legs were unsteady, trembling, his steps uncertain, weak, his lips pale and his clothes soaked with the blood he had lost.
"We are here..."
Arthur looked up and the sword in the stone appeared in front of them in all its beauty and majesty. It was made of steel and gold, weathered with time and melted with the rock molecules, as if they were its natural extension. Engravings in an unknown language covered the steel and sharpen the blade, while on the hilt was carved a sort of map, which Merlin and Arthur didn't recognize right away, but it was perfectly identical to the one on Merlin's skin. However, it was hidden from their minds in that moment, lost amid the concern for Arthur's life that was burning out like a candle, wore out, with the risk that he might not complete the mission.
Arthur stared at the sword, continuing the walk toward the stone by himself. Merlin just one step behind him.
Then, the King put his hand on the gold hilt, grabbing it, and turned to his Mate, ready.
"If this should prove to be a goodbye..."
Merlin stared at him, desperate.
"It won't. Fulfil your destiny and open the portal... when everyone will be safe and I will have fulfilled mine ... I'll join you"
Arthur shook his head, determined to make him desist.
"You can't... Merlin..."
The Omega smiled, feeling the decision of those last moments growing inside him.
"When you won't be here anymore, you will not be able to stop me from following you. I'll stay here. My life would be meaningless without you. Now pull the sword out and open the portal"
Arthur stared at him… tears beaded his lashes, but without having enough strength to fall, since life was leaving him.
"What if I can't pull it out? What if I fail?"
"You are the Chosen One, Arthur. This sword is yours, forged for your hand. You are the Once and Future King. It belongs to you. It is waiting for you. Pull it out and open the portal"
The words came out of Merlin's chest, as if they were who owned him, from his deepest consciousness, from his more unknown part, ignored until a few days before, but that now was more alive than ever and burning in him.
His voice had changed, becoming deeper.
Arthur pulled with all his strength. He tried again and again, but the sword remained firmly stuck in the stone, without budging at all, and the Alpha gave up.
"I can't... Merlin..."
The Omega encouraged him once again.
"Try again. You have to believe... you won't fail... it's yours! Excalibur was waiting for you!"
Arthur grabbed the hilt once again, pulling with all his might. Then, with one last effort and breath, he give it a last desperate try, exhausting himself, but again without getting results. He fell to the ground, lifeless this time.
The sword was still stuck in the stone.
The portal was still closed.
Merlin rushed to his side, taking him in his arms, realizing that he had ceased to live.
His breathing was absent and his soul had flown away...
It was all over and no one had fulfilled their own destiny.
Merlin screamed and screamed at the top of his lungs.
What a cruel life was that?
Why so much effort to track down the prophecy, to interpret it... to fight ... if everything had to end that way?
Merlin began to cry desperately tears that he hadn't anymore, Arthur's body in his arms, tightened to his chest. Grief was slowly starting to take possession of every fibre of his being...
"Arthur... Arthur... NOOO!"
He fell to the ground, holding Arthur against himself and on top of him, desperate, begging death to take him too...
Then, after an interminable moment, he stopped screaming and ripping the air with all the breath he had and eventually, another voice appeared in his consciousness, emerging from the dark, loud and clear in his ears, so much that he fell silent.
A beautiful and unmistakable voice.
Ancient.
Majestic and unique.
An absolute call.
Recognizable.
"Emrys... Emrys... Emrys..."
Merlin got up, tense, shocked and damned.
Fully conscious of what it was going on, of what he was hearing.
Of the voice that was whispering to him a repressed and long-buried truth.
Clear-mindedness invaded him deep inside, rekindling his spirit.
And a bright light blinded him.
And by seeing it, he took back a life, an ancient friendship between him -and all those like him - and a unique, noble and majestic race.
"Great Dragon... last of your kind... Where are you?"
And at those words, he remembered.
He remembered what he had forgotten… of how his father would take him, when he was a child, to the mountain without being seen by anyone and of how once there, he used to speak with a dragon that, as a child, he thought was only a dream. Of how his father had done everything he could to keep the beast hidden and protected in order to preserve its race, its destiny ... and he even remembered the great powers of the dragon, that his father had always used, making them his own, to heal people.
He remembered its name.
He remembered everything he had forgotten, put away, eclipsed by his conscience because unable to understand. In that moment he forgot all the trauma of a child with a snatched destiny, which he had buried away from himself.
"Kilgharrah, where are you? Come to me! I'm in your den and I am responding to your call! I need you... Arthur... he needs you!"
His deep voice was replaced by a powerful blast, by a pair of strong and majestic wings, by an imposing figure, but not intimidating, by a yellow gaze, deep and sweet, sincere and resting on him, devoted, reserved only for his Lord.
The Last Dragonlord.
Next chapter is the last one :-(