There in the darkness, cold as stone, Merlin felt her again. After the ages, she was there waiting under the trees. She seethed, the temptress. Cold teeth gleamed under the pale complexion of the moon, as she came, taper of waist. Silent, magic might in all her glory and wickedness.
"Well, Merlin...after all this time..."Nimueh laughed at him from her place in the afterglow.
Merlin held his breath and closed his eyes as their last meeting came back to mind. Recalling how she had cursed him with the burden of Arthur's eternal cycle of death filled his soul with dread. Merlin was too old and too wizened by the world to be afraid. Rather, dread, cold as Death's fingers gripped his soul. A lion and her teeth.
"You knew that always, our paths must cross again..."Merlin felt his spirit roll within him, snowballing, avalanche of thought. She was playing with his mind. He could feel her pricking away at it, her magic able to whittle away at his own.
Nimueh stepped into the clearing. Her eyes blazed golden as the sun at twilight. She smiled. She could feel it in his soul, and so could he.
Merlin closed his eyes. He knew she was going to make him see it, searching his mind until they were looking at it together. He may as well get it over with:
Merlin felt as if his feet had frozen. He took three steps across the barren, bloody marble floor to where he lay.
Nimueh had gone, but Arthur lay there, pale as snowfall, a soft glow having fallen around him. His lips were blue and his eyes were wide. They searched the ceiling of this temple on the Isle of the Blessed. His final destination, after having fought the battle of Camlann to the last desperate hour. He left it in Leon's strong hands and went here alone, as Merlin lay dying.
"Arthur..."Merlin gasped, his voice somewhere between a sob and pleading. He hit his knees on Arthur's altar. Arthur lay there, choking on death.
Merlin had never really looked at his face until that moment. Oh, he'd seen it. He knew the many expressions of it, his emotions and expressions, laughter and anger and smiles.
But until now, he had never looked at it truly and seen how smooth it was, and young, without a single line yet. His eyes were still doe-like and innocent, and full of tears as he lay there dying. Merlin saw his face, and then, for the first time, truly saw him as he was in his soul, not burdened with the care of the young king of Camelot.
Merlin felt his soul split in two in that moment when the tear-filled eyes met his. Moved to pity at his suffering, Merlin cupped the young king's cheek in his hand.
"Arthur..."Merlin whispered. Arthur looked up at him, eyes fluttering.
"Oh...I wish you were here..." He reached up and laced his hand in his hair. Merlin felt his soul drop as he realized that Arthur thought he was an illusion conjured by the dying ember of his mind.
"I'm here with you...I'm here..."Merlin tried to bring him to sense. He needed him to know that he was not alone here waiting for death.
Arthur smiled.
"Merlin...Oh, Merlin...let us pray this worked...that you will go on living for a long, long time.."Arthur's tears spilled down his throat. Suddenly, he was struggling with great discomfort as his dying body protested, angry at being separated from the thin cord of life.
Arthur's hands pitifully reached up and knotted in Merlin's coat.
"What can I do? Shh...what can I do? Tell me what you need...whatever you need...Please?" Merlin sobbed, taking his hands.
"Hold me, please..."Arthur's voice was far away as his eyes traced the ceiling of the temple.
Merlin cradled him then, and looked down into his eyes. Arthur stared back, jaw slack, as the end came.
"Farewell, old friend..."Arthur's voice became clearer, as he started to gain the strength a soul musters for its passing hence.
"I am going...a long way now..." Arthur's eyes went wide, as he realized this. With one last great death throe, where his teeth gnashed and broke, he died. In great agony that Merlin felt in his very life force, his soul rose up from his bones and slipped away.
Merlin snapped back to the present. His nose was bleeding. He had screamed, and caught the nearby trees on fire with rage. It was the only emotion he had yet to feel with his heart gone from his body, safely tucked in Arthur's hands.
Nimueh stood glaring at him with a smirk that curdled his blood.
"Why have you come to this kingdom, witch? Out with it!" Merlin snapped, brought back to the present.
"Oh, Merlin...how do you not know? I intend to wake the sleeping Uther Pendragon...then I will take all that belonged to him. First, his wife. Then, his children. Last, the kingdom that came from his descendants." Nimueh crept close to Merlin.
"I will take all that he ever had, or hoped to have...I will crush and wrench the life from all that came from his legacy. For who is Uther Pendragon to wake and claim lordship over the lineage of the great Once and Future King Arthur Pendragon?" Nimueh swung her hair.
"Nay, Merlin, it cannot be that he should have it. So, I will possess it. I will bring Emma Swan, champion of Albion, the perfect balance of all the magic created by your eternal bond with the sacrificed king...I will bring her to ruin, her son with her into ruin, and Albion into darkness. Then all shall love me, and despair..."Nimueh smiled at Merlin, sickly sweet.
Merlin nodded.
"But to do all of this, you will have to go through me. And it will be no mean feat." Merlin lifted his chin. Nimueh studied him in earnest.
"No, dear Merlin...it will not. But, if it brings you any solace, never did I wish to bring harm to you. Nor did I truly wish any harm to the younger Pendragon. But it was his birth that set all of the Great Purge in motion. Only the absolute undoing of the magic that was created by his life and death will satisfy the balance of all things." Nimueh nodded.
"If I kill you now, then you will have no power to act as goddess over magic. Who are you to dare speak of the balance of all things? Are you not she who oversaw Arthur's creation?! How dare you take his life in your hands knowing the price with which it came?!" Merlin swung his arm around to try and crush her with magic.
Nimueh raised her hand and caught his blow, matching him in power. Merlin felt, for the first time in ages, that he was weakened. He had forgotten what it felt like to face her, the Priestess of the Old Religion.
Nimueh nodded.
"I have paid in many lives for bringing Arthur Pendragon into being. So have you. I regret that your Life Force's are so laced, Merlin. But the magic that you are was born on the day that the magic he is was born, and you are one life laced through all the Ages. I never wished you harm. But, as you see, it is not enough to kill him. I must destroy everything he is, and with him, you will burn." Nimueh tossed Merlin away, disappearing again into the night.
Merlin landed in a heap of moss and leaves. His ears rang, and for a moment his thoughts raced like warhorses through his memories before he fell unconscious.