Chapter 9: Nimue
9500 BC - Camelot
Merlin is helping out the townsfolk of Camelot while training his Apprentice
"There, you're healed" Merlin said as he heals a woman
"Gratitude, great Merlin" said the woman's husband
"You're both very welcome" Merlin said
"I think that's it for today" the Apprentice said and then a young woman walks up "wait, I didn't see her, I'll get her to leave"
"What does she want?" Merlin asked
"Don't you know?" the Apprentice asked "you always know"
"I'll talk to her, you head back" Merlin said to the Apprentice and he left
"Have you come to see me?" Merlin asked the woman
"You're Merlin?" The woman asked
"Not all wizards have long white beards" Merlin said "please, tell me, what brings you here?"
"My village" the woman said "I was in my garden when a masked man rode in. His name is Vortigan, he ransacks towns, burns them to the ground, so I fled on foot to the woods. When I looked back from the hillside, everything was in flames. He had killed everyone"
"I'm so sorry" Merlin said "Please, allow me to help you, what can I grant you?"
"Revenge" the woman said "these all I had on me when I ran" and she reached into her satchel and pulled out some seeds "they're seeds from the middlemist flower, they only prosper from around my village, when Vortigan scorched the earth he could have killed them forever. My best revenge would be for them to live on in spite of him"
"Then we'll plant them here" Merlin said
"Thank you" the woman said "if the flowers survived, at least something other than me lived on" and she plants them "I'll try to pass through again in the Spring, I want to see them in bloom"
"Why wait" Merlin said and he waves his hands over the seeds and they grow into flowers "if you stay close, you can come and see them anytime"
"You see the future" the woman said "do I do that?"
"With you, for some reason, I have no idea" Merlin said "I hope so. What's your name"
"Nimue"
Hall of Legends
"Merlin" Reul said "I grow concerned with your interference in the lives of humans"
"Oh leave him alone, Blue" Simultaneous said "healing a person here and helping grow flowers there is hardly interfering. Now if he decided to wage war against Vortigan, that's another story"
"But he's living among them" Reul said
"You're just upset he's living in your Realm and the people of Camelot are relying on him rather than you and you're Fairies" Ninjor said
"That is not true" Reul said
"You're a terrible liar" Poseidon said
"Fairies don't lie" Reul said
"Everyone lies, dear" Flora said
"In all seriousness Merlin" Simultaneous said "this woman you've found, this Nimue, I'm concerned about her"
"What's wrong with an Original Power entering into a relationship with a woman?" Merlin asked "Nothing" Zeus said "if my Father hadn't been with a woman, I wouldn't be here"
"Relationships do make things difficult" Daimayo said "you are immortal, she is not. She will grow old and you will not. She can be used against you, she can cloud your judgment"
"While all of that's true, none of that's quite what I meant" Simultaneous said
"Then what is it, Lord Simultaneous?" Merlin asked
"It concerns me that you cannot see her future" Simultaneous said
"There's been others before whose futures I could not see" Merlin said
"Right, but how many of those did you plan on living with?" Simultaneous said "if she were to betray you, even if she was forced to by magic, you wouldn't see it coming"
"I'm willing to take that chance" Merlin said
"I advise against this Merlin" Simultaneous "but the choice is yours"
"I understand" Merlin said "but I've made up my mind, I want to be with her, if she'll have me"
"Very well" Simultaneous said
9495 BC - Camelot
"Is this some new magic?" Nimue asked Merlin "are you frowning the flowers into growing faster?"
"Just thinking" Merlin said "there's a man I'm considering helping. He's tired, he's spent his life attending to others and now he just wants to marry the woman he loves and grow old by her side, but there's an obstacle"
"He sounds awful" Nimue said and then laughs "if I teach you nothing else, it would be to laugh at yourself. If you want to propose, then go ahead. Now, tell me about this obstacle."
"Well, you know, I didn't always have magic" Merlin said "I never actually said how it happened. It was a gift, I found the Holy Grail"
"What?!" Nimue exclaimed "the Holy Grail, you found the Holy Grail, Merlin!"
"I drank from it and it gave me magic" Merlin said "but it also gave me eternal life… that was 500 years ago. I don't age, I don't die. So if I were to marry you, I'd have to watch as you leave me behind. I'd rather share a life with you, to the end, then go on without you."
"If you still had the Grail…" Nimue began
"I do" Merlin said "it's in the bottom of the chest in the main room of the tower"
"It's in my living room" Nimue said "there's your answer O wise one, let me drink from the Grail and we can live together forever"
"I'm so sorry my dear, but I've already seen the cost of immortality" Merlin said "live is made of little moments, precious as diamonds, but imagine if there was an endless sea of diamonds, they'd all be worthless, they'd be as common as sand. I do have another solution, if you'll accept it: we take the Grail, and we remake it, into a sword, such a blade could cut away my magic, my immortality, and then we can come back here"
"Is it really so simple to melt down such a powerful object?" Nimue asked
"No" Merlin said "but there is a way. Ever heard of the Promethean Fire?"
"That's where Prometheus stole fire from the gods to give it to humans" Nimue said "and the gods punished him by binding him to a rock, having an eagle eat his liver, and then healing him so the eagle could return the next day, tormented for all eternity?"
"Not quite" Merlin said "man had fire long before Prometheus. Prometheus didn't steal just any fire, he broke into the Underworld and stole fire from Hades himself. Hades manipulated someone into killing him and now tortures him in the Underworld. The point of the story is that I know where the fire that Prometheus stole is and it is hot enough to melt the Grail. If I did that, I'd lose all my magic, but we can live normal lives together"
"You'd really give up so much?" Nimue asked. Merlin creates a ring with some grass blades and turns it to gold and puts it on her finger
"For you" Merlin said and they kiss
"I don't want this moment to get lost in an endless sea of diamonds" Nimue said
"Come" Merlin said "I'll make the preparations" and they leave. Unknown to either of them Vortigan watches them.
Later, on the road to the site of the Promethean Fire, Nimue takes the Holy Grail out of her satchel
"The actual Holy Grail" Nimue said "we really going to melt it down?"
"It's hard for me to read the future in it when you're in it, my dear" Merlin said "but I see a legendary sword that will found a kingdom, inspire books and movies, I think it's that same sword"
"You'll have to tell me all about movies again" Nimue said and she realizes where they are and what path Merlin is taking "wait, wait, wait, where are you going? You don't have to do that"
"This way is almost as fast" Merlin said
"Almost, but not quite" Nimue said
"If I wanted to make the trip in record time, I would have simply teleported us there" Merlin said "I'm enjoying the walk with my fiancé"
"I can handle seeing my village again, in fact I want to see it" Nimue said "To see life grown up to reclaim it"
"You're a strong woman Nimue" Merlin said as they enter the ruins of her village
"This was my village, my home" Nimue said, looking at the ruins "look at what's become of it. My house was right here… or maybe it was there… it's so different now"
"Sometimes the sole survivor of a tragedy can feel guilty" Merlin said "in the future they'll call it…"
"I don't feel guilty" Nimue cut him off "I feel angry. This shouldn't be the way, that those who cannot take are taken. If I had magic like yours… if I had a million lifetimes to hand out power to those who need it… and to strike down those who…
"Nimue" Merlin interrupts "it's been decided" and he hugs and then notices something "look in the street… cups"
"It looks like every household brought out their cups for him, why would…" Nimue began
"He was questing for the Grail" Merlin said "will you check the pack and make sure the Grail is secure, I've never taken it from the tower before. I'm going to perform a detection spell" and he senses Vortigan is near "Vortigan… he's here. Over the horizon, the way we came. Quickly"
"He's just a man" Nimue said "you could kill him with a single word"
"If I use magic to commit a murder, Darkness will take root inside of me and nothing… nothing is worth risking that" Merlin said "maybe it's time to speed up our journey" and he twirls his hand and they both disappear in gold smoke.
They then appear at the site of Promethean Fire
"You sure this will work?" Nimue asked as she hands the Holy Grail to Merlin
"Quite sure" Merlin said "this will give me the life I wish for: shorter and full of love and meaning" and he sets the Grail in front of the Promethean Fire and uses it to melt the Grail. He uses his magic to shape it into a sword.
"Wait!" Nimue said "Vortigan" and Merlin turns to see him
"There's no more Grail, sir, leave us be" Merlin said. Vortigan grabs Nimue and holds a blade to her throat "the Sword will bring you no joy" Nimue elbows Vortigan and then turns around and pulls off his mask, revealing the scarred face of an old man. Vortigan then stabs Nimue
"No!" Merlin said and he drops the Sword to get Nimue. He goes to heal her, but she dies before he can "Nimue!" Vortigan grabs the Sword and walks away. Merlin teleports in front of him "you killed her!"
"Just like I'm going to kill you" Vortigan said
"That Power was never meant to be a weapon" Merlin said
"Then you shouldn't have turned it into a sword" Vortigan said and he collapses to the ground as Nimue rips out his heart
"Nimue" Merlin said "how? When I cast the detection spell"
"Yes" Nimue said "I drank from the Grail. You didn't tell me what it feels like to be strong, Merlin, to be immortal"
"You let me watch you die" Merlin said
"I'm sorry about the playacting but it was my last chance to remind you what death looks like" Nimue said
"What matters now is you're holding a man's heart in your hand" Merlin said "please, spare him"
"He doesn't deserve sparing" Nimue said
"If you murder him, your magic will turn dark" Merlin said "you'll commit atrocities you cannot even imagine"
"This man took my home and my family" Nimue said "I had nothing to care for but a handful of seeds and you're fighting for him?"
"I'm not fighting for him, I'm fighting for you!" Merlin said "I need you to be the woman that I know. I cannot bear to watch you become this. I know you feel you've lost everything, but Nimue, if you do this, then we've lost everything…" and Nimue crushes the heart, killing Vortigan. Scales begin to appear on her body, creeping up her arm, until she looks more reptilian than human.
"Let's not think about cutting anyone's magic or immortality" Nimue said as she grabs the Sword and notices the blade is still a bit warm, still malleable
"Please don't do this" Merlin said "Nimue, no!" And she smashes the sword against the base of the Promethean Fire and it snaps in two. She then absorbs the Promethean Fire.
"Sorry" Nimue said
"Oh, Nimue, I'm sorry" Merlin said
Hall of Legends
"What did you do?!" Zeus demanded
"I'm sorry" Merlin said
"For what?" Ninjor asked "the part where you let your girlfriend become as powerful as you, the part where she turned evil, the part where you turned our Holy Grail into a sword, or the part where it was broken?"
"Enough" Flora said "I'm not happy with Merlin either, but at the moment he needs time to grieve, he's only human"
"Oh, we know" Ursula said
"How was Nimue able to drink of the Grail?" Merlin asked "despite what I thought, she clearly wasn't pure of heart"
"The protection spell we put on it was lifted when you drank from it" Poseidon said
"Wait… an object that grants magic as powerful as mine and immortality and you cheaped out on the protection spell and decided not to tell me this?" Merlin asked "I've been blaming myself for this, but it's starting to sound like it's all your faults. Forget Nimue, I've had it hidden in my living room for the past 500 years… it was completely unprotected and I didn't know it!"
"Merlin, do not underestimate the usefulness of merely hiding an object, the Omniverse is infinite, it's very difficult to find something in it that was hidden well" Simultaneous said "But your point is taken, the protection spell should've been permanent and not lifted upon you finding it. Perhaps everyone here is partly to blame for it. Except me of course"
"And me" Zeus said and everyone looks at Zeus and Simultaneous "we weren't part of the Original Powers when the Holy Grail was forged and the protection spell was placed on it"
"What's done is done" Ruel said "there's no need to place blame"
"You're only saying that because if we were placing blame, you'd have to take partial blame for turning Merlin's girlfriend into something that looks like an even uglier version of Nyx" Simultaneous said
"Watch it" Nyx said
"I hate to say this, but I agree with Blue" Daimayo said "blaming each other isn't going to solve anything. We must find a way to deal with what is essentially a Dark Sorcerer without directly interfering"
"Without directly interfering?" Merlin asked "the only way Nimue is like she is, is because you interfered. If you had never made the Grail, none of this would have happened"
"Exactly" Ruel said "this whole situation has been a reminder we should be interfering less, not more"
"Merlin" Zeus said "leave the pieces of the Sword here for now, we can decide what to do with them later, they should be safe for now. Fire from Hades could repair the Sword, but I doubt he'd just hand it over and we have a non-aggression pact with him. Return to Camelot and keep doing what you've been doing. Do not track down Nimue"
"What if she tracks me down?" Merlin asked
"Try to avoid a confrontation" Zeus said "both of your magic being flung around at full power is going to hurt someone. But you are permitted to defend yourself, if there's no other way"
"I will save Nimue" Merlin said "I swear it"
"Be careful, Merlin" Flora said softly "don't make a promise you cannot keep"
"I will save her" Merlin said
"I hope so" Flora said