I own what I own.

Which apparently includes,

A Link that I have for some reason:

https/ PandorasJailofCreativity/membership?view_as=patron

Discord Link that I have for some reason:

https/ /4bg8TRm2Gk

Twitter that I have for some reason:

https/mobile. / pandorajail

Shout out to 13araba, Sakuya, Zeranion, pyro stick figure 76, and a special thanks to the people on the discord who helped with the chapter.

Note:

Speaking of which, I am now open for writing commissions. If anyone is interested in one then you can dm me. First come first serve.

Avalon Le Fae

Chapter 2

There was someone living in that detached mansion, far at the edge of the Pendragon territory.

He had heard whispers, rumours, be it from the staff and maids manning the large mansion where he lived in, and the many court officials that go in and out to visit and discuss with his father of their livelihood.

"There is a witch in there." He heard someone whisper as he walked the hallways. "A besmirch to the Pendragon name."

"I don't know why Lord Uther even bothers with keeping that witch. She's a bad omen for the future of the household."

"I hear that she's being housed by those Westcott maids." A well dressed man spoke, and his conversational partner's face scrunched in disgust.

"Ugh, those pagan mages? I truly do not understand why Lord Uther bothers with keeping them in hand. While magic is certainly powerful, house Pendragon and its retainers are known for their martial prowess. To still have them in his employ is simply…"

"Indeed! While the Westcott has sway in that magical cabal of theirs, I have heard rumours that even they have fallen out of favour."

He had stopped listening by then, dismissing their words as they were not important. And yet, those very same rumours were the only thing that changed the monotone days in this life.

As he studied in the enormous library of the Pendragon's main mansion, he heard quiet whispers of the library attendants of a maid taking book after book to borrow for the one living in that far off mansion. As he ate his meals at a grand yet empty Hall, he could hear barely silenced whispers beyond the door of request for unusual ingredients to be gathered by an elderly maid.

As he trained in the courtyard to master the art of the sword under the head knight, he would occasionally hear knights whisper of flashes of light at the far off mansion.

He no longer trained with the sword under his father's tutelage. His father had always been busy after mother's funeral. He could no longer spare some time to even have a meal with him, as he had used to. With mother.

…

There was someone living in that detached mansion, far at the edge of the Pendragon territory.

And Arthur decided to find the source of the rumour himself.

Magic, as she had expected, was incredibly beautiful.

From the base of what made the modern magic of today, founded under the teachings of the great mage Merlin, to even the more obscure methods of shamanic and tribal magic that Elaine found times for her to learn of, they were all beautiful.

She took on the knowledge that Elaine and Marie taught her like a sponge. Absorbing anything and everything that they could offer, the basics, the intermediate, the formulas, the hypotheticals, the trivias, she devoured any and all forms of knowledge that they could offer.

In the span of a year, she had gone from someone who had no formal training in the art of mages, to being what she believed to be a competent one.

In her eyes at least.

"Awaken, my spear." She chanted, standing in a grassy courtyard with a staff pointed towards a wooden dummy at one end. As magic power gathered, as the formula and image of the spell that she wanted formed in her mind, a magic circle, as large as her child hand, appeared at the end of her staff.

"This single strike shall fell divine! Taste it's wrath!" And from the air, droplets of water formed as the chant escaped her lips, gathering and creating a ball of water no larger than a soccer ball spinning rapidly spin in place.

"Theoretical water spear, Mac an Luin!" And with a small nudge, the ball of water shot out into a piercing almost needle-like stream that pierced through the wooden dummy like a hot knife through butter, lasting only for a mere seconds before the ball of water fully dissipated into the stream.

She let out a calm and composed breath, keeping her cool as Maria and Elaine taught her.

Ah who was she kidding, she jumped and giggled like the little girl that she was as she giddily ran to the practice target to see the result of her spell.

"Ah that was great! I can't believe that it worked!" She cooed as she touched and prodded the wooden dummy, checking on the markings that she had carved into it and the new wooden hole that she had bore on it.

"Oh the cut is so nice and clean! It really did Pierce through all the defensive enchantment that I put on it!"

"Amazing…" She heard Elaine said breathlessly, and she looked up from inspecting the self made target to her black haired maid/big sister/teacher looking at the result with wide eyes. "To think that the spell would work so well…"

"Hehehe?" She rubbed the back of her head, cheeks tinted red at the praise that Elaine was giving her. "I mean, it was just basically a modified Water Ball, it isn't really that hard."

But the black haired young girl shook her head. "No, Lady Le Fay, this Mac an Luin that you've made clearly is leagues above that of a regular Water Ball. It no doubt surpasses that of a Water Lance and the like as well."

Saying so she walked to her side, inspecting the damages that the spell had done onto the wooden target. "With the amount of defensive spells that you've put on this target, only an intermediate level spell or above would be able to break through it. And that spell of yours is most certainly above intermediate."

"Huh." She knew that she stacked like, every defensive enhancement that she knew that piece of wood could take to make it a good enough practice target, but it only was intermediate? "Maybe I should make the next one be a standing barrier or something."

Elaine hummed as she gave the idea a thought. "Barrier magic works quite differently from enchantments like the ones you've put on this one Lady Le Fay. You would have to power them constantly for it to manifest."

"Or at least have a power source do that right? I remember!" She nodded her head as she expanded her way of thinking from Elaine's words. "but if that's the case, I might as well train both then! I'll try to make a strong enough barrier that Mac an Luin can't Pierce, and improve Mac an Luin so it can pierce it! Oh! And train how to cast two spells at once too!"

The black haired magician gave her a look that she's become more and more over the year as she began vibrating in place with ideas. The maid shook her head with a small smile as she placed her hand on her head to make her stop. "While I think that is an excellent idea, I do believe that you should take a bath, Lady Le Fay. It wouldn't do for you to have lunch in such a sorry state."

Looking down she saw that all of her clothes were wet. Probably from all of that failed activations of the spell that she had finally managed to perform blowing up right in her face.

Now that she wasn't that focused on all the magical mumbo jumbo, she did notice that it was really really cold. And as age let out a sneeze as soon as her mind caught up with her bodily needs, she hastily nodded her head to Elaine as she ran to the mansion to get a much needed hot bath.

Oh but there was still so much that she needed to do to fix the spell! It's just a glorified magical water cutter at this point, but there wasn't any real esoteric magical effect in it just yet! Now how do you mathematically change the plane of existence that a substance exists in? It won't be comparable to the real Mac an Luin if it can't actually strike down spirits!

Left at the training grounds, the black haired maid let out a long tired sigh as she looked at the wooden scarecrow that bore a hole right through its chest. A clean and cut hole without any imperfections whatsoever.

Her hand grazed through the enchanted wood, simple as the material might have been, the multitude of enhancements that the fledgling magician had placed on it made it extremely sturdy. As strong as steel or iron, and her magic spell easily cut through that.

"How did it go?" An elderly voice broke Elaine out of her thoughts, as she saw her grandmother stroll close, and the maid could only sigh.

"It went well, grandmother. Far too well even." The black haired magician spoke with a multitude of feelings in her voice. "I-its just, I'm honestly baffled."

"At her pace of learning? Growth? Or magical ability?" Her grandmother hummed as she too inspected the training dummy.

"All of it." The black haired maid said with exasperation and awe. "Lady Le Fay learnt years worth of study material in the span of a single year, she mastered the basics of mana manipulation in a single day, and calling her talented is an understatement."

Elaine took a deep breath to calm herself. She's studied magic and the mystic arts ever since she could walk. It was the path that the Westcott followed since their founder, since the establishment of the Golden Dawn, and after they served under the banner of Pendragon, they always strived to excel in the arts of magic.

Elaine was talented, of that she knew. Juggling learning the ways of a maid under her grandmother and keeping up her studies and remaining at the top of the class of the magician cabal that their great ancestor helped found was no easy feat. It took great time, effort and dedication for her to become a magician of her current caliber.

And Le Fay Pendragon had shown her the potential of something that was even greater.

"It's… horrifying." Elaine summarized the mass of feelings that she felt, before immediately shaking her head. "To think that all of my hard work and effort could be reached as easily… I have never done anything of the calibre that Lady Le Fay is doing at her age."

"Humbling is perhaps the better word to use." The elderly magician spoke as she placed a hand on her granddaughter's shoulder. "There will always be someone greater than you, Elaine. A humbling lesson though it might be, I am glad that you learnt it early in your life rather than later."

A small, crooked smile appeared on her wrinkled face as she continued. "I know that your grandfather certainly didn't take it well when I bested him in that duel all those years ago." Marie then let out a longing sigh as she rested her head on the palm of her hand. "That man was certainly a block head. For a magician, he certainly made home with the knights of the Pendragon house."

"Grandmother…" Elaine knew from the tone of her voice that her grandmother was lost reminiscing of her time with grandfather, and that there truly was no use arguing with the point that she was trying to make. "Is that the lesson that I am supposed to learn by teaching Lady Le Fay then?"

"Well, it certainly is one of them." The greying haired magician spoke as she nodded her head slowly. "Teaching is indeed a way to further deepen the understanding of your studies, but I will admit that the insights and talents that Lady Le Fay possessed in the magical arts is something that surprised even myself."

"The Pendragons are a lineage of knights after all." Elaine murmured in agreement. "The only notable magician in their house is…"

There was no need to speak of her name, everyone serving the house of Pendragon from the reign of the great king Arthur until this day still rue the name of the witch that had spelt doom to the greatest Pendragon to have ever lived. The one that had ended the golden age of the Kingdom of Camelot.

That is, of course, Lady Le Fay's own namesake, Morgan Le Fay, formerly of house Pendragon.

In addition to the many stigma that she carried, the Mistress had for some reason given that very name to her second child. And it had essentially doomed Lady Le Fay to a life inside this dingy little mansion at the edge of the Pendragon domain.

In a way, it was Lord Uther's show of love, to protect his only daughter from assassins and zealots, those who believe in history repeating itself with her Lady's mere existence.

Yet it was also done in cruelty, for the father had locked his own daughter in a castle far away to never meet the last remainder of his deceased wife. To not be reminded of her very existence.

Never had he ever visited her. In the six years that she had walked on this world.

"... The methods that she used as a base of her spells are quite different from what I'm used to." Elaine spoke after the long train of thought passed by her mind. "I know that the basis for them is still the same Merlinian form of magic, but to base a spell on stories… even if it was all for a basis for Idol theory, there are limits to things! What would she do if anyone of the Celtic pantheon heard about it!"

Marie simply chuckled at her granddaughter's reactions. "Well it is fine isn't it? That girl has always been immersed in her stories." Showing a smile, the elderly magician gestured for Elaine to follow her.

"I know that most if not all of the stories that we possess in the Pendragon archive are based on true stories, but forming a spell based on the spear of a legendary hero of Irish mythology is…" With a grumble Elaine followed. "She could have at least made one based on a knight of Camelot…"

"I do think that that would not have been well received by the Pendragon house as a whole, Elaine." The elderly grandmother said with a sad tone. "That, and whatever magical feat that she manages to perform, I am quite sure that the other vassals would always downplay it in comparison to whatever feat she based it on."

"That's…." The black haired maid bit her lip at hearing her grandmother's opinion on the topic, though she had mixed feelings regarding her apprentice, to hear that people would belittle the work that she would do still rubbed her the wrong way.
"Where are we going anyway grandmother?" She eventually asked, having followed the elderly magician to the kitchen where she saw her gather ingredients off from the shelves.

"To prepare for a guest of course."

The journey to this particular place was… easy. Laughably so with all the training that he had gone through.

At the ripe old age of twelve, he had already trained under the quartermaster on the art of stealth, though some see it as unknightly, the man had repeatedly drilled its importance. For while a knight of the Pendragon line may die in battle, they possess a duty to live and survive. To continue the bloodline as they say.

That, and learning it is a fine way to study a method to notice assassins, and if possible, counter any and all of their attempts.

So it wasn't really a surprise that he managed to find his way into this mansion, he'd admit that he would have expected one guarded by a pair of witches, and one being so old, would be harder, but perhaps he had placed his expectations of them too highly.

The mansion had no defenses whatsoever to his discerning eye. The walls were easily climbable, windows opening even from the outside without any hint of resistance whatsoever, and before he knew it he was already walking inside the walls without a single care.

There were no guards to stop him, no staff or custodian that accosted him as he went by.

It was… peaceful.

He had unknowingly let the guard that he had always put on his whole life down. As he simply just… be himself as he explored the empty mansion, his footsteps being the only sounds to fill the hallowed halls of the grand building.

He looked at the windows, clean and pristine. At walls and furniture that showed their age by how worn they were, but still lived in.

Until he found a door that was slightly ajar, and for sounds, whispers though they may be, as a sign of life. Many signs that the hollow and empty mansion at the very corner of his world was lived in.

So he prepared himself. A hand unknowingly went to the practice blade hanging on his hip, and he thought on the lines that he had already rehearsed for many moons should he meet a stranger. He could only think that meeting someone from outside the Pendragon sphere of influence would be this nerve wracking. It was as if he was practicing with the quartermaster or one of the knights again.

He took a deep breath, and opened the door. Speech at the back of his mind.

He saw a girl, small, barely reaching his chest, sitting atop a pile of books. Her fingers flipping pages after pages in rapid succession. Books upon books laid open and scattered all around the library with her as its only occupant.

And immediately the way that she disrespected the books made whatever he had prepared drop as he confronted her. "Hey! What are you doing!" He shouted as he barged right into the empty mansion's library, seeing the girl whose hair was still slightly damp under fluffy towels tilt her head to look at her-

And her bright blue, aquamarine eyes met his own. The brother finally met the sister that he never knew he had.