Merlin’s eyes snapped open with a gasp. For a minute, he just silently shook, sobbing tearlessly, before pulling himself back together. The last months had been hell, a never ending nightmare of pain.
But Merlin refused to surrender the core of his being
The executer, as he had promised, was an adept teacher. He spoke in the scratchy voice of agony, whispering sweet promises in his ear. Telling him that it could all stop if only he would die. The animalistic part, ever present even in the age of technology, fought him desperately, begging him to give it.
But Merlin wasn't an animal. He was a man. So he held on.
Merlin thought of Kyoko, trying to visualize the boy that brought him so much joy. It was becoming progressively harder to think, a fact the terrified Merlin. Some parts of his fragmented mind had already started to give in, leaving him lesser than before.
But he was still himself, at least at his core. Merlin held onto that thought like a lifeline.
He wondered if the others had noticed his absence. Kyoko most definitely had, and he hoped the boy wouldn't do anything reckless. He wasn't even sure he wanted to be rescued. Would they even recognize what he had become now?
Merlin froze as a familiar chuckle appeared behind him. He gasped, wrestling down the instinctive urge to start sobbing again.
The executioner walked into sight, “My, my. My disciple, you truly are something. So resistant. Why not just give in? It's not like you matter in the grand scheme of things.”
In the beginning, Merlin had matched him, clashing their philosophies and often coming out on top. Yet every time he had the executioner would change his argument, using pain instead of words. The first time, Merlin had refused to concede the point. And the second and the third. For hundreds of arguments, he refused to concede. But they cost him something, something intangible. Every argument was harder to hold then the last.
Eventually, Merlin broke. It was a meaningless argument, wasn't it? Yet the second he had given in, cried out for mercy, he felt something within him depart. A piece of him, gone.
He had tried arguing a few more times, but it was futile. He had already broken once. What was one more?
Eventually, he had realized that arguing only gave them a part of himself to target, so he stopped speaking entirely. And the pain increased tenfold.
Still, he refused to surrender his core.
“Not going to argue today? Shame. Anyways, I have some exciting news! I have been given permission to train you in the temporal chamber. We have no time to waste!”
He snapped his fingers and drones appeared to lift his bed up. As they approached, the wall slid open to release them from the endless white room.
The hall beyond was completely sterile and clean, almost as white as the room he had been staying in, but without the ever-present light. Merlin didn't know how long they traversed those maze-like halls. He saw other inmates, some walking on their own power, accompanied by guards and some on hovering beds like him.
What drew Merlin’s attention the most were their eyes, either burning with endless agony or completely empty. The empty ones seemed to swallow him, sucking him out of his mortal vessel while the burning ones seemed to drill right through him, begging for someone, anyone to end their pain.
The eyes are the window to the soul, and what Merlin saw within them reflected the state of their souls. Burning in a desperate attempt to stave off the inevitable. Or disconnected, locked out of their bodies and minds. Both were horrific fates.
Finally, they arrived at the temporal chamber, a room that looked identical to his old one, with glowing white walls. The executioner ran his finger along Merlin cheeks.
“You should be honored, my disciple. Only the strongest are given access to the temporal chamber.”
Merlin couldn't hold his silence any longer “What… what is it?” he croaked out.
The executioner laughed. ‘He speaks! Well, my dear disciple, it's time. Time to learn. Time to reflect. It is time, and it shall be your master.”
He snapped his fingers, and everything vanished. Merlin was in a black void, nothing around him. He couldn't feel anything, couldn't hear, couldn't see. It was like nothing existed except for him. Merlin finally understood what the temporal chamber was. It was time.
He would be here until he was dead, parts of himself slipping off into the endless void.
But he was still determined to survive. The neverending pain had ended. He just had to wait. He was old, he understood how to weather the passing of time.
How wrong he was.
The first century passed on in quiet contemplation, Merlin carefully reflecting on who he was in order to maintain his identity. In the second he began to slip, the meaningless of it all starting to occur to him. Why was he maintaining his identity in an absolute void? Still, he held on. But those doubts stayed with him.
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Around the fourth century, he could no longer remember what his mother looked like. That terrified him, especially the thought of losing Beth again. He immediately moved her conception to the deepest parts of himself, hiding her within himself.
As more time passed, more parts of himself began to drift as he expanded. Lacking that tangible pressure, the gravity of reality that holds men together he began to drift into the void, simply floating away.
It was fascinating to watch, like an intricate stack of rocks suddenly stripped of the gravity that held them together.
At the time of the first millennia, all conscious thought had fled Merlin. He existed, and that existence was the only thing that defined him. That and the small core of himself he kept hidden.
The core was strong, but eventually even it began to drift apart over the millenia, specks smaller than even molecules, yet specks all the same.
Eternity came and passed.
All that was left of Merlin was a single grainy image.
A young girl in a yellow summer dress, wild brown hair blowing in the light breeze. Gold speckled brown eyes shone with a playful fire.
He no longer knew what it was, only that it was of utmost importance.
In that thoughtless existence, he reached deep within, and branded her image into his very soul.
For an instant, a blimp in that eternity, he was Merlin again.
Then time stripped him bare again.
I remember his last thought, though it was more a raw expression of emotion.
I’m sorry…
His empty mind shattered.
—-----------------------------------------
“Damn, he was a tough one, eh.” the executioner remarked, “We were almost out of power.”
Still, he knew the man had broken, and now all that was left was indoctrination. That was the easy part. Broken minds would cling to the first thing they were presented with, desperately seeking a pillar of stability. It didn't matter how strong he was in life, with his mind broken he could only become another mindless slave. The executioner would train him to be absolutely loyal to the empire, and then release him back into the world.
Inevitably, the rebels would reach out, and he would report them. It would destroy his ethos, destroy his legacy, and deliver them a fresh batch of rebels to execute.
Honestly, the executioner found it poetic. Artful in its efficiency and potency.
It was easy to kill a body.
It was much harder to kill a man.
He was still reflecting on this, absentmindedly summoning some bots to transport the body when the wall exploded.
And Kyoko an Erduk walked through the gap, burning with rage.
The executioner's eyes had barely widened before Kyoko’s rage-filled blow splattered him against the back wall.
“Merlin!” he cried upon seeing Merlin's prone form. He rushed forward and flipped the switch to free him from his restraints. “We need to go!”
` Merlin didn’t move.
Kyoko tried again, “Merlin?”
No response.
“Merlin, what's wrong? Say something.”
Alas, Merlin was already gone.
Kyoko futilely tried a few more times before being forced to pick up Merlin’s body and start running. The building's security mustered its full force to stop Kyoko.
But Kyoko was furious, and nothing could stop him.
He tore through the legendary security like it was wet paper.
When he finally burst out of the building, the Hunter was waiting for them.
This time, listening to his own advice, he struck as soon as he could, firing a barrage of plasma missiles.
Kyoko's rage burned hotter than any since HER.
In a single movement he was in front of the Hunter. In another, the Hunter was dead.
After that it was smooth sailing.
—-----------------------------------------
The next day, Kyoko and his father, Leo an Erduk, crowded around Merlin’s bed.
“Dad, what's wrong with him?” Kyoko questioned.
Leo looked down with a troubled question.
“They broke his mind. You’re lucky you found him before they had time to indoctrinate him.”
Kyoko looked on the verge of tears. “...But…but what do we do?”
Leo sighed, “There’s nothing we can do. Those broken never come back.” He put a hand on Kyoko's shoulder and crouched to get on face level with him. “Merlin knew the risks, and he gladly accepted them.” He hung his head. “I only wish I could have protected him better. I’m so sorry Beth. I—”
“Dad! He moved!”
“What?”
“When you said Beth he moved.”
Merlin stirred gently.
Leo hurriedly pulled up a holographic picture of Beth.
Merlin shakily reached for the hologram, a light keening escaping his lips.
Leo sucked in a breath. “Well, I'll be damned. He managed to save a part of himself.”
Kyoko grabbed Leo’s sleeve, “Does this mean we can save him?!” Palpable waves of hope rolled off him, so powerful they would have struck down a lesser man. Merlin seemed to absorb them, like a withered plant in the light of the sun.
Leo watched in silence. “It’s… possible. Merlin always was strong.”
Kyoko let out a squeal.
“But,” Leo held up a hand. “You will be his caretaker, nurturing him as he nurtured you. Feed him your power and passion. It seems to help.”
Kyoko smiled, blindingly bright, so bright even Leo winced.
“Yes! I’ll save him!”
Humanity truly is a miracle.
Even in the darkest of moments, among the dead and broken.
Hope shines.
Brilliant in its tenacity.
Eternal.