I’ve been here a while now, almost a month, and as I keep learning about magic theory with Ferd and some practical magic with Arthur, Natalie and Azura I can’t help but feel like this is where I belong. I know I should be sad that I got yanked back here by something, but I always felt like I never fit in, in that world. Along with the practice of magic, I’ve been learning how to use a sword with Arthur. It’s a lot more complex and tiring than it looks. I thought I was strong back where I came from, but I’m like a kitten compared to Arthur. It is fun to learn though and if I must stay in this time for the rest of my life, I think it will be a valuable lesson.

After that first month of successful training, the days flew by as Ferd had Merlin lifting bigger stones and having him master the basics. Merlin got to know Natalie, Arthur and Azura better also, though George and Herald kept their distance, they still didn’t seem to like him. Occasionally, he would go train with Azura or Natalie, and try things that they came up with for spells.

Natalie came up with ways to manipulate nature, so she would eventually be able to grow food faster, or be able to sense an animal’s emotions. She taught Merlin the theory behind her spells, and helped him practice. To begin with Merlin couldn’t make anything grow, but eventually, as with Ferd, he started to get the hang of it. Though it was nowhere near what Natalie could do. Merlin did it when he was alone in his room, so he kept it a secret at how well he was doing and how fast he was catching up with her.

Azura on the other hand had come up with different variations of battle magic. She could create multiple fireballs, creating a trebuchet type effect with them. She also could create larger than average shields for bigger groups and the best one of all was that she could create a poisonous gas that she could direct how she wanted, though she said she could only move it slowly and not that far, but she was still thinking of ways to expand her knowledge. She taught Merlin some of the things she had found out but she said the best stuff was for herself, which was fine by him, as most of the stuff he could probably figure out, eventually. As with Natalie’s spells, he practiced Azura’s spells in the privacy of his room, when he had spare time.

Before Merlin knew it, six months had gone by from that first session. And over the last couple months Natalie, Azura, Arthur and Merlin started training together more often. He had become a lot better with Ferd’s training and was getting better with Natalie and Azura’s also. He was surprised by how much of a natural he was at wielding magic, not only had he surpassed both Natalie and Azura, but he had put his own twists on their spells as well. Of course, he would never come out and let them know that he was that good, He did like to keep an ace up his sleeve, just in case. Plus, that would ruin his fun when they all trained together.

Then, late one night, Merlin was awoken by something, going to his door and cracking it open, he heard a crash coming from the kitchen. He opened the door and snuck down the hall to the stairs, slowly creeping down the stairs. He saw Ferd pacing around the kitchen, pieces of a cup lay on the floor by the door and there was another cup on the table.

“You might as well come down here, instead of sneaking around.” Ferd said as he continued to pace.

Merlin sighed and got made his way down the stairs. “How did you know I was there?” He asked as he cleaned up the shattered cup. Even though he had magic now, sometimes it was just nice to do things by hand.

“Please, you think I can’t detect you with magic?” He stopped and turned towards Merlin. “Why were you peeping anyways?”

“Something woke me up and when I cracked my door open, I heard a crash, and so I came to see what it was.” Merlin said as he sat down at the table. “Why did you throw the cup at the door?”

“I got some troubling news.” Ferd said, and before Merlin could ask anything else he turned, walked up the stairs and disappeared.

Merlin was just about to get up and go back to bed, when he heard someone coming down the stairs, it was Azura. She was dressed in nothing but her night gown, Merlin had never seen her wearing it before and he couldn’t help but stare, before he remembered who it was he was staring at.

“Oh… I didn’t know anyone was up.” She said as she walked to the fire and put the kettle on. “How long have you been up?” she asked as got out some tea and a cup.

“Not too long.” Merlin said, as he watched her prepare her tea.

“What brings you down in the middle of the night then.” She asks as she waits for the water.

“Oh, umm… something, ah, woke me, um, up, and then I, ah, heard a crash, um, so I came to, ah, check it out.” I stammered out, letting out a deep breath.

“I thought I heard a crash also?” She said

“Oh, uh, Ferd threw a cup at the door. He said he got some troubling news and then he went back up-stairs.”

“Really, did he say what the news was?”

“No, he just said it was troubling, then left.”

“Hmmm, it must’ve been pretty bad for Ferd to lose his temper like that. I’ve known him for years and have only seen him act like that a few times.”

The Kettle started to whistle then, Azura got up and walked over to the fire, Merlin couldn’t help but stare at her as she walked. When she got to the kettle she bent over and picked it up, his eyes got wide as he realized she knew he was staring. Oh, shit! he thought as she stood up, and he quickly looked away, just as she turned around and came back to the table, a little smirk on her lips.

Merlin’s heart was hammering in his chest as she sat back down, he could feel his palms sweating. When we trained together, I didn’t feel this way, why would this happen to me now? He wiped his hands on his pants and swallowed the lump in his throat. “So, uh, do you usually have tea in the middle of the night?”

“On occasion.” She said as she stirred her tea.

After coming here and training for the last few months, Merlin has come to know Natalie well and Arthur and him have become good friends, but Azura has usually been guarded about herself. Oh, sure, she’ll be playful and cheerful while they train but he still didn’t know much about her. So, he figured since it’s just the two of them there, why not talk to her.

“Where did you call home, before this?” Merlin blurted out, before he could think if it was a good or bad question.

She looked at him before answering, it felt like she was trying to decide what and how much to tell him. “There’s a city to the North, about a month’s walk from here, where I grew up.”

She looked sad, the memories must be painful, Merlin thought.

“My father was a baker and my mother was a seamstress. Myself, along with my three older brothers and older sister, would help them out. We weren’t rich by any means but we always had enough for food on the table and clothing on our backs. My siblings and I would go to school for part of every day, learning how to read and write and do numbers, since we needed to know that to help our parents, and it would be useful for later in life also.” She stopped talking and looked past me, like she was reliving a moment. “Everything was going great; my elder sister was to be married soon and all my brothers were courting beautiful women from wealthier families and I was helping my parents around the shops. I wouldn’t have changed anything about it, but of course, nothing can last forever.”

Merlin’s heart went out to her as she told him that last part, and without thinking about it, he reached across the table and put his hands on hers. He knew how strong she was and he wouldn’t want to go up against her in a fight, but when he put his hands on hers, her hands looked so tiny and frail, and yet she didn’t pull her hands away.

She took a breath and then continued. “Two weeks before my sister’s wedding, a man came into our shop, he was filthy and smelled really bad, I had a bad feeling as soon as I laid eyes on him. But my father never turned anyone away, he was a good man like that. The man went up and bought a loaf of bread, but when my father went to put the money in the money chest, the man reached in his coat, pulled out a long knife and stabbed my father in the chest. I couldn’t breathe as the man pulled the knife from my father’s chest, my father’s body falling to the floor, making a loud thump. That thump drew my mother from the other room, and as soon as she came out of the doorway, the man lunged and stabbed her in the stomach, then pulled the knife out and stabbed her again, and again, repeatedly, until he and my mother were covered in her blood. He let her body fall to the floor and then turned his eyes on me, wiping the blood on his dirty jacket he advanced, smiling while he did. I didn’t know what to do, I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t scream, I couldn’t move. But when he got to within arm’s length of me, my body took over and magic seemed to flow out of me, wrapping the man up and tearing him to pieces. Bit by bit, I saw him dissolve into nothing, and when he was gone, the magic stopped and the knife fell, sticking point first into the wooden floor. I fell to my knees, not knowing what had just happened, I was weak and felt like vomiting, but I gathered my thoughts and looked around the shop. My father lying dead behind the counter, my mother dead in the doorway with blood all over her, and the knife that killed them both was sticking in the floor, with myself as the only other person in the shop. I knew how it would look and so I climbed to my feet and made my way to my room. I gathered my most precious possessions, some extra clothes and some food and then snuck out of the shop. I was a couple blocks away when I heard, a shrill piercing scream, it had to have been my sister, I thought as I looked back the way I had come and knew I could never go back.” When she was done, she pulled her hands from mine and finished her tea. A tear ran down her cheek as she stood up.

“I’m so sorry that happened to you. I couldn’t imagine what it was like going through that.” Merlin said, trying to comfort her but feeling like it was falling way short.

“It’s alright, it happened years ago.” She said, turning back towards me. “Besides, I have a new family now.” She smiled and went upstairs.

“Wait!” Merlin said and got up and walked towards the stairs, coming up beside her. “I know this may sound stupid, but would you like some company, for a little bit longer?”

She smiled sadly and said, “not at the moment, Merlin, but thank you for the offer. However, I will walk you to your room.”

They climbed the stairs together and she walked him to his room, which, unfortunately, was the first one on the right. They said goodnight and she turned to go back to her room. As she walked away, Merlin couldn’t help but watch her as she disappeared down the hallway. Thinking of what had happened tonight, he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, Azura being the last thing on his mind.

When he woke up the next morning, everything that happened last night felt like a dream. His mind seemed foggy as he made his way to the wash basin. After throwing on a new robe, he made his way downstairs, and everything seemed normal. Ferd was sitting at the head of the table with the guys on one side and the ladies on the other, he took his usual seat at the foot of the table. Everything may have seemed normal, but even I could tell things weren’t. It wasn’t unusual for George and Herald to leave before the rest of us, especially Merlin. Arthur and Natalie went off to do their training.

“Azura, Merlin will train with you today. Make sure to give him a good workout.” Ferd said just before he went upstairs.

“Wow, that’s different.” Merlin said, as he stared up the stairs after Ferd. Ferd is the one that had trained him for the last six month, and when he had spare time he would train with Arthur and the girls. “He must still be upset about last night.”

“Yeah, no kidding, I’ve never seen him like this before either.” Azura said as she turned away from the stairs and started heading towards the door. “Come on though, we better get going.”

They walked outside and were totally alone, as George and Herald were already off doing whatever it is they did and Natalie and Arthur were off in one of the fields already doing their own training. Azura turned and started heading towards the field she usually used to train, which was bigger than the one Ferd and myself usually used. As we were walking, he thought he heard an explosion, of course around here, explosions weren’t uncommon, but this one sounded different for some reason. Azura didn’t mention it so he figured that she either didn’t hear it or she just figured it was one of the others training. As they walked Merlin couldn’t help but think about George and Herald and why they disliked him and what they always did while the rest of them were training.

“Hey Azura, what’s the deal with George and Herald?” Merlin asked.

“Huh, what do you mean?”

“What do they do all day? What’s their story? Why do they hate me? Stuff like that.”

Azura kept walking but looked like she was trying to think of the right thing to say. Finally, after a few moments of silence she spoke.

“Well you know that they were both apprentices of Ferd’s, many years ago, they left for a while but eventually came back. Well, from what I’ve heard, there was a third man that trained with them, his name was Bartholomew, Bart for short. He was a few years older than either of those two, so he was like the leader of their little pack, but they all acted like they were brothers. Anyways, after he completed his training, he left the house and went into the world to travel or what not. George and Herald were happy for Bart, but at the same time they were sad to see him leave. Anyways, a few years later, after George and Herald were done with their own training and they were excited to go out into the world. By that time Ferd had a few more, apprentices but they were younger than George and Herald so they didn’t know them that well. Natalie was also there at this time, though she was just a little girl. A few weeks after George and Herald had left, Bart showed up at the house, but he was different. Natalie says she remembers his eyes the most, they were bright red with black pupils, that seemed to stare into your soul and fill it with despair. He also seemed to have a black aura around him, that moved on its own. One of the oldest apprentices at the time was the first to see Bart, and he sent the younger ones back to the house to get Ferd and to hide. I’m told he fought bravely but didn’t last long, as he was nowhere near Bart’s level. But that apprentice had slowed him down just enough for the younger ones to get to the house and tell Ferd, who immediately sent the kids away to a hiding place, except for Natalie, who was hiding in a cupboard. Ferd was in too big of a rush to notice that she hadn’t gone with the others, cause just after he closed the portal to the hiding place, Bart kicked in the door. Natalie says she doesn’t remember what they talked about, but my guess is, is that they were just talking too quietly for her to hear them. Anyways, she said that Bart attacked Ferd and they fought, Magic and Dark Magic flying around the house, she just curled up tighter and hoped that nothing dangerous hit her. When she looked back out again, they were both gone, but there was a hole where the door had been and crashes and loud bangs coming from outside. So, she didn’t see what happened during the battle outside, but when it finally quieted down, she slowly uncurled and snuck to the door, and looked outside. She saw Ferd standing some ways away from Bart, who was lying on the ground, unmoving. She thought Ferd had killed him, but as she got closer she could see him breathing. When Ferd turned around to see who was coming he was surprised to see it was Natalie, but he quickly took her back inside and set her at the table and told her not to move until he came back. He then went outside and lifted Bart’s body, opened a portal and disappeared. Not long after, Ferd reappeared and opened a portal to the hiding place where his other apprentices were, who were all worried about Natalie and Ferd. Natalie said he told them most of what happened but never said what he had done with Bart. A few weeks later George and Herald came back, hearing what happened with Bart and they wanted to know where he was but Ferd wouldn’t tell them. After that, George and Herald stayed away for years, not even showing up for gatherings. Finally, they came back, seeming like they had forgiven Ferd, but they kept their distance. They go off to their own little place, past the fields, and do whatever it is they do. Some of the apprentices have ventured off to sneak a peek at what they’re doing but they always come back empty handed or hog tied but with no memory of where they had been.”

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

“So they’ve been here for how many years and have been going off and doing their own thing for that long, and yet nobody knows what they’re up to?”

“Yeah, basically I guess.”

“That just smells like trouble brewing.” Merlin felt uneasy knowing what he knew now, but they had just got to the field, so he let it drop.

Training with Azura wasn’t like training with Ferd. Ferd was more theoretical, having Merlin learn the basics behind spells and magic and slowly working on mastering the spells. Though, little did he know, that Merlin had already mastered more spells than what he led Ferd to believe. While Azura was more of a hands-on type of teacher.

Now, if you would have known Andrew before all this, you would know that he would be out of breath by the time he walked up one flight of stairs, so what happened next is something of an accomplishment for him.

They had barely stepped onto the field when Azura turned and threw a fireball at Merlin. It wasn’t very powerful but it still would’ve stung if it hit him. Merlin stepped to the side and let it pass by, feeling the heat of it under his shirt. He turned and faced Azura, who already had a fireball ready in each hand.

“Now that I have you to myself, let’s see what the old man has been teaching you.”

Azura threw the first fireball low, which Merlin jumped over and almost face planted right into the second one she threw, but he twisted his body to the left, letting the fireball pass by him. He landed on the ground and then rolled up onto his feet. He took a moment to appreciate what had just happened, and almost got burned again, but luckily over the last six months his reflexes have grown faster, and he dropped to the ground. Rolling to his right he felt the heat of fireball after fireball crashing into the ground where he had been a moment before. He finally rolled up onto his feet and put up a shield that she could see, letting a fireball hit it.

“Ah, so you do have shields.” Azura said.

“Haha, of course I do, but why expend the energy when I can dodge your attacks?”

“So, you think you’re good enough to dodge all my attacks, huh?”

That had him a little worried, and rightly so, as just after she said that, six mini fireballs formed in a circle by her. They started spinning in a circle, which made them look like a full circle of flames, and she threw them at him. She created another circle, and another after that, sending each one towards him, and at different heights, so she was literally making him jump through flaming hoops. he couldn’t help but laugh at that in his head. He stopped laughing just after getting his hair singed by one of the fire circles. Not really wanting to tip his hand in how well he has gotten with the spells he’s been working on, he purposefully stumbled a bit, threw up a shield and fell into one of the circles she threw at him. Landing on the ground, he quickly rolled to his right before climbing to his feet. She seemed to be sweating by this time, but not enough to have worn her out just yet. He looked around for something to use and saw some small rocks on the ground. Picking them up, he took one in his right hand, cocked his arm back, and let the magic flow as he launched the stone at her. He put enough magic behind the stone to make it sting if it hit her but not enough to kill. As expected, it just hit her shield and shattered.

“Oh, come now, you can do better than that.” She said as she threw another blazing circle at him.

Merlin could do better than that, he knew that, but he wanted to play around with her a bit beforehand. He dodged the last blazing circle and he figured her shield was all the way around her, so no use trying to get a rock to sling shot into her back from behind. Looking down at her feet, he had an idea. Taking the small rocks in his hands he started throwing them at her, not wasting too much magic on them, but just enough that she would notice but not care about them. While doing that, Merlin sent his magic through his feet and into the ground. Not being able to move would be a big challenge since Azura was still firing off her circles, but she wasn’t moving either, luckily. Merlin sent his magic underground to just below where Azura was standing, and pumping just a bit more magic to that point, Merlin let it explode, forming the blast to make an upwards pointing cone, but not enough to hurt Azura.

The look on Azura’s face was priceless as she flew ten feet into the air and landed, hard on her backside, the dirt falling on top of her. She laid there a moment, Merlin thinking she had been hurt but it was just her pride that was bruised. As Azura started to get up, Merlin started walking cautiously towards her, not wanting to let his guard down, he kept his shields up. As Azura got up she was rubbing her butt, she would have a nice bruise tomorrow. The look she gave him was one that stopped him dead in his tracks. He knew he’d have his own bruises tomorrow, as Azura stood up and started walking towards him.

Merlin took the beating that Azura dished out, but he got in a few more surprises himself, but by the time they left the field, they were both sore, bruised, bleeding and out of breath. The field itself didn’t look much better. Merlin felt like he had gained a small amount of respect from Azura that day and as they walked back to the house, they weren’t just friends or apprentices, they were comrades. They had tested each other’s mettle and neither of them found the other wanting.

“Oh, my god!” Natalie exclaimed as she saw Merlin and Azura approach the well. “What the hell happened to you two?” Getting out some towels she went over to them and helped them clean up.

“Well, Ferd told me to take Merlin and train him some today.” Azura said

Merlin laughed. “Ah, training? That’s what you call that?”

“Well I did have to see at what level you were at.”

“You’ve seen what level I’m at from when we play around with Natalie and Arthur.” Merlin soaked a cloth and held it to his face, soaking the blood that was caked on.

“Oh, please! That’s not training, that’s just us having fun. Today though, we showed each other what we could do without holding back, much.” Azura said smirking at Merlin.

“You two look like this from training?” Natalie asked as she poured water over Azura, so she could wash her hair out.

“We were just tossing spells back and forth at first, but then the mad man there blew me up.” Azura said, flinging water at Merlin.

“I didn’t blow you up.” Merlin said as he dried his hands. “You just happened to be standing on the spot that I did blow up.” He smirked.

“You blew her up?” Arthur asked as he came over to investigate what was going on.

Merlin laughed. “Looks like that won’t be going away anytime soon.”

Azura smirked as she put her hair up. “Come on you funny people, I’m hungry, and Merlin owes me a dinner.”

Merlin just shook his head and followed the girls. Arthur caught up with him and asked. “What does that mean?”

“We just made a little bet while we were training. She thinks she won, but with the beating she took, I’m not going to argue.”

“Wow, you really beat her that good?”

“Well, she definitely wasn’t expecting it.”

Merlin and Arthur made it to the house then and Merlin started getting supper ready. It was still early in the evening, but George and Herald weren’t back yet, which nobody seemed to mind. Taking what limited knowledge of cooking he had, and cutting it down to what could be made here, Merlin decided that it would just be easiest to make a stew. Though he did want to make a pizza for everyone, once he had some more time.

Now, since the time that Merlin had gotten to the house, George and Herald hadn’t missed a meal once. Neither had Ferd. So, to have all three of them miss this supper, was odd, to say the least. Merlin’s cooking wasn’t nearly as good as Azura’s but no one complained and there were no left over’s either.

Once supper was done and the dishes were cleaned, the four of them sat down in front of the fire and shared stories. Arthur told everyone of the time that he had found a pool of clear cool water in a cave somewhere, and witnessed a water nymph. It sounded fascinating to Merlin, but the girls scoffed at the notion that nymphs existed.

Natalie told us of the one and only time that she had ever seen a dragon. She had gone on a trip with Ferd to a small town and somehow had gotten lost one day. She wandered the woods, trying to use her magic to find Ferd but it kept leading her deeper into the woods, rather than out of them. When she came upon a clearing and in the clearing, there was a small boar with an arrow sticking out of it. She said she made her way to the boar and took the arrow out of it, using her magic to slow the bleeding and eventually heal the wound. Once she was done, the boar rested and she could barely move herself, so she laid down next to the boar and slept. She awoke to a squeal, looking around she saw a massive boar, stomping its hoof at her. The boar charged but before it got too close, a woman, that seemed to be glowing, stepped out from the woods and stepping between her and the boar put her hand up. The boar stopped in its tracks and stomped its hoof. The woman turned towards Natalie and gestured to the little boar. Natalie shook the little one awake and turned it towards the bigger one, both leaving the clearing soon after.

“That was a very kind thing you did for that little one.” The woman spoke.

“It was hurt, so I helped it.” Natalie replied.

“For that, they thank you very much.” The woman said, and touched Natalie’s arm.

Natalie said that ever since the woman touched her, she had been able to better commune with plants and animals.

After that, I had to wonder if dragons really were big scaly reptiles that breathed fire. Maybe they were just beings that were more enlightened than humans.

Next Azura told us about the time she wandered out past the fields. She told us how there was nothing but sand and hills as far as the eye could see. She had brought with a water skin but within hours, it was dry. And when she thought she would get a reprieve at night, it turned out that it got as cold as a mountain stream at night there. She remembered falling asleep but not how she ended up back in her bed.

Natalie and Arthur had heard that story a few times, and they still couldn’t believe that a place that was so hot could get so cold at night, but neither one of them really wanted to test the theory either.

When it was Merlin’s turn to share a story, he thought briefly about telling them where, or when, he was from. They all were becoming close friends, and after today’s training with Azura, he felt closer to them than ever, but there was just something nagging at the back of his mind so, he decided not to reveal that, just yet. So, he just pulled one of his memories that wouldn’t give anything away, but hopefully would entertain the others a bit.

Merlin told them about a time when he was younger, that his parent took him to see some fish feeding pens. There were about a dozen pens and you had to walk across a dock of sorts to get to where the pens were. At first, Merlin recalled, he could only see a few fish in each pen, but then the person working the pens took some corn and tossed it into a pen, and it turned into a frothing swirling feeding frenzy as it seemed like every fish came to get some corn. It was interesting to watch, and he noted, that it would’ve been fun to throw a line in there.

“What was the point of the pens?” Natalie asked while leaning forward.

“For breeding.” Merlin answered. “They would take the females eggs and mix the male’s sperm in with the eggs, to fertilize them, then they would put the eggs in a separate place where the babies wouldn’t be able to escape once they hatch. Once the babies were grown just a bit, they would take them and try and repopulate that fish in lakes around the area or try and introduce them to a new lake.”

“Wouldn’t that upset the balance of the lake though?”

“Not always. Sometimes the lake would be over fished or a predator fish would get in the lake and decimate the fish population. It all depended on the lake and what species of fish were found there to begin with.”

“That sounds interesting.” Natalie said as she sat back and pondered what Merlin had said.

After that Merlin got up and left Arthur and Azura to chat, and Natalie to ponder. He went upstairs and was just about to go into his room when he stopped and listened.

“Commmmmme hereeeeeeee.” A ghostly voice whispered.

Merlin felt a chill run down his back after he heard the whisper. He turned towards the stairs, but not seeing anyone he turned the other way and looked down the hall.

“Commmmmme hereeeeeeee.” The voice whispered again.

Merlin gulped as he swallowed and asked. “Who’s there?”

“Commmmmme hereeeeeeee.” The voice whispered, sounding closer this time. “Commmmmme hereeeeeeeeeeeeeee.”

Merlin stared down the hall way, and even though every instinct told him not to go, he took a step towards the voice. Making his way down the hall, passing Arthur’s, Natalie’s, Azura’s and even George and Herald’s rooms. He’d never been down the hall this far before, hell he never even knew that the hall went this far. But he kept walking, slowly putting one foot in front of the other. He stopped instantly, realizing that there were no more lights ahead of him, and looked around.

“Almosssssssssst thereeeeeeeeeee.” The voice whispered,

Sounding like someone was standing right next to Merlin and whispering in his ear, Merlin whipped around, but didn’t see anyone near him. He looked to where he had been heading, seeing nothing but black, and feeling his heart hammering in his chest, he took a deep breath and continued.

Pushing forward, he made his way through the darkness, at first it was easy going but after about five feet, Merlin felt like he was slogging through water that was ankle deep. As he went deeper into the darkness the “water” felt like it was rising, coming up to his knees then to his waist and finally just under his chest. He stopped, hesitating on whether to keep going, as he didn’t know how high the “water” went, but deciding that it couldn’t be that much further, he pushed on. After five more feet, his foot finally broke through and felt like it was free of the “water” so he stepped down and pulled himself free. He looked down, expecting to see his clothes soaking wet, but they were as dry as when he left the others.

“Verrrrrrrry Gooooooood.” The voice whispered.

“I’ve come this far, are you finally going to reveal yourself?” Merlin shouted into the darkness, sounding a lot more confident than he felt.

“Commmmmme finnnnnnd meeeeeee.”

“Where am I supposed to find you at?”

Silence filled the darkness, but Merlin was determined to find the voice. Having been in the dark now for a few minutes, his eyes began to adjust and he could make out some shapes but nothing else. He tried to cast a light spell but when he released the magic, it just fizzled out. Trying again, the same thing happened.

Looking around, Merlin spotted something on the wall. Moving towards it, with his hands out. He came to the wall and felt the object. Guessing it was a torch or sorts, he felt around the base of it and found a striker and flint. Not having used flint and steel much it took him a few minutes before he got a spark to land on the torch. Taking the torch and looking around where he was at, it looked like an old storage room, filled with junk.

“Hello?” Merlin said into the darkness. Sweeping the torch from side to side, looking for where the voice was coming from. He walked up to a barrel and looked inside, there was swords, axes and maces, filling the barrel. None of them caught his eye, so he moved on, coming up to a chest that reminded him of a pirate’s chest. Opening the lid, he held the torch over the contents, feeling a slight pull on his magic as he did so. Tightening his grip on his magic, he felt the pull disappear, and he closed the lid. Walking around the round, he noticed that most, if not all the contents of the room, were in pristine condition. Stopping and thinking for a minute, he laughed, realizing that they had to be magical items. He stopped at that thought and decided that he better be careful, so as not to disturb something evil.

“Oh come on already!” A voice to Merlin’s left said.

Whipping around, Merlin held the torch out in front of him to try and see who had spoken. “Who’s there? Where are you? Show yourself.”

“I’m right here, nimrod.” The voice said.

Merlin moved closer to a shelf that had knives and daggers on it, the light from the torch catching on one dagger in particular. It was tiny, if it wasn’t for the shape, he would have called it a toothpick. The blade was a triangle shape, and it had a tiny cross guard, before the handle, which had a pink gem set in the very end. All in all, it was a beautiful dagger, but it was so tiny that he didn’t think it would be of much use at all.

“It’s not the size that matters, it’s how you use it, you know.” The voice said, like it could see Merlin sizing up the dagger. “Just pick me up and you’ll see.”

Merlin reached his hand out for the dagger, but stopped when he was just an inch away from it. Thinking about the room and the pull on his magic earlier, he pulled his hand away and let out just a touch of magic towards the dagger. Feeling it through his magic was something very new to Merlin, since he hadn’t dealt with any magical items before. The sense that he got from the dagger was that of a disobedient child, it wasn’t malevolent, just mischievous. Though he could sense some good in it.

“You don’t seem like you’re that evil.” Merlin said, after he pulled his magic back in. “So why are you here?”

“That’s a long story.” The voice said, and Merlin got the impression that it was laughing. “Let’s just say that Ferd doesn’t like practical jokes as much as I do.”

“Well it must’ve been one hell of a joke, if he stuck you in here with all these other cursed items.”

“I was young and stupid at the time and thought it would be funny. Apparently, almost killing a couple of apprentices, makes you evil, even if they didn’t die and you didn’t mean to have things go that far.”

“Well knowing Ferd, he takes protecting his apprentices pretty seriously.” Merlin said as he reached out and touched the tiny dagger. As soon as his hand touched the metal, he felt a connection form between him and the dagger. He picked it up and looked at it, watching as it grew to a normal sized dagger. “Wow, that’s nice.” Merlin said as he looked the bigger version over.

“Yes, the smaller size is nicer for carrying and hiding me, but the large and extra-large sizes are nice also. “

“Extra-Large?”

“Yeah, basically a sword.”

“Very nice. How do you turn into the sword then?”

“Ummm, I’m not exactly sure.” The voice said, sounding embarrassed.

“How do you not know?”

“Ferd put me in here not long after I was created, and as you can tell this place dampens magic, so I was never able to make the switch.”

“That’s terrible.” Merlin said as he walked back to where he found the torch. “Well maybe we can figure out how to get you to become a sword together.”

“Really?” The voice said “But how will we get out of here?”

“We’ll try going out, the same way I came in. Through the water barrier thing.” Merlin said as he put the torch back, oriented himself with the barrier, and then capped the torch. Making his way towards the barrier with the dagger in one hand and the other out stretched, he felt the barrier as he came to it and then he pushed into it, feeling more resistance than before as he pushed the hand with the dagger into the barrier.