Freed

Return

"Merlin!"

Morgana watched him fall to the ground in a heap. He was shaking and from time to time his eyes would flutter open revealing gold irises. He must have still been in the middle of transformation.

Morgana was released from her trance a few seconds before Merlin. Her time was quick and relatively painless. She knew that she was never meant to be Merlin's true equal, but she was meant to always be tied to him in destiny. That meant that her lifespan would match his. Of course she felt her powers in a new way and felt a change due to becoming immortal. Merlin, on the other hand, was basically becoming a new being. It is what he always was, but he never knew it.

She tried to hold him the best she could could as he thrashed. After a few seconds, he calmed. His breathing evened out and he finally came to. When his eyes opened they were blue, other than the ring of gold right around his pupil.

"Merlin?"

She tried to get his attention, but his eyes seemed to be looking everywhere except at her. It looked as if he was seeing everything for the first time. To him, he was. Finally his eyes landed on Morgana.

"Morgana?"

"Oh thank God! How do you feel?"

He pondered for a moment, still taking in his surroundings.

"Different," he finally answered.

"What kind of different?"

"I can just feel and see things differently. I can see the magic in the air emanating off the crystals. I can feel it in you."
His face then scrunched up in confusion.
"Did something about you change?"

"That's not important right now. What else?"

"Everything is more... vivid. I can see and hear everything to a different level. Like your eyes, they have flecks of gold in them."

"Well yours are now a mix of gold and blue, so that's new."

"Great," he groaned. "Now I'm also visibly the essence of magic. Because feeling the magic literally flowing through my veins isn't enough."

Morgana smiled, having already been warned about the extent of his powers. He still had essentially no idea. Unfortunately the worry was still visible in her eyes.

"What's wrong?" Merlin asked.

"Nothing," she reassured. "We should go. The battle may have already started."

She held out her hand to help him up, but as soon as their hands met he gasped and pulled away. It felt like some shock wave flowed through him. In that moment he was transported to the battle field. The army was fixed between two cliffs and Camelot's army was mostly asleep. There was danger. He was brought back out of the vision find Morgana in an equal amount of shock.

"That's new," she wavered.

Merlin was about to give some sarcastic remark when he suddenly became very aware of everything that was going on around him. It was as if the touch combined with the vision woke something up inside him. He could feel the power of every single crystal weaving throughout the room and touching his own soul. He could feel Morgana's presence and hear her heartbeat. He even felt Lancelot's growing concern from outside the cave. He could feel his magic growing inside of him waiting to be released, rattling his bones and increasing his awareness. It quickly became too much.

When Morgana caught him staring off into space she crouched down in front of him. Looking at his eyes it seemed as if the gold was moving, becoming brighter and then more dimmed.

"Merlin!" She put her hand on top of his.

Another jolt of magic, but no vision this time. Things began to calm down as she held her hand on top of his. He looked her in the eyes, regaining his focus.

"We have to get to Arthur."

Merlin stood up, finding his resolve. He didn't think, he just let his magic lead the way. He reached out toward the stones, pulling up an image of Camlann. Of course, the one place where they definitely should not have gone. The image switched to a path; a few hundred men from the enemy side was sneaking to the camp. The path would let out just behind Camelot's army. Lastly, Merlin brought up an image of Arthur and Gwen. They were sitting on the bed sharing an embrace before the battle.

"Arthur!"

In the crystal a confused look passed over Arthur's face. Gwen also looked around seeming to have heard.

"Merlin?"

"It's me. Morgana and I are at the Crystal Cave."

"You're alright!" Arthur laughed, relieved.

"Yes, but you will not be unless you listen to me. There's a secret path leading into your camp, Edith's men are on their way now. You must find the path and stop them, or the battle will be over before it's begun."

Immediately Arthur sprung into action, leaving to tell Leon and Percival to find the path.

Merlin lowered his hand and let the vision fade. Morgana nodded towards the exit of the cave and they left. They had a battle to win.