Merthur/Merlin one shot

Lost on an inhabited island part 1 of 2

Merlin had been working on a boat that send goods to other places all around the world. It was a job that he decided to get to because of boredom and it was interesting. That was the reason why he helped these people out. Yet he stayed an arms-length over as he knew that they would at some point die.

There was no reason to stay friends with them knowing that they would not always stay with him. The heartache would be too much. How many times he saw people that he was acquainted with dying either from wars or from different illnesses was a reason why. Not to mention he had once in a time, some friends, and their death was a big reason for him not to try and get close to anyone.

Working on a ship was harsh, but he managed to do this having by now enough muscles and to do this with ease.

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Merlin cursed the weather today. It was bad and he knew that there would be a storm. Usually, it would be fine, but his instincts screamed at him to get to safety. It was not going to work and that was why he continued helping. But it was clearly slowly getting worse.

His feet lost their footings more than once and many others were almost thrown off. Merlin tried to help them but, there was not always a way to do this. The carelessness of himself pretty much led for him to be thrown off before he could react or anyone else.

The sudden bitter cold that set into him made him almost go into shock. There was his magic that acted upon it and he ended up at least being able to feel way lighter as the clothes would be heavy. Lucky Merlin knew that he would not die, as he had many times woken up after deadly injuries. At least that was what he hoped because Merlin did not want to die even after the many years that went by.

His body shuddered as he tried to get upwards over the waters. It was difficult with how stormy the water was. Somehow he managed but it was getting difficult to stay upwards and he knew felt more and more exhausted.

Merlin was not sure how it happened but everything went too quick for his mind to register. But he was suddenly underwater and swallowing way too much water. Everything slowly went dark as his body tried to get air in his lungs -obviously, it was not working- his sight got fuzzier.

Drowning was one of the less painful ways in his eyes but still hurt and a slow one. His sight blacked out thankfully soon afterward...

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The soft wind and the soft sounds of waves made him slowly wake up. His body felt sore, and he coughed harshly at the burning in his lungs that he felt. Drowning in saltwater was worse than the water of lakes etc. Slowly he opened his eyes and squinting at the sun that he was thinking that it should feel hot on his skin.

It was humid yet warm, but lucky occasionally there was a soft wind that he could feel. It helped to soothe a bit of the heat of the sun. Not enough to feel that he couldn't feel his skin feel hot. Merlin was lucky to have his magic.

Because when his sight adjusted to the brightness of the daylight, he could see that his skin was red. He really had to get sunburn. Slowly he sat up and rasping a spell that would make something hover over himself to protect him from the sun. It looked like a cloud and that was what it was.

He hadn't often time to use his magic and hid it. There was no way that he would use magic, knowing how people would act towards his gift. The witch hunts were still going on sadly and it was why he could never use his magic often. Even at his home, he feared to be seen, even when he put protection that no one would see inside of his home.

Using his magic was in his very being. The fact that seeing many of his kin being burned pained him. Camelot was the only place that his kind can stay hidden and protected. It was a sanctuary for them. He had left for a while to gather his thoughts back together with the war and everything. It was too painful to get back to Camelot. He came back 3 years later and stayed there to watch over his home, but as Gwen died he started to leave as well.

Each half-century he made sure to check up on the kingdom and since the witch haunts started again and Camelot slowly being forgotten, he started to put protection surrounding the kingdom that all people that are his kind are protected. They would be accepted and it was known by them but just by all magic kind that this was a sanctuary.