The Reincarnated King (ManxManxMan)

Chapter Twenty-five: A Normal Truth

~Chapter Twenty-five: A Normal Truth~

'Save Merlin'?

I stare at the note, confused, but the meaning does not get any clearer the longer I do. If anything, I end up with more questions.

'Save Merlin' from what? And, more importantly, how?

I only just barely survived the first 'trial,' which was actually about survival, and the second trial was an absolute nightmare that, like the first one, I only made it through because I had help. The third one never even happened, and the fourth one...

I'm not even sure that I even finished the fourth one, if it even happened at all!

Maybe I should be suspicious and even concerned about the fact that some of these 'trials' have happened while others have not, especially since there does not seem to be a time limit, which means they might be piling up. Or maybe it has to do with holding onto the notes versus throwing them away - or giving them to Gwyn, which may well be as good as throwing them away.

Still, how am I supposed to be able to save anyone? Especially someone like Merlin.

I am pretty sure that Merlin was basically some super powerful magician - a legend in his own right - though I am not sure how much of that is actually true. After all, there has to be some truth to Merlin's existence if this prophetic or whatever note is telling me he needs saving.

Unless there's some random guy named Merlin who needs help.

Regardless, someone needs saving, but I have no idea what they need saving from, and considering what the theme has been so far with these trials - the ones I have been through, at least - it is not going to be along the lines of helping some random man named Merlin, like, find his way out of a park or something. It is probably going to be dangerous, life changing, and utterly terrifying.

A subtle but still noticeable shift in the crowd of people walking through the airport terminal makes me look up, and it only takes me a second to realize that the shift is due to the crowd parting - not like the rude jostling people gave me as they walked around me but actually parting like they might only for celebrities - for my two travel companions. Some childish, anxious part of me wants to wave the note over my head to both make them walk a bit faster and to avoid having to actually verbally admit that their paranoia was at least somewhat warranted.

It is not like someone came at me with a gun - or maybe a sword would be more accurate - but the note-giver is hardly the deliverer of good fortune. The notes might read like a weird fortune cookie, but they have only so far given bad news and dangerous situations.

However, common sense kicks in, telling me that if I tell them now, we are never going to make it in time to board our flight. If I tell them now, they are either going to want to try to hunt the person down, or I am going to end up in Annwn again. Or maybe they might take me somewhere else now that Ares is involved as well, but either way, I doubt I would be making it onto that final flight, which is supposed to be boarding in less than ten minutes.

So, I stuff it into my pocket, vowing to tell them only once we are safely on the flight, where there is no way to just randomly vanish without attracting a lot of attention.

No matter what, I'm going home.

"Did anything happen?" Gwyn asks, the moment he is close enough not to have to shout over people's heads to be heard.

Since lying now would be stupid when I plan to fess up to the truth the moment our butts are in our seats on the plane, I just say, "Our flight's about the board. We need to hurry."