The Rise of Merlin

Chapter 2: A weird day

Izuku finished gently applying burn cream to the wound on his chest as the sun begins to set. He slings his yellow bag onto his back as he stands, looking at the forest that surrounds him.

He doesn't recognize this part of the forest. In fact, he doesn't recognize anything. Izuku is completely lost. Lost in a massive forest at sunset, not knowing which way will get him out.

Maybe he could find some sort of map online?

Izuku reaches into the pocket of his uniform and pulls out his phone, which is mostly undamaged after the rough day he had. He presses the button to turn it on, but nothing happens. He waits a few seconds then tries to turn it on again, a sigh escaping his lips when the screen stays black.

"Must be out of battery," he mutters as he shoves the device back into his pocket.

Izuku picks up the book he had found earlier, holding it tightly as he looks around again. "I guess I could find a nice patch of grass to rest on. If Kacchan ever found out I got lost then slept on the ground in the middle of a forest, I would never hear the end of it."

He cringed at the thought of Kacchan laughing at him for god knows how long, then he flinched as something fell out of the book, landing next to his foot. That wasn't in there when he had looked through the entire book earlier. Strange.

Izuku bends down and picks up the fallen piece of paper from the ground. After slowly unfolding it, he began to read the note.

"To whoever is reading this, My name is, The Writer, and I am the author of this book. I do not know you, nor do I know what brought you here, to this place. But fate did not bring you here by chance, my friend.

This book, to put it simply, is enchanted. A person may only read the words within the pages under very specific circumstances. And because of this, I know that you are special. After all, I invented the enchantment myself. I trust you.

There is a house within these woods, surrounded by a protective barrier to keep it hidden from unwanted visitors, it was once my own. Inside is everything you will need to begin your journey into the magical arts. Go there, the house belongs to you now. This book will show you the way.

Be safe, young sorcerer. -The Writer"

Izuku stared at the note in disbelief. Him? Special? Nobody had ever said he was special before. But that aside, enchantments and sorcerers? He wasn't sure he could believe it, any of it.

A cold breeze blew past him, sending chills up his spine. It was getting colder out here the darker it got. Getting inside a warm, quiet house sounded very tempting.

Izuku put the note in his pocket with his phone, then quickly opened the book, searching for anything that might tell him where to find the house the note had mentioned. But after looking through the whole book twice, he found nothing.

Taking one last look through the book, he finds a blank page near the middle. Why hadn't this one been filled in like all the others?

And as if the book could hear his thoughts, words appeared on the blank page, "Go North."

Izuku turns in a circle, unsure of which direction is the correct one. He doesn't have a compass, after all.

He looks up towards the tops of the trees, in hopes of using the direction of the setting sun to help him find where north is, but the branches of thick leaves block the sky from view.

Izuku bites his lip gently, a nervous habit then looks back at the book. "I... I don't know which way north is."

Then, just like before, the words on the page disappeared, leaving it blank for only a few seconds before an arrow appeared in their place, pointing to his left.

"Uh, right. That way, I guess," He said, unsure as he began walking in the direction the arrow lead him in, keeping the book open just in case it changed again.

Izuku kept walking for a while. He wasn't counting the time that passed, but by the time the arrow changed direction again, it was dark and hard to see.

He walked for what seemed like ages, but it could have only been an hour and a half or possibly less, tiredness makes things seem longer than they are. Right now Izuku just wants to get to a bed and fall asleep.

After walking for another fifteen or so minutes, he looked back at the book, just in time to see the arrow vanish. Izuku waited for a new direction to show up, for a new arrow to appear and point him in a new direction.

He waited.

But nothing happened. He was just staring at a blank page once again.

Izuku sighed in frustration, closing the book and putting it into his yellow backpack. He was in a wide-open clearing, covered in grass and surrounded by trees on every side. The moonlight shone into the clearing, making everything sparkle silver. It was beautiful, but there was no house.

"It's got to be close. I'll just find it on my own," Izuku said to no one as he walked across the moonlit forest clearing.

Suddenly, Izuku felt a cold wind wash over him like a wave, but it didn't feel like wind, it felt different. So entirely different from anything he had ever felt before that Izuku couldn't even begin to explain the feeling.

He turned around quickly, eyes darting left and right in search of something, anything. But all he saw was the darkness of the forest that surrounded him.

Izuku let out a breath he didn't know he was holding then turned back around to continue looking for this house, only to find said house right there when he turned around.

He jumped back in shock, stumbling over his own feet and falling backward. As he fell, the same cold wind feeling washed over him, like a ghost walking through him. He landed on the ground with an "Oof", then looked up to see that the house was... gone?

Izuku jumped to his feet, ignoring the pain that shot through his chest when he moved so fast. "But it was just here! But it wasn't? Was I just seeing things?" he shook his head, messy green curls bouncing with the movement. "No. I know I saw it."

He took a long step forward, accompanied by the feeling of cold air rushing through him, then, right there in front of him was the house.

"A protective barrier to keep it hidden," Izuku said thoughtfully. "So it's entirely invisible from the outside? That's so cool! I wonder if sounds would pass through or not? Can animals come and go as they please?"

Izuku cut off his rambling before he got too excited to sleep and ran up to the front door, knocking a few times.

What he wasn't expecting, though, was for the door to open like the house expected him to show up. It almost sent him stumbling back down the steps.

Izuku slowly entered the house, looking around for anyone who could have opened the door, but he was alone.

The front door entered into a kitchen that looked as if it was well used, but not for a long time, then walking out of the kitchen, Izuku found himself in the living room with couches, chairs, and a fireplace with what looked like a cauldron hanging inside.

The first thing he noticed about the house was all of the books. There were books everywhere! Books on shelves, books on tables, books in tall stacks on the floor like whoever lived here ran out of room for all of their books. But didn't he live here now? The note said it belonged to him. Do the books belong to him as well then?

The second thing he noticed was the amount of dust and cobwebs over everything inside. Obviously, this place hadn't been cleaned for a while. Maybe that's what he'll do first, clean. It didn't sound as fun as reading the seemingly endless amount of books scattered around, but it needed to be done at some point.

Izuku looked to the right, seeing a staircase at the other end of the living room. As he trudged up the steps he was suddenly aware of how sore his body was and how heavy his eyelids felt. There was a warm pain lingering in the wound on his chest and his limbs felt heavier with every stair he climbed, but eventually, he made it to the top floor and fell onto the bed.

"What a weird day," he mumbled into the pillow. The bed was surprisingly comfortable and Izuku found himself drifting off to sleep before he could even take his backpack off.

What a weird day, indeed.