The Warlock

8: The Scrolls

Asteria walked quickly towards the Headmistress' office. She had spent the whole morning thinking about her conversation with Basil and his revelation. Their situation wasn't that unheard of but still fell in the category of crazy. The girl could barely wait for Natural Magic to be over in order for her to get to her Seer lessons with Pythia and tell her about everything. It didn't help that her teacher was getting on her nerves with the constant blabbing about connecting with nature. Was she expecting them to live in trees and feed on berries only?

"Come in." A voice came from the inside as Asteria knocked on the door.

The opening revealed a puffing Pythia, who was looking around a large wooden box.

"So we have been doing quite a lot of work on your focus. But today we will switch it around in order for you to ... unlock some hidden sights," said Pythia as she took out a couple of candles from the box.

Asteria just stared at her curiously. After the time she had spent with the woman, Asteria was not as scared of her as before. Yet the desire to not do wrong and please the Headmistress remained there, a bit out of fear and a bit out of the need to prove herself to this regal woman.

"What are we doing today?"

"Well, this is an ancient ritual that the Oracles of Delphi used to make predictions. I have worked on it and made it work better, without making the seer go crazy. A little joke for my namesake," chuckled Pythia.

Asteria picked at her nails in her lap.

"Pythia, over the weekend Basil ... um ... he is a warlock," The Headmistress nodded acknowledging the existence of Basil, "he spoke to me and ... well, said something about his demon. The one he has to prove himself to."

"Don't be so nervous, child. Who is his demon?"

"Lucifer."

"Ahh, yes. Uriel did say one of the warlocks this year is quite gifted but wouldn't disclose why. You'll come to find that warlocks are very privy to their secrets," Pythia pursed her lips.

"Well, Basil told me that I am to help him in his quest? But I don't understand how ... or why."

The Headmistress didn't respond. Instead she got up and opened one of the drawers above her chair. She pulled out a small metal box. Pythia settled down into her chair once again, and opened the box. Asteria followed the woman's actions with her eyes. The Mistress pulled out three scrolls. The script looked worn out and on the verge of falling apart.

"Tell me, do you know who was the first warlock to have a bond with Lucifer?"

"Morgana Le Fay," responded the girl.

"I'm guessing you know some parts of the legend. However, these scripts hold the whole true story as written through the eyes of Merlin. It will reveal why you are the one to aid him." Pythia put the paper back in the box and set it down in front of Asteria. "You can take them and go read the story. Do not tell the warlock about the story. He will learn things in his own time and when Uriel decides. He likes to do things his own way."

The little girl took the box and nodded to her teacher. Things were beginning to make less and less sense. Curiosity was getting the best of her, so she rushed down the stairs into the frozen garden. The leaves were long gone and frost was covering the ground. The cold ensured that the students wouldn't go outside where Asteria hid to read the scrolls. She hid behind a small cluster of trees that hid her from both the biting air and the prying eyes of her classmates.

The girl took out the scrolls and carefully unrolled them. The paper felt so thin in her hands, she was scared that one wrong move could break it apart. Her eyes began following through the calligraphic writing; at places it was smudged or faded but quite well preserved for centuries old scrolls.

This legend begins like any other. Although many Arthurian legends exist and will come to exist about Merlin and Lady Morgana, none of them as true as the one in front of you for it was written by me, Merlin. I was a sorcerer in a land where magic was forbidden. Where I came from is of no matter but what happened once I was under the care of King Uther is where it all began. This is where Lady Morgana resided as well. One evening many summers before this scroll was written Morgana dreamed of the future. With this dream she came to me. Unfortunately it was on a full moon, when I was preparing one of my herbal medications. She witnessed my sorcery before without my knowledge, but this time I had been caught. Lady Morgana revealed her dream to me, of the Morning star and the flames surrounding him. Along with being a sorcerer, I used to be a seer as well before I lost my powersm but that comes later. At these times I was still young and foolish, I had only heard legends about warlocks and demons for they were extremely rare, more rare than seers even. I dug deep into myself and my powers in order to discover the secrets of Morgana's dream. Morgana was destined to be a warlock, something I had believed to be a myth.

In that dark cold morning Morgana and I performed the ritual to discover who was to be her demon. A morning star like the one from her dreams appeared. It was meant to be Lucifer, the Prince and Guardian of Hell. He told us that Lady Morgana was to go through six tasks in order to prove herself to him as a worthy warlock. If she were to fail in any of the tasks she'd lose all of her magic powers, and I was destined to help her. With that Lucifer disappeared.

The next day in the early hours of the morning, Morgana awoke with a dream of her first task. So on and so forth, she and I went through the tasks, yet as Morgana sleight all of the struggles in front of her, I was failing at my task: to keep her safe.

Time passed and we had reached the final task. Morgana was close to ruins, far from the once innocent and naive girl, who began this quest. There stood a regal, soulless monster, who's eyes were filled with death and struggle. Morgana reigned over Avalon with an iron fist. She kept me by her side, but always at an arm's length, never too close for me to try and save the remainder of her soul. I watched her ruin herself little by little until there was nothing left as Lucifer overpowered her mind. At that I gave up all of his powers, retiring to the deep forests of Avalon never to be seen again. And here I am years after my biggest failure, begging the next sorcerer to not do the same.

Asteria dropped the scroll and looked at the frozen garden in front of her. So her fate was to protect a guy, who she barely knew and to keep him from going insane practically. Pythia made it seem like she had a choice whether to help him or not by giving her the scrolls but then the girl wondered if there really was a choice, or just a warning of what was to come.

*****

Hello! Thank you for reading! I've been having no motivation to write recently and although there are many chapters pre written, I also had no desire to look at the story at all :( 

Hope you enjoy the story! Don't forget to comment and vote <3 <3