Merlin's magic (Oneshots) 1

reversed part 4

The thing was ..... the world hadn't always been like this.
Evil sorcerers, witches, warlocks – angry magical creatures, you get it...
It wasn't always like this.

Uther Pendragon was the cause of all this misery. That was not a secret.
The pyre had been lit so many times – the ashes of innocent people distributed farther and wider than food over the lands.
The wind whispered the names of the forsaken who had been hung. For only the air to bear witness to their demise.
The water wailed at every drunken song of drowning children and the night covered the bodies of those who rotted in their cells. Too starved to live long enough to hear their own death sentence.

Feasts were held in honor of the soldiers who murdered the creatures that were born to bring beauty and balance to the world. Prices covered the castle walls. Heads of mighty creatures that protected the weak and the poor.

Love and kindness was dying in the land. With Uther at the head of the regime – hope was lost.

It was then, that magic had decided it needed a conscience. A mind that could save them all. And so it was born in form of a child.
A child who had never asked for this burden. A child who loved and cared and radiated magic.
But something went wrong.
And suddenly magic was dying. And it kept dying, because the purge was not over yet.

And with time – while the child kept spreading love and peace and kindness – everything around him still died.
Everything he was connected to, everything he was bound to save, craving for him, like for water in the desert. That is how starved the world was for him.
What do you think happens, when you are the oases that could safe the world? What happens, when even YOU start to believe you're nothing but an illusion?

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Arthur and Merlin were about a mile from Ealdor, when Merlin broke down.
Arthur would later curse himself that he didn't notice it earlier. That he didn't notice immediately how Merlin fell to the ground.
A slight dumping sound the only warning Arthur had. He didn't have time to catch his friend.

He was barely fast enough to see Merlin's eyes flicker golden, before completely dying out.
The blue of his irises rolled up behind their eyelids, when Arthur finally managed to get to him.
"Merlin? MERLIN!", Arthur shouted.
He fell to his knees and tried to shake Merlin awake again.

When that apparently didn't do anything, he slapped him in the face.
"MERLIN! God DAMN it! Can you hear me?"
Rapid breaths, panic and fear and adrenaline filled Arthur's mind and heart. It stopped him from thinking clearly. Every sound in his ear suddenly numb, as all he could focus on was how pale Merlin looked.

How on EARTH hadn't he noticed sooner?
Just an hour ago he had been wondering how often Merlin was stumbling over roots again. He had dismissed it as Merlin's usual clumsiness, but maybe it had been a sign?
Maybe Arthur had just been to ignorant to notice?

Arthur tried to calm down. What was it that he was supposed to do in a situation like this?
Right – right....

He held three fingers to Merlin's neck. Hoping and praying that the heartbeat he felt wasn't his own. Because the adrenaline pumping inside his head told him that HE was clearly alive.
But Arthur didn't care about that right now.
Cursing under his breath, Arthur drew his sword and held it over Merlin's open mouth. And let out a relieved breath, when he could see the blank metal fog up slightly.

Arthur was far away from being a physician. And his mind was running wild with the different lectures Gaius should have given him or that Arthur didn't listen to.
He should go and call for help. But he wasn't allowed to leave Merlin behind.
Was it okay to pick him up? Or would that make it worse?!
Was he supposed to wait until Merlin woke up or stopped breathing or -