The Merlinian Chronicles Book 1

Chapter 2

Selenity fell to the ground, writhing in pain. I rushed over to her, pushing past Athena, and held her up in a sitting position.

“Selenity, are you okay?” I asked, holding her up.

“I’m fine, Merlin,” Selenity assured me. “I just felt a sharp pain in my back. It’s gone now, though,” Athena was beside me now, muttering a few healing spells.

“Okay, turn around and pull up your shirt,” Athena instructed Selenity. “Show me where the pain was,” Selenity complied. At first glance, there didn’t seem to be anything wrong. After a second, more focused, check, though, I noticed a small patch of ice on the small of her back.

“Oh my gods,” I breathed. “It’s her curse.” Athena nodded.

“What’s wrong?” Selenity asked nervously. I looked at Athena questioningly. She nodded slowly.

“Did you use your aura to save me from Karforamor?” I asked, even though I knew the answer. Selenity nodded. “Well, there’s a small patch of ice on the small of your back. Your aura actually solidified, just like Amphitrite said it would,”

“Is there anything we can do?” Selenity pleaded. Athena shook her head.

“This is Amphitrite’s curse. The only way to get rid of it is to have it removed by Amphitrite or break it. If we try to interfere with her magic, it may kill you. You just have to be more careful. Do NOT use your aura anymore. You must rely on your amulet.”

Selenity nodded and I helped her up.

“Go and get some rest,” I instructed her. She nodded and shuffled through a silver portal on the other side of the room.

“You should rest too, Merlin,” Athena said form behind. “I’ll scry your parents. They should be here later tonight,” I wanted to argue, I felt fine, but Athena wouldn’t hear it. Before I could say anything, Athena snapped her fingers, and in a flash of gray, the practice room vanished, and I was lying in bed, suddenly becoming very sleepy.

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I slept dreamlessly, until I was awakened by the sound of my father’s voice calling my name. Reluctantly, I opened my eyes, and saw my father staring down at me, smiling, his Caribbean-blue eyes shining.

“Merlin!” Father beamed. “Time to get up! Isis and I have been waiting for hours!” Suddenly, I didn’t feel so happy to see my father. I knew why my parents were here, to hear about the event with Karforamor. I didn’t want to have to talk about it, but I knew I couldn’t get out of it. Slowly, I sat up and flashed my aura, my old clothes melting away, turning onto a new silver robe.

“Make yourself presentable,” Father instructed. “I’ll be waiting downstairs. We are all getting breakfast ready.” He walked through the silver portal and disappeared. I shuffled into the bathroom and brushed my teeth, fixed my hair, and stared at myself in the mirror for a few moments, lost in thought.

Look at me, I thought, staring at my face. I’ll never break this curse. What woman will marry me? I sighed and left my bathroom, walked through the silver portal in my bedroom, and entered the dining room, where everyone was already waiting.

Everyone was already sitting around the table, enchanted orbs of moonlight (Servants I created for Merlinian Castle) were zipping around, setting plates down in front of people, and taking away empty ones. Wordlessly, I took my place at the head of the table and sat down. Immediately, a silver orb rushed up and placed a plate filled with phoenix eggs and Elven fruit. I picked at the food, trying to delay what was coming. The good thing about my enchanted servants was that they always brought you only what you can eat. As you got more full, they brought you less food, until you were satisfied. Unfortunately for me, that meant I couldn’t keep piling my plate to delay the inevitable.

Finally, the dreaded moment arrived, the moment where the orbs just stopped bringing food, and the table was completely clean. This meant it was my moment in the “spotlight”, but I’d have given anything to give it to someone else.

My entire family was staring at me, expectantly, waiting for me to begin. Slowly, I stood up and took a deep breath, trying to prepare myself.

“As much as I hate to ruin these few moments of happiness, there is something we must discuss, as unfortunate as it may be.

“As you are all aware, we have kept a secret from Karforamor his entire life. We wanted to protect him, so we let him believe that he had no powers because of some unknown curse. Yesterday, however, he learned the truth, which upset him greatly. When he learned that he was not cursed, but was born without magic, he was infuriated by the fact that we had kept a secret from him for so long.

“His anger was so strong, that it began to create an aura around him. Those strong emotions triggered something, and began to change something inside of him. After a very short while, his anger gave him magic. His aura was black, which means he now practices Evil Magic,”

“But how is this possible?” Mother asked.

“It is simple,” Athena answered. “Emotions are very powerful influences when it comes to anything where the mind is key, especially with magic. Karforamor’s anger was so strong, though, that it consumed his mind, changing who he was. But his anger was too strong, and would overload his body. Because of the changes in his mind, though, he was able to get rid of some of his emotional energy, which surrounded his body in a black haze, creating an aura. And with that new aura, he gained magical powers. There is only one type of magic fed by anger and hatred, though, and that is Evil Magic. So, with his new magical powers, he became a master of Evil and will follow the greatest masters of Evil, such as Seth, Cronus, and Tartarus,”

“So, what you’re saying is that Karforamor is now a Master of Evil Magic, all because his anger was so intense?” I asked, wary. Athena nodded.

“So, what do we do?” Father asked, clutching his trident nervously.

“Karforamor will stop at nothing to get his revenge on his entire family. We will all be in danger, but,as the catalyst for Karforamor’s anger, Merlin will be his main target. So, our only options are to either protect Merlin or give him up,” I glared at Athena. “That last part was a joke,”

“Well,” Father interrupted, before I could say something back. “I am going to contact some members of the High Council of the Magic Realm. I’ll try to send you some more guards, and I’ll talk to Zeus about what the Council can do for you,” I nodded.

“And we have to try and break as many curses as possible,” Mother added. “If Karforamor tries to attack you, you’ll need all the help you can get,” I nodded. Our first priority had to be the curses.

“But how will we do that?” I asked. “Karforamor will be getting stronger each minute, and we don’t even know what most of the ‘cures’ really mean!”

“That’s true,” Athena added. “I’ve been trying to do some research, but I can’t really decipher what Amphitrite meant,”

“Then until we are sure, we must try and work around them,” Father answered. “Selenity will continue to use her amulet, Merlin will continue to learn as much as he can, as quickly as possible, and we’ll have to figure something else out for Gamma and Selene. I’ll talk to Hephaestus about some tools he might be able to make,” Athena nodded, silent. She was already thinking.

“Poseidon and I must go,” Mother said suddenly. “Your new guards will be here first thing tomorrow morning, at the cave,” Mother grabbed my hand and smiled sympathetically. She kissed me on the forehead, as Father embraced me. They followed suit for the rest of my siblings, before standing next to each other and raising their arms. Caribbean-blue light mixed with shimmering, rainbow-light, surrounding my parents. When the light finally disappeared, they were gone.