A forbidden love

The world had changed a thousand times, and Merlin had watched every moment of it.
He had seen the stone halls, crumble into ruins swallowed by moss over time. He had watched forests fall beneath the axes of men who no longer believed in the spirits that once guarded the trees. He had stood on lonely hills as kingdoms rose like morning mist, glittering with promise, only to dissolve into dust before the next dawn of history.

He had seen empires rise and fall, watched kings become myths, and myths become stories told to children who no longer believed in heroes. He had watched languages die, watched new ones bloom, watched the world forget the old ways.

Time meant nothing to him anymore. Seasons passed like breaths. Centuries folded into one another like pages in a book he had read too many times. But the promise - that single, shining thread woven through his long, weary life - never dimmed.

Arthur would return. He had to, destiny had promised it. The stars had whispered it. The old magic had carved it into the bones of the world.

He had endured loneliness deeper than oceans, silence heavier than mountains. He had watched friends die, watched the world forget true person behind the name Arthur Pendragon. But Merlin remembered. Merlin always remember.

Some nights, when the wind carried the scent of rain and the world felt just a little more like it once had, he could almost hear Arthur's voice -laughing, calling his name, promising they would meet again.

On those nights, Merlin allowed himself to hope. Because hope, after all these centuries, was the only magic he had left

And maybe that hope had been listening all along

Started: 09/3/2026
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