Still Merlin

******

Watching Earth grow up without me or mine was an exercise in patience . . . extreme patience. Countless idiotic wars, people falling for politicians’ lies over and over be they kings, priests, presidents or councils. They didn’t really seem to learn, and it wasn’t really their fault. The only way available to them to actually cut through the wall that they call the ‘bullshit’, was to have a unified rebellion of arms to take over. One man raising himself up from the dirt through strength and killing the bloodsucking rulers and placing himself on the throne didn’t exist on its own merits. That man needed an army, and then he needed the consent of the governed, and the list of idiocies simply continues. Mana, magic, chi, sorcery, magitech, divinities, the very nature of power was different outside the Seal. And my descendant was squandering it!

Again, not his fault. He thought I was a gods-be-blessed (or damned) legend, a fairy tale in which lessons could be learned. How could they know, especially with their intentionally shortened lifespans? Widespread genetic tampering was being largely corrected by the Centauri or by the simple nature of being inundated by magic. Funnily enough, it was the Aelven and Dwarven slavers fixing the issue in the most efficient way. What's the point of your workforce dying after thirty, maybe forty productive years, and what good are they if they can’t use magic? At least I got their ruling class to put a limit on a hundred years of slavery. Once that’s over they’ll have a set of skills, be learned in the general mystic/multiverse culture, and probably have a community. Not the best outcome for the masses but it’s better than the other most likely alternative, death by invading Hungry Ones or Hive. They won’t see it that way but who cares? I’m still technically king, especially since I won it from my idiot cousin, Artheur.

Waving my hand at the wall of ice in front of me, I gazed upon the crucible for the fledgling sorcerer. Oddly enough, the mere whimsy of having an ice castle as a home is turning out to be quite useful. I took the idea from the base humans' imaginings, their drawings of an alien who was almost a god, the one they called ‘Superman’. Fortress of Solitude, it has a nice ring. Of course mine is different, Fortress of Power! Better fits the reality of the situation. Anyways, I should probably explain to the runt what’s actually in store. Besides, he could use a playmate.

Very Freaking Far Away

Nate *********

I’d love to get a glimpse of whatever fucking truck hit me. For once my flesh sorcery didn’t automatically kick in and heal whatever jackhammer was pounding away at the inside of my skull and my freaking rune schema was gone from my skin. Even though it looked like I was butt-naked in a rainforest, a chill ran through me. Every tree radiated hostility and it probably had something to do with the off-color, the purplish tinge that lent a faded, alien look to the forest.

Sitting cross legged twenty feet in front of me was definitely not something anyone would expect to see in a freaking jungle, a calm, fresh corpse. From what I could see though, there wasn’t really evidence of a cause of death, but a waxy dead body of a redhead with closed eyes and a peaceful demeanour sat back against a twisted tree. As it hadn’t moved a hair, and I’m really wary of dead bodies since ‘dead’ is now a loose term, I kept my eyes on it and slowly shook out each muscle. After confirming no injuries, I did the same thing with my soul as something felt off. Fuck, everything felt weak. Having good control of your magic is like being well practiced with a gun, you have expectations for how much it weighs both loaded and unloaded, you understand every part of it and how it operates, the consequences of using it as well as leaving it out there for anyone to pick up. Right now, my soul did not feel like my favorite gun, it felt like someone had welded the safety in the safe position, removed the bolt and bolt carrier, and given me the shell of what was rightfully mine.

“Don’t start hyperventilating!” Muscular Santa, i.e. Merlin, stepped into my field of vision from a shadow behind the dead body. “Just relax for a minute, had to stop you from starting an even worse war than what humanity is already embroiled in. Didn’t the hag tell you that wytchfire is a violation of the Accords?”

My glare told him no. “All right, all right, well, at least I saved your life and a few possible futures for Earth. Now, your sorceries are just a step out of phase with you at the moment so we can have a civil conversation, though you aren’t stupid enough to fight me, which is fine.”

My glare continued. “Or close enough to civil,” Merlin grunted, lighting a cigar while pulling out a flash from his voluminous cloak. “So, where should we start? Ah yes, the situation back on Earth.” Merlin let out a massive sneeze and what should have been a disgusting spray of snot was actually a cloud of steam that stuck to a nearby tree, morphing into a large mirror of pure, reflective ice.

“It’s probably easier to show you since you may not believe me. Now, what do you remember about your last conversation with an Elevated One, the Mighty Messenger? You know, the One whose gift you still haven’t taken advantage of? The One whose warning you haven’t heeded?!!”

“Her-”

“DON’T say the Name!” My mouth snapped shut. Merlin was referring to Hermes, the one who gave me a couple warnings as well as a consolidated knowledge orb about how to make my own grimoire. The meddling deity also warned me against making too big of a splash on the global scene, which means this meetings is probably about me fucking that up. Great.

Pivoting on my butt and doing a bit of scooting, I put myself in a better spot, a bit further away from the dead body, further away from the creepy trees and a tiny bit closer to Merlin. He might be the scariest thing here but the fact stands that he ‘rescued’ me which means that he’s invested in keeping me alive, for now. Taking a few deep breaths to center myself and rein in the itching tide of anger, I push for my earth sorcery to shape the dirt into a chair. A few clumps roll underneath my butt and a slight cushion forms, a far cry from the beautiful stone chair I envisioned.

“Out of phase, young sorcerer. They won’t be in-phase until I purge the untethered Chaos wrapped around your soul-tree, a very inspiring envisioning if I do say so myself. Very, hmmm, utilitarian.” Scowling wasn’t helping me do anything but it did make me feel a teeny bit better. Defiance always lifts the mood. “Where was I, ah, yes! Showing you what you’ve missed.”

The view in the mirror panned out to an aerial view, high enough to catch the sight of my five thousand strong army of sunstone golems marching out of the misty portal area of the Yggdrasil-alder thicket. The largest elemental sergeant had spear-form Gungir sticking out of its back, Kraken directing the army towards the ice castle almost a thousand miles away from where Acantha, Reeanth, Versonae with their beach fortification complete with fifty golems waited for the incoming horde of Hungry Ones that Spot had been leading around.

The humongous pylon tirelessly fed my the four of them as much mana as they could handle while they fought as a team, perfectly engaging for maximum effect and kiting away, using the fifty golem phalanx as the anvil to their hammer. Kraken’s army launched a bombardment of crystal mortars that would have put any modern Earth military to shame, almost leveling the Hungry Ones’ castle in under five minutes. The two undead dragons that reared their heads were cut down by a laser from Gungnir, probably infused with energy from Gav’riel’s feather.

Time was fast-forwarded as my main army had to retreat due to lack of mana, the environment not containing enough sunlight or raw mana to sustain the attack. Ungainly behemoth undead, each the size of a mansion, tore themselves from ripped portals in the castle walls and chased them to the edge of the mountain range. Strategically placed traps slowed them down enough so that three out of the five thousand were able to escape back to the beachhead. By the time Kraken returned, the group of undead that had chased Spot were already massacred and burning in massive pyres that glowed with an unholy green and red tint.

After a week without me, the pylon had gathered enough mana to charge up the remainder of the army and a second assault. This time, Reeanth wielded Gungnir with an incredible display of skill, each sweep of the mace-form blew away entire knots of zombies while the spear-form lanced energy blasts that cut clear through all resistance. Acantha used the wands I gave her to devastating effect, setting up lanes of walls made of almost solid fire, funneling in the unthinking horde. Versonae danced with an inhuman grace, her blades flowing faster than a hurricane as she played the most offensive defense for the team, whipping in to clear room around Acantha only to disappear and decapitate the spellcasters aiming for Reeanth or the pylon.

I was most proud of Spot though. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought a humongous flaming demon was charging through the horde, blue flaming horns adorning his skull and his bulk far thicker than I’d ever seen. Bone armor encrusted his shoulders, legs, head and reptilian tail as he charged and tore through everything like they were toy soldiers made from paper. He took on each behemoth by himself, ripping them to shreds and his howls spats flaming tornadoes that Acantha was only too happy to enhance. For a split second, there was a dark silhouette of a small zombie wizard at the top of the castle whose skull-tipped staff was draining the Aurora Borealis for something, but Spot took the cackling evil midget out with a giant leap and fiery bark. That’s my boy!

“Uhh yuck, I do so despise gnome lichs.” Merlin growled, his beard crackling with miniature bolts of purple lightning. “Bastards grow slow but don’t seem to have a cap on their power. They hide out for a few thousand years and emerge thinking they’re the rulers of the universe. The really smart ones, and I mean the megalomaniac OCD ones, those creeps conquer a small world and use that as a hiding place for a hundred thousand years, feeding on souls and mana fonts.”

With Kraken’s assistance and direction, Reeanth used water magic by proxy of Gungnir to bring the remnants of the ice castle to the ground, melting it back to the glacier from whence it sprang. A massive, skinny spire was erected, topped with a very pointy tip of conjured crystal whose one purpose was to disperse the nearby Aurora Borealis energy if it started to condense into anything resembling a portal. “Nice, cover your bases,” I commented. “Make sure this shit doesn’t happen again. Close a door and seal the bitch behind you.”

The ice mirror zoomed out of Greenland and then zoomed into New Richmond as I turned to Merlin. “Hold up a second, gnome necromancers? Are those worse than goblin necromancers?”

“Absolutely,” Merlin confirmed. “The goblin or hobgoblin necromancers tend not to go the full length of lich transforming that gnomes do. Gnomes are hyper-focused on their goals, ALWAYS. They are the best at whatever they set their minds too, which also means that they’re the scariest enemy to ever have. Think about it, liches are immortal. Which means that gnome liches have eternity to perfect their craft, and that leads to evil and chaos on a scale you’ll rarely ever see.”

“Fuck, at least Spot took that one out.”

“Agreed.”

Merlin and I watched as New Richmond started to grow, the earth elementals and lady wizards setting up a magical version of a modern town, even taking the time to create a massive playground for the children. Mark, Scott and the other Glyph Blades carved out a shooting range and a practice area for training and Cassandra was splitting her time between the greenhouse projects and what looked to be an alchemical laboratory. The few teenagers of the growing town had started making their own mini-settlement just two miles away, a bit downstream. Their buildings were treehouses that hung over the water in magically altered mangrove trees, each complete with hammocks, stashes of food, and kayaks grown from birch trees that were lashed to the lowest branches.

“The mana fountains you’ve set up, both the hydro-electric converter and the sunstone mana converter, are being put to good use,” Merlin commented, waving his hand to move the scene a bit off to the West. “The Sun Aelves have fallen head over heels for both Jamal’s tall, dark, and handsomeness and the abundant donations of mana, both of which contributed to a whole new batch of youngsters for them. Aelves tend to find it hard to get with child and now most of their women are pregnant!”

“So dick won them some allies, huh? Wonder how much fun Jamal had, hehehe.” I rubbed my chin, staring at the almost ethereal beauty of the golden skinned Aelves. Sunlight seemed to play around their eyes and pointy ears, flashing as they smiled. Each of them, both men and women, sported slender builds and wavy daggers that almost looked to be more along the lines of jewelry than weaponry.

“Powerful allies. Their use of illusions, fire, and concentrated light beams make them incredibly dangerous foes. They are just as good at assassinations as their darker cousins.”

The mirror fogged over and I looked at Merlin, confusion and anger warring as I put questions together. “Technically, this time stream is different, so you have not missed any personal time. And I cannot tell you how much time exactly you’ve displaced over there. Earth is still harmonizing now that the Great Seal is broken but it has a ways to go. Besides, there are far better uses of your time here.”

“That’s not really the point!” I argued, pointing at the cloudy mirror. “One base of the Hungry Ones is taken out but there’s one in the Antarctic as well!”

Merlin laughed. “You cannot believe that that’s your greatest foe right now? They’re not even a threat and won’t be for at least another hundred years! Daemons in Europe, drakes in Asia, Beastmasters and Beastmen all over the place! Your world is being invaded by everyone, and the Hive is only barely being held off by your demented Centauri cousins. You had a chance to be king of your area, the lord of the land, unite those under you and go a-conquering! That chance is gone now!”

“ I didn’t-”

“Think?! Of course you didn’t think. At least, well, you didn’t really know. What you didn’t know is that I saved you from being placed on the main board well before you’d be ready. Using wytchfire is against the rules, most of which I cannot tell you.” Shushing me with an upraised finger, Merlin sighed. “I’m not actually upset with you as it’s not you that has vexed me. I realize how this must have looked to you but my recommendation would have been a much different course of action. Ignore the undead for about fifty years and get yourself situated. The colony south of your home would have been a perfect place to put down some roots, engage in some research, build your GODDAMN GRIMOIRE, and learn the basics of wizardry.”

I thought about it, actually took the time to stop and think about it. Merlin’s got a point. I used to be a reading fanatic, fantasy was my shit, and one of the weird things that stuck in my head about magic users is that they were to be feared in three situations. One, a prepared witch or wizard, one that has had time to scout out the enemy and prepare a plan, those fuckers can go toe to toe with elder beings. Two, a magic user with nothing to lose. I usually tried to be the first one, plan, prep, prepare, in triplicate if I could. But it was the third situation that was the most dangerous for any enemy, and that would be taking on a wizard in his own home, because it basically combined reasons one and two but there was something about claiming the area. A home is claimed, entrenched and saturated with the mana, the essence of the wizard. Every bit of power in the area at his beck and call, every trap, snare, and pit ready for the snap of mental fingers.

I had halfway done that, a bit less than half-assed it. Claiming an area takes time, it takes blood and sweat and tears, it requires an investment. The Lab, the Hole, the Grove, they were areas that I had lived in but they weren’t really home. Don’t get me wrong, they can be, but it’s simply not there yet. I hadn’t lived there for years. I wasn’t familiar with every inch of the place, hadn’t set up much in the way of preparations and or even sat down and figured out everything that I could do. All in all, I’d say that I’m a pretty good sorcerer but definitely a shit wizard. And what makes this whole thought process worse is the issue really holding me back, my wife. I had been so obsessed with her safety, so angry that she’d been taken from me, so furious that I couldn’t do anything about it, so . . . helpless. I mean, what could I do, really? Someone with far more knowledge assured me she was safe, assured me that she’d probably outlive me in that damn trunk of Universe Tree. But if I spent my life looking back and planning everything around it, I’d never get anywhere let alone accomplish anything.

“Something struck a chord?”

“Yeah, first, fuck you.” Merlin’s smile fell as I slowly and calmly got to my feet. “I’m nobody’s pawn, least of all some old dude who can carbon date dirt. Either send me back to Earth so I can kick some ass or give me a damn good reason as to why I shouldn’t? And before you answer, secondly, thank you. Thank you for saving my ass and helping me not commit the multiverse equivalent of war crimes against the Geneva convention. But whatever game you’re playing, I’m not a piece on that damn board.”

Merlin’s frown gave way to laughter as he smashed the ice mirror. “Good! One last test then for you to prove your spine!” Pointing at the dead redhead who was stinking ten feet away, Merlin snapped his fingers. “If you can kill that lich, you can keep her. She’ll teach you more wizardry than that damn school you sent your brother off to.”

“Better give me back my sorceries then . . .” I argued, not taking my eyes off the zombie, her milky eyes slowly opening as she bonelessly got to her feet.

“Nope!”

“A pointy stick perhaps?”

“Nope!”

Not wasting a second, I launched myself at the zombie, my enhanced body easily moving faster than the zombie could react. One palm strike to the chin to snap the head back followed by spearing my hand into its neck, grabbing it by the spine. Yanking it towards me, I pulled the head down as hard as I could while slamming my knee directly into the top of its sternum, completely ripping the head off. Dropping it on the ground, I smashed the head to pulp and turned to Merlin, his eyes wide as I wiped my slimy hands off on the ground.

“Now give them back!” I ordered, glaring at him even as I tried not to vomit. The zombie must have been the fresh kind of rotten because it fucking stank.

“Uhg,” he groaned. “They’ll only make it harder to learn wizardry. You’ve had the easy path to power so far and you need to consolidate what you have. Sorcerers are always too one-sided, never learning outside their inclinations, and wizards tend to never reach their true breadth of power due to simple age. But you’re far ahead of the former and don’t have the concerns of the latter!”

I matched his groan with my own. “Jesus dude, why can’t I just go back home? I got a smoothie jungle and everything!”

“That’s not a name I’d recommend you take in vain.”

“That’s besides the point!” I yelled, pointing at the corpse beside me. “What do I have to do to avoid fucked up situations like this? Why do I have to fight a damn zombie in an alternate reality? Why do I have to worry about people like you and Flamel screwing with me? I just wanted the goddamn undead off my world so my tree of a woman wouldn’t get destroyed, that’s it! Fix me and put me back, please!”

He must have been sad, or lonely, or something, because his face fell as if he were actually hurt. As if I reached in and twisted his heartstrings, that’s how he looked, rejected. “What?! Is an eternity of immortality and uncontained power so boring that you just have to do something, mess with something???”

“Yes!” He roared, spittle flying as he leapt to his feet, purple lightning crackling around his arms, snaking through his beard and his eyes. “By all the damn powers that be, YES! I can’t make a move without destroying a world over there, or sneeze without destabilizing a small reality over here! Every word passed between myself and a mortal is construed to be a message of war and unrest while every thought must be hidden ‘neath a cloud of deceptions!”

“Your problem,” I roared back. “Not mine! I didn’t kick this shit off! I was fucking drunk when shit hit the fan! I’m lucky I survived!”

His sudden shift to a calm demeanour did more to scare me than his outburst. “Lucky, hrmmm. Maybe you were lucky, perhaps that’s all it was.”

“What do you actually want?” I questioned, squinting at the madman in front of me. “What is it that drives you to be in my orbit even though I’m basically an ant next to you?”

A massive wave of purple light streaked with black surrounded the both of us, a creepy dome cutting us off from the outside world. “I want to live!” Merlin pleaded. “I want a place to live out a life again, BE just Merlin again, for once. I don’t want to have to worry about assasination attempts, power plays, the meddling Council, I just want to BE. I pursued power for the sake of power and now I have nothing that means anything anymore.”

“What does that have to do with me?” I shot back, not seeing at all where this was going.

“If you had just conquered Earth like a normal power hungry human, I could have lived there in peace with you as the benefactor or holder of the throne! Humanity is returning in droves, and with you at the helm as the center of attention, you could have had my burden for a few hundred years!”

“So give me back my woman and I’ll freaking conquer Earth for you,” I sassed, rolling my eyes.

“Can’t do that,” he cringed.

“Send me back in time to do it all over again.”

“Can’t do that either,” he said, shrinking in on himself a bit more.

“Then what good are you?” I yelled. “You’re too damn powerful to actually do anything, too important to hide behind the scenes, and too freaking dangerous for me not to worry about! What’s in it for me?”

A sparkle gleamed from the depths of his eye. “Well, I could do two things, one for you and one for your brother.”

“Go on . . .”

“I could find all those little shards of pure Chaos you lost so long ago,” he said, his sly grin getting bigger as my eyes got wide. “And . . . I could probably help your brother with bringing his seed of sorcery to the fore or possibly help him get another seed.”