Chapter 3 - Orb

After regaining consciousness, Merlin tried to assess his situation. He knew he had been unconscious for several hours, because when he fell into the well it was around eleven o’clock and he was really hungry right now, he could tell it was past noon, but he couldn’t be sure of the exact time. He looked around, but he couldn’t see anything but darkness. Not knowing what else to do, Merlin crawled until he found the wall and tried to climb it up, but it was too slippery due to the moss, so after falling down several times, he realized he wouldn’t go out that way…

Merlin: "Oh, crap! I’ve cut my hand with the edge of a stone… just what I needed right now…"

He tore a sleeve of his shirt and wrapped it around his hand to stop the bleeding. Right after he finished doing so, Merlin noticed there was a dim light on the well and it came from a stone on which he had dropped some of his blood. The stone started floating and when it was at a high of 3ft in the air, it started glowing more intently. That allowed Merlin to observe the well, and what he saw in front of him made him smile.

In front of Merlin there was a narrow passage which went upwards, unless obstructed, it obviously would lead him to an exit. He walked towards the passage, but when he tried to step on it, the orb (that was the true nature of the glowing stone) didn’t let him pass. As he was eager to get out of there, he tried to put the orb away, but the moment his hand touched the orb, there was a flash and Merlin couldn’t see anything but a white space all around him.

*What the fuck is this? Where the hell am I?* thought Merlin.

He started walking around in that space, but nothing changed… Merlin noticed something strange… he had been walking for quite a while now, but he didn’t feel tired at all. *How strange…*

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Merlin POV:

I don’t know whether I’ve been transported somewhere or I’ve fallen into a magical trap… I’m unable to leave here… I think this time I’ve messed up real good…

---BEEP---

---LINEAGE ANALYSIS COMPLETE---

---RESULT: POSITIVE---

---BEEP---

---ATTRIBUTE AFFINITY ANALYSIS COMPLETE---

---RESULT: EXTRAORDINARY AFFINITY WITH ALL EIGHT ATRIBUTES---

---BEEP---

---THE SUBJECT MEETS THE REQUIREMENTS TO RECEIVE THE INHERITANCE---

---INITIALIZING THE INTERACTIVE INTERFACE---

---BEEP---

*What the heck was all that? It was like hearing an artificial intelligence (AI) of my previous world, but that’s impossible, the technological level of this world is that of the Middle Ages, so it’s impossible for an AI to exist here, isn’t it?* That’s what I thought, but what happened afterwards changed my mind…

A red-headed man with golden eyes in his sixties appeared out of thin air and started talking to me…

???: "Hello, young man. You can address me as 'Orb'."

Merlin: "Ok, Orb. May you tell me who or what you are? And, why did you trap me here?"

Orb: "Oh? It seems there has been a misunderstanding, young man, I didn’t trap you here, you did so yourself when you decided to take the test."

Merlin: "What are you talking about, old man? I didn’t decide to take any test, don’t go deciding things on your own!"

Orb: "Oh? But didn’t you drop some of your blood on the orb to take the test? You did, so now that the process has already initiated, it can’t be stopped until it is completed."

Merlin: "Well, I admit I dropped some of my blood on the orb, but that was an accident. I fell into the dry well, got a cut on my hand and the blood dropped on the orb, but I didn’t intend to take any test."

Orb: "Outrageous! DID YOU JUST SAY THAT THIS MAJESTIC ORB, WHICH IS THE LEGACY OF HIS MAJESTY MERLIN PENDRAGON, FOUNDER OF THE PENDRAGON CLAN, AS WELL AS FOUNDER AND RULER OF THE MIGHTY AVALON KINGDOM… DID YOU JUST SAY IT WAS AT THE BOTTOM OF A DRY WELL?"

Merlin: "Hey! Calm down, old man! Yes, that’s it, you’ve got it right. Now… Do you care to explain what’s this all about?"

Orb: "You belong to the Pendragon Clan and you don’t know anything?"

Merlin: "Well, it’s the Pendragon family now. The Pendragon Clan you talk about doesn’t exist anymore, it’s just my parents, my three brothers and me… As for your beloved Avalon Kingdom, it ceased to exist several thousands of years ago!"

Orb: "I can’t believe what I’m hearing… Not only did the Avalon Kingdom disappear, even the Pendragon Clan is almost extinct… And what’s worse, for more than a thousand generations nobody in the royal bloodline has met the requirements to receive Merlin majesty’s inheritance… Argh! Well, at least not all is bad, it may have been several thousands of years since the orb was created, but someone of the royal bloodline has met the requirements at last! Hey, boy!"

Merlin: "Yes, what is it?"

Orb: "What do you know about the history of your family?"

Merlin: "Well, dad always brags that we are the last descendants of the royal bloodline of Avalon Kingdom, he also said that our house is located on the same spot where once stood the Royal Castle. But aside from that, not much."

Orb: "So you don’t know about the 'Imagination Creation Magic' transmitted in your bloodline?"

Merlin: "No, what kind of magic is that? Besides, I’m not 6 years old yet, so I still haven’t received my magic awakening. Until then I won’t be able to use any magic."

Orb: "WHAT? YOU DIDN’T RECEIVE YOUR MAGIC AWAKENING AT BIRTH? OUTRAGEOUS!"

Merlin: "No, I didn’t. I don’t know about thousands of years ago, but right now it is customary to receive the magic awakening at the age of 6."

Orb: "What foolishness! Don’t they know that the growth of the mana pool during the period between 3 years old and 6 years old determines its growth rate for the rest of the life of the magus, as well as its maximum capacity? Doing the awakening at the age of six will only limit the potential of the magi! Boy, stay still for a moment!"

After he said that, I felt a burning sensation all through my body, and I sensed a lot of powerful energies inside me, but, despite some of them being opposed to the others, I felt that, inside me, those energies had reached a harmonious equilibrium.

Merlin: "What did you just do to me?"

Orb: "I just gave you your magic awakening. Although you are 4 years old and have already missed one year of the period of growth, you still have two years to go. You won’t be able to reach your maximum potential, but at least your growth will be several times greater than that of the magi awakened at the age of 6."

Merlin: "Wow, thanks! By the way… What was that 'Imagination Creation Magic' you were talking about before?"

Orb: "That is a kind of magic passed down on the Pendragon bloodline, but to use it, the requirement is to have a high affinity with all eight attributes, as you have."

Merlin: "That’s impossible, the maximum number of elements, or attributes like you call them, that a person can have an affinity with, is 3 elements. Ever since the Great Magic Era, only one person has had an affinity to four elements, and nobody has ever managed to repeat that feat. So having all eight is impossible, only the gods are supposed to have that many affinities!"

Orb: "Well, that’s actually a misconception. Both humans and gods have an affinity to all eight attributes, the differences between them are in the capacity of their mana pool, and that gods have a certain margin to change their own fates. When it comes to attribute affinity, the number of usable attributes depends on the strength of the soul, the stronger the soul, the higher the number of usable attribute affinities!"

Merlin: "Ok. Then, could you tell me how that magic works?"

Orb: "You can create and learn any kind of magic you imagine, and at a higher level, you could even create physical objects out of thin air… There is a catch though, you can’t create any magic that already exists."

Merlin: "Is the ancient magic that has been lost with the passage of time, and that nobody knows nowadays, also included in the restriction?"

Orb: "I’m afraid it is. Well, the 'Imagination Creation Magic' has two main benefits for a magus, it allows its possessor to learn new spells in half the time and with half the effort, and the most important one in a magic battle: it halves the cost of mana when using a spell, which means that in a battle of endurance you’ll have the upper hand."

Merlin: "Pretty useful then!"

Orb: "Well, now to the main topic! I’ll proceed to transfer the inheritance to you, be prepared to receive it!"

Merlin: "Ok."

---BEEP---

---INITIALIZING THE TRANSFER OF THE INHERITANCE TO THE SUBJECT---

---TRANSFER COMPLETE---

---PROCEEDING TO SELFDESTRUCTION---

---BEEP---

Orb: "Well, boy, this is farewell. The inheritance you’ve received is all the knowledge that his majesty Merlin Pendragon accumulated in his life. You’ll probably be unable to access to most of the contents, it’s a security measure he created to avoid its misuse. I’ll give you the key to unlock it: 'The way to the acquisition of the knowledge is the acquisition of the knowledge'. By the way, what’s your name boy?"

*So that’s just a lot of useless knowledge given that I can’t access it… Well, at least I got one amazing magic! But I should be careful and not to show I can use magic before the official magic awakening ritual… And I’ll have to think of something to hide my real elemental affinity, if people got to know that I can use all eight attributes I’ll be in for a lot of trouble… *

Merlin: "My name is Merlin Pendragon. And why did you give me a riddle? I hate riddles, what the fuck did yours mean?"

Orb: "Merlin Pendragon… Appropriate, really appropriate…"

Merlin: "Damn, he has disappeared and I didn’t get a clear answer… And how the hell do I get out of here?"

*****************************************************************************

Right after he wondered how to get out of the white space, there was another flash and he returned to his previous position, holding the orb while trying to enter the passage. But there was a difference, the orb had stopped glowing and, suddenly, it transformed into sand and fell from his hand to the ground. Merlin was startled by the fact that he could now perfectly see in the dark, but as he wanted to get the hell out of there, he didn’t give it much thought and followed the passage until he reached the exit, which was situated 250yd from the entrance of the town.

When the guards saw him asked:

Guard 1: "Hey boy, are you Merlin, the youngest boy of the Pendragon family?"

Merlin: "Yes, I am. Why?"

Guard 2: "You, brat! You dare to ask why? The whole village has been looking for you since noon!"

Guard 1: "Hey, don’t scare the boy! Boy, hurry up and go home, your family is really worried about you, to the point that they even had ten men from Dorka Garrison come to the village to help with the search!"

Merlin: "I’m sorry. I’ll properly apologize afterwards!"

Guard 1: "Good, now go home!"

Merlin went home and prepared to receive the scolding of his life, but that didn’t happen. His mother, instead of scolding him, she hugged him and didn’t let go of him for almost an hour, and she couldn’t stop crying for almost two, although this time they were tears of relief instead of worry. When he was questioned about his whereabouts that day, he told the truth, that he fell into the well, was unconscious for several hours, and that when he finally regained consciousness he found the passage that led to the exit and returned home. He left out the parts of gaining the inheritance contained in the orb and his magic awakening. He thought that speaking of those would probably bring him trouble.

Little could he imagine the consequences of his actions that day, that they would bring misfortune and sorrow to one of the members of his family he held dearest…

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