"Stop," Morgana said, her voice cutting through Merlin’s attempt at deflection. She pointed at Elizabeth. "I know what you’re doing. Trying to shift the focus. It won’t work. She doesn’t have a single speck of mana in her. Not like we understand it. Her power is... something else. Foreign. So no, she is not the one foretold. She might be a piece on the board, a variable the seers couldn’t see, but you... you are the prophecy, Merlin. The energy I felt when you nullified my ward... that’s proof."
Merlin started to turn away, rolling his eyes, but Morgana grabbed his shoulder, forcing him to face her.
"Listen to me! You walked through solid stone! You caught a falling person with a leap that defies gravity! These aren’t party tricks! This is the power the prophecy spoke of—boundless, instinctive, a fundamental command over reality itself! You can deny it all you want, but the Dark Lord won’t. He’s spent centuries hunting down and eliminating every hint of a threat. And you, whether you like it or not, are the biggest threat to him that’s ever existed!"
Before Merlin could retort, the air in the clearing changed.
It wasn’t a sound first. It was a feeling. A pressure. The evening birdsong died instantly, replaced by a heavy, invasive silence.
From the shadows between the trees, figures emerged. They didn’t slink or snarl like mindless beasts. They walked with a grim, coordinated purpose. There were five of them, clad in dark, fitted armor that seemed to drink in the fading light. Their leader stepped ahead of the others. He removed his helmet, revealing a sharp, pale face with intelligent, cold grey eyes. He looked more like a nobleman’s cruel son than a monster.
"Well," the leader said, his voice smooth and surprisingly polite. "This is a fortunate find. The High Priestess of a dead grove, in the company of... locals." His eyes slid over Elizabeth, lingered with brief curiosity, then settled on Merlin. A slow, calculating smile touched his lips. "And you. The energy signature coming from you, boy... it’s quite the anomaly. Flickers of something... profound. My master will be very interested."
Morgana stepped in front of Merlin, her hands already glowing with defensive magic. "Stay back, Kael. You have no business here."
The leader, Kael, chuckled. "All anomalous magic is our business, Priestess. You know the law. Surrender the boy for testing, and you and your... friend... may be granted a swift end. Resist, and we will extract him anyway, and your final hours will be an education in agony."
Elizabeth, who had been observing quietly, took a subtle step back, analyzing the tactical situation. Five trained soldiers, armed, armored, and clearly magical. One frantic priestess. One oblivious boy. Herself, with her sovereign power drastically muted in this unfamiliar reality. The numbers were not good.
Kael gave a slight nod. Two of his soldiers moved forward, their movements efficient, their hands crackling with concentrated violet energy—binding spells.
Merlin watched them come. He felt a strange calm settle over him. The fear for his parents, the confusion, the noise of Morgana’s prophecies... it all quieted. He saw the intent in the soldiers’ eyes. He saw Morgana preparing for a last stand. He saw the exiled queen, Elizabeth, calculating odds she didn’t like.
He sighed. A deep, weary sound that seemed too old for his young face.
"No more hiding, I guess," he murmured, almost to himself.
As the first soldier reached for him, a shimmering violet tendril of energy snaking out, Merlin didn’t flinch. He simply looked at it.
The binding spell dissolved. Not shattered, not deflected. It un-made itself. The violet energy winked out of existence as if it had never been conjured, leaving the soldier staring at his empty hand in shock.
Kael’s polite smile vanished. "What—?"
Merlin raised his own hand, not in a dramatic gesture, but a casual one, as if brushing away a fly. The two advancing soldiers froze. Not magically restrained. Their very bodies froze. The air around them solidified, becoming a crystal-clear amber that trapped them mid-step, their expressions locked in surprise.
It was silent. Absolute.
Morgana’s defensive glow sputtered and died. She stared, her mouth agape. This wasn’t magic as she knew it. This wasn’t channeling mana or weaving spells. This was... editing.
Kael’s eyes widened with a mixture of terror and insane greed. "Primordial command... It can’t be... A nascent Absolute... here?" He barked at his two remaining soldiers. "Containment protocol! Now! Don’t let him focus!"
The soldiers reacted, not with attack spells, but with complex, layered sigils that burst from their hands—a net of interlocking hexes designed to suppress and isolate power at its source.
Merlin glanced at the swirling net of magic flying towards him. He frowned, a slight, annoyed crease on his forehead.
"No," he said.
The word wasn’t loud. But it carried a finality that vibrated in the bones of everyone present.
The containment net, the most advanced subduing magic the Dark Lord’s legions possessed, simply ceased. The intricate sigils frayed into meaningless sparks of light and then into nothing, leaving the two soldiers stumbling forward, off-balance and defenseless.
Merlin looked at Kael. His usual playful, sarcastic demeanor was gone. In its place was an expression of calm, infinite certainty. His eyes held a depth that seemed to contain swirling galaxies.
"You will go back," Merlin said, his voice echoing with a subtle, layered resonance. "You will tell your master that the anomaly is not for him. That this world is under new management. And if he comes himself... he will be simplified."
With a final, almost lazy wave of his hand, the three remaining soldiers, including Kael, were enveloped in a sphere of white light. There was no scream, no flash. The sphere contracted to a point and vanished, taking them with it. The two soldiers trapped in amber followed a second later, the amber dissolving into mist that quickly dissipated.
The clearing was empty. Quiet. Just the three of them.
The entire confrontation had lasted less than a minute.
Morgana was trembling, her mind utterly broken by what she had witnessed. This wasn’t the savior from the ballads. This was something else entirely. "What... what are you?" she breathed.
Merlin let out another long sigh, the cosmic depth fading from his eyes, leaving him looking like a tired teenager again, but one burdened with an impossible truth.
"I guess the vacation’s over," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. He looked at his own hands, a faint, tired smile on his lips. "My name is Merlin. I’m the Absolute Being of Energy and Matter. Nice to finally meet you."
He said it plainly, like he was stating his favorite color.
From her spot near the tree stump, Elizabeth let out a soft, dry chuckle. She shook her head, a wry smile touching her lips.
"Convenient," she said.