Those were the words that hung over Merlin as Aurelianus held him tight, weeping tears of joy. All his life he had been without a father, and here he was, the one person whom he would've wanted most as a father telling him it was true. Even Blaise hadn't been as fatherly as Aurelianus in the short time Merlin had known Aurelianus.
Questions buzzed in Merlin's head. Why was Aurelianus here? Who were these other people? How could Aurelianus be his father? What had happened to the world outside? Where was he?
"Your son?" asked a tall man with a deep voice. He had elliptical-shaped glasses and wore a red shirt that folded out at the neck which was tucked into blue leggings that had many pockets and cuffs around the legs. His dark brown hair stood up and leaned forward slightly, all of the individual hairs being the same height. He had thick arms and big hands. His skin was slightly tanned, and he had brown eyes looking out from behind the elliptical glasses.
"Calm down Kirk," said Aurelianus, releasing his death grip on Merlin, and standing to face the man. Merlin had always thought Aurelianus was tall, yet, he barely came to the man's chest.
"Why should we?" asked a pale woman who had gray hair and gray eyes, and was a little shorter than Aurelianus, "You come back to us after millennia of hiding, and then announce that boy is your son. What is not to be angry about?" As the woman said this, she stayed calm, sitting in her seat, her long gray hair swirling about her.
"Merlin," said Aurelianus, "I think you should go upstairs. There will be a bedroom. It is yours while you stay here. Get some sleep."
Merlin obeyed without hesitation, sensing he was the cause of the tension in the air.
Upstairs, Merlin found a bed large enough to fit four people side by side and still have room for them to move around. Merlin crawled into the bed and collapsed from exhaustion, falling asleep before his head hit the pillow, despite the yelling below him.
***
A few minutes after he had fallen asleep, Merlin woke up. He drearily climbed out of bed and looked down to find himself standing on . . . nothing. Merlin stumbled backwards into his bed from shock, wondering how such a thing could be. Taking in a fuller view around him, he saw pinpricks of light, much like those he saw at night, except many, many more. All around him were those pinpricks of light, but he had no eyes for their captivating spell; instead, all he saw were the people beneath him.
Below Merlin were six people. Two were female and four were male, two standing off to the side. Curiously, each person's hair and clothing were the same color. The first woman was wearing a green dress. She was fairly tall and had a determined look on her face. As Merlin watched, she walked away from the rest, turning into ground as she did so. Soon, the woman was completely gone, leaving only a giant stretch of land floating in the middle of nothing.
The two men who had been standing off to the side stepped forth, one wearing white, the other, blue. The one in blue walked upon the newly formed land, and where he walked, water formed. Soon, the man himself turned to water, making a giant splash where he landed, causing oceans to rise. The man in white stood back while another came forth.
This person's color was red. He had many scars upon his face, and walked boldly to where the last two people had. Unlike the previous two, he didn't walk straight. He walked under the land, and became a giant cave.
Next the second woman came forth, dressed in silver, and walked above the land, melting into a dark substance. Quickly after her transformation, a man in black walked to the cave and became a substance much like the woman had become, but darker.
The only remaining person was the man in white. He stroked his beard before walking toward the land. Then, slowly, he walked over the land, and melted into clouds. Suddenly, the land began to sprout mountains, reaching for the sky. They grew ever taller, until one touched, when the sky and land recoiled from each other, as if bitten by a snake. Where they had touched were fourteen people, eight male, six female. One seemed to be younger and angrier then the others.
Merlin heard a noise, and the land became a ball, the cave wrapped in the inside. A few minutes following, the first six people Merlin had seen reverted to their original forms, and joined the twelve people standing on the land, except for one, the one who had created the cave. He instead raised his arms, lifting the ground and creating a deep pit. Not too far away from the pit the dirt landed, and solidified into a mountain.
Slowly, all but three of the people who had been created when the sky touched the earth walked toward something, touched it, and a crown made of that substance appeared on their head. One walked to the water. Another to the fire. For everyone, it was different. Two of the three who hadn't moved moved walked off. The one remaining was the younger boy, the one who seemed to be angry. Unless Merlin was mistaken, he was looking at his father, the one in white, with great hate and disgust.
Merlin was so engrossed in watching what was unfolding around him, he hardly noticed a voice speaking.
"Twas in the beginning that the seeds of fate were planted," said a deep, booming voice that seemed to emit from everywhere around Merlin. There was a flash of light, and Merlin was looking at a different scene, yet he could tell it was the same place he had been looking at, but in the future.
Where the sky had touched the land was now a magnificent palace. Standing on the roof was a man that had not been there before, holding up the sky, which was trying desperately to reunite with the land.
There were many more people roaming the land now, including many with only one eye and three with many arms. They all looked happy, as far as Merlin could tell. Then the man in white picked up the people with one eye and the ones with the many arms and threw them into the pit the man in red had dug. The woman in green seemed to be angered by this and summoned her sons. She told them they were to kill their father with a sickle, which looked to be a curved hook. Only one accepted the task: the young boy who was angry at the man in white.
Merlin watched as the boy crouched behind a tree, waiting to ambush his father. The boy's father, unaware of ambush, was quickly over taken by his son, who took his father's crown. As soon as the crown touched the boy's head, he grew to become a man. He walked up to the palace and sat where his father had sat. No one dared to defy him.
The woman in green was angered that her son, the one who had overthrown his father, did not free the people his father had sent to the deep pit. She was so angry, she yelled that his fate was destined to be the same as his father's.
"A pattern thrice begun," said the booming voice. Once again, there was a flash of light and Merlin was looking at a scene even farther in the future.
In this time, the one person who overthrown his father was now swallowing his own child whole, to avoid the coming of the prophecy. Yet, when Merlin looked closely, he saw the king wasn't swallowing a child, but a rock.
"Twice sealed the prophecy," said the voice again, followed by another flash of light.
Now Merlin was looking at a battle raging near the mountain where the palace was located. The people who had been imprisoned by the man in white were fighting on the side of what seemed to be the children of the king of the other side.
Watching the battle, everything finally clicked for Merlin. He realized he was watching the final battle in the War of the Titans, that the man in white was Uranus, his son was Kronos, and the boy leading the army to what must be Mount Othrys was Zeus.
Merlin watched as Zeus and his siblings defeated Kronos' army. Soon, only Kronos himself was left, armed with the sickle he had killed his own father with.Zeus took the sickle from him, and tore Kronos into hundred of thousands of pieces, and cast him into what must be Tartarus.
As Merlin looked, he thought he could see the man in red and the woman in green looking at one another. Suddenly, the woman in green, who Merlin thought must be Gaea, grabbed the hand of the man in red. From their grasp sprung a new person, on whom could hardly be called a person at all because of his grotesque appearance.
The creature's top half was man, or mostly, for his arms were covered in the heads of dragons, far more than Merlin could count. Below the creature's torso were two legs, made from coils of giant snakes. The heads of the snakes stuck out here and there, snapping at anyone who came close enough to feel their wrath. Merlin know instantly the poison of these snakes was fatal.
The creature was also covered in wings, some big, some small, some scaly, some made of feathers, but all gruesome. Yet, what caught Merlin's attention was the creature's eyes; two balls of fire, with a lump of ash dead in the center.
"Thus, Typhon is born, king of the winds," said the booming voice.
A flash of light ensued, and Merlin was looking at Typhon approaching Zeus, challenging him. Zeus accepted the challenge, and within a second was on his back, Typhon about to bring the final blow. The other Olympians join the fight, trying to save their king. Even when twelve are fighting one, the odds are grim for the Olympians.
Typhon shakes each Olympian off him, one by one, yet, Merlin only counted ten. One was missing.
Out of nowhere, Hades rams into Typhon's eye with Kronos' sickle. Typhon, momentarily blinded, howls in pain. Zeus took adavantage of the opportunity and struck Typhon with a lightning bolt. Typhon stumbled back into Hades, who pushed Typhon down the hole he had opened, a hole leading to the darkest realm of Tartarus. All that remained of Typhon was a few snake heads that were slithering on the floor, slowly losing life, and the sickle, now melted.
The person Merlin took to be Hephaestus walked over to the melted sickle, and with his bare hands, molded it into a familiar shape. With his fingernail, he carved one word into its hilt: Fanomar.
"An uncle yet to return," said the deep, boming voice before spiriting Merlin to an entorely different place.
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