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It had been a thousand years; the world had forgotten the truth of them. They had drifted apart and away. But now they remembered; now they knew. They were waking the lives lived, now merely fragments of lost memories.
He was the first, earth shaking as stone parted from a golden glance. Awakened from his rest, his magic made him as he always was in just a few steps. Gangly, pale, with too big ears, but with longer hair then you would have found a thousand years ago. History did not remember such things, and history would forget again.
He stepped into a thick fog, unable to see his own hand before him, but had no fear. He knew where he was going and did not need any sight to arrive. He reached the shore and she was standing waiting, smiling and warm. She held him tight and close, her yellow dress so familiar, and only one word escaped from his lips.
“Gwen.”
“Hello, Merlin,” she said releasing him.
“They are coming,” she whispered.
“Yes. How did you get here?” He asked, trying to remember the magic he used. It felt as if he’d stepped out of the cave and arrived here.
“I woke up, as if my life had been a dream, and stories I thought were legend became real. There’s a war coming,” Gwen whispered.
“And that is why we need a king,” A voice called from the fog, startling them both.
“Arthur,” Merlin gasped, as he appeared before them, the gold in Merlin’s eyes pushing aside fog, to get a good look at Arthur.
“Honestly,” another voice huffed, pushing past Arthur.
“My Lady,” Gwen said as Morgana smiled.
“Well if it were up to him, we’d have never arrived,” Morgana said even as Arthur aided her off the ship.
He stepped off the ship and watched for a moment before it started drifting back to Avalon and into the fog.
“Merlin, why are you so dusty?” Arthur asked, wiping him off.
“You spend a thousand years in a cave, see how clean you stay, prat,” Merlin snarked.
“You could have come to Avalon.”
“No, I couldn’t,” Merlin said, glancing away eyes widening as he watched Morgana and Gwen duel with their tongues.
“Yes, quite crass,” Arthur said, even as he grabbed Merlin by the scarf around his neck, ignoring the dust that rose up, and mashing their lips together. Merlin flailed off balance for a moment before tangling his fingers in the golden hair.
Merlin pulled away with a grin, “Welcome back.” He then walked over to Morgana and gave her a hug.
Arthur looked at the trio then walked to the edge of the water and stuck a hand in.
The gleaming tip of sword rose out of the water, followed by a woman and Arthur smiled.
“Your sword, my king,” she said with a formal bow.
“Thank you, my lady,” Arthur said with a nod, turning back to the trio. He walked over to Gwen and took her hands in his. “Tell me of this war.”
“They used to burn witches, and warlocks, now when a child with magic is born, the entire family is destroyed. For they must worship the devil, and any born of that family would share in that tainted blood. There was a village that was burned to the ground when the third magic child was found.”
“They are killing children?” Arthur snarled.
“Arthur!” Morgana exclaimed.
“I will not be calm about this.”
“I think she was talking about the fact that you are glowing red,” Merlin said eyes wide. “What did you do in Avalon? You were supposed to rest.”
“I did rest, and then I got bored.”
“So you learned magic?” Merlin asked shocked.
“He was not the only one,” Gwen said extending her arms and allowing gold lights to rain from her fingers. “Though I was born this way, my father taught me to hide.”
“Well that should make things interesting,” Merlin said grinning.
“There’s another thing,” Gwen said glancing at Arthur.
“What?”
“Well you’re a legend, all of us really.”
“So? Not really a problem,” Arthur said. “They’ll be more willing to listen to a great king.” Arthur said, smacking Merlin on the back of the head when he exchanged a look with Morgana.
“Well…” Gwen said, looking anywhere but at Arthur.
“What is it, Guinevere?”
“Well according to the stories, we were married, I had an affair with Lancelot, you ordered me burned at the stake and that was the beginning of the fall of Camelot when you lost your greatest knight and your Queen.”
“My what? My who? They what? Lancelot?”
“Yes well,” Gwen said with a shrug glad she had not mentioned Mordred.
“Um, maybe you shouldn’t be King Arthur,” Merlin said.
“The current King might object, not to mention the church,” Gwen said. “And you’re not here for the throne, the church has gone far. It would take much more than a king.”
“Let’s get out of here,” Merlin said looking around as the magical fog finally started to lift. He could see a church in the distance and it did not calm him in the least.
“I think we have a ride,” Morgana said, pointing to where the Lady of the Lake stood in the ship.
The foursome entered the ship silently as they pushed off and into the fog that continued to drift away from the shore.
“I’ve always liked the name Godric,” Arthur said, breaking the silence as they drifted north.