Week 12 Story: The Passing of Merlin

 A Tale of Foresight

Merlin looked forlornly at Arthur and knew that the time had come. Merlin had known every aspect and every moment of his life since he had first mastered the arts of foresight as a young man. His master had told him not to peer into the future for he would hate what he saw in the future. As a foolish bull-headed bachelor, he ignored his master and peered into his future seeking what his love would be like and who it would be. 

In that moment he saw every aspect of the hopeless romance and he grew troubled at what he saw, for he was confused by the who lived within the story of his future. To understand better, he then peered into the entirety of his future and learned every aspect of every moment for the rest of his life. He saw the importance of a boy named Arthur who would go on to change the whole kingdom and he knew how important his role would be in that change.

Distressed, he came to in the moment he had seen all of his future. He knew what would happen to him and he knew he could not change it. Merlin also knew he had 80 years to come to terms with his mortality before his demise, to the day. 

And now, here he was, two weeks before he knew he would die. He knew this would be his last day with Arthur, so he shared every piece of advise he had gleaned from the future with him in hopes that he would be able to escape his fate, even though Merlin knew that he himself could not. 

As soon as he had finished speaking to Arthur, he saw her. The woman who would kill him. The woman he instantly fell in love with. Vivien.

She was as beautiful as he had seen in his premonitions of the future, but now he was in the present and he knew he could not escape the allure of her. Like a fish caught by the most appealing of lures, he was caught in a trap which he could not comprehend for all his knowledge. 

Blinded by love, he followed after her day after day. Even though he knew she despised him, he followed still in a trance caused by her beauty. Yet, Vivien asked many questions of the legendary wizard. She asked him of all his spells and all his knowledge in the arcane arts. 

Against all reason, he told her every scrap of knowledge he knew of magic. Everything his master had taught him so many years ago and every piece of magic he had made himself and shared with no other soul. 

Once she knew she had learned all she could form Merlin, Vivien decided it was time to put an end to his bothersome presence. Using a piece of magic she had learned from him, she created cavern in the hillside and asked Merlin to find treasure within. Merlin knew only death awaited him in the crumbling catacombs, but he also knew that he could nothing other than follow his heart. 

Striking his staff alight on the stones, he walked into the gloom as the dirt walls began to crumble in.

Author's Note

I decided to focus primarily on Merlin's perspective in this story, as that was an aspect not discussed in the original tale. In the original, it focused primarily on the greater actions around what Merlin was doing, not so much on the man who knew how he would die and submitting to it. At first, I was incredibly confused by this tale. Surely, I thought, someone who knew how he would die, down to the last detail and in such an unavoidable way, would be able to avoid his fate. To reconcile this, I attempted to put the impetus of keeping the future for England bright by him knowing that he must sacrifice himself in such a way for that future to be achieved. Essentially, I wanted Merlin to feel he had to sacrifice himself for the greater good of England but then actually becoming entranced by Vivien's beauty. Another note, there was no reference back to his time as a student or even he having a master, for that matter, but the story was very loosely focused on Merlin's fate, so I added those elements to help make the story more cohesive and fill in some gaps that I had noticed in the original version of the tale. Thank you for reading!

(Image Source: Flickr)

(Story Source: King Arthur: Knights of the Round Table by Andrew Yang)