Talks with Merlin

Not willing to give the vixen any more opportunities for teasing, the boys quickly moved to stand beside her on the glowing sigil, its light pulsing like a heartbeat beneath their feet.

Vespera raised her arms skyward, her cloak billowing without wind. When she spoke, her voice carried an otherworldly resonance that made Alex's hair stand on end:

"Stella lucis, viam monstra Astrum Viae Portalis Per sidera ambulamus Spatium transit, tempus fluit Portam stellarum aperio!"

The foreign words seemed to ripple through the air like stones dropped in still water. Alex felt a strange energy course through his body, making his skin tingle as his feet slowly left the ground.

Each syllable of the incantation seemed to pull them further from reality. Randy let out a startled yelp, while Max's usual bravado dissolved into wide-eyed silence.

The world around them began to blur and stretch, reality peeling away like layers of an onion until they were surrounded by streaking lights.

It reminded Alex of those sci-fi movies where ships jumped to lightspeed, except this was terrifyingly real. Randy and Max fell to one knee, their bodies struggling against what felt like an ocean of pressure bearing down on them.

The cosmic energy pulsed through them in waves, each one hitting like a tsunami trying to drag them under.

But Alex... Alex felt different. Where his friends struggled, he felt a strange sense of belonging. Each wave of energy made him feel simultaneously more weightless and more solid than he'd ever been, like he'd finally found his natural element.

'It's a little like a bubble bath,' he thought, reaching out to touch the edge of the light surrounding them. 'Where the bubbles are light and float but the water is heavy and drags you.'

The comparison felt childish given their situation, but something about the familiar thought helped anchor him in this sea of strangeness.

The light vanished without warning, reality snapping back into focus. Alex's feet finding solid ground again as gravity took ahold.

Turning, he saw Max and Randy doubled over, their faces a matching shade of green.

"Oh god," Randy groaned, his glasses knocked askew. "I think I left my stomach somewhere between here and..." Before he could udder his words, he lurches up his breakfast.

Joining him Max too lurches.

Vespera's silvery laugh echoed through the chamber. "Don't worry, it only gets better the more you do it—unless you're like wonder boy over here." She gestured toward Alex, her red eyes gleaming. "First my aroma doesn't affect you, and now teleporting? You just keep getting more interesting." Her tongue traced her lower lip as she studied him like a particularly fascinating specimen.

'Great, now I'm some kind of lab rat,' Alex thought, suppressing a shudder at her predatory gaze. He focused instead on helping his friends to their feet, trying to ignore the way Vespera's eyes followed his every movement.

"Thanks," Max and Randy mumbled in unison, still looking slightly green.

"No problem."

With his friends finally vertical, Alex took his first real look at their surroundings.

'This is place is huge, bigger than even the gym back at school. Makes me feel small.' Alex thinks as he takes in the room.

Six pedestals formed a perfect circle around them, each crowned with a bowl emanating a different colored light. Beyond these, massive pillars stretched upward until they vanished into the shadows of the ceiling.

Ornate lamps protruded from the pillars at regular intervals, their flames casting dancing shadows across the marble floor. At the far end of the chamber stood a door the size of a drawbridge.

Two armored guards flanked it, each as tall as a car and eerily motionless. Their dark armor seemed to absorb the room's light, marked only by silver emblems on their chests—identical to the one Vespera wore.

Before Alex could study the guards anymore Vespera walks in front of them waving them over to follow her.

Walking behind Vespera like ducklings following their mother Alex and his friends make to the guards.

Saluting Vespera the guards speak. "Vice-Captain!"

"At ease. Monty, Atlas, these three are the Daywalkers that Captain Graves reported, we are to speak with Merlin at once, so do let him know were here." Vespera tells.

"Right away Vice-Captain." Both Monty and Atlas turned black like shadow then sink into the ground just as fast as they turned.

"What?" Max unable to hold in his thoughts speaks out.

"Don't worry about that you'll get the chance to understand in a little bit." Vespera clearly not willingly to explain every little new thing that is happening around them.

Rising back from the floor both Monty and Atlas arise like zombies from a grave.

"Headmaster is ready to see you Vice-Captain." Monty then brings out a small rope.

Vespera grabbing it then holds it out in front of the boys.

"Grab this it'll send us over to Headmaster."

Knowing that they don't have much choice in the matter the boys each grab a part of the rope.

Vespera then gives it a quick tug like one would to open a door. The rope then flew out of their hands each strain of the rope looping together to make a large circle.

Slowly though the looping rope can be seen creating what looks to be a portal into an office.

"Please, come in." The voice that emerged from the portal carried weight – not just in its tone, but in the way it seemed to ripple through the air like stones dropped in still water.

Vespera stepped through without hesitation. Alex exchanged quick glances with his friends before following, his heart hammering against his ribs. The transition felt like stepping through a curtain of warm water, and then—

The first thing that hit him was the smell – old books and something else, something that reminded him of Sunday afternoons at his grandparents' house. The tension in his shoulders melted before he even realized it was there. The office felt *different* from the cathedral's cold grandeur, like stepping into a space that existed slightly sideways from reality.

Behind an ancient oak desk sat a man who could only be Merlin. Alex had expected someone imposing, maybe someone who radiated power like Graves or charm like Vespera. Instead, he found himself looking at an elderly man with kind eyes, casually marking a piece of parchment with a quill that gleamed like starlight.

"Please, take a seat." Merlin didn't look up from his work, but his free hand traced a pattern in the air. Three mahogany chairs materialized from nothing, their wooden forms assembling like puzzle pieces clicking into place.

"Hot damn," Max whispered, earning an elbow from Randy.

Alex sank into the nearest chair, unable to take his eyes off Merlin. Grayish-white hair fell past the wizard's shoulders, and his well-groomed beard gave him the look of someone who'd stepped out of a fantasy movie – except there was something in his presence that no special effects could capture. It wasn't just wisdom; it was the weight of centuries.

Merlin set his quill down with deliberate care. When he looked up, a pulse of light whispered through the room, leaving Alex's skin tingling like he'd brushed against an electric fence.

"'Tis true what Graves said." Merlin's eyes held galaxies. "You are indeed Daywalkers." He folded weathered hands on the desk, and Alex noticed thin scars tracing patterns across his knuckles. "I am Merlin, Headmaster of Darkwood Academy and guardian of humanity's United Front against Lord Erebuzal, the Primordial of Darkness." His gaze settled on each of them in turn. "And you are...?"

"Alex Lunaria." "Max Greyson." "Randy Oswald."

Their names came out in unison, like a practiced choir. Alex's mouth snapped shut. "How did you make us do that?"

Merlin smiled. "'Tis but a simple trick. Now then, I suspect you have questions. Ask them—for there's no better teacher than one who has walked your path."

"You see," Merlin's eyes grew distant, "in my youth, I was naught but a simple lad—son of a noble Lord in a modest town. No more than a thousand souls, quite quaint. We did our duty, collected taxes, sent them to the crown. They cared for us, and we in turn—"

Cough. Cough.

In the corner, Vespera cleared her throat pointedly.

"Ah, my apologies." Merlin straightened. "'Tis an old man's weakness to wander through memories. You were asking questions?"

Alex blinked, thrown off by the headmaster's scattered rambling. "Right... well, most pressing things first: What are we? And how do we get home?"

"Ah, the eternal questions—what we are and where our paths may lead." Merlin's voice softened. "You deserve truth, after such a day. Your world turned upside down by demons, your safety shattered—'tis only fair you receive clear answers."

"'Tis thus: we call you Daywalkers for you come from Earth, where the sun rules your sky. Here on Terra, darkness claims most of our cycle. We are Nightwalkers, you are Daywalkers. Simple as that."

"And getting home?" Alex pressed.

"'Tis... rather more complex than that. The heroes who performed the banishment—they scattered their knowledge like seeds in the wind. Each worked from different corners of the world, in castles, manors, and hidden laboratories. What we've gathered here in our kingdom is mayhap twenty parts of a hundred of their complete research."

Standing, Merlin walked to his bookshelf and retrieved a thin volume, no more than three hundred pages. He placed it carefully on the desk. The worn cover read simply: Journal Notes of King Arthur.

'King Arthur? Like... the guy from legends?' Alex's eyes widened as the pieces clicked into place. 'Wait—Merlin... King Arthur...' He stared at the headmaster, really seeing him for the first time. Not just a man named Merlin, but the Merlin.

His jaw dropped.

"Oh wow, that's kind of weird that your name is Merlin and there's a book about King Arthur—" Max suddenly shot up from his chair, pointing at Merlin like he'd spotted a celebrity. "Holy crap, you're *Merlin*! Like, from the books and TV shows?"

Merlin's eyes crinkled with amusement. "So they still remember old Art and me, do they? Hmm." He stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Two thousand years and people still know our names. I suppose we did manage a few... noteworthy deeds."

He chuckled. "Though I must tell you, young Max, 'tis likely I'm not quite the legend those tales paint me to be. Pray, be seated and rest easy."

With a casual flick of his wrist, Max's excitement seemed to evaporate like morning dew. He sank back into his chair, suddenly calm.

Alex, ignoring his friends' presence, fixed his gaze on Merlin. The ancient wizard's aura seemed to pulse with each heartbeat, a subtle reminder of the power contained within his deceptively frail form. The question that had been gnawing at Alex's thoughts finally spilled out, carried on a breath that felt heavy with destiny.

"There's a price for all this knowledge you're giving us, right?" His voice carried a hint of wariness, each word carefully measured. Growing up, he'd learned that nothing truly valuable came without cost—a lesson that seemed especially relevant in this realm of magic and monsters.

Merlin's ancient eyes studied Alex, galaxies of wisdom swirling in their depths. A flicker of approval crossed his weathered features, like sunlight breaking through storm clouds. "'Tis but a modest price I seek," he said, his voice carrying the weight of centuries. "I want you to join my Academy."

The air itself seemed to still as he paused, letting the words settle like dust motes caught in shafts of ethereal light. "Mayhap you think this a simple matter, but I assure you, 'tis everything. For two thousand years, my Academy has stood steadfast against the demon hordes. I've tutored warriors, sorcerers, wizards, witches, and mages in abundance—yet never, in all my years, have I had the privilege of instructing a Daywalker. That alone is payment enough."

Max tilted his head, confusion rippling across his features like waves on a disturbed pond. "That's it?"

The corners of Merlin's eyes crinkled, ancient knowledge dancing behind his gaze. "You see, the very essence of our world flows through the bloodlines that course through our veins. My own power commands the elements themselves, while others may wield the strength of desire or physical might. Your origin from another realm suggests bloodlines yet unknown to us—perhaps magics never before witnessed in all our recorded history."

The excitement in Merlin's voice was palpable, crackling through the air like static before a storm. His eyes gleamed with scholarly enthusiasm, thoughts clearly racing toward the possibilities these boys represented. For all he knew, they could hold the key to finally defeating Erebuzal.

'He won't turn us into lab rats, right?' Alex thought, studying Merlin's expression with careful intensity. "And you only want to study this bloodline, right?" he asked, noting the eager glint in the wizard's eyes.

Merlin's laughter rang out like distant bells, echoing with genuine amusement. "Nay, young one, fear not such crude experimentations. The bloodlines be sacred vessels, their power bound to the very essence of thy being. To forcibly extract such power would render it naught but empty vessel—like a heart torn from its chest, the magic would cease to beat."

Alex felt his shoulders ease slightly, though wariness still lingered at the edges of his mind. While Merlin's words couldn't be entirely trusted, their circumstances left little room for choice. If this ancient wizard truly offered a path home, they would have to place their faith in him, despite the lingering shadows of doubt.

"Now then," Merlin continued, his fingers weaving arcane patterns in the air that left trailing whispers of light, "'tis time to show you to your chambers. The autumn term begins in two weeks." A portal shimmered into existence behind them with a casual twirl of his hand, its edges rippling like heat waves over summer pavement. "Vespera will show you everything you need to know and provide all necessities. Should you have questions, mayhap ask your OSA—though I suppose I should explain what that is." His smile seemed to cast years from his ancient visage. "'Twas a pleasure speaking with you. May fortune guide your path."

Vespera pushed off the wall she'd been leaning against, her movement as fluid as shadow across water. The boys rose from their seats, their movements weighted with the gravity of all they'd learned.

Randy, who had been silent since introducing himself, finally spoke. "Thank you, Mr. Merlin. We'll make sure to make the most of this opportunity." He bowed his head slightly before turning toward the portal, the gesture carrying both respect and uncertainty. Alex and Max followed suit, offering their own respectful bows.

Stepping through the portal brought back that familiar sensation of cosmic pressure, though this time the boys walked through with steadier steps. The weight of Merlin's offer—and the hope it carried—seemed to ground them against the otherworldly forces that had once left them staggering.