by Tom Larcombe
Darkness greeted his eyes. The room was large and the ward precluded the use of electric lights within it. He drew the sun crystal out of his pocket and entered the room. The light of the sun stored in the crystal drove the darkness back but not as far as he expected. What he could see at the moment was simply a bare stone floor. The ceiling loomed far overhead, nearly invisible in the gloom.
He heard the sound of steps in the hallway. The door closed behind him with a click that sounded as loud as thunder in the darkened room. His mind continued to analyze things despite a momentary surge of panic.
No echo. If the room is all stone then there should have been an echo from the sound of the door latching. Something must have muted it.
He moved farther into the room, trying to make out anything past the light of his crystal. His piercing gaze traveled to what he thought were the corners of the room. In the last one he checked there was a hint of sullen purple light.
Merlin headed for the purple light. The first thing he noticed was that the closer he got, the more his sun crystal dimmed. Before he was halfway there his crystal was only illuminating out to the distance a long step would take him. As he continued moving his light was pressed further back, finally stopping at the distance his arm would reach stretched out in front of him.
The purple glow grew brighter as he approached. When he finally saw what contained it, his breath caught in his throat.
That's the largest crystal I've ever seen. Taller than a tall man and so large around that if I dared wrap my arms around it, my hands wouldn't touch one another, he thought.
Merlin wouldn't dare try to touch the thing though. It's sullen purple glow hinted of anger, fury, and despair. The glow was obscured on a frequent basis by shapes writhing around within the crystal itself.
His mind noted things that his consciousness was distracted from. In front of the crystal were four square sections that differed from the rest of the floor. A small mechanism in front of each looked as though it would raise those patches. Above the different patches were sections of crystal protruding from the whole. They looked as though someone had reached into the crystal and drawn out a filament of it, twisting as they pulled.
Merlin also noted that the shapes swirling about within the crystal moved to the other side of it when the light from his smaller crystal touched them.
I need to know what they are. I need to know what this thing is and does, he thought.
He slid the crystal, glowing with accumulated sunlight, into his pocket. The darkness closed in.
The purple glow intensified in response to the removal of the sunlight. In the area around the crystal there was as much light as you might find on a starry night with no moon. It was sufficient to see, but barely. Whatever was moving within the crystal picked up its pace, its movements creating a slight strobing of the purple light.
Merlin noted all this in the moment after the sunlight disappeared, just before his mental shields were hammered by a surge of emotions beyond his comprehension. Fear, agony, despair, hatred, and more slammed against his shield like the waves of an angry ocean trying to devour the footings of a sea-side cliff.
Merlin staggered, his shields insufficient to protect him from the onslaught. His mind was taken by memories not his own.
* * *
He was a Gypsy in his campsite near an open field. The pickings were grand this past month since the warning that the Rom should leave Germany. This last town was different though. They weren't happy to see the caravan like the others were and there was an undercurrent of fear and anger running through the town.
Tomorrow we leave this Gods forsaken country. Perhaps the elders knew what they were doing when they told us all to leave, he thought.
Gunfire shattered the still peace of the night and answering cries of pain assaulted the silence when it tried to resume. His people were herded, or in some cases dragged, into the light of the fire.
The SS soldiers walked amidst his people, looking at them as though they were less than human, as though they were goods on display in the market. Then they grabbed several of the young women and began to drag them out into the darkness. Three of his young men responded by trying to rescue the women. More gunshots drowned out the quiet weeping of his people.
“Look, more prisoners shot while trying to escape,” a soldier commented.
* * *
He was a tailor in his shop. When the SS soldiers came in he tried to be cooperative.
“Here are my papers, sirs. I'm also wearing my star as I'm supposed to.”
Not that you care, you beasts. But I'll follow your rules for now, he thought.
“Filthy Jew, we've got somewhere else for you to live, away from respectable folk. We've already got your wife and children. You'll find them there, if you're lucky.”
They beat him and dragged him from his shop. He was tossed into a truck and carted to the ghetto. The buildings were full to bursting already but they still tossed him into the street with a warning.
“You try to come out of the ghetto you'll be shot. Your family might be here someplace, go look for them.”
* * *
He was a gay man...
She was another Gypsy...
He was a political dissident...
She was another Jew...
He was a cripple...
It went on and on, until Merlin began to crack under the strain. Then, finally...
He was an older man, a wizard in fact. Merlin could feel a sense of his own self bleeding through this memory. His own identity was reacting instinctively, trying to assert itself. He'd swear the wizard was fighting to aid him and succeeding.
Merlin was himself, no longer the older wizard. But he was trapped watching what occurred as opposed to experiencing it now.
The wizard was shepherded along as part of a group of fifty individuals.
“We'll have you clean in a bit, then you can get to work,” a voice called out.
They were all led into a room. Pipes ran the length of the walls with spigots at regular intervals. As the door closed, the wizard heard someone say.
“This is only a smaller prototype facility. The final version will be many times larger.”
The door closed with a thump and a hiss. After a moment he heard something running in the pipes on the walls. Instead of water, a vapor misted out of the pipes. The older man choked and gagged, his throat burning. Then everything went black.
Merlin was still watching as the older man woke again, this time in a tiny box, with many other people. There was no room for them all but at the same time it was apparent that there was. When the older wizard tried to move, he discovered that he might be in this box, but his body wasn't.
An indeterminable amount of time passed and the man felt himself drawn out of the box. A purple glow beckoned and he went to investigate. The older wizard knew he was dead now and that he was only a spirit, yet the purple glow offered a semblance of life. Emotions emanated from it but not those he would choose to feel. Hatred, envy, greed... all of the negative emotions of life could be experienced by bathing in the purple light. But none of the positive ones were there.
Merlin could feel that the man's memories of love, life, and happiness were fading. The purple glow was slowly eroding them away, replacing them with their negative counterparts.
* * *
With the detachment offered by the older wizard, Merlin split his awareness. The memories were allowed their freedom within one portion while the other worked.
There was no need for a physical shield here, so Merlin dropped it. He took that energy and fed it to his mental shields. The intensity of the memories lessened and he regained a portion of control over his body. His hand slid into his pocket and grasped the sun crystal. The intensity lessened more. When he withdrew the small crystal and sunlight struck the larger one again, the onslaught ceased. He could feel that there was someone or something patiently waiting outside his mental shield. He was certain that it wanted to communic
ate but he was wary of lowering his shield so that it could.
He came back to full control of himself to find that he was on his knees, one hand clasping his forehead. He rose to his feet unsteadily and concentrated on the presence outside of his shield. He swore that it was basking in the sunlight from his crystal. With that being the case he felt safer initiating contact.
He lowered a portion of his shield and sent a tendril of thought out. It was contacted immediately.
{Another wizard, just what I needed.}
{Who are you?} Merlin sent.
{No-one now. Once, an eternity ago, I was known as Plamen and respected by the Rom for my powers.}
{Are you the one that helped me break free of the memories?}
{I could feel you weakening and thought to aid you, yes.}
{Why?}
{I am Plamen. I have not forgotten life yet as many of these others have. I can still withstand your sunlight. I stand and bask in it, feeling it warm me and strengthen my memories of love and life. I could not do otherwise.}
{Well Plamen, what are we to do? This thing is an abomination and needs to be destroyed. The spirits of those within need to be released to their fates.}
{Were I still living I would aid you in the endeavor.}
Merlin considered for a moment.
{Would you aid me if we found a way?}
{I would. But, strange as this may seem, simply destroying the crystal will not achieve your objective. The energy must be used from it first.}
{I know that. I've long held a theory that death magic retains a portion of the individual within it.}
{Your theory is now proven. I can verify it. Who are you, that I might know who I work with?}
{My name is Merlin.}
{Named after a great wizard of old. It is a powerful name.}
{No, actually I am a wizard of old.}
{You claim to be The Merlin?}
{I claim that I am Merlin, it is not a title, simply my name.}
{Let me verify this.}
Merlin considered carefully, he felt no ill-will from the shade, only a desire to cooperate. He lowered his mental shield all the way.
In his mind, he now held the image of a man. A swarthy skinned, black haired rogue wearing flamboyant silks in orange, red, and bronze. Plamen spoke to him.
{I see, an unfortunate mishap cost you centuries. Yet you still live and are youthful.}
{Another unfortunate mishap in my youth has extended my life beyond that of most wizards.}
{I can see the memory you speak of. That may also explain your Nimue's obsession with dragons.}
{My Nimue? You know of her?}
{I met her once, a long time ago. Perhaps two hundred years. My sense of time is now skewed by death. Everything is now for me, there is no past and no present. Simply now.}
{Then you know what we shall plan?}
{Not until we have planned it.} Plamen sent.
I'm confused, if all times are now to Plamen, shouldn't he know what we're going to do?
{I do not understand, Plamen.} Merlin sent.
{There are many futures and all are one and none the same. Which plan would you like to know of, there are millions that we have made and shall make. Some successful, some not. It is enough to drive even a wizard insane if you try to think of it too much.}
{Divergent futures, divergent time streams.} Merlin sent.
{So, even in your day you had such theories?}
{Yes, we won't go into it though. We've no time.}
{Better to say that you have no time, I have an eternity.}
Merlin shook his head.
{If we are to release the shades in this crystal, yourself included, and destroy it, there is little time for all of us.}
{As may be. What do you wish of me?} Plamen sent.
{Your name, it means flame or fire. Do your skills have any reflection upon that?}
{They did.}
{Are you familiar with what happens when a fire burns in an enclosed area?}
{It either dies or the enclosed area is enclosed no more since it will rupture.}
{Would it be possible to use the energy in the crystal to cause such a thing to occur to the crystal?} Merlin asked.
{Possibly, but there is far more energy contained than needed for that. Should the crystal be shattered before all the energy is used, those shades will become free. They will have access to the power that they are and would wreak havoc on the living before fading away.}
{Is that their plan for the crystal? To move it somewhere and loose the shades?}
{Eventually, but first they'll use the power it contains for themselves.} Plamen replied.
{So, we need a purpose for far more energy than it would take to shatter the crystal. How much more?}
{Thousands of times over. There are many a shade here. We number in the tens of thousands.}
Merlin blanched. The amount of death magic generated by even a hundred deaths dwarfed what he currently had within him. The bone had contained the energy of perhaps fifty deaths only. He'd need to use that energy up as soon as he could in order to release the fragments of people trapped within it. Perhaps, two birds with one stone.
{Do you know the crystal well?} Merlin asked.
{Yes.}
{There must be a way to funnel the energy out of it.}
{They tap it like a normal crystal.}
Merlin shuddered at the thought of his mind in contact with that mass of death magic.
{Can you do so?}
{Alas, there is no life to me. I cannot work magic without it.}
{Would you be willing to take on a brief semblance of life in order to do so? In order to destroy both the crystal and the occult research facility it is housed in? I think there should be enough energy to achieve both. It will mean your final death though, no more of this half life.}
{I would. It would be one last pleasure for me.} Plamen sent.
{I must go now. My time is limited even if yours is not. I'll return with the means for our plan as quickly as I may.}
Merlin broke contact with Plamen. He left the chamber, keeping his sun crystal out as he did so. When he passed the guards in the hallway, he heard them muttering behind him.
“The cocky one seems to still be sane. Maybe he really is a wizard.”
Without turning he spoke.
“Wizards, at least some of us, have exceptional hearing. You might be more cautious about what you say in our presence.”
He turned to find one of the guards staring at him in shock.
“Why do they insist on recruiting morons to your allegedly elite SS? You'd think they'd do better to recruit based on intelligence. Especially for those with a sensitive position such as this. What is your name guard? You'll be reported for this.”
Merlin had no real intention of reporting the man but he did want to establish his authority over the guards in case he was unable to complete his plans before Herr Schreiber's replacement arrived.
“Voigt, sir,” the guard answered.
“Voigt, I'll remember that. Keep your comments to yourself in the future.”
“Yes, sir.”
Merlin turned to the stairs, his guard falling in behind him.
“Why exactly do they recruit people who know nothing of magic, and some who don't even believe that it exists, to work at a research facility for it? They would be helpless against someone who knows magic, with no way to defend themselves against it,” Merlin said.
“I don't know sir,” his guard answered.
“Sorry, that was a rhetorical question. I seem to be acquiring the habit of talking to myself.”
“Yes sir.”
Merlin noted that the guard was showing him a good deal more respect than in the past. Whether it was the attitude Merlin was culturing to deal with the SS, who only seemed to respect those that appeared authoritative, or his eyewitness evidence of Merlin performing magic earlier in the day that caused it Merlin didn't know. He did know that he'd use it to his best advan
tage.
The two men returned to Merlin's cottage. Despite feeling that he spent days in the crystal room, it was still before lunch time. Merlin began to gather the items that he needed for his plan.
As he gathered them his mind wandered.
So, Plamen knew Nimue a few centuries ago. She must've been long-lived even for a wizard. If only I had lived it with her, he thought.
I'll go back to her journals tonight and see what else I need. It isn't necessary to make as durable a construct as Anguis, so it should be quicker and easier. A day, two at most. Then, if Plamen can handle magic in it, we can remove that canker shortly after and take this facility with it to ensure that any attempts at duplicating the crystal are set back.
I'll need to find a way to warn off the innocents though, and I have just the idea. My memories of that crystal can be fed to their dreams. I'll tie the memories to the research facility. If I can make them intense enough then anyone who doesn't know what's really going on here, and anyone that disapproves of what is going on, will find a reason to be elsewhere.
As Merlin waited for lunch he went over his plans.
I need to project my memories complete with emotions. I'm going to need a lot of power to cover the entire area though. Probably I'll end up draining my crystals again but that's acceptable, that will release all the death magic I have and let the fragments of people remaining go free.
Anguis pulsed around his neck and then a picture formed in Merlin's mind.
Nimue sat in his cottage, weeping. He couldn't hear her but he saw her lips form his name several times. He was struck by an overwhelming sense of sadness as he watched. His physical sight began to shimmer with unformed tears. The picture disappeared from Merlin's mind and the sorrow abruptly ceased.
{Anguis, you can project emotions as well?}
The little dragon uncoiled from Merlin's neck and shifted to his normal form. He looked Merlin in the face, stretched his neck straight up, and nodded.
Another picture formed in Merlin's mind. One of his crystals, full of power, sitting next to Anguis.
{You can do all three nights on the power stored in a single crystal?}
Anguis nodded again.
