by GR Griffin
It only took a few lines before he slipped into the world of dreams, where there were dragons, magic, and for reasons he could not understand- the face of John Smith.
♦☼♦
Whilst boarding the flight in the early morning, it had become apparent that the others had not spent their day in New York as wisely as he had. Rather than catching up on comfortable sleep, most of them had resorted to sightseeing and even the bars (Gwaine somehow managed to get back onto the aircraft despite having been completely intoxicated a few hours prior). Within an hour of the flight, Leon, Morgana, Gwaine and Lancelot had succumb to a deep slumber, allowing Arthur to sit in his own company, dwell on his own thoughts and stew over his father’s intentions. After hours of silence and peculiar solitude, the tannoy broke Arthur’s continuous stream of thought: Albion now approaching.
Unable to control his own curiosity, Arthur released his harness and seatbelt, rushing towards the window avidly. All his life, he’d never really been anywhere other than cities full of buildings and man-made mechanisms. Any concerns over his father’s agenda and the mission faded instantly. Finally, the supressed excitement burst as he gazed down and saw the vast expanse of land. It was still too far away to fully distinguish, about the size of a hand from here. Around the Western side of the island they were approaching, Arthur noticed a much lighter blue circling the pure white sand; a reef. It was a reef far more extensive than the Great Barrier ever was, before coral bleaching and chemical spillages completely destroyed it. The hues of blue blended together in an array of vibrancy, small islands were scattered across the whole of the Western coastline.
The whole landscape was lush in verdant vegetation, an untouched haven of forest – aside from an arid-looking area to the Northeast, almost small enough to overlook from this distance. But Arthur’s eyes were hungrily drinking in every detail he could. There was an astonishing collection of mountains to the South, large enough to be defined from this altitude. The trees, he noted silently to himself, were also huge. Many in the Eastern region of Albion appeared to be challenging the Mountains’ height; Nature’s mega-structures. Then to the Northwest, he was able to pick out an area of grassy, giant hills that most likely unfolded into profound valleys. This whole new landscape was enough to send him into a gaping, fascinated child on a fieldtrip. He was unaware he had pressed his hand to the glass, breath steaming up the glass a little.
There was so much to take in. Yet it wasn’t enough.
If Albion was this brilliant from this distance- then it was going to be a truly magical sight closer up.
“Don’t wake us then…-t-” the voice of Morgana huffed from beside him, quickly fading into a spluttering of awe at the sight.
Eyes wide, she studied the landscape fervently, in a similar manner Arthur had previously done. She gasped in appreciation, turning to him with a smile.
“It’s beautiful.”
Humming in agreement, the blonde male felt a genuine smile paint his lips. It was a sight worth marvelling over. Leon was the next to wake up from his slumber. The moment his hazy vision detected two people by the window, he didn’t hesitate. Practically throwing himself at the window, he laughed in mirth. Arthur glanced over fondly at his enthusiastic friend.
“Oh my god!” Leon breathed; another hysterical laugh escaped his lips as his hands met the glass. Morgana exchanged an amused glance with Arthur at the man’s giddy expression.
“Albion!” his voice grew abruptly louder, delight bubbling through every syllable. “I can’t believe it. It’s even better than how the Emrys describes it!” Pulling out his glasses, Leon grinned instinctively as his eyes met the Western side.
“Oh! Look, Morgana,” he instinctively grabbed her hand, resulting in surprising acceptance. “That’s the Saerion reef, can you see it?”
“Yes. It’s wonderful.” She replied, quickly sparing a broad smile for the man before studying the world once more.
Arthur cast his eyes back to the enormous aqua strip of sea surrounding the Western side, ignoring the pair beside him. He failed to understand their complex relationship. It was one of those subjects he was forbidden to mention to Leon, and especially to Morgana. Turning his full attention to the reef, he smiled. Saerion….even the name sounded magical. He wondered what kind of creatures lived there? Were they magical too? Suddenly Leon’s head turned elsewhere and he pointed once more.
“The Mountains of Ghedent- twice as big as the Himalayas! The Perilous Lands. It’s all here.”
And then the initial excitement morphed into indulgence bliss. The three of them stood silently, captivated by the sight of Albion. The satellite images really had not done it any justice at all. This sight was something you had to witness with your own eyes to truly appreciate. Arthur was unsure how he could even put any of this into words. It was inspirational; mesmerizing. Nothing in their world could compete with this, possibly once in the glorious past, but not now.
Twenty minutes sped past in what felt like no time; the aircraft had grown significantly closer to Albion, almost at the edge of the Western side. Features previously concealed due to distance now became more visible. The reef, now in focus, appeared to actually be two reefs. Leon was more overwhelmed and startled by this than both Arthur and Morgana. He explained with his specialist knowledge that there wasa Fringing Reef that spread across the whole of the Western Coastline, and a little further out – divided by a navy streak of deep sea – was a colossal Barrier Reef.
The Western coastline became observable, revealing that the sand was all white against a crystal clear lagoon formation around the reef. That was aside from an interesting splodge of crimson sand to the North against a mass of Aztec Sandstone (according to the great master of anything natural: Leon) where the reef ended and was replaced with a turquoise waters. Beside this crimson beach, Arthur noticed a remarkable transition in sea colour from the turquoise to a brown colour above the red sand.
“You could have woken us too!” Lancelot exclaimed from behind them, finally having woken up.
He quickly shook Gwaine’s arm to wake up before securing a spot at the window. Opening his eyes slowly, Gwaine stood up before regaining full composure, resulting in a clumsy collision with the floor. Luckily, his companions seemed too entranced with the view outside to notice. Standing, the rugged brunette pushed his way towards the window, resulting in the five of them having to huddle a little closer together.
“Well, isn’t this all swell.” Gwaine admitted, trying to act nonchalant but unable to resist the lure of the brilliant new world.
“Leon,” Lancelot breathed, eyes locked on Albion. “Just look at that mountain range to the South.”
Peeling his eyes slowly away from the Saerion Reef, Arthur studied the Mountains of Ghedent. It covered almost half of the Southern Region, some of the peaks alarmingly high- higher than he thought was possible for mountains to be. A vast majority of the mountains were dusted white, elaborate patterns created by the folds. Part of him yearned for the aircraft to pick up more speed, and get to their destination; South of Dresdentian, West of Ealdor, and North-West of Serepolis. Yet another part of him wanted the aircraft to stop and allow him to bask in the Western Coastline before flying over the rest of the land. Ironic how when his father had told him the journey over Albion itself would be short of six hours he had been unimpressed. Now he was here, he wished it were a longer journey- because how could you possibly begin to understand this new world and see all of its miraculous landscapes in five and a bit hours?
“This is a whole new world.” The tanned man beside Gwaine muttered, and really he should have chosen his words a little more carefully because the mischievous man was already smirking.
“Quoting Disney now, are we princess?” he responded, resulting in a scattering of light-hearted chuckles, Arthur included.
Immediately, he refrained from expressing his amusement. He feared the moment they landed that all of this happiness would dissolve into urgency, his mission would beg
in- and the anxiety caged inside would no doubt take over him. Uther Pendragon would not be enthralled to say the least to hear Arthur had spent the entire journey over Albion gaping and letting his imagination of all things run course. This was an important business trip, not a holiday. Reluctantly, Arthur tore his eyes from the sight, and sat back in his seat, in a similar fashion to Cedric, Valiant and their team of employees. If he was to be taken seriously in all of this, he needed to act less like a ‘princess’ and resolve to passing time a different way.
Noticing his abrupt retreat, Morgana released Leon’s hand, walking back to Arthur. Folding her arms over her chest, she waited expectantly for his explanation; none came.
“This better not be about Uther.” She said gesturing towards him, a scowl threatening to overcome her glowing features.
Sighing, Arthur averted his eyes, pulling out a dreary but necessary book (the handbook for the Albion Project) from one of his bags.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He stated bluntly, reaching for his reading glasses.
“Arthur-” she began sternly.
“-I’m fine.” he protested, opening the handbook to the folded back page whilst hoisting his glasses onto his head. She continued stubbornly, sitting beside him.
“Just because you’re his son, it doesn’t mean you have to stop enjoying yourself and think about work every second of the day.”
Feigning ignorance, Arthur skimmed over the last paragraph of the page and turned it over intently, reaching the next chapter. He could practically feel the venomous glare thrown his way from the right.
“Let me know when you can see Ealdor.” He concluded dismissively, not lifting his eyes from the page.
♦☼♦
“Arthur,”a voice hissed, seemingly from within the burning forests. It didn’t sound like they were in pain, just…urgent.
All his fault. He led them here.
“Arthur.” The ground began to shake violently, throwing the remaining druids to their knees. He toppled down with them, unable to stand. But no bones were broken, he was broken. The ground shook more intensely, trees collapsing across the charred landscape.
It’s all gone. All gone.
I’m so sorry; I never meant to bring this upon you.
I’m sorry.
I’m so, so sorry-
“-Arthur!” The voice echoed over the landscape, dragging him upwards into the skies and then - abruptly, Arthur opened his eyes, breathing rapid. Glancing down, he released the handbook clenched in his hands. The raven-haired beauty in front of him maintained a look of concern for a split second, then her lips tugged into a small smile.
“Come on, you can see Ealdor from here.”
Getting up, Arthur removed his glasses slowly. Lance was right; those chairs (or seats) were not comfortable at all, particularly for a long duration of time. He held a hand to his lower back, stretching out his muscles gently.
“Arthur,” Leon said in exasperation, not tearing his eyes from the window. “I can’t believe you missed the great waterfall of Retriax!”
Morgana allowed her façade to slip, a fond smile framing her lips at the memory, and possibly something else too that Arthur couldn’t put his finger on.
“It was more than great.” Gwaine contributed with humour, pleased when he received an amused glance from Lancelot.
Trudging towards the window with a yawn, rather stunned to find that nobody seemed to have moved a muscle for the past however-many hours, Arthur gazed out into the horizon of forests, and forests…and more forests. The land was vibrant and green, full of vegetation for as far as the eye could see. Well almost everything was vibrant and green. Not too far ahead was a large concrete building with a tarmacked surrounding area, centred in a clearing in the midst of the forest; the Camelot base.
It looked seemingly out of place in this beautiful world. Arthur felt slightly saddened by the fact that this building, its perimeter enclosed by thick black gates, was to be his temporary home for the next few months as opposed to the wondrous landscape around. Narrowing his eyes, Arthur frowned. The base was now the focal point of the large windows, but he wasn’t looking for that. The aircraft was too low, descending down to meet the grass; the trees nearby were tall enough to obscure the horizons.
“Looks like I woke up a minute too late.” Arthur sighed, attempting to mask his disappointment at missing the view of the three settlements and the Crystal Cave.
“Don’t worry Arthur,” Leon chimed brightly. “On our first fieldtrip we’ll be heading towards Ealdor. The tree structures and ecology seem absolutely fascinating in this region.”
He heard Cedric and Valiant snickering from behind the group. Pressing his fists to his side, Arthur nodded. He made no attempt to reply. Despite his awareness of their reaction, it didn’t actually matter what they thought. Yes- he was working under Leon’s department, collecting data and samples of the world, going on fieldtrips.He wasn’t working on the figures, or business strategies. However, his father had given him the most important role out of anybody here. It was this thought that soothed his fists into flattened palms, eyes burnishing with pride. Nobody else had been entrusted with this, only he.
As the aircraft began to descend and they were all told to buckle up into their seats once more, Arthur was certain of one thing.
There was no room for failure. He was not going to let his father down.
♦☼♦
Since landing on the new terrain there had been no time to indulge in the landscape or admire Albion. In fact the early evening had been showered with droning tasks such as unpacking clothes, taking a pointless tour of the endless building, and meeting with Uther in the hall –he didn’t have much to say other than a dry and rather unwelcoming “welcome”. Next came the laborious task of allocating rooms. Arthur momentarily felt like he was a kid on holiday with siblings as his companions raced gracelessly to call dibs on the biggest room first. Gwaine had reached their sleeping halls first with a smug smirk. Leon was next. Arthur refused to participate in such childish games. Thus, naturally, as he was the last to arrive at the rather bland corridor housing seven or eight rooms, Arthur had no choice in the matter. The one advantage his room did have in comparison to the others was it was the closest to the laundry room.
Having spent only a few dull hours here, Arthur had already established that the dull building was silent and dull and large and dull…and had he mentioned dull? It remained remarkably empty- which had been no surprise as only Arthur and a hand full of others were here. Many more were yet to arrive in the next few weeks. The walls lacked a splash of vibrant colour. Instead they remained a pallid complexion that feasted on the shadows of passers-by. The tasteless rooms had no element of warmth or personality and seemed only willing to serve a basic purpose to a mediocre ability- sitting down on his bed for the first time had confirmed his suspicions of this. Some finishing touches had yet to be completed around some areas of base. But it really was a wonder Morgause and her team had managed to do build something of this scale in less than three weeks. Arthur assumed magic had something to do with it, as he meticulously studied the internal framework in awe.
The night had crept over the Camelot Base like an assassin; hauling a dark veil over the sky with such precision the shift was almost inconspicuous to the occupied newcomers below. Distant twinkling stars poked their heads through the veil, littering the black expanse with diamond studs. The moon followed in pursuit, its face painted gold and enrapturing all who were still awake to bask in its radiance. Arthur had been one of those few, not quite reaching the level of exhaustion needed to plunge into the average bed. Whilst gazing at the moon from his window, his Merlin necklace was clasped in his hands tightly. It was as if he feared it would flutter away into the night upon release. Kissing the silver bird hanging from a delicate chain, Arthur shut his eyes for a moment and dwelled in the rare tranquility. It had been a long time since he had done this: sit by the window at night and hold his mother�
�s necklace close.
Part of him wondered why it was the land of Albion that had resurfaced this childhood habit. Another part of him felt guilty at the notion he had dismissed this routine from his life, pencilled out time to ponder on his mother and replace it with business plans or something alike. Eventually, he settled into an insipid dream, breathing slow and steady against his pillow. His Merlin necklace was clutched tightly in one hand pressed close to his chest. He had fallen deep enough into his sleep to disregard the sound of his name resonating through the room.
Arthur. Arthur.
And if he had heard it, it simply became a fragment added to the events occurring within the land of dreams.
Arthur…
Chapter 8
Seven days had passed since the arrival of Arthur Pendragon and the recruited soldiers in his father’s mad war against magic. By now, the people flocking the enormous base were in the hundreds, maybe even drawing close to a thousand. The days were full of hard work, preparations for hidden agendas, preparations for exposed agendas. The man failed to understand what exactly they wanted to achieve here, and knew that they had not set foot outside the tall black gates once for a reason. His experience had shown him that these people were far more meticulous and calculated in their actions than any of the other druids have given credit. He crept towards the usual place. It was sheltered well by the Albion forests and the lush plants sprouting in the undergrowth. But it was close enough to hear the voices of those in the base, to see them walking in the small grounds provided. Merlin had warned him that his little spy spot was too close to the Base. Of course, he did have a point. The clearing for the base was less than twenty metres away, close enough to be caught for sure.
Despite the warnings from his friend, he continued to use the spot. And right now, it appeared somebody else had also favoured the spot- his spot. A smirk spread over his lips as his eyes roamed over the figure ahead. Her familiar black hair draped down her back. She wore a tasselled dress enriched with the crisp colours of autumn leaves: russet, scarlet and amber. Her body was perched towards the base, fingers precariously peeking through the leaves to grant full visual access. He managed to get a few feet behind her before her body became tense and frozen.
