Chapter 36.
A few moments later, I peeled myself away from his arms. He looked into my eyes and that gave me the courage to tell him what was in my heart.
“Arthur, I…”
“I wanted to tell you about…”
We spoke at the same time. We laughed, a mix of embarrassment and joy.
“Ladies first,” Arthur said.
“I am sorry that my lies aggravated our relationship. I never wanted that. I want what we have right now, I want to talk and laugh with you, I just want to be around you because you make me happy,” I confessed.
“Avalon, I do not care that you lied. I know I was upset but…”
“You had every right to be,” I cut him.
“Yes, but I do not care anymore. Because I understood that you did it to save the people that you love. And I could never be upset for that. I should never be upset for that.”
I could feel the emotions in Arthur’s voice, and it shook something in me. It made me speechless. I couldn't look away. I was overwhelmed by what he had said. And captivated by him. I could only see him as if we were in a bubble. Our own little bubble.
"You know, when you arrived in Camelot, I was swept away by you and your beauty. It was as if I had known you all my life, even though we had just met. That is why I believed you when you said you knew Merlin. Because that might explain why I felt that way," he admitted. "You never asked me why I never questioned your arrival, and it is because I have always felt a connection between you and me, and it's only increased the longer I have been with you.”
“You felt it too?” I asked, bewildered.
"Yes, I have always felt it. And it kept growing when I first heard you laugh, when I saw you smile at me. That smile, it got me every time. You should always smile."
My heart began to pound in my chest at his words. I couldn't process everything he was telling me. It was like a dream. I felt numb and couldn't think straight. All I could do was let my emotions run wild. All I could do was let myself fell what I felt for this wonderful man who was standing in front of me. I was overwhelmed by them.
“Arthur, you need to know that the first time we kissed, it was the most wonderful thing I have ever do.”
“But why did you run away?” he asked looking deeply at me.
“Because I knew I was lying to you, and I couldn’t stand it. It hurt me so much to know that what we had couldn’t happen because I was from another area, that I would return home one day. That is why I broke up the kiss, but I didn’t want to.”
I whispered the last word. It was more a confession for me than for him. But I was glad to have made that realization. Arthur came closer, filling the gap between us. He lifted my chin in a gentle gesture. I could see everything he wanted to tell me in his eyes.
"Avalon, since the first day, I have been drawn to you. Every time you were near me, I could not help but look at you. And if you have not guessed it by now, know that I love you,” Arthur whispered, his mouth to my ear, giving my shivers.
“Arthur,” I said in a low voice. “I love you too.”
Then he kissed me. It was intense. Everything I expected. It was different from the last time. I could feel the young man's love on his lips. I could feel how much Arthur wanted it, at least as much as I did.
He intensified the kiss, kissing me with such ardor that I let out a moan. I wanted to be closer to him, to feel his skin on mine. I wanted more, more of him, more of us. I had never felt this way before. It had never been this strong.
We were still kissing when it happened. When a huge explosion came out of nowhere and hurled us to the ground. It knocked me backwards, pulling me out of Arthur's embrace. I could feel the heat on my face as I was thrown across the room.
In the year 1800.
Each year, our two beings regenerated a little more. Only a few more years to go before they are fully recovered. They waited patiently for this to happen, planning a thousand and one revenges for their return, which would not be long.
They saw time slipping away, giving them a chance to regain their former strength. Soon, they said to themselves. Soon they would be back on dry land, stronger than ever, to give free rein to their inner purpose.
But only time and fate could really decide when that would happen.
Chapter 37.
My ears were ringing. My back hurt. The explosion burned my skin, deafened and numbed me at the same time. I wanted to get up, but I couldn't, as if I had no energy left.
I was in pain everywhere. Then I started coughing, the dust and smoke clogging my throat. I sat up as best I could and tried to see where Arthur had gone. But I couldn't see anything but smoke. It was everywhere, encircling me as if it wanted to imprison me.
I could feel the magic in it. And it was powerful. Much more powerful than I had ever experienced. Something must had happened to unleash such power.
But first, I had to find Arthur, see if he was okay. That's when I saw blood. A lot of blood. I started to panic until I found out it was mine. It was coming from my nose, my head and my knees. Okay, that could explain why I was covered in blood. I must have looked terrible.
After some effort, I got back on my feet. I could hardly walk but I kept going, searching for Arthur with the little energy I had left. I called out his name, but no answer came back. I began to feel anxious, fearing that something had happened to him.
Then, I heard a groan. I rushed toward that noise and finally saw Arthur covered in blood and dust. I released a sigh of relief. I was so glad he was alive.
The young man was still on the ground but moving. I helped him get on his feet. He had little injuries like mine, however nothing serious.
“Avalon, did you get hurt?” he said after standing up.
He was eager to know if I was injured or not. He kept checking me, looking intently at the blood-reddened areas. Then he put his hands on my cheeks and gave me a quick kiss.
“My back hurts a little but I’m fine, and you?”
“I am good. What happened?”
“I don’t know,” I replied, wanting to know as well.
“Why every time we want to kiss, something like this happens?” he asked. “We must be cursed.”
“Maybe, but right now, I really want to know what blasted us. It was magical, I can feel it,” I said.
“You are the expert. I will follow you.”
So, we inspected the room, or what was left of it. Now, there was just a big hole in my living room. Oh my god, my parents were going to kill me! And how will I explain this to them? I had no ideas, starting with the fact that I had zero idea of what occurred here.
There was nothing but dust and smoke in the room. The walls had totally exploded. We were lucky to be alive. The blast was powerful and destroyed everything around us. We searched more deeply to find the center of the explosion. As it turned out, it was located not inside the house but outside in the garden. It only hit us because the living room was the closest to the exterior.
So, we went outdoors, only to find out that instead of a garden, I now had a large, endless crack. What in the holly hell was that? Who had done this to my garden?
“I told you to be careful,” said a voice in my mind.
Merlin! Was he kidding?
“No, stay alert, anything can happen now!”
“That could mean anything and everything, Merlin!” I yelled back at him, not knowing if he was listening or would be able to respond.
“Is Merlin telling you something?” asked Arthur, turning to me.
“Yes. I guess he knew what was going to happened here. He was pretty upset when he spoke. He insisted that we had to pay attention to everything, and he didn't add any details of course. No, it is up to us to figure out what he meant, just like his damn prophecy," I said, anger coming out with every word.
“And we will, it will just take some time, but we will succeed, Avalon. Take a deep breath and let it out,” replied Arthur, placing his hand on my arms to help me focus.
“Yes, you’re right. I needed that, thank you.”
“Let’s go to your grandparents to get clean and avoid any questions. And we could start the research there,” proposed the young man.
I nodded in agreement, and we left. We left everything behind and moved forward, like it was expected of us.
Chapter 38.
So, we arrived at my grandparents’ place. My grandmother welcomed us and was shocked to see how badly we were hurt. She then decided to took care of us, meaning letting us clean in her bathroom and leading us some bandages and sanitizer for our injuries. She only calmed on once we were as new as before. The only weird thing is that she didn’t even ask us any question.
Then, we tried to contact my grandfather, but he did not respond. He was still in Paris with his friend, searching in records to help us find out who were the enemies. So far, we still didn’t know. To be honest, I was getting worried. My grandfather had been gone for days now and I was afraid we might run out of time.
“Eat children!” my grandmother said, bringing a huge plat of vegetable quiche before us.
“Thank you, milady,” responded Arthur.
“I already told you to drop the milady, young man,” she replied with a smile.
“Sorry.”
I took Arthur's hand in mine, just because I wanted to. I could feel that he was a little shaken up by what my grandmother had told him. He had so much to learn about this life. But I was sure that one day he would get there. Because, even if we wanted to, we couldn't go back to the past, to Camelot. It would raise too many questions to go back there after what happened on the battlefield of Camlann. And anyway, it would have happened already if we had gone back in time, which means that somebody would have told us, kept track of it.
Then, the phone rang. It was my grandfather calling us back. I took the phone and answered, putting him on speaker.
“Grandpa,” I said, happy.
“Avalon, how are you?”
“I’m alright.”
I didn’t want to worry him over the phone.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, sensing something was off. “Why did you call me fourth times?”
Ok, I had to admit that I really wanted him to answer. Because I really wanted to know what was going on. That was why I called him fourth times. It was a little excessive, I admit.
“There was an explosion at the house,” I explained. “An explosion full of magic, I felt it.”
“Ok, can you give more details?”
Yes, I wasn’t good at it. My explanation sucked.
“Uh… well, it happened so suddenly.”
“We were in the living room when suddenly, we heard a big boom, and we were thrown over by a big blast. It was like fire brushing against my skin. And it was magical. It came from the garden and destroyed the part of the house next to us, sir,” took over Arthur.
“Oh my,” responded my grandfather. “You said it came from the garden? Did you take a look?”
“Yes, but it was only a big hole. It was dark and bottomless. Do you know what that mean?”
“Unfortunately no, I’m afraid. But if it was magical and that powerful, then maybe something big is happening, like an awakening or a summoning the dead.”
“What?” I let out.
“An awakening? What does that mean?” questioned Arthur, next to me.
“I can mean that someone has finally awakened, or that someone powerful has been born.”
“Okay, that’s strange,” I commented.
“I will look more deeply into the record that my friend found about Arthur. Hopefully, we will find something helpful soon. I will keep in touch. Say hi to your grandmother for me,” said my grandpa.
“I will,” I responded. “Bye.”
And he hung up. I felt weird afterwards, scared by what my grandfather had revealed. It was like I knew something about it, but when I searched in my mind, the thought just slipped out and I could not grasp it. It was strange, indeed.
In the year 1900.
They felt that it was soon the end. That they would finally be able to act and satisfy this impregnable desire for revenge. That soon, everything would be back to the way it was, and that they would win this war. Because they had to. They had not waited so long to lose it.
On the contrary, they were waiting for the right moment to strike. They had waited until they had the strength, the energy and the vitality to do it, to get out of this black hole they had been in for centuries.
But they forgot one thing, only fate will decide the outcome of their fight. Only fate would decide who would emerge victorious.
Chapter 39.
For the next few days, I felt weird. I had a strange feeling surrounding me that I couldn't explain. My parents had called the insurance company to cover the hole and the damage from the explosion. They came the next day to start the repair work. And they have worked every day since.
I remember my parents being relieved that we weren't in the house at that time. If only they had known. People told them it was an accident, probably a kid having a bad experience, or making a joke. I just thought they were giving that explanation because they didn't know what happened. And so did we. We were still in the dark, even after those few days.
It's not like we didn't look for it. No, on the contrary, from that day on, Arthur and I spent every spare minute of our time, that is when we weren't training, reading book after book to find something, anything, that could help us. And we found nothing. Moreover, we had no news from my grandfather either. It was frustrating and exhausting. And I hated doing nothing, like I was stuck.
So, I did the only thing that didn’t make me feel like this: training. I did it over and over again, to change my mind, to forget and not think. So, I dragged Arthur in a huge parc, so we could train without anyone to disrupt us.
I was getting better at fighting with a real sword. I found one at my grandparents, hidden deep down in their attic. I didn’t know if it would be in handy, but since we were adding magic into the fight, I didn’t care.
Arthur was making progress as well. He was less afraid of the magic held in his sword than before, unleashing its full potential more than ever. I was glad he finally accepted magic, even if it took a long time to adjust. Actually, he was getting stronger and thus, he gave me a hard time to counter his spells. I was trying to block on of his magic attack when suddenly, I heard a noise.
“Arthur, I think there is someone here,” I said.
He stopped his attack, taking back his magic. I did the same. We didn’t want anyone to know what we were doing.
I heard a huge crack coming from the forest, next to the park. Arthur and I went closer to see what it was. I could feel a strange vibe hanging in the air. I took my sword up, ready for whatever was coming for us.
Then, I sent the smell. It was one of magic, powerful and dark. I looked over to Arthur to tell him with my eyes. He nodded, understanding what I was trying to say without speaking. I saw the change in him, sensing the tension in the air. His shoulder tensed, he clenched his sword, his face became serious. He was ready to fight. Hopefully, because a few seconds later, a horde of skeletons was facing us. They were horrible, with the white of their bones, their tipsy heads and their black aura as if blood was flowing over them.
There were a hundred or more of them coming from the darkest corner of the forest. The wind picked up, lifting my hair. I could feel the magic they were giving off. It was powerful, more powerful than I had ever felt. And it scared me. We couldn't face them, there were too many. We had only one option. And looking at Arthur, I knew he was thinking the same thing I was.
“SIT IGNIS ORIRI,” I screamed.
A wave of flame rose up, blocking their path and allowing us to flee. We started running as fast as we could, only I hadn't paid attention to one thing. They were skeletons, which meant that they were not alive and therefore not afraid of fire. On the contrary, they dove in without effort and ran after us.
"Shit," I said to myself.
How were we going to beat them? Who had summoned them?
They were getting closer and closer, so I turned back and faced them. I reached my magic and send them a blast of every element I could. So, I drowned them, send them in a hole under the earth, make them fly around in the sky, but more came after the ones I touched. I just needed to give us enough time to run away from them.
I was so focused on sending them spells after spells to slow them down that I didn’t see what was behind me. Or to be more correct, who was behind me.
Chapter 40.
I felt a touch on my shoulder. It gave me a chill, which I felt down my spine. I turned around immediately, to sigh with relief. My grandfather was there. It surprised me at first, but I was glad he was finally here. It actually gave me strength to see him, to feel him on my shoulder, to know he was fine. Then he joined his magic with mine and we sent a huge blast of pure energy at the skeletons.
At last, it worked. The ones we touched turned to dust. We did it again and again and again. But there were always more, coming to face us.
“Go, Avalon. Take Arthur and run,” said my grandpa. “I will hold them off and join you afterwards.”
“But I can’t leave you here!” I exclaimed.
“It is the only way.”
But I couldn’t. He needed me. Arthur came and tried to take me away. But I stayed, keeping my eyes on my grandfather, not wanting to leave him. A feeling buried inside me prevented me from doing so. Arthur had to drag me away so I would finally move.
Then it happened. The skeletons came too close. Even as my grandfather used his magic to fend them off, there were too many of them, and some managed to reach him. All it took was a moment and a touch. Then one of them rushed at him. He tried to get rid of it, but it was as if the dead man was sticking to him.
"Avalon, you must know that Morgana is..."
But he was interrupted. And a second later, the skeleton grabbed his neck and twisted it. He fell dead to the ground.
"NOOOO, GRANDPA!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.
I wanted to run to my grandfather, but someone held me back. I turned to Arthur, tears streaming down my cheeks. Sorrow could be seen on his face, but he didn't let go. I squirmed to get out of his grip, but he held on.
"Avalon, there are too many of them, we must leave," he said in a soft, soothing voice.
I shook my head in denial. I didn't want to go and leave my grandfather, I couldn't. Tears streamed down my face, blinding me for a while.
"Avalon, please," Arthur begged, pulling me away.
I knew he was right, but I couldn't.
"Look at me," Arthur turned my face to his as I didn't take my eyes off the body that stood only a few feet away. "We have to go, now."
I nodded. And after an instant, we took off. It hurt more than I thought it would. It hurt more than anything I have ever felt.
In the year 2000.
Having quickly recovered all their energies, the two beings started to apply their revenge. A vengeance that the world was not ready for. One that would plunge the world into immeasurable chaos.
They would soon come out of this hole, they knew it. And they would find HIM. For HE was the object of all their desires. Their desire for vengeance. And they had never forgotten HIM, not once in all these years.
The final battle was near, it was just a matter of who would win and at what cost.
Photo Credits : Amélie Marmonier
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