Luminescence ✺ Arthur Pendragon

The Gates of Avalon [2]

"I still can't believe you followed him without telling either one of us. What if something had happened to you and neither of us knew where you'd gone?" Arwen scolded Merlin the following morning after he had revealed to her and Gaius what he had seen when he followed Aulfric as the man made his way out of Camelot in the middle of the night.

"You can scold me later, right now we have to find a way to stop them." Merlin reminded her and despite her disappointment in him, Arwen knew he was right.

"Alright, so to earn an immortal life for herself, Sofia must sacrifice the soul of a mortal Prince to lake dwelling, little blue flying things? Well that is just fantastic!" Arwen couldn't hold back her sardonic remarks as she turned towards the many books stocked upon Gaius' shelves. She knew they would most likely find the answer to what exactly Merlin had seen in at least one of them, but how long would it take them to find it?

"Avalon!"

Well, perhaps it wouldn't take as long as she had suspected it would...

"What you saw at the lake, it's Avalon. It must be." Gaius sounded so certain that Arwen found relief in listening to him. It didn't solve all of their problems but it surely brought them closer to a solution and a way to stop this sacrifice from happening. Merlin started to pose a question, but Gaius of course knew what it would be before he uttered it, allowing the physician to jump into the explanation of what Avalon was without wasting any time.

"The land of eternal youth. Mortals are only supposed to glimpse it the moment before death."

"Well, I've seen it and I'm still here." Merlin muttered, pointing out the obvious to all of them.

"For now." Arwen muttered, not yet finished with her scolding of her brother and his reckless actions.

"Extraordinary." Gaius ignored Arwen and Merlin's squabble, caught up in his own amazement over Merlin's discovery. "What did it look like?" He couldn't hold back his curiosity. It was something no mortal ever got a chance to speak of.

"Does it matter? They're going to sacrifice Arthur and we don't even know who they are yet!" Merlin exclaimed, growing impatient with the lack of information that they still faced. But luckily, Gaius pulled through again.

"We do now." The elderly man announced, suddenly moving to sit at his desk as he reached for a book he had found after seeing the writing on Aulfric's staff. "I found writing like this on the top of Aulfric's staff. It's Ogham, an ancient script. 'Abas ocus bithe. Duthectad bithlane.'; To hold life and death in your hands. From the writing on his staff and what you saw at the lake, I'm afraid I'm now certain. We're dealing with the Sidhe." Gaius read the words from the book, sharing his findings with the two. With every moment that passed, they were getting closer to finding a way to save Arthur.

"That does not sound like a good thing." Merlin couldn't help but think out loud as he listened to Gaius.

"When does it ever? Can't we deal with something like sweet Unicorns or cute fuzzy cuddly creatures for once?" Arwen questioned with an exasperated sigh. Why couldn't their lives be easy?

"They are masters of enchantment." Gaius read from the book further.

"You think Arthur's been enchanted to fall for Sofia?" Arwen asked. It would explain a lot of his behaviour ever since their arrival. A part of her hoped that to be true, because if he wasn't, if he had truly fallen for the girl, then their job would be that much harder.

"Almost certainly. I'm afraid Morgana's dream is coming true." Gaius said with a nod of his head. Arwen nervously brushed her hand through her hair knowing that even if they did break the enchantment it most likely wouldn't stop the father and daughter duo from just changing their plan to adjust and continuing on with it. And according to what Merlin had heard the night before, their time was quickly running out.