Merlin's Last

A Story by Snitified

Sometimes there are choices that must be made in a moments notice that are simply too difficult to fully grasp. Those moments are too big for any man, even Merlin.

This will be a book that I have thought about for a long time, the book is aimed at a younger level and will serve as a great primer for some of the more detailed and mature fantasy novels.

It starts like many stories do with a boy, this boy is in a car with his father heading deep into the woods for a camping trip. Its raining and as they are driving a bear is in the road which forces the father to wreck the car. In his confusion the boy gets out of the car and stumbles into the woods, he hears the bear roar and runs as fast as he can to escape it.

He ends up climbing a large boulder to get away from the bear and finds that there is a small cave in one of the upper tiers. Lightning strikes a nearby tree and sends burning embers all around the clearing that catch small brambles and dry leaves on fire creating a red glow around the area. Inside the cave the boy stuggles to see in the shifting flickers of light he gets from the fires below. He lies down and feels the throbbing of pain inside his head and moans as it hits him full on. His hand brushes an edge in the rock and an image explodes into life inside his head. A world full of light with ancient tree's as tall as the world and magic flowing out from the very rock he now hid inside. He see's in a flicker of light the imprint on the wall, it is a hand print but it is burned and blackened. He presses his hand into the print and the world beneath him shifts, the rock falling away into darkness and the boy is falling.

He wakes up in the world from his vision, a world filled with magic.

The boy makes his way through many trials and finds a few friends along the way. He hears of a wizard who might be able to help him find his way back home to his father. He worries about his dad and how he left him there in the car with the bear loose in the woods. The boy ends up inside a city, the only city in this world. It is protected by stone walls that are as tall as any building the boy had ever known.

Inside the city the boy comes face to face with harsh realities, he becomes a slave as anyone who cannot do magic must be in this world. He discovers that in this world the men and women can all do one type of magic, whether that be healing, or controling certain elements, everyone has a specific magic inside of them that allows them to alter the world around themselves. The boy ends up in the hands of a healer and after a time the man begins to show him how the magic of the world works and how it can be touched if you know where to look. The boy is stuggling but finds that there is a bit of magic inside himself and begins to learn to heal.

The boy then finds himself cast from the city as an outcast for speaking ill of the king. Alone and on his own in a magical world he wanders the woods searching for a way home. He eventually finds himself fighting along side a rogue band of wizards who are all outcasts from the great city. It is here that he comes to find out about Merlin and how there is a legend that he split the world into two, one magic and one non magic world in order to end a great war long ago.

The boy goes to Merlin and begs to be sent home, Merlin see's in the boy the ability to wield all magic. The first since the evil king to wield such power Merlin asks the boy to stay and fight with him against the king so that Merlins mistake can be fixed in this world. The boy overwhelmed turns down Merlins request and asks for Merlin to tell him how to get home to his father. Merlin tells the boy that the rock is the key and that on each world there is a rock that is the connection between the worlds.

When he arrives into the woods he is set upon by the evil kings army and he is forced to defend himself and ends up releasing the magic inside of himself upon them. Still they give chase as he searches for the rock for weeks, many times coming close to the enemy soldiers. Finally he finds the rock but as he climbs up onto the rock and places his hand upon the print he see's behind him the evil king is watching from the cave entrance, smiling.

The boy falls back into his own world but now fears that the evil king will come and attack all of the non magical world who would be helpless against him.