Chapter One

"I don't understand. I personally sent the guards out in ranks myself. How could it have gotten through the parameters?" The king enclosed onto his thrown. His son was standing on a lower level to the intimidating man, arms crossed.

Very few people were in the void halls. There was only the king, his son and the son's man servant, who had learnt not to get in between father and son.

The son, Arthur Pendragon, did not like to be looked down upon, not even by his father, King Uther. "You know what dangers are out there father. I know as well as anyone. We must prepare for a conflict beyond what we are used to. We must be prepared for MAGIC." He was swimming in icy and perilous waters. One glare was all it took for Arthur to realise this, but he persisted. "You've been ignoring this for far too long. We are under threat by forces of the unknown, we must prepare."

A flush of heat crossed Uther's face, "I will decide what is best for this kingdom. You will have to wait to have your say." There was a bitter tone in what he said.

With that, Arthur spun on the heel of his boot and stomped out of the hall, grabbing the arm of his manservant and dragging him away. "I can't believe him! After all we've been through." He adjusted that, "After all the kingdom has been through."

They stopped at Arthur's chambers, "I think you're right, Gaius said there are many more ways to get magical creatures from different places other then dark magicians summoning them."

The prince smirked, "One, I know I'm right, I always am. And two, how does Gaius know this stuff?" Gaius was the court physician and Arthur's servant's mentor. "Get my things ready, I'm going hunting in an hour. Don't be late."

The servant had no choice but to do as he was told, so Merlin walked away as Arthur slammed the heavy double doors. The teen's footsteps echoed down the long and desolate corridors. The sun bounced off the stone walls, hitting his pale skin.

Opening the door of the physician's, he slid through. Being greeted by Gaius would've made things a lot harder. How would someone be able to hide hunting gear right under the nose of someone so observant?

Luckily, Gaius was out. No need to be surreptitious. Quickly, Merlin grabbed all the weapons. Rushing around a cluttered bedroom was not clever. Especially is you were as clumsy as a gazelle on stilts. He tripped over multiple times, but managed, in the end, to get out alive. He hooked the sack of gear over his shoulder and speed walked across the courtyard. The bag was heavy, but he had gotten used to lugging it around.

Reaching Arthur's room, the pale teenager pushed the door open with his forehead, as he had a crossbow in one hand and a sword in the other. Falling through the door, he landed at the prince's feet. "Ahh, kneeling down to me. That's good, proves you're not stuck in your old ways." Arthur picked up his crossbow from the floor as Merlin clambered up. "This is a very rare version. If it's not in perfect working order, you'll be in the stocks."

He equipped himself, sword in scabbard, crossbow in an over shoulder strap. He was already in his armour, but something about his body language said he was afraid. "Get some armour on, we don't want my servant being mangled. How would I explain that to Gaius?" He nodded his head over to a pile of armour, indicating that he wanted Merlin to wear it. "Feel privileged Merlin, that's my second strongest gear."

Examining the armour, Merlin couldn't help but realise that the armour would be way to big for him. But, shrugging, the ebony haired male pulled the metal kit over his head, automatically making him an inch shorter. "Can't I wear my own?" Laughing at the boy's comment Arthur shook his head and lead the way out, looking both ways to make sure his father wasn't on the prowl.

Purposely lagging behind, Merlin watched as the blond teen left. Once it was all clear, the dark haired boy muttered a few words to himself and armour automatically became lighter. He had to run to catch up with the prince whom was already at the stables.

Both mounting horses, they headed off outside of the confines of Camelot. The sun was blinding to both of them, but they knew under the canopy of the forest there would be very little worry about that. Attempting to distract himself from thinking about the dangers what lay ahead, Merlin turned to listen. Listen to the thud of the hooves on mud as they raced through the plain on the edge of the forest. Listen to the clink of the armour bashing against itself. But no matter how he tried, he couldn't help but feel an ominous fog fill him.

Pulling his horse to a halt at the edge of the forest, Arthur dismounted his glossy black steed, and tied it up. Merlin copied. They headed tentatively under the overly healthy green canopy. The shadows were disturbed by breaks where there would become pillars of light. It was beautiful, yet terrifying. It seemed too peaceful, too magical.

Shaking his head and clearing his throat, Arthur pulled out his sword and brushed past the heather and snowdrops. The fallen twigs crunched under his feet, closely followed by his friend. Both of them took everything in, and something was defiantly wrong. Branches were torn of trees. Deep claw marks were engraved in the bark of trees.

The deeper they went, the more intense the damage was. "What could've done that?" Merlin traced one of the marks with his index finger. There were five of them, all evenly spaced out. Arthur was more vigilant, carefully looking around, sword following his line of sight.

Suddenly, Arthur was blinded by something. He screamed, dropping his sword and covering his eyes. Turning to see what was happening, Merlin saw the thing gracefully stepped forwards, out of the light. It was an dark skinned man, tall. He had a smirk across his face, showing all his snow white, blade sharp, teeth.

He glided towards the teenagers. Looking up, Arthur saw the man. Stepping back, he stooped down and grabbed his sword. "Step no further!" He put on his brave, authoritarian voice, no matter how afraid he was. Merlin could tell his friend was terrified beyond recognition.

The man then looked over the prince's shoulder, his smirk getting stronger. Spinning around, they noticed a blond man, ghost pale, his eyes jet black. His teeth bared. A low growl rose from deep within the men's chests. The teenagers prepared to fight, but Merlin didn't get his sword out. Instead, he leant forwards, towards the blond man. He raised his right hand slightly raised.

At that moment, something appeared in the teen's peripheral vision. He spun to face it. She was beautiful, fiery hair, pale catlike facets, and smiling menacingly in their direction. There was a crunch behind Merlin, which lead to the woman looking up. Her smile faltered, then something happened that the young warlock didn't see. Her face was back to the menacing style.

Suddenly, she jumped towards him. A flash of light made her fly into a tree, but she kicked back off of it, towards them again. "Merlin! H-Help me! Please!" He heard the manic, sobbing words that were in his friend's voice. The dark skinned male was holding down the doomed heir to the thrown; biting his neck, breaking it with the force in which he did so. Piercing screams filled the air. "PLEASE! OH GOD! MERLIN!"

Distracted by his friend's pleas, Merlin was leapt at again, but by the blond man. He lunged his razor sharp teeth deep within the teen's neck. The pain was excruciating. Being held down whilst teeth pierced the jugular vein. Then, without another thought, Merlin used his magic to throw the dark man off of Arthur, whom was violently convulsing, his own blood soaking him.

A woman appeared, not like the animalistic one, and leant over the dieing warlock. Her eyes were bright with pride. Kneeling down next to Merlin, she placed a warm, soft hand on his head, stroking away his hair from his sweaty face. She was smiling, "You were going to live many more years Merlin, as was Pendragon there." She nodded towards the now death still Arthur, "But, my friends had to feed, being new the thirst is so much harder to resist."

Straining to place his arm up, he grabbed her hand as violently as possible, "Burn in hell Nimueh." Dropping his hand he said an incantation, there was a sudden explosion of blinding light.

And then, there was silence.