Hi all! I have recently got back into writing and have started work on a new world that is a dark re-imagining of classic Arthurian literature. I am calling the world Avallus.
I am decently far along in terms of my world building, plot development and character creation but I have been nervous to throw myself into actually beginning to write my full-length story.
To help with my writing confidence and further develop my characters, I have started writing short stories to introduce and give a feel for each of them.
'The Infinity of Merlin' is the first one I have written about the character of Merlin. It follows the classic Arthurian stories and Merlin's imprisonment by Nimue.
Any feedback on the exercerpt from the story below is greatly appreciated and I am also happy to answer any questions you might have about my overall world! If you want to read the whole thing please let me know. Thank you!
Time moves at all speeds when all you can see is the darkness of infinity.
The stone did not merely touch my pallid and aging skin; it is a weight upon the very fabric of my tortured soul. I have forgotten how long I have been in this cave far beneath the lands of Avallus, but I know I have laid in this humid dark for long enough that many will have forgotten me. Though I remember the mathematics and movements of the planets and stars now denied to me, I have forgotten the colour of the sky, the dewy touch of the grass, the sickening smells of Camelot that I once called home.
My mind turns to more pleasant times; walking through the luscious green gardens of Guinevere, speaking of infinite realms to students and scholars of the arts, all whilst lords, ladies and servants dipped their heads in reverence as they passed by. I remember the knights beseeching my help with rescuing maidens and fighting dragons long thought dead and gone. The commonfolk pleading for me to aid their crops, heal their sick, and reignite lost loves. They called me sage, sorcerer and prophet. I called them my people.
I wonder if they still think of my mystical splendour and the magic I brought to their lives.
Tens of lifetimes pass.
Every slow beat of my heart reminds me that I am still alive in this damp pit. Every blink of my heavy lids feels like the passing of an empire. I am alone with my thoughts in this narrow, jagged ribcage of the earth and they slowly twist in the dark. The lack of light becomes one with my very being as love and hope leaves me. Yet my pulse persists in the shadows, fueled by the very sorcery I was fool enough to bestow upon my betrayer.
Nimue. Even now, the name of the fabled Lady of the Lake tastes like copper and ash. I plucked her from the obscurity of the fae and the wet home of the nymphs and yet she took my love and made it dust. I remember the curve of her neck as she leaned close to hear the secrets of the ancients. Her sweet smell of spring and life. I thought it was devotion that drew her near. I believed, in my desperate dotage, my cloying hunger, that she looked upon me with the awe I deserved.
I gave her the keys to the primordial fires of both angel and demon, of man and fae; I showed her how to shape destiny itself. And for what? To be discarded like a failing candle. She did not appreciate the majesty of the mind that courted her. She believed me too old, too powerful even, for her hand. She spurned me. She feared the shadow I cast, and so she used my own light to blind me, to imprison me. The bitch is nothing but a thief of divinity, a hollow vessel that I alone filled with golden ambrosia only for her to shatter the pitcher and blame my might.
I sneer as my mind flickers from her to another. My velvet-tongued rival. The one closest to my power and mastery of the mystic arts. The absolute, seducing darkness to Nimue’s supposed light. Morgan Le Fay.
There was a time when our magic was not the only thing that intertwined. Heat rises in the cold of the ground as I remember our carnal collision. We were the sun and moon of Avallus, yet she could not suffer a master in any respect. She turned her arts to malice and threatened the very kingdom we had sworn to protect. As I summoned stone to praise the seasons and drew life from barren lands, she only sought to use blood and shadow to cause suffering and raise herself above her peers, her King, her Merlin. I pleaded with her to stop and follow the path I had set but she resisted with the strength of the moon rising and sun setting.
Morgan forced my hand until I was compelled to cast her to the demonic realms. It was a banishment she earned through her own unbridled perfidy. I had no choice but to be arbiter of justice then. To be the wall that held back the chaos. Oh, the lies I had to tell her, Morgause and Arthur at that moment just to do the right thing. Yet I am the one entombed still. All for saving Camelot and Avallus a thousand times over from forces the brave knights could never imagine.
But I still saved them. Not for thanks, nor love, nor riches. But because my oath to the boy king. I wonder if he still mourns his loyal sage.
Hundreds of lifetimes pass.
With every passing minute and moment I remain in this prison of rock and stone, I know they have forgotten me. That he has forgotten me.
King Arthur Pendragon. The boy I plucked from the tall grass of anonymity and draped in the mantle of kingship. I saved him from slaughter and protected him through the loyal Ser Ector. I fashioned his throne from the bones of the old gods and cemented it with my own blood, wyrd and foresight. I provided him with his ascension with a cheap sword plunged into the ancient land of Avallus. I gave him Excalibur; I gave him his beloved Round Table; I gave the boy a legacy that will outlast the stars.
And yet, did he come for me?
Did the High King, in his vaunted righteousness and honour, seek out the mentor who withered so that he might bloom? No. He sat on his golden chair and basked in a peace he did not earn, content to let the old man rot once the prophecies were fulfilled. He used me as a tool, a sturdy ladder to be kicked away once he had reached the heights. For that is Arthur’s way.