The Ages Of Merlin: Origins Read online

But what happened, was that a shining silver ball appeared in the middle of the fire around which we were all sitting and eating. The arrival of that shining ball sent us all scurrying as fast as we could possibly go away from the fire. We were pretty superstitious and this was something more unusual than we'd ever seen or heard of.

  A few of us, braver than the others, the warriors of the tribe, began a slow approach. You have to understand that I was in my early 20s. I was the biggest of our tribe, the strongest and to my shame now, I was the most warlike," said Merlin. He paused for a moment and then shook his head as if to clear some unwanted memories.

  He continued, "So as we watched, the shining ball flickered just above the flames. I slowly but surely approached the fire. My brother, my best friend, and a few of the other young men came with me. They weren't stupid, they all stayed behind me, allowing me the pleasure of taking the largest risk.

  The ball hung about a foot above the flames and as I watched, the flames shrunk. It was as if the fire was going out under the force of the ball.

  We surrounded that ball, my brother to my right and my best friend to my left, and the three of us stared at the ball. It did nothing, but hang above the rapidly dwindling fire. The rest of the tribe slowly approached and encircled us. Everyone was jostling to get a good look at the ball.

  Both the men and the women, who shared equally in all work, approached as a single body. We approached that ball as a tribe and we were prepared to deal with it as a tribe.

  My brother and friend looked at me and nodded towards me. As the acknowledged leader, it would be my responsibility to deal with this ball or to at least touch it to see what would happen.

  I could see the ball sitting above the the still-dwindling fire which had subsided to red coals. And I assumed the ball would be hot from its exposure to the fire. So I very carefully reached out and gave it a quick poke with my finger. It did not move but I did learn that it wasn't hot. My finger did not blister up, and I felt no pain. So, I slowly reached out and very tentatively put my hand over the top of ball as if to lift it. I was also prepared to drop it as fast as possible if it was hot.

  You can imagine my surprise, and frankly my relief, as the palm of my hand touched the ball to discover there was not enough heat to burn me. I closed my hand around the ball and it did not resist. I then moved it closer to me and brought it up to my eye to examine it carefully.

  There were no seams, and there were no markings. It was a perfectly round ball and appeared to be what I would now describe as a perfectly, round, modern translucent light bulb that glowed.

  It was warm and I assumed that was because it had been over the fire.

  What I was not prepared for was the gentle pulsing of the ball as if it were what we now know as a heart. As an aside, I should say that we did not know human anatomy of any kind. We knew if you were cut you would bleed. And if you lost too much blood, you would die. But we had no idea about the internal organs or how any of our bodies were put together. Yes, we knew about the insides of animals but we didn't associate ourselves with them." Merlin paused, smiled softly and took a drink of water.

  He looked at Jeff, nodded and began again. "As I said, it was a gentle throbbing and it was hardly noticeable to my touch. For some reason, I took the ball and brought it to my eyes. I investigated it closely and tried to see if I could figure out what it was. I couldn't. To my eye, it was just a round, shining ball that throbbed.

  To this day, I have no idea why I did what I did next. I brought the ball up to my mouth and I licked it.

  I expect I simply wanted to see if it was edible, You have to understand that we were people of simple technologies and a simple society. If we could eat something, we would. If we couldn't, we might try to burn it for warmth, or we might wear it if it was large enough or offered some protection. Our needs were simple and were directly taken care of by the things in our environment."

  Merlin shook his head, closed his eyes and his brow furrowed with the concentration of trying to remember the details of that long-ago evening.

  "But, as I said, I licked it. And with that licking, the sphere brightened to an incredible intensity, and the gentle pulsing turned to much stronger throbbing. The light from the bulb became brighter and brighter to throw shadows back onto the rest of the tribe. It was as if I had armed a bomb and it was about to go off." He paused.

  "Naturally we had no idea what a bomb was," he said with a chuckle.

  "But," said Merlin and paused. "It was indeed a bomb. And it exploded with shards of light and energy expanding from its very centre. Because I was holding it, I absorbed the largest amount energy coming from the ball. My brother and best friend received large amounts as well. But indeed, they got less than I." Merlin stopped talking and closed his eyes. His face didn't change or move but his eye lids flickered as he replayed those long ago moments that changed his life. He took a deep breath and continued.

  "Those surrounding us also were penetrated by the light exploding from the ball. Those who were closer received more and those further away obviously received less. But, everyone in our tribe was lit up and penetrated by the streaks of light. Everyone. And that light brought magic to each and every one of us," said Merlin.

  He paused as he replayed the evening in his mind.

  "But to answer your question, even though the magic seemed to arrive all at once, I am still learning about it. It wasn't as if I suddenly understood what magic was, it has been more like reading a book and turning the pages to read each individual word for the first time,"he said. "And each word is a small part of the magic.

  I have spent the last 14,000 years turning the pages and reading the words one by one to learn what I know today," said Merlin. "And I suspect, that if things work the way I think they will, it will be another 14,000 years before I learn about everything in that sphere. So to answer your question the magic apparently arrived with full force and I got it all at once. But I can, and am, still learning how to use it."

  "So if I understand you correctly, this was how fae started?" said Jeff.

  Merlin paused and wondered what would happen when this information reached the human world. Too late to wonder now, he thought ruefully.

  "Yes. This is the beginning of the world of fae," said Merlin. "Fae is a real world, it has real consequences, and real abilities that are not well understood by humans."

  I don't know if this is an indelicate question, but do fae have children?

  "Not indelicate at all. And the answer is yes. It's either that or we'd have been extinct within a few years. Having said that, there does seem to be some limits on our procreation. We don't seem to multiply as fast as humans nor do we feel the constant need to make babies every chance we get," said Merlin.

  "And what happened to the original tribe? Are they still alive?" asked Jeff.

  "Two are still alive," said Merlin. "The rest either did not receive enough energy to maintain their bodies for this length of time, were killed, or had no way to renew the energy. So yes, they have passed."

  "And who's still alive beside yourself? Can you tell us?" asked Jeff.

  "No," said Merlin. "That hasn't been decided yet,"

  "Decided?" asked Jeff.

  "Leave it," said Merlin. His voice rasped out like ice scraping against the hull of a ship.

  Jeff nodded and looked Merlin directly in the eye. Jeff blinked first and looked away.

  Really? Is Magic Real

  "Merlin, some of our readers won't believe that magic is real. How can we convince them of that what you say is true? How do we convince… How can you convince me, that magic is real?" asked Jeff.

  Merlin smiled. "Hold out your hand," he said.

  Jeff tentatively reached out his hand, palm up right, towards Merlin. Merlin just looked at it and suddenly on Jeff's palm was a flame burning as brightly as if it were a small campfire.

  "Holy…!" yelled Jeff. "That's hot!" He shook his hand trying in vain to dislodge and escape the burning flames that ha
d now multiplied, and divided to totally encircle him and dart in and out touching exposed areas of his skin." He erupted out of his chair and danced towards the door desperately batting at the flames. He had a second thought and turned to face Merlin.

  "Enough! Enough!" yelled Jeff. "I believe you!"

  "That won't help your readers, but at least now you believe," said Merlin and his raucous laughter twined around every word.

  Have You Ever Been Married?

  Merlin, have you ever been married or had children? Asked Jeff.

  Merlin was quiet for what seemed to be a very long time. He finally raised his head looked Jeff straight in the eye, and in his softest, saddest voice said, "Yes. I have been married and I have had children."

  "It does not sound as if it went well," said Jeff. "Can you tell us about it?"

  Merlin looked directly into Jeff's eyes, hesitated for a few seconds, and then nodded.

  "For the longest time, I slept with many women, and may have had the odd child that I did not know about. As a nomad, as one who travels from tribe to tribe, staying in one place with one woman was not something that I did.

  About 45 BC in Switzerland, I met a woman. She was Helvetian, one of the Celtic tribes, and we settled down on a small farm that I hacked out of the forest.

  It was only a subsistence farm with a few animals and a massive garden, but we were in love and life was sweet. There was no warfare up in the mountains and very quickly we had two children. We had a son and a daughter and I loved them equally and abundantly.

  When the children were in their early twenties and married, the leadership of the Helvetians decided that we needed to move. We had become too numerous for the small meadows within Switzerland. And there was open space up in the North of what we now call France.

  If you know your history, you know about this time that Julius Caesar was beginning his wars of conquest against the Celtic tribes. Up in Switzerland, in our mountain redoubt, we had heard the rumours but we had no firsthand experience. So we had difficulty in believing that any army could wreak that much death and destruction on our peoples.

  But to be safe, we requested permission from Caesar to travel across the lands of our neighbours. It was given and we left a few of our tribe behind but the vast majority of us began the trek.

  Some half million of us moved slowly with all of our belongings out of Switzerland, down through the mountain paths into the hill country at the north of the Roman territory. Caesar gave us permission to travel across that territory. But when reports, and I have no idea if they were true or not, were sent back from the tribes in that area saying we were destroying property as we marched, Caesar changed his mind.

  To be frank, we don't know if there were reports or if indeed if there were was any destruction caused by our peoples. We do know however, that Julius Caesar was building his career by destroying our tribes one by one and turning them into slaves he could sell in Rome. He was funding his growing fortune on our bodies." Merlin stopped talking, drew within himself, closed his eyes and relived those moments. A tear grew on his left eye.

  "But we did not know that when we started marching. The long and the short of this story is that Caesar and his troops slaughtered 350,000 of us. Almost every man was killed along with those women who fought. He enslaved another 100,000 and led them back to Rome to become a very rich man and eventually emperor," said Merlin. He rubbed the tear away.

  "Only about 50,000 of us survived to flee back into the Swiss mountains. I led them as best I could, but when we arrived back in our farms and villages, we found our homes had been burned to the ground.

  Only a few survived that winter. Even with my unique abilities, my wife and children were not among the survivors. That is the only time I have been married, or have had children. It was something that brought great joy and indescribable grief into my heart."

  Merlin stopped talking and stared at the floor. After a few seconds, he looked up and said, "I haven't thought about that in centuries. I've had it locked away somewhere where it wouldn't hurt quite so much. But yes, I've been married and had children that one time."

  "And you've not been tempted to try again, even after all these years?" asked Jeff pushing Merlin for more.

  Merlin slowly shook his head. "Every man has his limits."

  Neither man talked for the next five minutes.

  How Long Will You Live?

  Jeff finally broke the silence with what he thought would be a safer question.

  "Merlin, do you know how long you'll live? Or, do you have any sense of that?" asked Jeff.

  Merlin thought about it for a second, and then said, "I have no idea."

  Jeff looked at him, and said, "That must be an interesting feeling."

  Merlin laughed, "Well, I had a very good friend who was a doctor. And she wanted to know how my body worked. So I agreed to let her do tests on me if she didn't publish them and destroy them immediately. She ran blood tests, x-rays, CAT scans, and every kind of test you can imagine. I felt more like a lab rat than I did a human being,. The wonder of it all is that we remained friends after. She poked and prodded in places that I did not know existed in my body. And one I did know about but…"

  Merlin laughed loudly at the memory. "I'd never let a woman do that before and with any luck I won't let anybody do it again," he said.

  "But the bottom line is that my body appears to be totally and completely human. There is nothing in me that science can see that any different from you or any other person in the world," he said and paused.

  "There obviously is," he continued. "For example, I have a different energy field, but science cannot identify or see what that is.

  So to answer your question, I have no idea what age I can possibly reach. As far as I'm concerned right now, I would be delighted to live forever."

  Merlin broke eye contact with Jeff and stared at the floor between them. He knew what the next question would be.

  "Can you help others to live long lives?" asked Jeff.

  "You mean with magic?" asked Merlin.

  "Yes," said Jeff. "If I asked you to help me live for a longer time than normal, is this something you could do?"

  "I can help you with pain. I can help you with some physical ailments but I can't help you to live a longer life than your generic code allows," said Merlin. "If that were the case, I'd still be happily married and I'd be surrounded by several thousand grandchildren to spoil."

  Merlin watched Jeff process this information and nod.

  "So we've established you're 14,000 years old and we have no idea how long you will live," said Jeff.

  Merlin nodded and watched the emotions play across Jeff's face as he tried to absorb and accept what this meant.

  What Else Have You Done?

  "Merlin, our readers will want to know what kinds of things you've done other than fighting," said Jeff. "Can you give me a short list?"

  "What haven't I done?" laughed Merlin. "I dare say there's nothing you could possibly mention - from being a warrior to a pig farmer that I haven't done."

  "How about flying a plane? Have you been a pilot?" asked Jeff.

  "Well, you found something on first try that I haven't done. Yet." said Merlin and he let a booming laugh escape.

  "Frankly, I have no use for aircraft as I can pretty much get wherever I want to go by myself. It might be fun though to become a member of the mile-high club," he said with a sly smile.

  Jeff laughed and shook his head.

  "How about the opposite? Ever been scuba diving or in a submarine?" asked Jeff.

  "Yes, to both," said Merlin and then he stopped talking but didn't break eye contact.

  "Another sad story?" asked Jeff.

  Merlin only nodded. "There's a lot of those in my past. You can't live on the edge of civilization for as long as I have, or be of the warrior class, and not have more than your share of sad stories."

  "So tell us a happy one," said Jeff.

  Merlin smiled softly. "We forced th
e Roman Emperor Hadrian to build a wall. Stopped the damnable Roman army cold. That was a happy moment when we realized we'd won and the Romans couldn't kill any more of our people. There was one massive bonfire and party the night we heard about that, I can tell you." Merlin's eyes unfocussed and a soft smile played around the edges of his mouth. "And then we raided around the edges of it and killed as many Romans as we could."

  He stopped for a few seconds the smile faded, and then he softly said, "I've left so many things behind and there are good memories in all of them. Some are tragedies in the bigger scheme of things, most are forgotten by everyone except me. But there were good friends and memories in every age in which I've lived so far. I do my best to remember those amidst the carnage humans seem to create as part of their nature. Even now, there are good memories and some new friends that make the world worth saving."

  You’ve Been A Soldier

  "Merlin, you've clearly lived a life within the military - and been a soldier more than once across the ages, right?" asked Jeff.

  "Indeed," said Merlin. He paused for several seconds and took a deep breath before continuing. His face mirrored an inner fatigue and sadness as he spoke.

  "I have fought in battles and wars almost my entire life. There have been stories written about me and told around campfires, to the point that it is a legend and no one would believe the truth." He nodded and looked Jeff straight in the eye and began again.

  "Fighting is not something I want to do. But, it's something that I'm very, very good at. One does not live this long without having to defend one's self or having to impose a will upon someone else," said Merlin. He paused, closed his eyes and held up his hand to forestall another question. Thirty long, silent seconds passed as Merlin considered his next words.

  "At this time, the world is relatively civilized. But this is a recent phase in human history. For the most part, it's been a dog-eat-dog world where the strong survive and the weak perish. It is almost impossible to communicate this to the modern mind in a way you'd understand," said Merlin. He shook his head and began again.