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definewisdomChapter 11 - We Ride to War
Epilogue - Postremus Regum Britanniae
The world ended last week. Eight days ago. It shifted and crumbled before our eyes and it changed into something unrecognisable.
My name is Jeffrey and I thought that this needed to be written down so that someone knows, someone remembers in the years to come, that the world ended and then, after a week, it started again. Someone needs to record the names and the dates and the places. Morgana suggested it first; she said that it should be me. I’m not sure what she meant by that, but here I am, writing it all down. For posterity or whatever it is that will come next.
I always looked at those plaques on battlefields. ‘Here in some date a battle was fought between the armies of blah and blah’ I never though about what happened to make that plaque, what was written down to be remembered, who watched the people in that battle die and survived to recall how things went.
I never thought that I’d be the person creating that history, but legends need to be recorded or they will never become legends.
It feels insane to be even writing this, but insanity has become normal in the last eight days: yesterday we recovered Excalibur and King Arthur was reborn.
King Arthur, the stuff of legends.
In years to come, people might read this and think that I am exaggerating, using artistic licence to make the story more sensational than it truly was, but I assure you I am not.
Merlin led us to the place where Excalibur was to be found. There were armies of the undead and other creatures, small, large, all sharing the desire to wipe out the human race surrounding it. Creatures I had never seen before, even in books. I was sure as we walked that we were walking to our deaths, but we walked onwards anyway. We had no other choice.
But as we approached, there came the beating of wings, huge wings, a sound that we had grown afraid of in the past days, a sound that meant death. I thought, at first, that it meant death still, until Merlin turned to us, his eyes golden, and assured us that the dragons were there to help us, not harm us. They had, he said, pledged allegiance to Arthur.
With the dragons on our side and Merlin and Morgana, the armies before us were not as menacing. Magic and fire swept aside all of the dead and the beasts were kept away from us.
But when we got inside the building, a tower block of flats, things became more complicated. No longer could the dragons help us, confined as we were, if they were to breathe flame over the building they would kill us as well. So we were forced to fight.
I should list our names here, they should be remembered: the brothers, Gawain and Gareth, Percival, Lance, Gwen, Will, Morgana, Merlin, myself and, of course, Arthur. We were forced to fight in close quarters. We were armed with guns, but our enemies had magic. Fire seemed to dance from their hands, bolts of lightning would attack us or our entire bodies would feel as heavy as lead, and it was then that Merlin stepped forward, holding his hand outstretched.
I had never believed in magic until the day the world ended, but it is impossible to doubt something that you have seen that clearly. He kept away the worst of the spells from us with shields and fought the magic so that we could fight with our hands. Arthur never strayed far from him, though it was unclear who was protecting whom.
Morgana was a swirling mass of power, she seemed to suck the light in and her hair blew in a wind that I could not feel. She took down more of the enemy than I would have believed possible.
The sword was on a floor above us and, with the electricity gone; we had no other choice but to take the stairs. Gawain stayed behind to watch our backs and help to protect our backs. It was the last time I saw him alive.
Morgana stayed with him, to keep magical attacks back, and the rest of us made it up the seven floors towards the place where Excalibur rested. She, somehow, managed to survive.
The battle on the seventh floor was fast and I couldn’t swear to any specifics in the blur of activity, I knew that everyone was fighting.
However, I do remember first laying sight on Excalibur; it lay on a table, blocked from us by people and magic. I have not seen many swords in my life, but this was the best of any I had seen and, from the moment we walked through the door, Arthur was drawn to it.
The call of it was almost audible in the air. Like a hum, I can only imagine how much stronger it must have been for him. It is his sword.
We fought our way towards it and finally Arthur took the sword up and the ground shook. Wind blew about, howling past my ears, and time seemed to slow as Arthur turned and speared a sorceress through the chest, the blade passing through her as easily as it passed through the air. She screamed. A sound so terrible that I thought my ears might explode from it. It seemed to go on and on, worse than fingernails on a blackboard, worse than metal on metal. It reverberated, but Arthur did not flinch.
He was spattered with blood, almost painted red with it, and his face was firm. He looked like he had been born to battle.
As she breathed out her life the undead armies crumpled to the ground, returning to their rest.
She must have been their leader, though we never learnt her name, and at her death, the others fell back, scared for their lives, though I do not believe we have seen the last of them. In the silence of the aftermath, while my ears were still buzzing from the force of that final screech, I saw Arthur turn to Merlin, who looked as exhausted as the rest of us and the King, for none of us doubted that now, said two words that I will never forget, and I will never truly understand.
“I remember.”
-
The world ended eight days ago, and this is the record of what happened on that day and the aftermath. My name is Jeffrey and I swear on my life, and the life of my guitar, that every word I write here is true. This is the tale of the return of King Arthur, the chronicle of the future of the kings of Britain.
-*-
Epilogue - Postremus Regum Britanniae
The world ended last week. Eight days ago. It shifted and crumbled before our eyes and it changed into something unrecognisable.
My name is Jeffrey and I thought that this needed to be written down so that someone knows, someone remembers in the years to come, that the world ended and then, after a week, it started again. Someone needs to record the names and the dates and the places. Morgana suggested it first; she said that it should be me. I’m not sure what she meant by that, but here I am, writing it all down. For posterity or whatever it is that will come next.
I always looked at those plaques on battlefields. ‘Here in some date a battle was fought between the armies of blah and blah’ I never though about what happened to make that plaque, what was written down to be remembered, who watched the people in that battle die and survived to recall how things went.
I never thought that I’d be the person creating that history, but legends need to be recorded or they will never become legends.
It feels insane to be even writing this, but insanity has become normal in the last eight days: yesterday we recovered Excalibur and King Arthur was reborn.
King Arthur, the stuff of legends.
In years to come, people might read this and think that I am exaggerating, using artistic licence to make the story more sensational than it truly was, but I assure you I am not.
Merlin led us to the place where Excalibur was to be found. There were armies of the undead and other creatures, small, large, all sharing the desire to wipe out the human race surrounding it. Creatures I had never seen before, even in books. I was sure as we walked that we were walking to our deaths, but we walked onwards anyway. We had no other choice.
But as we approached, there came the beating of wings, huge wings, a sound that we had grown afraid of in the past days, a sound that meant death. I thought, at first, that it meant death still, until Merlin turned to us, his eyes golden, and assured us that the dragons were there to help us, not harm us. They had, he said, pledged allegiance to Arthur.
With the dragons on our side and Merlin and Morgana, the armies before us were not as menacing. Magic and fire swept aside all of the dead and the beasts were kept away from us.
But when we got inside the building, a tower block of flats, things became more complicated. No longer could the dragons help us, confined as we were, if they were to breathe flame over the building they would kill us as well. So we were forced to fight.
I should list our names here, they should be remembered: the brothers, Gawain and Gareth, Percival, Lance, Gwen, Will, Morgana, Merlin, myself and, of course, Arthur. We were forced to fight in close quarters. We were armed with guns, but our enemies had magic. Fire seemed to dance from their hands, bolts of lightning would attack us or our entire bodies would feel as heavy as lead, and it was then that Merlin stepped forward, holding his hand outstretched.
I had never believed in magic until the day the world ended, but it is impossible to doubt something that you have seen that clearly. He kept away the worst of the spells from us with shields and fought the magic so that we could fight with our hands. Arthur never strayed far from him, though it was unclear who was protecting whom.
Morgana was a swirling mass of power, she seemed to suck the light in and her hair blew in a wind that I could not feel. She took down more of the enemy than I would have believed possible.
The sword was on a floor above us and, with the electricity gone; we had no other choice but to take the stairs. Gawain stayed behind to watch our backs and help to protect our backs. It was the last time I saw him alive.
Morgana stayed with him, to keep magical attacks back, and the rest of us made it up the seven floors towards the place where Excalibur rested. She, somehow, managed to survive.
The battle on the seventh floor was fast and I couldn’t swear to any specifics in the blur of activity, I knew that everyone was fighting.
However, I do remember first laying sight on Excalibur; it lay on a table, blocked from us by people and magic. I have not seen many swords in my life, but this was the best of any I had seen and, from the moment we walked through the door, Arthur was drawn to it.
The call of it was almost audible in the air. Like a hum, I can only imagine how much stronger it must have been for him. It is his sword.
We fought our way towards it and finally Arthur took the sword up and the ground shook. Wind blew about, howling past my ears, and time seemed to slow as Arthur turned and speared a sorceress through the chest, the blade passing through her as easily as it passed through the air. She screamed. A sound so terrible that I thought my ears might explode from it. It seemed to go on and on, worse than fingernails on a blackboard, worse than metal on metal. It reverberated, but Arthur did not flinch.
He was spattered with blood, almost painted red with it, and his face was firm. He looked like he had been born to battle.
As she breathed out her life the undead armies crumpled to the ground, returning to their rest.
She must have been their leader, though we never learnt her name, and at her death, the others fell back, scared for their lives, though I do not believe we have seen the last of them. In the silence of the aftermath, while my ears were still buzzing from the force of that final screech, I saw Arthur turn to Merlin, who looked as exhausted as the rest of us and the King, for none of us doubted that now, said two words that I will never forget, and I will never truly understand.
“I remember.”
-
The world ended eight days ago, and this is the record of what happened on that day and the aftermath. My name is Jeffrey and I swear on my life, and the life of my guitar, that every word I write here is true. This is the tale of the return of King Arthur, the chronicle of the future of the kings of Britain.
-*-
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-03-21 07:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2010-03-21 08:36 pm (UTC)Um, is Jeff named for anything, or is he just the bard-figure of this story?
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2010-03-21 10:10 pm (UTC)I loved that Geoffrey was a guitar player and theology student, BTW.
Sorry not to be more eloquent - I'm a rotten reviewer, I know.
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2010-03-21 10:42 pm (UTC)I would love to have some more though, something on the reconstruction of the world
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2010-03-21 11:09 pm (UTC)Definitely worth staying up late to read it all!
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2010-03-21 11:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2010-03-22 01:07 am (UTC)And you've sort of made me too terrified to go on the tube again. The way you wrote about a destroyed London made me shiver - I could really picture it!
AMAZING!
(no subject)
From:here via <lj user="merlinxarthur"/>
Date: 2010-03-22 01:55 am (UTC)Re: here via <lj user="merlinxarthur"/>
From:no subject
Date: 2010-03-22 02:37 am (UTC)Overall, awesome fic!
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2010-03-22 04:41 am (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2010-03-22 06:05 am (UTC)I might fail my finals tomorrow but reading this epic is worth it. Brilliant.
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2010-03-22 08:20 am (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2010-03-22 12:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2010-03-22 02:47 pm (UTC)fun adventure and bonus zombie mayhem! yay!
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2010-03-22 07:11 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2010-03-22 07:34 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2010-03-22 08:25 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2010-03-23 04:58 am (UTC)I know all good stories have an ending, but honestly, if your fic had 30 more chapters, I would have read it all in one night. And still get up the next morning to go to work. That's how much I adore your writing. I'm willing to sacrifice my sleep just to read it. That there is the truest love from me you will ever get. ;)
Excellent job. I enjoyed ever word!
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2010-03-23 05:26 am (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2010-03-23 06:04 am (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2010-03-23 07:30 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2010-03-23 10:48 pm (UTC)Took me a while to get Jeff, great addition and wonderful epilogue from his POV. I would so love to read more in this verse ... a rebuild of the world, some more about Merlin and now finally Arthur remembering, simply more of this.
The flashes of memories throughout the story, the hints and feeling of fate made this so fascinating to read, I love Morgana as the one to bring them all together. Really an epic and for me instant classic read, thank you for writing and sharing this.
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2010-03-24 09:42 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2010-03-25 07:03 pm (UTC)Some things in particular I love
-WILL. You brought back Will, and lo, he was brilliant!
-Gwen working for a sex chat line, and yet still being so in character and basically Gwen-ish. Her phonecall with Will after the earthquake was just charming.
-Morgana as the Lady of the Lake. I love her going around randomly hugging people she remembers, and I absolutely adore that you found a way to include her and keep her so in character without ignoring that she probably isn't going to have the easiest relationship with Merlin & Arthur in Camelot.
-Knights! Gawain being in a wheelchair, being a human rights lawyer and kick-ass with a shotgun was just utter genius.
-Dragons! Merlin insisting on helping the hurt one, and the Dragons siding with Arthur at the end.
-Too many great lines to count.
And probably about twelve other things that I'll remember as soon as I've hit post. ♥
no subject
Date: 2010-03-25 10:07 pm (UTC)I loved Gawain being all competent and fighting with words as well as he fought with a shotgun. Your very snooty Percival made me smile as well.
Morgana and Merlin's TV show history was very well handled and I liked the fact that Merlin and Arthur remembered who they were at different times but the banter was still there. Oh, and the typical Merlin-ness in saving a wounding dragon and playing dress up with the Crown Jewels and both of those things turning out to be important.