Merlin the Timekeeper

Many years ago, the people of Eldoria watched a simple man fall from the heavens and slay the dragon threatening their realm. Some recall the loud war cries this legendary man roared out as a display of his power showing the kingdom the true potential of human strength, Some say the man wept for the dragon as he harbored no ill will towards the creature as he delivered the beast to the afterlife, Some scholars believe it was the work of a singular powerful spell that felled the dragon.

No matter what you believe it is a fact that from that day on that very man became the ruler of the kingdom of Eldoria surpassing the influence and power of even the king. The man known only as ‘Merlin’ to the people of the realm became known as a celestial-being as he continued to accomplish so much in such little time. When the kingdom was in need of medicine during the plague Merlin created a laboratory to create potions for the sick, when the kingdom struggled to recover from a blight on their crops Merlin cured the blight and increased crop fertility.

When an unknown entity that called itself ‘The Timekeeper’ appeared in Eldoria it warned the city that a worthy mortal had to be chosen by the people to take it’s place and carry the burden of his hourglass before the Timekeeper was taken by the very thing it was sworn to protect. The Timekeeper warned that someone must be chosen before the very nature of time and space itself begins to dissolve. Merlin was chosen by the people to take on this title and as such became known as ‘Merlin the Timekeeper’.Is it possible for one man to be capable of such feats however, well how’s about we find out?

We find ourselves in Merlin’s tower, it appears as though he is demonstrating how to efficiently make a top of the line potion to a wandering witch who made her way to learn from this grand wizard. “So my dear you say you’re looking for a potion to transport people to certain destinations? Well you have come to the right place, I’m glad to know that the stereotype that witches simply use their cauldron for cooking children is far from true.” Merlin said chuckling with an awkward scratch behind his balding head. The witch looked away awkwardly towards her black cat familiar she had brought along.

“Very well, in order to make a potion such as one that allows teleportation, it can be quite difficult to obtain a precise location so allow me to show you using your home as an example. I imagine the muck you have dragged in is soil from outside your household as I see you brought your broom to fly over here,” Merlin said, annoyed, noticing the filth the witch had brought in. Merlin plucked the dirt from what used to be his pristine floors. Merlin dropped it into his own cauldron looking over in the next room. The witch noticed the wizard was wearing an odd expression as he seemed to be mouthing something to the room beside him and pointing at various ingredients on his shelf. He appeared less confident with each ingredient that he plucked from the shelf and dropped into the cauldron. Merlin stirred the contents of the cauldron together. “Now! Here you are! One teleportation potion. It’s as simple as that! Why don't you give it a drink and see for yourself?” came the shaky instruction. The witch appeared concerned and would certainly not have downed the contents of this potion were it anyone other than the legendary wizard Merlin. The witch drank the potion and with a loud belch, she disappeared, leaving nothing but bubbles in her wake.

Merlin collapsed to the ground in disbelief. “I can’t believe that actually worked! Galen! Get me some ale” Removing his hands from his face, Merlin saw his apprentice Galen hurry over with a tankard. “See master, I knew you could do it! Not even a witch as skilled as she could match your talent when it comes to brewing potions,” Galen said, placing the drink into Merlin’s shaking hand. “So what do we do with the cat then?” Galen asked, walking over to the witch’s familiar and scratching behind its ear. Merlin finished the ale and stood. “Ah leave it be. It won’t do any harm to have a pet around here to bring some peace to this mad tower.” He leaned back in his chair with his feet on the desk and closed his eyes. Galen watched the cat wander into the restricted room. “Well two minutes here and you’re already breaking the rules. I admire that about cats,” he muttered. Merlin stared into his empty tankard. “Thank you for the help with the potion, Galen. As always I am but the apprentice parading as the wizard while you remain the wizard parading as the apprentice.” “Master, I won’t listen to that,” Galen replied sternly. “You are the legend of Eldoria—no, the entire realm. Your name inspires everyone who hears it.” Merlin gave a tired smile. “Well thank you boy. I suppose nothing catastrophic happened today, so I’ll count that as a victory.” The moment the words left his mouth, a sharp shatter echoed through the tower. Merlin and Galen rushed into the next room. The black cat sat beside a broken hourglass, calmly licking its paws. Merlin froze. “Oh lords above…” Galen bent to pick up the cat, speaking to it like a child that had made a mistake. “It’s alright, everyone has accidents.” “Galen,” Merlin whispered. Galen looked up and recoiled. Merlin stared in horror. Galen’s youthful face had vanished, replaced by wrinkled skin and a long grey beard. Merlin fell backward. Looking into a shard of the shattered hourglass, he saw his reflection. Young again. “Galen… do not panic,” Merlin said, already panicking. “It appears time and space themselves have shattered. Quite literally.” Galen clutched his back in pain. “Master… please don’t tell me that hourglass is the hourglass you were meant to protect.” Merlin stared blankly, then slowly nodded. He rushed back into the brewing room, tearing through chests and shelves. Behind him, Galen gave the cat a gentle pat to show he wasn’t angry. The cat responded by clawing him and biting his leg. While Galen stumbled away, Merlin suddenly stopped searching. “The king has it!” he shouted. “The king has what?” Galen asked. “The artifact I gave him years ago the one that repairs anything it touches! If we can get that, we can fix the hourglass.” Merlin stuffed the broken pieces into a bag. Then he paused. “Hold on… how did you know what I was about to say before I said it?” Galen frowned. “It seems the hourglass is affecting more than just our age. Best we get moving before things get worse.” He hesitated. “We could brew a potion to teleport to Eldoria… surely?” Galen sighed before Merlin could answer. “Never mind. I guess we’re walking.” Merlin blinked. “Did it happen again? How did you know I had no soil from Eldoria?” “Time may be distorted,” Galen said calmly, “but I also know you far too well by now.” He straightened his aching back.“Regardless, no more dilly-dallying, my boy. We must make haste to Eldoria.”

As the two set out for their travels, they passed forests full of saplings and dead trees, birds flying backwards and days going by in the blink of an eye as the land around them changed from night to day every few minutes. As they came to the gates of Eldoria, they were greeted by children wearing oversized soldier armor. Merlin approached the young soldiers, adopting an imperial stance with a puff-out chest, “Allow us entry lads, we have a world to save and the king has what we need to save it.” Merlin felt like a pretender to the throne with this remark. “Password? Came the squeaky command. I don't recall there ever being a password before, he thought. Are these protective measures for enemy spies? Merlin looked back at Galen who he hoped would help with this situation but Galen was sitting atop a stump, reciting vague, wise-adjacent words to the natural world around him. “Look here stinky butt, if you don’t know the password then we ain’t gonna let you in so go away before I get my mam involved!” one of the guards yelled with a slight crack to his voice, making his friends look at each other holding back laughter while mocking him silently behind his back. Merlin shouted for Galen as he was not patient enough to deal with this situation but his apprentice was. As Merlin called Galen over waking him from his slumber a loud flapping could be heard from within the city walls. Suddenly a hue of bright orange shone through the cracks of the city gates, before the gates began melting and falling to the floor. Now that there was a clear view into the city Merlin saw the beast that had plagued his dreams for nearly a decade. There was no mistaking it for another dragon, this was the one that Merlin suspected Galen really defeated all those years ago. Merlin shooed the children away from the beast’s sight while he grabbed Galen and ran into the city finding the nearest alley to the now melted gates. Looking around Merlin recognized the layout of the city to more resemble what it looked like all those years ago, “No it couldn’t be!” Merlin said with panic. Merlin peeked around the corner getting a better view of the dragon that stood nearly two hundred metres away. As Merlin looked at the nape of the dragon he spotted what he hoped he wouldn’t see. He saw a distant version of himself hanging on for dear life - this is how it played out before. Seeing the dragon turn, he dragged Galen out into the streets and yelled, “Galen listen to me, do you remember how you defeated the dragon last time, and don’t lie to me, I know it was you who cast the spell? I recall hanging on for dear life, crying and shouting for you to do something, which I'm not proud to admit,” Merlin said, feeling ashamed. “Well master, it shouldn’t be too hard to find me,” Galen said, looking out into the streets, moving forward towards the dragon.

Merlin followed Galen feeling disheartened having finally confirmed that it was his apprentice that was the true hero of this day ten years ago. Merlin followed him for about one hundred metres before Galen finally stopped. “What is it, Galen? Do you see yourself? Where are you?” Merlin asked, beginning to feel sick with how close they were getting to the dragon. “I’m right here,” Galen replied, looking over at Merlin confused. “No I mean where is the you from all those years ago?” “Ah, here I am!” Galen said, poking his past self with his shoe beside him. Merlin looked beside Galen to see the younger apprentice collapsed on the ground unconscious. “What in blazes happened Galen? Why are you unconscious?!” Merlin yelled, his hands growing cold and clammy. “I’m not you’re talking to me now aren’t you? Oh no, have I passed away and this is my soul leaving my body?!” Galen said, looking at his past self back to him while panicking. “No you old fool, why is your past self laying here on the ground when he has to save me and everyone else here in a few moments from now” Merlin replied, finding his apprentice’s confusion less refreshing and more frustrating now. “Well let me think back to my youth, if I recall correctly, I saw a dragon and collapsed from fear, I should say it now master but if I see a dragon I am rendered unconscious from fear, how you took it down will always impress me as I was scared out of my wits,” Galen responded to Merlin, realising he had not died. As Galen looked up he finally took notice of the dragon.“Master, it’s a dragon!” Galen yelled while pointing at the impossible to miss dragon standing only one hundred metres ahead of them. “Yes I know that already, do you not see the urine down my leg and the trembling of my knees? Galen? Merlin asked, looking over at Galen who had fallen on top of his past self falling unconscious with the sight of the dragon. When Merlin looked back at the dragon it began to move around the corner out of view. Merlin pulled out his spellbook blowing away the dust and flipped to the levitation spell page. Merlin spoke the words Galen had used many times to clean cobwebs from his tower. Merlin grabbed the Galens on the ground and floated to the tallest building searching for the dragon. As he looked at the dragon he saw events continue to play out as they had ten years ago any moment now was when something defeated that dragon.

Merlin waited looking for the hero but it was clear that perhaps the hero of old had not appeared in this version of events. Seeing the dragon become more berserk the more time passed, Merlin knew it would have to be up to him to try something. Merlin skimmed through his spellbook the dust making him cough as he scanned through the pages looking for something to take out the dragon. He began chanting a lightning spell but it didn't seem to be striking lightning, it had only created some dark clouds above the dragon. As he heard his past self scream for Galen he grew angry with his past self begging for help from a mere fifteen year old boy who was under his care. Merlin’s rage turned into a storm both within him and within the clouds he created as he chanted with primal rage loud thunder boomed as in a flash a sharp pierce of lightning found its mark in the head of the dragon. In an instant the dragon fell to the ground and the city folk began to cheer for the pitiful Merlin of the past. Merlin averted his gaze from his past self who revelled in false glory. The youthful Galen met Merlin’s gaze in awe yelling, “Master you just killed a dragon with a single spell, you’re amazing! But why do you look so old and wrinkly? Also, how are there two of you and who is this elderly gentleman squashing me?” Merlin grabbed the elderly Galen and floated down to the king’s castle. Merlin swore to himself in that moment that he would live up to the legend he had falsely become. Upon entering the castle Merlin spotted an infant chewing on the artefact that they needed. Merlin put Galen down to take the artefact that did in fact resemble a child’s toy so he could understand the child’s fixation on the item. Galen woke up asking Merlin if he dealt with the dragon to which Merlin responded stating that the hero of old did not show up on this occasion so it fell to him to slay the dragon. Galen rolled his eyes and said, “Apologies master, but you must be the most foolish hero that ever existed, respectfully,” Galen said, worrying he had offended Merlin. Galen attempted to explain how Merlin had not grasped what had just happened but decided to let it go as he felt he was talking to the wall which was quite likely happening since he had such poor vision now. Merlin emptied the hourglass onto the floor using the artefact to repair it. A strong force emitted from the hourglass pushing Merlin back against the wall rendering him unconscious.

Merlin awoke finding himself sitting at his desk. The shock caused Merlin to fall back out of his chair feeling a sharp pain down his back. He looked at his hand seeing the old man's hands he grew to not really love but tolerate. His youthful apprentice reached out a hand,“Master, are you ok, what happened? Galen asked, looking worried. “I’m fine boy, I've still got many years ahead of me, don't look at me like I'm some feeble man, I slew a dragon don’t you know?” Merlin said with pride. Galen appeared less worried, and with a cracked smile said, “Wow! How hard did you hit your head master to finally admit to something like that?” Merlin stood up with help from Galen and dusted himself off stating, “I think it’s time I finally accepted how amazing I am my boy.” Galen looked at Merlin with his smile widening, “Sir, this is how I have seen you the entire time. I'm glad you finally see yourself as a true living legend." “Yes my boy there is a lot to learn from yours truly, it’s not easy achieving this level of grandeur but with enough confidence anything is possible you just need to believe in yourself,” Merlin said puffing out his chest, attempting to impress Galen. Just as Merlin had thought of another wise and inspirational quote to impart onto his apprentice, a loud shattering was heard from the other room. Merlin froze, keeping his eyes closed, hoping that wasn’t what he thought it was. He slowly walked over to the room seeing the black cat. It sat beside a broken hourglass licking its paws and cleaning its ears once again. Before Galen entered the room Merlin remained facing away from Galen and said, “On the other hand, overconfidence can make a mockery of all who invoke it,” Merlin stared daggers at the cat who he was convinced was smiling at him. Merlin charged after the cat, screaming profanities, while Galen attempted to save the cat from Merlin’s wrath. And that’s the tale of the legendary hero known as Merlin, the not-so-great Timekeeper.