Chapter Text
Defeating an extraterrestrial god was tiring. However, Krel Tarron was at least grateful they’d been able to defeat General Morando before it was too late. Thanks to Mama and Papa. Krel could feel all the negative emotions he failed to face earlier flood back to him at the very thought of his now-deceased parents.
With everything going on he hadn’t had any time to fully process what had happened within the last twenty-four hours. Now, with Aja and Varvatos gone, he really had no one to talk to about it. No one to relate to. Krel shook his head. He wasn’t going to linger on that right now, he was finally free of the fear of being hunted, and he no longer had the responsibility of saving Earth or Akiridion-5 anymore. He was able to now be Krel Tarron, a normal inhabitant of Earth.
“Man, the rest of this summer is gonna eat farts!” Steve groans, making Toby chuckle from Krel’s left.
“Yeah, it is kind of hard to top destroying an alien god.” He comments, while behind him ARRRGH pats his shoulder.
“Wingman did good. Proud.” He smiles. Krel shrugs at his friend’s (and a half, he was still on the fence about Steve) complaints.
“I, for one, wouldn't mind if the rest of this summer is boring.” He says. “Defeating one god is enough for my lifetime.” Which were thousands of keltons to come if he was lucky. His comment only earns a frustrated noise from Steve.
“But I lost my butt-stomping, ninja-space-angel girlfriend and my creepslaying partner in the same afternoon.” The blonde complains.
“Yeah, I felt like that after Jim and Claire and everybody left on their quest-”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, we're talking about my problems here, buttsnack.” Steve cuts Toby off before a cat jumps in front of them, seemingly out of nowhere. The animal makes Steve scream and Krel blink. He hasn’t had much interaction with cats while on Earth, so he’s unaware of what to expect from this creature, and it will hopefully be an interesting encounter.
“Cat! Yum,” ARRRGH says, making the animal hiss, while Toby coos.
“Ooh, hey little guy! You lost?” He asks, as the cat…licks itself to Krel’s observation. The cat then looks at the group of teens and suddenly Krel notices it has a tiny pair of glasses on its face.
“Beware! You are in grave danger!” The cat spoke, pointing at the boys, making Krel’s eyebrows go up in surprise and Toby gasp. From that reaction, Krel could come to the conclusion this was no normal cat.
“Whoa! A cat with glasses!” Steve idiotically spoke.
“The cat just talked, and you’re focused on its eyewear?” Toby asks, an edge of exasperation in his tone.
“I've seen aliens, creeps, and trolls, Domzalski. So, yeah, I'd like to know why the talking cat's wearing glasses.” Steve rolls his eyes. Krel steps forward.
“Fascination…” He spoke, reaching a hand out towards the cat, only for it to duck.
“Bad eyesight.” The cat says, answering Steve. “Also please keep your hands to yourself!” Krel withdraws.
“Sorry.”
ARRRGH shakes his head, studying the cat in front of him. “Not cat. Familiar.” The troll grunts, making Steve scoff.
“Familiar? No way, I’d remember if I met a cat with glasses!” He says.
“No. Wizard assistant.” ARRRGH clarifies. Krel thought. Wizards? He remembers back in his time spent at Arcadia Oaks High School he’d used a majority of his free time in their library trying to understand human history and culture. The topics of wizards had popped up in his research but as far as he was concerned, wizards, witches, and other magical beings were only myth and tales to human kind. Then again…trolls and changelings exist, so wizards? Yeah not too far fetched for Arcadia.
“'Assistant'?” The cat asks, offended. “That's very offensive. I am a wizard associate , thank you very much.” The cat then jumps down from where it is perched, walking away on its hind legs. “Now, come with me, or the worst will come to pass.”
“Hey! Are you threatening me, pussycat?” Steve growls.
“No, I'm warning you.” The cat sighs. “Put simply, the world as you know it is about to end.”
To say the least, the whole group was left a bit bewildered at the encounter and that is how Krel Tarron found himself inside of a magical bookstore with a master wizard, his apprentice, and said apprentice’s familiar. The cat, Krel learned, is named Archie.
“Though, I had hoped for more, Hisirdoux,” Merlin, the master wizard, told his apprentice. A teen with blue dyed tips and a goth style whom Krel had seen around town.
“I tried.” He answers, a bit exasperated. Probably a little agitated his master didn’t recognize or even appreciate his efforts. “I couldn't find the changelings or the aliens. I'm pretty sure most left the planet.”
The sentence makes Krel frown at the apprentice.
“I find that label very demeaning!” He says. “I am an Akiridion, not an ‘alien’!” The other teen looks at Krel a bit shocked as he studies him up and down.
“You’re the alien guardian?” Merlin asks, Krel groans at his ignorance. “You don’t look the very least like it.” Oh yeah, Krel was positive he wasn’t going to like this guy.
“Yeah! Krel’s an Akiridion!” Toby then decides to say. “He’s royalty too! The King-In-Waiting of Akiridion-5!” He announces dramatically.
“Technically, I’m a king now.” Krel points out.
“Where would your Akiridion companions be now?” Archie then asks.
“My sister along with our protector and lieutenant have left Earth already.” Merlin groans at Krel’s words.
“Well if I may ask, why have you decided to stay?” The apprentice asks, Krel was sure he heard Toby call him ‘Douxie’ earlier.
“I like it here.” Krel shrugs while answering. “I find Earth rather homey.” Spending the last several parsons on Earth, Krel had found he’d taken a liking to the planet. While his fondness wasn’t instantaneous, he came around after he’d found friends, interests, and even something of a career as a disc jockey.
He never found happiness like this back on Akiridion-5.
“Well, I apologize for calling you an ‘alien’, this is my first time meeting an outer earth species. I had no idea it was such an offending term.” Douxie apologizes, bowing slightly to Krel. Krel smiles at the apology, at least Merlin’s apprentice seems to have more manners than Merlin himself.
“Pardon me but…is this what you truly look like on your home planet?” Archie asks Krel, the newcomers were probably already surprised at the revelation of Krel being an extraterrestrial, more so because he was currently in his transduction.
Krel shook his head.
“No…I look quite different, this is just my human transduction I wear to blend in with this planet's inhabitants.” He explains. “Coming here I needed to hide myself and who I truly was and I’ve found not a lot of people on Earth are very accommodating to beings like me.” Merlin coughs, returning everyone's attention to him.
“Now with that out of the way, we have more dire matters to attend to.” The wizard explains, continuing to pull books into a chest that hovers in midair thanks to his magic. “With our…limited team, I pray things will work out.” He says.
“Merlin, it's me!” Toby says, obviously excited. “Toby Domzalski! You know, War Hammer, Guardian of Arcadia, Geology Club president.” He smiles proudly.
“No one could forget you, chatty.” Merlin drones, walking past the enthusiastic teen.
“And Steve Palchuk, Creepslayer!” Steve exclaims, not even earning a glance from Merlin.
“I have no idea who you are, but we're desperate. Thankfully, we have the brute.” Merlin answers, motioning to ARRRGH who was practically salivating while looking at Archie.
“Wait, where's Jimbo and Claire? I thought they were with you.” Toby then says.
“Answers forthcoming. Make preparations. We've a journey ahead. And don't…” Merlin starts just in time for his apprentice to try and protest.
“But, Master-”
“' But, Master' me .”
Krel notices how much Douxie is obviously conflicted and it made him wonder about the true depth of the relationship the apprentice had with his master.
“But... are you sure you want to count on these children? They're clearly not ready for this.” Douxie says, motioning to Krel, Toby, and Steve. Krel rolls his eyes and Steve scoffs.
“Excuse me, college dude, these children fought off a 50-foot extraterrestrial!” Steve says, bumping into an empty suit of armor, the helmet landing in his hands. He suddenly screams, when the armor grabs his head, tugging, obviously wanting its own head back.
While Krel agrees with Steve’s argument, he has his own peeves with Douxie’s statement. Krel isn't a child , while he looks like a teenager physically he is most definitely much older than his human appearance, but with all the physiological, physical, time, and aging differences between Akiridions and Earthlings it was hard to come to an exact number.
“Master, I'm ready for this.” Douxie tries.
“Doubtful.” Krel frowns at Merlin’s response, what kind of master didn’t have faith in his own apprentice’s skills?
“I've spent years preparing, centuries-”
“Silence!”
Douxie deflates, sighing and Krel can’t help but feel bad. He understands what it’s like to be underestimated and that is definitely what is going on here. While he’s only just met Douxie, he has no doubt the wizard apprentice is skilled in his criteria, especially if he really has been practicing for centuries to perfect it.
“I mean, silence, all of you. Can you not hear that?” Merlin spoke, silencing everyone and everything in that moment. “Something wicked this way comes.” Krel hears a snarl come from behind him and turns to look outside the bookstore, its window all of a sudden drowned with black fog, making it hard to see outside.
Suddenly something jumps out from the fog and slams into an invisible force protecting the bookstore and the people inside, it scares Krel into jumping back and makes Douxie gasp. Krel has never seen such a creature before, and he’s been hunted by plenty of diverse bounty hunters of different species. Whatever this was….it was twisted, horrible and it made Krel’s stomach churn.
“Shadow mephits? Hisirdoux, did you lead them here?” Merlin scolds, while Douxie gives him a sheepish look.
“No, no! I mean, I don't think so?” He tries.
“Yes, we did.” Archie says, and Merlin rolls his eyes.
“He found us. The barrier won't hold for long. We must make egress! Tobias, take my things!” Merlin says, quickly using his green magic to send Toby, along with the chest he’d been filling books and other objects with and ARRRGH, up to the roof. Toby screams in surprise as he’s sent flying while Steve begins panicking, following by running up the stairs.
“All of you, to the roof!” Merlin then instructs, just as the mephits make their way into the bookstore, there must be hundreds. Krel quickly takes out his serrator, ready to defend himself and his friends while Douxie’s metal band around his wrist begins to glow a pretty blue.
“You two! I said get to safety!” Merlin shouts at them as the mephits strike. Krel swings his serrator, slicing one clean in half and the others seem to be enraged by this and begin to target him.
“I’ve got a weapon! I can help hold them back!” Krel tells Merlin, while continuing to combat against the horde of mephits.
“And I've got this. I can help!” Douxie adds, standing next to Krel, throwing runes and spells out at the mephits. One lunges at Krel while his back is turned and Douxie quickly sends it flying, flashing the Akiridion a quick smile. Krel pauses feeling his face heat up, but quickly snaps out of the feeling and continues to try and fend off the creatures.
However it seems they’ve gotten smart and understand how Krel’s weapon works. As Krel tries to cut and slice through more mephits they phase into shadows quickly, completely eluding any damage to be caused.
“Ugh. Still trying to earn that staff, are you?” Merlin groans, casting some spells of his own.
“Yeah. I've learned a thing or two since we last met.” Douxie tells his teacher, as Krel blocks a mephit from attacking Douxie using his serrator’s shield.
“Use the Flux Rune Second. It's stronger!” Merlin shouts at Douxie.
“All right! I knew that!” Douxie answers quickly before blasting several mephits away from him and Krel. The two then make their way up the stairs, standing close to Merlin before they hear a shout from below.
“Douxie!” Archie shouts, surrounded by several shadow mephits, all ready to attack.
“Arch!” Douxie shouts before using his magic to blast the mephits and quickly grab his companion.
“I'm fine. No need to worry.” The familiar says, exasperation in his voice, Douxie quickly hands the cat to Krel.
“Go, I’ll meet you both on the roof.” He instructs, Krel nods and rushes away with Archie in his arms. The wizard then turns, trying to find a way to stop the mephits. He looks at the fireplace, smiling as he remembers something Archie had told him earlier that evening. In a swift motion Douxie uses his magic to control the fire and quickly spread it around the bookstore, effectively killing the mephits.
He laughs at his success only for his triumph to be cut short by Merlin’s disappointment.
“Fire?!” The master wizard asks dumbfounded.
“Yeah. Magic fire!” Douxie smiles
“In a bookstore?!”
“But mephits are vulnerable to fire-”
“Move it!” Merlin stops Douxie, shoving him up to the roof.
—
As Krel stands on the roof with Archie, ARRRGH, Steve, and Toby he looks down at the street in horror. He swings his serrator quickly, as the mephits who seem to be covering the entire bookstore, inside and out, attack him and everyone else. Where did these things even come from!?
There's a loud noise and Krel looks behind him to see Douxie and Merlin have finally joined them on the roof. Krel smiles, relief washing over him to see both wizards okay, Archie jumps out of his arms quickly and over to Douxie just as Merlin summons what looks to be a floating boat.
“Whoa! Ship just got real!” Steve gawks while Merlin and ARRRGH rushes everyone on board. As the group leaves Douxie notices someone standing in the middle of the street below them, a knight clad in green armor, staring dead at him as the mephits swarm him. The creatures jump at him, only to dissipate into him , the knight looks unphased before he speaks one word that haunts the wizard.
“Boy.”
Once the group is in the sky, free of the threat, Krel feels himself relax. Well…as much as he can. He knew Arcadia was weird, but he didn’t expect to be flung into its weirdness as soon as he finished dealing with his own. He sighs before noticing Douxie approach him.
“Hey, thanks for your help back there! That was pretty impressive.” He told the Akiridion, Krel blinks before nodding.
“Uh…yeah no problem.” Krel smiles, he’s never been that great of a warrior, however, he isn’t one to not do something when the people he cares about are in trouble.
“I never got your name, I’m pretty familiar with everyone else here but you.” Douxie then points out. Douxie only vaguely recognizes Krel now that he looks at the boy, he’s seen him around Arcadia a few times, mainly at the Battle of The Bands where Douxie had been impressed by his Djing skills. However, he’d never directly interacted with him.
“Oh, yeah I’m Krel…Krel Tarron.” He holds a hand out, a gesture he’d recently learned was polite to do when introducing oneself on Earth.
“Hisirdoux Casperan, but just call me Douxie.” Douxie smiles, shaking Krel’s hand. “You know that weapon of yours is pretty interesting, could I have a look at it sometime?” He asks once the two finish their handshake.
“Yeah sure, if you tell me a little more about this magic you have.” Krel says, smiling back at him. Knowing magic still existed on Earth intrigued Krel, and to know that it was practiced regularly by Douxie made him Krel’s new interest.
“You got yourself a deal!” Douxie agrees.
“Welcome, young squires, to Camelot.” Merlin suddenly announces, gaining both Krel and Douxie’s attention. Krel’s mouth drops as he sees a floating castle come into view. It’s gigantic! It has white pristine coloring and architecture unlike anything Krel had seen from modern buildings. However, what really caught his attention was the giant green glowing sphere underneath the castle that seemed to make it fly! Oh how Krel wants to have a closer look, how he wants to learn more about it.
Douxie couldn’t help but chuckle at Krel’s obvious amazement and grins fondly at the castle. Just seeing it brought back so many memories from nine hundred years ago.
“Camelot? As in ancient-old-people-times Camelot?” Toby asks, as they near the castle, ready to land.
“Excuse me, I have a question. How is this castle flying right now?” Steve asks, a little freaked.
“The Heart of Avalon. Its magic keeps Camelot aloft, powered by time itself.” Merlin explains and Krel can’t help but ‘oooh’ at the information.
“Sir Galahad, how look the skies?” Merlin calls to a knight, perched upon the top of Camelot. He’s an older gentleman most notice as he smiles and waves at Merlin.
“All quiet, my old friend!” He calls.
“Keep your eyes on the horizon.” Merlin instructs, landing the ship inside the castle a bit fast for most people on board to be comfortable.
“I say, coming in a little hot, don't you think?” Archie says, while Steve gives what has to be his millionth shriek this night to Krel’s annoyance.
“Rubbish!” Is all Merlin says before exiting the boat, everyone swiftly following him.
Krel can’t stop staring, this place was even more intriguing on the inside! It is expansive and its interior design couldn’t help but remind him of the palace back on Akiridion-5. There were obvious differences but the similarities were there.
“Whoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!” Steve smiles, obviously just as enthused as Krel and Toby about the castle.
“It's been nine hundred years since I was last here. Hasn't changed a bit.” Douxie looks around fondly. “Except for the flying part.”
Douxie’s comment makes Steve laugh.
“'Nine hundred years'? Yeah, right. You're like, what? Like, 19?” He guesses.
“Give or take a few centuries.” Archie says from Douxie’s shoulder before jumping off and…turning into a dragon!? Krel thinks for a moment, human aging seems simple enough to understand. Their normal life span is about one hundred years, if not lower than that. To hear that Douxie is nine-hundred-years old fills him with all sorts of questions for the wizard, seeing the age is highly unusual for a human to reach…and look this young too.
“So, how many things can your cat turn into?” Steve asks, observing Archie glide across the room.
“That depends. How many things are there?” Douxie counters.
“Uh, cool, floating castle ship, but what's the grave danger you keep talking about?” Toby then butts in, cutting to the chase about what’s really important in this moment.
“Ah, there you are.” Merlin says, ignoring Toby’s question as he looks over to…Claire and an injured troll. Krel vaguely remembers the girl, she, Jim, and Toby had shown him and Aja around town one time and they’d helped the three capture lightning in a bottle. Krel never found out what it had been for, but he hadn’t really cared at the time and still didn’t.
“Claire!” Toby smiles rushing over to her and the troll. As she sees him, Claire’s face immediately lights up with a smile.
“Toby!” She says, rushing forward with the same enthusiasm.
“Arghumont!” The troll besides her greets, his uninjured arms open as he too rushes forward.
“Blinky!” ARRRGH smiles before running and scooping Toby, Claire, and Blinky into a tight looking hug.
“Whoa, hey, Steve's here, too! How 'bout-- how 'bout some love for Steve?” Steve butt in as soon as the friends have stopped hugging. Claire turns to the boy, an annoyed and distasteful look on her face.
“Oh. Hi, Steve.” She says, her voice full of apathy and disdain. She notices Krel behind him and suddenly smiles all over again.
“Krel?” She asks, walking past Steve. “Wow! It’s been a hot minute since I’ve seen you and your sister!” She says, offering a hug which Krel takes. It has been a while since Krel has seen her, if he remembers correctly the Battle of The Bands was the last time. To be fair, his life had been a little too hectic for him to notice, however, seeing her the way she was (seriously what was with this purple armor?) made Krel a bit curious as to what she's been up to.
“Come on! You barely know this guy!” Steve groans at the display.
“What are you doing here?” She asks him once the two separate.
“Merlin needs all the Guardians of Arcadia….and I guess I’m one of them.” Krel offers, making Claire raise an eyebrow.
“You?” She looks Krel up and down, obviously trying to find what was so special about the seemingly normal boy.
“Oh god, Claire you missed A LOT!” Toby laughs. “This guy! He’s from outer space!” He explains dramatically, pointing at Krel. Claire’s eyes practically bug out of her face as she looks back at the Akiridion.
“Uh…yeah, I am.” He confirms.
“Oh my god! Aliens are real!?” She asks, now just as excited as Toby.
“Actually, he prefers the term ‘Akiridion’ because that’s what he is.” Douxie butts in, making Krel smile at him.
“Sorry! Akiridions are real!?” Claire quickly corrects herself. “I have a MILLION questions.” She geeks.
“Which can probably wait, we have more important things at hand.” Douxie reminds everyone.
“Oh yeah…What happened to you guys?” Toby asks, suddenly taking in Claire and Blinky’s roughed up state. “Wait, where's Jim?” He asks, suddenly sounding panicked as he notices his best friend wasn’t here. At the mention of her boyfriend, Claire sighs, disappointment and sadness filling her eyes.
—
Merlin leads everyone into a smaller room, in the center lay a troll Jim, encased in green material, obviously made of magic. His eyes, closed and he almost seems asleep as everyone looks at him.
“Jim... What happened to him?” Toby asks tearfully as he softly puts a hand on the green casing.
“We were ambushed. Some ancient, dark warrior. An unstoppable knight clad in green.” Blinky explains, looking just as depressed as Toby. “Who struck down, Master Jim.”
Douxie blinks, suddenly remembering the figure he’d seen back when they were attacked at the bookstore.
“Master, is that the same knight we saw at the bookstore?” Douxie asks Merlin who nods with a look of dread on his face.
“One and the same.” He says. “That onyx shard is working its way towards his heart.” The wizard explains, pointing to a black shard of stone, piercing Jim’s amulet. “I placed the boy in stasis, stalling its progress... for now.”
“If I had my Shadow Staff, I could've saved him.” Claire said, her voice cracking. She looks and sounds about ready to cry.
“Who is this Green Knight? How do I get my hands on him?” Toby suddenly exclaims angrily. While neither Krel or Douxie knew Jim well their sympathies did lay with Claire and Toby who were obviously not taking this loss very well. How could they?
“I do not know. The Green Knight said but one name, which chilled me to the bone…Morgana.” Merlin says. Everyone around Krel seems to tense up at the mention of this ‘Morgana’ and least to say it confuses him. He’s never heard of this name before and didn’t know whom it belonged to but from everyone’s reaction, it sounded like whoever she was, she was bad news.
“Oh, I hate that lady.” Toby growls before looking at Merlin with confusion. “Wait, I thought we kicked her bewitched butt to the Shadow Realm.”
“Which he appeared not to know, but he bore the emblem of Camelot.” Merlin explains, suddenly guiding them to yet somewhere else. “Come with me, quickly. I fear the answer lies in the past. A dark menace is coming, one even I cannot face alone.”
Douxie feels a bit frightened at the statement. Someone (or thing) that not even Merlin could face alone? This must be serious.
“You are all now soldiers in a war started centuries ago for the world of magic.” Merlin explains, opening a small and thin white capsule. Suddenly what looks to be a hologram shot out from it, displaying pictures of people and settings most people in the room didn’t recognize.
“Once, the realms of Magic and Man clashed in endless bloodshed. King Arthur sought to wipe out magic that ravaged the lands in his war against Gunmar.” Merlin explains, the hologrammed pictures moving rapidly to show the war and its bloodshed. “I brought what few spellcasters I could under my protection to spare them from the sword…” He explains the picture of a hooded person appearing.
“Including myself.” Douxie cut in. “Oh, and Morgana le Fay.” He adds. Merlin sighs, as a picture of a beautiful woman, dressed in elegant gold armor appears.
“She was the finest student I ever taught... until she tried to kill me.” He explains. “Thankfully, in my all-seeing wisdom, I created a secret weapon-- the Trollhunter Amulet.” Krel beat a fist against his open palm. Trollhunter! Everything was all making sense now.
“The war came to a standstill and I imprisoned Morgana at the Battle of Killahead Bridge.” Merlin went on. “This Green Knight that assailed us was clearly born of dark magicks but I have no memory of him, nor what connection he could have to Morgana. We know not what he is nor why he pursues us. Though, his presence is a dire omen of things to come.”
Suddenly the castle shakes, causing everyone to fall to the floor.
“What's happening?” Claire asks as everyone quickly gets to their feet
“Have you never been under attack before? To the battlements!” Merlin orders, running with everyone quick to follow. Outside the group stops as they see another floating fortress, however, this one looking far more sinister than Camelot.
“What the...?” Steve squints as it comes closer.
“Oh, no! I think we have something of a problem.” Archie panics, while Douxie looks on in horror.
“Oh, fuzz buckets.”
“No... the Arcane Order... they found us.” Merlin says, just as the fortress comes close enough for Krel to see who’s onboard. Two figures, neither look human. The taller one has a skull covering their face and black feathers that drag down their back. They wear a wooden pauldon with eyes on their chest, its yellow sclera with a blue circle and red iris trail down to armor shaped like a mouth and nose. While the other looks like a child with skin so blue it makes Krel think he is frostbitten, he wears a skull like his companion, but it does not cover his face. For clothing, he wore a simple blue cloak that came to his knees.
“Everyone, get to safety, now!” Merlin shouts at everyone, before trying to conjure a spell only for his staff to get struck out of his hand by the Order’s magic. “My staff!” He grunts and in no time at all, Archie swiftly flies down towards it.
“I've got it!” The cat—er dragon tells everyone, but not before almost being struck by the Order’s attacks, making him drop the staff. “I lost it!” He shouts, frustrated.
Krel takes out his serrator, panicked as green creatures surround him and everyone on board Camelot. Steve shouts a crazy battle cry, fixing the knight helmet on his head while Toby quickly takes out his hammer and Claire stands confidently, ready to fight. The creatures snarl before lunging at everyone, making the teens attack and fend off the disgusting looking threat.
As Krel cuts through one of the creatures, killing it, he is splattered with its remains, a horrible smelling green colored residue. The Akiridion gags.
“Fligshaag!” He exclaims, as he continues to be ambushed by the seemingly endless army of green creatures.
“Man the cannons! We must flee!” Merlin shouts, Douxie, quick to obey his master’s command, nods.
“I'm on it!” He says, running to the highest tower of Camelot before opening the top and exposing Avalon, making the sphere move, it’s magic ready. “I've got it, I've got it, I've got it.”
The castle shakes once again, making the fighters pause to catch themselves from falling.
“They're boarding us! We must break free! Steer us clear at my command!” Merlin shouts at Douxie, who nods quickly to him.
“I'm on it!”
Merlin runs inside the castle, quickly trying to find a way to get rid of the Order before they successfully take what they came here for.
“Merlin!”
As if the thought summons her, Nari of the Eternal Forest comes out of hiding and runs towards the wizard, a worried look on her face.
“No! Nari!” Merlin grunts as the castle shakes once more. Nari looks conflicted as she watches Merlin struggle, him and his allies.
“This is all my fault.” She says sorrowfully. The Order has finally found her, after nine-hundred years of running and hiding, they have finally caught up. Now she has nowhere to run.
“I will take us to the past, but you must help me.” Merlin explains and Nari nods, quickly summoning her magic. The beautiful green glow growing powerful and bright in her hand.
“I will do what I can.” She promises, she will. She’ll do anything to protect the innocent from her siblings. She despises herself that it took her so long to see how wrong her sibling’s belief in humans is and how long it had taken her before she finally acted against them by running away. However, this is her chance to redeem herself from those mistakes, by helping Merlin save humanity and hide herself along with the Genesis Seals from Bellroc and Skrael.
—
Much to Krel’s disappointment, he has not seen the last of the shadow mephits like he thought he had when he’d escaped the bookstore. The creatures hiss and attack Krel along with his friends, who just as effectively as him, fight them off.
“We've got to protect Jim! I'm not losing him again!” Claire shouts at everyone as she uses her physical strength to get rid of the goblins and mephits.
“Feel the wrath of the hammer!” Toby shouts, as he attacks with his weapon. Krel doesn’t answer but puts this as an objective as he slices through the mephits (at least the ones who don’t phase out of his attacks).
“Die, creeper!” Steve shouts as Archie flies past everyone, still frantically looking for the staff.
“Where's the staff? Where's the staff?” He panics as he flies past Douxie, trying to steer Camelot.
“Archie, find the staff or we are all dead meat!” The wizard warns, earning a glare from his familiar.
“What do you people think I'm doing?” Archie shouts exasperated, he suddenly sees the staff, laying carefully on one of the towers. He quickly dives, avoiding every attack the Order throws at him.
“Archie, I'm running out of time, here!” Merlin shouts impatiently, back outside from his talk with Nari.
“Got it!” The familiar shouts, swiftly making his way back to Merlin. Suddenly a path of ice is shot at the castle, shaking it as it connects with Camelot. Everyone watches in horror as one of the figures, the smaller one with blue skin, quickly tries to cross.
“Surrender, Merlin.” Skrael chuckles, a sinister sound, coming closer to the castle.
“Never.” Merlin answers without hesitation. From Skrael’s left Galahad quickly breaks out of the ice the demi-god had trapped him in before everyone had noticed the Order had arrived. He grabs hold of the lever used to steer the tower he was stuck on, charging at Skrael and his path.
“Merlin! Merlin! Get everyone to safety!” The knight shouts at the wizard.
“No, Galahad! What are you doing?!” Merlin shouts, only being able to watch as Galahad crashes the tower into the ice path, destroying it while killing himself in the process. He’d successfully stopped Skrael from boarding at a horrible cost.
“Farewell, my old friend.” Merlin shut his eyes, and with a heavy heart he shouts towards his apprentice. “Hisirdoux, now!”
“Please don't blow us up. Please don't blow us up.” Douxie begs as he begins the spell, pushing Camelot away from the Arcane’s reach.
“We don't have enough power for the jump!” Archie warns his best friend.
“Trust in Merlin!” Douxie answers. Inside the castle, Nari stood by Avalon, her magic at ready. Then summoning as much as she can she releases it into the castle's power source, draining herself as she feels the magic leave her. She only hopes this will all be enough, enough to save Merlin and everyone on board, enough to free them from her corrupted sibling’s grasp.
“Hold together. Come on!” Douxie says, smiling as he notices a portal open below the castle. “We have to steer Camelot through the time rift!”
However worse comes to pass as Merlin recognizes the Green Knight as he emerges from the Arcane Order’s fortress. The villain scowls at Merlin before retrieving his sword and pointing it at the castle.
“It ends... now!” The Green knight says before releasing an attack of strong magic at Merlin.
“Oh, sod it all.”
The strike is enough to knock Krel along with Claire, Douxie, and Steve off the castle. All four thankfully catch themselves before falling into the time rift below them, that is until the still encased Jim knocks against Krel’s fingers, it’s force enough for him to accidentally fall along with Jim into the time rift below.
“Jim! Jim! Krel!” Claire shouts after the two as she, Douxie, and Steve watch them both fall clear through the time rift.
“What do we do, man?” Steve asks Douxie, panicked. Douxie looks down as Krel and troll Jim fall…Krel most likely to his death, unless Akiridions can survive a fall from this height, Douxie doubts that.
“Trust me!” The wizard says, tearing Claire’s hand from where she clung.
“Wait! No, no, no” She screams as she realizes what Douxie is doing, a bit too late and she screams as she and the wizard start falling, following their two friends into the time rift.
“Flying castles suck!” Steve declares as he too lets go and allows himself to fall in after Claire and Douxie, just in time before the rift closes as Archie tries to follow.
—
Krel screams as he feels himself fall from the castle and back in time. Seklos and Gaylen, he was going to die! He freaks out as he quickly grabs onto Jim’s green glassy encasing, hoping the object will possibly soften his fall. He feels bad using Jim as a shield but he doubts Jim will be able to feel it. At the last moment he takes out his serrators shield, hoping for the best as he and Jim plummet to the ground at heart pounding speed.
Above him Douxie quickly tries to conjure his magic, frantically looking for a spell to soften his and his friends' fall.
“Oh, come on! Come on!” He begs, finally being able to find the runes. “This is gonna hurt!” He warns before throwing the spell towards Krel and then him, Claire, and Steve.
“It... does... hurt!” Steve groans as the three are hit with the anti-gravity spell repeatedly. Everyone screams, until they finally hit the ground, hard but not enough to kill them.
“Oh, god…” Steve groans, sitting up as the three come to their senses. Douxie and Claire groan, both sore from the fall, but hey they're alive, so neither can complain.
“Krel?!” Douxie then remembers, looking around frantically for his other friend. Above them, stuck on a tree, Krel lays carefully on top of Jim, careful not to break the tree’s branches so he won’t fall. Just another reason to hate the klebbing things.
“I can't see! I'm blind!” Steve panics, not noticing his helmet is stuck on his face backwards. It swiftly moves with his jerky movements, allowing him to realize and remove the helmet from in front of his face. “Oh, I can see!” He smiles. Krel hears the branches snap and in his panic he looks down, realizing Steve is right below him. He suddenly falls, giving a shout before landing on top of Steve, who gives a small and pained whimper as Jim lands on him.
“What just happened?” Krel asks, getting off of the encased Jim.
“Well, I just conjured an anti-gravity spell to slow our fall and keep us from dying.” Douxie pants, before looking at Krel with a tired smile. “You're welcome.” The Akiridion can’t help but smile in disbelief, but he nods. Thoroughly impressed with Douxie’s skills and quick thinking.
Claire is quick to remove Jim from on top of Steve, holding his casing with worry, until she looks above them.
“Douxie, where is the flying castle?” She suddenly asks, dread in her voice. Douxie looks up as well, realizing in terror just what this means for all of them.
“Oh, fuzz buckets! Well, it would appear we've had ourselves a temporal accident.” He tells everyone, a nervous look on his face.
“Which means...?” Claire asks, as Krel looks around in wonder…this did not look like the Earth he knew.
“Advance!”
Suddenly the five are surrounded by knights. Claire gasps, as she covers Jim protectively. Steve looks freaked out while Krel is in shock as he’s backed closer to everyone else. The knights look at them with hostility, their weapons brandished and pointed squarely at them. The five cower closer together before one, the leader it seems, comes over to them.
“It means... we are lost in time.” Douxie says regretfully
“What manner of sorcery is this?” The leader of the knights asks, his sword pointed directly at Douxie. As Steve screams all Krel can think in the middle of the chaos is how utterly fucked he knows him and his new friends are.