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In the Beginning
In the Beginning, August BoT challenge Merlin / @magical It was an unusual night. Legends told of how the very demons of hell would prowl upon the earth looking for victims that they could drag screaming into hell on nights like this. The profound darkness wrapped around the woman like a glove as she stumbled through it. She was wrapped in robes to conceal her identity as well as the fact she was great with child. The blood at the bottom of her robes told the story that the child was coming.
The woman was in great agony as she stumbled through the night along a path that was all too familiar to the young woman. She had spent much of her adult life walking this road until her life changed forever. The old building with a large wooden and iron door was closed at this time of the night. It was called the witching hour for a reason.
In desperation, she finally reached the door. Tiny fists clenched began to pound feverishly at the door. "For the love of God! Please help me! Please! Let me in or else we will die!" Her cries filled the air imploring for her life and for the life of her child who was coming on this the darkest night in 300 years. The door opened slowly because it was so large. She stumbled through one more time.
~*~
Constant patter of footsteps filled the halls of this nunnery. The cries of the woman in hard labor came from a room in the back. The thing that was coming from her body was an abomination that was about to enter a holy place. Despite what the thing was, its mother sought help. If they rejected the call for help, surely God would curse them. If they allowed this abomination to come into the world, they would also be cursed. This world, this night and this child were damned.
Mother Superior herself was at the side of this desperate girl. She had been the most devout of the nuns in this cloister. Some even whispered that there would be a day she would be Mother Superior herself one day, but that changed.
She tried to hide it for months. No one knew that an incubus came to her in the middle of the night and implanted his seed within her. When it was at the point she could no longer hide her shame and her defilement, they turned her out into the night. Here she was again seeking refuge and salvation for her soul. She cried out with a loud voice as the urge to push overwhelmed her.
Mother Superior clenched the rosary in her fingers as others did what they could. There was so much blood. She began whispering silent prayers for the girl's soul. The older of the nuns that were tending to this birth, reached between the legs of the girl and pulled out the child that had come forth in the last push. She cut the cord and bound it. The boy was covered in blood and breathing. He did not cry as other babies did which frightened them all.
"Merlin. He shall be called Merlin." His mother spoke just one last time before she gave up the ghost. The poor tortured soul was free.
~*~
Time passed from the night of his birth until this particular day. He was a lad of 15 years when it happened. Merlin spent time in the woods and in the caves of Britain. He had been turned out by the sisters when he was five forced to live on his own in such a manner. The people of the villages around spoke of the wild man of the forests. The children considered him a curiosity. The adults feared him. Merlin wanted nothing to do with any of them.
He was alone in one of his caves when he was approached by what appeared to be a man. Merlin was staring into the flames watching each one manifest in a particular fashion. Each one was unique and together they were dangerous. He had barely acknowledged the other male that approached him. "And why do you still sit here among those who will never accept you?" He was tall for a human but fortunately Merlin saw through his ruse and knew exactly to whom he was speaking. "You were meant for greatness!"
Merlin raised an eyebrow. He turned his head slightly in the direction of the intruder. "For a demon lord, you're a fool." Merlin told him. "Who would have guessed that Belial himself frequents the caves of Britain where his Wildman son learns the ways of nature? I have no time for delusions of grandeur."
Belial appeared as a soldier from the Crusades. It was he who had defiled the nun who could have been Mother Superior because she was the perfect choice for a powerful son. "You are meant to have great power!"
Merlin held up his right hand allowing the sparkles of the power that he possessed to radiate from his fingertips. "You mean this power?" His eyes glittered at his father. "You would have me manipulate others like you in order to enlarge your domain." The sparkles formed into a ball of fire that Merlin tossed at the feet of his father. "Get out of here. I reject you. I want nothing to do with you."
Belial was an ancient demon lord who possessed power on levels that Merlin had yet to achieve. His countenance was twisted with indignant rage at how he was being addressed by his son. "In time, you will seek me out, Boy. I will not be as forgiving as I am now."
"I said GO!" Merlin stood to his feet. This boy who appeared like an unkempt man in order to live alone was growing in power daily. It had to be controlled and regulated or else he could be that tool his father wanted. Merlin would never allow that to happen. He threw a larger fireball that opened up a simple portal to Belial's dimension and pushed him through it.
He sat back down. Merlin wasn't foolish enough to think his father wouldn't be back. He would be beyond any doubt. Merlin would be ready.
 There is no evil in sorcery, only in the hearts of men.
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