Awakening (Merlin Ambrosius) (Private)

Tick... Tick... Tick...

That was the only thing Mythica could hear. Her mind was filled with nothing but the ever so consistent ticking sound. Her thoughts were clouded, and barley visible. All she could make out were faint images. Golden clocks, red blood... And a dim sun. They were all mashed together, and the girl couldn't make any sense of it. Then, she saw something else, a bright light...

The girl slowly opened her eyes, and her vision returned slowly. The area that had surrounding her seemed to be a regular looking bedroom. With a window not far from her head. The bright afternoon sun had been shining down on her through it, which stirred Mythica from her apparent slumber. The girl slowly shifted her head, which had been placed on a large pillow. She looked over and concluded she had been on a bed. The room was empty and silent. Mythica widened her eyes once her senses came back to her, and a million questions ran through her head. She tried to remember the last thing that had happened to her, but that was the strange part... She couldn't. The girl slowly leaned up in the bed, and looked out the window. She could see a very large city below her, bustling with hundreds of people all going about their daily lives. Yet she had no idea where this city was, where SHE was, or what she was doing there... One thing was certain however... The still clock on the wall across her was getting increasingly annoying.

The only thing that broke the silence in the room she resides was the sound of the clock, reminding her that time moved on, seconds were being spent and she was alive and safe from further danger.

How did she get here in crocus?
How long was she asleep?
Ah yes, it has been 3 days since then...

The images in her head was a blur, a sharp pain would run through her head at the point of trying to remember. Her body felt heavy, most of her energy spent and she was just as vulnerable as any young girl.As the girl gaze upon the urban landscape, footsteps can be heard from the door.

Someone is coming...

The door opens to reveal a man in robes in such fashion that Mythica never has seen before, he crowned with white hair and long hair, who wore a warm smile, on his face was some kind of rune and the purpose for it remains a mystery.


"Ah I see you're awake!" With him was boxed lunch, a rice meal with cut pieces of meat.
"Come now, don't be shy, I won't eat you." He sat by the table across the room, waiting for her to come.

Mythica continued to stare out the window, her mind running with questions. She had no idea how to react to this kind of situation. The girl tried to think as hard as she could, but her memory only reached as far back as when she woke up in this bed. Suddenly, footsteps were heard behind her. Mythica turned her head around to witness a new arrival. A rather young looking man entered the room, wearing robes Mythica had never seen a resemblance to before. She only stared at him with a empty, and somewhat sad expression on her face, not saying anything as he stepped into the room.

She observed him closely, sizing him up. She tried to remember if she knew this man, but of course, along with the rest of her memories she couldn't place his face. She watched him take a seat at a nearby table holding food. Mythica couldn't deny her feeling of sudden hunger when she saw it, and it drove her to slowly move out of the covers. The girl slowly struggled to step off the bed, feeling extremely weak, and heavy. She stumbled but quickly caught herself on the bedside table, panting heavily. Her legs trembled for a moment as Mythica tried to regain her balance. After a moment she did, and walked a few feet towards the table. The young girl stared at the man for another moment, not speaking. After he told her it was okay, she shot a desperate look over to the food, and slowly took a seat on the chair across from him. She was still rather short, so she struggled to lift herself on the wooden structure, and let her lags dangle a foot from the ground.

Without saying anything, Mythica quickly grabbed the rice meal, ignoring the cutlery using her hands to quickly consume it. Even though she had many questions on her mind, her hunger seemed to trump their need drastically... The man's presence started to fade from her knowing as she continued to eat the meal greedily.

It seems she can stand up after all. Her body seemed a bit frail and heavy as expected, she was complete drain of her mana and would of course require sustenance. He chuckled of the fact that she had to get out of bed, what a silly fool he was not to serve it on bed but she moved on her own and walked a few feet towards the table shows that she's someone with will power to the point that regardless of her body condition she'd still continue to move on to her objective.

And that expressionless look on her face, there's no mistaken that she must have had a gruesome and horrible "death". Something ate her alive but not entirely as bits of humanity can be seen in her pupils, she's scarred, confused, cold, hungry and the only source of comfort to her right now is the food that this man brought with him for her to eat.

"So how are we today?"

A knock on the door. The man turned around to answer, it was a delivery designated to this room, fresh clothes and the medicine that he requested. He was surprised how fast they responded to his request. He returned to the now hungry little girl and placed he clothes and medicine on the bed.

"Can you remember what happened to you?"

As the girl continued to eat silently she suddenly remembered she wasn't alone. She stopped her hands for a moment, and looked up at the man sitting across the table who had seemed to be observing her with a smile. The girl gulped whatever food was left in her mouth and bowed her head to say "thank you" to the man. She placed her hands in her lap and stared down at the table. Even though she wanted to ask all these questions, she didn't have the courage to speak for some reason.

Her head perked up when she heard another person walk in the room. She sat silently staring at both individuals as they interacted with each other. As the man placed the clothes and medicine on the bed, her turned and asked the million dollar question. The girl's face grew surprised when he asked her if she remembered anything. She thought they must've known. Despite this, Mythica silently shook her head staring at the ground.

"I see, do you have a name little one? I hope you'd at least remember your own name." The one who delivered the clothes dismiss himself from the room and the two were alone again. He came down to her level and caressed her cheek, his fingers travel down towards her chin as his eyes looked up to hers closely. "You have different eye colors from each eye, what a unique trait you must have, I'm a bit jealous though, I wish I have eyes like yours."

And finally, just by looking at her face, he realized that her expression was one with a silent inquiry. He began to explain what was necessary for her to know at this moment. He removed his hand from her face and prepared the be from which she came out off.

"I found you unconscious during one of my travels, you were breathing and alive but not responsive, I brought you here to the Capital City of Crocus because I thought you needed help. For now I advise you to stay in this room, you will need plenty of rest and recovery."

The girl sat silent as the man gave his response. When he asked her her name Mythica looked up at him. She closed her eyes and tried to remember... Whatever had caused her to lose her memory did however leave her identity... She remembered the first two syllables. "M- Mythic.." She struggled for a moment. "Mythica..." The girl slowly mumbled.

She stared at him as he leaned down at eye level and placed a hand on her cheek. Her eyes filled with questions. That's when he mentioned something rather odd. He told her she had two different colored eyes... "Wh- What's wrong with my eyes..? She asked worriedly. Her hand felt the softness under both of them to make sure nothing was out of place. That's when the man told her what she had been wanting to know since she awoke.

"You found me...? Wh- where was I? What was I doing?" The girl held her head trying to remember as small tears filled her eyes. "What happened..."

Judging from her reaction, it seems having her trying to recall events isn't a wise thing, perhaps they should not focus on the past but what can they do now in the present, it was ill manners that gave her this reaction and all he can do now is calm her down and force her to look forward.

"Mythica... such a unique name!" She was mumbling, perhaps trying to process what's going on as of this moment. The fact that she may not remember can come under two circumstances, either she has a bad memory to which she suffered post traumatic stress causing her to regressing everything that happened before she woke up. Its probably best to leave that memory be until she's ready to face it.

The second circumstance is that she could have been manipulated, used or possessed by something and that is a possibility he wanted to explore but perhaps at a later date. He grabbed both the little girl's hands and wiped her tears with his clean napkin. "That's what I wanted to know, I found you on the side of the road so I was wondering where you come from or at least do you have any relatives?" he hid one of his hands in his pockets preparing a rune in case of any mental interference. If her condition was due to her being exposed to a high level concentration of magic, he provide that and treat it instantly, otherwise its not gonna be entirely necessary.

The girl stared at the floor while the man processed the information. Truth was, she had no idea who she was, or where she came from... She couldn't remember anything... At all... She hoped the man would proved the answers, as he owed them to her if he had them.

"Rel- relatives? You mean like family?" The girl squeaked as he asked her. Like before, the young girl couldn't remember anything. But something told her she didn't... "I- I don't know... I can't remember anything..." Mythica said staring into his eyes with her own. The girl had yet to witness that one of her eyes was far more different then the other. Not just a simple color change. So her next words didn't make much sense to herself, but to anyone who witnessed her face may piece things together.. To some extent at least. "All I see are... Clocks. Or maybe that was a nightmare... Just a bad dream before I woke up... Maybe this is a bad dream... She sniffled.

"I see, you're confused and tired, if you can't remember the things that happened to you before I found you then those are the things you don't really want to remember. I want you to look at me, everything is going to be alright, take a deep breath and if you have any questions to ask of me, then ask away." He drew a glass of water along with a serum that will relieve the stress in her body caused by magic.

"Go back to bed and I'll tell you everything you need to know." He mixed both water and the serum together with a stirring rod and came to the girl who's now settling in her bed.

(I need to warm up with this thread a bit, I'll start setting everything up soon ^__^ )

Mythica took a deep breath, trying to recover from the initial shock of her situation which she only started to feel now. Up until this point, the only thing on her mind was her stomach. She didn't know how long she had been asleep for, so it made sense that she was extremely hungry. Of course, once that had been taken care of, the girl slowly started to grasp her situation, and she started to panic. Although she followed the man's advice as he reassured her that everything was fine.

She slowly hobbled over to the bed, her eyes wide and staring at the floor. She felt weak, and empty. Although at the same time she wanted to puke. a million emotions ran through her tiny body as she tried and failed to remember. She sat in the bed, and looked up at him, hoping he would provide the answers she wanted.

(So sorry for the late reply. A bunch of crap came up and I didn't have time to check the site.)

Calm and composed the Magus was, he stirred the medicine together with water and placed it on the small end table on the side of her bed. “Now take off your clothes dearie, come now and let me clean you up.” He grabbed a plastic basin of water from under the bed, drew out a piece of cloth from the pile of clothes delivered and damped it into the water filled basin wringing it, then proceeds to clean her up. “Unfortunately they had shut down the city waters for maintenance so the bathroom won’t be of any use for a while.” It was like taking care of a daughter he never had. After cleaning her up, the basin water was murky; imagine how dirty she was when she got here but at least for now she’s ok.

Afterwards he clothed her and tucked her in, sitting upright as he offered her to drink the glass of water, it was tasteless just like how water should be but soon afterwards, the stress on her body caused by magic is starting to calm down and soon bit by bit her muscles starts to relax as traces of magic left in the fibers would flutter away, of course not to the point she’d go to sleep but to loosen up and clear up any variables that can contribute to the stress and anxiety she’s experiencing. “Drink it all up dear and ask away!”

The girl did what the man said, not knowing what else to do. She carefully sat upright in the bed, and took the glass of water, it shook in her cold hands as she stared straight ahead, her bangs covering her unusual eye. She gulped, and decided it would be best if she stuck to the basic questions first, doubting he'd have all the answers anyways.

"Where... Where did you find me...?" She asked, her voice still trembling from confusion and fear.

"You were found a few miles outside of here while I was returning from the mountains" Magic that causes physiological changes in the body? If the body absorbed too much magic or released it too much, such results would happen such as how her eye colors are different, however the nature of her condition is yet to be known. Another possibility is that she could have come here due to human trafficking, if that's the case then it would be easy to investigate how she got here since the Magician himself has connections to the underground world, he'll simply snatch it like an eagle catching a flying fish, otherwise it would be difficult.

Mythica simply lowered her head, that wasn't much information to go on. She decided to make that much clear. "I don't think that's very helpful." She said quietly. Found in the mountains? What did that mean? What could she have possibly been doing? She decided to bring up the subject of her visions. For some reason they intercepted her mind whenever she tried to remember.

"Maybe this is natural, but my brain can make out images. I don't know if these are memories or random images, but their scary." She said, her voice quivering.

"I guess fate must have brought us together for a reason, I do believe your body is suffering from the effects of magic." It seemed the girl was fixated on trying to remember what happened before the magus found her but judging from the physiological changes in her body as well as the residual magic that still retained within her veins, its safe to assume she has been used as an experiment of sorts.

Nowadays, shady groups would use some gifted mages as catalysts in order to harvest or collect more power and if it were a traumatic experience for the girl, perhaps the procedure wasn't brought up to good and legal terms. If she tries to keep on remembering those moments, it will eventually break her and would cause a self destructive personality that would go on and on forever until she meets a demise she never asked for. At the age she is now... she must not... remember at all. Of course Merlin himself is curious but perhaps this is a good course of action.

This was probably the most cruel of methods yet... but one more thing he needs to be certain.

"Would you like me to make those images go away?" Merlin asked. Regardless of her answer, Merlin would probably do so anyways but he must hear it from her lips first. "I'm a magic man... and I can make those scary thoughts... disappear!" He smiled.

She looked up at the man when he asked this. He offered to make the haunting images of the clocks go away...

"You can make them go away..?" She asked slightly confused. Even though they terrified her, and frankly gave the girl an unusual headache, she was worried they were memories. If they went away, she may never peice together what had happened.

She looked back at the clock ticking ever so consistently on the wall across from her... She glared at it and looked back up. "If you can make me stop having the scary dreams. I'd be grateful mister." She said.

She confirmed it…. From her own lips, he was so relieve to hear these words and he knew how cruel this method was but he didn’t pay any mind to it at all. She’s too young to even stand up to her own past just yet. She was severely tortured and because she’s having repercussions and splitting headaches, it also caused mental interference as well, hence this was the only solution he can do right now.

“Alright then, tomorrow will be another day for you Mythica, now I suggest you go to sleep for now, you’ll need all the rest you can have dear, as much as possible try not to think about it too much.” Merlin said as he brought up another smile, rather this time it was a false one for that once Mythica understands what the magus has done to her when she gets older, she’d despise him someday. He knew it was wrong but it was all just to buy time, enough time for her to grow until she’s ready to face it again.

The after effects of the medicine would start to kick in as Mythica would feel a bit drowsy and tired, making her body heavier than usual. As Mythica would fall asleep, all she can see were glitters of gold before the night sky, a memory of her wandering in the forest alone to her special place and last but not the least, the warm smile of the Magus who’s taking care of her right now. He was talking, almost as if he arrived to a conclusion or something…

And the next morning Mythica would wake up before the Magus would come in. “Good morning Mythica! Have a good night sleep? Of course you do!”

---

What had happened when Mythica was asleep…

“Surely this is one of those cases but I’m beginning to wonder about this one here… oh that’s right I’m not with the research team.” The magus was simply talking to himself, the Rune Knights has no idea about this girl and its best to keep it that way until the magus himself as absolutely sure of her “Strange condition”. What he was about to do next is to cite an incantation on her forehead, a kind of language not even the author himself knows. (Cause I don’t have any idea about this at all… yet)

In a flash, the magus was able to see the source of her grief. Her body houses a strange and formless wisp. However the nature of his wisp is something he hasn’t seen in the last centuries of his life but that was because this was no ordinary wisp… it was something similar to the Laplace Demon’s model. Was this one of the components to which laplace demon used to travel through holograms?

No… its too early to assume and if it is, who were those people that managed to get a hold of it and imbued it on this little girl?

“So it’s a component made an entity, I have no idea how they were able to come in contact with it but it was too much for her body to handle… poor dear I fear that this condition may turn to be chronic.” And he was talking to himself again. There was only one Dark Guild in Fiore who’s attuned to reaching the time traveling method of Laplace Demon himself, Time Shadow if he’s not mistaken. Closer examination reveals another thing about Mythica, her blood wasn’t the blood of a human, it was a bloodline that can only belong to a selected few. Mythica was one of the few descendants of the Demon Dog Inuki. Any contact with blood would cause her to go berserk and take on a feral appearance. Well perhaps that explains how she was covered in blood, half naked when Merlin found her. Of course if he did mention that, Mythica will come to a psychological imbalance and realization.

Hence there’s a solution:

Unfortunately if he makes any wrong alterations regards to the “Laplace component” it would completely destroy her mind and her soul and at that point she may no longer recover, she’d be nothing more than a lifeless doll. Its clear he cannot alter her knowing that risk, hence he must make a “limiter”.

It’s very possible that the images she sees were glimpses of the Laplace component, that had already collapsed for some reason and such the powers of that component had fused with the girl’s soul, defiling her like a virgin. How the component got destroyed is something Merlin will have to find out later on. Of course this isn’t actually part of Laplace we’re talking about here, rather its something Laplace Demon likes to “use”.

Its like somebody uses a candle stick made from glass whose function serves to hold out burning candles, however the candle stick got smashed somehow and Merlin doesn’t have a clue who smashed it.

Such is the reference Merlin would like to take it; sadly he doesn’t have any students with him right now to explain it. Casting this limiter would also cause regression of those memories and as she grows within age, this limiter would weaken and that her powers will grow in strength and her memories would eventually return and by that time… mythica would be ready to face and accept it. That was something Merlin had hoped for this girl.

Course.. There’s nothing he can do about the Inuki Lineage, either but he fears that it could have been altered when the component got into her body. I guess he’ll have to find that out tomorrow. As a result, she cannot remember much of her past other than the fact she was in bed. She has chronic anemia, so it’s possible in one of her episode of having chronic anemia, she would see glimpses of her memories.

Mythica had fallen asleep once again not long after the man had told her too. She didn't fight it, knowing all too well she was tired, and too weak to have any desire to stay awake...

"Run! Run Mythica! Get as far away as you can!" A voice had called out to her. She was alone, in a very dim forest. She was cold, and lost. And the girl could'nt find the source of the yells. Not knowing what to do, the girl obeyed and started to run in a random direction... As she did, the forest got even darker... And she heard the howl of a very unnatural creature not far behind her... She could feel its presence getting closer... Smell its breath, hear its feet hit the ground... Hear its growling... The girl didn't want to turn to face it, but she knew it was there...

The girl awoke once again to the same hospital room. Only difference was she remembered what had happened before. She turned her attention to the same man, who had been giving her a warm smile... She shook her head trying to get the peaceful dream that turned into a nightmare out of her mind...

"I slept fine..." She lied. Hoping the man had done as he said, and rid her of having anymore of the scary visions..

"Aha, the Doctor said you can be out within a few days but the fact is, where would you go if you can't remember your parents?" Merlin pondered for a moment and looked at her, she looked like she was at a daze. "Well I know your time here on bed can be a bit boring sometimes that's why I'm here... to fill and break the boring atmosphere with what I would like to call.. MAGIC"

Merlin made a few mana projections of doves and a dolphin that swam across the room, glitters of mana scatter like stars as celestial projections were interacting with one another, some interacted with Mythica, climbing on her shoulder or ever hiding on her hair from one another.

Well after all, Merlin is her doctor, he took some time off from Era just to care for the girl she had found, at that time he had no assistants and can only help himself. Though he was thinking about mastering and realizing "Advance puppetry" (Which is gonna be his secondary magic).

Anything that involved the body is Merlin's specialty. Perhaps starting from tomorrow her memories will slowly regress and she needed something to look forward, to the point that she'd forget about her past for now. Magic was all Merlin can think off right now.

---

I have no excuses for my late reply. All I can say is that I'm sorry for the delay.

Mythica sat for a few moments lost in thought before the man began to speak again. He brought up a very good point. There was nowhere for her to go. If she couldn't even remember her family, where could she possibly go or do, especially at her age... The world was vast, and she was afraid.

Suddenly, her mind was interrupted again when bright, magical lights began to show themselves around the room. The girl's visible eye not covered by her bangs widened at this event. She gazed awestruck by the array of animals that seemingly appeared out of nowhere. It was the first time the girl had smiled since her awakening... For now, all the troubles in her head seemed to fade completely, as she felt happiness by the show.

Who exactly was this man? He didn't seem like your average doctor...

"Beautiful isn't it? There's so much more to magic than it just being a work of art, Magic is a mystery in itself and is one of the greatest miracles nature can perform and when you look deep inside the internal workings of magic, soon you'll begin to see it, a beautiful spectacle of one could say, can be a miracle." The Magus looked over to her as the mana projections orbit around them.

"Tell me Mythica, would you like for me to teach you magic?" Should she accept then Mejai would have arranged to take her to his property which is outside the Capital Crocus, hidden and secluded in a forest, protected by a magic barrier to which no one can find it but himself.

Who is this man? Clearly not just a doctor (Or an official one), he's a Magician, a Magus.

The girl continued to gaze awestruck by the display of magical lights, interacting with the animals that came close to her. The girl smiled and giggled a little as the man continued to speak about the wonderful properties magic held. Then, the man said something rather unusual.

"What...? You mean... I could learn this...?" She asked, her eye obviously showing signs of curiosity and wonder. Mythica couldn't lie to herself, this was truly a wonderful sight to behold. And to learn it would be something she truly did desire. Maybe this could help her. Figure out who she was in the past... If magic was as powerful as people said, she was sure there was a specific field she could study... One that would allow her to alter the flow of time... One that could let her glimpse into the past...

“I can my dear and I can teach you more than just how to use it, that is if you’re willing to come home with me.” All the mana projections quickly dissolved into glitters as they rained down on the bed, covering her with magical residue from his magic, disappearing afterwards. If she’d agreed then Merlin would have arranged for her adoption, immediately where she’d live in a mansion hidden in the forest, outside crocus. Last night, Merlin had not sealed her bad memories but healed all her wounds. On the way towards the mansion, Mythica met the twin butlers, Toru Kandar and Toyo Kandar and were assigned to server Mythica as their mistress. The mansion was a lovely place, it used to belong to a crime lord, but when the Rune Knights apprehended him, his property was relinquished as punishment for his crimes.

Merlin took liberty into living in this place; there was a west wing and an east wing. For the following months, Merlin had taught her the basics of magic as well as its philosophy for several months. As she was starting to excel in the magical arts, Merlin summoned her on a fateful night, gazing up on the clear night sky, it was like a father to daughter talk.

“Mythica, I know I have told you this before but magic is a mystery in itself, it can bring the greatest miracles we have ever hoped to see but it can also bring about the greatest destruction to those who wield it, you must remember that only you can balance the scales of your own magic, regardless of how you use it, I want you to remember… never to abuse it in the most trivial of circumstances but only when you really need to…” If she has any questions to ask of him about magic, now he would like to hear it, may it be more about magic, more about himself and if she asked about her past, he wouldn’t answer, meaning she would have to find out on her own as Merlin has absolutely no idea what really happened to her.

He only found her, took care of her and taught her not only magic…

… he also taught her, how to live.

It wasn't long after until the girl was quickly taken from the hospital. Under hushed discussions, Mythica soon found herself with Merlin on their way out of the city. Soon, they had arrived at a large mansion, hidden deep within the wood of forest. There, she was constantly accompanied by a pair of happy servants named Toru and Toyo. The girl spent many days wandering the expansive halls, often playing jokes on her companions by trying to hide from them, and sneak off to continue her expedition when they weren't looking.

One night, Mythica was summoned for a rather unusual meeting involving her guardian, Merlin. He went on to tell her how important magic is, and that she should never abuse her powers. Not anything he hadn't told her before. She was still new to the whole thing, so she doubted she could abuse it even if she wanted to.

"I promise I wont!" She exclaimed rather excitedly. She then quickly stood up, so her head was level to Merlin's in his sitting position. She put a fist on her chest, and a fierce look on her face. "You can trust me mister!" She said again, her red tinted eye gleemed slightly in the moonlight... Casting a shadow across the bang covered side of her face.