11 Myrddin Emrys

Hadrian awoke to shouts of worry from his dorm mates. His friends leered over Hadrian's bed, waiting for their young friend to awake.

"Hadrian... are you alright?"

"What happened? You didn't show up!"

"We were worried about you."

Were one of the many phrases that were thrown at Hadrian. Hadrian looked back at them with a conflicted face, he knew he couldn't tell them about the Artifacts - he hadn't known them well enough for that. Even if they were the closest of friends, he still wouldn't want his secret to be revealed.

" I'm not feeling too well...that's why I am going to see a Healer tomorrow morning." Hadrian watched as his friend's faces dropped even more.

" It's not serious...is it?" said Oliver, clearly concerned for his friend.

Hadrian felt plagued with guilt, he didn't like lying.

"No, its nothing that bad, otherwise I would have been on my way to the Healers right now.

Hadrian's friends all breathed out a sigh of relief and offered Hadrian tentative smiles.

"Hopefully you'll be good to come back to lessons, Daphne was distraught when you went missing mate," said Roan as he gave Hadrian a teasing grin.

Crow scoffed, "More lovesick than distraught, I would say!"

"Every lesson after you left was, 'Where's Hadrian?', 'I'm so worried about Hadrian', 'I want to see if Hadrian's alright!'", continued Oliver with a voice that sounded slightly bitter.

Hadrian chuckled inwardly, "I'm sure I will ease her worries when I see her tomorrow morning, tell her I'm fine."

Hadrian's friends agreed and began small talk about their day at Aunriton. Hadrian droned out their conversation and thought about the Artifact, what could it be? He knew that the Wand that he assimilated with was stronger than normal wands but he hadn't known the difference since he's only ever used one wand.

He slowly fell asleep as he thought about the excitement of tomorrow.

Hadrian awoke to the gentle tapping of his Headmistress, "Wake up Hadrian, we have to leave early.", she hissed, keeping in mind her sleeping charges.

Hadrian rose quickly and walked out with Rosewood. They didn't exchange any words during the walk to the submarine.

Hadrian because he was simply too tired and Rosewood because she was excited and worried about the task at hand. They would have to scour the perimeters of the school and do so before any of the students woke up. If they fail to find the Artifact, then Hadrian will continue to feel the pain and might have to leave Aunriton!

Rosewood wanted to keep Hadrian at Aunriton, her colleagues had praised the boy so much, sans two of the teachers but that was only because they hadn't met him yet.

No. Hadrian had to stay, which meant they had to find it today.

They reached the submarine and sped out of the protective dome of the school.

"Hadrian, when you feel any sort of sensation similar to that of yesterday, make sure to tell me," she said.

Hadrian nodded, he was probably the most desperate to find the Artifact.

They combed the entire ocean floor to no avail. After what seemed like 2 hours, they decided to give up. Rosewood was resigned to try again tomorrow.

That was until Hadrian felt the painful sensation simmering on his forearm.

"It's somewhere around here!" he choked out under the familiar pain.

Hadrian's runes began to glow brighter and brighter.

Around 100 yards in front of the submarine, the ocean floor began to cave in. A large light with the same coloration of Hadrian's runes burst out from the cavern.

The two passengers shielded their eyes from the blinding light.

"YES! AT LAST, I HAVE FOUND ONE WORTHY, COME FORTH YOUNG ONE.", boomed out the loud voice of a man.

Rosewood had a look of utter elation and sped her submarine into the unknown.

Hadrian wouldn't lie and say he wasn't scared if you asked him. He was terrified! However, he found it quite hard to voice his concerns when he felt as if his arms were about to drop off.

The light became brighter and brighter as they reached the bottom. "Are you alright Hadrian!", she shouted, finally taking note of her student.

Hadrian nodded as the pain finally began to subside.

They eventually reached the floor of the cavern and saw a large room with a throne on one side of the 'cavern' they had dropped into.

On the throne was a humongous painting of an old man with a large white beard.

"WELCOME TO MY DOMAIN. WHO MIGHT YOU BE, YOUNG HEIR.", shouted the voice, again.

Hadrian's eyebrow twitched in annoyance, 'does this guy have a permanent sonorous charm on?'

"DON'T WORRY, THERE IS A PROTECTIVE DOME THAT BLOCKS THE WATER OUT. IT IS SAFE TO LEAVE YOUR VESSEL.", he thundered, noticing the worried looks he was getting.

Rosewood leaped out of her seat and ran towards the exit, Hadrian followed - albeit reluctantly.

Hadrian walked out and surveyed the room they were in. The room had plenty of underlying rune formations, Hadrian's heir ring was practically squealing in delight!

"Could you stop the shouting! We can hear you now that we are here...", he said as he glared at the man in the painting.

"WHY BUT OF COURSE YOUNG ONE. OH- erm, sorry." said the man, grimacing under the increased glare he saw coming from Hadrian.

"Who are you?", said Rosewood, eyes gleaming with fascination.

"My name, young lass, is Myrddin Emerys or Merlin Ambrosius. What are your names, children?", said the man, who's voice echoed through the large room.

Hadrian looked up at him in excitement and disbelief, 'This is Merlin? The most powerful wizard of all time?'.

Meanwhile, Rosewood's face remained impassive for a few seconds before she squealed and began rolling on the floor in elation.

Hadrian sweatdropped at his Headmistress's lack of professionalism.

Merlin cleared his throat, Rosewood quickly got up and fixed her clothes. Her face turned scarlet in embarrassment as she muttered, "...Sorry...".

"I am Ivy Rosewood and this is Hadrian Black," she said, bowing slightly before the painting.

Hadrian copied her before stepping forward to talk to Merlin.

"Sir, we are here to find an Ancient Artifact that resides in this cavern.", said Hadrian - locking eyes with the humongous figure in the painting.

"Yes, I would imagine so! Tell me young one, how is it that you came into possession of my Wand?", said Merlin, with a smile that said he knew the exact answer to the question he had just asked.

"Well...I got it from a Wandmaker called Garrick Ollivander. He said it wasn't one of his creations and that his father had found it in a tomb in China. I...was not aware that it was yours." said Hadrian, slightly anxious as to if Merlin would be angry about him using his Wand.

"Not to worry, child! I am not at all displeased with you possessing my wand, I was simply curious, that's all.", said Merlin, "Just as well that it was you that received my Wand, not that I was worried of course. Only one of my kind would be able to unlock the Artifacts that I scattered around the world."

Hadrian's eyes widened, "Y-your k-kind?", was the stammered response from Hadrian, "What do you mean...your kind?".

"Well, I should have said 'our kind' as that would have been more fitting. You - We, are Dragonlords.", said Merlin, eyes twinkling in amusement.

Hadrian looked at Rosewood in confusion, and from the look that she gave to him, he knew that she didn't have a clue either.

"What the hell is a Dragonlord?", said Rosewood.

Hadrian flicked his head towards the painting and gave Merlin a look that said he demanded answers.

"A Dragonlord is a half-blood that retains the human appearance and gains the abilities and constitution of a dragon.", Said Merlin. "One of the many abilities you will gain would be: reptilian speak, effectively giving you the ability to talk to all reptiles, which of course includes dragons. You might also gain wings during the night of the 13th year since your birth, but that only happens to some of us." He said, finishing his explanation by sprouting huge grey wings.

"How can I be a D-Dragonlord If no one in my family was one!", shouted Hadrian as he pointed his finger accusingly at the old man.

"Do you know every single person in your family?" was the quick-witted retort from Merlin, "No. I suggest you take your impending creature inheritance as a blessing rather than a curse - our kind are powerful, lad. So much so that they were all slaughtered in fear of our power, only a few survived. I suspect only a handful have survived in your world and it is highly unlikely that they are wizards or witches."

"How so?" said Rosewood.

"They are most likely squibs or 'muggles' by now. Their magical blood has become too diluted and weak to even go through with the Creature Inheritance.", he responded, air quoting the word 'muggles' as he spoke.

"What do you mean?" said Hadrian.

"What I mean is that the world used to consist of many of those with magical blood, far more than the mundane. This...seems not to be the case now.", said Merlin a frown finally cast on his once bright visage. "I do not know why this has happened but it is quite distressing."

Hadrian shook his head, "You still haven't answered my question properly Mr. Ambrosious." said Hadrian.

"Yes, we seem to have gotten side-tracked. The reason you have the blood of the Dragonlords running through your veins is that your family had always had the blood of the Dragonlords running through their veins. Whether it be by luck or by talent, it has once more awoken in you." He answered.

Hadrian nodded and accepted it, there was nothing more to do. He wasn't angry with being a Dragonlord, unlike some of the other Pureblood bigots, he thought it was rather cool.

'Imagine how they would react if they knew that Merlin was a half-creature', he thought.

"Now then! Before I reveal the Artifact, I need you to do a job for me.", said Merlin, fixing Hadrian a serious and stern gaze.

Hadrian nodded.

"Please shrink me and take me with you! It has been so lonesome and boring staying underneath the sea for many a century...", he pleaded.

Hadrian sweatdropped, as did Rosewood.

"If that is your wish...", Hadrian responded.

Merlin smiled gleefully before he began chanting in an unknown language. This resulted in the bright light to appear once more from behind Hadrian. The pain of Hadrian's runes began to sear again. Hadrian squirmed in pain on the floor of the cavern. From the back of the room, out came floating a book with a red cover.

It worked its way over to Hadrian as the light intensified.

Hadrian once more squirmed in pain. Rosewood heard his pain and tried to find a way to help him but she knew that if there was something serious then Merlin would have said something by now.

So she watched. Helplessly.