Meeting Merlin

Anglo-Saxon England, 982.

A brown haired, muscular man with a large beard was wandering through a large forest. As he exited the forest he saw a small village, where men were tilling the soil, tending to animals, chopping wood, women were hanging clothes out to dry and small children were chasing each other, giggling maniacally.

Suddenly, the man changed into clothes similar to theirs and strolled into the village.

Compared to everyone else in the village, who were caked with mud and wore torn clothes, each rip evidence of hard work, he was extremely clean, not a speck of dirt on him.

He walked up to a peasant woman and asked to stay in the house for a night as he revealed a single shimmering coin of gold. The woman readily agreed of course but kept her wary eye on the strange traveller.

"This is the place right?"

A familiar mechanical voice entered his head.

[Yes, that woman is the mother of Merlin and he was born a month ago]

Edward stroked the beard that he had added when modifying his appearance as he entered the small hut made of wood and mud. The first thing that caught his eye upon entering was a small child in a shoddily made cradle. Upon looking closer, he could detect an abnormally large magical signature for a month old child.

The baby began to wail and the peasant woman rushed in quickly, picking him up and slowly shaking him in her arms.

"What's his name?" Edward smiled at the woman.

Despite his attempt to be friendly, the woman still eyed him cautiously before answering.

"Merlin."

A blunt reply.

Edward could only smile awkwardly.

"Well, since you've allowed me to stay, I'll be off to bed."

The woman ignored him and continued to cradle the baby.

Edward walked up a small stairway with no bannisters and found an area with a couple of animal pelts. These were the beds.

"You can take my old husband's, he won't need it."  the woman called from downstairs.

Edward lay down on the makeshift bed and tried to sleep.

***

The next 7 years passed like this as Edward stayed with the woman, who he found out was named Cynewise, and her son Merlin.

He found out that her husband had died of disease 6 months before Edward had arrived and that she was only 20 at the time.

Over the 7 years, they had gotten closer and a year ago, married eachother.

Meanwhile, Edward observed that Merlin was using magic in secret and decided today would be the day that he taught him how to properly use it before he went to Hogwarts in another 4 years.

***

Merlin was playing with water he had conjured deep within the forest when he heard a twig snap.

He quickly looked around as his little heart began to race.

There was nothing.

A sense of unease came upon him as the hairs on the back of his neck rose. His eyes kept darting around but he couldn't see anything.

Out of nowhere, a wolf leaped towards Merlin, teeth aimed at his throat; Merlin had no time to cast a spell and just closed his eyes with fear.

But the jaws never reached him.

Cautiously, he opened his eyes to be greeted with a burning wolf corpse and, next to it, his stepfather.

"Y-you have powers t-too?" Merlin stuttered.

"It's called magic, my boy."

A large hand ruffled Merlin's hair as he quickly wiped the tears off his face.

"Please Father, teach me!" Merlin begged.

"I was already planning on it," Edward bellowed  with a hearty laugh (he changed his voice as well as appearance), "We can't have you eaten by wolves, your mother would kill me."

***

From that point on, Edward taught Merlin all the magic he knew, even dark magic although making sure he explained the dangers first.

He told Cynewise that both him and Merlin were magic, which shocked her but didn't make her think he was the devil or anything.

4 years later, Merlin was sent to Hogwarts.

5 years later, he graduated and went on to explore the world for new magic and ways to make himself stronger.

18 years later, Uther Pendragon took the English throne. 

In this world, the Viking invasion never happened and until Edward the Confessor took power in 1042, the country was run by King Uther and then his son Arthur.

At this point, Edward decided to make a move.

He decided to become Uther's magician and wreak havoc on England because, after waiting around for 34 years, he wanted to do something fun.

He kissed his wife goodbye and began his travel to Winchester, the Anglo-Saxon capital, to meet with Uther.

Along the way, he continued to practice and modify his spells, making them as powerful as possible. His favourite spells were Fiendfyre, Aqua Eructo, The Patronus Charm, Apparition and a few of his own creations.

Eventually, he got bored of walking, realising it would take a ridiculous amount of time to walk from somewhere in the county of Somerset to Winchester, which was in Hampshire, and decided to just apparate there.

Unfortunately, most people were unaccustomed to seeing people appear out of thin air, Uther Pendragon included.

***

Crude, metal swords, spears and even piece of cutlery were currently aimed towards Edward.

This strange middle-aged man had suddenly appeared in the king's court, almost giving the king a heart attack.

"Relax, guys," Edward raised his hands in surrender.

"What do you want demon?" a guard worked up the courage to speak.

Giving him a weird look, Edward walked towards the guard and gripped the end of his sword with two fingers.

"I am not a demon, my friend, I'm a wizard. I'd appreciate it if you learned the difference."

He glared at the quivering guard and the sword burst into flames, everything but the handle being swallowed and turned into ash.

"Now put your weapons down!" he roared.

Nobody put them down.

They awaited the consequence with held breath and trembling swords.

"Fine."

Instantly, everyone holding a weapon dropped to the floor under an extreme pressure; everything else remained untouched.

This was one of Edward's favourite creations - Gravity Magic. It could target whatever he wanted and apply up to 100x the gravity. Of course, the more the gravity or larger the area of affect, the more MP required.

"Weapons down men!" Uther ordered before requesting that they be freed from the spell, to which Edward agreed.

"What do you want, mighty wizard?"

Uther kneeled before Edward, angering his subjects, who, despite this, kept it to themselves.

"Please, don't kneel. After all, I'm your subject now."

Edward bowed slightly.

"What do you mean, mighty wizard?"

"I wish to be your advisor and military commander, your court wizard. You can make a position for me, no?"

"Of course, I'd be delighted to have your services on the battlefield," Uther exclaimed, excited at the prospect of such a powerful person on the battlefield.

"Then, I request that you make the new position of court wizard."

Uther ordered his servants to immediately create the paperwork and rules for the position before turning back to Edward.

"Is there anything else, mighty wizard?"

"Call me Edward."

"Then, Wizard Edward, is there anything else?"

Stroking his beard, Edward pondered whether he should ask for anything else.

"May I have a noble title?"

"Of course," Uther immediately answered; this would only help him tie down the wizard, after all, what would happen if someone else used him?

"Where do you come from?"

"A small village in Somerset."

"Then I shall make you Earl of Somerset."

Since Uther had just taken power, he had the ability to change the Earldoms slightly. With this, he was separating Somerset from Wessex to form its own Earldom. It wasn't easy, but it wouldn't cause too much damage.

"Then I shall return to my Earldom, thank you Lord Uther."

Edward said his piece before disappearing.

"That was so cool," he laughed giddily.