End of times

Arthur patted Paul's head again and asked "What can you do except manipulating water? And how can you speak with me?"

Paul raised it's tentacles in what seemed to be excitement and replied "Mom told me I can move things with my mind, and also talk to people if I want. She said it was the power of the Kraken."

Arthur frowned and asked "Isn't the power of the Kraken manipulating water?" Paul replied "No, mom used her mind to move the water, but she couldn't move water in itself. Mom said only I can move water because the sea likes me better than Poseidon."

Arthur nodded and asked "You sure you want to follow me?" Paul nodded, and Arthur said "You don't seem that much affected by what happened to your mother. Aren't you sad?"

Instead of the sad answer he expected, Arthur heard a giggling in his mind "You silly!" Arthur tilted his head and Paul said "At the time they give birth, Krakens, like octopuses, will only live for a short time. So even if that old man didn't attack, she would have died not long after."

Arthur smiled and asked "Then how do you feel about Poseidon?" Paul sneered "I'm going to kill him and claim the center of the seas and oceans, Atlantis."

Arthur laughed and said "You know it's not something easy." Paul replied "If mom hadn't been weakened from giving birth she could have beaten him."

Arthur stopped laughing and said "If she was stronger, I guess she didn't attack because of the other gods?" Paul replied "Yes. If she attacked, first Atlantis is well protected. And even if she successfully claimed Atlantis as her own, she would have the whole Olympia attacking her."

Arthur sighed and said "Then you picked the right person. I have a goal, and the gods will do whatever it takes to stop me, so I am fated to fight them. And not just Olympia, even the other pantheons. So, if you are scared you might as well leave right now."

Paul suddenly began hovering above Arthur, and then sat on top of Arthur's head and said "What do we do then?"

Arthur smiled and said "We need to go to Greenland. Do you know where it is?" Paul nodded so Arthur added "Then help the ship go there."

After he said that, the ship suddenly accelerated, the water around it was pushing it toward Greenland.

Arthur sat down and closed his eyes, after saying "Paul, I'm going to sleep. Wake me up if there's something important."

Paul nodded, and Arthur tried to fall asleep. He told Paul to wake him up as the time he spent sleeping wouldn't influence the time he would spend talking to Merlin. Whether he slept one hour or 14 hours, he would always spend 12 hours with Merlin.

Of course there was a limit as he could only go there once every 24 hours.

Arthur's mind drifted off, his body rocked by the waves.

Arthur opened his eyes, and he found himself in the same stone house as always. There, sitting on the same chair, was his master, Merlin, reading a book.

The latter closed his book and looked at Arthur and asked "Ready for today's lesson?" Arthur created a chair and sat on it before saying "I have discovered something strange today."

Merlin raised an eyebrow and asked "What is it?" Arthur moved his hand, and Paul appeared in front of him. It was an illusion of course, but it wasn't created through Light. He had modified the dimension itself to create a life replica of Paul, except that it didn't have either intelligence or conscience.

Merlin's eyes grew wide and he suddenly got up "Is this what I think?!" Arthur nodded "Yes, this is Paul, my new pet, a baby Kraken. It is attuned to Water. I felt it. Which brings my question, why don't I feel you the same way as I do feel him?"

Merlin shook his head repeatedly and went to his bookcase as he replied "I'm dead so nature rejected my soul. As you know this is a part of my soul, but because the elements no longer recognize me you can't sense me."

Arthur frowned and said "I though this was a separate dimension, shouldn't your death not affect this place?"

Merlin shook his head and replied "No, you don't understand. Nature isn't unique to your world, it is omnipresent. It exists everywhere, and it is the same entity. To create a dimension outside of Nature… I can't say it is impossible as I believe everything is possible, but the power needed to create something like that would be astonishingly high. That's something that could only be done by an entity similar to an absolute god ruling over Nature itself, meaning ruling over everything that exists."

Arthur tilted his head and asked "Then doesn't that mean it can only be done by the strongest?" Merlin shook his head and replied "I don't know, but theoretically there should be a stronger stage than that."

Arthur frowned and said "What is more powerful than ruling over everything that exists?"

Merlin took out a book and said "Basic physique law. In the universe, nothing can be destroyed or created, only transformed. This is the limit of ruling over what exists. The next stage would be to also rule over what doesn't exist. Then, and only then, would someone really become the strongest. They would be able to do literally everything."

Arthur rolled his eyes and said "Then it means there will be a first one, but after that no one else will be able to ascend as one." Merlin nodded and said "Not necessarily. Someone that powerful would be beyond omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent. So they would know every possible future, so they can manipulate everything."

Arthur asked "Then do you think there exists one?" Merlin shook his head and said "Although a power like this is the theoretical strongest there is, it's very own existence goes against existence and nonexistence."

Arthur asked "Why so?" Merlin searched through the pages of the book and said "Because it would become a perfect being, but that would bring him not being perfect anymore. Perfection is an ideal that everyone dream about, but that can't be reached, no matter how much power you wield. Moreover sometime being perfect can sometime need you to be flawed, but that would make you not perfect anymore. Ah, here it is."

Merlin handed the book to Arthur and said "I heard of a legend while in a ruin. Normally there can't be more than one attuned individual at a time, except for one moment. The end of times. The legend was precisely about the end of time. It is said that 5 attuned ones would be born and at that time, the end of times would begin. The five shall fight for supremacy, until one of them stands supreme. But the supreme would then trigger the end of times."

Arthur frowned and asked "How reliable is this?" Merlin replied with certainty "100%. I found this in a ruin belonging to our ancestors."

Arthur sighed "So this means one of us is going to end times. Can it be stopped?" Merlin shrugged and said "What tells you the end of times is a bad thing? Who knows, it may actually be a good thing."