The year: 2023

Lastshire: The Birthplace of Magic

[Marty's POV]

My kidnapper scratched his head and scrunched his nose, looking nothing like the great sorcerer he had claimed to be a little while ago. "Where are you broken?" He rose to his feet and took a step towards me. "I don't sense any injuries. There are no broken bones in your body. I can assure you, lad."

"What in king's name are you talking about?"

The man blinked; bewildered, he gave me a once-over. "No. Nothing is broken."

Did he think himself to be Superman or something!? 

"Superman," the man who could give Halloween costume makers a run for their money, scratched his chin. "I have heard about him. Youngsters spoke about him four decades ago. A kind man, was he?"

"Are you an idiot?" 

The man in faded baggy pants and matching red worn-out (almost falling apart) robes tied at his waist narrowed his eyes. A second later, the prison-like place sheltering us disappeared, and the sun was engulfed by dense low hanging clouds, turning the sky dark; a loud thunder followed by lightning that seemed to split the sky in two made me gasp and back away from the sorcerer.

"You can't call me that. You are not qualified to call me that, Marty Wyllt." As Merlin's face grew furious, the forest brimming with life not moments ago- the chirping of birds, buzzing of bees, croaking of frogs in a stream gurgling somewhere not too far- fell silent. His cold eyes zeroed in on me, and he closed the distance between us till our faces were barely inches apart. "Tell me, why is it that even after all your hard work, you are still working at Dragon's Den? Why, and more importantly, how do you always break-even even on days when you hardly have any customers? Why did you agree to be locked up in your apartment every Sunday night? Where did your box of colorful sugar treats go? Tell me, Marty, have you ever fallen sick? Did you ever get hurt as a child or as an adult?"

I had never given thought to any of what the man had asked. 

Why? 

"Because none of it was too obvious. Marty, since your birth till now, the magical blood that courses through your veins has protected you." The sorcerer growled.

"Protected me!?" I laughed, "How exactly did my magical blood protect me?"

"By keeping you from coming into the eyes of those who seek to destroy the Wyllt family and usurp its treasure." He said, digging his finger into my chest. 

Slapping his hand away, I leaned in as well. I wasn't scared of him. "It seems to have skipped your notice, Merlin or whoever you are, but we are poor. Before Mum met my replacement father, we were barely getting by. If there was any treasure-"

"The knowledge of magic and the ability to perform it is the Wyllt family's treasure." Merlin's eyes shone with pride. I had expected that he would back away, but he didn't. As if I was some naive youngster, he added. "You have no idea how difficult it has been to keep you and your abilities hidden."

"Sorry to disappoint you, Mister, but I don't have any 'abilities.' I am just an average Joe trying to get by."

The man in red sighed softly and looked to the skies. "Marty, at least hear me out. You are here anyway, right?"

"I want to go back. I want to wake up. If you are so magical," I spat out, "let's see you drop me back home."

"I can't." Merlin shook his head and took a step back. "We are not done yet. Did you think it was so easy to fall in and out of this place as and when you pleased?"

"No, of course not." I crossed my arms over my chest in defiance, but somewhere deep down, I knew I was being unreasonable. Yet, I continued the sham. "If it were up to me, I would have woken up ages ago. But since you want me to believe you about the magic thing-"

"Well, if you want me to prove I am magical, there are other ways." He winked. The mischievous glint in his eyes was back with full force. "For instance, I can turn you into a turnip. However, I need to warn you, since you are likely to repel it, you may end up slightly disfigured."

I imagined myself as a disfigured vegetable and decided it wasn't worth risking my already average looks to degradation. "No. Thank you. That doesn't work for me." I paused and took a three-hundred-sixty-degree turn, "You say that this place is real, am I right?"

The man nodded excitedly, "Yes."

"Then how about you bring your pal Arthur here and introduce us."

The man looked taken aback at my reply. Hurt and sadness danced around his eyes, begging to be noticed. It felt like inside that confident, sarcastic, and jolly facade lay a broken, desperate man who, like me, wanted out. At that moment, my heart went out to him. My only fear was that I was wasting my emotions on a man who did not exist.  

"Marty, I can't do that." He took my hand in both of his. "I remember that not so long ago, you believed in magic. I can clearly recall the day you left for Wales. You were buzzing with excitement. What happened to you?"

"Life happened to me. It slapped me in the face and told me to wake up. It crushed my dreams and turned them into nightmares." At that moment, I realized I had said enough to Merlin. I should have stopped, but I kept speaking. "I would not have been so miserable had I known that magic was real. But what did I get for my troubles, huh? I got my Mum worried. I neglected my studies and ended up at Dragon's Den."

I watched understanding dawn in his dark eyes. "Marty, I am sorry that I couldn't keep your heart from rejecting the existence of magic, but this time things will be different."

"Just tell me what you want and be done with it, alright?"

"Okay, I can see that you are not in the right frame of mind to have this conversation," said Merlin, smiling at something over my left shoulder, and leaped towards me.

I ducked, fearing that the man had lost his marbles, but it so happened that he had his sights set elsewhere. 

"Got you!" He exclaimed. His lips curled up, turning the smile into a grin, and he turned towards me. "Look," he said, holding his closed palms at my eye level and opening them slowly.  

Trapped inside was a firefly so beautiful that it captured my heart in an instant. "Is it alive?" I leaned in for a better look.

"Yes, Marty. It is." The man replied and asked, "Would you like to hold it?"

"Can I?"

"Obviously," Merlin replied. "Hold out your palm." He instructed, and a little later, the glowing, dancing wonder was in my care. I had never seen something so wondrous. "Is it magical?"

"What do you mean?"

"Did you create it with magic?" I demanded skeptically. If the man was indeed The Merlin, he was a trickster above all, and I did not want to grow attached to something he had created.

"No. I did not create it. The beings are called Melusines Phoenix. They are one of the purest, rarest creatures ever to come into existence." Merlin explained. Unlike the lecture he had given me about my ancestors, this was much more exciting. "Only ones with pure hearts lay eyes on them."

This information cheered me up a little. "Do these beings have magical powers?"

"Yes, they do. If one were to suck out its life force, the person or creature doing it would get to live for a thousand human years or more."

"So, you are saying that they have to die for it? I mean, one has to kill them to-" I couldn't finish my thoughts, lest they turn my heart. I glanced at the beauty resting in the cocoon between my palms and wondered how many must have died to give life to others. I gazed up at Merlin; he was looking at me with interest. 

It occurred to me then that he was probably testing me. "Why are they rare?" I demanded and made myself comfortable under a tree with large triangular leaves.

"Why do you think so?" He replied, cementing my belief that he was indeed testing me. I had two options: I could kill the Melusines Phoenix, fail the test the trickster had devised for me, and return to my dull existence, or I could set the tiny magical being free, pass this stupid experiment with flying colors and be subjected to more of whatever this was. 

"Marty?" Called the man. "It's getting late. We have things to do." He gestured to me to return the Melusines Phoenix to him. 

Wait. What!? With my deductions trashed, my mind emptied. Why had he handed it to me if it wasn't a test? Nonetheless, I did as instructed. Not once did I expect what happened next.