#monumental yap session fr

[ps1demodisk]

Afk Journey AU type thing where Merlin is actually a graveborn but doesn't know due to his constant bouts of amnesia

Uh there's a lot to get through but I'll drop the evil bits of lore I've got so far

Important things to note:

There's a temple called "Merlin's Grave", the story told is that it was where someone tried to assassinate Magister Merlin and failed, but in truth the temple was built around his gave to honour him (and then later used to conceal the grave when people started trying to break into his tomb, but especially after he rose from the dead).

He sealed off the entrance to the part of the temple the tomb is in with magic after he left (he doesn't remember this though).

He was, at one point, technically a lightbearer.

The Magister goes by Lazarus, but not many people call him that. Mostly just Hogan.

His headpiece actually helps with his amnesia, although his memory is still pretty bad, it helps him hold on to important memories, like who his friends are, what he is, who his enemies are, core memories, stuff like that.

His hair is kinda long but he usually just puts it in a weird kinda low hanging long bun thing and no one seems to realise it's as long as it is.

All of this is post-canon.

Ok this is gonna be a little messy and long.

He has vague flashes of memories at the tavern one night, drinking with Valen, and eventually they get too vivid and he just runs out the tavern looking worried. Valen sees this and decides to follow since it's odd for the magister to act like this.

Lucky for Valen, the magister doesn't run for very long, and Valen is able to follow from a distance so he's not seen.

They head into a thick foresty part a little ways outside ryeham, and after a while of following Valen realises the magister is looking for something

They go really deep, at one point Valen isn't even sure if this area has been walked in in the past hundred years, but the magister makes a path through the undergrowth as he goes and Valen just follows it. His legs are getting tired but they're so deep he can't even see the sky, he doesn't know if the sun even reaches here or if it's just still nighttime, he can't stop and go back without alerting the magister to the fact he's following so he just keeps going (because he doesn't want to leave him out here alone).

The magister keeps stopping at certain points and looking around, Valen isn't sure if he's looking at land marks to tell him where he is or if he's suspicious he's being followed.

Finally he stops at a big tree, from where Valen is he can see the magister but not what he's looking at on the tree, he reaches in the trunk and pulls something out and then just sinks to the ground and stays there, for a while it looks like he's crying, but then he lays down.

It seems like he ended up falling asleep after a while, so Valen finally approaches. When he makes his way around to the side of the tree the magister was looking at he sees two things, a big hole that looks to have been blown into the tree a very long time ago which the tree grew around to heal, and a very large sword that also seems to be mostly swallowed by the tree's growth by now. Near the sword is a small hole that looks fresh, like something embedded in the tree there had just been pulled out.

When he looks back at the magister he sees he's holding a little crown of some kind, and he realises that was what the magister came out here for.

Valen ends up falling asleep next to the magister while waiting for him to wake up, the walk was exhausting and so was all the stealthy stalking. When he wakes up, the magister's cloak is draped over him, and he is stood a little ways away from Valen, staring at the crown from last night. When Valen makes noise the magister turns to him with an unreadable expression, muttering something about how they should start heading back since it'll take a while. The magister feels different, the magister is acting different, but Valen doesn't get any answers until they're halfway through their walk back and he's been begging the whole time.

"I think that's where I died."

The magister is silent for the rest of the trip back, no matter how much Valen tries to get further answers or just talk casually to him.

Evil break for bad art

Valen gets answers from Hogan eventually, cause the magister has just been kinda spacey ever since and Valen is worried

Tells him "the magister is a graveborn, he just keeps forgetting."

It takes a while to get answers about the tree and the crown cause Hogan has zero clue what Valen is on about, but eventually he finds some old texts about the magister and there's also some drawings/paintings thingies with it in, and Hogan is like

"Ouhhh that's not a crown, that's just a headpiece, he probably died with that and finding it at his place of death was his way of verifying the memories of his death were real." but in hogan words.

Hogan eventually decides after enough moping that Valen should take the magister to his grave. For closure. And because he keeps asking if he has a name, and the grave is probably his best bet. Merlin's Grave actually being Merlin's grave is a well kept secret amongst the heroic order so...

Valen talks to Merlin a little on the way cause he's still being quiet and mopey and tries to be funny about it like "wow who'd have guessed Merlin's grave was at the place called Merlin's grave!"

They have to go in at night, but since magister Merlin is the one requesting access they don't have to sneak around to get underneath the temple, they're pretty much told "the door to the grave itself doesn't open so I'm not sure how you'll get in there but whatever" and left alone

Except Merlin immediately opens the door with his magic. Because he sealed it. When he left. With his magic.

They find out it's more of a tomb than a grave, the part where the body should be is wide open and unsurprisingly empty, but both are unsettled by the claw marks all over the inside of the stone coffin (and on some of the outside edges). Merlin decides not to give too much thought to how long he must've been trying to get out for when he reanimated, and just goes to read the name carved onto the lid of the coffin.

He and Valen turn to each other.

"Is that really it?"

"It must be.."

"Never call me that. Ever. This makes me want to die again so they recarve it."

"...You've definitely come up with better since I've known you..."

"No, no, Valen I think this is what my parents called me..."

"..."

"..."

"...did they hate you or something?"

They leave the grave with a (surprisingly) happier Merlin, but also both very disturbed by the claw marks.

Extra(s)

In this au the magister just randomly hands Valen cheese and Valen has never questioned this, he just eats it. It's been happening for so long that Valen actually gets excited when the magister pulls out cheese now.

The name on the tomb is Clitus Bottom