by Allan Kaspar
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Merlin--The Mirror and the Monster
By Richard Lawrence
Merlin sat on the roof of his tower. Well, OK, it was a small tower, only three stories tall, but he was pleased with it, the walls were smooth and a mottled black, grey and white, it blended perfectly into the surrounding countryside. Inside it was comfortable and warm and the roof was flat (that is where he is sitting now, of course), it also meant that he could look over the cliffs and the sea below him and watch the seagulls as they flew overhead. At night, he could study the stars and the moon.
Ever since his year in the village and the long, annoying walk back to his tower, he had been contemplating the idea of making a device to aid in travel. He knew what he needed, something like a scrying ball where he could view distant realms, and those closer, but something big enough that he could then create a door that he could step through. He had got the technical details worked out and, if he did it right, he would be able to look into the past a future as well. But there was something missing, a key, a component that he couldn’t quite fathom.
He knew he needed to create a mirror, but it needed to be of much higher quality than the Romans had left behind. Polished metal would not work and it needed a fluid aspect, so that he could change its size as he needed.
Shaking his head he opened the trap door and stepped down into his living area, a comfortable couch to sit on, furs and tapestries to keep the cold at bay, a nice fire in an oven and his small, but growing, library.
He grabbed a cup of wine and sat down, preparing to think more about his requirements.
Something was happening. Merlin raised his head, darkness had fallen and he realised he must have been thinking for hours but, something was happening, a presence was intruding into his space. Not a ghost or a spirit, he would recognise those, but a definite personality. He put down his wine and waited, this would be interesting.
Slowly a being materialised in his room. Merlin was taken back, he expected something, well, different, maybe dangerous, but this? A little girl with blonde hair in braids wearing a blue and white dress, although the material was a lot finer than he had seen before, white stockings, black shoes and a small, completely useless, white cloth apron. She materialised fully and looked at him. Her mouth opening in shock. Wryly Merlin reflected he wasn’t the prettiest person to look at. But with great strength, the girl shook off her amazement and started talking to him.
The second surprise, he couldn’t understand her. If he concentrated he could recognise a few words, but it was just a gabble. He held up his hand and the girl stopped, looking at him in anticipation. Merlin cast a simple spell that allowed him to understand the language spoken and to allow another to understand him.
“So,” he asked “Who are you little girl?”
“Sir, I am Alice.”
“That’s a pretty name, where are you from?”
“Why sir, I am from Oxford.”
Merlin stopped for a moment, he could sense this wasn’t going anywhere, he thought he should try a new track.
“Why don’t you sit down, I will get you some water and you can tell me your story, is that all right?”
Alice nodded her head and sat on the couch with a sigh. Merlin fetched the girl some water, sat next to her and listened while she talked.
He was amazed at a story full of rabbits and red queens, someone who made hats and animals that talked, with Alice at the centre of the story. Merlin didn’t know what to make of it, even though it was evident that the girl believed everything she said, but it ended with her going back home.
“That was an incredible adventure Alice,” he said, gently, “but it still doesn’t explain why you are here.”
“Oh, that is the next part.”
Merlin settled back down to listen to an even more wild adventure, mirrors, fat twins, a white queen, time running backwards. He lost track of the plot but, again, Alice believed every word. But, at the end, she still returned home.
“All right,” said Merlin, “those are your adventures, or are there more?”
Alice shook her head.
“So, why are you here?”
At this Alice burst into tears, “I don’t know!!”
“Why don’t you tell me what happened?”
“After I had returned, I told Mummy and Daddy what had happened but they didn’t believe me. They accused me of running away and then making a story to cover it up.
“I was in my room but could hear them arguing downstairs, they were saying I needed to be sent away, so doctors could look at me
“I was so angry, I threw my dolly at the wall, but it hit an oil lamp instead, the lamp broke and spread burning oil all over the floor, the bed and curtains caught on fire and the door was blocked, so I thought I could escape in the mirror again, but it was just a mirror, I was banging on it when it started to melt. I was hurting, a lot, and I just sort of fell forward, into the mirror.
“I looked back and could see my body, burning, on the carpet and just had to run, I needed to find someone to help me. I don’t know why I ended up here. With you.”
Merlin was quiet for a moment “Why don’t you rest, I need to think for a moment.”
Alice nodded and curled up on the couch. She was asleep in moments. Merlin looked at her and started thinking.
Several hours later Merlin woke Alice, “I know what’s happened.”
She sat up and looked at him in anticipation.
“I am sorry to tell you, you died in the fire.”
Alice looked shocked, “But, but I feel so alive.”
“You have a very strong personality and because of your travels you have imprinted on the world a much stronger image than normal.”
“So am I a ghost?”
“Well, sort of, think of yourself as a ghost plus,” he thought for a second, “Most ghosts are simply emotional recordings, stamped on the surroundings, but you have a consciousness.”
Alice looked lost, “What do I do now?”
“Well, I think one of the reasons you ended up here is because I need help, and you can help.”
“What do I need to do?”
“I am trying to create a mirror, to see in time and distance, to act as a portal and transport, and I need a conscious presence in the mirror, something to guide it.”
“Does that mean I will disappear?”
“From the world, yes, but you will live in the mirror, you will live for as long as the mirror lasts, you will see everything the mirror sees, time will be no obstacle, nor distance.”
“Will it hurt?”
“No, not at all.”
Alice thought for a second, then nodded her head slowly “OK, I will do it.”
“I do have a small problem though,” said Merlin “I need a better mirror than I can get at the moment, polished metal will not work.”
“How about glass?” asked Alice.
“How would it reflect?”
“Well, my mirror had silver on the back of the glass, very thin and smooth. That worked.”
Merlin thought about that, “Yes, yes I can do that, it would work!”
Alice looked happy with her suggestion.
“Leave this with me,” said Merlin “I need to go to my laboratory to complete this device.”
Alice nodded and curled back up on the sofa.
Several hours later Merlin came back down the stairs. Alice rubber her eyes and looked up in anticipation. Merlin grinned and held up a small hand mirror perhaps five inches square, a clean silvered glass and a gilded frame, carved into fanciful designs.
“What do you think?”
“It’s lovely, but isn’t it a bit small?”
“That is where you can help.”
“How?”
“You go into the mirror and you can control the size and shape, you can answer requests and it will act like a doorway to different times or to distant realms.”
Alice thought for a moment, and then nodded
her head, “What do I need to do?”
“Think of the glass like a door, it isn’t there, just a hole in the frame and, simply, climb through.”
Alice looked a little dubious but held the mirror, looking into the glass; suddenly she was on the other side, the mirror clattered to the floor. Merlin rushed to collect it and make sure it was all right. A little blonde girl in pigtails waved at him, smiled and skipped off.
Merlin looked at the glass, happy with the work “Hmm, I need to make it safer, spells of protection, make it as unbreakable as possible.”
With this thought he went back up to his laboratory to continue his work.
Many days later he finally finished his great work. He was exhausted and needed sleep, food and wine, not necessarily in that order, but he needed to clear his head before he did anything else. He grabbed a loaf of bread, some cheese and wine and sat down to eat, suddenly finding his hunger was ravenous, reminding him he hadn’t eaten or slept in days. His meal finished, Merlin dropped off to sleep.
Weeks pass and Merlin enjoyed his new toy. He watched the Druids for a time, then some Roman soldiers at the docks, then trying for something else he followed caravan trains on the silk roads into far Cathay. Skipping south, he viewed the Shona Kings in Africa, slaughtering their own people by the thousand. Up north to the ice and across the top of the world, down the coast of the country some of his Welsh and Irish cousins has traded with, then left. Across the sea to a place he hadn’t known of, where there were rats the size of cows that stood on their hind legs and had built in pockets, but was mostly sand and dust. Further south.
Another ice pack, although this was built on land, unlike the one in the North, howling winds and wastelands. He was getting bored of this land and was about to go back when he felt something. Not being sure what it was he willed the image closer.
Odd, that looks like a mountain, but it is very regular. He gazed closer. It was covered in yards of ice, very thick and weathered, but he still felt something pulling him on. Merlin knew evil, it was after all built into him, but this? This went far beyond what he knew, beyond simple definitions of good and evil. This evil was totally amoral, with no thought of consequences.
He had to get closer.
Merlin penetrated the ice; and even through the mirror he felt the chill as he passed through. The outer walls of the citadel were massive, thousands of feet high, granite, dark and weathered, they had been there for eons, age sat on them like a lead weight. He moved round the outside and, finally, spotted an entrance, blocked by snow and ice but no barrier to his vision.
He passed inside. The angles were wrong, shadows where there should be none, open spaces that are smaller, and larger, than they appear, ramps leading nowhere but back on themselves, passageways that are, one minute, too high to see the roof and the next, so small a man would have to crawl. This was true madness.
And pictures, carved into the walls, horrific tentacles creatures that have no place on the planet, with humans and others. Humans serving them and tending them. Humans as food and sport, horrible, horrible sport, humans in agony, in pain and pleasure.
He passed deeper. He could feel the presence now. In the centre of the citadel, a massive pool, thousands of feet across full of, what probably used to be filled with water but now now was solid ice. A dark, amorphous shadow waited, trapped inside.
Suddenly, the ice cracked and a tentacle shot out through the mirror, grabbing Merlin and dragging him through, Merlin felt paralysed with fear.
“SO, ONE OF MY CREATIONS IS VISITING, WHAT ARE YOU LITTLE HUMAN.”
“My name is Merlin,” he managed to stutter, “I am simply looking.”
“CTHULHU IS TIRED, MY TIME IS NOT YET.”
The tentacle dropped Merlin to the floor; and he heard the mirror clatter behind him. Gently Merlin picked it up and held it.
“CTHULHU MUST NOT BE DISTURBED. DIE LITTLE THING.”
A tentacle rose into the air and slammed down toward Merlin, but he had regained enough composure to dodge to one side and leap through the mirror back into his tower. Merlin quickly shut the mirror down, cutting off the howls of rage.
Shaking and very, very scared, Merlin grabbed some wine and took a deep draft to settle his nerves. The mirror sat, radiating innocence, on the table next to him. Before he dropped off to sleep he thought he heard the giggles of a little girl.
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Contributor Bios
Short Fiction / Poetry
Faith Kuzio (The Devil’ll Get Ya) -- Faith is a lifelong photographer whose photos are making headway across the internet. She currently runs her own photography website, Lunarchic Photography, which can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/faith.kuzio?ref=ts#!/LunarchicPhotography
Richard Lawrence (Merlin -- The Mirror and the Monster) -- Richard has been featured several times in Uncharted Frontier now. His stories are generally based on previous experiences. The Mirror and the Monster represents the fourth story in his “Merlin Saga,” which first appeared in our April 2013 issue, the first story being titled Satanspawn.
Kesia Alexander (The Roof) -- Kesia is an English Major currently studying out of Boston University. Congratulations on your first appearance in Uncharted Frontier, Kesia!
Christopher Ketcham (Zarathustra Redux) -- Christopher is a student of philosophy and has just published his first work in the edited text Frankenstein and Philosophy, Open Court Books. His chapter was: Frankenstein and Zarathustra: Godless Men. Congratulations on your first appearance in Uncharted Frontier, Christopher!
Photography
Faith Kuzio (assorted Fall related photography, including the Cover!) -- Congrats on making the cover for the month, Faith!
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Thanks again for joining us for our second Halloween issue! We received many fantastic stories this month, and are proud to bring our favorites to you! We hope you’ll join us for our next issue in November! As always, the latest news and updates can be found on www.unchartedfrontier.com!