Chapter Text
The hair on the nape of her neck stood up a split second before an arrow, seemingly constructed out of pure white light, whizzed past her ear, one hairbreadth closer and it would have nicked her.
Merlin threw up her hands, casting a protection spell on the four of them. Or, well, attempted to...
As she swung about to face their newest threat, hamsters huddling under her cape, they came face to face with a - graveborn?
No, that couldn't be; the familiar stench of rot had not yet surrounded them, and the magic this ‘being’ exuded was something completely new yet familiar? Deep-set eyes, the colour of purple zircon, held her own as if they owed him their attention.
"Step aside, he's dangerous"
A visceral growl snapped Merlin out of her trance. She swerved around to face what would now be their even newer threat. Questions swirled around in her head. Why did the perfectly normal person standing in front of them transform into this creature? What the hell kind of creature is this? But most importantly, who was this armoured brick wall of a man? Maybe her priorities were in the wrong place because that precious second of pondering was all it took for the creature to grab her by the hem of her robe and pull. She slammed onto the ground and was immediately dragged deeper into the mushroomy wilderness. She heard her hamsters scream in terror, words rose in her psyche as incantations poured out of her mouth, but nothing seemed to be working, no shield would come up, and no hex harmed the creature. Sharp talons tore through her clothes and soon reached flesh, her breath hitched, and her incantations stopped as she saw red begin to seep through.
Just as the creature was about to sink its teeth into her throat, the same arrow of light went straight through the creature's neck. It grabbed at the arrow a little before falling away to the side, unmoving.
She heard hurried footsteps come her way as her vision began to swim, inky black creeping in from the corners...
"MAGISTER! MAGISTER EUDORA!"
Muffled sounds came closer as she felt someone kneel over her and lift her robe, and then the world became black.