Chapter 229: Meeting (2)
They chose a wide patch of open grass ringed with stones, often used by students for practice. The air shimmered faintly with suppression wards woven into the ground—a safety measure that dulled the worst of impacts.
The group spread out, forming a loose ring around Merlin.
Nathan cracked his knuckles theatrically. "Rule one: no killing blows."
"Rule two," Liliana cut in, "no Nathan-making-stupid-rules."
Nathan frowned. "...That’s unfair."
"Fairness is irrelevant," Dorian muttered, daggers already drawn.
Seraphina, calm as always, brushed her hair back. "Focus. He will not hold back just because we are his friends."
Merlin raised an eyebrow. "...Actually, I was planning to."
Nathan pointed at him, eyes wide. "See? He admits it! Disrespect!"
Ethan groaned. "Just get it over with."
Elara’s gaze lingered on Merlin, cool and sharp. "Show us, then."
Merlin exhaled. "...Fine."
The instant Nathan charged, the ground shook. His battle axe cleaved down with raw strength, air splitting with the force.
Merlin sidestepped. A gust of wind followed him, tugging Nathan just off-balance. The axe bit into grass where he’d been standing.
"Fast," Nathan grunted, yanking it free.
Liliana moved next, water swirling around her fingers. She sent a wave surging across the ground. Merlin lifted his hand slightly, wind and lightning flickered, splitting the wave apart before it reached him, the spray scattering harmlessly.
Seraphina’s voice cut sharp: "Now."
Ice spears formed midair, precise and deadly. Dorian lunged in their shadow, daggers gleaming.
Merlin’s golden eyes flared. A shimmer of space bent faintly around him, the ice shattered as if striking glass, and Dorian’s blades met nothing but air as Merlin stepped an inch sideways, faster than sight.
Ethan swung his longsword in from behind, flames licking its edge. Merlin caught the blade with a hand wrapped in raw lightning. The sword rang like struck metal before Ethan stumbled back, glaring.
"...Ridiculous," Ethan muttered.
Merlin exhaled, lowering his hand. His hair stirred in the faint breeze his affinity carried. "Is that all?"
Nathan grinned despite the sweat already beading on his forehead. "Not even close!"
He swung again, Liliana’s water wrapped the blade, Seraphina froze it mid-motion into a jagged ice edge, Dorian dashed in low while Ethan’s flames roared overhead—
Merlin snapped his fingers.
Wind exploded outward, not violent but overwhelming, lifting every one of them off their feet and sending them sprawling into the grass.
The sparring wards glowed faintly, diffusing the worst of the impact.
Silence followed.
Then Nathan groaned. "Ow..."
Liliana sat up, hair plastered to her face with grass. "Unbelievable."
Ethan lay on his back, staring at the sky. "I hate him."
Seraphina calmly wiped frost from her sleeve. "...Expected."
Dorian scowled but said nothing, retrieving his daggers.
Merlin rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed. "...I did hold back."
Nathan pointed at him weakly from the ground. "Lies."
Elara finally stepped forward, offering Merlin the faintest smirk. "You enjoyed that."
He blinked. "...Maybe a little."
The group eventually sat in a messy circle again, bruised but laughing, trading complaints about who tripped over who. Nathan dramatically insisted he’d "almost had Merlin" while Liliana refuted him with growing exasperation.
For Merlin, though, something else lingered. Not the spar, not his strength—
The way they all kept getting back up.
The way they laughed afterward, as though loss wasn’t the end of the world.
It was fragile. It was human.
And it was more comforting than any victory.
Elara, seated beside him, glanced his way. Their eyes met for a heartbeat longer than necessary.
"...You didn’t even use half your strength," she murmured so only he could hear.
Merlin hesitated. Then, softly: "...Wouldn’t have been fair."
Her lips curved, just slightly, before she looked away.
—
The sun hung lazily above, spilling gold across the academy lawns. The air smelled of trampled grass and faint sweat, but the group sprawled across it as if they owned the world.
Nathan lay on his back again, hands tucked behind his head. "I call that a victory."
Liliana threw a pebble at him. "You didn’t even scratch him."
Nathan sat up with mock offense. "Excuse you, I made him move. That counts."
"You made him blink," Ethan corrected flatly from his shaded spot against a tree. "Barely."
"That’s still a win in my book." Nathan crossed his arms proudly. "You know what they say, one blink at a time leads to a flinch, and a flinch leads to a stumble—"
"And a stumble leads to you on the ground," Dorian cut in, tossing his dagger up and catching it again. His voice was ice-cold, though there was the faintest twitch at the corner of his mouth.
Liliana snorted. "For once, Graves is right."
The bickering spiraled effortlessly, laughter mixing with Nathan’s exaggerated complaints. It was noisy, chaotic, utterly unstructured.
Merlin sat a little apart, legs stretched out, fingers digging into the grass. His golden eyes swept across the scene. Their voices wove into each other, Ethan’s dry sarcasm, Liliana’s bright retorts, Nathan’s endless dramatics, Dorian’s sharp asides, Seraphina’s clipped corrections.
For a fleeting moment, it didn’t feel like he was inside someone else’s story. It felt... normal.
He let out a soft breath.
Elara eased down beside him without a word. Her presence was steady, cool, grounding. She didn’t look at him immediately; her gaze stayed on the others.
"They’re loud," she murmured.
Merlin huffed a quiet laugh. "...You don’t like it?"
Her lips curved faintly. "It’s... tolerable."
He smirked. "That’s high praise coming from you."
For a while, they just sat there. The group’s noise washed over them, filling the silence so they didn’t have to.
But Merlin’s chest ached all the same. He thought of the labyrinth. Of the false world. Of Rathan. Of the gods. He thought of how easily all of this could vanish again, cut away, erased, like it never was.
His hand curled in the grass.
Elara’s voice cut through the storm in his head. "You’re frowning."
Merlin blinked. "...Am I?"
"Yes." Her violet eyes slid toward him, sharp but not unkind. "Stop."
He let out a small, humorless laugh. "...That easy, huh?"
She didn’t answer, but her hand brushed his briefly against the grass. Not a grab, not even a full touch. Just a fleeting contact, as though to anchor him without anyone else noticing.
Merlin’s chest loosened slightly. "...Thanks."
"Alright!" Nathan suddenly declared, shooting upright. "New rule!"
"Not again," Liliana groaned.
"No, listen! If we’re on break before year two, then today should be memorable. Something epic. Something we’ll talk about for years!"
"Like you embarrassing yourself?" Ethan asked.
Nathan ignored him. "I say we, drumroll please, make a memory outside the academy."
Dorian frowned. "Outside?"
Nathan nodded eagerly. "Yeah! City trip. Food stalls. Shops. Maybe even an arena show! We can’t just sit here and sulk like statues."
Seraphina folded her arms. "You mean you want to waste money and energy on trivialities."
"Exactly!" Nathan grinned.
Liliana rolled her eyes but smiled faintly. "He’s not wrong. It’s been... a lot lately. Maybe something light would be good."
Ethan groaned. "Crowds. Great."
Merlin stayed quiet, listening. The thought of the city tugged at something in him. He’d spent so long trapped between walls, simulation, labyrinth, infirmary. The idea of moving freely through bustling streets, seeing colors and people, felt almost unreal.
Elara glanced at him. "...You’d go?"
Merlin hesitated, then nodded slowly. "Yeah. I think I would."
That was all it took.
"Settled!" Nathan pumped a fist into the air. "Group adventure day!"
"Try not to start a fire this time," Liliana muttered.
"That was one time!" Nathan protested.
"Twice," Seraphina corrected flatly.
"Semantics!" Nathan said, undeterred.
The group kept chattering about where to go, voices overlapping in a mess of suggestions. Merlin leaned back on his hands, letting their noise fade into background hum.
Elara remained at his side. When the others weren’t looking, she leaned slightly closer, her voice pitched low.
"...Do you want this?"
Merlin glanced at her. "...What do you mean?"
"This." Her eyes flicked toward the group. "Laughter. Distractions. Pretending, even if for a little while, that nothing else exists."
He stared at her. Her violet gaze didn’t waver.
Slowly, Merlin exhaled. "...Yeah. I think I do."
She nodded once, as if that was all she needed. Then she leaned back, the faintest curve at her lips.
Nathan’s shout of "We’ll hit the market first!" snapped the moment apart.
Merlin couldn’t help but laugh under his breath.
—
The road stretched wide and sunlit as they left the academy grounds, the gates arching tall behind them. For Merlin, each step carried a quiet strangeness—as though every moment outside those walls was stolen, too precious to waste.
The group naturally split into its usual rhythm. Nathan strode out front, chest puffed, pointing dramatically at nothing in particular like some grand tour guide.
Liliana walked a step behind him, laughing softly every time he tried, and failed, to get Seraphina to smile. Ethan trailed in the rear, hands in his pockets, gaze drifting anywhere but the road, as if he regretted being dragged along at all.
Dorian kept to himself, daggers hidden at his sides but eyes sharp, scanning everything as though expecting trouble even here.
And then there was Elara, keeping a steady pace right beside Merlin. Always beside him.
Merlin’s steps were still heavier than they should’ve been, his recovery was far from complete, but he refused to slow down. The wind shifted with him, subtle currents brushing at his legs and arms, a silent aid no one else would notice.
Elara noticed. She always did.
"You’re pushing," she murmured.
He gave her a sidelong glance. "...And?"
Her lips curved, just slightly. "And it’s working."