Chapter 12: Arc 1: Chapter 12: Monstrous Power

Walking in the darkness requires courage.

And after experiencing a disaster, the darkness fills the people with fear, panic, and sensitivity.

With both ends of the tunnel sealed shut, darkness reigns supreme when the light does not shine.

But Merlin feels more at ease in the darkness than under the sun, as if he was home.

There was no obstruction to his view as he moved forward; he could see clearly in the darkness.

Maybe it's because the darkness had suppressed his vision; his other senses become sharper.

He could hear the women whispering, the children's oppressed crying, the breathing of the men as they work on an exit; he could even feel the tiny splits of the structure of the tunnel walls due to the impact as his fingers touched it.

He moves through the crowd cautiously to not alert the others, like a shadow.

But in fact, he was moving quickly.

Merlin hides among the crowd and jumps into the deeper darkness when no one is looking; he follows the cargo-littered railway and separates from the crowd.

"Bong, Bong, Bong"

As he goes deeper into the darkness, he hears something coming from the squeezed carriage at the front.

It was a rhythmed percussion, albeit it was weak.

It should be the helpless cry for help from the survivors inside the carriage.

Merlin looks left and right; he presses down his cowboy hat and covers most of his face, along with his sunglasses; he was nearly unrecognizable in the darkness.

Using his sharp senses, Merlin quickly discovers the source of the percussion; he lowers his body and climbs into the corner of the wall, using the gap between the collision of the two carriages. He places his hand on the carriage and knocks to respond to the percussions.

The sound of the knock was deep, but for the survivors trapped inside the carriage, it was no less of a call from heaven.

Soon, the percussions become more frequent, and a sharp, yet childish voice, appearing to belong to a child, resounds from inside.

Although it was oppressed, Merlin could still sense a hint of helplessness and horror in the voice.

"Is someone there? Is someone out there? Please help us! My mom has fainted, and my leg's stuck; please, help us!"

"I'm here, don't worry."

Merlin deepens his voice before responding; he uses both hands and feet and moves forwards through the gap; he then raises his head, spotting a little girl with messy hair and ash stains on her face.

She was sitting at the bottom of the carriage while looking around.

Her hand was caught under some luggage, but by her facial expression, she was unharmed. Beside the little girl was an unconscious woman. She seems to be her mother.

Compared to her lucky daughter, she was less so, the falling luggage knocked her out, but thankfully there was no blood.

This discovery calms Merlin's heart.

"Child."

He continues with a deep tone:

"Stay right there; I'll look for some tools."

Merlin's voice made the girl raise her head abruptly. But she doesn't have Merlin's night vision; she could only see darkness as if she was talking with a phantom, which scares her.

"Sir? Where are you? I can't see you."

She says so deliberately and shrinks her body backward.

Her movement causes the pile of luggage next to her to wobble, the girl exclaims, and it frightens Merlin. If the luggage were to fall, it would surely injure the little girl.

"Don't move!"

Merlin's tone becomes gentler.

"I can see you, hold your position and sit tight...I'll come back for you and your mother. Trust me, okay?"

Merlin then steps back and crawls out of the carriage.

Merlin deliberately makes noise as he exits, trying to calm the little girl down.

But after Merlin had left, the little girl shrinks her head in fear, and while looking at her mother, she sulks and says:

"Don't worry, mom, someone has come to save us."

"He sounds like a big brother; he'll come back, right?"

"We'll be saved."

But there was no response from her unconscious mother; tears flow down her cheek though she tries hard to stop it from flowing.

She takes deep breaths, trying to calm herself down.

In the darkness, this 7-year-old girl maintained her posture as the luggage locked her hand onto the floor, she was tired, and her body ached, but she knew that she couldn't move abruptly.

The danger has yet to pass.

The time of waiting after the arrival of hope is difficult, she raises her head every 10 seconds and quirks her ears like a rabbit, trying to hear even a slither of sound from the darkness, but it was as if Merlin had vanished entirely.

A minute passed, 2 minutes passed, and soon, five whole minutes had passed.

The hopeful little girl's heart sank as all sorts of thoughts flooded her mind.

Like everyone else in the darkness, she began to think random thoughts, scaring herself in the process.

The fear in her heart slowly accumulates, but just before it breaks her down, she hears a sudden metal clanking, which awakens her from her random thoughts.

The little girl is surprised; she looks towards the sound source and sees a twisted metal rod inserted into the gap where the two carriages collided. Merlin puts in all of his strength and holds the rod with his hand.

He could not move the two collided carriages nor bust the train apart as the superheroes do in comics. But he could use the simple lever rule to pry the sealed doors open slowly.

"Bang"

The door is pried open and smashes into the darkness, causing a loud bang. Merlin lowers his body and enters the carriage; he moves to the little girl and helps take the heavy luggage off her hand.

In the darkness, he gently says to the seemingly frightened girl:

"Don't worry; I'm right here."

Merlin wipes the sweat off his forehead as he removes the last luggage and frees the little girl. The quiet girl suddenly hugs Merlin's leg.

Merlin is surprised.

He could feel that the little girl was frightened.

She should not be experiencing all of this, yet the cause of this disaster was him.

Merlin lets out a breathe; as he tries to dispel all the negative emotions, he extends his hand and strokes the girl's messy hair, saying:

"Let me go for a bit; I need to carry your mother outta here first...be careful when you follow me, okay?"

The girl lets go obediently and watches as Merlin lowers his body to carry her unconscious mother. Then, she reaches out and grabs Merlin's clothes as they navigate out of this twisted, dark place.

The girl finally feels peace after being saved.

She no longer has to fear.

As Merlin walks out of the carriage, a touch of light shines from the back of the tunnel. They had noticed the noise Merlin made when he pried the door open.

From the sounds of the footsteps, seven people were coming, including both male and female.

Merlin places the unconscious lady on the ground; he crouches then strokes the obedient girls' head and says:

"You stay right here; the other uncles and aunties are coming to help you. Also, don't tell anyone else that you saw me, okay?"

The girl's eyes blinked in the darkness, and Merlin could see that she had beautiful brown eyes, as well as fluffy golden hair; she was like a cute little doll.

At Merlin's request, the girl tilts her head, as if thinking, and asks:

"Why?"

"As I had saved you just now, I have to go save other people now. But I prefer working alone than with a group."

"Anyways, farewell, brave little girl."

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Merlin stands up and waves the girl goodbye; he turns and heads into the darkness. Behind him, the girl asks:

"What's your name?"

"Merlin."

A deep voice replies, representing that Merlin was leaving quickly.

"Alright! I promise you, Merlin!"

There was no echo from the darkness, nor was there an answer.

Merlin had headed deep into the darkness and left.

After advancing for about 15 minutes, Merlin arrives at the very back of the train; multiple cargo carriages had collapsed here, the heavyweight of the carriage and its cargo seals the entrance, the falling rubble makes it hard to climb it too.

Merlin could hear in a different direction, male voices discussing how they wanted to open this blockade.

But just as the old man said, those methods need time, yet under the circumstances, under the darkness, the people can do something dangerous that harms themselves and others.

Merlin knows that he can open the heavyweight blockade in front of him, as he did in the psychic's store.

The only problem was that Merlin had no control over the dark powers inside his body.

But, he has some assumptions.

Summarising the encounter in the psychic's store in Chicago, Merlin assumes that, only under significant external threat, would the dark powers inside him erupt and destroy the threat.

Like the demon bell the old fraud took out back in Chicago.

And in last night's explosion, he did not lose consciousness when he turned into the black storm. He could even remember clearly, everything that the storm had sensed as his consciousness merged with the storm as if he had become the blowing wind.

He could feel that the powers inside his body were full of darkness and were extremely dangerous, but it was generally harmless. There's a high chance that after the contract broke the connection between Trigon and its powers inside him, that dark power has yet to manifest a conscious. 

So theoretically, he could manipulate the dark powers he had; he just had to find out how.

"Alright."

Merlin moves his shoulders and arms like he is warming up.

In the darkness, he takes a deep breath and holds his left hand against the blockade; he tries to calm down, and moments later, say:

"Come out!"

Of course, this did nothing but create an echo.

The dark power dwells inside his body, unresponsive to his calls as if they're despising him.

"Damn!"

The young man curses, changes his posture, tries again and receives no response. Moments later, he could hear the footsteps of the men who were attracted by his constant shouting.

There was little time left.

Merlin grits his teeth and looks on the ground. Seconds later, he picks up a broken bottle.

He looks into the sharp broken glass in his hand; he must've gone mad. It must've been that old man, putting crazy stuff into his mind, and leading to the situation he's in right now.

But now, he could either leave here like a coward and wait for something terrible to happen.

Or...

Try again, with a risky method.

In the darkness, he clasps the broken glass bottle with his hands, the sharp edges pointing inwards, and whispers:

"Either work or die as a human."

"You hear me? Whatever you are!"

Merlin's tone becomes stubborn, as if talking to an invisible person. He grits his teeth and says:

"I won't let you...turn me into a monster!"

Then, Merlin thrusts inwards, the sharp broken glass cutting into his heart.

With full force, with all might.

The moment Merlin feels pain as the glass penetrates his skin, the dark powers awaken once more.

"Whoong"

In less than a second, Merlin transforms into a black storm with crimson red sparks and crashes hard into the blockade.

Like a giant's fist, it punched into the blockade of metal and rubble.

Merlin's fading conscious feels like a blazing fire, burning through all it touches.

This power is truly aggressive, as a massive explosion occurs as soon as it touches the blockade, stunning everyone inside the dark tunnel.

Then was the second explosion, then the third.

The carriages of steel, heavy wooden poles, metal ingots meant for processing in the factory, and shattered glass.

It was blasted through, melted, and burned regardless of what it was.

After three savage blows, a weak Merlin who had returned to his human form drops onto the ground; in front of him, the sunlight shines into the darkness like a sharp sword piercing through the darkness.

Behind him was the blockade that was blasted through the middle; a circular gap had been opened through the 10-meter thick blockade.

"Huhu, I did it..."

Merlin felt that his entire body was in pain, not just from aching, but the sun shining on his face was also oddly stinging. He was weak and had no strength left as if his spirits had been completely stripped from his body.

But he lets out a hard yet satisfying laugh.

He caused a disaster.

And redeemed himself by ending it.

"Wow!"

A voice resounds from behind him; Merlin turns back and finds the little girl he had just saved, looking at him as if he were an absolute monster, as well as a true hero.

From her widely opened eyes, she had definitely witnessed all that had occurred.

And in the darkness behind her, Merlin could hear lots of footsteps; those were the sounds of people running towards the light.

A weak Merlin gets up with difficulty; he picks up the cowboy hat and places it on his head. He lifts his finger to his lips, and under the sunlight, makes a Shh gesture.

Before the people he saved charge into the light, a limping Merlin leaves the tunnel.

As if...

He had never appeared before.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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