Chapter 7: Arc 1: Chapter 7: The Forgotten

Pain!

Indescribable pain fills Merlin's once relaxed body and mind.

It was as if a fire had been lit from inside him, and under his skin, fiery light could be seen, like a slithering snake slithering under his skin.

White smoke slowly flows out of his nostrils, mouth, and ears; he is like a stack of firewood, amongst the sparks, he could most likely become a human torch within seconds.

"Bang"

Lola's car door was slammed open, and under the rhythm of Michael Jackson's newest song, Merlin staggers onto the ground. With the rolling pain both physically and mentally, with the pain coming in like waves of the sea, Merlin falls onto the ground as if he's lost the ability to stand.

Like a fish out of water, Merlin's body flails around, he tries to breathe, but the air won't go into his lungs, as every one of his organs is filled with burning mana.

Yet the pain on his body may be unbearable; it is the pain on the soul that may drive him into the abyss. 

His soul is being torn apart, literally.

As if two invisible hands are pulling his soul apart from both sides.

As the burning mana vibrates violently, the claws continue to tear his soul apart, like it's trying to tear it into shreds and erase his existence from the world.

"AH!!!"

Merlin holds his head firmly with both hands and raises his head, smashing it against the ground in an attempt to relieve the pain.

"Bang"

"Bang"

Merlin's head was bleeding after two smashes, and right as he prepares for the third time...

"Snap"

Following a deep sound of something tearing apart, the lights in Merlin's eyes give out.

His body was still intact, the temperature slowly dropping, like a hot rock thrown into the water, white smoke emits from his body. But in that body, his soul had been torn apart by Trigon's rampaging mana.

The singing behind him lowers like an ending tune.

And finally, Merlin's lifeless body drops face down onto the ground.

Just as Trigon said, he'd rather destroy this unique soul than let someone else take it.

A gentle breeze blows through Merlin's black hair like grass on the field. However, Merlin can no longer respond to the wind.

For he is dead.

---

The big guys (let's call them experts) sitting on the gambling table remain silent; no one wishes to speak. As of this moment, no one wants to comment on what had just happened.

The expert with the strange bracelet discards the cigar in his mouth and looks towards the man on the opposite side of the gambling table.

To be stared upon by an expert is another expert.

And this one has...strange clothing.

A black cloak enshrouds his whole body, his left eye covered by a black eye patch, the other eye, which color is ice blue, is emotionless, only like a frozen winter.

"Mr. Dawn Blade, it's your turn now."

A voice similar to a referee appears.

"The 'Demon' round has ended, and we are entering the 'Luck' round. Please decide whether you wish to begin the next dice rolling or that you wish to forfeit."

"Alright."

The man with the eye-patch nods; he looks at the screen and says:

"After getting rid of the illusory dust, would the truth appear. This story is finally starting to get more interesting.

The expert turns and looks at the Recorder sitting next to the gambling table and asks:

"So, what will you name this section of the story?"

The Recorder shrugs and replies with a gentle tone:

"Crossing death comes at a cost. He died because his soul shattered, and yet it also brought him rebirth. But all those that occurred in the past will not remain. He will become..."

"Yes, Forgotten."

The man with the cigar waves his finger, interrupting their conversation, and says impatiently:

"Then get him back up."

"Seeing him lying there on the grass in the middle of nowhere makes me sick."

---

"Woong"

It was as if Merlin had a long dream, but as long as it's a dream, then there comes a time he must wake up.

With the arrival of dawn, Merlin opens his eyes. And with the help of the car lights, he sees a groundhog coming out of its hole, gazing upon him like a fallen giant.

As soon as Merlin opened his eyes, the groundhog was surprised and went back into its hole in a flash, trembling in it, fearing the waking giant.

Nothing happened.

A weak Merlin gets up to his feet, his head dizzying like Mike Tyson had struck it. Merlin thinks he might have some severe concussion aftereffects since he's seeing double right now.

Like having myopia.

Merlin sits on Lola's driver seat with difficulty; he closes his eyes and shakes his head, trying to lessen the aftereffects of what had just occurred.

The good news was, his vision was gradually recovering.

The bad news was that what happened just now was not a hallucination or a dream.

Merlin lowers his head. Through his muzzled vision, he could see that his clothes were soaked in blood, and he could hear muttering ringing in his ears as if dozens of people were whispering at the same time; he could not think or calm down due to it.

He does remember that the demon's contract had activated, and he experienced a supernatural event, nearly dying in the process, but he survived.

Did the demon show mercy?

No, that's unlikely.

Merlin rubs his forehead and cleans some of the blood clots in his hair. He sits in the car, motionless, and his vision begins to fully recover at the break of dawn. Although he still sees double, it's bearable.

It was at this time that he noticed something strange in the rearview mirror.

His eyes.

In his black pupils, there were crimson red lights. Though faint, it was similar to the fire in Trigon's eyes in his human form three days ago.

The contract, although he is clueless, had indeed been activated. At least, some of it did.

"What's going on?"

Merlin widens his eyelids using his fingers, and using Lola's inside lights and the rearview mirror; he examines his eyeball. When his eyes widen, so does the light inside it, but it seems purely cosmetic.

This discovery brought palpitations to his heart; perhaps he didn't entirely escape from the aftereffects of the contract.

Maybe this is just a sign, a sign of what's to come.

And as time flies, the light of the first dawn shines into the darkness, and as an opening curtain, slowly begins to shine across the land.

Somehow, Merlin feels that the sunlight today is very bright, so bright that his eyes hurt, and he felt uncomfortable as if he was under the burning sun of a summer afternoon. The feeling subsided when he took out an old cowboy's hat and James' sunglasses from the car and wore them.

"Let's head back for now, mom and Phil should be worried."

Merlin restarted the car and headed back to the farm. Although he had sold it, the middleman company gave him half a month to pack up their stuff.

Merlin changed into a new set of clothes before heading to the hospital.

But he was very unlucky today.

At every crossroad, there were red lights, long ones at that, and while he was turning a corner, he almost hit an elderly man, who scolded him on the spot for a few minutes.

As he approached the hospital, he received some 'gifts' in his car from the pigeons.

He slipped and knocked his head on a pole when he arrived, almost punching through his skull.

He bumped into a doctor and almost fell from the third floor as he climbed the stairs.

When he wanted to drink water, there was an electric shortage.

All this reminds him of a book that he and Phil read when they were bored; the name was <Final Destination>.

"Must be imagining things."

Merlin comforts himself and walks out of the elevator; he carefully treads to his father's room. He tries to calm himself to not cause worry to his family.

"Phil!"

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Merlin sees his brother resting on the chair outside James' room and calls for him. He takes off his cowboy hat but hesitates whether or not he wants to take off the sunglasses, and ultimately he decides to keep them on.

He walks next to Phil, who wakes up and stares at the person in front of him, and as if Merlin was a stranger, asks impatiently:

"Who are you? How do you know my name?"

"?"

Phil's harsh tone surprises Merlin, but he puts it off as a joke. He sits down next to Phil and taps his shoulder:

"Don't worry, lil' bro; dad's going to okay."

"Who's your lil' bro?"

Phil is stunned by the stranger's actions. This 15-year-old young man slaps off Merlin's hand and says calmly:

"Look, buddy! My father did experience a disaster, but the Coulson family will live through it, so I appreciate your help, but you've got the wrong person."

"What do you mean?"

Merlin sees the expression on Phil's face and knows that there are some new developments in the situation.

He no longer hides and takes off his sunglasses, asking Phil while pointing to himself:

"Do you truly not recognize me?"

Phil examines Merlin's face closely and shakes his head, gesturing to Merlin's eyes:

"I don't know you, nor have I've seen you before, but you've got some cool-looking eyes, buddy. Is that some new cosmetic technique?"

"Pa"

Merlin clenches his fist.

Something the Phantom Stranger told him in the cafe slipped into mind.

"Crossing death always comes at a cost."

Merlin had always thought that what Judas had said to be simple literature, but now, it looks more like a warning than anything else.

If this isn't one of Phil's pranks, then that means Merlin had indeed paid the price for his 'rebirth'.

The torn contract didn't kill him, but it erased his name as well as all memories about him and all traces of his existence from the world. 

From someone who had everything, to a homeless ghost with nothing.

"Fuh"

Merlin lets out his breath.

He looks at the familiar stranger beside him, and loses all strength in his body, limping onto the chair with his face pale.

This shocks Phil, who thought that this stranger was having a sudden illness, and tries to call a doctor, but Merlin stops him.

Merlin gestures to Phil that he doesn't need help.

He stands up and glances at James Coulson's room, the man he called father for 18 years, and sighs. He puts on his sunglasses and tells Phil:

"I'm gonna go make a call, I'm a friend of your father's, and I'll be back in a bit."

Merlin then turns and leaves. Phil looks at him, he feels some familiarity but he can't seem to find any memory of this stranger no matter how hard he thinks.

"Phil, my son, who is that?"

Madam Coulson turns the corner with a cup of warm coffee at hand; she hands the coffee to Phil and looks at Merlin's lonely figure:

"Is he your friend?"

"No, he isn't."

Phil replies:

"He says he's a friend of dad's...but he's too young to be, wait, mom, why are you crying all of a sudden?"

The young man holds his mother's hands and consoles her:

"As I said, someone nice donated us some money, so you need not worry about the costs of dad's surgery and rehabilitation."

Beside Phil, Madam Coulson's tears are flowing, and she wipes her tears while saying:

"N, no, it's just that...I suddenly feel like crying, but I don't know why. Phil, I feel like, I had just lost something, something important, something very precious to me..."

"Don't cry, mom."

Phil panics while trying to console his mother, and MadamCoulson couldn't stop crying as she looked in the direction where Merlin had left, causing Phil to also feel sad, as the burden these past few days has been too much for this 15-year-old boy. The two cry together, sadness arises from those around them.

This is the hospital's emergency room; those who appear here are never short of sorrowfulness.

On the other side, Merlin stands in the public phone booth outside the hospital; he picks up the phone and dials a long number, he then places it on his ear. Moments later, a pleasant female voice appears:

"Hello, who is this?"

"May I ask..."

Merlin moved his lips; he was extremely nervous, like a gambler waiting for the grand reveal, causing his voice to become coarse and dry:

"Are you May Reilly?"

"Yes, I am."

The female on the other side asks confusingly:

"Who are you?"

"I'm M...Merlin, remember me? Cousin."

"Merlin?"

The female voice becomes ice-cold, and she warns:

"I don't know who you are, but this joke is crossing the line! My only cousin Merlin died 18 years ago... So never call back; you get me? Goodbye!"

"Dududu"

Merlin could barely even hold the phone at this point; he limps to the ground, curling up in the corner as tears flow from his covered-up eyes.

"You told me never to forget you...but you forgot about me first..."

"Dear god...why me...."

He collapses.

18 years...

All his 18 years of life disappeared as if it were just a dream. 

Maybe he, Merlin Reilly, did die 18 years ago.

Him in the present...

Was nothing but a nameless ghost with nowhere to go.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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