The broken road ended where the forest did.
Beyond that, only scattered pieces remained.
Some had sunk beneath the dry earth. Others lay cracked apart, their edges worn smooth by countless seasons.
Whatever path had once existed...
It could no longer be followed.
Merlin stood silently for a moment.
Then he looked toward the river.
It still flowed in the same direction.
Roads could disappear.
The river hadn't.
He walked toward it.
...
The river was nothing like the one he had left behind.
It had grown wider.
Far wider.
The opposite bank was little more than a dark line in the distance.
The water no longer drifted quietly around stones. It rolled forward with a steady force that pulled everything along with it.
Merlin watched a fallen branch touch the current.
Within moments it was gone.
Crossing it would be impossible.
Not alone.
He found a smooth rock near the bank and lowered the container from his shoulders.
His legs welcomed the rest.
Merlin opened the container and removed one strip of dried fish. Then a piece of fruit.
He ate slowly.
There was no reason to hurry.
The river continued moving whether he walked or not.
When he finished, he cupped water into his hands and drank.
Cold.
Fresh.
Familiar.
For a long while he simply sat there, watching the current and listening to the endless rush of water.
Eventually he stood.
The container returned to his shoulders.
The river became his guide.
...
Hours passed.
The land remained dry.
Grass covered the plains in faded patches.
The broken remains of the old road appeared every so often before disappearing beneath the earth again.
Merlin barely looked at them.
The river was easier to follow.
As the sun climbed higher, something began to change.
The wind felt different.
Cooler.
Heavier.
It carried a scent he didn't recognize.
The air no longer smelled of dry grass.
Or the forest.
Merlin frowned.
He kept walking.
The river widened even more.
So wide that it no longer felt like a river at all.
Then...
He heard it.
A sound unlike flowing water.
Low.
Endless.
Growing louder with every step.
Merlin climbed a gentle rise.
The world opened before him.
Water.
An endless stretch of it.
The river flowed into something so vast that he couldn't see the other side.
The horizon swallowed it completely.
Merlin stared.
He had never imagined so much water could exist in one place.
For a long moment, he said nothing.
Then something moved.
Far away.
So far that he almost mistook it for a bird.
Merlin narrowed his eyes.
A dark shape drifted across the water.
It moved without fighting the current.
Without paddling.
Without drifting.
A ship... But Merlin didn't know that.
Tiny against the endless sea.
Merlin watched until it became little more than a speck.
Then his eyes shifted.
Beyond the mouth of the river...
Past the curve of the coastline...
Something interrupted the horizon.
He couldn't make it out.
The distance was too great.
But it didn't belong to the land.
It stood above it.
Merlin remained silent.
He continued following the coastline.
The shape on the horizon never disappeared.
If anything, it only seemed to grow larger.
At first he thought it was a cliff.
A strange one.
The land around it was mostly flat.
Yet the shape rose far above everything else.
Hours passed.
The sun climbed higher.
The distant object slowly began to change.
Sharp edges emerged, too symmetrical to be natural.
Straight lines.
Corners.
Merlin frowned.
Natural formations didn't usually look like that.
At some point he realized he was no longer looking at a hill.
Or a cliff.
It was a structure.
A very large one.
The realization made him walk faster.
The closer he got, the more details appeared.
Long stretches of gray stone.
Large rectangular shapes.
Towers.
Only then did Merlin understand what he was looking at.
A city.
Or at least he thought it was.
The walls were larger than anything he could have imagined.
Even from this distance they dominated the landscape.
Merlin slowed.
Something moved near the base of the wall.
Tiny shapes.
Too small to identify.
People?
The thought came naturally.
The figures were moving around a clearing close to the walls.
Merlin continued walking.
The figures slowly became clearer.
Two arms.
Two legs.
Human.
At least from a distance.
Then one turned.
Merlin frowned.
Something looked strange.
He couldn't tell what.
The distance was still too great.
Another figure appeared.
Then another.
The closer he got, the more obvious it became that something wasn't quite right.
Yet they were undoubtedly people.
Or close enough.
One of the figures suddenly stopped moving.
Even from this far away Merlin could tell it was staring in his direction.
A second figure noticed him.
Then a third.
Merlin stopped walking.
The distant figures remained motionless for a moment.
Then one of them slowly raised an arm.
Merlin stared.
For the first time since leaving the forest...
Someone had seen him.
Merlin quickened his pace.
For some reason, he felt that if he slowed down, the city might disappear.
The figures by the gate hadn't moved.
They simply stood there.
Waiting.
The distance between them shrank little by little.
What felt like hours to Merlin couldn't have been more than a few moments.
The walls towered over him now.
Far larger than they had looked from a distance.
The gate beneath them stood open, dark enough that he couldn't see what lay beyond.
His breathing grew heavier.
People.
There really were people.
As Merlin drew closer, one of the figures stepped forward.
The movement caused the others to do the same.
Not aggressively.
Almost...
Expectantly.
One of them slowly raised an arm.
Not a wave.
An invitation.
Merlin slowed.
His heart, which had been racing with excitement, began to settle.
They wanted him to come closer.
Another step.
Then another.
The distance between them closed.
Their faces slowly became clearer.
Human.
Almost.
Merlin frowned.
Their skin...
It was pale.
Not the pale of someone who hadn't seen the sun.
White.
Completely white.
Like fresh snow.
Not a trace of color remained beneath it.
He took another step.
Something still felt wrong.
The proportions were right.
Two arms.
Two legs.
A face.
Everything was where it should have been.
Yet his eyes refused to believe they were looking at another human.
The one standing in front slowly raised an arm a little higher.
A welcoming smile spread across its face.
Then Merlin noticed the eyes.
They were too bright.
Too clear.
As if they reflected light that wasn't there.
His gaze drifted lower.
The fingers...
There were too many joints.
Long and elegant.
They bent just a little farther than they should have.
A chill crawled up Merlin's spine.
Every instinct in his body screamed.
Run.
He didn't think.
He turned and bolted.
Behind him, a welcoming hand still waiting for his approval.