Outskirt Of Kandor
The tent was one of the larger ones from the Dark Lord’s camp, commandeered after the battle. Someone had found actual chairs somewhere—probably dragged from the city—and they’d arranged them in a rough circle. A small table held bread, cheese, and some kind of dried meat that nobody had touched yet.
Adam sat sprawled in the largest chair, his legs stretched out, looking like he owned the place. Alex occupied the chair to his right, arms crossed, watching Merlin with an expression that was difficult to read. Rebecca had positioned herself near the entrance, close to Elizabeth, who sat beside her looking equal parts relieved and annoyed.
Merlin sat across from them, Morgana standing behind him like a nervous shadow. He’d been quiet since they entered, his eyes moving between each of them, cataloging, assessing.
Elizabeth broke the silence first. "You know, when I said I’d introduce you to Absolutes, I didn’t mean ’hold me hostage and force them to come find me.’"
Merlin shrugged. "It worked."
"You’re lucky they didn’t kill you."
"He hit Adam." Alex’s voice was dry. "That usually doesn’t end well for people."
Merlin glanced at Adam, who was picking at a piece of bread with mild interest. "He let me hit him."
"Maybe." Adam tossed the bread back onto the table. "Maybe I was curious. Maybe I was bored. Maybe I just wanted to see what you’d do." He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "So. You’re an Absolute. Energy and Matter. That’s big. That’s really big. Most Absolutes are concepts—Death, Chaos, Existence. But you? You’re the stuff everything is made of. The building blocks. Without you, nothing physical exists."
Merlin nodded slowly. "That’s what I’ve figured out. It’s been... growing. Since I was a kid. Little things at first. Fixing toys, making plants grow. Then bigger things. And now..." He trailed off.
"Now you can rewrite reality at the atomic level," Alex finished. "Impressive. Also terrifying. Also exactly what we need."
Merlin’s eyes narrowed. "What do you mean, what you need?"
Adam held up a hand. "We’ll get to that. First, I have a question." He tilted his head, studying Merlin with an intensity that hadn’t been there before. "You’ve had this power your whole life, growing slowly, waking up over time. You’ve figured out some of what you can do. But here’s what I don’t get." He paused. "Why do you want to know about your powers from us when you’ve already got a system that does that for you?"
Merlin blinked. "A system?"
"Yeah. You know. The thing in your head that tracks your stats, your abilities, your growth. Every Absolute has one. It’s how we understand ourselves. How we measure what we are." Adam’s expression was genuinely curious. "You didn’t know?"
Merlin stared at him. "I don’t have anything like that. I’ve just been... figuring it out as I go."
Adam’s eyebrows rose. "You’ve been operating blind? For seventeen years? With power like yours?" He let out a low whistle. "Kid, you’ve got more restraint than I gave you credit for."
Merlin’s mind raced. A system? Stats? Abilities tracked and measured? He’d never had anything like that. Just the growing awareness of what he could do, the constant fear of losing control, the desperate need to hide.
But as Adam spoke, something stirred in the back of his consciousness. A presence he’d never noticed before. A quiet hum of information waiting to be accessed.
He closed his eyes, reaching inward.
And there it was.
A interface materialized before his mind’s eye, visible only to him—clean lines of light forming words, numbers, categories he’d never seen but somehow understood. It had always been there, dormant, waiting for him to acknowledge it. Now it bloomed into full awareness.
ENTITY STATS — MERLIN
Title: The Star-Born Son
True Name: Unknown (Origin: Parallel Earth-719)
Rank: Absolute Being (Energy & Matter)
Authority: Complete Over Finite Reality
Existence-Level: Fundamental
Threat Level: Unquantifiable
ATTRIBUTE — VALUE
Strength — ∞ (All mass responds)
Speed — ∞ (All motion responds)
Durability — ∞ (All structure responds)
Intelligence — Variable (Scales with comprehension)
Mana — N/A (Precedes magic)
Soul — Anchored (Cannot be unmade)
Timeline Profiles — Single (Current)
Reality Density — Absolute
Energy Capacity — Infinite (All sources accessible)
Matter Control — Absolute (All forms bend)
CONCEPT ABILITIES:
✓ Absolute Energy Manipulation — Control over all forms of energy across all spectrums. Kinetic, thermal, nuclear, quantum, conceptual. If it powers something, it answers to Merlin.
✓ Absolute Matter Manipulation — Control over all physical substance. Atoms, molecules, quantum particles, dark matter. The physical universe bends to his will.
✓ Creation — Manifest matter and energy from the void between realities. Make something from nothing.
✓ Annihilation — Reduce any physical thing to its base components, or to nothing at all.
✓ Transmutation — Change one form of matter or energy into another. Lead to gold. Fire to ice. Light to dark.
✓ Density Control — Make matter infinitely dense or infinitely sparse. Create black holes or vacuum.
✓ Energy Absorption — Absorb any attack that carries energy. Fire, lightning, force, magic. Make it part of himself.
✓ Matter Reconstruction — Repair or reshape any physical object at the molecular level.
✓ Atomic Manipulation — Rearrange atomic structures directly. Create new elements, new materials, new forms of existence.
✓ Conceptual Fuel — Draw power from the concepts of energy and matter themselves. Infinite fuel source.
PASSIVE TRAITS:
• Cannot be destroyed (energy and matter merely transform)
• Cannot be starved (exists on ambient energy)
• Cannot be contained (all containers are matter)
• Cannot be outlasted (energy never truly dies)
• Cannot be separated from physical reality (he is its foundation)
• Cannot be ignored (all things physical acknowledge him)
• Cannot be fully comprehended (finite minds cannot grasp infinite foundations)
CURRENT LIMITATIONS:
• Experience gap (17 years of life, centuries of power)
• Psychological blocks (fear of losing control)
• Unawakened potential (many abilities dormant)
• Emotional volatility (still human at core)
• No formal training (self-taught, instinct-driven)
GROWTH PROJECTION: Unlimited
Merlin read through the display, his mind struggling to process what he was seeing. This was him. This was what he was. Written out in cold, precise language that made it real in a way nothing else had.
"Interesting, right?"
Adam’s voice pulled him back to the tent. Merlin opened his eyes to find Adam watching him with knowing amusement.
"You can see it," Merlin said. It wasn’t a question.
"Most Absolutes can see each other’s systems if they’re paying attention. Yours just woke up, so it’s broadcasting pretty loud." Adam’s grin widened. "Nice stats, by the way. ’Unlimited growth projection.’ That’s not something you see every day."
Merlin stared at him. "You can read my stats?"
"Just the highlights. Don’t worry, I’m not snooping." Adam leaned back. "But I did notice something interesting. Your True Name is unknown. That’s rare. Most of us figured out our names pretty quick. Means you’ve got a journey ahead of you to discover who you really are."
Alex spoke up. "What else did you see?"
Adam glanced at him. "Standard Absolute stuff. Energy, matter, creation, annihilation. The usual." He looked back at Merlin. "But here’s the thing, kid. You’ve got all this power, all this potential, and you’ve been hiding from it. That’s not sustainable. Eventually, something’s going to push you past your breaking point, and then you’ll either destroy everything around you or finally accept what you are."
Merlin’s jaw tightened. "I know. That’s why I need to understand. That’s why I need—"
"Us." Adam nodded. "Yeah, I get it. And we can help. But you need to understand something first." He leaned forward, his expression serious for the first time. "Being an Absolute isn’t just about power. It’s about responsibility. Every atom in every universe, every spark of energy in every dimension—they’re yours. You’re their foundation. If you break, they break. If you lose control, they lose existence."
Merlin was silent for a long moment. Then he spoke, his voice quiet. "That’s what I’m afraid of."
"Good." Adam’s seriousness melted into something gentler. "Fear keeps you careful. But don’t let it keep you small. You’re bigger than you know, Merlin. We all are."
Elizabeth, who had been watching the exchange with growing impatience, finally spoke. "Are we done with the cosmic therapy session? Because I’d like to know why I was kidnapped and held hostage by a teenager with god complex."
Merlin winced. "I didn’t mean to—I just needed—"
"You needed." Elizabeth’s voice was sharp. "You needed. What about what I needed? I was trying to help you. I was going to introduce you to people who could actually teach you. And your response was to trap me like a prisoner."
Merlin looked down at his hands. "I’m sorry."
The words were simple, quiet, and utterly genuine.
Elizabeth stared at him for a moment, then sighed. "Apology accepted. But if you ever do anything like that again, I’ll let Rebecca introduce you to her scythe. Up close."
Adam walked toward the tent entrance, then paused, looking back.
"Welcome to the family, kid. It’s weird, it’s chaotic, and it’s probably going to get you killed. But at least you won’t be alone anymore."