In Dreams and Reality
Title: In Dreams and Reality
Word Count: 2,155
Rating: PG-13
Original/Fandom: Original
Pairings (if any): None
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/etc): No
Summary: Nathan Lee Hartwell dreams a bizarre dream involving a Merlin who is a Time Keeper and Camelot's King Arthur. Or at least Nathan hopes that he is dreaming...
A/N: This is a combination of two prompts- Time Keeper and having to set the story in a mythical place.
Nathan Lee Hartwell knew that he had to be dreaming. There was no other reasonable or logical explanation why he was standing wearing a white robe that looked like it had belonged to a monk and standing in front of a old man with a snow-white long bread and twinkling hazel eyes who was dressed similarly. They were the only two people standing in the vast space around them.
“Where am I? Is this a dream?” he wondered out loud.
The old man chuckled, “Oh Nathan old chap, you are always skeptical aren’t you? Well, you could say that we are in a separate dimension to yours and mine. It is a nice place to have a chat don’t you think?”
Frowning, Nathan shook his head, “No. It isn’t. Who are you and how do you know my name?”
The old man grinned, pleased to see that Nathan was no pushover, “Always getting straight to the point huh? Well you can call me the Time Keeper or TK as you young people say nowadays isn’t it? And as for knowing who you are-isn’t it obvious?”
Now Nathan was sure that he was dreaming because there was no such individual called a Time Keeper-or at least not one that was as old as that and definitely not one who knew him. Sure, there was his team- the Time Guardians who time traveled but they didn’t keep time per se nor have the impossible ability to visit people in their dreams.
“This isn’t real, no it can’t be!” Nathan repeated himself and started to back away from the old man, intending to get away or least try to.
He turned to run but there in front of him stood the Time Keeper. Befuddled, Nathan glanced back over his shoulder where he had last seen the old man. There was no one there.
He turned back to face the Time Keeper who raised his eyebrow in response.
“How did you do that?” Nathan gasped out. He scrambled to think of a plan. From what he knew about vivid dreams, if he tried to do something drastic in this dreamscape-then his actual self should wake up but what could be done?
Maybe he could try something, anything would help at this point and time. Nathan got into position and set off running at a fast speed before trying to jump. He did a misstep and landed hard on his back. Squeezing his eyes shut, Nathan quickly opened them to see the Time Keeper’s face looking down on him.
The Time Keeper was not happy. “I don’t have time for this, Young Man! I brought you here for a reason- I need you to go to Camelot- ” he trailed off as if something that Nathan couldn’t see had caught his attention.
Nathan shook his head in denial, “But there is no such place as Camelot!”
The Time Keeper chuckled, “Really? Before I brought you here- you didn’t think that this place existed either. But we have wasted enough time.” He bent down and touched Nathan’s forehead.
Next thing Nathan knew- he was standing in an extremely dusty courtyard where there were men dressed up in full knight armor and actual real horses that smelled god awful. He turned around taking in the sights and sounds. In addition to the knights, there were a few servants rushing here and there. He could tell that they were servants because they were dressed in simple pants and a tunic.
The sun shone down on everyone including Nathan who was beginning to feel very hot. He looked down at himself and saw to his shock and horror that he was wearing armor just like the knights. He even had a sword that hung by his side and a shield. What did the Time Keeper get him into? He frantically began to look around for the old man but he was nowhere to be seen.
“Sir Hartwell! There you are!” A knight called out towards Nathan as he broke from the others and headed towards him. The knight had dark raven hair and a mischievous look in his blue eyes.
Nathan looked to his right and left trying to figure out to whom the knight had spoken because it couldn’t be him. His eyes widened as the knight stopped right in front of him, “Um…I don’t think-”
“We have been waiting for you, Hartwell! Merlin said that you would be easy to spot with that flaming red hair. I am Sir Lancelot. Come, we do not have much time- King Arthur needs us to go and defeat the evil dragon who is terrorizing the villagers.”
Nathan found himself being paired with a horse that looked extremely bad-tempered and it was not long before he and the rest of the knights including the famous King Arthur and his wizard, Merlin were headed off to slay the menacing dragon. He couldn’t quite believe where he was-that he was one of King Arthur’s knights but Nathan decided that he would just flow with it and hopefully wouldn’t find himself killed.
Shaking his head trying not to think too much about what he was about to do, he noticed that Merlin had ridden up to his side.
“Isn’t this fun, Nathan old chap?” Merlin said seriously as his eyes twinkled in Nathan’s direction.
Nathan stuttered, “Time Keeper?! What are you doing here? What am I doing here?”
Merlin/Time Keeper just laughed in response to Nathan’s bumbling questions. “Relax, Nathan, and enjoy the ride-I know that it is going to be an exciting one for you.”
“But I really don’t want to be here.” Nathan pleaded hoping to convince the Time Keeper, or Merlin or whoever he said he was to send him back home.
The old man just smiled knowingly, “Not until you are done doing what I’ve sent you here to do. It is necessary that Sir Nathan Hartwell be the one to kill the dragon today and that is you, my old chap, no one else.”
Nathan squeezed his eyes shut and desperately wished that he would wake up or somehow end up in a different place. It didn’t help since he could still feel that he was sitting on a horse and he could smell the fresh air of the forest.
He swallowed hard, his throat suddenly dry-one thing he knew for certain, Nathan had no idea that when he got up that morning he would find himself in Camelot with King Arthur and his knights, in addition to an insane old man who had brought him here in the first place, and having to slay a dragon just to get back home. How he was going to accomplish that he had no idea but it was fast turning out to be the worst day ever in his life.
They eventually arrived to a small village which lay in ruins. The villagers who were able to escape the dragon’s rage were wandering through the ruins looking dazed and stunned.
One of the men hurried over and bowed down to King Arthur, “My Lord, we couldn’t do much when the dragon attacked. We need your help.”
King Arthur nodded at the man, “And you shall have it,” He turned to the knight on his right, “I want you to take two others and help these villagers with whatever they need.” Turning back to the villager, he continued, “Did you see where the dragon went?”
The man bowed again in thanks and replied, “Yes, it flew north of here.” He turned and pointed in the general direction.
King Arthur gestured to the Merlin/Time Keeper to approach him before saying, “I hope that you are right about this, old friend-it is all up to your friend, this Sir Hartwell. Why don’t you go on ahead of us?”
Merlin/Time Keeper nodded gravely, “Yes, My Lord. Sir Hartwell, come on!” He cried looking back at where Nathan had stopped.
Nathan jumped as the Time Keeper called out his name, his stomach sinking to his feet. This was it, he thought to himself and walked his horse slowly over to where the Time Keeper was waiting for him. This was literally a do-or-die situation and Nathan was terrified that the outcome for him would be death-that he would end up dying here in King Arthur’s time without any of his friends and family hell they would not have any idea that he was dead. He had no choice but to see this through and hope that the Time Keeper would somehow be able to get him back in any condition whatsoever to his own time.
They set off following the general direction that the villager had pointed out. It wasn’t long before they could see a big shape gliding in the sky which grew bigger and bigger the closer they got. It was clear that the dragon would be landing somewhere soon as with every glide, it came near and nearer to the ground until eventually they had lost sight of it in the air. However, they continued riding until they could clearly hear the dragon huffing and puffing as it rested after its flight.
Nathan and the Time Keeper left their horses at a safe distance before continuing on foot to where the dragon rested.
“I can’t believe that I’m about to try and kill a dragon of all things and I’ll probably end up killed while doing it.” Nathan said as he climbed to where the dragon was.
Again the Time Keeper chuckled but replied seriously, “This is your destiny, Nathan- you are the only person who can do this. King Arthur and I as well as the rest of Camelot are counting on you!”
Nathan whispered as he finally reached the top of the rocky mountain and could see the dragon lying a few feet away, “Yeah, yeah, you keep saying that but it is NOT you who needs to face an angry fire breathing dragon head on.” He crouched down so that the dragon wouldn’t see him just yet.
The Time Keeper frantically whispered behind him, “What are you waiting for? For him to give you an invitation? GO!”
With that, the Time Keeper gathered his magic and magically pushed Nathan out into the open-in clear view of the dragon. Pale as a sheet, Nathan just stood there quivering behind his shield. He knew that the dragon had seen him and was coming towards him because the ground shook a bit as it moved.
In a matter of seconds, the dragon was on top of Nathan who bravely held up his shield to protect himself with his left arm and pointed the sword at the dragon with the other. He had no idea if he was doing it right but then when did he ever need to face a dragon?
With a nervous roar, Nathan decided to charge the dragon hoping to get lucky and just stab him somewhere anywhere. As he did so, the dragon breathed fire at him which he avoided with his shield.
Tucking in his right arm holding his sword like a spear, Nathan charged at the dragon once again. Fire erupted around him from the dragon’s breath but he took no notice of it as he was determined to stab the dragon somewhere before he died. As the sword came into contact with the dragon’s flesh, both the dragon and Nathan roared with anger-the dragon out of pain and Nathan out of adrenaline.
That was the last thing that Nathan remembered before he woke up to find himself in his bedroom at the Time Guardian Agency. He immediately sat up and patted his chest, his heart racing.
“It was only a dream!” He said out loud giggling nervously. “But what a really vivid dream that was with the Time Keeper, King Arthur, Camelot and the dragon!” He felt unbelievable relief that he had only dreamed the whole thing-that is until he noticed the parchment paper lying folded on his bedside table. With a shaking hand, Nathan reached out and picked the parchment paper up. It was heavy and probably made of some animal hide. He had a nasty feeling as he unfolded the paper. The feeling got worse as he read:
Sir Nathan Hartwell,
Thank you for your services in killing the dragon that was terrorizing our villages. As a token of King Arthur’s gratitude- he has named you one of the Knights of the Round Table. It is Camelot’s highest honor.
Your humble servant,
Merlin
This entry was originally posted at http://pinkphoenix1985.dreamwidth.org/933425.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
Word Count: 2,155
Rating: PG-13
Original/Fandom: Original
Pairings (if any): None
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/etc): No
Summary: Nathan Lee Hartwell dreams a bizarre dream involving a Merlin who is a Time Keeper and Camelot's King Arthur. Or at least Nathan hopes that he is dreaming...
A/N: This is a combination of two prompts- Time Keeper and having to set the story in a mythical place.
Nathan Lee Hartwell knew that he had to be dreaming. There was no other reasonable or logical explanation why he was standing wearing a white robe that looked like it had belonged to a monk and standing in front of a old man with a snow-white long bread and twinkling hazel eyes who was dressed similarly. They were the only two people standing in the vast space around them.
“Where am I? Is this a dream?” he wondered out loud.
The old man chuckled, “Oh Nathan old chap, you are always skeptical aren’t you? Well, you could say that we are in a separate dimension to yours and mine. It is a nice place to have a chat don’t you think?”
Frowning, Nathan shook his head, “No. It isn’t. Who are you and how do you know my name?”
The old man grinned, pleased to see that Nathan was no pushover, “Always getting straight to the point huh? Well you can call me the Time Keeper or TK as you young people say nowadays isn’t it? And as for knowing who you are-isn’t it obvious?”
Now Nathan was sure that he was dreaming because there was no such individual called a Time Keeper-or at least not one that was as old as that and definitely not one who knew him. Sure, there was his team- the Time Guardians who time traveled but they didn’t keep time per se nor have the impossible ability to visit people in their dreams.
“This isn’t real, no it can’t be!” Nathan repeated himself and started to back away from the old man, intending to get away or least try to.
He turned to run but there in front of him stood the Time Keeper. Befuddled, Nathan glanced back over his shoulder where he had last seen the old man. There was no one there.
He turned back to face the Time Keeper who raised his eyebrow in response.
“How did you do that?” Nathan gasped out. He scrambled to think of a plan. From what he knew about vivid dreams, if he tried to do something drastic in this dreamscape-then his actual self should wake up but what could be done?
Maybe he could try something, anything would help at this point and time. Nathan got into position and set off running at a fast speed before trying to jump. He did a misstep and landed hard on his back. Squeezing his eyes shut, Nathan quickly opened them to see the Time Keeper’s face looking down on him.
The Time Keeper was not happy. “I don’t have time for this, Young Man! I brought you here for a reason- I need you to go to Camelot- ” he trailed off as if something that Nathan couldn’t see had caught his attention.
Nathan shook his head in denial, “But there is no such place as Camelot!”
The Time Keeper chuckled, “Really? Before I brought you here- you didn’t think that this place existed either. But we have wasted enough time.” He bent down and touched Nathan’s forehead.
Next thing Nathan knew- he was standing in an extremely dusty courtyard where there were men dressed up in full knight armor and actual real horses that smelled god awful. He turned around taking in the sights and sounds. In addition to the knights, there were a few servants rushing here and there. He could tell that they were servants because they were dressed in simple pants and a tunic.
The sun shone down on everyone including Nathan who was beginning to feel very hot. He looked down at himself and saw to his shock and horror that he was wearing armor just like the knights. He even had a sword that hung by his side and a shield. What did the Time Keeper get him into? He frantically began to look around for the old man but he was nowhere to be seen.
“Sir Hartwell! There you are!” A knight called out towards Nathan as he broke from the others and headed towards him. The knight had dark raven hair and a mischievous look in his blue eyes.
Nathan looked to his right and left trying to figure out to whom the knight had spoken because it couldn’t be him. His eyes widened as the knight stopped right in front of him, “Um…I don’t think-”
“We have been waiting for you, Hartwell! Merlin said that you would be easy to spot with that flaming red hair. I am Sir Lancelot. Come, we do not have much time- King Arthur needs us to go and defeat the evil dragon who is terrorizing the villagers.”
Nathan found himself being paired with a horse that looked extremely bad-tempered and it was not long before he and the rest of the knights including the famous King Arthur and his wizard, Merlin were headed off to slay the menacing dragon. He couldn’t quite believe where he was-that he was one of King Arthur’s knights but Nathan decided that he would just flow with it and hopefully wouldn’t find himself killed.
Shaking his head trying not to think too much about what he was about to do, he noticed that Merlin had ridden up to his side.
“Isn’t this fun, Nathan old chap?” Merlin said seriously as his eyes twinkled in Nathan’s direction.
Nathan stuttered, “Time Keeper?! What are you doing here? What am I doing here?”
Merlin/Time Keeper just laughed in response to Nathan’s bumbling questions. “Relax, Nathan, and enjoy the ride-I know that it is going to be an exciting one for you.”
“But I really don’t want to be here.” Nathan pleaded hoping to convince the Time Keeper, or Merlin or whoever he said he was to send him back home.
The old man just smiled knowingly, “Not until you are done doing what I’ve sent you here to do. It is necessary that Sir Nathan Hartwell be the one to kill the dragon today and that is you, my old chap, no one else.”
Nathan squeezed his eyes shut and desperately wished that he would wake up or somehow end up in a different place. It didn’t help since he could still feel that he was sitting on a horse and he could smell the fresh air of the forest.
He swallowed hard, his throat suddenly dry-one thing he knew for certain, Nathan had no idea that when he got up that morning he would find himself in Camelot with King Arthur and his knights, in addition to an insane old man who had brought him here in the first place, and having to slay a dragon just to get back home. How he was going to accomplish that he had no idea but it was fast turning out to be the worst day ever in his life.
They eventually arrived to a small village which lay in ruins. The villagers who were able to escape the dragon’s rage were wandering through the ruins looking dazed and stunned.
One of the men hurried over and bowed down to King Arthur, “My Lord, we couldn’t do much when the dragon attacked. We need your help.”
King Arthur nodded at the man, “And you shall have it,” He turned to the knight on his right, “I want you to take two others and help these villagers with whatever they need.” Turning back to the villager, he continued, “Did you see where the dragon went?”
The man bowed again in thanks and replied, “Yes, it flew north of here.” He turned and pointed in the general direction.
King Arthur gestured to the Merlin/Time Keeper to approach him before saying, “I hope that you are right about this, old friend-it is all up to your friend, this Sir Hartwell. Why don’t you go on ahead of us?”
Merlin/Time Keeper nodded gravely, “Yes, My Lord. Sir Hartwell, come on!” He cried looking back at where Nathan had stopped.
Nathan jumped as the Time Keeper called out his name, his stomach sinking to his feet. This was it, he thought to himself and walked his horse slowly over to where the Time Keeper was waiting for him. This was literally a do-or-die situation and Nathan was terrified that the outcome for him would be death-that he would end up dying here in King Arthur’s time without any of his friends and family hell they would not have any idea that he was dead. He had no choice but to see this through and hope that the Time Keeper would somehow be able to get him back in any condition whatsoever to his own time.
They set off following the general direction that the villager had pointed out. It wasn’t long before they could see a big shape gliding in the sky which grew bigger and bigger the closer they got. It was clear that the dragon would be landing somewhere soon as with every glide, it came near and nearer to the ground until eventually they had lost sight of it in the air. However, they continued riding until they could clearly hear the dragon huffing and puffing as it rested after its flight.
Nathan and the Time Keeper left their horses at a safe distance before continuing on foot to where the dragon rested.
“I can’t believe that I’m about to try and kill a dragon of all things and I’ll probably end up killed while doing it.” Nathan said as he climbed to where the dragon was.
Again the Time Keeper chuckled but replied seriously, “This is your destiny, Nathan- you are the only person who can do this. King Arthur and I as well as the rest of Camelot are counting on you!”
Nathan whispered as he finally reached the top of the rocky mountain and could see the dragon lying a few feet away, “Yeah, yeah, you keep saying that but it is NOT you who needs to face an angry fire breathing dragon head on.” He crouched down so that the dragon wouldn’t see him just yet.
The Time Keeper frantically whispered behind him, “What are you waiting for? For him to give you an invitation? GO!”
With that, the Time Keeper gathered his magic and magically pushed Nathan out into the open-in clear view of the dragon. Pale as a sheet, Nathan just stood there quivering behind his shield. He knew that the dragon had seen him and was coming towards him because the ground shook a bit as it moved.
In a matter of seconds, the dragon was on top of Nathan who bravely held up his shield to protect himself with his left arm and pointed the sword at the dragon with the other. He had no idea if he was doing it right but then when did he ever need to face a dragon?
With a nervous roar, Nathan decided to charge the dragon hoping to get lucky and just stab him somewhere anywhere. As he did so, the dragon breathed fire at him which he avoided with his shield.
Tucking in his right arm holding his sword like a spear, Nathan charged at the dragon once again. Fire erupted around him from the dragon’s breath but he took no notice of it as he was determined to stab the dragon somewhere before he died. As the sword came into contact with the dragon’s flesh, both the dragon and Nathan roared with anger-the dragon out of pain and Nathan out of adrenaline.
That was the last thing that Nathan remembered before he woke up to find himself in his bedroom at the Time Guardian Agency. He immediately sat up and patted his chest, his heart racing.
“It was only a dream!” He said out loud giggling nervously. “But what a really vivid dream that was with the Time Keeper, King Arthur, Camelot and the dragon!” He felt unbelievable relief that he had only dreamed the whole thing-that is until he noticed the parchment paper lying folded on his bedside table. With a shaking hand, Nathan reached out and picked the parchment paper up. It was heavy and probably made of some animal hide. He had a nasty feeling as he unfolded the paper. The feeling got worse as he read:
Sir Nathan Hartwell,
Thank you for your services in killing the dragon that was terrorizing our villages. As a token of King Arthur’s gratitude- he has named you one of the Knights of the Round Table. It is Camelot’s highest honor.
Your humble servant,
Merlin
This entry was originally posted at http://pinkphoenix1985.dreamwidth.org/933425.html. Please comment there using OpenID.