The Secret of Death

Standing in a small courtyard, William frowned slightly.

A woman's shrill scream came from inside the room, along with the midwife's shouts of encouragement.

A new life is about to be born!

Two middle-aged men stood at the door, both wearing prayer beads and thick, heavy black robes.

The two waited anxiously, as if the person inside was their wife, and the person about to give birth to their child.

Is it still the same wife?

This surprised William for a moment.

Did I die and end up on the set of "Feng Yun"?

Is this the iconic scene where Bu Jingyun and Jian Chen are waiting for Chuchu, and then simultaneously shout, "I'm going to be a dad!"?

However, despite their curly hair, these two men were still typical Celts, judging from their red hair.

William was a little confused.

He remembered trapping Death, but then being stabbed with a spear; he should be dead by now.

What's going on now?!

Could it be that the child of the pregnant woman inside the house was transported back to the present after death?!

He wandered around like a lost soul.

William quickly discovered the problem:

Neither of the two people seemed to be able to see him; this feeling was more like the memory of the Pensieve.

And the pregnant woman inside was actually a nun; she was giving birth in the church...

It's like a nun in a monastery about to give birth, while the abbot of the neighboring temple waits anxiously.

This left William even more confused.

At that moment, the cry of a baby finally rang out from inside the room.

An elderly nun pushed open the door and came out, excitedly addressing a man:

"Bishop Valdespino, it's a boy! It's a boy!"

The bishop nodded in satisfaction, first offering a prayer of thanks for the Lord's blessings, and then asked:

Has Carmelis named the child yet?

"No, she has begged His Holiness the Bishop to give her a name," the nun said.

The bishop pondered for a moment and then said, "Let's call him... Merlin."

William was suddenly startled.

The bishop followed the nun into the house, but the other man did not go in; instead, he stroked his beard and chuckled:

How about the name Merlin?

"You can see me?" William stared at him in surprise, then tentatively asked after a moment, "Are you Merlin?"

"Yes, it is I, William Stark. I'm so glad to finally meet you."

Merlin took a breath, and the silver-white hair on his head instantly turned crimson.

Wrinkles vanished instantly, leaving skin smooth.

What was originally a burly middle-aged man now looked like a young man in his twenties.

Merlin is Metamorphmagus, who can change his appearance at will.

"Where is this?" William asked curiously. "Why am I here?"

You are now in Limbo, somewhere between life and death.

Merlin gestured to William and walked towards the outside of the courtyard.

A bright, thin mist appeared all around, but it wasn't scenery; it was shrouded in mist, rather than these cloud-like vapors that hadn't yet formed the surrounding landscape.

"Everything here depends on you, William. It will transform into familiar scenes based on your memory," Merlin explained.

"However, the power I left in you has created a temporary memory." He winked and said playfully:

"This is the scene of my birth, and this place is St Paul's Cathedral, St Paul's Cathedral in 610 AD."

William looked at the architectural styles and realized they were indeed very different from St Paul's Cathedral.

"This church has been destroyed three times, and rebuilt each time," Merlin said regretfully.

"But fourteen hundred years from now, in 2021, it will cease operations due to a plague originating from North America."

William was shocked.

He knew Merlin could Prophecy, but this Prophecy ability was just too powerful!

Merlin seemed to know what William was thinking, turned to look at him, and smiled:

"Aren't you surprised? I'm the son of a nun, and she's not even a wizard. Why do I have such powerful Prophecy abilities?"

Merlin can be considered the most talented and powerful wizard in history.

Even today, the common phrase in the United Kingdom Wizarding World is still "Merlin's beard"... which speaks volumes.

He could also foresee the future; at the age of seven, he made the famous Prophecy that the red dragon would defeat the white dragon.

He is also a natural-born Animagus with Parseltongue, and can communicate with many creatures without any barriers.

The wizards were all very curious: how did Merlin awaken such a powerful talent?

His mother was, after all, just an ordinary nun, not even a witch.

Merlin didn't keep them in suspense, stating succinctly, "These powers are inherited from my father."

"But there's a rumor," William hesitated, "That I heard it from Sir Cadogan's portrait, that you have no father..."

Although it sounds like an insult, this is firsthand, reliable information.

Cadogan was Merlin's best friend, the kind of friend who grew up sharing underwear.

"That's not wrong," Merlin smiled, looking up at the sky.

"My father never appeared. He entered my mother's dreams, impregnated her when she was still a virgin, and gave birth to me."

"..."

This method of birth is similar to that of the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus.

No wonder Merlin's mother, as a nun, was not punished, but instead regarded as a miracle by the bishop.

However, sneaking into someone else's dreams for intimate moments is truly a bizarre fantasy.

William suddenly remembered Morgan; her father had been cheated on in an extremely bizarre way.

Could the Death, that beast, have also done what happened to Merlin's mother?

Merlin calmly revealed a shocking truth:

"That man is indeed Death. I am his son, Vivian's brother, and Morgan and Elaine's brother."

"The bloodline of Death awakened in me an unparalleled magical talent."

Upon hearing this secret, even William was dumbfounded and utterly shocked.

Besides the three sisters of the Lady of the Lake, it turns out that Death has a son, and he is... Merlin!

But Merlin once had a decisive battle with Death, didn't he?

He not only imprisoned Morgan at Stonehenge for 1,500 years, but also breached the River Styx.

They even left behind their power, clearly indicating their intention to defeat Death.

If this were a father and son, wouldn't that be too... a perfect example of fatherly love and filial piety?

Merlin's voice was steady, and he spoke softly without trying to conceal the secret:

"William, Death is immortal and indestructible. He doesn't care about his descendants; his so-called children are just pawns for him to escape his predicament."

"Escape?" William felt he was about to touch upon the secrets of Death.

"Humans can become the Death. Once they become gods, they will be immortal and possess power surpassing that of wizards."

Merlin stood with his hands behind his back, looking at William with a faint smile, and said, "Don't you think becoming the Death is a good thing?"

"Does it have to come at a terrible price?" William raised an eyebrow.

"To gain something, you must give something in return; that makes perfect sense," Merlin nodded.

"Death needs to pay is responsibility."

He guards the Underworld, preventing powerful Magical Creatures from beyond the River Styx from invading this world.

You saw it too, the North Sea Kraken, the White Dragon and the Red Dragon... they all come from another world.

This kind of super Magical Creatures is something even wizards couldn't contend with, but Death could suppress it and then easily subdue it.

Merlin paused, then continued:

"As the master of the Underworld, Death must also ferry the dead across the River Styx to their final resting place."

He needs to maintain the order between life and death.

"Are all these things alright?" William asked suspiciously. "They're not that difficult."

Trading immortality and immense power to become humanity's Patronus... it's worth it, you could even say it's a great deal.

"The only problem is," Merlin glanced at him, "that Death and the Underworld have become one, and he can no longer set foot in this world."

He can only stay in the Underworld... forever!

William was shocked.

The Underworld contains nothing but spirits and some Magical Creatures.

It's just a desolate place!

Staying there for a while is bearable, but being trapped there for eternity is worse than death.

This isn't becoming a god, it's practically being imprisoned... just in a slightly larger area.

But he immediately questioned:

"How did Death come to this world?"

If Merlin was born, it was Death who used the power of nocturnal emission.

So, transforming into the Duke of Cornwall and having his wife give birth to Morgan wasn't just a dream.

"That is not the true form of Death," Merlin murmured.

Before becoming a god, Death created Horcrux. He was the first wizard to create Horcrux!

William exclaimed in astonishment, "Death is the Herpo the Foul!"

The Herpo the Foul was a dark wizard of ancient Greece who invented Horcrux and bred the first Basilisk.

Many famous Dark Magic that later came to be attributed to him.

It could be said that Voldemort, the Dark Lord, was merely copying others.

Merlin nodded slightly and said:

"The Death's real name is indeed Herpo the Foul, but his purpose in inventing Horcrux was not for immortality, but for the ability to resurrect indefinitely."

He was reborn time and again using Horcrux, fighting against the previous Death — Anubis —and finally found a way to kill Anubis.

William remained silent, processing this secret.

Merlin didn't rush him; instead, he led William along the long gravel path to visit the church.

The church is decorated with various symbols, including the Christianity cross, the Jewish star, and the Knights Templar's cross...

As Merlin toured the area, he exclaimed in admiration:

"That battle led to the downfall of ancient Greece. Decades later, Herpo the Foul became the Death and, in revenge against Anubis, also destroyed the ancient Egypt civilization."

"Of course, Death's most important goal is to destroy the Egypt Invisible College, which is inherited from Death himself."

Merlin stood on a giant six-pointed star pattern and calmly said:

"This way, there will be no more wizards who can learn Prehistoric Mysteries and have enough power to threaten Death."

He can live forever, and no wizard can kill him and make him the Death again!

Merlin couldn't help but laugh, his voice laced with sarcasm:

"But Death soon discovered that although he had become a god and gained immortality, no one was his match, and even the dead had to submit to him."

But,

he,

I can't even leave Underworld underworld!

He is God.

Even more

Prisoner!"