A Journey Destined, a Journey Forgotten

Spoilers for the whole of series 4, Canon up to 4x09, kind of going AU from then on… canon pairings

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, BBC and Shine Limited does

Chapter 1: The portal

The trees were thicker in these parts of the woods, casting long shadows among the bushes, giving a darker, more nightly feeling to the land, though it was merely mid afternoon. The company of men was striding through the forest, clearly in a hurry, not minding the obvious path they were leaving behind them.

A king, four knights, and a servant. They had to leave their horses back at the edge of the forest, for the grounds were too rough for them. The beast was fast and agile (could climb rocks and trees easily), so they had to be that too.

The king, Arthur, being the best hunter and tracker, led the way. After a while, they reached a small clearing. The tracks seemed to vanish a few paces before the middle. Arthur walked carefully to the center of what he now realized was a perfect circle.

'Odd', he thought. 'It must have been made by woodsmen'.

"Spread and search for any kind of sings, tracks… Anything you can find." he said, loudly enough so that even Merlin, his mess of a servant, who was currently trying to untangle himself from a rather spiky bush that had caught his breaches, could hear.

The knights were already working through the clearing when Merlin finally managed to break free, and made his way, clumsy as always, to Arthur.

The king was standing near a fallen tree, staring at something Merlin couldn't see.

"Did you find something Sire?" he asked."Arthur?"

The king didn't move, seeming not to have heard.

"Arthur!" he said, a little louder this time. No reply.

"Arthur, you big dollophead, what on earth are you looking at?" Merlin shouted.

Arthur turned his head slowly. He felt as if he were in a dream or perhaps about to lose consciousness. He opened his mouth to reply to his friend with an insult of his own but suddenly found himself unable to do so. His gaze travelled to Merlin's side, where the rest of his party was gathering.

"Sire" Leon spoke. "There is no sign of the beast. It is most strange. It is as if it has vanished into thin air."

"Well that's good enough for me…" said Gwaine, grinning. "I say we make camp here. Could really use some well roasted hare and ale right now. What do you say Merlin? Are you up for some mean cooking?"

All the knights laughed merrily at his comment. Merlin was a decent cook after all.

Merlin noticed that Arthur didn't respond. Knowing his best friend would never let such an opportunity to praise Merlin's "inner girl" pass, he gestured to the others. Frowning, he turned to the others. Percival walked towards the king and then abruptly stopped in his tracks, looking at the same spot as Arthur.

Merlin was concerned now, so he tried to loosen his magic a little, searching for danger.

Nothing felt wrong, so he neared the two men.

"Arthur, what is it? Is everything alright?"

He approached them and turned to see what had gotten their full attention. He soon spotted a strange, black hole in the ground, near the fallen tree-trunk.

He couldn't sense any form of danger so he dared to come closer, and then kneeled beside it. His hand reached forward and then-

A burning white flash, a deafening sound like thousands of screams, followed by darkness.