Where Stars Go Mad

Merlin felt something off, he couldn't quite put his finger on it yet, but something was terribly off. An eery sense of discomfort. Stranger yet, his clairvoyance failed to detect anything. 

For someone that could see everything in the present, that should have been relieving. He too knew that nothing was wrong, there was little that could interfere with his clairvoyance. Practically non-existent. 

He shrugged his mind off the heavy contemplation as Artoria continued to administer the Kingdom. Merlin himself had long known that Camelot would fall. After-all it was a fundamental aspect of pan-human history. 

The best he could do was make the show more entertaining and observe. His role had never changed, he was an observer. 

He strolled down the streets observing the humans from different backgrounds. He couldn't feel emotions himself but rather harvested them from the people around them. Lately he had stocked up and hadn't found the need to harvest more. 

A dead sinking feeling rose up from his gut once again when he heard a stall owner exclaiming in puzzlement. "How strange, It feels like I'm down in the gutter." The stall keeper scratched his head as he asked the customer, "Have you had such strange dreams? Or rather visions?" 

The customer stopped to think for a moment before answering, "I'm not sure if you are talking about sometimes living in a Camelot that is much happier." 

Merlin's gut was right, but this wasn't a conclusive piece of evidence. In the mystical world, deja vu was not a simple phenomena. Deja vu often was a sign of either time being tampered with or reality itself being altered. 

But the two pieces of information were enough for him to theorise. Firstly, the stall keeper remarks that he feels down in the gutter despite this being his usual life.

This was understandable however what linked the two cases together was the statement about a more prosperous Camelot and sometimes living in it. 

Merlin sauntered over with a cheerful look as he greeted the woman. "Hello, Madam. I thought that you might have been troubled. I thought it'd be fine If I had a quick look right?" 

The woman was shocked but nodded with approval, "No that is perfectly fine. Please do, these strange visions aren't doing anything but giving a sense of envy I suppose." 

Merlin assumed that since there was no material change within Camelot, there was no reality alterations, hence it must be mental. And he was right, in a way. Just not the type of mental alteration he assumed it was. 

A disturbing discovery was made as he found no trace of any magecraft alterations done to the mind. The stall keeper looked at the troubled Merlin before asking, "Is anything wrong Sir Merlin?" 

The woman looked worried as she gazed at him with expectant eyes, "No your health is perfectly fine madam. Of course I assure you a night with me and I'll make it so much better~" Merlin winked suggestively only to bet met with a sudden slap to the face. 

His face stung with pain as he waltzed off with a red hand imprint on his face.

The woman spat in disgust as she took out a monocle and placed it on her right eye. "Of course I have perfect health. I'd never sleep around like that disgusting man-whore of a pig." She said in a gloomy tone. 

The stall keeper stared blankly, "That's a nice eyepiece madam. What about mine? Do you like it?" Both of them wore a familiar smile identical to each other as the stall keeper reached into his pocket and wore the exact same monocle on the right eye. 

"I do must say, acting as a woman is still weird. Is this what a demoness feels like?" The words slipped from his mouth as he stilled for a moment. 

The woman looked at him as well before coming to a conclusion, "So a demoness is a man who switches his gender to a woman?" She asked. The stall keeper pondered for a moment, "I'm genuinely not sure, but considering it was a speech of habit it is reasonable to conclude that is what a demoness is. I also feel disgusted whenever I say the word demoness." 

The woman shrugged before her body slumped for a moment as if all strings were cut from a puppet. The stall owner slumped as well before both of them snapped out of it and waved goodbye at each other. 

Merlin himself had started investigating similar incidents. Frankly Tianzun would never make such an elementary mistake such as allowing any slip of the fake Camelot through to reality. What was happening was to get rid of Merlin in a way that matched the pan-human history's script.

As long as the details hadn't changed much then the truth could be spun to match that of the observed reality. 

He had sent dozens of red hearrings in order to fool Merlin and ensure that he was out of the picture. He just had to avoid a pruning and correction of history. 

Hence the red herrings would be enough to occupy Merlin until the time of his entrapment would occur. 

Within the city of Camelot? surrounded by grey fog, the people were happy with the new changes brought about by the king. A new change in attitude had allowed Artoria? to rule with a new perspective. 

Tristan's usual sorrowful face seemed to have been reduced tremendously and one could say that they saw his eyes more often. 

Agravain had no qualms about who ruled or how King Arthur ruled, so long as it wasn't Morgan. The other knights never voiced their complaints out loud, but the recent change brought about a new sense of strengthened loyalty. 

Merlin? waltzed into the throne room with an unnatural swagger and happiness that was just punchable. "Your majesty, the preparations for the parade are ready. Please get going soon." He bowed before disappearing in a flash of flame. 

The other knights simply shook their heads in disappointment, "So flamboyant... Tch." Agravain was a man known for his lack of communication. Yet when it came to Merlin he was compelled to insult the mage. 

His divination gazed into the future as he grinned before staring at the crowd below. A child with golden wheat hair and similar emerald eyes was standing looking at King Arthur with admiration. Next to her was a veiled figure draped in darkness. 

Tianzun chuckled as he thanked the Attendant of Mysteries ritual for practise. Creating a living painting was no longer as hard as the first time. Especially when every marionette was operating automatically due to the grafting of identities together. 

Every citizen in Camelot had been grafted to their fake Camelot counterpart, therefore when grafting the entire fake Camelot onto the fall of the real Camelot, history would encounter an error and two simultaneous events would be true. 

Hence everything happening now was like a prerecorded loading screen, each separate history was being recorded at the same time, but when they release, no one will know which is the real history. 

The grey fog thickened for just a moment before Tianzun disappeared and reappeared as Merlin in front of the parade. His acting would continue for another few years. Just in time for the turning point of King Arthur's story, The Red Knight's Rebellion. 

//Next Chapter: To Fool History and Fate//