The great gates of Camelot swung open not with the grinding of stone or the clatter of ancient hinges—
—but with a sound like a dragon exhaling.
A deep, resonant, living breath.
Cassius guided Serepha forward through the archway, the young dragon's talons clicking against stone carved smooth by centuries of true draconic passage.
Lady Draconis drifted ahead of them, silent and regal, her ghostly form casting pale blue light along the walls.
The entrance hall was vast.
Banners long faded still hung from the walls—dragons in gold thread, rearing in triumph.
A once-grand mosaic of a black dragon and a white one spiraling around each other dominated the floor, its pieces cracked but still brilliant.
Signalling the union between the king and queen of the realm.
Camelot.
Not the storybook place.
Not the muggle myth.
The true version—the Kingdom of Dragons and Hope.
Cassius swallowed hard.
"…This is incredible."
Lady Draconis didn't turn, but he felt her pleased hum ripple through the air.
"Of course it is. My husband and i built this place with our trusted comrades."
"The knights?" Cassius inquired.
"Yes... though not the full knight corp, our army at its peak had well over a thousand knights, but those who actually founded Camelot with us numbered less than twenty. And those that survived the war could be counted on one hand when we retreated from the mortal world to this place."
They walked deeper into the hall, where murals lined the corridor like memories frozen in paint.
Arthur atop his black dragon.
The four founders as children, standing beside a spectacular, radiant white dragon.
Dragons soaring above an island untouched by time.
Cassius finally found his voice.
"My Lady… may I ask something?"
She drifted to a halt.
"You may ask anything, Heir."
"…Excalibur."
Her head tilted slightly.
"The muggle stories say Arthur wielded a legendary sword—Excalibur, or Caliburn. Was it real? Or just one of their mythologies?"
Lady Draconis turned fully to face him, expression unreadable.
"Excalibur was real. And it was ours."
Serepha let out a soft, surprised trill.
Lady Draconis gestured to a mural depicting Arthur holding a radiant blade, its edge shimmering as if it was exuding a living flame.
"Excalibur, and Caliburn were forged from the fangs of the first true dragon king the eldest of their kind, and one of the first to fall prey to human greed, while the lord was slain, we managed to recover his body and made proper use of it to ensure others could survive to resist against the encroachment."
She smiled faintly.
"The blade itself is rumored to make its weilder invincible?" Cassius carried on while staring at the mural.
"Heh well yes, of course it was the fang of a primordial dragon lord afterall, save for another blade fashioned from similar material nothing couldnt be cut by the blades, and if the wielder had enough skill they would truly be invincible upon the battlefield."
Lady Draconis moved on.
"What about say the Holy Grail? Or Merlins Staff?"
"Hmm well they likewise existed though i'm not sure about the chosen name for the Grail, the cup was far from holy, seeing as how to my knowledge true gods have never existed in our world. Well save for the natural forces themselves."
"Natural forces?"
"If you attain greater power in the future you might come across them, back in the ancient days, when the world existed in its infancy of the species, the true gods existed as what you'd call Titans, before Wizards caused them to hide away, or be sealed by exposing themselves, allowing Wizards to take their place as gods of ignorant muggles."
"Titans. But if the titans existed what about before them, the primordial deities?"
"Oho? Your learning has already reached that far back into history? Even i dont know much about the Primordials or even if they still walk the earth, perhaps in the centuries i was inactive the primordials moved on to start anew from another planet."
"I see well if any still exist i'd love to meet one, one day. but back to the matter at hand, the relics. Do they still exist?"
"So far as i know they exist, or rather i only know that versions of them exist. Perhpas not the true relics themselves, but pale imitations, at the time of my seclusion i was aware that at least two of the relics had been attemptedly recreated by my children."
"Wait. Do you mean the sword of Griffindor, and Hufflepuff's cup, are just attempts to create Excalibur and the grail?"
"Attempts indeed, albeit weak ones doomed to fail."
Lady Draconis waved a hand.
"But from what i've heard Helga's cup if famous throughout Great Britain as a true relic. Capable of producing Nectar, able to prolong ones life better than even a Philosopher stone, or imbuing the lands with great potency for ample magical plantlife to grow."
"Exactly, a pale imitation indeed."
...
"What? Those are pretty amazing things if you ask me... wait what did the grail itself do then?"
"The grail? Well to start with its produced Nectar as you called it, was capable of curing any wound no matter how grevious without fail, even if struck by a dark magic curse the liquid could bring you right back to your peak, drinking the liquid would grant you eternal youth, along with lifespan so long as you consumed it regularly at least once a month, and lastly was acting like a substitue if you were drinking the nectar you would need not consume other food or drink for the same month in which you consumed."
"Whoa! What if you used the nectar on the ground itself?"
"Not sure... So far as i know no one ever dared drip any on the ground before, but given the potency of Helga's creation, the grail would certainly create veritable hallowed grant beyond perfect for plantlife to grow."
"Hmm, so that's how it is. then what about-"
"You wish to ask then with these relics how it was that Arthur and myself passed on from this world?" Lady Draconis intoned, her voice sad as if she wished not to talk about the subject.
"No—not Arthur this time. Merlin."
The air stilled.
Serepha's wings twitched uneasily.
Cassius continued.
"He shows up everywhere in magical history. Some say he was a student at Hogwarts. Others swear he lived both before and after the school was founded. Some think he was immortal. Others that he was the hidden hand behind Arthurs rise to ruling Camelot itself."
Lady Draconis let out a slow, tired breath.
"History is wrong. Both sides of it."
She looked toward a distant mural—one depicting a tall man with long dark hair standing beside a young Salazar Slytherin.
Cassius blinked.
"…That's Merlin?"
She nodded once.
"Merlin Ambrosius. Court wizard. Brilliant. Talented."
Her tone darkened.
"Dangerous."
Cassius frowned.
"Dangerous? He's treated like the epitome of wisdom."
Lady Draconis's expression twisted, old irritation radiating off her like static.
"That man was far too close to Salazar for my liking. He adored my son—and Salazar adored him. But admiration is not the same as guidance."
She floated closer to the mural.
"Merlin taught Salazar much. Power, yes. But ambition. Distrust. Paranoia. Secrets."
Her voice became a cold whisper.
"He planted the seeds of the very ideology that led my son astray."
Cassius felt Serepha bristle beneath him.
Cassius swallowed.
"So the story of him being a Hogwarts student—"
"Rubbish. He visited often, yes. Taught occasionally. Manipulated frequently. Instilling in our student a darkness that wormed its way into the school and causing our dream to practically collapse."
She narrowed her eyes.
"The only reason the world did not burn under the weight of his ego was because Arthur kept him in line."
She huffed softly.
"But after Arthur fell… Merlin was incapable of meddling any longer, but his will was still done, Camelot could not remain as it was, for the safety of the school we needed to withdrawn from the lands, and in doing so keep the school itself secret as a true source of creating the next generation, but not solely to serve Camelot, but to exist within both our worlds openly."