"Ragnarök," breathed Oleandra. "The Twilight of the Gods."
"The Aesir and their rival tribe the Vanir have always seen themselves as standing over the rest of humanity," said Merlin sadly. "And once Odin glimpsed what you could accomplish with his brand of magic, he delved deeper into the mysteries of the stars than anyone before him, touching upon secrets mortals were never meant to know. He found a way to make himself and his kin immortal in the most horrifying manner possible."
His hanging for nine days and nine nights, his subsequent revival and the loss of his eye… everything that had happened during his adventure with Oleandra, he had spun into his own legend to elevate himself beyond the realm of mortal men.
"So, what does Avalon have to do with Ragnarök?" asked Oleandra eagerly. Considering what Odin had done to Avalon and its more-or-less innocent inhabitants, destroying him and everything he had ever cared for was no less than what he deserved. "How do we make it happen?"
Merlin smiled.
"What does Avalon have to do with Ragnarök?" he echoed. "Why… nothing at all."
"Merlin, that doesn't make any sense," said Oleandra in confusion. "Why would the Aesir go after Avalon, if the Fairies who live on the bloody island won't be responsible for the fall of the Aesir?"
Merlin tapped his temple with a finger knowingly.
"The question you ought to be asking yourself is: which Fairy will be responsible for the fall of the Aesir?" said Merlin gleefully. "And the answer to that, of course, is… it's you."
"Me?" Oleandra hiccoughed in surprise. "How am I supposed to go about doing that!? Merlin, I'm not that powerful!"
Merlin's smile widened.
"It's a classic case of self-fulfilling prophecy!" he beamed at her. "You don't know it yet, but you've already won. Or rather, you're about to."
Merlin's smile suddenly vanished, and once again, he adopted a more serious expression.
"Now that that's out of the way," he went on, "let's get to more serious business, which begins with the long explanation I mentioned earlier."
A long, long time ago, when life first started flourishing on the planet, magic already existed. Emulating the life budding on this pale blue dot whizzing around in space, this magic took the form of the first of the Greater Fairies— the Authorities. As the world continued to evolve, more of these special Fairies sprang into existence, each representing but not presiding over those concepts as they continued to emerge.
As mentioned many chapters ago, magic is a disease.
Magic is a Cancer of All Worlds borne of the Sea of Chaos devouring Order, the very fabric of the universe itself— subverting and breaking all natural laws and making a general mess of things by making the impossible possible. The world is naturally not fond of such rule breaking (especially time manipulation), so it excises this cancer when it grows too large.
Mu, Atlantis, Avalon, Ys… such places had grown too steeped in magic, and so, the world guided them to their ends through various means… such as prophecy. The Fairies were too powerful in magic, so they were gently shuffled off their mortal coil to make place for humanity by the world's chosen proxy— Odin of the Aesir, in this instance— when the time was right.
"See for yourself. It was always my fate to end up sealed here," sighed Merlin, gesturing to himself. "My ability to see through the horizontal axis of time and talk to my other selves from parallel worlds destabilised the balance of power too much."
And that was how Viviane and Morganna were given the opportunity to escape the Place Between Planes, stranded halfway between Midgard and Niflheim. The world arbitrarily decided they would be the ones to restore balance and seal away Merlin.
"Merlin…" said Oleandra hesitantly. "Why are you telling me all this?"
"You've sworn to restore Avalon, and I know that a Fairy's word is their bond," he explained. "You've no choice but to carry through with Viviane's mission, but doing so will put you at odds with the world itself… unless you compromise."
Oleandra's eyes widened. Did that mean Merlin seriously thought she could succeed?
"Why do you think I sealed Viviane's magic?" he continued. "And yours, by extension."
"I dunno," said Oleandra, shrugging. "Because you're a sore loser, maybe?"
"That may be," said Merlin, a little sheepishly. "But the real reason was to teach the Lady of the Lake what it truly meant to be human. Viviane, for all the good she did for Arthur's cause, never truly understood humanity— not even after reincarnating in a human body and falling in love with me. Every incarnation after her would have been the same, for it lies in your nature to remain unchanging, bound by the shadows of your soul."
Oleandra was slowly beginning to understand.
Though Greater Fairies possessed intelligence equal to humans, their inhuman nature made them fundamentally incompatible with the modern world. Restoring them at full power would be catastrophic for humanity. But if their souls could be placed in human bodies, as Oleandra's had been— then perhaps they, too, could begin to understand. Merlin's experiment had borne fruit: if Oleandra could coexist with humanity, then so could her Fairy sisters!
"I won't tell you exactly what to do, because that would close off the path to the best possible future," explained Merlin. "So, I'll simply leave you with two pieces of parting advice."
Oleandra clicked her tongue in annoyance. Things were never straightforward with this fellow…
"You've already failed to keep the Malfoy brat close to you as I told you to, and it's too late to make things right, so why don't we skip right over that," said Merlin, snapping his fingers. "My first piece of advice is this: if you prioritise what's most important, you can make up for your mistake and still save the second one in time."
"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Oleandra urgently. "Save whom?"
"My second piece of advice is this: do not underestimate the depth of the currents of prophecy," Merlin went on, ignoring Oleandra's question, "If you attempt to forcefully meddle with the conjoined destinies of the Boy Who Lived and the Dark Lord, you will come to rue it."
No matter what happened, either Harry would kill Voldemort, or Voldemort would kill Harry. Before that happened, they were both functionally immortal. However, anything that wouldn't result in their immediate deaths was fair game.
"Well then, that's about all I had to say," said Merlin cheerily. "I'll send you back now, but be careful— time didn't stop while you were gone, so things might be a bit hectic when you arrive."
Once again, Oleandra was beginning to turn translucent.
"By the way," asked Oleandra, "what happened to the bloke* who was here the first time I visited this place? He wasn't around the second time, and I don't see him anywhere now, either."
*In case you've forgotten, reread chapters 142, 143 & 350.
Chapter 350 contains the second prophecy in case you need a refresher.
"Oh, you'll see him soon enough," said Merlin, winking at her. "And before I forget, happy 17th birthday… it will be one to remember."
And then Oleandra was gone, and Merlin's smile disappeared.
"Choose well, Vee…" he murmured.
Despite having lost one of the qualifications, there was still a very real chance for her to become the Dark Lady if she made the wrong decision at the right time.