I glanced over at Abaddon. “You used them on Arthur, didn’t you?”
“I’m thirty years older than Mordred,” Gawain said. “That time was spent realizing that Merlin had a wildly bad view of how the world should work. And it allowed me to try and find a way to create the tools I needed to move forward. Arthur’s parents were inconsequential. They were humans who had no money, no status, and were frankly disposable. Abaddon found them in a village in northern England, living some pathetic life on a farm. They were offered a lot of money to have a baby.”
“I waited for thousands of years,” Abaddon said. “I had to decipher the ritual, to find out every little detail. And then I discovered that they were going to re-create us. Again. Different groups tried several times over the centuries, always with little in the way of results, but the use of the dwarven runes was a game changer. No longer would there be unpredictable results, like Pandora, or even myself. I had to use Asmodeus’s blood and spirit to create the weapon we needed.
“Hera was there, as were Baldr and a few others I selected for their allegiance to Asmodeus when he lived, but I killed the dwarves who helped, to keep their secrets. From conception to birth took less than an hour. The father and mother died shortly after they finished their job of fucking, and then the spirit of Asmodeus and his blood kept Arthur alive. Kept him powerful. When we were done, I took the baby to the one man I knew would take him, the one man I knew wanted a son to carry on his name more than anything.”
“Uther Pendragon,” Gawain finished. “My lord and master at the time. Or the man who thought he was my lord and master.”
“My birth and Mordred’s must have been great irritants,” I said.
“It wasn’t something I was happy about,” Gawain said. “Mordred’s was . . . kept secret from me by my mother, much to my irritation. Arthur was already ten by the time you were both born, you and others like you. Seven in total. We killed one at birth, and his parents, but the others fled after that. Your mother hid you until such time as it was deemed necessary to hand you to Merlin for protection. He wasn’t under our control then. Arthur was strong but not strong enough when you arrived. After you survived . . . after your power manifested and saved you, it was decided you should live.”
“Very kind of you,” I said.
“I thought you’d make a better ally,” Gawain continued, ignoring me. “You and Mordred. Despite my early misgivings. The others who were created at the same time as you remained hidden. I did love Mordred, by the way. He was my brother, but unfortunately he was not the man I’d hoped he’d become. Even more unfortunately, killing either of you would have caused issues. So I had decreed that you were to be spared unless I deemed it necessary. That’s why Hera, and people like her, never tried to kill you again. At least, not before Arthur was placed in a coma. And by then I had complete control of the paladins. I wanted you by my side. I needed you by my side. You were powerful beyond what you knew, and frankly it took a lot of effort to keep Merlin in his place. To keep him feeding Arthur, and to keep Arthur’s mind from breaking during the process. Turns out, Mordred making him comatose made it that much easier for me to finally break Merlin’s mind.
“Mordred unfortunately had to go. He was to be king, but he was beginning to look too closely into a venture I was involved in. I couldn’t risk it. My allies wanted to kill him, but then I decided to break him instead, send him back with a list of people to kill, including you. I figured having one of your best friends as a mortal enemy might push you toward Avalon, might make it easier to get you on our side when Arthur woke.
“Unfortunately Mordred wasn’t as easily broken as I thought, although he still went after you, which was a nice touch. Went after Merlin, too, after I had Merlin banish him. It was another nice touch turning Merlin against his own son. I also wiped Mordred’s mind. Mordred probably doesn’t remember figuring out that I was one of the people who broke him time and time again while in the company of the blood elves.”
“Wait, Merlin is Mordred’s dad?” I asked.
“That’s it? That’s all you take from what I just told you?” Gawain asked.
“I knew he was sent after me. Although he doesn’t remember you being a part of that. Remembers a lot of others who hurt him, though. I think maybe you created a monster you haven’t quite had to deal with yet. He’s going to kill a lot of your allies. That’s if I don’t get through them first.”
“You killed Kay. I was especially fond of that man. He was loyal to a fault.”
“I did. He murdered my wife.”
“I know, that was my idea. Well, it was Nergal’s idea; I just approved it. Merlin kept sending you away. It was his only hope to save you. I think that’s why he banished Mordred. He couldn’t do anything else but send you as far from me as possible.” He chuckled to himself. “I was a bit annoyed about your wife. A human, that was unexpected. But I knew it would break you, that you would finally embrace everything I always knew was inside of you. Shame Tommy spoiled that party. I’ll have to remember to punish him for it. I have a list of people who won’t survive the coming years; he’s quite near the top. Honestly, all of your friends are near the top. That’s how you’ll prove your loyalty to me.”
“I’m not going to help you,” I said. “You’re evil. You’re murdering innocent humans, slaughtering them for what? To make a point? And where’s Arthur—is he helping you do all of this?”
“Arthur is a very helpful man. He’s played his part, and the best thing is, he doesn’t even know he’s playing a part. It’ll take a while before he’s the man I need him to be. I needed to make an enemy I can vanquish. You see, I couldn’t use Nate Garrett as my enemy. I want you on my side, and ruining your name would achieve nothing. But having you watch while Hellequin killed all those people . . . Well, that was always going to spur you on to find me. And then, when I have total control of Avalon, I can go to the humans and tell them that we defeated Hellequin and his allies. That they’re safe now. That we saved them. Then we pass some laws putting me in charge of the security for most countries, and I go from there. I’ll create a world peace force, a force that will only fight those people who wish to destroy humanity, who wish to enslave it. And when I’m done purging everyone who stands against me, I’ll have control of everyone. Merlin, Arthur, Abaddon, Hera, and you by my side. No one would ever dare cross us. And when I’ve saved them all, people will go into the streets and sing my name. Most places are already starting.”