Come daydream with me in closed loops and future-proof cardboard

[unwaning]

There were times Merlin thought people just got more and more cracked in the head with time, rather than the other way around as one might have thought. He'd seen many, many stupid things in all the years he'd traveled, but this had to be one for the lists. At the top, no less. Only someone with something to prove would dare to build anything on an active volcano.

Rubbing at his cheek with exasperation, Merlin--Emerson to everyone else nowadays--grit his teeth and sought more people out. The energy coming from the ground in Mount Teide was difficult to ignore, even when he muted his connection to the Old Religion. Merlin tried not to lose his temper as he was turned away again.

They didn't have much time left. Mind racing, Merlin looked out from the observatory deck, out to the imposing, twisted shapes in the crater. He could use magic, he realised. He wasn't above a little magical persuasion, if that's what it took to save a good chunk of the island's population.