Legacies: Infinite Journey

During the staring contest between John and Hope, Alaric walked around his table and sat down at his chair before looking up and deciding to break the silence between both of them.

"John, I remember that you mentioned one of the reasons you came here was to learn Magic, right?" He asked, more of a confirmation.

"Yes, that's one of the reasons." John replied.

"Would you care to tell us your level of magical knowledge?" Asked Alaric.

To this, John only scratched the side of his cheek. "Actually, besides knowing I can use magic, I have no idea how to use it. I know no spell or magical knowledge besides how to control it." 

"Knowing you can use magic means you have a way to at least tap into it. Can you show us?" Alaric gestured for both of them, him and Hope.

"Sure." Closing his eyes, John took a deep breath, focusing his senses in the surrounding energy located in the room.

Quickly, he pulled all the magic found in the office towards him. 

And although nothing was sensed by Alaric, the same couldn't apply to Hope as she felt the change in the flow of magic in the room.

"I can feel it. The magic in the room is being drawn to him." She said, staring intently at him.

"With such ease?" Alaric questioned.

"Yes…" She confirmed. "It's not common for someone young like us to draw this much power without preparations or rituals." She explained, her curiosity about the boy slightly increasing. 

"But you don't seem much impressed." John opened one of his eyes to look at her. 

"I can do better." She answered. She had this little pride she tried to hide behind a nonchalant expression, as if she didn't say much.

"Okay." Opening his other eye, John stopped focusing on drawing the power from nature to him actively. "But magic is not my only gift." 

This revelation actually brought much more surprise to both of them than anything they have been told by the boy. 

"Wha-"

"What do you mean by it?" Hope cut Alaric's speech, taking the lead in the conversation with the boy.

To answer them, John opened his right hand, showing small sparkles of electricity flashing among his fingers and in the middle of his palm.

"Not wanting to sound rude, but most witches can do that too." Alaric said.

"No, what he just did is different." Hope said attentively. "This was not the result of a spell. This is merely electricity. He… You are controlling electricity by yourself, without magic?" She raised her eyes from his palm to his face, trying to comprehend what was happening.

"Exactly." He nodded. "You see, I have the ability to manipulate energy. And magic…"

"... is energy." Hope complemented him, the revelation making her a little surprised in awe.

Catching on to their talk, Alaric understood a little of the meaning behind the power revealed. "The ability to manipulate electricity. In this modern age where everything runs on it, this makes your ability extremely versatile." 

"Oh, I wouldn't need to be in a modern world for my ability to shine." 

"What do you mean?" Alaric questioned.

With a smile, John closed his palm. "I'll explain more later. How about when I am actually really enrolled at the school." 

Listening to it, Hope and Alaric faced each other before the latter nodded his head. "Okay, I will trust in you to tell me everything after I am done with this. I have to make sure everything is perfect. Since you have no documents with you and apparently none in the world, we will have to create one from zero, and one good enough so no one doubts the credibility of your existence. Until there," Alaric turned his head. "Hope, would you mind giving John a tour around the school?" 

With her eyes fixed on the boy, the girl nodded. "Sure." 

"Then, if you excuse me." Alaric gestured towards the door.

To it, John got up from his seat and moved towards the door. "Ladies first." He said, slightly bowing down his head with one hand behind his back and another with his palm open pointing towards the door.

"How gentlemanly." She replied with a slight dry tone of voice before passing the door. 

After passing too, John closed the door and started to follow Hope.

For a few seconds, both of them stayed silent, with only their footsteps being heard throughout the corridor.

"May I ask you something?" John said. 

"Yes." 

"By giving me this tour, are you not losing any class right now?" 

Turning her head, she gave him a look before returning her sight straight ahead. "Dr. Saltzman gave me permission to skip the morning classes and talked with my teachers about it, so there is no problem." She explained.

"Are you bothered by giving me this tour?" John asked. 

"Why the question?" She asked, trying to look around as if to not seem she seemed what John said.

Her reaction brought a small smile to the boy. "Well, you don't seem very happy." He said the reason. "The most of emotion you let out until now was curiosity." 

"Quite the perceptive one." She said, raising a brow. "It's not anything against you. It's just, this is not my thing." 

"And what is your thing?" 

"You are quite curious too, right?" She said in a bold tone, but not really bothered by him. She was just like that.

John only responded with a chuckle. 

Looking at his face, Hope rolled her eyes and continued walking. "I like painting and normally staying alone."

"Painting?" John ignored the 'alone' part. "Never had much talent in this art. Was more of a music guy. Maybe I could try again since everything changed." 

"What changed, you acquiring your ability to manipulate energy?" She asked.

"Let's say that that is just one of my abilities." 

"What else do you have?" She asked, stopping right outside of the school's library.

John walked right into the library before answering. "Me acquiring enhanced physical abilities and senses." 

"Like werewolves and vampires?" She asked, following him into the library.

"If you are talking about the ones I read in this book." John grabbed one of the books in a bookshelf. "Yes, I have." He nodded.

"This changes things." She said, more to herself than to him. 

"How so?" He asked curiously, although already guessing what she meant by that. 

She lifts her head, facing him. "Earlier, when you talked about the fact you can control energy, I was surprised not only because it was an unknown ability, but also because you may be from some witch coven we didn't know about. The world is not short of witches with special characteristics. But having enhanced senses changes that. That's a main characteristic of species that can't use magic. There are some exceptions in the world, but not many." She explained.

"With you being one of them?" John asked bluntly, staring back at her.

Surprised by his assumption, Hope slightly widened her eyes, lacking an immediate answer.

"What, thought I wouldn't notice?" He asked, a smile blooming on his knowing face.

"How did you know?" 

"Even if subtly, I noticed your ears reacting to far away noises. Noises so far from our location that no human should notice. After seeing your small reactions a few times, I put 2 plus 2 and concluded it in the end." He explained, 

Seeing his satisfied expression on getting something about her without her notice made the girl's lips rise a little. "Quite perceptive." She said before walking to the middle of the library. "As you probably know, since Dr. Saltzman told me you apparently spent the entire night here, this is the school's library in memory of Stefan Salvatore. One of the two vampires who lived here before his brother, Damon, donated the building so the school could be constructed." With a few steps, she came closer to a showcase in the library. In it were some leather-covered books, with some clearly worn out through time while there were another relatively new. "These are Stefan's diaries, a recollection of his life. His brother Damon also donated them. Some are more than a century old."

"Incredible." John approached the showcase, taking a closer look at the books. "They just stay here or the students can actually read them?" 

"There are copies on the shelves so the original ones do not deteriorate by too much use. These are more of a relic now." She explained, staying by his side. "What else can you do?" 

"The ability to manipulate energy is quite the useful one, you know?" He replied, not bothered by their conversation going between himself and the tour. "Dr. Saltzman was right about the extremely versatile nature of my ability nowadays. Everything runs on energy, from small devices to entire cities, everything needs energy so the world does not stagnate. But as I said, my ability doesn't rely on modern societies to be impressive." 

Hope's curiosity was touched once again "What do you mean by that?" She asked, staring at his side face as he leaned closer to the showcase.

"I may presume you have learned about the four forces of nature, right?" Hope nodded in reply, a signal for him to continue. "Gravitational Force, Weak Force, Strong Force and Electromagnetism. These four compose the pillars of the universe. And my ability has quite the influence over electromagnetism…" He took a short pause in his speech. "You see, electromagnetism is composed of the electrical and magnetic force, two very related phenomenons. And in a very short and resumed explanation, these forces are generated by particles. Particles that are…" 

"Energy." She said, finishing the explanation for him as her expression changed to that of one of greater shock than surprise. "You can control one of the fundamental forces of the universe?" Her eyes were wider now then earlier as she tried to cope with this news.

"Well, I can control charged particles, manipulating them to replicate these phenomena. So, in a way, yes." He straightened his back at the answer. "Let me ask a question now." He said, not waiting for her to completely go out of her stupor. 

"What are you?" He asked, changing her attention from his answer to his question. "From what I learned from that book, witches don't have enhanced senses. And you obviously could feel me drawing power from nature before. So, what are you?" 

The girl's initial reaction was silence, a short but dreadful one Making John believe he questioned her too soon. 

"If you don't want to…" He started to say.

"No." She cut him. "It's not a problem." Turning around, she approached one of the bookshelves and grabbed a thick black-leathered covered book. 

[Hope's P.O.V.]

I don't know why, but there was this feeling of not wanting to tell this boy about my family, even though he would know about it sooner or later as Dr. Saltzman would probably accept him in the school. 

He was… kind, until now. Quite cute, but more handsome than cute. However, ever since Roman, trying to like or even approach somebody else has not been on my priority list. Something very obvious of what Dr. Saltzman has been trying to do so ever since he started to ask me to accompany him here and there, when we are in search of new students to the school. 

"How much did you learn about the supernatural species?" I asked him. 

"I know they are mainly divided into three groups. The witches, the werewolves and the vampires. And also that in the last two decades, a lot of variations or mix of the other three showed up and even some unknown species." He explained, closing the space between us as he took a look at the book and then at me.

His eyes were a light honey color that gave him this small hint of cuteness in him. 

"The blood that runs through my veins isn't human." I said, putting down the book. "My dad was one of the Earth's Original Vampires." 

"Was?" He asked.

"Was." I affirmed, bringing ache to my heart. "Turns out even immortal beings can find a way to die eventually." I said, opening the book on a page I had already read so many times that I just knew where to open even if not marked. 

"Klaus Mikaelson: The Great Evil…" He muttered my father's name. The characteristic he was most known to the world brought more ache to my heart. 

"He wasn't very popular here." I said with a fake smile.

"Well, I don't know much about him. But from your expression, you seem to care about and miss him. It seems he was at least a good father, so he probably can't be as bad as it seems." He replied with a smile, something that highlighted my opinion of him, even though I knew he was probably just flirting with me.

"My mother was a werewolf alpha." I said, this one especially hurts more as I still feel responsible for her death, the death of my own mother.

"A 'was' again, hm?" 

"People I care about have a tendency to die." Remembering all the people who died to protect me or due to my own actions was something I probably would never come over with. 

"I try not to get close to people anymore." I said, pacing around the room before turning to him. 

"Well, that explains your 'do not approach me' aura." 

He gets a small laugh off of me with that before I continue explaining my family's history. "My grandmother was a witch, so all of those things passed down, making me…" 

"A 'werewitchre'?" He tries to guess, saying a word I am sure it doesn't even exist. Making me laugh again.

"A hybrid of three different creatures. Tribrid." I say. "I am the only of my kind." This phrase makes my face shift into a sad one, even though I don't want to. Hearing that I am alone in the world as a species is not the greatest thing to hear. 

"As I said 'werewitchre'." He says, laughing together with me. 

"You should do that more." He says.

"What?" 

"Laughing. Your smile is beautiful." He says with such an honest expression that eased a little of the pain in my heart. 

Pushing a little of my hair behind my ear, I involuntarily smile before walking back to the book. "He died to protect me." I say, passing a finger over the name of dad.

For a few seconds, both of us remained silent until he opened his mouth. "Can I say something?" 

"Sure." I nodded, quite expectant on what he would say.

"I am not an expert at dad-things or losing important people next to me. But, I doubt that any father would die for their daughter without love in their heart. Because that's why he did it for you. He loved you." He said in a simple manner, and I must admit that I almost started to cry. 

Taking a step further, I lightly hug him. Due to him being more than 30 centimeters taller than me, my head lay on his chest. He hugged me back, passing his arms over my back, at the level of my shoulder, with another at my head as he awkwardly sooth my hair. He was probably surprised by my actions.

"Relax, lonely girl. If you want, I will be your friend from now on. I just don't promise one thing." He said. 

"What?" I asked back. 

"If you ever need someone to pose naked for one of your paintings, count me out." 

Pushing him a little, I slightly punched his chest. "Don't be an idiot." 

"Ow, sorry, sorry." He said with fake pain before a smile bloomed on his face, as well as mine. We both laughed at the situation.

"Come on, werewitchre. You still have to show me the rest of the school." He said.

I nodded, closing the book and walked away with him following me behind.

This is actually good. I thought with a smile as I walked the corridors.