Chapter 13: 13
Elias gasped for air as he came to, with Finn and Niklaus huddled anxiously by his side. Concern was etched on their faces as they leaned in closer.
"Finn, Niklaus," Elias murmured, his voice weak but gaining strength.
"Are you okay?" Finn asked urgently, eyeing Elias with palpable worry.
"No, I'm not okay," Elias grimly responded, his voice laced with a mix of pain and disbelief. "I've just had a sword thrust through my heart."
Elias then stood up and began to leave, but Niklaus's urgent voice stopped him momentarily. "You can't leave, Elias. We don't know what father did to us," he pleaded, his eyes reflecting the gravity of their situation.
Despite the warning, Elias's resolve didn't waver. He continued toward the exit, his steps firm and unwavering. Finn reached out, attempting to halt his departure physically, but he was quickly deterred as Josephine, she hissed sharply, warning him off.
Josephine then slithered swiftly up Elias's leg and coiled around his neck, her body tensing as she issued another stern hiss towards Finn, reinforcing the warning. Understanding the sign, Finn stepped back, his hands raised placatingly.
With one last look filled with frustration and worry, Elias walked away.
As Elias made his way home, his senses seemed unusually sharp. The chirping of crickets resonated like a symphony in his ears, and the subtle patter of small creatures scurrying in the underbrush was unmistakable. He wrinkled his nose at the distinct smell of sheep dung emanating from the village herds grazing at the town's edge. His gums throbbed oddly, sending a sharp, gnawing pain through his mouth that was hard to ignore. After enduring these heightened sensations for a few minutes, he finally arrived at his mother's house.
Stepping inside, he called out with a voice that carried a mix of weariness and urgency, "Mother?"
His call seemed to echo slightly before being met with a quick response. His mother emerged from the adjacent room, her expression changing from concern to shock as she took in his disheveled and pained state.
"Elias! What happened to you?" she exclaimed, rushing over to him, her eyes scanning for injuries.
Elias remained silent, extending his hand out to his mother, an invitation for her to understand the depth of his ordeal. As she gently touched him, her breath hitched in a gasp. A flood of images hit her, revealing the grim scene of Mikael driving a sword through Elias's heart and his miraculous, bewildering awakening.
Tears welled up in Elias's eyes as he finally broke his silence. "I can't feel it anymore, Mother... My magic, it's gone," he confessed, his voice quivering with a mixture of sadness and disbelief. He had known that embracing his new destiny would cost him his magical abilities, yet the reality of its absence left a hollow emptiness inside him. The warm, familiar sensation of his magic, which had always been a source of comfort and strength, had vanished, leaving a void that felt like a piece of himself had been torn away.
Ayana's expression was one of frustration and anger. "I warned Esther about the consequences. I told her that tampering with such magic would upset the balance of nature, but she proceeded, transforming you," she lamented, her voice heavy with regret. "I should have protected you, kept you away from her schemes. I can't reverse what's been done, but I promise, I can make it better" Ayana declared with a determined edge in her voice.
Without another word, she turned and left the room, returning moments later with a grimoire unlike any Elias had seen before. It was ancient and worn, its pages yellowed with time. Elias watched, curiosity piqued despite his sorrow. "Whose grimoire is that?" he asked, but Ayana remained silent, her focus entirely on the book as she flipped through the aged pages.
She then gathered several herbs from a shelf, her movements precise and deliberate. After a meticulous fifteen minutes, Ayana presented Elias with a cup filled with a thick, red liquid. "Drink," she instructed, her tone brooking no argument.
Elias hesitated for just a moment, catching the faint scent of blood, before downing the liquid, trying not to dwell on the bitter aftertaste that lingered on his tongue. As he handed the empty cup back to his mother.
"What was in the cup?" Elias inquired, still feeling the remnants of the bitter taste.
Ayana looked at him, her expression serious yet not without a hint of satisfaction. "What Esther did to you was a crude attempt at granting immortality, drawing upon erratic and dangerous sources. Her spell might have made you strong, but it was unstable, flawed. The concoction I've given you enhances and refines the effects," she explained pausing for a second.
"In that cup was a refined version of the immortality spell, tailored to enhance and stabilize the effects Esther's spell had on you. Where her spell granted you strength, this will make you stronger; where it granted you immortality, this will refine and secure it. Esther used the Great White Oak as a symbol for immortality, a source that is potent but has its vulnerabilities. I've altered the connection so that the oak no longer holds the power to end you; instead, it will only weaken you, reducing its threat significantly."
"Regarding your magic," Ayana began with a solemn tone, pausing momentarily to gather her thoughts. "There's nothing I can do about that. Esther's spell stripped it away at the moment of your death," she admitted, her voice laced with regret.
Elias sighed, a deep sense of empathy for Kol's past experiences washing over him. The loss of his magic was a profound change, leaving a void that was both unfamiliar and uncomfortable. Yet, amidst the loss, he realized his psychic abilities remained, altered and intensified in the absence of his magic.
With his magic now gone, his psychic powers had begun to expand, seeping into the space where his magic used to reside. The whispers of thoughts, the echoes of distant minds, all flooded into his consciousness more powerfully than ever before. He could hear the thoughts of many, a cacophony of voices that became almost too much to bear.
As Elias struggled to manage the overwhelming influx of thoughts, he redirected his focus, attempting to block out the noise by concentrating on the growing hunger clawing at him. As he did, the veins beneath his eyes began to bulge, and his fangs emerged.
Ayana watched, her eyes widening with a mix of fear and sorrow as she witnessed the monstrous changes Esther's spell had wrought upon her son. The sight of his mother's fear was a jolt to Elias, a painful reminder of the creature he had become.
In a blur of motion, Elias quickly exited the hut, his movements almost too fast for the eye to follow. He darted into the woods.
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What is the name of Finn Mikaelson's girlfriend?
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