Bang!
As the dark veil of the night embraced the sky above Mystic Falls, the woods behind the Salvatore School weren't as quiet as it normally is.
From moment to moment, a blunt impact echoed throughout the forest, the rhythm so perfect it resembled an instrument perfectly played.
Near the entrance of the forest, a place where the moonlight still reached, Hope looked into the woods before stepping ahead, her figure vanishing into its darkness.
Inside the forest, due to the canopy of the trees, the light could barely pass through the leaves, making the area resemble the most primordial nights. Still, thanks to her enhanced senses, Hope could see what was ahead of her or simply follow the origin of the sounds.
I wonder what he is doing. He even skipped dinner. Hope thought, trying to move as silently as possible so as to not startle John as she approached his location.
Just when Hope felt she was a couple dozen meters away from him, she came to an abrupt stop as something caught her sight.
From between the leaves and tree trunks, Hope watched a faint blue light flash in front of her.
Before she could get a better sight of the light, a deafening soundwave followed from the same direction, carrying leaves and small branches alongside it.
In a rush, Hope raised her arms in front of her to protect herself while she narrowed her eyes to shield them from the wind. And just into the small line she could see through, Hope observed as the blue light scattered into dots that soon disappeared, completely vanishing from existence.
Taken by surprise by the phenomenon, Hope stood still and quiet for a moment before she heard the sound of approaching steps.
"John?" Her first reaction was to call out the name of the only person she knew to be here.
Thankfully, a reply came soon after her shoutout. "I am here."
Pushing away branches and bushes away from his path, John's figure showed up before Hope. However, to her surprise, he wasn't looking like he was a few hours ago when he entered the forest.
At her first glance at him, Hope noticed John's clothes had cuts, with his shirt in a particular more depreciated state. There was dust and dirt all over his face and body, tainting his already destroyed clothes, his hair was a mess and little drops of sweat ran down his face.
However, as she lifted up her eyes to question him about what happened, Hope noticed which was out of place in John's current appearance. In complete contrast to his ragged state, John's eyes were strikingly clearer than usual.
Through those eyes, Hope had the impression she was looking at John's spirit directly, an experience that surprised her more than when she first saw the true color of his eyes.
Slowly, Hope approached him as she reached her hand out towards him. "John, are you okay?"
"I am fine. Honestly, I feel better than many times in life." John promptly replied, looking directly into her eyes as well. "Honestly, I don't know how to express the emotions coursing through me right now. But, if I was to choose… it is almost like I'm feeling… invincible."
A strange look took over Hope's eyes. "I see…" Hope's words hung in the air, meticulously observing him. "And why do you feel that way?"
"Because my mind has never been clearer; The only possible exception being the day my abilities came to light." John quickly replied, almost as if the answer was on the tip of his tongue all the time. "Unfortunately, as fascinating as it is my mind right now, I can also feel it is temporary. In a few minutes, it will be gone and things will be almost the same as before."
"Almost?"
"Yes, almost." John nodded. "After this experience, my comprehension of magic has changed." Slowly, the young man held his chin and thoughtfully muttered to himself. "I wonder what will happen if I repeat this phenomenon."
Despite his low voice, Hope still heard him. "You refer to that blue flash? What was that?"
To her disappointment, John's answer wasn't what she wanted to hear. "I will answer that in a future moment, my dear. Right now, I wish to make use of this feeling and see what else I can get from it. Would you mind waiting a couple more minutes outside the woods?"
Even though she was curious and wanted to inquire about his current state, Hope still nodded in acceptance. "Just know that I will make you go through a query after this."
"Anything you want, love." John stepped closer to Hope and kissed the top of her head. "If you could as well not let anyone interrupt me, I would be glad."
Ignoring his words and feigning nonchalance to his act of affection, Hope turned around and started walking out of the woods to leave him alone.
As Hope's figure disappeared between the leaves, John quietly sat down on the ground and closed his eyes.
When he opened them again, the trees and bushes were gone and a cerulean ocean surrounded him.
From when he first awakened his abilities to now, John's Inner World had gone through a few changes. But among them all, the most striking and seeker of attention was the mist right above the ocean's surface.
Strangely, from time to time, the mist would sink in the ocean and disappear among the waters that represented an aspect of the boy's existence. And it wasn't like the mist simply disappeared by going deeper, but by the fact that the ocean consumed the mist in its entirety, leaving nothing to be seen.
Standing on this seemingly boundless ocean, John observed the mist, which obscured his sight from the chin down.
"There is a lot yet." He commented. "It is time to speed up this process."
Followed by his words, John kneeled down on one knee and inserted his hand into the mist, touching upon the surface of the water.
The sensation he felt from it was one of the most comfortable of all his life, there wasn't an exact sensation he could compare it to. But if he could imagine it, he thought that was what touching the summer breeze would feel like.
After his palm fully touched the water, it was time for it to sink as the ocean actively pulled down the young man's arm.
John didn't resist and let it do so. And because of his decision, soon he was entirely underwater, with only the twinkling of the stars working as a visual compass to guide himself out of the ocean.
For what felt like minutes and then almost hours, John continued moving deeper and deeper into the ocean, with his figure vanishing among the cerulean color of the water in the first few seconds since his submersion.
His disappearance into the ocean made the Inner World return to its peace. From time to time, some shapes and forms jumping out of the water perturbed this everlasting peace before diving back once again, creating ripples that barely had any impact on the surface of the water or the mist slowly consumed by it.
However, after an unknown amount of time passed in this world, a ripple of unknown origins surged on the water.
Plip...
Just as it was unexpected, the same could be said for what came next.
The ripple spread out at a slow and controlled speed, but it didn't show the slightest sign of stopping. As it expanded across the surface, the water it moved through behaved differently. The mist above the water that touched the ocean wasn't slowly dragged into it anymore, now it was strongly pulled into the ocean before immediately disappearing.
Just as the ripple reached far greater distances and the water began to crazily drag the mist into the ocean, the amount of magic – the mist – in this Inner World started to thin down. And at the alarming rates it was happening, it wouldn't be long before nothing of magic would be left.
However, if someone else was present in this place, in the moment they would've noticed this small detail, something else would immediately steal their attention right after.
Humm…
For a brief moment, the world hummed. It wasn't only the ocean or the stars that did it, but everything that encompassed this Inner World vibrated for a single exact second.
…
"What is he doing in there?" Hope muttered, a little frustrated. Her arms were crossed in front of her chest as she stared into the forest, waiting for the moment for John to come out and ask him what he was doing in there.
Even if it has been only a couple of minutes, maybe less since they met, Hope was starting to get impatient. However, it wasn't without reason.
When remembering that look in his eyes, Hope was slightly anxious regarding her boyfriend's state. After all, despite the short time they have known each other, she has never seen a similar look in his eyes before.
It might appear odd since rationally, Hope doesn't think John is in any bad condition despite his clothes. Actually, he seemed all right, something the young man ensured with his own words. However, when those eyes – his eyes – resurfaced in her mind, a strange feeling took over the girl's heart. Strangely enough for Hope, it seemed like she wasn't looking at her boyfriend at all.
Hope's hands tightened their grip over her own arms, with her attempting to see through the leaves and branches of the woods. Please… tell me I'm only overimagining it. As she thought so, a heavy sigh escaped her lips.
But then, just as the wind was about to carry the stream of air leaving her mouth, a very faint breeze passed by Hope's left ear and carried her hair along.
It softly kissed her cheek, with the coldness spreading over Hope's face immediately. Yet, instead of shuddering from it, Hope squinted her eyes because among the desolate cold of the wind, there was a warmth she was familiar with.
"John?"
Whoosh!
Upon calling his name, Hope was surprised to notice her surroundings were taken by multiple gusts of air that rustled the branches of the trees and the grass on the ground. And ever so briefly, a lightning bolt fell amidst the woods, startling the young woman.
A moment later, Hope widened her eyes because she knew exactly who was present where the lightning strike fell, and her first urge was to run into the forest.
However, just as she moved a couple steps ahead, Hope stopped herself after she instinctively noticed something. The gusts of air – all of them – were moving towards a single location.
But the surprises didn't stop them. As she reached out her hand into one of the air paths, Hope noticed something. There was a great amount of magic moving through them, as if the air paths were working as cables that carried magic instead of electricity. In reality, this parallel wouldn't work since it was the absurd quantity of magic moving that brought up these natural phenomena, not the opposite.
Guarding her eyes from the strong wind, Hope didn't move further as she guessed all of this was probably John's work. Still, it just made her question even more what was happening.
What the hell is he doing?! Hope thought, noticing a small branch flying in her direction.
However, just before she needed to move to dodge it, the branch moved sideways and went somewhere else, completely missing her.
This small, but abrupt change of direction was noticed by the young woman, making her turn her eyes to the forest once again. At least it seems he is conscious of what is happening. Hope thought, taking a couple steps back.
Meanwhile, as Hope retreated to remove her from potential harm, the events happening in the woods didn't go unnoticed by the people present in the school.
One by one, people walked out of the building to gaze upon what could be called a small storm taking place in the woods, with Alaric being on the front of the group. Noticing Hope by the border of the phenomenon, Alaric turned to his fellow professors. "Don't let any student get closer!" He raised his tone so his words wouldn't be distorted by the wind.
After saying that, Alaric moved towards Hope, and even though he did not share the same endurance and strength as the girl to support the strong winds the same way as her, he still did his best to approach her as fast as he could.
"Hope!"
Listening to her name being called out, Hope turned around to see her headmaster doing his very best to not be taken by the wind.
"Dr. Saltzman, what are you doing here?" Hope raised her voice as well so she could be listened to.
"I should be asking you that. What the hell is going on?!" Alaric asked while doing his best to not be pulled by the wind into the forest.
Noticing this, Hope moved closer to him so he wouldn't put himself at greater risk by coming closer to the woods. "I don't know! It's probably John!"
"John?"
Crack, Bang!
Alaric looked at the forest, or more specifically where one more lightning strike fell. "Why the hell is he bringing the end of the world?!"
"I said I don't know!"
Bang!
The lightning strikes – which were once occurring in long time intervals– soon started to strike the forest every couple seconds, with the thunder booming across greater distances.
Squinting his eyes because of the strong light, Alaric took a couple step backs and dragged Hope along by pulling her arm. "Whatever is happening, we have to tell him to stop! This way, the forest will catch fire and the townfolk will soon start coming here to see what the fuck is happening!"
"And how are we supposed to do it?!" Hope questioned Alaric with wide eyes. "He said to not interrupt him!"
"Guess what, we must interrupt him! The wind is soon going to start plucking the windows from the building."
As if to tell he was right, a couple of the school's windows broke into tiny pieces of glass. Before the shred pieces of glass could even fall, they were dragged along the wind, with some of them moving towards Hope and Alaric.
When Hope noticed it, she didn't hesitate before pushing Alaric to the side and raising her other arm. Right in front of her, a magical shield actualized into existence, with the sharp pieces of glass ricocheting on it before continuing on their path.
"See what I meant?!"
"And what if by interrupting him something happens to him?! I am not risking it!" Hope declared.
"Hope, the school will-"
Before Alaric could finish his words, the atmosphere suffered a drastic change.
The wind came to an abrupt stop, no more lightning fell and a small dark cloud that had formed right above the forest soon dispersed.
Everyone, not only Alaric and Hope, were taken by surprise by the abrupt change in the environment.
As someone who went through many uncommon moments in life, Alaric was the first to react to the sudden change and was about to convince Hope they could see what was happening now. However, even if it took Hope a couple more seconds to think things through, she was the first to move and run towards the forest. After all, she was the most worried of the two about the young man.
Uncaring of what was in front of her, Hope went through bushes and pushed branches away before getting to the location where she had last seen her boyfriend. And just as expected, he was there, sitting down on the ground with his eyes closed and shreds of glass laying around him since they weren't capable of cutting open his skin.
Not aware of Hope's approach, John slowly opened his eyes. "Tsk… I almost-!"
Thud!
Feeling something hitting his forehead, John quickly moved his hand over it. "Ouch! What was that for?" He looked up while rubbing his head, seeing Hope in a throwing position a few meters in front of him.
"That's what you get for doing something so reckless." Hope said, walking up to him. "Do you have any idea the size of the mess you made? A little bit more and you would have uprooted the school!" In a small fit of anger, Hope grabbed the boy's ear and slightly twitched it.
Contrary to the stone thrown at his forehead, which didn't bring much pain to him, Hope certainly made John wince by twisting his ear. "Hey, hey, hey! You are going to rip it out!"
"Fine. Maybe this way you stop listening to these idiotic ideas of yours and making me so worried." Hope said, twirling her wrist.
As John unleashed a short scream of agony, Alaric finally caught up to the couple after a quick run.
Steadying his breath, he was capable of seeing the scene of John's expression frowning in pain. "I guess I won't need to punish him."
"I don't know. It doesn't seem he recognizes his mistakes." Hope gave a scrutinizing look to the young man.
"I do, I do!" John tried to hold his voice while he felt his right ear burn. "I will be more careful next time, I swear."
"Next time?" Hope sent a deadly stare at him.
Immediately, John shut his mouth with his hands while cold drops of sweat ran down his forehead.
Despite his ragged and tired state, Alaric couldn't help himself but quietly laugh at the scene unfolding before him. They are quite cute as a couple.. "Although I think he deserves it, I guess that's enough for now, Hope."
"Hmph!" Hope huffed, releasing John's ear.
"Ow, ouch…" John whined as he massaged his now red ear, feeling the blood in it returning to normal. "That hurt so much more than it should."
"It will be worse later." Hope said, crossing her arms as she stood to the side.
Quietly, John sighed. I guess I will sleep in my own bed tonight. "I am really, really sorry for what happened. I admit things escaped a little of my control."
"First things first, what were you exactly doing to begin with?" Alaric asked, curious about the source of the small from earlier.
As John stood up and cleaned himself off the dust and dirt, he thought on what he should say to Alaric. "Starting from the beginning… Ever since I awakened my 'non-human' side," John made air quotes with his hands. "I've been going through a process of adaptation."
"Adaptation?" Alaric remarked.
In Hope's case, a little bit of her anger dispersed as she looked more attentively at her boyfriend.
"At the very end of my earlier training, I was capable of achieving something, and this something influenced me. In very simple words, it enlightened me, to the point that I felt invincible, but not in regards to strength. I felt that way because right in front of me, magic had been disassembled and its intricacies had invaded my mind. At that moment, I felt like I could do anything in the world through magic." John took a long breath. "However, now I can safely say that was only a result of my mental state's ephemeral but high rise in comprehension regarding magic."
"Okay…" Alaric slowly nodded. "But how did that end up in you creating a small storm?"
"I'm getting there now." John said. "This process of adaptation that I'm going through is slightly complicated, with it being mostly an automatic process that I can't do almost anything to help. However, during my enlightenment, I was capable of thinking of a way of speeding it up. But to do that, I needed magic – a lot of it. And since my previous state made magic so easy to control, I just sat down and started to simply call and absorb it as much as I could, forgetting a little about the harm it could bring to my surroundings."
"So, the storm was caused by the enormous amount of magic moving?" Alaric asked to confirm what he understood from all of it.
"Yes. As we know, magic can affect the world in certain ways when some criteria are reached. In this case, it was probably the amount of magic." At this point, a remorseful sigh escaped John's lips. "But I guess I still calculated things a bit wrong."
"Yeah, you did." Alaric said, not saying otherwise for the young man to feel better in that regard. "However, the school staff acted quickly and made sure to move every student into a secure place before anyone could get themselves injured. So, as far as I know, no harm has been brought to anyone."
"At least that." John said, a bit of relief showing up in his face.
Slowly, Alaric approached his student and patted his right shoulder. "The next time you do something like this, just remember to be more careful."
"I will." John nodded, offering a small smile in response as well.
Accepting the answer, Alaric turned around to go back to the school building. However, half a dozen steps later, he turned back and faced the young man once again. "Right, I almost forgot. Normally, if any students accidentally cause damage to the school, they don't have to pay for it since they are minors. However, we both know your case is a little different, so I am sending the bill of how much it will cost for the repairs of what your little experiment destroyed."
Listening to that, John's eyes widened. "But you said earlier…"
"Relax, it must be nothing to the money you got from that casino." Alaric quickly interrupted him. "Maybe half of what you paid for the room."
John felt like an arrow struck his heart. "I- I'm pretty sure I can fix all of that with some magic…"
"Sure you can, but you have to choose."
"Choose?" John remarked.
"Yes." Alaric nodded. "If you repair the windows and all the structure damaged, I will have to punish you another way. If that's how you want, we can start talking about your detention." A big wide smile appeared on Alaric's face. "I'm sure Penelope would love some company."
"I'll pay." John immediately chose the monetary option. "The money will be in the school's bank account tomorrow morning."
"That's great. It's good that we reached an agreement." Alaric said as he distanced himself, his figure soon disappearing among the shadows of the forest.
While Alaric returned to the school, John couldn't contain a long sigh as he threw his head towards the sky. "At least this is over…"
"Who said so?" Hope placed one hand on John's shoulder. "Now, it's my turn to settle with you the worry you made me go through." Her grip on him tightened as she said so.
Geez… I just wanted to get stronger. John thought as tried to ignore the sensation of Hope dragging back to the school.
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A/N
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