The Other Side.
Qetsiyah's domain.
A place suspended between life and death.
Between existence and oblivion.
A realm she had shaped with her own hands over thousands of years.
The moment she appeared, the cheerful smile she had worn around Nik vanished.
The playful mother.
The teasing woman.
The overprotective parent.
Gone.
Now she looked like what she truly was.
One of the most terrifying witches to ever exist.
In her hands rested two small glass vials.
One contained Nik's blood.
The other contained Amara's.
Qetsiyah stared at them for several moments.
Then sighed.
"My son is an idiot."
She looked at Nik's vial.
"A lovable idiot."
A pause.
"A violent idiot."
Another pause.
"A terrifying idiot."
Then she smiled.
"But still my idiot."
The blood rose from the vial.
Floating into the air.
Green runes exploded around it.
Thousands.
Tens of thousands.
The entire sky of the Other Side lit up.
Because there was a problem.
A very serious problem.
Nik wasn't supposed to exist.
Not like this.
Not as he was.
The Nature that governed the universe tolerated him.
It even seemed strangely fond of him.
Almost protective.
But Qetsiyah wasn't stupid enough to trust that forever.
Nature demanded balance.
It always did.
And eventually...
It would try to create one.
Usually through catastrophically stupid methods.
Methods Qetsiyah had no intention of allowing.
"No."
Her voice echoed through the realm.
"You don't get to touch my son."
The runes intensified.
The blood dissolved.
And far away, deep within the most protected location in all of the Other Side, something appeared.
Small.
Simple.
Unremarkable.
Nobody looking at it would think it mattered.
Nobody would even notice it.
Yet it possessed one impossible purpose.
It could kill Nik.
Permanently.
The only thing in existence capable of doing so.
Qetsiyah smiled.
"There."
Now Nature had its balance.
Its answer.
Its loophole.
And because the balance already existed...
Nature wouldn't need to create one.
It wouldn't need to invent some absurd cosmic disaster.
It wouldn't need to target her son.
There was already a solution.
And nobody would ever find it.
Not gods.
Not spirits.
Not witches.
Not Mikaelsons.
Not even Nik himself.
Qetsiyah closed her hand.
The magic vanished.
Then she looked at the second vial.
Amara.
The smile disappeared.
For a long time she simply stared.
Remembering.
Two thousand years.
Two thousand years of rage.
Two thousand years of betrayal.
Two thousand years of hatred.
The servant she trusted most.
The friend she trusted most.
The woman who had betrayed her with Silas.
The woman who had helped destroy her life.
The woman she had spent centuries despising.
And somehow...
Somehow...
That same woman was now sleeping with her son.
Qetsiyah rubbed her forehead.
"That sentence still gives me headaches."
Silence.
Then she laughed.
A genuine laugh.
Because honestly?
Her life had become ridiculous.
"Of all people, Nik."
She shook her head.
The worst part?
She couldn't even blame him.
Nik had inherited her terrible taste in complicated people.
A fact she absolutely refused to acknowledge publicly.
Then she sighed.
A long sigh.
The kind that only came after carrying anger for far too long.
"My son loves you."
The words felt strange.
Heavy.
"But more importantly..."
Her eyes softened slightly.
"He is happy."
Another silence.
A much quieter one.
Perhaps she wasn't ready to forgive Amara completely.
Perhaps she never would.
But she was tired.
Tired of carrying two thousand years of hatred.
Tired of carrying Silas.
Tired of carrying old wounds.
Tired of carrying ghosts.
And maybe...
Just maybe...
She wanted to let some of it go.
"Therefore..."
The blood floated upward.
Runes appeared once more.
Different this time.
Far more complicated.
Far more specific.
Because this wasn't punishment.
It wasn't revenge.
It was protection.
Protection for Amara.
Protection for Nik.
Protection for the balance itself.
The spell crossed dimensions.
Crossed oceans.
Mountains.
Forests.
Until it found a single ordinary pine tree.
Nothing special.
Nothing magical.
Just a tree.
Qetsiyah pointed.
The blood disappeared into the trunk.
Instantly the pine became Amara's balance.
Her weakness.
Her ending.
Her mortality.
But Qetsiyah wasn't finished.
"While you remain loyal..."
Green runes wrapped around the tree.
"While you continue living for his happiness..."
More runes appeared.
"While you never betray his trust..."
The magic settled.
The pine returned to looking completely normal.
No glow.
No power.
No sign of what it truly was.
Just another tree among millions.
Qetsiyah smiled.
"There."
The wind blew.
Nothing happened.
Then her eyes flashed.
"But..."
The entire Other Side trembled.
"If you betray him..."
The runes exploded.
"If you deceive him..."
More magic surged.
"If you break the trust he placed in you..."
The pine absorbed every last piece of it.
And Qetsiyah's smile vanished.
Completely.
"Then every piece of wood on Earth will become your enemy."
Silence.
Cold.
Absolute.
The spell completed itself.
Because if that day ever came...
The pine would no longer matter.
A splinter.
A wooden chair.
A pencil.
A table.
A branch.
A toothpick.
Every piece of wood would carry the ability to kill her.
Slowly.
Painfully.
Cruelly.
Not because Qetsiyah wanted revenge.
But because betrayal should have consequences.
And because she refused to allow someone to break her son's heart without consequences.
The witch looked at the completed spell.
Satisfied.
Because Amara would never need to fear it.
Not if she remained who she was today.
Not if she remained loyal.
Not if she continued loving Nik.
Qetsiyah closed the now-empty vial.
"If that day never comes..."
She shrugged.
"Then it's just a pine tree."
A small smile appeared.
Then she looked toward the world of the living.
Toward her son.
Still hanging upside down.
Probably still crying over his deleted game saves.
The smile widened.
"My precious idiot."
And with that—
Qetsiyah disappeared.
Leaving behind two anchors.
Two weaknesses.
Two balances.
Because even immortality had rules.
And if those rules had to exist...
Qetsiyah preferred writing them herself before Nature got any ideas.