Legacies: Infinite Journey

[Salvatore School, 14:58 PM]

School activities returned to normalcy after the events from lunch time, with most students returning to their classes to take part in afternoon studies and projects.

Rarely someone could be seen walking the corridors or main halls of the school's buildings during these approaching last hours of the day. The students would be in the wing building where classrooms were held, with professors lessoning them. Other school staff could be found in where their jobs requested them to be.

So, the scene of a student, followed by their guardian at their trail, was quite a rare circumstance by this hour's standards.

Taking sight of her son's purposefully heavy steps and deep scowl, Veronica kept her pace steady, not accelerating to keep following him right from behind. After all, he was her son – she knew him better than anyone.

You are too good of a boy to leave your mom behind, my son. Veronica thought, not needing to look down to take notice of her son's legs slowing down in pace when he noticed her presence getting just a little far from him. "Milton, remind me, how long you haven't seen your grandfather?"

"I think… since I became a vampire." MG's voice betrayed his usual high-spirited temperament. Now, his tone carried was of someone dissatisfied and unhappy.

"Must be it." Veronica nodded. By approaching the school's entrance door, she wasn't required to open it as her son did it out of consciousness. "Whilst you stay with him, I must ask you to be careful around him. His disease has been aggravating lately."

"Yeah, you told me so."

"But you didn't see it." Veronica replied, now with her son following her steps. "So please, be mindful if he can't follow you around like before. He can barely stand by himself nowadays."

Hearing these words, MG's response came in silence, as he listened to his mother's words but felt like not answering her. That was the best he could think of to express his dissatisfaction with his mother.

I would know that if you permitted me to live and didn't try to control my every movement. He thought, rushing his steps once again to the car parked by the school's gate.

Seeing the person by the car, the boy didn't even raise questions or anything, just entering the car before anyone could even greet him.

Before following her son's actions, Veronica side-glanced her driver briefly. The action lasted just as long as it took for the man to nod ever so minimally. Just enough action to pass his response.

When Veronica entered the car, the man followed her actions by taking the seat of the driver.

"Who is he?" Milton questioned after a curious glance from him at the man. His stare lasting a little longer over the black glasses resting over his eyes.

"Milton, this is Matthew. He will be our driver for the day." She introduced the man, keeping a certain level of decorum despite her nonchalant attitude at the action. But quickly, she put all of her attention away from it and focused on the subjects presented to her in her working device.

Milton, however, narrowed his eyes at the man when listening to her. "What happened to Valdez?"

"Unfortunately, he suffered an accident three months ago. Due to the injuries he sustained, he was forced to retire." She didn't even drift her eyes away from the device to reply to her son's question. "Rest assured, Matthew is an excellent driver."

"Thanks for the compliment, Mrs. Greasley." A hoarse, deep voice left the driver's lips.

Despite his words, the compliment did not extract a minimum reaction from him. His eyes kept forward, patiently waiting for the opening of the school's gates.

"Is there any detour I shall take?"

"No."

"Understood." The man nodded respectfully, putting some strength on his leg, the car accelerating, disappearing from the school's premises.

The Salvatore School was located on the outskirts of Mystic Falls, few were the times the roads connected to the school met more than one car.

Whatsoever, on this day, when the car of the Greasley Family was preparing to turn to the right, to take the road leading to the Interstate, from their left direction, a car sharply drove on to the street they were on, with an obvious destination for the Salvatore School.

Through a short, passing moment, Matthew stole a glimpse of who stood behind the wheel.

Blue-green eyes looked back at him, with much more focus and intention than he could muster in that fraction of a second.

Sometimes, little information was enough for the mind to come with a response for things often seen in small frames of time.

And for those, accustomed to work with actions that necessitates fast reactions to respond to their environment, that short glimpse was enough for a word to surface in Matthew's mind.

Vampire… The thought was accompanied by disgust and hatred. Sentiments which were kept hidden in his expression. Something he was excellently doing considering his new passenger.

As the Greasley Family's car drove away from the school, the person in the other car looked at it through the wing mirror, a slight furrow of brows at seeing someone drive away from the school's direction.

I couldn't recognize anyone within. Caroline thought, the painted glasses refraining her to recognize who was in the passing car.

Thoughts that lingered only as far as the school's buildings started to appear in her sight. Thoughts were replaced by what had been recurring in her mind through the entire trip.

I hope Alaric has been able to hold everything together.

[———]

Standing under the archway, Hope, with arms crossed under her chest, slowly and rhythmically tapped the fingers from her right hand on her left arm.

By her facial expression and stance, she seemed to be in a stern mood. A misconception people who didn't know her would normally have.

Between the silk curtains billowing from the wind coming from the east, her mood slowly mellowed when facing her boyfriend. "So that will be the plan? Invading Aunt Bekah's mind." She stated, though her words were formed into a questioning one.

She knew better than anyone that her boyfriend and aunt would naturally go with the idea proposed. The question was more for assurance.

"Yep." John, sitting by the balcony's fence, nodded. "Just don't know if it can be called an invasion if we have her permission." He added, rubbing his forehead in a pondering manner.

Tilting her head to the side, now Hope took a more stern expression. "You know what I meant."

"Yeah, but I like to have these small chatters between us." There was a smirk on John's lips. "But regarding your aunt's mind; Sincerely, I don't even know if we are gonna find anything."

Hope raised an eyebrow. "What is the problem?"

"I like to believe your aunt – actually, your entire family – is very powerful. They are part of the world in a way few are. By one side, there are the progenitors of the supernatural world's vampiric species. In the other, a world renowned witch bloodline. Meaning that in one way or another, people of your family are very resistant or sensitive to magic." John looked up to see if she was following his explanation. And seeing she was, he continued. "During the times dragons – and apparent every other creature in myths and legends – still roamed the world, the entire generation of your family previous to yours was alive. I am still uncertain of the chances, but there is the chance someone from your family witnessed some of these creatures. And that raises the question…" He gestured for her to continue.

Hope seemed to understand as she sighed in bitter sweet acceptance of the idea. "…How did witches so powerful and vampires so old never notice a magical influence in their minds?"

"Exactly." John nodded, not adding anything else.

…

"…You know you just got me more anxious, right?" Hope blurted out after a short silent staring contest with her boyfriend.

"Not my intention." John replied, calmly. "Sincerely, the chances are we won't find anything at all. Whatever we are dealing with… it must be above our level by a certain margin."

Slowly, the young man turned his head sideways, giving him view of the forest facing his back.

The forest, which the sun usually had an easy time casting its rays of light through the crowns of the trees and where birds landed on branches to sing at the first indication of a new day, now embraced an obscure and primal aspect into itself.

Ignoring the spell surrounding that area, no sound traveled from there. The vegetation seemed to consume all light, as nothing could be seen through the spaces between the plants.

And just by looking at the forest, John had the surging instinct that a thousand eyes were on him.

Thoughts wandered through the boy's mind. Truly, I can't imagine what Malivore turned into after hundreds of years of consuming creatures. A frown almost formed John's forehead.

For a moment, the image of the giant surpassing mountains passed by his mind. Igniting a thought from him.

I feel like I have to rethink my opinions of this world every single day as I delve deeper into it. A dry scoff almost escaped the boy's lips, with only a twitch in the left corner of his lips surfacing on his expression.

An action John thought to be noticed by Hope by how she was approaching him. But he put that thought away considering she couldn't glimpse this side of his face, which was facing the forest.

As her steps reached closer, approaching the stone fence where he was sat. He observed as the beautiful girl, delicately, traced her fingers against the polished stone before resting her body over the structure. Her elbows acting as pillars to keep her stance.

Just like the boy, she eyed the forest, observing the subtle movements of the branches and trees.

Glancing at her through the corner of his eyes, he slowly joined her back in looking at the distance.

"What are you thinking?"

"Just wondering where all of this will take us." Hope replied, her voice much lighter. "Don't you have the sensation we are nearing to discover some kind of plot or anything?"

I would if I didn't know what await us. John passed his legs to the other side of the balcony, leaving them to hang in the air. "We certainly are learning a lot these past few days. And although things are falling in place, we are still in the dark about a few things, so I get what you say."

"What do you think will be next?" Hope asked, her question rather vague if people didn't take into it the situation they are in.

Wondering for a second or two, really thinking of specific species, John let out a sigh. "I have no idea. Any kind of being we can imagine can be sent our way. Beings with skills that can be this destructive or mischievous." He calmly replied.

Hope listened to him, attentively. "How many did you see? In her mind, I mean." She asked in a low tone.

John permitted a moment of silence to stretch before replying. "… I've seen beings from Greek myths, Nordic origins, Slavic… From every corner of Europe, basically."

"So… many." Hope said.

John chuckled. "Yep." He nodded, his eyes brightful. Not worried about such discoveries.

Hope, aware as ever, noticed it. "You are… buoyant, aren't you?" Hope asked, seeing his expression.

"A little." John confirmed, not trying to hide his uplifted mood.

With the confirmation, Hope leaned back on her arms against the balcony. "Only you to be this thrilled about our situation." She said, a deep chuckle coming at the end.

Seeing her actions, John tilted his head to her side. If he was as dull as a stone, he would think Hope could be a little bothered with how he is reacting to the matter.

"Don't you?" He asked her.

"Murderous trees and big fire-breathing lizards are not in my list of things I want to see." Hope said, nonchalantly.

Fair enough. John nodded in understanding, but didn't stop there. "Then what about an unicorn?" He asked.

The word seemed the right one to be picked at this moment, as Hope stilled in her place for a moment at the mention of the mythical being.

"That… Okay, it would be nice to see an unicorn." She didn't even try to surpass the small childish wish of her to see a unicorn. "I had a plush of one when I was a kid."

"Cute." John commented, his sight landing a few meters away. "There are some few memories related to them in her mind." He said, observing the dragon laying in the backyard. "The dragon thinks of them as… an illusory bunch."

"In what aspect?" Hope asked, the topic dragging her attention into the conversation.

"They are quite the fugitive ones." John spoke in a slow, but still natural and social tone. He turned his eyes rightwards, seeing a still curious stare in Hope's expression. "The memories about them were few and short. Very much, actually. She only saw one once, fifteen hundred years ago. And heard of some appearing a few times through her life. She has the impression that when you saw a unicorn, and you blinked to realize what you saw, they were nowhere else to be found." Words were added by him to explain.

Though, even with the extension of the explanation, Hope still kept herself curious.

Pushing up against the balcony, she put some strength in her legs, easily passing them by the fence made of stone and metal, sitting on to it.

Now with her legs hanging by the air, alongside her boyfriend's, she nudged his arm with a little push of her body. "What else?" She questioned.

There was an uplift in John's expression, reflecting his mood. "Not much else, unfortunately. What is known is sources of water nearby to their spotted locations were always the cleanest of the waters. Beings from surrounding regions used to settle in those locations."

"I've heard unicorns can purify water through their horns." Hope said, but then her legs stopped balancing in the air. "Actually, most tales I've heard about unicorns involve their horns in some way or another." She said in realization.

"Yeah… must be an extremely powerful and versatile magical component. Like blood from the Bennett bloodline or Dopplegangers…" At the end tip of John's words, he narrowed his eyes, a little thoughtful.

Hope, listening to how John's tone lowered as he talked, gazed up at him and noticed his expression.

She frowned. "You are not thinking of taking an unicorn's horn in case we stumble upon one, right?"

"… No…" John denied.

"You sure?"

"… No…"

Hope rolled her eyes at him. "Make up your mind." There was a subtle shadow of a smile forming on her face.

"I will try." He laughed lightly, continuing to observe the landscape ahead.

The dragon certainly added a little taste to the scenery, making it quite pleasing to observe. Alongside the moving vines, that captured the eyes, surely it wasn't a hard matter to lose focus to the scenery for a few moments.

Even more so when such action was accompanied by someone the young man and woman adored.

"This reminds me of something." Hope allowed herself to break the silence and change their previous conversation topic, her voice light and mellow.

The young man remained quiet, an indication for her to continue.

"When I lived with my mom only, there were times we sat on a small wooden bench we had at the yard, and observed the woods ahead." Hope recounted her memories. "I used to be afraid at the beginning. I thought some wolf or bear could sneak upon us."

A small laugh reverberated from the boy. "From what you told me about your mother, I feel pity for any animal who thought of sneaking up on both of you."

"Haha, yes." Hope nodded. Subtly, without her notice, her eyes seemed to hold a natural light during the reminiscence of those times. "I didn't understand very well yet our… situation, at that moment. I viewed magic as something normal, and the same for mom glowing her eyes to entertain me. I hardly had any worries. Just what color to use and what I should paint next." Hope stretched her words, and the more she reminisced of her childhood, the more docile did her tone get.

…

Through the veils of existence, a blurring glowing figure tried to reach out her shapeless hand to the material plane.

"Ah… my sweet girl." A voice echoed through this small corner of this realm. A voice full of emotions. Longing, love, sadness.

…

"She seemed nice." John commented. She really was. He thought, retreating a little his senses.

"Yes… the best." Hope agreed, not enacting her tone nor any gesture to express her love for her mom.

Sometimes, simpler means were better to convoy complex things.

Leaning her head on his shoulder, Hope delighted in the warmth the young man emitted. "This moment brings back those times. This ephemeral, passing moment of the day… Where I feel safe and unworried about anything."

John calmly listened. "I am glad I can be part of these moments."

"They are possible nowadays because of you." She interlocked her left arm around his right one.

"Then I think I will thank myself for being a good boyfriend to my girlfriend."

"Unnecessary." Hope said, pushing herself up a little bit to gain height. "I will do it." And she kissed him on the cheek, a small but affectionate action.

"I can accept it." John said, bringing Hope closer to him.

"Hpmh, of course you can." Hope returned her head to his shoulder, resuming her sight of the visage.

And so, the couple stayed where they were. Casually observing the world ahead.

Right now, they just attempted to enjoy this moment of peace. Only the two of them.

They chatted about normal topics, whilst letting the sun pass above their heads and disappear in their backs, watching as the world very slowly prepared itself for the darkness of the night.