The Original Heretic

i.

i am the original heretic. and nobody remembers me.

now, i'm sure that's a confusing way to start off a story, so let me explain a little bit better.

just like the mikaelsons, i was born in europe and moved to the new world with my parents over a thousand years ago. unlike the mikaelsons, i was an only child. brit kaldottir. my mum was a witch, and my dad was a human. they had me, and i was... both. able to perform magic, but only if i siphoned it from another source of magic. because of this, my mother grew ashamed of me, and forced me to leave my house, the house of kal and marinah. my name was no longer to be associated with them.

i ran from that village, and kept on traveling until i came to another village. that's where i met the mikaelsons. their mother, esther, noticed me. i could sense she was a witch, which made me hesitant to approach her. would she shun me from the village just as my own mother did?

no, she was different. she took me in as her apprentice, teaching me everything i know about magic. she had crafted a pendant from the wood of a white oak tree and the leaves of the flower vervain in order to give me a source of unending magic i could siphon from in order to do spells.

as time went on, i grew closer to all the mikaelsons in their own way. finn was like an older brother. he was often grumpy, but i made a point to spend more time with him, as he was often left out by his siblings. for this reason, he didn't dislike me.

rebekah was the person i confided in, and her in me. we would often take walks to the river, taking turns braiding each other's hair as we shared stories of the boys we fancied, or imagined lives as princesses.

niklaus was just as artistic as i. he would paint anything he could with paint made from berries and leaves, as i would draw with burnt wood or charcoal.

elijah was who i went with to be calm. he was much more polite in his ways, unlike his siblings who were more rambunctious. we often had deep conversations about hunting, or the future.

henrik was like the little brother i never got to have. he would often drag me out of the house to show me a new stick toy had created, or a drawing he made in the dirt. i would entertain his fantasies, and i could tell esther appreciated me taking the time to do so.

there was one sibling, however, who was different than them all. kol. kol mikaelson was the one out of all of them who i got along with the most. like rebekah, i could confide in him. like finn and elijah, i could have good conversations with him. like henrik, i could run around with him for hours, just messing around. like klaus, he had an appreciation for art, often sitting behind me and messing with my hair as i drew. like me, he could practice magic, but without the restriction i had of getting it from a different source. because of all that, we were the closest. i understood him more than anyone else.

when the fateful day of henrik's death happened, the whole family was devastated. the night was spent in a bitter sadness. esther had tried to bargain with the witch ayana to grant us safety from the werewolves, but came home unsuccessful. mikael convinced her into taking things into her own hands. so she did, in the most cruel way possible.

the last memories i had as a human were bitter. all of us, forced into a room, given blood, and esther muttering a spell as mikael stabbed us all through the stomach. me, reaching out for kol as i fell to the ground next to him.

"i love you." was the last thing i heard come faintly from his mouth as my vision faded to black.

-

let's just say i didn't expect to wake up, so when i did, i was disoriented to say the least. i quickly sat up, reaching for my necklace by habit, only to find it was no longer there. as fast as lightning, i was on my feet, looking around in alarm.