𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐢𝐤𝐚𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐟. 𝐈𝐧 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧.
Humans reveled in the idea of immortality, but those who possessed it were...
TW: Talks of mental health, mentions of past self-harm/suicide
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982 - Vinland (present-day America)
Elijah continued his training every day for hours. Mikael would send him out alone to practice. And every day Elijah would walk past the other boys training together, oftentimes sneaking past them to avoid being seen. When they did catch sight of him, they would throw snide words his way. His parents told him that he wasn't allowed to play with the other kids because he could get sick or hurt. Mikael said when he was older and stronger, he could join them, but for now, his father told him to avoid them. This only caused the boys to tease him more.
This morning, mercifully, he made it to the clearing without issue. He hadn't seen Astra since the day she had left the clearing crying. He felt guilty, but he also knew she could not be trusted. As his mother said, she could make him feel things. For all he knew, she was making him feel guilty.
He spent the morning training on his own, and when the sun was high in the sky, he started the walk back to his home. His mother had more chores around the house for him as Finn would be in the field all day with Mikael.
He was almost home when he heard a scream come from back in the woods. Without thinking, he whirled around and ran toward the sound. The cries led him back to just near the clearing he had been training in. When he burst through the brush, he spotted the group of boys from the village. This surprised him as they never trained this far into the woods.
In the center of the boys, he spotted Astra on her hands and knees, her wild hair had fallen out of her braid to hang around her face. A small gash spread across her forehead. Elijah's eyes went wide at the sight.
"What are you doing?" He demanded, making his presence known. The boys spun around to see who had approached. When they saw Elijah standing there with his staff in hand, their looks of surprise turned to smirks of amusement. Each of the boys had two or three years on him and they each had rocks in their hands.
They had been throwing them at her, Elijah realized. He felt anger course through his veins. He couldn't help but think of his father throwing the clay vase as his mother the week before when his anger got the better of him. His mother had fortunately moved out of the way quickly, however, a shard had ricocheted off the wall and cut into her arm. Elijah had pulled his little brother into the corner when his parents started to fight and shielded him from any shards, but was instantly filled with guilt at the sight of the blood seeping through the sleeve of his mother's dress.
And here he was again, watching as Astra kneeled helplessly among the boys, blood trickling down her face.
"Leave her alone." Elijah let the rage flood in as he raised his staff to the boys. Elijah knew it was stupid. There were five of them and they were all bigger than him. Plus, they had actually trained with one another. Elijah may have perfected his movements, but it was very different than fighting against another person.
