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...
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994 - Vinland (present-day America)
The summer months were Elijah's favorite time of the year. In his childhood, it meant his father would be away, raiding villages for land and resources. He and his siblings cherished the time they had without him. A moment of peace in the otherwise disciplined schedule Mikael expected them to keep.
As Niklaus got older, Mikael became more and more disappointed in his progress. Which was putting it mildly. Elijah had the discipline and ambition of a good warrior and Kol had the natural talent, while Finn was the oldest and spent most of his days training to farm the land. Rebekah spent most of her days learning to take care of the home, much to her chagrin.
But Niklaus, no matter how hard he tried, he never seemed to be good enough.
Elijah spent any spare time trying to train him. They would go over the moves for hours until Niklaus was complaining that his hands were bleeding. But Elijah would make him go again. If he could get his little brother up to Mikael's standards, maybe Mikael would leave him alone for once. However, it seemed impossible. As if Niklaus was physically incapable of improving. So instead of getting stronger, he got smarter. If he couldn't beat his brothers in brute strength, he would be more clever and trick them. This was especially useful against Elijah, who was a stickler for the rules when sparring.
Yet on this summer day, Elijah had mercifully released his brothers at midday so they could join the other boys down at the swimming hole. Mikael was returning that evening and Elijah wanted his siblings to enjoy what was left of their freedom.
He also selfishly wanted to sneak off to find Astra.
She had complained that he was spending all of his time with his siblings as of late. And he knew she was right. He also knew she understood that this was only Henrik's third summer. His mother was overwhelmed and it fell to Elijah to keep his siblings in line. Although, it wasn't fair to Astra.
It would be the third anniversary of her mother's passing and in the years following, Astra had grown even more reckless than she had been in their youth. Even going as far as to speak back against Mikael at times. Elijah feared what would happen if his father struck Astra. He wasn't sure he would be able to hold himself back from attacking his own father. That he wouldn't be able to stop until he took his father's life.
Elijah had to hold himself back every time Mikael raised a hand to his siblings. He knew part of it was out of fear. He may be one of the best warriors amongst the boys of the village, but he knew he was no match for his father. He also knew Mikael would not hesitate to run a sword through him to make a point. His father had no love for him and would not tolerate that sort of insubordination. But more than his father, Elijah feared the Gods. Whether he believed his mother's religion or his father's, kin slaying was one of the worst offenses a person could commit.
He pushed the thoughts of his father's untimely demise out of his head. He would just continue to pray that one day his father would not return from battle and leave them all in peace. Instead, he searched for Astra in the village. She spent her days with Ayana, helping heal the sick and teach the next generation of witches. A job she detested.
