Her Name Was Abigail {Elijah Mikaelson}

[11] The Era Before Augustus

"We were born before the era of Augustus...." Khaleesi explained as she sat at the edge of the chair that was in the corner of the room. My family sat around her, listening like a child listens to a story at bed time. I found Abigail to be hesitant to her newfound history. I watched as she would turn her eyes away from Khaleesi, eager to remember her past for herself.

"Our family was very powerful, influential among our land. Our warriors believed in Valkyries but what they did not know was there were Valkyries living in their castle. They looked to the skies for us, begging us to hear their cries when all they had to do was shout loud enough into the sky that their shouts would fly into our windows. We listened often, eager to hear them beg for their lives." Her voice was low, her eyes smiling as she remembered back thousands and thousands of years back.

My mind couldn't wrap around the fact that there were Valkyries, and they still existed. The oldest supernatural being that we had ever heard of was Silas, the first supernatural man. However, Silas had disappeared and was locked away in some forgotten tomb. He was forever stuck in place, frozen in time. This left the Valkyries, Khaleesi and Abigail to take his place.

"Our parents were killed when we were still young," Khaleesi said as she twirled a piece of her long, blonde hair around her finger, "so we practically had to raise ourselves, and then we raised our kingdom along with us. We were well-liked and sought after often in the eyes of young men. They fought wars for us, bowed to their knees in our presence. We were true queens in a time where we were needed. Unfortunately however, our reign seemed to be short lived...."

"What happened after that?" Herelda asked, reminding all of us that she was still with us. Khaleesi stopped twirling her hair and settled it along her chest. She pursed her pale lips as she squinted her eyes towards Herelda, as if to remind herself why Herelda was worthy of being in her presence. She took a deep breath before deciding on to continue her story.

"Somebody found out what Abigail and I were. One night, savages stormed our castle, eager to find us and burn us at the stake. I don't know why they would want to do such a thing because they knew that we were Valkyries, capable of giving and taking life, but taking more than giving. They had pitchforks and sticks that were on fire, you know, the entire medieval horror story that has been told for centuries. Anyways, they stormed our castle and killed our guards before reaching the top room where Abigail and I hid."

She paused again, staring down at the shadows of the wall at her feet. I watched her as she frigidly remembered these horrid memories, the fear spreading through her like a grass fire. She quickly shook the fear away and turned her eyes towards me, her eyes meeting mine as we briefly stared at one another. I nodded gently, as if to tell her that it was okay to move on. Like I had done with Abigail time and time before.

"They were pounding on our door, fighting to get into the room to drag us away to our deaths. But they didn't understand, they didn't understand that they would never be able to kill us. We can only kill ourselves by finding ourselves unworthy of life. So they continued screaming, and fighting and scratching at the door. Abigail and I, we held our ears, refusing to hear the screams but they were too loud and there were too many of them. And eventually, it just stopped."

Her voice grew low, so low that it was barely audible. Now her eyes had warm, salty tears filling them, eager to spill onto her white cheeks. They escaped the corners of her eyes as she quickly wiped them away, keen on remaining calm and being able to tell her story. Khaleesi was a strong woman, just like her sister who sat alongside me, her arm wrapped in mine with her head on my shoulder.

"So...." Khaleesi whispered as she shook away the tears, "we opened the door. And what we found behind the door were dozens and dozens and dozens of dead people. They were bleeding from every orfice. Their eyes, their noises, their ears....blood filled the floor of our castle. We knew what we had done. We had killed nearly our entire kingdom, in just a matter of seconds. We carefully walked over their bodies, careful not to disturb them and once we arrived at the entrance of our castle, we fled. We ran as far as we possibly could until we were certain that we were in a place where no one would know who we were. And by running, we made ourselves extinct. Careful when using our powers so that no one would ever find us again."