Elijah Mikaelson & The Dragon's Legacy

Chapter 38

Elijah had grasped Angelica's arm as they both realized the uncertain future of their unborn child. It took all of Elijah's strength to remain calm as he knew Angelica was endeavoring to do the same because they needed to hear the entire story. But Angelica was ahead of Elijah in figuring out how Mason made the ritual work. She motioned to Charlie and he leaned down to her and she whispered in his ear. Charlie looked at her and nodded, grabbing his tablet and moving to the hallway while he tapped away on the screen. Angelica did her best to maintain her composure

Mason continued with this story:

Remus spent millennia endeavoring to implement a plan that would save both he and Romulus. He conducted endless experiments with nature and science until he finally succeeded in genetically engineering a child. But the plan had not been an easy one. Remus with his ever-changing visage was able to surveil his brother as he was waiting for the moment when Romulus would fall in love yet again and that he did when Romulus met Valeria – a peasant girl in a small village in Southern Europe who was a multi-level empathic witch. Remus selected Valeria as his brother's perfect mate and placed Valeria squarely in Romulus' path.

Remus, in the guise of a kindly, middle-aged monk, befriended Valeria so he could manipulate the developing romance between Romulus and Valeria. Remus used his spells and his science on Valeria without her knowledge, and was able to spell Romulus as well to ensure their eventual union.

Romulus took Valeria as his wife, accepting the heartbreak that would follow if it meant bringing some happiness to his dreadful existence. Valeria soon became pregnant with Romulus's child. Valeria would still be visited by Remus disguised as the monk and he surreptitiously continued with his genetic engineering of the unborn child through his potions and his magic. When it came time for Valeria to give birth, Romulus waited for the inevitable death of his wife during the birth of his new son.

As he mourned Valeria, Romulus paused to look at his baby dragon and reeled back when he saw it was a female dragon, the first ever in the history of dragons. Romulus screamed in anger and rage and pulled his sword to slay the abomination. Remus revealed himself and protected the baby with his magic and his science, throwing Romulus across the room and knocking him unconscious with a percussion grenade. Remus took the baby, pausing for a fleeting moment to look at Valeria, and then he fled into the night. When Romulus awoke he was both enraged and devastated as Valeria had touched his heart and she was gone; and he vowed anew to find Remus and to murder both Remus and the baby girl, to rid the world of his abomination and to take Remus' power as his own.

Remus magically engraved runes in the ancient language into the newborn girl's bones to cloak her from Romulus as he would always be able to sense his bloodline and find her. The runes also functioned as a record of events of what would happen to Angelica both on the genetic level as well as the physical experiences, giving Remus the ability to both read those records and exert control over Angelica.

Remus had already befriended the Duchess of Montecito and placed Angelica into their home to conceal her from Romulus. He was certain the Duchess would follow his instructions and left to keep Romulus from finding Angelica, dropping false clues to keep Romulus out of Spain. Romulus came close to succeeding in killing Remus around the time of Angelica's sixteenth birthday and this delayed him for years in collecting her from the convent that the Duchess was supposed to have placed her in. When he finally returned he discovered Angelica was not in the convent and set out to find her in Montecito, and when he did locate her during the plague, he discovered she was married to Elijah. He thought his plan had failed when Angelica and Elijah's marriage had failed to produce a child, as he thought there was a flaw in her engineering and if she could not produce a child, his plan had failed and he would have to begin again.

Mason paused, knowing that he was about to reveal his first betrayal to Angelica and it would be devastating for her. "Why have you stopped," asked Elijah. Mason looked Angelica in the eyes then looked away. "It's about to get bad, isn't it?" said Albee, stating what everyone in the room had already sensed. But Angelica already knew it was bad. They had not yet figured out what she already suspected. But she maintained control and asked Mason calmly, "Mason, before you proceed I need to understand more about my creation, my birth, why did I have to be engineered?"

Mason seemed relieved by the question and told her about his discovery of the consequences of their curse. They already knew that the curse split what should have been a single birth into twins. Through Mason's research and his abilities, he studied both he and his brother down to their genetic codes. He spent centuries on his research and ultimately confirmed his theories. The split divided a single soul in half and a soul was never meant to be shared. But it also split the genetic sequences. Romulus had no trace of Rhea's genetic code and lineage. Remus had no trace of Alexander's genetic code and lineage. The curse ensured that with Alexander and Rhea dead, there seemed to be no likelihood of their being an unborn descendant of Alexander and Rhea's bloodlines. Rhea's sister, Gaia, was the only member of Voltanus' bloodline to survive and her whereabouts were never discovered nor was Remus successful in locating a descendant with today's genetic databases.

For the plan to be successful the unborn child must be of Alexander and Rhea's bloodline. Voltanus had recorded in his grimoire that since Alexander and Rhea failed to stop the curse then the parents of the new vessel would need to be the opposite, a female dragon and a male Voltanus' bloodline descendant. He had seen it in a vision and Remus shared that he had a similar vision as well and set out to create a female dragon.

A female dragon would have a better chance of protecting her unborn child from Romulus. She would be a powerful warrior in her own right and be able to defend herself against Romulus' dragon fire. Remus selected Valeria so that Valeria's traits as an empath would be part of Angelica's genetic code as well, as the empathic ability would counteract any sociopathic tendencies that would come from Romulus genetic code.

Remus knew that the female dragon would do anything to protect her unborn child, even slay her biological father and uncle if necessary if it ensured the survival of that child. And as it was 5000 years ago, Romulus and Remus must be slain prior to Angelica giving birth or they will both die from the Ancient Powers that controlled the dark magic.

Kol could no longer keep silent, growing impatient at the length of the story, "So not to ask an indelicate question, but how exactly did you make you make the ritual work that has her in her current condition?"

"I found a solution," he began, then looked at Angelica, "and I am sorry for what I am about to tell you, I truly am."

53~]|2+