Legacies: Infinite Journey

The day was approaching noon, with the smell of the cafeteria's lunch spreading through the entire school, making the werewolves and the vampires have an increase in their hunger. Leading to some of them losing focus on their current classes.

That, however, didn't apply for John. Right now, the young man was probably in his most focused state since he arrived in this world.

His eyes followed every movement of the professor, memorizing all the hand movements she did when casting the spell she was teaching. His ears listened to every word and his brain worked to fully absorb the knowledge given in the class.

In the briefest intervals the professor took to do something or drink a little bit of water to wet her dry throat, John looked more intently at the book handed to him by Dr. Saltzman, so to enhance his learning ability as he normally had it lowered when he focused on the two sources of knowledge he had to pay attention now. The teacher and the book.

And as time passed, John realized a few things. His understanding of the magic of this world approached the results he had thought.

It seems I was right. The magic of this world is strongly related to Intention, State of Mind and Words in general, what you say can influence your mind, then your intention, and then the spell. That's why spells sometimes go wrong when you just misspelled a word. John thought, looking at the notes he wrote on the book. But besides these, there is also…

"Remember, students. Nature is unforgiven, try to defy its laws and it will punish you tenfold the amount you went against it." Shouted Professor Rose, a beautiful blonde woman in tight knee-length black skirts and white blouse.

Nature, or more exactly, the Balance. A spell that disrupts the balance of nature will always require something to balance things. The creation of True Immortals as Siles and Amara resulted in the creation of Doppelgangers and apparently the creation of the Cure. Reaching this point of his thought process, John's mind drifted a little. Actually, the cure is something that I must give it a look at a later date. Damon and Elena are both former vampires thanks to it. That is, there are two cures in the world right now. Wait a minute, didn't Elene and Damon have a daughter? She was never shown, but mentioned. What are the possibilities of their daughter also inheriting something from it? I mean, a child inherits their parents' traits, and their blood which can cure any immortal in the world created by a spell is actually a trait of theirs. A one-shot use trait, but one trait nonetheless. Does that mean there are three cures instead?

John spent some time in this thought process. But the sound words of his professor resounded in his ears, bringing him back to the main topic.

Let's forget about that for now. He thought, writing a few words in his notebook. Which was actually Hope's, but that was just a detail.

Nature (Balance), Mind (Intention, Words and Mind State) and last but not least, Sources. I think this sums up the Magic System of this world. John thought. Sources. Where witches draw their power from. Normally, it's from Nature itself or themselves, the most common magic sources. Or they can be more specific and draw from the Moon, entire Bloodlines or even their Ancestors, like how New Orleans' covens used to do before destroying the Ancestral Plane. John thought, reminding himself of everything he studied so far. The Mind. Divided into Intention, Words and Mind State. Intention basically translates to "what I think changes the spell". My intention to make a barrier spell "unbreakable" reinforces it, the same way for a fire spell to burn "hotter" or to make a blade "sharper". The Mind State, my emotional state can influence how I cast my spells. A mind filled with anger may make a more chaotic spell, the same way a calm can bring order to a chaotic spell. Also, depending on the severity of the emotional state, a spell can be magnified apparently. And finally, words… Here, John's thoughts differentiated a little, lacking a certain certainty they had. This part is as essential as the others to the point a certain standard variation of Latin was created to be used as foundation for young witches. But as they grow up and start to learn their covens' spells, they start to learn other languages, languages more convenient for them. And due to these different languages, with different words having different, deeper or shallower meanings, a spell can change slightly depending on what language the spell was casted. Which is incredible, actually. But at the same time, a single misspelled word can make a spell misfire or change its nature completely even if the caster doesn't notice it. How does that work I don't know. Will have to study more to find out. He thought.

And then there is Nature, the balance. Every spell cast requires a price. Be it just their own magical energy or a ritual or even a sacrifice, nature will require something from it. And if you try to break it, nature will find a way to set the balance back. The Immortals, nature created the Dopplegangers. For the vampires, sun, fire, wood, and white oak for the Originals. And for the werewolves with aconite. Basically, Nature sets the rules in the supernatural world, including magic itself. Almost like… they have an alignment, with magic depending on the other. As if they are… connected. Reaching this point, a sparkle ignited in John's mind.

Interesting. Are the universe and magic the same? Or is it that the universe itself controls magic? This one is much more probable. I already know magic is an energy that spreads across infinite different worlds, so it can't be that one world is one only with magic, considering that there are many other worlds with it. But maybe… the magic can't escape the grasp of the universe? Like, a huge cloud that moves around the Omniverse. Once it passes through this universe, it is locked here and can't leave anymore and it is submitted to the universe's rules? John thought, finding the idea quite possible considering his lack of knowledge. But that was the bad part of this idea, not much to rely on. I lack too much information to get some result from all these theories. I would need to go to different Multiverses to get more knowledge, something I can't do right now. It will still take a few months at the current rate for my soul to heal. At least I have a good amount of Imperium, so I can travel through this Multiverse. Should I try to find the Old Ones? Slowly, John's line of thoughts diverted once again, changing from learning the secrets of magic and this universe to traveling this multiverse. He decided to do it principally because he knew thinking over something he couldn't comprehend right now without the right knowledge would be meaningless, so it would be better if he just thought of something else for now.

And that's how it went for the rest of the class, with John paying attention to it and following the instructors of the witch professor.

Ring!

"That's it for today. Remember about your essays, they must be handed in next week." Said Professor Rose, leaving the class, with the rest of the students doing the same as her.

However, John stayed at his position for a while, with his palm open.

"Ignis." Said John, with a small flame appearing over his index finger.

"Incendia." Now, a small torrent of fire erupted from his entire palm.

"What are you doing?" Asked Hope, with her bag on her back.

"Still a little surprised with magic actually being so simple despite its apparent difficulty when just looking at the theory." John said, looking as the flames dispersed and disappeared. "There are its hard parts, but overall, it's extremely easy."

"Well, I don't know if it's that easy as you say." She replied, understanding a little what he meant.

"Really? Then how come I just say a few words in Latin and create fire with it?"

"You know it's not that easy." Hope said back. "Without concentration, it's almost impossible to do it with the same ease as you. Remember, words are not enough, they need intention behind them too." She recalled what the teacher said today.

"It doesn't change my opinion on how easy it is right now." John said, rising from his chair. Maybe there is a con for that, besides nature regulating everything you do. Like, it's easy to reach Level 1, you just need 100 XP, and then 500 for 2 and 2000 for 3. And when you take notice, you need one billion for Level 10. The higher you go, the harder it is to advance. Maybe that's something nature tries to stop too? To stop the rise of new powerhouses at its best expanse. But then, how would The Originals, Lucian and Marcel and even Hope exist? Hm... I am skipping something. I'm getting something wrong here.

"May I ask a question?" John suddenly asked by Hope's side.

"Yes."

"What do you think of 'Nature'?"

Hope took a look at him for a moment. "Why the random question?"

"I had this thought for sometime now, about it considering everything I read and how magic seems to work. Magic and Nature are connected, right?"

"Yes, Magic is part of Nature."

"So, my question is: Does Nature understand us? I mean, our words? It's said in the book that the variant of Latin we use was particularly designed for it. So it's better understood by it, right?"

"What do you mean with all of it?" Asked Hope.

Stop walking, John stared down at her. "The big question is: Is Nature alive?"

To this, Hope looked at him strangely, obviously understanding the question but finding it strange nonetheless.

"And I don't mean it in a way as an instinct, something that tries by instinct to bring balance to the world. What I mean is real consciousness." He explained more carefully.

"Like us?" She pointed at her and John.

"Yes." Nodded John.

"That's impossible. If it were, then loopholes wouldn't be exploited, they wouldn't even exist. If Nature was truly alive, I wouldn't exist." She dispersed the idea, thinking it to be too crazy.

And John found her argument right, giving the information needed to know she was not wrong. However, John had this tingling in the back of his head, a feeling that he was right about his theory.

I am missing something. I know it. He kept thinking about it the entire way to the cafeteria, when he grabbed his lunch and even sat down on the table he and Hope sat down to eat yesterday.

However, his thought process was broken when a new presence approached the two.

"May I sit here?" Raising his head, John met Josie's soft eyes, which brought a smile to his face. "I have no problem with it."

"You can sit down, Josie." Hope said, with Josie nodding her head and sitting down next to her.

"How have you been since our first meeting yesterday, Josie?" John asked, finally finding something to start a conversation after his mind seemed to stop working earlier.

"Good. I mean, Lizzie, my sister, has been a little grumpy since she couldn't give you the tour around the school yesterday. But overall, everything is fine." She answered, also grabbing some of her vegetarian meal.

Trying to continue the talk, John remembered something. "I heard a few things about you when going around yesterday. You know, the cons of enhanced hearing. I heard you are dating."

"Was!" Josie cut him midway, her reaction a little bit off. "Hm, I was… in a relationship." Her words stretched out a bit.

"Who was the poor soul who lost such a lovely girl?" John asked, ignoring Hope's kick on the shin of his foot, probably because he was too meddlesome over such a topic with a girl he barely knew.

However, his praise of calling her a lovely girl made Josie happy as she smiled a little before looking around. "Can you see the devil there?" She pointed in a certain direction.

John spotted the girl, knowing it was Penelope. However, the most surprising of everything was how she just turned around and looked at them.

"Does she have eyes on her back? I am sure I heard no one telling her we were looking at her." Said John, returning his gaze to Josie.

"That's why we never call her name. It gets her attention and gives her power." Said Josie.

John found the comparison between Penelope and Voldemort a little funny. "Pft! Haha! Okay. But if you can't tell me her name, how am I gonna know who Who Shall Not Be Named is?" John asked, opening the way for him to be "introduced" to one more person he already knew about. But it's always good for people to know from where you learned something.

"Her name is Penelope Park." Hope said.

To this, John noticed Penelope turning her head a little and giving a winkie to all of the people at the table.

"Okay, she is good." John said, really impressed by the witch. "But let's switch our attention to our witch here. Josie, how about you tell me more about you? Sorry, this is as far as my socializing skills go." He joked a little about how straightforward he was going.

"Considering you seem to have befriended Hope, I must say your socializing skills are quite good." Josie said, taking a peek at the Tribrid. "Let's see. Want the entire character sheet?"

"I would like it." John nodded.

"From the basics then." She said, "My name is Josie Saltzman, I am 15, turning 16 on March 15th. I am a Siphoner, a special type of witch born only in my coven, the Gemini Coven. I have a fraternal twin sister called Lizzie and I am vegetarian." She said slowly, letting time go on so every detail would be clearly remembered. "Your turn."

"John Neo, I am 16, turning 17 in," Here, John almost said the day of his birthday from his former world. Due to the change of dates, John's birthday was now. "January 16th. I am a fan of fiction and sci-fi works. Interested in Magic and plan to travel the world as soon as I end high school." He briefly introduced himself, giving away some information but almost nothing really important. "Want to introduce yourself too?" John asked Hope.

"Very funny." Hope said, rolling her eyes.

"Come on, at least your birthday." John insisted.

"May 2nd." Hope said, telling her friend her birthday.

"Thanks." John said, turning his head to face Josie again. "Josie, if you permit me to ask. What exactly does a siphoner do? What makes you different from other witches?"

Raising her hand to wait for her to finish chewing her food, Josie gulped down her meal before explaining. "Contrary to normal witches, we don't have power of our own. We need to absorb it, siphon it from places around us by touching something or someone." She explained briefly.

To that, John came with another question to her. "What exactly do you mean by touching something? I mean, isn't magic at all places? Can't you just try to absorb the magic in the air around you?"

"It's not that easy. We need physical contact to siphon Magic. The Magic in the environment is too dispersed for us to absorb. It's almost like trying to catch small fishes with nets with big spaces in them." Josie's explanation made sense.

Yes, Magic was much more concentrated in solid objects or other beings than what is found in the air. But this just raised another question from the boy.

"Then why don't you try to siphon it throughout your whole body?" John asked. "You said you can't absorb much energy from the air because it's too dispersed. But if you increase the area of effect, that will change. The size of the area trying to siphon the magic surrounding you should compensate for the not so dense magic in the air. Or is that your biology just permits you to siphon power through your touch?" John elaborated his thoughts on the few information provided by Josie and raised a few good questions that made the girl question herself.

The ideas actually led Josie to remain silent for some time, thinking over the idea.

"Actually, I never heard or thought of something like this." She said, "I don't know if it's possible or impossible. I should look at the grimoires of my coven to learn of it."

"Give it a try. If you don't find anything, you just lost a little bit of time." Said John. "If you wish for help, I am here for anything. After all, I can actually absorb magic through my skin to use it."

"How does that work?" Hope asked, with Josie going mute as she was a little bit surprised by what the young man had said.

"For me, it's a little similar to breathing. In this case, traqueal breathing. My body naturally absorbs the magic found in the environment through my skin. The absorbed magic is stored in a… metaphysical nervous system spread throughout my body with a source located in the middle of my chest? Yeah, that is a fitting description." John said, finding the explanation of Fate's Magic Circuits fitting of his own Energy System. "So, every time I breathe, and my skin as well, I absorb a portion of the magic in the environment and store it in this Energy System of mine."

"Basically, although you don't have your own magic, you never run out of it as magic is in all places at all times." Hope resumed.

"Yeah, basically." John nodded, facing Josie. "It seems we are similar in a few things."

"Yeah, it seems so." Josie replied with a smile. "But I am jealous. If that was also how my body worked, I would never run out of magic." She said, piercing the salad on her plate with the fork.

"Well, you surely must have your advantages as well. I mean, you said you could siphon magic from others, right?" John asked, receiving a nod from the girl. "Care to show me?" He stretched out his hand towards her.

Nodding, Josie stretched out her hand and held John's, starting to siphon the magic in John. However, the result was not the expected.

"I can't. I can't siphon anything from you." She said, looking at the point where their hands were touching and couldn't feel anything. "Why can't I siphon you?"

Not answering immediately, John turned to his other friend. "Hm… Hope, would you mind?" He asked.

With a nod, Hope stretched out her hand and permitted Josie to hold it. Instantly, the skins where their hands were touching started to get a bright red color, as if they had put a lantern over it.

"Can you resist it?" John asked Hope, to which the girl just shook her head as she retreated her hand.

"Well, add that to things I learned this week. Siphoners can't siphon my me." John said with a little bit of pride. However, his mind was running with thoughts.

Strange. When Josie tried to siphon me, I felt a strange sensation spread through all my body, enveloping my magic. It seemed to urge the magic to stop from being moved. What was that? A desire to learn what happened started to rise in the young man's heart. Control over magic? I don't think so. My manipulation over magic is great, but it's probably not compared to Hope. She has been dealing with Magic since she was born. Her control over the energy is obviously better than mine. Not too mention I didn't even actively tried to resist it. Maybe the density of the energy in my body? With this thought, John looked at the girl sitting across him, his eyesight changing.

Now, all the Magic in the world was on display for him. The small particles of energy scattered across existence and flowing according to nature's command.

Across all the room, Vampires, Werewolves and Witches glowed in different intensities. The vampires possessed the highest average of Magic, the magic coursing through their blood keeping their immortality. A few witches had higher amounts of magic than all the vampires, with the werewolves having a dormant magic hidden deep within them.

Josie was the least brightful due to her innate nature of lacking personal Magic. However, her place was almost entirely encompassed by the light radiated by the girl sitting beside her.

The light emanating from Hope's Magic was aa brightful as the fire of a lighthouse among the sea of darkness, one so powerful that permitted even the most lost navigator to find their ways in the most intense of the storms.

And the most surprising was not that, but the magic that lay dormant in her. It seemed like a nucleus of a star, with the atoms constantly clashing and generating unspeakable amounts of energy, spreading it throughout the entire cosmos. It seemed like a Supernova just waiting to explode.

Yeah, definitely not the density. John thought, still staring at the amount of energy in the girl.

Hope noticed his intense stare and frowned a little. "Are you using your X-Ray Vision on me?" She asked in a low voice, not wishing for others to hear it.

"No, I am using another ability. My eyes are basically perceiving the real structure of magic, like looking at another dimension, but one that actually exists alongside ours, overlaying it." John explained. "Relax, I'm not seeing anything of you actually. It's almost like seeing an MRI of you, but magical." He then looked at Josie, stretching out his hands. "May I take a look at your hands, Josie?"

Understanding a little of what John was saying, Josie nodded and stretched out her hands, letting John take hold of them.

"Hm… Interesting." John muttered upon taking a careful look at the girl's hands. "Do you care if I take a look at it also with my other viewing ability?"

"As long as you don't take a peek at what I am wearing." Josie jokes, understanding he probably meant the X-Ray Vision Hope mentioned just now.

"Relax." John assured her, also taking a look at her with his X-Ray Vision and also the "Magical MRI", not to mention using the best of his enhanced vision, his pupil shrinking as he started to observe the nervous system and others spread through Josie's body.

Some time later, Josie asked with a curious and a little worried tone in her voice. "Hm… question. Is there any chance of you giving me cancer by doing this? I mean…"

"Relax, you don't have to worry about it." John said, not taking his eyes from her hands as he moved them to have a different point of view. "Can you siphon magic through some other place from your body? One you obviously know."

To this question, Josie had a little blush. "Hm, my lips." She said.

John smirked at the answer. "Do you mind?"

She shook her head.

Looking at her cherry lips, John saw the same 'veins' in her arms now under slips' skin.

"Excuse me." John said, lifting her chin a little, getting another blush from the girl and some distinguished looks from people around.

After some time, John traced his look from her lips to her hands, with his eyes also inspecting her arms.

"In what I see, you have the same pattern of 'veins' or 'nerves' that siphon magic through your hands and lips existing in other parts of your body, like your entire arms." John explained, retreating his hands and with his eyesight returning back to normal. "It's quite a sight actually. Do you guys have a book here of the physiology of all existing supernatural creatures?"

"We have one of the major three species. One was compiled across the years as, you know, some were killed and studied by humans or other members of the species, mainly witches." Josie replied. "But the studies are only of the average species, not like mine or other variants of the species." She explained, taking a brief look at Hope at the end.

Grabbing some more food with his fork, John put a thoughtful look as he thought of something before asking. "Is your sister a Siphoner too?"

"Hmh." She nodded.

"Are there others besides you?"

To that question, Josie's heartbeat sped up a little. "No." But she answered immediately, obviously a pre-thoughts answer.

"You are a bad liar." John chuckled at her reaction when he said that. "Relax, if you don't want to tell, no problem. It's not like I'll pressure you. It's just me curious."

"Sorry." Josie said a little head down.

"You don't need to be sorry. You did nothing wrong." John reassured her. "Now, tell me. Your sister is that blonde from yesterday, right? Where is she? I didn't see her the entire day."

"She has been dealing with a few things today, so she decided to not attend classes." Josie said, obviously trying to dismiss the topic.

"Hm, okay." John tried not to be too meddlesome about it. "Hm… let me see… I ran out of socializing talks. Your turn." John looked at Josie and Hope.

"I am the lonely girl. Don't look at me." Hope said.

This left only Josie remaining, who thought for a few seconds before. "Hm, you said you plan to travel the world after finishing school. Do you already have a plan for it?"

This question actually also picked Hope's interest, as both knew how John didn't actually have a single cent on him. So, one was curious how John would travel whilst the other formed an idea of how he would do it.

"Simple, by flying by myself." John answered, not trying to low down his voice as every werewolf and vampire seemed to quiet down a little as they heard this simple phrase that actually rocked their world.

"You can fly?" Josie asked, in much surprise than Hope when John revealed it, her mouth hanging open.

"Hmh." He nodded, taking the last bite off his food before putting down the cutlery. "Yes, I can fly. It's quite a convenient ability."

"Do you have any idea what you just said? You can fly? How does that work? Not even witches can do that as it simply costs too much power." Josie said.

To that statement, Hope just hid her look as she knew she didn't fit that statement.

"It's easier than you think. Really." John said.

"And how exactly you plan to visit countries by yourself? I mean, some radar probably will spot you, and then your identity will be blown." Josie questioned.

"Simple. I used X-Ray Vision on you because it is just a branch of the many things I can do thanks to my ability to manipulate energy. Now, thanks to this ability of mine, I can't only see X-Ray wavelengths, but the entire Electromagnetic Spectrum. You see, I can see the wavelengths released by satellites and radars and can basically evade them, giving me the ability to simply go to any country I want without fear of being spotted." John explained how he could just go in and out of any country and not care about the government interfering. "It might take some time to arrive at any place with my current maximum speed, but it's good enough. The only problem I will face is the money to buy the things that I want." To that, John made a sudden turn and looked at Hope, a smile on his face.

"What? Want me to become your money bag?"

"Me? never." John said, acting extremely wronged. "I am just insinuating that while I do the travel, you may come along and deal with the expanses. You know, friend trip." He smiled widely about the suggestion.

"Hm, you just missed the part I can go anywhere alone." Hope added with a smirk.

"Fair enough." John nodded, "Hm, I think I will need a job…" Suddenly, an idea popped up in John's mind. "Or something else…"

"What are you planning to do?" Hope asked, her expression becoming a curious and suspicious one.

Right when Hope finished her question, the bell saying that classes would return in five minutes rang.

Rising up from his seat, John answered his friend. "Nothing much." John said mysteriously. "Your father doesn't mind if we leave the school's territory, right?" He asked Josie.

"You can go to the town. But I hardly think you are talking about going to Mystic Falls." She said, correct on her assumption. "Considering your situation, you should ask him."

"Fine, I will ask him after class." John answered. The idea of how to earn some money was already forming in his mind. It will be fun.

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Hello guys, sorry for the delay. The words for these chapters were harder to come by and I had a little busy week due to studies and everything. Besides this chapter, another one might come in including the prologue until the end of the week. Thank you to all of you who support the story by reading or with power stones, you don't know how much this means to me. Anyway, enjoy the reading - Author.