Unheard Whispers

[Alaric's PoV]

"Ric?" A voice called me a few steps behind me.

"Yeah?" I didn't turn around to face Dorian. My eyes remained the same, locked on the existence I have been staring at for a while now. 

"...What do you have in mind?" He asked me. Probably not what he wished to tell me at first, but it didn't matter.

"I'm thinking… of how our world has completely turned upside down." I said, blankly. But not for a lack of reaction, but because I didn't know how to express myself.

Surprised? I shouldn't be. I lived half of my life aware of the supernatural. Anxious? I was. The existence of beings I had no knowledge of crept under my skin by each second I spent with my eyes opened. Lost? Yes. I didn't know where I was right now. I looked around, and saw my school, the place I built to raise my daughters, and worked to use it as a way to change the supernatural world for the better. But where I looked, I saw the uncommon, I saw sceneries I was not used to. 

Amidst these emotions and a variety of a myriad others, my brain worked the same it always has. Searching for a way to survive everything. 

"Are you with me, Dorian?"

"Do I have another option?" He approached me and stood by my side, his eyes on the same being ahead of me.

"Probably not." I said, and didn't even say this jokingly or playfully this time. Just plain words. "We have to prepare. Two existences of unknown origins appeared in our territory, this is not a coincidence." With my voice low, I took a few steps closer to the scaled colossus.

"...Don't you think your numbers are slightly wrong?" He asked me, uncertain in his own tone and words.

I stopped in my tracks. Not because of his question, but by the sudden change in the temperature ahead.

For some reason, the chilly night around it turned into a summer one, comfortable to stand in. 

"Do you think it's three?" I asked. 

"More like a subtle thought I had. But I mostly don't believe in myself regarding it." He said, I could hear a breath out from him. "Must be just my fear and anxiety talking to me. It doesn't make any sense, anyway." 

"It doesn't." I nodded, turning around and walking back. "So, any news?" I tried to divert the topic. If we let our minds walk around this idea for too long, what we see as anxious thoughts might crawl their ways through our minds. And now, the last thing I want is to think that one of my favorite students might be a problem to the school.

"Jeremy texted me a few minutes ago. Said he took the last ride to arrive in Mystic Falls." 

"That's good." I nodded. 

"And Caroline? Convinced her to not come back?" 

"With what just happened a few hours ago, she told me she compelled all the staff of Johannesburg's airport to get into a flight and come back quickly. She should land in Atlanta in a few hours." I sighed, feeling the problems of this situation and the contradictions within me.

Even though I didn't like it, that she would stop the search for a solution for the girls' curse, I knew that Caroline coming back was the most ideal decision at the moment. We would need her in the next few days.

Although I might be the Principal, Caroline has much more sway in the school than me. 

She recruited most of the students, dealt with most of the normal parents who were a little skeptical about their children enrolling in a supernatural school, and even talked with the covens and packs to recruit students already used to the supernatural. 

Her charm and social skills are way better than mine, and that's why this school has improved so much in the last few years.

With her back, we could deal with things more smoothly than if I alone tried to deal with it. 

"I think it's good that she will come back. How many parents called you earlier after all the mess?"

"A little more than a dozen." I got tired just by remembering it.

Well, what could I do? Of course some of the students would call their parents to tell them of what they just saw the previous few days.

It was a miracle I had convinced most of them that the dragon was a singularity, a surprise even greater for us.

But now, with… whatever attacked John today, some of the most frightened and worried students told their parents what happened. And, obviously and justified, these parents demanded answers.

And well, what should I have told them? The truth? That we didn't know exactly what was happening, just that creatures we thought to be only mythical are appearing seeking an ancient dagger? And that they are commanded by someone? I considered saying it for a moment, and discarded it shortly after.

I decided to let them in the dark for now, saying we didn't know much but the school was working on discovering what was happening. Fortunately, few know the truth, so the word didn't spread around. 

Hm… I should tell the kids to keep this secret as well. I believe in Hope and John, but even they might let something slip accidentally. Principally John. Although he is a smart kid, he has a certain different view of things from us due to his different standing.

Anyway, although the school had to take a certain blow in its reputation because of my words, it was nothing big. 

Yes, the parents and guardians of the students are worried, but the fact that no student was harmed despite the events was a huge point for my words to work. 

And for that, I have to thank John, and Hope as well. If not for them, things would probably not end well. 

"Then let's hope she comes back soon. With her presence around, things will probably not get so chaotic." Dorian said, walking with me back to the building.

"I do hope so…" I muttered, getting into the building. 

Thinking of how things are going to become in the next few days, my desire to sleep just shot through the roof. 

[3rd Person PoV]

As Alaric and Dorian closed the door leading to the school's backyard, the click of the door's knob closing echoed in the eerie silent night, as no animal thought to make its presence and no wind dared to howl. 

The sound carried through air, scattering into the heavy stillness.

But at the end of it, when its presence was about to cease, something listened to it. Noticed it.

In the darkness of the night, a crimson ring of light slowly surged. 

The dragon looked at its surroundings with difficulty. It didn't comprehend what it saw, its mind was clouded, confused yet. 

More instinctively, it looked at the building, at the knob, and the sky. But it looked at the forest. 

It looked past the woods, and faintly saw a figure pacing through them, a shadow that moved forward, uncaring by the trees in its front. 

When looking at the figure, the dragon felt its eyelids heavy, its subconscious trying to force them to close. 

Like a blanket, the scaly eyelids tried to cover the dragon's eyes, trying to take it back to the land of unconsciousness and dreams.

But halfway, when just half of its eyes were still revealed to the world, the dragon saw two green eyes landing on itself. 

And when seeing those eyes, a strange, yet familiar, sentiment awoke in it.

Gŵr… And then, darkness.

[Landon's PoV]

"Raf, acting like that won't help you." Laying down on my bed, in the room assigned to us, I looked at my brother, who was sitting on his own bed. 

He just sat there, fingers interlocked in front of him, facing the floor, where his right foot was constantly tapping on the floor. 

Listening to my words, he looked up at me. And just by seeing his face, I could say he was not the happiest.

"Got a better idea, Lan?" He sarcastically asked me, sounding a little discontent with my words. 

"How about not freaking out-Oof" I couldn't properly finish my sentence, a pillow hit me. 

"If you aren't going to help, then let me deal with my problems, okay?"

"Dude, what is your problem?" I asked after taking the pillow away. "You are freaking too much because about it."

I don't know what I said, because he now looked at me strangely. "No, I'm acting like how a sane person should. Frightened by the fuck shit we just saw! A fucking forest came to life and a boy flying!" He strongly said. "And now I ask myself, how are you so calm after seeing all of this?"

"You literally turn into a wolf." I sat up. "On our first day here, we saw people our age turning into a blur. We even saw a fight between what I could call a Kryptonian against a Dragon. So, I don't know why you are getting surprised by that."

"That's the thing, I'm not the only one who thinks of that!" He abruptly got up from his bed, raising his voice in the process. "Didn't you see their reactions as well? The look in their faces? Or heard the whispers? That isn't a surprise only for us, but for them as well!"

After the brief small outrage, Raf took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. 

"Huff… Doesn't that scare you? The thought that whatever is happening, is strange even for them? The ones supposedly used with strange things." He added after letting out a long and deep breath. 

And honestly, I could see the reason behind his words.

"Yes, it does." I replied, but my gaze unconsciously went to the floor. "However, what good will come of it? What will they think of us if they see us scared of these things?"

"... What matters what they think?"

"A few days ago? Nothing. Now? A lot."

"What do you want to say, Lan?"

"I don't want their impression of us being of someone who is scared of whatever shit comes out, okay?!" I raised my voice a little, my eyes confronting his.

Rafael was slightly taken back by my reaction, retreating a step, but not breaking the stare with me. That is, until I dropped my head and let out a breath I was holding on.

"I get it." He finally said something after some time. "You like it here, right?"

"... I feel this place can be our home."

Silence settled for a moment, and when I looked at Rafael, I could see in his eyes. The eyes of someone realizing something.

"Okay." Raf's reply was low in tone, but very clear in understanding. "You feel like this place might be our home? Our real home?"

"I hope so." I returned to look at him. "Because I never wished so much to stay at a place like right now. For the first time, after many foster homes, I finally feel like this place might be our real home." At the end of my words, I noticed the ting of emotions I put in them. And sincerely? Felt good to put all of this out.

"I got it, man." Raf approached my bed. "If that's what you feel, I will be here to support you, bro." He tapped my shoulder, another way to show what he just said.

"Thanks, bro."

"No need. That's what family is about, isn't it?" He laughed, retreating back to his bed. "Although I'm still frightened, I will try to deal with it for you. Now, do me a favor and turn off the lights. We should go to bed."

"Okay." I got up from the bed and turned off the switch, letting darkness engulf the room.

Throwing myself over my bed, I felt the comfortness under me and slowly, the tiredness in me started to consume me.

And, without my notice, I fell asleep.

Hours later…

Thud…

Hm? In a daze, my eyelids felt too heavy to lift. Something stirred me from my sleep, but my body refused to cooperate.

"...ie?" In the maze that was my mind right now, I barely registered a word that entered my ear.

Through the thin slit between my opening eyelids, I saw an erratic silhouette. 

It was dark, so I didn't recognize it. Not even its voice due to my hazy mind. I could only tell it's Raf by the briefest memory I had of him before going to sleep.

"-ssie?! Lan, -up!"

I think he talked to me?

"Lan, wake up!" My body shook for a moment, taking me away from my sleepiness more than what I attempted to. 

"Raf?" I groggily muttered his name. "What time is it?" I sat on my bed and straightened my legs over it.

"Dude, I just heard Cassie!" And he didn't answer my question, but his words were way more awakening than any other I could think of right now.

"What did you just say?" My words came out way clearer than a few seconds ago.

"I think I just-!"

"Raf?" I tried to call out to him seeing his sudden blankness.

However, I didn't expect him to basically ignore me as he ran towards the door.

"No! Cassie!" Shouts came from the corridor as he ran out of the room, so fast that I just couldn't follow his movements in my current state.

"Raf, wait!" Pushing myself out of bed, I also ran out of the room, trying to follow the heavy footsteps echoing through the corridor.

I ran, and I got to admit it. I'm not very good at running right after waking up in the middle of the evening.

Walking down a long set of stairs in the same conditions? Worse. However, I couldn't jump down the entire stairs just like Raf did in front of me.

Bullshit werewolf physique!

"Raf! Wait!" I tried to call out to him, but it seemed my words were silenced by the long corridors instead of amplified.

He kept running, disappearing at the turns in the end of the corridors or rooms.

Shatter!

Taking a last turn, looking forward, I observed him crash against the large double doors leading to the school's backyard. 

My eyes unconsciously shifted to the colossal monster laying on the outside, but I quickly came back to stare at Raf, who was still running. Ignoring the existence that frightened him. 

I didn't understand. Where was he running to? He heard Cassie? 

I didn't know what was happening, so I continued running. A wasted effort. He was faster than me. When I was by the door. He had crossed half of the distance to the woods. 

But he was my brother, I couldn't leave him alone. Or so I wished. 

When I took the next step, I felt fear. I felt tiny. I froze, my feet rooted in the ground, my heart clenched, I couldn't breathe. It seemed my body was telling something. If I moved, if I tried to follow Raf, I would die.

There, deep in the woods, despite my normal vision, I could see the tiny pair of green glowing orbs staring at me. Indifferently. Distant. As if we were not part of the same reality. 

And Raf was running directly at that!

"N-no…" I tried to talk. I tried to scream, but my voice disappeared. Under that, that gaze—those glowing eyes— my body refused to listen to me. The fear crept under my skin, and took control of me. A fear that I didn't understand.

As I failed to control my own body, I could see it. Ahead of Raf, the trees opened. Revealing a path into the woods. And despite the brightness of the moon, that path was completely dark. I could see nothing beyond it.

"Cassie! Cassie!"

But despite the strangeness of the situation, Raf continued running. Shouting the name of his deceased girlfriend through the night.

No. That is a trap, Raf! Don't go there!

Damn! Obey me body! Scream!

"Raf." I muttered weakly, but to no avail. 

He didn't listen to me. I was too far from him. I couldn't reach him.

He was almost there. Almost under the crown of the trees, the forest is trying to take him.

And at that moment, my mind blinked. The fear disappeared for a fraction of a second. The fear of moving, fear of what laid beneath the woods, was surpassed by my own fear of losing my only family.

"R-"

Whoosh!

I couldn't scream. Again… I couldn't scream.

But this time, not out of fear, but out of surprise, relief even, when I saw a blur cut through the wind. Standing behind my brother.

He stood there, in the air, holding the back of his collar, the inertia almost ripping the fabric as Raf attempted to continue running.

However, the grip over his cloth changed to around his neck. And with a strange amount of care, Raf was thrown back, hitting the grass nearby.

"Rafael!" Without my notice, everything came back to normal. I could move myself again.

The fear was still present. It still existed in me. But it has lessened. Bearable.

I ran towards my brother. The distance between us taking some moments, enough for him to sit up when I reached his location.

"Raf! Bro, can you hear me?!" I slid over to his side, kneeling beside him.

"Yeah… kinda fuzzy, but yeah." He muttered weakly. 

"Sorry for the abruptness of my actions." A voice joined our conversation.

Looking up, I could see the boy landing before me. His eyes glowing slightly in the darkness.

"What just happened?" I asked.

"Your friend here was deceived by a trickster spirit. Just that." He said, looking at Rafael. "Cassie, she was your girlfriend. Did you hear her calling you?"

"Yes… But now, it seemed so…"

"Illusory?"

Rafael nodded. "Yes."

"Good, because it was." John looked at the woods. "It seems you were tricked by the spirit locked in our forest."

"What?" I didn't understand fully.

"Ever heard of a creature called Leshy?" I nodded. "Great. So, you know overall what I might be talking about. Simply, the Leshy used the voice of your friend's deceased girlfriend to attract him here. Making him think she was alive to take him to the forest."

"Why? Why would he do that?"

"Simply, it wanted a hostage to get what it came for." He said, and I didn't understand once again. 

"Thankfully, it was one of my earlier guesses, so I just got into a light sleep." I gave him a look that said 'I didn't understand what you meant'. "I could hear your screams and footsteps, even if I was hundreds of meters away, because of the light sleep. So, if anything happened, I would be able to wake up and deal with it."

"Th- then why didn't you take countermeasures based on these guesses?" I questioned him, but not in a demanding tone. He just saved Raf , I couldn't be rude to him.

"If I did that, it probably wouldn't act, and we would stay in the dark on what the hell exactly we are dealing with." At the end of his words, he lifted his hand, like a maestro demanding for more intensity.

And as impressive as always, I was flabbergasted by the unknown usage of magic in front of me.

A translucent veil surged from out of nowhere, appearing on random spots all over the space.

These separated veils increased in size, linking themselves together, creating a huge veil that covered the entire forest, like a blanket.

The area was slightly illuminated by this veil. But briefly after its completion, it disappeared from my sight. Like it never existed.

However, I knew it was there—not from any sixth sense or because I knew he wouldn't make something just for appearance. I knew, because everything fell silent. No wind. No rustling. Just quiet.

From that direction, I couldn't even hear the rustle of the leaves or the wind howling. I could hear nothing.

"This should do." He said, lowering hand. Then, he helped me stand Raf up. "You two should go back to your rooms. I will be here to watch over it."

"Want company?"

"Nah, I am fine. I need some time alone after all." Saying that, John sat down on the grass, facing the forest. "Go, you should be able to have a good time sleeping now."

"I hardly believe that."

"Yeah, I guess so." John chuckled at Raf's words. "If you have problems sleeping, check the school's medical room. There, you will find a medicine named 'Dreamdrop of Morpheus'. It should be in the second right drawer of the doctor's table. Take one drop and be happy. Take more than one, and I might have to to pull you out of your own mind."

"... Thanks, I guess." 

"No problem." He replied. "Now, go." He basically shooed us away.

Doing as he said, I walked back to the school. We didn't go to the nurse, just to our room. All the way, I've helped Raf, who was not in the best condition right now.

"Oof…" Raf let out a breath when I threw him on the bed.

Walking to my bed, I sat down on it. And continued there for a few moments.

"Crazy night, hm?" I awkwardly said.

For a few moments, there was silence. And looking at Raf, I saw his eyes closed. He seemed asleep.

However, when I was about to lay down, I heard his voice.

"Are you sure of it, Lan?"

"Hm? What?"

"Are you sure this might be our home?" I looked at him. His eyes were still closed. But his expression was solemn.

I remained quiet for a few seconds. Thinking about it. 

"Yeah, I think so."

"Okay, then." He said instantly, turning around on his bed. "Go to sleep. We have a long day."

"Okay." And with this word, I went to sleep.

[John's PoV]

Sitting down on the grass, I looked at the forest's direction, my eyes wandering through the woods.

"Can you understand me now?" I blurted out, to no particular direction, just the general way of the woods. 

This was my seventh attempt to get some response from the spirit. 

Old East Slavic, Old Polish, Proto-Slavic, or more correctly, the small bits reconstructed of the last, and every other language or fragments originating from that region.

I got no reply. No reaction. It seemed to completely ignore my existence as I breached a small space into my barrier to attempt communication.

Well, I tried to use every language it might be able to speak considering its legend's birthplace, or its actual birthplace. 

Considering its silence, and the actual response from it earlier even though I spoke English, I am inclined to believe it's simply ignoring me. Trying to use old languages it might speak was just a way of mine to be cordial to it. 

Or, actually, earlier it just noticed my words were directed towards it but didn't understand a single thing I said. 

Nah… its response was too aggressive to not understand me.

"Come on, talk to me." I tried again, and continued trying. 

As my attempts continued fruitless, a light started to shine at the horizon, trying to disperse the lingering the darkness.

And as the day arrived, I felt better.

The side of the world where I was, now faced the sun. And with that, I felt alive.

The warmth of the sun shimmered under my skin. My blood hummed in delight by its warmth. A refreshing sentiment settled in my heart.

All the energy I lost the last couple days was slowly returning, and with that my complete strength.

Although I don't wish to say it, the last two fights depleted quite a certain amount of energy from me. 

The amount spent was quite the significant one. Even considering my reserves are just passively accumulated, what I lost was worth a few days of energy.

It was no surprise for my subtle, but brief, weakness and dizziness. Considering the brief period of time since I awoke my bloodline, that is quite the amount of energy compared.

This reminds me of that time I tried to do one more set, and ended up almost passing out on the bench. Ha.

I took a look at the forest, and then at the horizon. The sun was slowly more apparent in the distant sky.

Well, I had nothing better to do. Might as well prepare myself for the possible threats.

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Notice: Yes, I am still writing. Just some problems the past few weeks delaying things, but things are getting better now. Most of this chapter I got to write in the last three days, so I might be able to go back to my previous average release of one chapter per week. 

Another thing I would like to say, actually ask, is what do you guys think of the story being written in 1st Person PoV and 3rd Person PoV, and mixing both here and there in the chapters. What do you think of it? 

And, one more thing. I decided to change a few things in John's backstory. For example, his last name "Neo", should actually be "Néo". Yeah, it's just an acute accent, but it changes how the word is pronounced. A few more things as well, but not that would change the story in what was already written. I will probably have to rewrite a few things in the Prologue, but nothing that will change things much actually. In reality, it will make it easier and give him more depth as the story follows I believe so at least. That's something I have been doing in my free time. Writing more information about John, things he experienced before everything and that might, trying not only to make him more "human", but a living being as well, since he lived for 16 years. And developing more of the plot that I want to take place in this TVDU world. I roughly thought of the conclusion, just missing the bits to reach there. I hope you guys will like what I write.

Lastly, thanks for your support all this time - Author.