1 All of Eternity at my Fingertips: Prologue, Ch. 1-2

A/N: The first story in the Chronicles of Vali Masters is All of Eternity at my Fingertips. From this point forward I will abbreviate it to AoEamF in chapter headings.

Fair Warning: The early quality of these fics was pretty rough as it was some of my earliest work. If you enjoy it anyways, then buckle in for a fun ride!

-x-X-x-

When I awoke it didn't really feel like waking up. It felt as if one moment I was sleeping and the next my eyes were open and I was staring at a large white void all around me. For all intents and purposes it should have registered as a dream to me, but something about it screamed reality into my mind.

"That would be my doing." The Voice came from nowhere and everywhere at once, and I had to admit… I immediately got a bit too excited.

"Are you a R.O.B.?! Is this actually happening to me?!" Yep. That was my first reaction. Too much time spent writing SI's and reading fanfiction it would seem. Instead of a million other terrible things that could be happening to me, I immediately jumped to the idea that a Random Omnipotent Being had grabbed me for some grand adventure.

Luckily for me, my stupid guess was actually right for once, "Yes, though not exactly random. To keep this short, I am you from an alternate universe where humanity ascended into omnipotence. Now we've spread ourselves across the entirety of reality to try to keep from stepping on each other's toes and have been left to our own devices."

That was… actually not that hard to wrap my head around. He was probably dumbing down a whole lot of everything for me. "So, what do you want with me?" I eventually asked, more curious and less afraid than I probably should have been.

His tone was amused when he responded, "Well I think that'd be obvious. I'm here to give you a power up and then drop you into a setting of our choosing. And given that I know exactly how your mind works, we both know what setting that will be."

I can't help it, I grin and nod eagerly, about to open my mouth and begin babbling before he cut me off abruptly, "That said, I will not be making you a three thousand year old hybrid in the Vampire Diaries verse so that you can lord it over all the other characters in the setting and be unkillable. Just… no."

I deflated immediately, letting out a rather morose, "O-oh…" And then I thought of something that made me begin to panic, "You wouldn't drop me in that verse without some sort of power up though r-right?"

He snorted in response to that, "Of course I wouldn't, you wouldn't last a day as an ordinary human in those circumstances. Besides I already said I'm giving you something didn't I? And it's a pretty good something. Here's the deal. I'm making you Esther's second bastard son by that werewolf she slept with. You'll be Klaus' younger brother. Older than Kol and Rebekah, a middle child so to speak."

I wasn't about to mouth off to an omnipotent version of me, even if he probably did know I was thinking less than flattering things about him. Eventually I nodded slowly, having thought it over, "I can work with that, yeah I can make it work…"

"Wonderful, because you're starting as an infant." My eyes widened at this parting sentence, my mouth opened to protest and then all I had was darkness.

Ch. 1: Growing up Again Sucks

I wasn't really very aware in the first couple of years of my new life. My brain wasn't developed enough yet for me to truly understand or recognize that I was an adult trapped in a baby's body. Not that it mattered much, nothing special happened when you were a baby in the 11th century.

Eventually though I was once more aware of my surroundings and more importantly who exactly I was and where I was. Unfortunately my new family didn't speak English, they spoke Old Norse. So little me got to spend the first couple years of my life just figuring out what they were all saying.

I did learn one important thing though. My new name was Vali it seemed, which according to my mother's cooing was meant to mean powerful and strong. I had to wonder if she knew something that I didn't because frankly I wasn't exactly the most motivated guy in my previous life. Still, I had plenty of motivation now to become strong and powerful. After all I didn't know how many years I had, but I would make sure to use every last one of them to prepare for immortality.

I started as soon as I could. As soon as I was myself again I began working on walking and talking. I would not slack off, not when I wanted to hone my mortal body as much as I could before it ended up essentially time-locked and immortal. I was speaking Old Norse relatively well by age three, though not quite yet fluently to my frustration.

Unfortunately it seemed even Mikael had lines he would not cross. Though I begged, he would not let me even touch a knife or bow while I was still three. I stopped pressing the issue the first time he grew angry enough to back hand me to the ground. I did not wish to develop the same rapport with Mikael as Klaus had, did not wish to be deemed weak or unworthy by the ancient Viking warrior.

Biding my time, I waited until he decidedI was a more appropriate age, and late in my fourth year he allowed me to begin learning how to hold a bow and how to skin an animal. I put all I had into this training, focusing all of my time and energy into learning what Mikael wanted of me. This served to alienate me from Klaus, my elder by a year as he was still a child in mind and saw more fun to be had in playing than learning. When I refused to indulge in more frivolous activities with him, it created a slight wedge between us that would only grow with time.

On the other hand I approached Finn and Elijah for extra practice with my newest tasks, and I felt as if I developed a decent enough relationship with the two of them. Elijah seemed a bit put off by my reserved attitude and the single minded focus I put into the training given my supposed young age, but Finn seemed to enjoy the maturity I exhibited.

Mikael approved in his own way as well. I did not receive much in the way of kind words, fatherly adoration, or even parental love from the man but I got more approving nods and less beatings than I thought possible given the front row seat I had to the way he treated Niklaus over the years. Time went on and Kol was born, Rebekah was born, even Henrick was born.

I took to sword training as soon as I could, as hard and fast as I did archery and skinning, only to find that this seemed to be something Klaus was a natural prodigy at much to my chagrin. I put hundreds of hours into the art, and he put half the effort in to achieve the same level of skill as me. It was irritating to say the least, especially after he realized the advantage he had.

In the end I was forced to stop comparing my own swordplay to his after he beat me again and again. The lesson had been beaten into me well enough, my older brother was just better with a sword. He was even better than Elijah when given enough years to grow into his adult body.

And that was as clear a sign as any, when I began to near my twentieth birthday and noted how all of the Mikaelsons now looked much closer to how their immortal versions would look a thousand years down the line. Things were finally coming to a head and I began to prepare for the events that would soon follow.

The timeline was unchanged even with my presence. Because of my distance from my family, neither Klaus nor Henrik even considered letting me in on their plans to watch the werewolves change. I waited patiently with the rest of the family, and when morn came I watched dispassionately as Klaus came running up with Henrik's broken body.

I watched as they grieved and quickly turned and walked away. Best not to stand there staring and come across as entirely cold-hearted. I had not allowed myself to grow attached to Henrik over the years, very aware that he was the sacrificial lamb to gaining immortality. Now it was only a matter of time…

-x-X-x-

When Mikael came for me after our blood-laced dinner, his sword was already dripping red. I stood as he entered my room and focused my gaze on his, "I overheard you and Mother planning. I apologize for eavesdropping Father, but I understand what must be done. I am ready."

Mikael looked surprised for a long moment, but then nodded, coming forward and clasping the back of my neck with his hand. It was probably the most affection he'd ever be capable of showing me, as he raised his blade and slid it into my unresisting heart. I had thought myself ready for death, but truly I really wasn't.

The pain of being stabbed through the heart was greater than I expected and though I'm sure my death could only have taken a few seconds, the agony stretched that out as I fell to the ground and breathed my last. Even still, my bloody lips slowly curled up into a wide grin as my eyes slowly closed for the not-so-final time.

I came back to life suddenly, coming up off the ground with my eyes wide as I blinked rapidly to get things back into focus. Mikael was already there waiting with a mortal girl from the village. He held her bloody wrist out to me and spoke with a commanding tone, "Drink."

I nodded and moved closer, feeling the itch in my gums that I was expecting as I leaned in and tasted the terrible copper of the blood coming from her wrist. A moment later the taste turned sweet and delicious and my fangs had popped in. I drank deeply, before suddenly cutting myself off and coughing violently, tearing away from the appetizing food source in front of me.

I wanted nothing more than to tear out her throat, drink every last bit of her blood out of her pretty little body until she had nothing left to give me. But I knew what that led to, that led to the curse being active, led to my turning at the next full moon and my hybrid body being placed under a curse that would probably last a millennium just like Klaus'.

All I had to do was wait, refrain from killing for just long enough to get past this first full moon. Esther would curse Klaus, Klaus would kill Esther, and everyone would flee our family home for the next thousand years. I had it all planned out, I just had to keep from killing anyone.

That's why I was angry at myself more than anyone else when I regained control a few minutes later and let the body of the girl I'd just drained completely dry of her blood fall to the ground. I'd overestimated my self-control. I'd underestimated the powerful desire for blood that now coursed through my body and I was now absolutely fucked when the next full moon came.

Clenching my jaw, I did the one thing I could do. Strapping on my belt and grabbing my hunting knife, I moved to my sword and grabbed that as well before opening the door to look at the starry night sky, ready to vanish off into the wilderness, putting as much distance between me and my witch mother and her curses as I could… only to freeze up as I realized I was still bereft of a daylight ring.

Fine, a couple more weeks and as soon as I had my ring I was gone. Gritting my teeth I moved to our family's main gathering area to find my siblings and parents already there. All of us newly made immortals sported bloody faces, and Esther brought around a basin for us to clean ourselves with. I moved mechanically while doing so, knowing that I was now on a countdown. The moon would arrive in three short weeks, and by that time I had to be a ghost in the wind.

As soon as morning came the rest of my family found out they could not go outside. Things quickly became crowded in our home as the family was forced to all remain inside for the entirety of the day. I was never good with small spaces, so to distract myself I began testing and training my new reflexes. Pulling out a small knife and placed my hand palm down on the table, I slowly began weaving the knife through the gaps between my fingers.

Back and forth I went, before beginning to speed up over time, each round through the gaps I went a little faster, until the knife was a blur and so was my arm. Faster and faster and fast- "What are you doing?" With a roar of pain I jumped as Rebekah's voice came right next to my ear and it startled me enough that my knife went straight through the back of my hand.

"Damnit Rebekah!" I shouted at her as her hands went to cover her mouth and I managed to pull the knife out of my hand and the table beneath that it'd embedded into with some effort. Placing the knife down I brought my hand up and both Rebekah and I watched as the hole healed up. Nothing but a bit of blood left behind in less than a minute.

I breathed in slowly and Rebekah slowly brought her hands down, leaving behind a gaping wide mouth as she stared at my hand in awe. After a moment her inherent curiosity got the better of her, "Will you teach me that knife trick brother?"

With a sigh I nodded and gestured for her to sit with me. As I showed Rebekah how to weave the blade in and out of her spread fingers, I couldn't help but think that this forced confinement would see me either reluctantly bonding with my family or wanting to kill the lot of them. Luckily I'd be leaving soon enough either way.

-x-X-x-

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