A Missing Piece Revealed

[06/02/2030 | Salvatore Boarding School ]

"I really need more examples." John muttered, focused on the small amount of data he had in front of him, written on the white page of a leather notebook over the desk in front of him.

The reason behind his words were simple, it was due to the fact his progress in certain theories of his has been slow. And there was an actual good reason for that, his lack of subjects to get data.

Right about now, John has been working on two things. First, the [Growth of A Vampire's Strength through Time], and second [How Magic Influence a Vampire's Strength]. Both topics recently got his curiosity due to the recent event of him killing an ancient vampire and meeting Marcel Gerard.

It's common knowledge vampires get stronger as they age. A century old vampire can easily kill a newborn if they set their mind into it, the same way a two hundred year-old vampire can easily kill a hundred-year-old vampire and go on.

However, the question is, how does that work? How exactly does a vampire get stronger as they age? And of all the possible answers he thought, one of the first and the most probable was actually something he had questions before, the Soul.

And the reason he got to that conclusion was through his second theory, [How Magic can Influence a Vampire's Strength]. A curiosity of his that was magnified after witnessing the amount of Magic in Marcel Gerard.

Just when he arrived in this world, John confirmed with himself certain things, like how supernatural beings have their own source of magic, their soul. With few exceptions throughout the community.

And it was pretty obvious to him, even before seeing Marcel, that the amount of magic in someone can be correlated to their strength. For example, overall, vampires have more magic coursing through them all the time due to their vampirism than witches. But powerful witches, like Freya Mikaleson, had magic in them that surpassed the amount of any normal vampire. Above her there was Marcel, who had the second largest amount of magic in them, losing only to the one and only Tribrid in the world, Hope Mikaelson.

And compared to Hope, everyone else seemed like a candle compared to the sun. And honestly, John didn't know how that worked. He even thought of understanding how exactly she was so much more powerful compared to all the others when considering all the magic in them summed up was not even a tenth of hers. But that was an idea for later.

The older a vampire, the stronger they are. And like John observed, the larger the amount of magic in someone, the stronger they are. With this information, John only needed to take a very careful and focused look at a vampire to notice something, a certain amount of magic constantly spreading throughout their body through their blood, surging from their soul.

From there, it was obvious that this magic constantly released into the vampires' bodies from their souls was directly related to the continuous increase in their strength.

But knowing that connection was not enough to satisfy John's curiosity. He wanted to know more. He wanted to know how exactly it worked. Why couldn't witches become physically stronger as well since they had magic coursing through their blood? How much stronger did they become by every year spent as a vampire? Did the magic in them before turning influenced their growth? He wanted the answer for all these questions. But to get these answers, he needed subjects. Vampires to test out his ideas and experiments before coming to certain conclusions.

The problem is right now, he only had access to newborn vampires, with none of them having turned in more than 3 years. And all of them fed on animal blood, so John couldn't possibly comprehend their abilities to the best.

The data John got from these vampires was not enough for the answers he sought. To get them, he needed more vampires, of varying age, who drank human blood and even if they were practitioners of magic before turning.

And right now, among the people he knew, John could only think of two people who could arrange these for him.

I should send a message to Marcel and ask him to get some data from his subordinates. He should have a few if he can allocate people in Washington even though he lives in New York. John thought, immediately picking up his phone and finding Marcel's contact.

As John wrote Marcel the message, his senses picked the sound of someone approaching his room.

Knock! Knock!

The knocks on the door were rushed, with the interval between them being shorter than a moment.

It seems someone is very happy. John thought, the feelings of someone from the other side of the door invading his room. Excitement, joy, fulfilment, pride and… what is this? He wondered, not entirely sure about the last feeling reaching him. Only a way to know. "Come in, Josie."

Not a second after his words came out of his mouth, the door opened, revealing Josie, who entered the room with rushed movements of excitement and a smile of joy on her face.

"I did it! I did it, John!" Josie said, her face gleaming with excitement.

Thoughts started to run in John's mind when he listened to Josie's words. The possibilities of what she was referring to filled his mind, but most were immediately cleared when he took into consideration her excitement, that could only be a result that this was something important. And when also taking into consideration she came to his door to give him the news, the possible reasons for her excitement were reduced to only one.

"You succeeded in absorbing magic through your whole body?" John asked, his curiosity picked.

Josie nodded her head almost frantically. "Yes!"

"Show me." John said, wishing to see it.

With another nod, Josie sat down on the floor, crossing her legs and straightening her back.

Meanwhile, John closed the door left open with a wave of his hand, standing in front of her as his sight changed drastically from the normal.

Light blue dots of different sizes roamed in the room, with only nature commanding them where to go.

In the space where Josie was located, there was almost a complete lack of magic, with only a small light illuminating her body. Probably a remnant of the magic she siphoned earlier.

For a few long moments, silence lingered in the room, a silence that started to sink into Josie's skin.

She started to show signs of nervousness, getting unquiet and fidgy.

"No need to feel nervous for not showing immediate results, Josie." John said, his words said calmly with the perfect flow. "Take your time, forget the outside and focus on yourself. Everything that bothers you is unnecessary. Don't bother with me. If it takes you an entire day to show me what you want, I will wait here for an entire day. Just concentrate on what you want to achieve, to show yourself your own achievement."

These words were said with extreme calmness, the voice behind them mixing with the world around, making part of it.

The voice soothed the mind of the girl on the floor. Her body naturally relaxed as she knew she could believe in his words. If she took a day, he would wait a day.

Calming her own mind, Josie focused on herself, trying to remember that sensation that she experienced minutes ago in her room.

The lasting presence around her, of something she was so accustomed to that it was almost impossible to notice its existence around her body. Something she just paid attention to when touching the material world around her to feel it and use it.

But when outside the grasp of a material object, it required more from her than a simple touch to will it to her. When in its free state, when outside of her material grasp, the existence of magic asked more from her to do it.

And it was in that moment, when she thought of that possibility, that she gave up on actively trying to absorb magic, and decided to wholeheartedly feel it. She decided to let her whole body feel the magic instead of trying to control it through her body.

Hm? After moments of observation, the unmoving young man standing in front of the girl felt the change in the environment around him. Magic started to move unnaturally, 'falling' from all places towards the girl on his floor. And in the places the magic and her skin met, it seemed like light lit up under her skin. Hm? But that was not the only change that surprised him.

In the most inner part of Josie's being, a light started to glow a little too intensely, dragging the attention of the only one who could see it.

Her soul… is resonating? It's behaving in the same frequency as the magic around. She is willing the magic towards her, just like how I do to control Magic, and then absorbing it. John thought, impressed by her achievement.

However, before John could be happier for Josie, his eyes caught the sight of something.

Focusing on a small part of her soul, John noticed something different in it. Something that the more he focused, the more he noticed how strange it was.

Is that a crack? John thought, but when looking closer, he noticed something different about it. No, there is a pattern, it's more like a piece. A piece of her soul is missing. For a brief moment, John's mind was filled with dreadful thoughts when he came to this conclusion, because he knew just how bad someone lacking a piece of soul is. Merda, a fucking piece of her soul is missing! If it doesn't close, it's just a matter of time until she… dies… Initially, John started to think that Josie lacking a piece of her soul was his fault, that it somehow happened due to her achievement of willing magic with her soul. However, when he thought of what could happen to Josie, John's mind went blank for a moment, the result of the realization his own words brought to him.

Matter of time? Death? A piece of her soul? The winner of the Merge absorbs certain aspects of the loser, right? Does that include a piece of their soul? Probably, since Kai Parker got to use magic normally when he absorbed Luke. That probably means he absorbed the part of his younger brother's soul where it generates magic. So, that's what the curse is? Gemini Twins are born with incomplete souls, and they must merge for at least one to survive. Because if they don't merge, they are dead anyways. When thinking about it, John was certain he was right, or at least he hoped so. Because if he was right, the path to save both twins without one of them becoming vampires was clear now. He just needed to find a way to cure their souls.

Wait, I am skipping something here. If one of them becomes a vampire, they still survive right? I mean, they will still miss a portion of their soul… When thinking about how the twins would survive if one of them became a vampire, John started to question how would that exactly work, since the lack of a piece of their soul would still remain. Urgh! I don't have a certain answer. All gemini twins who became Heretics did it under special circumstances, ones that would permit their twins to live. Shit! I hate how many unanswered questions there are! Why didn't a person like Einstein or Newton were born into the supernatural world and solve these questions?! John thought, wishing to punch something to get away with this frustration he was feeling from not knowing how to help his friend.

The happiness and excitement he earlier felt about Josie's achievement faded, with the dread he felt for her taking place.

However, when he noticed a shift in the magic around him, a sign of Josie's mental state returning to normal, and the slight movement of her eyelids, John couldn't keep his gloomy expression, having to force himself to make a happy and excited face.

"Congratulations, Josie. You did it! Now, you can absorb magic just like I do." John said, forcing a smile on his face and adjusting his expression.

The good of perfect control over his physical body? He can easily fake expressions and body language.

"I never thought I really could do this! This is so great! Although the magic I siphon is not much, if I practice enough, I won't need to look for objects to siphon from them. I can simply get enough from around me!" She said, all excited about her achievement and discovery, unaware of the anxiety and worry her friend felt for her.

"Hm, practice is really a good option. How about this? Meet me in the garden in two hours. I will help you in practicing how to better absorb energy and control it. How about that?" John said, quickly thinking of a reason to stay alone with his thoughts.

Josie, when listening to John's words, opened a huge smile and nodded. "That sounds great! I will go now, I will finish my homework and meet you there." She said all excited.

During a short moment, she moved in hesitation before acting, giving John a hug. "Thanks, I really mean it! Thanks to your words that day, now I can get rid of my and my sister's weakness. For that, I am really thankful." She smiled at him, showing to him all her white teeth.

Looking at her bright smile, John sighed internally, feeling bad for faking his emotions to her. But for her sake, he needed to keep himself composed and not worry her. "You are welcome, Josie. Now, go on. I also need to finish a few things here."

Nodding, Josie gave him a last squeeze before releasing him and going away.

When she closed the door, John walked to his chair and sat down, lifting his head to stare at the ceiling. "Damn it. I need to figure something out." He said, rubbing his fingers on the top of his head, through his hair. "How the hell does someone cure a soul?"

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Thankfully, I posted it before midnight, so I kept my promise to post it this week. Anyways, I changed this chapter many times, and I will probably edit it later, but most of the things I wanted to say are here. As many of you noticed, the TVDU has many questions but few answers, leaving open certain loopholes in the history. I am doing my best to make use of these unanswered questions to use my own ideas into what I believe are the answers. I read all of your comments about opinions in what worlds to go, and most were some I already thought before so I am thankful for that, because that means you will probably like what I am going to work with in the future. Anyways, that's if for now. Now I am in a 2 weeks break and can write more and enjoy this time to get more knowledge from the worlds I plan to work with and to improve the future of what I plan to write. Thanks for all of your support and everything, see you soon - Author.