Dark Moon | Klaus Mikaelson

Chapter 2

Esmeray couldn't believe how much there was to learn.

The entirety of the next two days was spent on teaching her basic survival and important knowledge in the twenty-first century.

"It will require quite a bit of work, but I am certain I can teach you English without much effort," said Elijah, who had brought her several books so that she could begin to learn. "I have also brought empty grimoires for you to write down any spells you wish to keep track of. Surely you want to document what you know."

"I do not write down spells unless I make new ones," she said, blinking several times.

"Do you know how to write?"

"Of course I do, I am a witch. I simply mean... those of us who lived among wolves operated on a very different system. Other Covens, from what I know, taught their young basic spells and built their way up, getting more and more advanced each time. We were dedicated to Healing Spells and Mind Spells, so we did not need to do that."

This sparked Elijah's curiosity. "Continue."

"When it is revealed that we have magical abilities, we are first taught how magic should be used. We learn about self-control and its applications in order to understand what we are going to be getting into. When we turn five years old, we are placed in a room with all the witches who live in our village. We take their hands one by one and perform our very first spell to absorb their magical knowledge. In doing this, we understand the past and the present, and as soon as this ritual is over, we know hundreds of spells inherently and thus, are able to help any injured person no matter how young we are. This is thought to greatly strengthen our minds through giving us wisdom. Rather than having to learn spells all our lives, we are given every last bit of useful knowledge and focus on actually applying it as well as developing improved spells for the first few years that we have this knowledge. By the age of nine, we understand magical theories quite well, and that is where new spells are able to be created. We are not required to share this knowledge with each other, but eventually, the knowledge will be passed on to the next person that turns five, and so on, which ensures that we are always growing stronger not only physically, but mentally. Because we lived amongst wolves, we were always a minority- quite different from other communities of witches. This is a practice that was only ever done there, I believe. I'm quite good at Healing Spells and any spell that deals with the mind. If I need to alter memories or take them, I can do it with ease."

Elijah leaned back in his chair. "So what you are saying is that you merely need to be exposed to those who are fluent in a different language so that you can understand it?"

"Exactly. If you know an expert in English, I can take their memories and transfer a copy of them into my own mind. It will hurt me slightly, but a simple spell will ensure the knowledge goes into the right part so that I can apply it. I will still need to practice speaking it correctly, but I will understand what others say. The same will be true for learning about anything in this new world. If someone is very knowledgeable about it, I merely need to make contact with their body."

"In doing this, you have access to their entire life history," said Elijah, narrowing his eyes slightly. "You'll know everything about them."

Esmeray nodded. "In our Pack, there were no secrets. As I stated before, they all knew of my condition. Secrets were kept from the other six Packs. I was raised to value honesty. Secrets were seldom kept, no matter how dark they were. But yes, any person whose memories I take, even if they are only related to a specific subject... well, I will know them like the back of my hand. I have knowledge of what it feels like to experience childbirth, merely because of the witches who granted me their memories the day I turned five. I have not experienced it myself, but I was able to be a midwife for many women before I was eight years old because I knew exactly what would happen and what I needed to do."