The Tales Of The Mighty Siphoner
Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Diaries or Originals, or anything else set in that universe, they belong to the rightful owners. I do not own anything from any other fiction I use or reference either, they all belong to their rightful owners.
A/N: The original fic was written by baringan on this site. Link on Profile.
Someone once posted a comment asking what is the point of making an story almost identical to the original story with only minor tweaks.
I think the original story is one of the best stories I have read on this site, a total re-write could ruin it; there are just some small things I want to change. I originally made the re-write only for myself, but I decided to post it just in case anyone else might want to read it.
Some things weren't explained in baringan's version, so I will be adding my own explanations; readers and the original writer, baringan, might not like what I add, the changes I make, and, or, my reasons or explanations - and that is your opinion; I like the changes I make, the things I add, and my reasons and explanations.
Because there are multiple things I want to add, there will be a LOT of extra text.
In the original story, the original fic's writer, baringan, sometimes says Kai is 'truly immortal'.
Immortals, what Silas and Amara used to be, were also described as being 'truly immortal', but to me, they weren't; because their immortality could be removed. It could only happen in a few ways, but it could still happen. The Kai in baringan's fic could also have his immortality removed. With enough power, that version of him could also be killed.
For my story, I will use my idea of true immortality - immortality that makes it so the person who has it can never ever die; no matter what.
Part of this means it is completely impossible to remove my kind of true immortality - and I mean completely impossible; there aren't, and there never will be, any exceptions and, or, workarounds that could be used to remove my kind of true immortality from the person who has it, or even to weaken their connection to it, or to kill the person who has it.
I have done this because, to me, being able to remove someone's immortality means that there is a way for them to die. So, based on my version of true immortality, Silas and Amara, and the version of Kai in baringan's fic, were never truly immortal.
I will put this top A/N in each chapter, so if someone in the story mentions something can kill Kai, readers will know it is just what they think; it is not actually true.
This kind of immortality, which Kai will have, only means he can't ever die - it does not mean that Kai can't lose a fight, or that he can't be taken out in some other way. After all, there are many ways of taking someone down without killing them.
While I like stories where my favourite character, or characters, have more abilities, skills, and power and powers, than they have in canon, I generally dislike ones where they get them without any explanations; especially ones that it shouldn't be possible for them to have. I believe any and all powers a character gains should have an explanation for how the character gains them. I do have an idea that I may use to give my version of Kai powers and abilities that he would not be able to get normally - but at least that will have an explanation; not just him randomly having them.
I also generally dislike ones where they make them totally unbeatable. My Kai will have many powers, abilities, and skills, and will be very powerful, but he won't be totally unbeatable - just very hard to beat.
In my version of this fic, Kai will not be paired with anyone. All of Kai's relationships in this fic will be platonic - he will not be in any romantic or sexual relationships.
Why I deleted and restarted this fic a couple of years ago.
I decided to redo everything again as I was working on the latest chapter when I needed to check something. I went back and found a few spelling mistakes, and I found more in other chapters.
Spelling mistakes may not bother most readers (if any), but it bothers me a little. I also didn't like the way I worded certain things, so I wanted to change that too. Also while looking over things, I decided there was some changes and additions I wanted to make.
These are the reasons I decided to go over everything again. If it was just spelling mistakes I might not have decided to re-post everything; but the spelling mistakes and me not being satisfied with the chapters bothered me so much that I decided it was better to just start over.
I did originally get comments about making Kai more unique, I thought about it and decided I liked that idea. Though most of that will be later.
Couple of important things - since my last posted chapter.
I am working on the latest chapter, but I haven't posted it as I'm not satisfied with it yet. I keep making changes, but then when I read through it to check if I like it, I end up finding more things that I want to change. I also got bored of writing for quite a while. This is why it's taking me so long to finish and post the latest chapter of this fic.
I've gotten tired of writing the latest chapter, so I'm going over past chapters and seeing if there are any changes I want to make to them. You don't need to try and notice any changes though, as any changes will likely be very minor, so minor that you may not even notice them. I'm doing this just because I feel like doing it.
Prologue
Malachai 'Kai' Parker walked towards a massive building. The city Kai is currently in is deserted, just like all the other cities that he has been to. This would be the first time that Kai has visited the British museum, and he wanted to see if there were any items worth taking from this museum; like other museums he has been to, some which he had taken multiple things from, while some other museums had only had one or two things he'd wanted to take, only a couple of museums hadn't possessed anything that Kai had wanted to take.
Old objects could sometimes be dangerous, in other words - powerful. Over the years, Kai had collected many powerful objects. Though some objects he took because he found them interesting, or because the object could be useful in some way - even if the object was not particularly powerful.
As Kai made his way towards his destination, a myriad of thoughts swirled within his mind.
Shadows of his past plagued him daily. Lesser men would've yielded to the treatment Kai had suffered through, the guilt he feels, and the despair of his existence. But for Kai, his past demons are a welcomed companion; a reminder of life outside of his purgatory and everything that had resulted in his current situation.
In Portland, Oregan, there's a group called the Gemini coven - a coven of magic users. Magi, sorcerers, and hexa, are a few names that magic users have been known by in the past. In modern times, 'witch' is the term most often ossosciated with magic users.
There are many different types of magic, which come from different sources. Each type of magic works differently, with their own rules and limits, and each also has a magical community, often referred to as a magical world, where it is the only, or at least most common, type of magic in that magical community.
One form of magic allows the witches who can use it to do almost anything; if they have enough power and could figure out how to make the magic do whatever it is they want it to do. This kind of magic has always been known as Wicca.
Wicca magic allows those who can wield it to do things usually believed to be impossible, or that are impossible, in other magical worlds. Though some things require more power to do; so they may have to get more power, which they can do through various means - like channeling the power of others, or other elements of Nature, or joining forces with other witches - amongst other things they can do to get more power; sometimes they will need to combine multiple ways to get the power they need. The combined power of multiple witches being one of the reasons that covens exist, along with safety in numbers, and the benefits of the combined knowledge and skill of multiple witches. It's also more beneficial to join forces with other witches than to channel them because most forms of channeling power will fade after a short period of time, and witches can only channel a limited amount of magic; channeling too much magic can result in a magical overload, which could harm or even kill the witch channeling it. This also applies when multiple witches channel magic; if even one of them cannot handle the magic they are channeling, all of them may be hurt by, or could even die from, a magical overload.
Nature, an omnipotent and mystical force, maintains the balance of all things. It did this because if it didn't maintain balance, and things became too unbalanced, it could result in the destruction of some of Nature's most important things. This could result in the total destruction of Nature itself, if too many of its most important things were destroyed; this would mean the end of any and all things. To make sure that this doesn't happen, Nature maintains balance, its laws being an extension of this. There are ways of breaking its laws without causing damage; certain forms of magic, like Wicca, can break Nature's laws without causing damage. It will try and find a way to balance these breaks though; as without any balances, too many breaks may eventually start causing damage.
Because Wicca witches are one of the few kinds of beings that can use a type of magic which can break Nature's laws without causing damage, and as they can use elements of Nature to enhance their own power, the majority of Wicca witches believe it's their duty to act as agents of Nature; this means that they will sometimes act as enforcers of Nature and its laws - though there are some Wicca witches who don't and just use their magic however they want to use it.
The Wicca world is the one that the Gemini coven are a part of, and that Kai was born into. Kai was one of the eight children of the current head of the Gemini coven, the leader of the coven, and his wife, before her death.
Of course, the Gemini Coven is only one of many covens that exist; but they are one of the world's oldest covens. To Kai's knowledge, there are only a few covens in the world that are older than the Gemini coven.
As the name indicates, the Gemini coven revolves around twins; the Gemini coven believe that incredible power could be harnessed from the merging of twins.
As they see it, twins are just incomplete parts of one person, the Gemini coven believe reuniting these fragments restores their balance, and their real power. In order to do so, the Gemini coven created the Merge.
The Merge amplifies the power both of the participants, puts them into a temporary magical sleep, where the participants battle using their power, their willpower, and their skill, and the winner of the Merge gets the power of the loser added to their own. The Merge is unique to the Gemini coven; their ancestors had bound the Merge to their coven, so only they could do it. To ensure the Gemini coven would always be strong, and to ensure the coven's future, their ancestors had made sure the spell that granted the Gemini coven the ability to do the Merge, also granted them increased fertility, a disposition towards mystical twins, and ever growing power.
The Merge is how the Gemin coven's leader is decided, as it makes them the most powerful member of the coven. The ever growing power aspect of the Merge makes any children the leader has even stronger than the leader was before they won the Merge. The leader will then have children until they have twins, who will eventually perform the Merge, which is usually done on their 22nd birthday, and the magical position of coven head is then magically transferred onto the winner of the Merge.
The Merge is usually done on the twins 22nd birthday due to how the magic of witches grows. Witches are born with magic, but most of it remains dormant until they are old enough to use it, which can happen as early as 2-5 years old, sometimes even earlier; though if the mother is also a witch, the mother may access the baby's magic, whether they do so accidentally, on purpose, or if the baby does it without the mother wanting it. As a witch grows, they will have access to more and more of their magic; this will first happen between the ages of 9-12 years old, then again at 15-16, then again at 17-18, and then at 21 years old, they'll be able to access all their magic. The different stages occur because as a witch grows, so does their magic. Each of the different stages allows witches to access more of the magic they're born with, and also helps them get used to how much their magic has grown as they did; though a witch's magic, unlike a witch's body, only stops growing after they die. A witch's magic growing means that their magic grows in both strength and in quantity; meaning that as a witch grows, not only does their magic becomes more and more powerful, but they also gain more and more of it.
The Gemini coven give the twins who are going to do the Merge an extra year for them and their bodies to get used to their magic and for it to grow; doing the Merge before the twin's 22nd birthday could potentially stunt the growth of their magic, or give them issues controlling their magic - as they wouldn't have received the time they needed to get used to their magic. This would cause them even more issues controlling their magic if they win the Merge; as they'd have to learn to control their own growing magic, and the amplified magic they won in the Merge at the same time. Though if the twins did perform the Merge before their 22nd birthday and it did damage their magic growth, actually winning the Merge would nullify this - as the Merge causes the winner's magic to grow at twice the rate than it had before; likely countering the damage to the winner's magical growth - at absolute worst, their magic would grow slightly slower than it used to.
The Merge could be done before then, the earliest being when they reach the final stage at the age of 21; but it's not something they would do unless it's necessary; due to the potential affect it could have on their ability to control their magic and the potential to stunt the growth of their magic. The potential risks are the reason that the Merge has never been done before the twins who are going to do it have turned 22; the Gemini coven does not want a leader who is unable to control their magic, and they also want their leader to be as powerful as they can be; they don't want a coven head who has less power and control than then should have. They could do the Merge even earlier than the twin's 21st birthday, but the risk of it damaging their magical growth is higher, and whoever won the Merge would have an even harder time controlling their magic, especially as each magical growth milestone would be twice as great, and therefore twice as hard to control as it would be for someone who had gone through all of their milestones and learned to control their magic before doing the Merge; this means they'd have to work a lot harder to learn to control their magic as they and their magic grow.
Since both partcipants were born with magic stronger than the magic the last leader was born with, the next leader would be even more powerful than the previous leader had been after they won the Merge. The new leader would then do the same; having kids until they had twins, who would be born with magic that's stronger than the magic the leader was born with, and then on their 22nd birthday, they'd then perform the Merge, resulting in a new and even more powerful leader. They'd then repeat this cycle over and over again, as they have been doing ever since the Gemini coven was first formed. This meant each new Gemini coven head is more powerful than the previous leader was.
The ever growing power aspect of the Merge also makes it so the generation born after the new leader had been decided is more powerful than the last one had been, though no way near as powerful as the leader's children. Though children of the leader who were not twins aren't as powerful as those who were, they're still, usually, more powerful than most of the children from the coven's other family lines. The Gemini coven's leader have always been from Kai's family line though, since they've always been the most powerful of the coven's family lines, and they also, generally, produce much more skilled witches than the coven's other family lines.
This was how the Gemini coven had become one of the most powerful covens in the world; if not the most powerful coven in the world. Originally, the Gemini coven's witches were, at best, as powerful as an average modern witch, perhaps a bit weaker. And average modern witches are, generally, much weaker than witches were in ancient times. Kai's line had always been the strongest of the Gemini coven though, meaning they were more powerful than average modern witches; this along with how the Gemini coven's most skilled witches, generally, came from Kai's family line, were the reasons they have always been leaders of the Gemini coven.
However, if a leader didn't produce a set of twins that were skilled enough, then the next most powerful and skilled family line would be chosen to perform the Merge, regardless of how much more powerful Kai's family line had become than the rest of the Gemini coven's family lines. This was an agreement that was made long ago by every single one of the Gemini coven's family lines; the coven needed a leader who was both skilled and powerful. Though this agreement was only a backup plan, one that hadn't happened yet; Kai's ancestor had been the first Gemini coven member to perform the Merge with their twin and win, and they and every leader since had always had at least one set of twins that were powerful and skilled.
However, Nature disagreed with the Gemini coven's beliefs about the Merge being natural, and created a balance - Nature cursed the Gemini coven with a unique type of witch called Siphoners.
Since the Gemini coven believed it was completely natural, Nature made it so siphoners are completely unnatural; meaning that they're not truly connected to it. They exist within Nature, like all things do, but even though siphoners were created as Nature's response, they are still unnatural beings with no connection to Nature - like other Wicca witches possess.
A siphoner would gain the abilities and powers of a normal witch, if they won the Merge. However, a siphoner who won the Merge still wouldn't possess the connection to Nature - as they'd still be a siphoner.
As a balance to the Gemini coven's ever growing power, siphoners are witches who don't possess any magic of their own, or the ability to generate magic of their own.
Instead, they are born with the ability to siphon magic from other sources; but unlike other ways to absorb magic, like spells, siphoning is a completely unnatural way to absorb magic. There are some things that all siphoners can siphon magic from, including other magical beings; though there are some magical beings that only the most powerful siphoners can siphon magic from, like magic from other magical worlds. As they don't possess magic of their own, siphoners can also sense magic; this allows them to find sources of magic to siphon from.
After absorbing magic, siphoners can use magic just like normal witches. However, since siphoning is unnatural, and since it isn't their own magic, they can't keep the magic; eventually, the magic will dissipate. Because siphoners are unnatural, and possess an unnatural ability to absorb magic, they are often isolated and mistreated by the rest of the Gemini coven. Their existence is seen as a stain on the prestige of the Gemini coven, so not many witches outside the Gemini coven know about the existence of siphoners.
Kai is a siphoner, and the oldest son of the current leader of the Gemini coven. Kai is very talented in the use of magic. His grandmother had considered him a prodigy when it comes to magic. Even as a child, Kai could understand how most spells worked and could reverse engineer them through observation alone.
Kai's prodigious status also applies to non-magical things. His grandmother had seen his intelligence and analytic mind, and had him tested as a child. She'd been told that Kai is a extremely rare level of genius; with only a very small number of people in history matching Kai, and only a couple surpassing him.
Kai would've seemed like the perfect candidate take over his father's position as leader of the Gemini coven. And if he wasn't a siphoner, Kai would likely have been the leader of the Gemini coven right now. But the Gemini coven, his father included, would never allow that; because of their unnaturalness and their lack of magic, and the stain the Gemini coven believe this brings to their prestige, they have a lot of prejudices against siphoners. Their prejudices, and their belief that siphoners are stain on the prestige of their coven, causes siphoners to be hated and mistreated by the Gemini coven.
Kai's twin sister, Josette 'Jo' Parker, was born as a normal witch, but lacks his prodigious skills in magic. Also, unlike her twin brother, who finds interest in all things magical, and many non-magical things, Jo had only ever been interested in non-magical things; though as the oldest daughter of the coven leader, she does have a large amount of magical knowledge, and Jo is powerful - at least in terms of raw power. Jo just hadn't ever been that good at using magic; even learning the basics took her much longer than it takes an average witch.
Kai and Jo's father, disappointed that Kai was a siphoner and that Jo wasn't a skilled witch, continued to have more children. This led to their father having six more children, with only the last two being twins. A boy and a girl: Olivia and Lucas. The new hope of the Gemini coven.
Throughout Kai's early life, his grandmother had pretty much raised him. She'd let Kai siphon her magic and taught him many spells. Kai had decided to prove their father and the rest of the coven wrong by becoming a great witch; regardless of the fact that he doesn't possess his own magic, and is unable to generate magic.
When Kai was 21, his grandmother had passed away, her final wish before she'd died had been for Kai to become Gemini coven head. And so, as his grandmother lay on her death bed, Kai had promised her that he would become the head of the Gemini coven.
Kai knew his father would never give a siphoner the chance of becoming the Gemini coven's leader. To his father, and the rest of the Gemini coven, Kai, as a siphoner, was just a disappointment, an abomination. In order to fulfill his grandmother's dying wish, Kai knew he'd have to take drastic actions; he'd have to take the position by force - there was no other way Kai could fulfil the promise he had made to his grandmother.
His plan was to kill his youngest siblings, Liv and Luke. The coven would then have to do the unification between him and Jo; their father couldn't have any more kids, even with the help of magic. So if Kai killed Liv and Luke, they'd have to let him and Jo Merge; if they didn't, then when their current leader died, so would the rest of the Gemini coven. They couldn't use the back up plan of allowing another family line either; the members of the other family lines were not twins, so they couldn't do the Merge, or they were too old to have more children, and the children they had were too young; by the time they were old enough to have their own kids, and they had kids old enough to perform the Merge, the current leader would likely already be dead; even if they performed the Merge before their 22nd birthday. And as their lives were tied to their leader's life, all of them would die with him.
Their lives being tied to the leader's life was something the Gemini coven had done long ago so their coven head could draw on the power of the entire coven when in desperate situations.
He knew he'd defeat his twin sister; though Jo had quite a large amount of powerful magic, it wasn't anywhere near enough to overwhelm Kai's siphoning power. This, along with their different skill levels, Jo's being below average and Kai's being far above average, would pretty much guarantee Kai would win.
While this plan may seem heartless, maybe even psychotic, Kai had planned to bring his siblings back to life as soon as he became the head of the Gemini coven. And he had only planned to do it in the first place because he had truly felt it was the only way for him to become leader of the Gemini coven.
Besides, Kai is a low level sociopath. Which meant that, unlike a lot of sociopaths, Kai does have emotions; he can care about people, and even love them, and he can feel guilt. But, as a sociopath, Kai would also consider doing things that most people would never even think of doing. And when he had come up with his plan, he had been desperate not to let down the only person who'd always loved him unconditionally: his grandmother.
Kai's belief was that as the winner of the Merge, he would be able to use the power he would gain from the Merge not only to bring his siblings back to life, but also to bring his grandmother back to life. Even if the Merge didn't grant him enough power, Kai could get the rest of the power he'd need from other sources.
Plus, as Kai saw it, the benefits would outweigh the negatives; Kai would become coven head, which is what his grandmother had wanted, and he'd gain a permanent source of magic he could use to bring his grandmother back to life. With his own permanent source of magic, Kai could also finally show the Gemini coven that he is a very skilled witch; proving that at least one of their prejudices against siphoners was wrong.
Kai, Jo, and their grandmother are the only ones who already know Kai is a skilled witch; the only time the rest of the coven paid attention to Kai was while they were mistreating him. Though Jo didn't pay enough attention to understand just how skilled he is; as a child, Jo was around magic so much, she had not really cared about it, and as she grew up, Jo became more and more interested in non-magical things; which meant she spent less time with those who'd been more interested in magic, like Kai. Because she spent less time with Kai, Jo didn't see how skilled he became as he got older; she saw enough to know Kai is skilled at magic, much more skilled than she is, but she didn't see enough to know just how skilled Kai is.
The cost of acheiving his goals was high: the lives of his youngest siblings, to make it so that the Merge between him and Jo was the coven's last and only option, and his twin's life when he won the Merge; however, this cost would only be temporary - as Kai had planned to bring them all back to life after he won the Merge.
But it hadn't exactly gone to plan; Kai had ended up losing his temper and killing half of his siblings, and not the ones he'd planned to kill either.
Kai had been greatly hindered by his twin sister. By the end of the confrontation, Kai had failed to kill Liv and Luke, but Jo had agreed to Merge with him the next day; using the power of a solar eclipse, a celestial event. If only he hadn't let his anger get the better of him, Kai would have realised that it was a ruse so the coven could trap him in a prison world.
Kai knew about prison worlds: prison worlds are dimensions that are created by the Gemini coven using very powerful magic. A prison world is an exact replica of the real world on the day it was cast, including all of the objects and things from the real world, magical or otherwise, but without all of the people and creatures that are in the real world. Time inside a prison world moves at the same rate as the normal world. Though at the end of each day, a prison world's time is reset to the start of the day that it was created.
Also, since time inside a prison world is on a loop, the person hit by the Prison World spell will not age while inside the prison world that was created when the spell hit them. This is because, like time in a prison world, the physical age of the person hit by the spell will not progress past the same day the prison world was created.
Ever since the spell hit him, Kai had been trapped on a day of a solar eclipse, in the year 1994, all alone. As he was the one who was targeted and hit by the spell that created this prison world, Kai doesn't age while trapped inside it - no matter how long he is trapped inside it; this means that as long as Kai is trapped inside it, he will always look like he did when he was 22 - which is how old Kai was when he was trapped in this prison world.
At some point during his imprisonment, Kai had given into his despair, guilt, and sadness - he tried to commit suicide. As it turns out, even that was taken from him; the Prison World brought Kai back to life every time, no matter how he killed himself.
According to a book he found about prison worlds, prison worlds were created either to imprison those that were too difficult to kill, or that could not be killed, or to imprison people whose crimes were so bad the Gemini coven decided that death was not enough.
This is why prison worlds were made so those targeted and hit by the spell that creates them can't kill themselves and don't age; they are made to trap someone in total solitude, potentially forever. If the person the spell hits could kill themselves, they could choose to end their punishment whenever they wanted to, rather than the Gemini coven deciding to end it, if they ever chose to end the imprisonment that is, and they could start to lose their memory if they could grow old; that's why the prison world prevents them from ageing, the Gemini coven feels this could lessen the punishment by allowing them to forget why they were trapped alone.
This only applies when someone is hit by a Prison World spell though; if someone enters a prison world another way, they will still age while they are inside it, and the Prison World won't bring them back if they die while inside it.
Despite the fact a prison world resets the body of the person it was created for when they die, the person who is hit by the Prison World spell could improve their own physical fitness, without the prison world removing their improved physical fitness if they die, or when the prison world resets the day.
This is because when someone is hit by a Prison World spell, their physical time is directly tied to the prison world's time, but they are still seperate. This means when a person hit by the Prison World spell dies inside it, the Prison World will restore them to life at the last point they were physically healthy; so they retain any physical fitness improvements that they have gained since they were hit by the Prison World spell. This also means that any damage done to them before they were trapped in the prison world will not be healed when it brings them back to life; unless that damage leads to the person dying in the prison world, or the damage is worsened and then results in their death.
Eventually, Kai gave up trying to die. Though as the years passed, he had continued to kill himself, for scientific curiosity and to feel something else when the guilt he felt flared up again and he needed to feel something else in order to distract himself from it. Kai also killed himself to restore his health; this was useful when he gets injured non-fatally, or if he became sick - which didn't happen that often.
'What doesn't kill you, only makes you stronger.' Kai often thought.
Within the first year, he'd found the Ascendant - a mystical dial-like device, which a Gemini grimoire says is one of two things needed to get out of a prison world. The second thing that is needed to escape is a Bennett witch.
A Bennett witch being needed was a safety measure the Gemini coven put into the Ascendant so that when someone was trapped in a prison world, they could not be freed by another member of the coven; which could happen if a member of the Gemini coven was kidnapped by someone who was connected to someone who'd been trapped inside a prison world, or if a member of the coven loved them so much they'd try to free them. It was also used as a safety measure to make sure if someone with coven blood was ever imprisoned, they couldn't just free themselves. Bennett witches were chosen to be anchors for Ascendants because they are one of the few witch lines that could rival the Gemini coven, and because they are also one of the Gemini coven's oldest and greatest allies.
With this knowledge, Kai hoped one day he could escape the prison world, and finish what he had started, so he could fulfil his promises; the one he had made to his deceased grandmother, and then the one Kai had made to himself - that he would resurrect all the siblings he had killed.
Kai knew the chances of him getting out were very slim; but since there was no way for him to die in this Prison World, he had to hold onto the hope that one day he would be able to escape.
Besides thinking of new ways to die, Kai also spent his time researching magic and learning to do many new things. He had learnt how to pilot several different kinds of planes and helicopters, and how to drive several kinds of boats. The no dying thing had certainly helped; he'd always crash a few times when he first started.
He'd also learned martial arts. From archives, he first learned Wing Chun and Krav Maga. As he traveled, he picked up more and more fighting styles. After he learned a fighting style, he'd start mixing elements from different styles together; so he could flow from one style to another, and could mix different styles together - making him a much more unpredictable fighter.
He found books for each fighting style he learned, each detailing fighting stances, movements, and even how to attack and defend, he practiced using equipment; like fighting dummies to practice strikes. Thanks to just how detailed these books were, Kai became quite a good fighter; though, without a real opponent, Kai's forms and styles were sometimes sloppy and unpolished. He had also learned to use many different kinds of weapons, ranging from swords to rifles.
Kai also researched science, he read and learned about all types of scientific study including, but not limited to, physics, chemistry, and biology; he even studied more complex parts of them, like micro-biology, and astrophysics.
Magic is the antithesis of science; as it can do things science says are impossible. But Kai believes that magic and science can work in tandem with one another. Magic could be used to create water from nothing, which science says is impossible. But magic could also be used to gather moisture in the air to create water as well, which science says is possible.
Kai began using his increased scientific knowledge to increase the efficiency and the effectiveness of his spells; this gave Kai the same results as before, or sometimes even greater results, but required less magic being used.
'Knowledge is power.' Was something Kai's grandmother had always told him - she'd said it applied to both magic, and life.
'Knowledge is power, and right now, for me, the knowledge of the entire world is up for grabs.' Kai often thought.
Over the years in the Prison World, he learned and mastered many things. He had tried to pick up as much magical knowledge as he could, and a lot of non-magical things; which Kai's eidetic memory helped with. This, along with his incredible mind, meant that Kai could learn things much faster than most people.
Kai had started with the Gemini coven library, including the forbidden area. There were plenty of magical objects for him to siphon from. It took Kai three months to learn everything from his coven's library, after which he moved onto the library of another coven.
Kai spent a lot of time travelling all around the world, finding covens and learning from priceless spell books. During his travels, Kai collected many different kinds of magical objects, including any dark objects he came across. Dark objects are objects that were imbued with the power of a dark magic based spell, or objects which contain dark magic. Dark magic tends to be poweful, and it also tends to contain a lot of magic; so they're a great source of magic for siphoners like Kai.
Sometime during his travels, while in one of the oldest parts of Rome, Kai obtained some very rare crystals used by ancient witches. These crystals were known as Solistian Gems - a special type of crystal that can convert the energy from sunlight into magic, which is stored within the crystal. Ancient priests would channel the crystals to help them perform spells.
The first crystal he found is only the size of a small marble, it likely belonged to a mid level priest; low level priests would not even own one. The second crystal he found is a little bigger than an average marble; this one was likely owned by the head priest, since it has a larger capacity and was kept in a more secure place.
The first one could store about ten times the amount of magic that an average witch could, but generates it at just over half the speed. The second crystal could store about fifteen times the amount of magic an average witch could, but generates it at just under half the speed.
A magically sealed vault deep within the Vatican protected these crystals. The larger one had also been stored in an ancient looking warded box. Kai had just siphoned away the magical wards, before fashioning the first crystal into a ring; while this one has a smaller capacity, it generates magic at a faster rate. For Kai, this was much more useful; it would be better for him to have the crystal which generates magic faster on hand, in case he needs magic sooner. The second crystal he'd added to his collection, it will stay a crystal; unless he needs to replace the ring he is currently using for some reason.
Shortly after, in a smaller vault, Kai had found three more of these crystals, they were all slightly smaller than the crystal that he'd turned into a ring, two of them had a much smaller magical capacity - they could store five times the magic that an average witch could; so their capacity is half the size of the crystal Kai had turned into a ring, and a third the size of the one he'd added to his collection. Though they both generate magic at the same rate as the second crystal.
The fifth and final crystal can hold twelve times the magic of an average witch, but generates it at about a third of the rate; meaning its capacity is slightly larger than the first crystal he found, slightly smaller than the second, larger, crystal, and more than twice the capacity of the third and fourth crystals he found, the smallest, and smallest capacity, crystals. Like the crystal with the largest magical capacity, the much slower rate it generates magic at is the reason he'd decided not to turn it into a ring for him to keep with him.
The priests had these ones as back ups in case the magic of the two main crystals wasn't enough to help them cast a spell, or if they could not use the main crystals for some reason.
Like the largest capacity crystal, the third, fourth, and fifth crystals were also added to Kai's collection; as backups, should he ever need them. He could have turned them all into rings and kept them all on him; but he prefered to have multiple backup crystals than to have several rings that he'd rarely need to use.
Kai spent the next decade practising and perfecting the spells and magic that he had accumulated within the last ten years. Kai even invented a few new spells of his own by extrapolating magical theories from various spell books, plus a few ideas he got from studying the magic from other magical communities.
(Time Skip, 18 years after being trapped inside the 1994 Prison World)
Kai's time inside the prison world has proven fruitful. He's mastered many different types of magic in the Wicca world; Egyptian, Greece, Nordic, Celtic, Anglo, Roman, Aztec, Chinese, and many more. A lot of these spells were learned from ancient texts, and were very powerful. Some of them he could perform non-verbally, a few of them Kai could even use with only a thought.
In a library, in the city of Alexandria, Egypt, Kai had found a manual detailing a useful ability. This ability allows the user to feel and sense signatures. When mastered, users can hone in on sources of magic, even bypassing most cloaking spells, and even gives users who have mastered this ability the ability to identify and find those who are not supernatural as well. At the highest level, users can even see and sense signatures. It is a passive ability that takes a very minuscule amount of magic to perform, but a user needs to have great control over their magic. Siphoners can already sense magic and hone in on sources of magic; so when siphoners use it their range for sensing and honing in on magic becomes larger, this ability also helps a siphoner who uses it to better focus their senses.
As he was eating some potato chips, Kai felt a magical disturbance on the other side of the world. While Kai's sensing ability normally doesn't have that kind of range, the magical disturbance was so powerful he could detect it even on the other side of the world.
Kai honed in on the magical signal, whoever was causing it must be a witch, at least that is what Kai hoped. He felt the magical distrubance coming from somewhere in America. He honed in enough to sense it coming from Virginia, he tried to find an exact location, but the magical disturbance settled and vanished before he could find the exact location of the magical disturbance.
Kai non-verbally cast a teleportation spell. The spell allows him to 'blink' to anywhere he wants to go; the user instantly vanishes from where they are, and reappears where they want to be. The spell takes a large amount of magic to use, it would take a full day for the ring to recover the magic he'd just used. The upside is that the amount of magic needed for the spell is the same no matter the distance.
Kai reappeared in Virginia. He then immediately went into a nearby store and grabbed a map and some candles. He then cast a spell to find other people; since Kai is the only person in the prison world apart from whoever caused the magical disturbance, whoever caused it was the only person, or people, for the spell to find, so he didn't need to be specific when casting a spell to find other people.
Once the spell was done, there was a location on the map with a burn mark around the name: Mystic Falls.
Kai immediately found and hot-wired a vehicle, and drove towards his destination. Fortunately, he already knew how to get there; while he going from place to place learning things and taking anything that was powerful, useful, or that interested him, Mystic Falls was one place he had visited and taken things from. He had gotten quite a lot of things for his collection, and quite a lot of magical knowledge as well.
As he got closer, Kai could sense that there were actually two, very different, magical signals, and they felt much more stronger now, no doubt due to their proximity.
One felt like a witch, but Kai wasn't sure what the other person was; the other person was something he had never sensed before.
Kai hoped that he could get along with at least one of them, it has been a long time since he had anyone to talk to - especially someone he got along with.
(Mystic Falls)
Kai observed the couple from afar. Well, 'couple' might not be an entirely accurate term for these two.
'They seem to bicker and fight a lot.' Kai thought, amused.
From what he'd observed, the man with dark hair is a vampire. While he has never seen one before, he's read a bit about them, though not much. According to what he'd read, there are multiple ways of dealing with one; a neck snapping spell would temporarily knock one out, or ripping out or liquefy the heart will kill it, well, one turned by vampire blood anyway.
The vampire however wasn't what interests him though, it was the woman he is with. Kai knows what she is; he could feel the Ascendant inside his backpack start to resonate with her.
That could only mean one thing: this women is a witch, and not just any witch, she's a Bennett witch.
'A Bennett witch!' Kai thought with glee. 'It's time to get out of here.'
A/N : About some of the things I added to the original fic.
I mentioned other magical communities, which I sometimes call worlds, as a kind of reference to other forms of stories that have magic in them. It's something I added in case I ever reference another fandom. I do not think I will do an actual crossover in this fic, if I do a crossover, it will probably be a seperate side story. If I do, it will still be this version of Kai. I might write in this universe, or have Kai travel to a different universe.
This is only hypothetical though, I might never do a crossover - as I said, it's only for when I reference another fandom, or in case I change my mind later and decide I do want to do a crossover.
In the original fic, baringan didn't explain how Kai knew so much at once, so my version of Kai has an eidetic memory. The original writer also wrote that Kai learned to fight, but didn't really explain how, so I explained Kai learned using fighting equipment - like fighting dummies.
To explain how he comes up with ideas, how he's able to learn so much, and how he is so skilled, I decided to make Kai incredibly smart. But I didn't want him to be beyond human intelligence before he turns; so Kai in this fic is one of the smartest people in history before turning - but he is not the smartest person in history; that is why I wrote that only very few children in history match or surpass his intelligence.
In my older versions of this chapter/prologue, I think I mentioned that Kai's mind is one of the greatest in history. But I do not think I mentioned anything about how his training made him one of the most physically fit, fastest, and strongest humans in the world. Well, Kai is a witch, but they, generally, are physically the same as humans - meaning witches have the same physical abilities as humans; like how fast and strong they can be.
Kai is, by no means, unfit in canon, but I don't think that, in canon, Kai is as physically fast and strong as the fastest and strongest humans in the world. In this, thanks to all his training, he is.
I realised that since Kai doesn't physically age in his prison world, it's possible that any physical changes from his training, like an increase in speed and strength, would be erased either when the day resets, or when he dies. Since I want Kai to be in peek physical condition, I made it so that he is not physically reset to the point he was at when he was first trapped. Kai's body is reset to his last completely healthy point prior to his most recent death. Doing this means that Kai doesn't lose any improvements to his physical fitness when he dies and the prison world brings him back. By doing this, I'm making it so Kai doesn't lose any of the physical improvements he has gained since being trapped.
In canon, Bonnie created a dimension by accident due to her grief when Enzo, who she'd been in love with, died. The dimension eventually collapsed though. In my latest rewrite, I decided to add a bit more about the background of the Gemini coven to show how they became so powerful, and they are much more powerful in this than in canon. In this, modern leaders of the Gemini coven are so powerful that they could do the same thing Bonnie did. In this, a modern leader of the Gemini coven would only have other members of the coven cast the spell with them and channel a celestial event as a way to make sure that the Prison Worlds they create can last forever, so they won't collapse like Bonnie's dimension did in canon.
In this fic, Bennett witches are not actually necessary for the creation of a prison world. Basically, Bennett witches are a security measure to make it so any Gemini witch trapped can't immediately escape, or so another Gemini witch can't free them; this also means you can't force a Gemini witch to free a person trapped in a prison world. It also means a Gemini witch who loves the imprisoned person can't free them.
I gave Kai more Solistian Gems in case he ever needs them. I don't think I'll ever have him use them - but they are there in case I change my mind. I didn't want every single one of them to be exactly the same though, so I gave them different maximum magical capacities.
When I said the spell lets Kai 'blink' to anywhere, it looks like warlocks when they 'blink' in the original version of charmed. In the show, there was a sound affect that accompanied it happening, but there isn't in this.