Now that they finally fixed the bug with the story stats, I can post again. I mean, why should I bother to post something, when I can't see if someone reads it. After all, it is a big part of why we write.
It is sort of a crossover with Anne Bishop's Black Jewels stories but I think you can it read nonetheless.
After Elijah's and Niklaus's sacrificial deaths they ended up in the afterlife and, as Elijah had hoped, Hayley was waiting for him there.
The first thing Elijah did was asking Hayley for forgiveness because he killed her. She replied that it had been Greta, who had killed her. And it was Hope who had kidnapped her and left her helpless, allowing her to fall into the hands of her enemies in the first case.
She might have been disappointed that he hadn't come to rescue her, but that wasn't his fault either. He hadn't remembered her and of course he had done what he had always done, he had protected the people he considered his family. Of anyone involved in her death, he bore the really least amount or rather none of the blame.
Hayley hugged Elijah and kissed him passionately. She whispered in his ear that not just because of a dance she had longed to see him again. And that now they could live the life, they had always dreamed about and yearned for.
And Elijah wasn't the only one, who had someone waiting for him. To Niklaus's happy surprise, Camille was there too to great him just as fervently.
Both Mikaelson brothers experienced peace and happiness for the first time in a millennium. The passage of time was different in the afterlife. Of them could tell neither, whether it was years or just moments but neither did they particularly care. They were happy and content but of course, this couldn't last long, because after all, they were still the Originals.
As they did often, the two couples had met for a nice evening, when suddenly their surroundings shuddered and the air around them made waves. Both Originals felt strong magic working around them and looked at each other in dismay.
"Freya?" asked Klaus in surprise.
"No, that doesn't feel like her magic", Elijah replied calmly.
Hayley and Camille sank to their knees.
"It hurts", said Camille, distraught, and Hayley's face was contorted with pain as well.
Klaus rushed to them and helped her and Hayley back on their feet. He felt the pain as well but after Marcel's torture, he had to endure for five years, he remained functional.
"Someone is trying to bring us back to life! And that hurts", said Elijah grimly, he spoke from experience. And like Niklaus he had endured far worse, he could bear the pain.
Before Elijah could reach the others, the world tore open and a portal formed between them. It pulled all four of them through but when Elijah arrived on the other side, he was alone.
The first few days Elijah wasn't all too worried. He thought that they had simply arrived at different arrival points during the transition, but after two months of searching, Elijah was still on his own.
In his aimless wanderings, Elijah kept coming across farms that were empty of human life but not looted and where he found everything, he needed to be comfortable. He saw fertile fields and farm animals grown wild but no signs of repopulation, which spoke against everything, Elijah knew about the human spirit.
To his surprise, his need for blood was no longer as dominating as it used to be. The blood of animals was sufficient without weakening him, even if he still didn't particular care for the taste. And that wasn't all, to his undisguised delight he was able to move freely in the sun even though he no longer wore his daylight ring.
Wherever he was, it was either clearly not Earth or the restrictions he had to live with before no longer applied to him. However, he still possessed his superior physical abilities, whether that applied to his mental abilities as well, he could not test without humans.
Elijah had set up a camp in a forest, when he heard noises that could only come from humans. Curious, tired of the loneliness, but above all hoping to see finally his brother, Camille and Hayley again, he followed the noises.
There were several men on horses and they had clearly nothing good on their minds. Elijah saw the chains and the swords, and he had seen enough slavers in his thousand years on Earth, to identify what kind of scum they were.
They had pushed several women, men and children, none of them armed and who looked completely terrified, against a rock-face.
Elijah growled softly. He hadn't longed for human company all this weeks to allow it now that they were dragged into slavery before his very eyes.
First, he would take out a few of the slavers to even the odds a little before showing himself. With his usual speed, he silently wrenched two of the slavers from the back of their horses and took them away.
After the last two months of only drinking animal blood, he had to take advantage of this opportunity. The slavers tasted heavenly, human blood was so much more satisfying and it wasn't that the feeding on slavers and killing them caused him big pangs of conscience.
Then he took the next two, which he killed instantly. By now, the other slave traders should have noticed that something inexplicable was going on. He returned to the clearing and saw that everyone was off the horses now. A few continued to guard the civilians but most of them focused their vigilance outward.
Elijah smiled coldly, it wouldn't do them any good. This time he grabbed those who were closer on the outside, the other slave traders only saw two of their cronies suddenly disappearing for no apparent reason. After a few more forays of Elijah, some of them lost their nerves; they jumped on their horses and sped away.
Elijah briefly felt the strong urge to pursue them but then he controlled himself. Who knew what the remaining slave traders would do to the civilians in the meantime?
In the end there were only ten left, who had long since completely forgotten about the civilians.
Elijah entered the clearing, this time at normal human walking speed, so that for the first time ever the slave traders had the chance to take an extensive look at him.
Elijah watched curiously, as they put their swords away and instead picked up jewels of different colours, which hung as jewellery around their necks. Why did they do that? He allowed himself a smile, not that their swords would have been of much use against him either.
The civilians muttered to each other and withdrew even further, their eyes fearfully on the jewels.
Were the jewels weapons? Elijah prepared himself for an unknown kind of attack. He didn't have to wait long, because suddenly rays of light were racing towards him. When they hit him, Elijah expected that they would burn him or at least throw him back but nothing happened. He blinked in confusion. What was the point of these rays of light? He looked at the slavers, who looked at him in complete shock, before they suddenly rushed towards their horses, swung on them and dashed away.
"Well, that was kind of anti-climactic", Elijah muttered, raising an eyebrow. He now turned his attention to the civilians, who were staring at him in complete fright. He smiled gently at them. "You are safe now! My name is Elijah!"
He stood at a distance from them and waited patiently for one of them to take hold of his courage and speak to him.
Finally, one of the men reluctantly walked up to him. "I am Arias. What do you want from us?"
"From you, nothing! You were in danger, so I helped you." Elijah hesitated a little. "And it's been months since I last saw humans. I was lonely! What happened here? Where are all the humans?"
"A witch storm has killed all the Blood", replied Arias, touched against his will by the obvious sadness in the stranger's eyes.
"A witch storm? What does this mean?" Elijah asked interested.
"Someone very powerful has used his or her jewels and killed most of the Blood within many miles", Arias explained, but he quickly saw that the man did not know what he was talking about. "Just like the slave traders used their jewels against you. Didn't you feel anything?"
Elijah frowned. "No, not really! Did they mean to hurt me?"
"They wanted to kill you! Who are you that you are so unaffected from the power of jewels? Where do you come from?" Arias asked now gotten curiously.
"I don't know why I didn't feel anything!" Elijah whispered a little disturbed. "And I come from very far away."
"Oh! Do you think they'll come back?" Arias asked worried.
Elijah smiled mischievously. "Perhaps, but first they'll get reinforcements. You and your people will have enough time to get out of here."
"Do you want to come with us?" Arias offered to the stranger.
"I would like that, at least for a few days", Elijah replied softly. "And you can tell me more about your people and this realm."
Arias hesitated for a moment then asked shyly. "What did you do with the other slave traders?"
"They are no longer a danger to you", Elijah simply replied.
Arias didn't ask any further questions. He didn't care, he knew only too well, what fate this stranger had saved them from. He went back to his people and reassured them that the danger was over and that they were for now safe.
They marched off and Elijah followed them at a distance in case some slave traders found their courage and came back but his concern was unfounded.
Elijah stayed with Arias and his people for several days, who patiently told him everything they knew. They explained to him that they were Landen, because they didn't wear jewels and so were without powers. The Blood looked down on them and ruled over them without their consent.
Although the Blood were of their respective culture and race, they possessed an inner power that enabled them to use jewels. The darker a jewel, the more powerful it was. They explained to him the hierarchy of the Blood and the different castes that existed.
Elijah listened spellbound, he felt like he was in a fantasy novel. Finally, he felt that he had learned enough and decided to move on alone. He said goodbye to Arias and his people, and thanked them for the hospitality they had shown him.
Now it was for Elijah even more important than ever to find Niklaus, Hayley and Camille. He knew his brother and he shuddered as he thought of possible scenarios in which Niklaus encountered one of this Blood. At the forefront of these horror scenarios, he imagined one of these queens Arias had told him about, as she would try to give orders to his brother, or worse, expect him to submit to her in bed.
Elijah just hoped that Camille and Hayley could keep Niklaus somewhat in check until he found them. He sighed in resignation. Whom was he kidding? It was Niklaus!