(Zelda's P.O.V.)

Ugh, I wonder how long we have to stay tonight. I looked at my parents, drinking and laughing with other people while I was standing with them, feeling out of place. I could be at home having everything packed for school or reading a good book while curled up in my bed. But here we are. Professors, parents, and the upper echelons of the magical community are all lavishly gathered in one place tonight. It's a ritual for adults to question the upcoming graduating class about their plans after school. But who the fuck came up with this bright idea to have this party the night before we head back to Elysium?

"Oh, Miss Mikaelson?" I turned around and jumped to see who was calling for me and discovered it was Percy.

"I'm so sorry, Percy. I was deep in thought." I said. "What did you say again?"

"I asked if you would like another refreshment?" Percy repeated. "I'm heading back to the bar."

"Oh, yea, please!" I smiled. "I would like a Fairy Noble Pursuit. Thank you so much." I said.

"Not so fast young lady," My father said behind me.

"Well, it was worth a shot," I chuckled. Damn, I was hoping I would get away with it.

"I will grab some Pepsi Nectar from the bar then. I'll be right back." Percy said.

Percy bowed and started to head towards the bar. "Oh, and Percy, if you see my son, please tell him to join us," Rowan said. Percy nodded and walked off. "Now, Zelda, you must be excited that you are starting your last year at the academy.

"That's true. You could say that. I said, putting on a fake smile.

"Nonsense, of course she is! Zelda's top of her class AND Elysian Council President. My wife Georgia and I are so proud of her," my father said.

"Yeah, no question she'll be a perfect fit for the Empyreans once she graduates. The question is, what department will she fit in, though?" Rowan said as I looked at the floor.

Great, they want to decide my future again.

"Well, that's obvious." My father said. "My Zelda can follow in her old man's footsteps and become a police commissioner."

"Law enforcement, you're kidding me?" Rowan said. Zelda would be better off joining the Magical Division of Internal Affairs, Lance.

"Pfft. You only want Zelda to be in your department, Rowan." My father laughed jokingly.

I am still deciding what I want to do after graduation. I'm still trying to wrap my head around what even to expect the school year will hold for me. Student Council duties on top of the inevitably endless studying that will come for the Magical Proficiency Aptitude Test while also mapping out my career with my father and Professor Portman. Oh, for the love of the Goddess, will these two ever shut up about my future?

NOPE, not interested in the fucking slightest!

I took a deep breath and faced my father. "May I please be excused? I think I saw one of my classmates waving me over." I lied. But I noticed my father and Rowan were not even listening to what I said and were busy arguing about me.

"YOU WANNA GO, OLD MAN?" my father yelled.

"I could kill you with a flick of my wrist," Rowan said.

I backed away before things got worse and facepalmed myself. Ugh, men. I soon felt a pair of hands touch my hips and jump while making a small yelp. "Shawn Portman! I will cut you!" I said, pissed off.

"Aww, you missed me too." Shawn cooed.

I scoffed. "Cute. Real cute. Why don't you go back in time for two months and write me a letter telling me how much?"

"Zelda, come on. Don't be like that. If I could have stayed with you all summer, I would have. But you know how my mother is. She always finds a way to turn a simple work trip into a family vacation," Shawn explained.

"Well, that still doesn't explain why I haven't heard from my best friend in the whole wide world all fucking summer." I smacked him upside the side. "You JERK!" I gave him a cold glare of passive-aggressive rage.

Shawn gulped. "I may or may not have a good answer for that, Zelda." I turned my back on him. "Zeldaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, my favorite and most beloved best friend. Please talk to me," Shawn begged. "Please don't be mad. I'm so sorry."

Crap, he is giving me the puppy's eyes. Those damn eyes. "Alright, alright, fine. You had better have gotten me a damn good souvenir, Portman."

Shawn smiled. "Bitch, what do you take me for, a cheapskate? It's all packed up in my bag. Madame President, you'll get it when we are back at school." Shawn bowed.

"So, how was your summer anyway?" I said.

"Pretty good. Lots of sightseeing. Rome and Egypt have all sorts of mysterious and ancient magic," Shawn said.

"Yeah, I'm sure they must have been, seeing that you have forgotten about your dearest and most beloved best friend," I said sarcastically.

"Hey, I thought we were past that!" Shawn groaned.

I giggled. "Oh, we are. But I can't help that you are easy to mess with." I said as Shawn looked a little guilty. "What's wrong?"

"I wanted to contact you, Zelda. I had a letter ready to send and everything." Shawn admitted while rubbing his arm.

I tilted my head. Why the sudden confession? "So why didn't you?" I asked.

"I have no idea, honestly. I guess I forgot." Shawn said. He immediately regretted his words.

"Unbelievable! So I'm forgettable now?" I crossed my arms.

"No!" There was an awkward silence. "Look, there wasn't a day where I didn't think about you, Zelda." I blushed at him—what a little flirt. "I counted the days until I got back because I was so excited to start our senior year together. We will be an unstoppable force this year."

I laughed. "Yeah, I do." I smiled. "Do you like my hair? The new color suits me. I learned a bunch of cosmetic spells over the summer out of boredom since I got through all our summer reading so quickly."

"Well, you mastered it, Zelda." Shawn nodded.

"So, your parents created this unnecessary party tonight." I scoffed. "I mean, all this crap to send us off before our last year of school?

"Well, my mom loves a good excuse for a party. Dad was surprisingly on board with it. It might have something to do with all that talk about the eclipse tonight." Shawn shrugged. "They say it's a good omen as we head into our final year."

"Right, a good omen because our magic reaches its peak during the Blood Moon." I scoffed at his notion.

"Zelda, I know it may be difficult for you, but try to take a break from being an anti-social bookworm for one night, won't you? This celebration is meant to wish us some good fortune for the next school year," Shawn said.

"I'm not an anti-social bookworm!" I defended.

"Uh-huh." Shawn looked unconvinced.

"Okay, fine. I'm a little bit of an anti-social bookworm." I admitted to him as he wanted to hear it from me. "There are more productive ways to spend the night before we get sent off to school. That doesn't include rounding us all up to get ahead on networking. Why are we expected to figure out everything right now, anyway?"

"Isn't it technically productive to help us network for future jobs and apprenticeships?" Shawn questioned as I gave him a cold stare. "I mean, what?? Who said that? It couldn't have been me." Shawn laughed nervously. We then heard some of our classmates calling out for Shawn.

I laughed. "Well, I guess that's my cue to leave," I said.

"What?! Zelda, please don't leave me with them. You can't leave me here." Shawn said, panicking.

"Oh, yes, I can leave your ass in the dust. Good luck, boyo." I said.

"Oh no, they are walking this way!" Shawn said.

"Okay, bye." I walked off, leaving my best friend to talk to other people. Do I feel guilty leaving him there? NOPE.

I left the grand ballroom and started to walk around the manor. Sweeping through Portman Manor's halls came quickly as a second home to me. Well, it was. Our parents have been friends since before either of us was born. I was overwhelmed with memories of the two of us as I walked through his ancestral home. My feet were leading me to my favorite place on the whole estate. I have to make another turn around the corner, and I'll be in my haven.

"Zelda?" said Professor Portman.

"Hi, Professor Portman!" I waved.

"My dear girl, the term hasn't started yet. I watched you grow up with Shawn in this same home. You are my granddaughter as far as I'm concerned. So, no need to call me a professor around here," Professor Portman said.

"I'm sorry, you took me by surprise. I haven't seen you appear at one of these parties before. I assumed, since half of the magical community is here, it meant you'd be hiding away in Elysium by now." I said.

Portman gave a light chuckle. "A sound assumption, Zelda. If this were any other year, you'd be right. But alas, tonight is an exception."

"Because of the Blood Moon?" I asked him.

"Correct, Miss Mikaelson." He confirmed. "The reason why I'm here is that this is no ordinary Lunar Eclipse. It is part of the lunar tetrad, and tonight is the final part of the cycle.

I titled my head. "Not sure I follow. Is there something significant about that or something?

Professor Portman said nothing further and quickly changed the subject. "If you'll excuse me, I won't keep you any longer from where you were headed to, Zelda. I should find my son and grandson. Have you seen either of them?"

"Yeah, they're both in the ballroom. Dad and Mr. Portman were in a pissing contest when I left them, and Shawn might be stuck with our classmates right now." I said. "But wait, you haven't answered my question.

Professor Portman rushed past me to avoid answering me. "I'm looking forward to seeing you at school, Zelda. Take care."

Well, that was weird-- even for Malakai Portman. As one of the oldest and most skilled professors on Elysium's teaching staff, Professor Portman is well-liked among students. His lessons are some of the most enthralling at school, and it's not just because he teaches Abjuration Magic and Defense Against the Dark Arts. The wizard had also lived an incredibly adventurous life--through wartime even. So his class lectures are often punctuated with fascinating anecdotes that captivate even the least educated students.

I shrugged, went to the grand library in the manor, and hugged the bookshelves. "Oh, my babies. Oh, how I've missed you. Our studies back home aren't quite the same, " I said as I brushed my fingertips reverently over the many leather tomes, all meticulously organized and housed on the shelves lining the walls. The Portlands have an impressive collection of books that seems ever-growing every time I come here. Shawn teased me when we were children for considering it my haven. Only the Great Library of Alexandria in Elysium rivaled the wealth of knowledge this room seemed to have.

I pondered on what book I should read. "Tell me all your secrets and impart your wisdom to me," I said to the bookshelf. Damn, Shawn would never let me live this down if he heard me right now. I am an anti-social bookworm. I laughed at my thoughts.

I started picking up a book but immediately dropped it as I felt a dark, cold presence. Fear was consuming me. Then, something or someone was answering me, and my attention was drawn to the presence of a strong aura from the other side of the room. Perched upon the stately walnut desk of the study sat a pile of seemingly new and unsorted additions to Portman's collection. On the very top of the desk was a very unassuming-looking book. It was a rich, deep midnight blue with no discernable title on its cover. I felt like my body was betraying me as I heard the book; it wanted me to open it and pick it up. I obligingly reached out for the book, flipping it over for closer inspection. The leather material of its coverage is in pristine condition and could be easily mistaken for something newly printed. But something about it emanates a hint of age. I can feel ancient magic within this book as well.

This is very strange. Countless books have passed through these hands for the past seventeen years. None I can ever recall felt alive like this one, let alone powerful. My eyes widened at the discovery of a slight intricate marking on the very bottom spine of the book. These have to be someone's initials, but the question is, whose initials? O.E.N.? Without a second thought or question about the curiosity burning inside me, I flipped the book open to the first page, and all the text was handwritten! My eyes met with a script so impressively and neatly sprawled across its pages. I know that I have never laid eyes on anything quite so elegant. Quickly and carefully, I flipped through the rest of the pages, only to find more of the same beautiful calligraphy-like writing. It was entrancing and somehow strangely familiar. I felt as if I could sense this person who had committed the ink to these pages without even reading a single word of what they had written.

Steadfast, disciplined, and unyielding.

And yet inexplicably solid and masculine, despite the innate delicateness of their writing. Is it possible to be attracted to someone by their handwriting? Did I think that? Goddess, I'm pathetic.

I started to read what was written on the pages carefully.

"October 31st, 2025. Today I am eighteen years of age. I am suddenly a 'man' now, which is laughable. I find it foolish to believe that age could indicate what it means to deserve respect or responsibility. I've been taking care of myself for as long as I can remember, no thanks to Uncle Damon and Aunt Kathrine. That sorry, drunk, womanizing excuse for a wizard and his wife who lack the self-respect to stand up to him. I've hated every moment of my life wasted living under their roof and ′ caring' (If you could even call it that). At the very least, their pathetic displays opened my eyes early on to the disappointing realities of this world. To think that sad, bitter man ever dared to look down on me because of my heritage! MY BLOOD! Everyone had the nerve to look down on me for that. Well, I always knew that I would get the last laugh. While they were so busy viewing me as lower than dirt and thinking that's where I belonged- I was working my way to the top. I've positioned myself in the highest regard amongst my peers and professors, and now, offers of jobs and apprenticeships after graduation have already begun to pile up.

"But I plan to take the magical community and turn it on its head into something better, something more. Turn it into a society where we can expect those with grossly prejudiced beliefs and misdeeds to be held accountable for them. There will be no room for intolerance, hatefulness, and oppression. Instead, equality and fairness will be the cornerstone of this thriving future, and I will be the voice of those who need it most. I will champion this worthy cause since no one else will, and I will be the one to usher in this new, more hopeful age and set everything right, no matter the cost, because this world needs it. This world must be led by the hand since people are too blind, stupid, or weak to do so themselves. So I will be their guide, and I will be their strength. Everything will start with me."

Wow. This guy is either very passionate or an absolute nutcase. I'm curious about whose journal this is and why Mr. Portman has this. I heard loud footsteps. I panicked, put the book back where I found it, and went to the door. I thought it was Shawn at the door when I peered through the keyhole.

But I was wrong.

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Shawn's Letter to Zelda

Dear Zelda Mikaelson,

I'm writing to you from Egypt right now. Mom had international affairs for the Empyreans, and she decided to take dad and me for a vacation afterward. Naturally, I'm bored to tears without my partner in crime. I wish you were here with me, Zelda. We're staying along the Nile River in Cairo. It's lovely here, and you'd like it a lot. Knowing you, you'd be obsessed over the temples and dragging me to each one. We might go to a hidden one today, guarded by an actual sphinx! However, you are allowed inside if you answer its riddle correctly. Since it's the Temple of Shai, the Egyptian God of Fate and Destiny, a piece of your destiny will be revealed if you get inside. What would you want to know if you were here, Zelda? Would you like to know anything at all? I prefer the surprises life throws at us. Anyway, I've been thinking about you lately, and I wanted to get together and have a one-on-one when I get back. I have wanted to say something to you for a while now.

From your best friend,

Shawn Portman