Chapter Text
Prologue
At the beginning of the end of time!
Somewhere in Arizona.
"Are you sure you want to do this? You do know they will hunt him down if this comes to light? They have the skills, means and time."
The old man smiled wickedly. "Oh, I'm sure they will find out about him, but I don't believe they will succeed in finding him. And if they do, they still won't get any answers." His gleaming eyes told the young man that he didn't believe they would catch the guy for he would be dead by then, but the young man didn't notice.
"You mean he would kill himself?" The young man asked shocked.
"Of course", the old man replied. "There's too much at stake" but his eyes told the young man before him that suicide wouldn't be an issue, but the young man still didn't catch that, probably too focussed on the money he would get for this job if he accepted.
The young man was quiet for a minute and then looked the old man in the eyes with determination. "All right, 20 thousand, then your man is in."
"Deal".
When the young man walked away the old man took his phone and entered a number. When answered he said: "You're on. Make it count."
~~~~~
Beacon Hills
"No Stiles, it is enough. After the whole Nogitsune debacle we have decided to let you go. We don't want you in the pack anymore. You're endangering everyone here." The voice of Scott sounded strong and determined. Stiles looked around and saw that though they were his friends, at least he had thought they were his friends, they all agreed with Scott. He briefly closed his eyes and sighed. Then he turned around and walked towards the door, opened it and then silently closed it behind him. He didn't see the shocked faces of his former pack but he knew he had surprised them. He knew they all had expected that he would scream, beg, cry or at least word vomiting that they shouldn't, couldn't, wouldn't. That they were his friends. That they needed him, that he was important to the pack helping them to find information about the big bad. How to fight it, how to get rid of it, how to stop it. They never would have guessed that he would leave them behind without saying a word. It seemed that they never had known the real Stiles.
As Stiles left, all were quiet, not believing what they just witnessed. He just left without saying a word. They all looked at each other, trying to confirm that what they just experienced was true. Stiles left without saying a word. Never in a million years they would have believed that he would act like this. Never like this. Not the silent treatment for that was soóó not Stiles! But he did! He just turned around and just left without a word, without a complaint. Then he silently had closed the door and a minute later his car drove slowly away from their den. They all looked at each other, astonishment written on their faces. What the hell just happened?
~~~~~
New York
Nick Fury looked at Phil Coulson. "So, it is true."
"Yes, but we haven't figured out why."
"Sent Natasha, she's the best."
"I know, but that will tip them off."
Fury sighed. "True. But we can't wait till something happens."
"No, but I'm sure it's not Hydra. There's something else at work."
"No, it's not Hydra. All right, we let it simmer. See what comes up in time and strike then. I don't have to tell you to be careful." Though Fury always gave off vibrations of being bad, he really wasn't. He knew Coulson would be careful but he still remembered his 'death' by Loki's hand and if he was a lesser man, he still would suffer nightmares from that whole ideal. He also knew facing an unknown enemy was a recipe for disaster.
Though Coulson's face remained stoic, his eyes told Fury he appreciated his concern. "Of course." Then he turned around and left. Fury sighed again. He wondered what they would face now when all things were going to escalate.
~~~~~
Chapter 1 The end of the beginning of time
AN: WARNING. One violent death coming up.
At the beginning of time, when men were aware of the supernatural among them, the supernatural were aware of men. For they knew that men couldn't be trusted. For men were afraid, and when afraid, people do strange things. Some, however, would make a profit out of the supernatural, for werewolves were strong, good for hard labour or could be experimented on, for their healing ability was extraordinary. Banshees could herald death. Kitsunes were clever. Demons were hard to catch, but people wanted their power. And to get that, they used spells after finding out how to make them and use them. Everything that was supernatural, could be used and people did it. For money, making a profit from someone else his misery. Or power, wanting world domination. And then there were those who thought that all supernatural beings were an abomination and needed to be gone. Killed. Destroyed. Exterminated. Wiped out of existence.
Those who could escape such a fate fled to other countries. Even across the sea and decided to lay low. Others decided to hide in plain sight. To be like every other human being and not use their gifts. But they didn't think it through properly, cause with time, they also forgot their history, their knowledge, their inheritance. Stories, who went from generation to generation, slowly were forgotten, for fear of writing it down and found out by other people.
After time, people forgot about the supernatural. Still, some stories remained and people started to call them 'fairy tales' or 'folklore'. Stories about fairies wandering the woods, dancing on air, or fae holding court every season. Vampires wandering the streets, looking for victims to drink their blood. Demons wandering the earth, looking to cause trouble by starting wars. Hellhounds who were leashed to the spiritual world and guarded the entryway to the afterlife. Banshees who would herald death. Sparks who could do magic. Incubus or succubus sleeping around with men or women. Or kelpies who would lure men into the water by using their body. Stories. Just good reads for the children (without the sex, violence and scary parts), for they believed them. Adults thought them fantasy. And the supernatural agreed to that. Fantasy. That way they remained save. Though the hunters weren't fooled. They still knew what bumped in the night and they taught it their children and they taught it theirs. Generation after generation of hunters were taught about the supernatural world and how to kill it. But they changed too. For the abomination they thought the supernatural were, some came to the conclusion that not all were bad. So some changed their code and decided to hunt only those who were a threat to the community. But still there were enough who thought that the creatures were an abomination and all had to be killed.
With time passing by, the supernatural grabbed the opportunity to help remain what was left of their legacy. To save their knowledge and write everything down what they still remembered before everything was entirely forgotten. And now they could say it was just a story and none would be the wiser. They knew of course they couldn't fool the hunters, but the ordinary people wouldn't think anything about it. But to make sure that hunters wouldn't know their strength and weaknesses, they hid their stories with fictional ones, so when men would read them, 50% would be complete rubbish and the other truthful 50% was spread out, making sure their children would know which was true and which wasn't.
Hunters, however, decided to do the same. Every family wrote down which creature they had encountered and how to get rid of it. Every time they fought a new creature, they contributed something on paper and called it their 'Bestiary', making sure that no one else would read it. Sometimes a family became extinct and their knowledge disappeared. But unfortunately sometimes their Bestiary survived and went to other hunter families, who sometimes would learn things they hadn't encountered yet. Sometimes the supernatural got their hands, paws or claws on it first and saved themselves that way. In a way it was a game of cat and mouse and no one knew who was the cat and who was the mouse for their roles switched constantly with their life as payment.
~~~~~
This story begins somewhere in Poland at the end of the beginning of time. Persecution was still going on but the supernatural were starting to lay low. Ordinary people starting to forget or about 'others' but hunters still try to flush them out. In those day in a village in Poland a witch lived among her family. Not many knew she was a witch and she kept it that way. For she knew that people would kill her, just because of what she was in spite of what she could do. The people in her village respected her cause she always helped those in need. Sometimes she gave some food, sometimes some herbs, telling them that they must brew it and drink it and that their cold would vanish or some other simple disease. Sometimes she knew she could help them more, for she also had the gift of foresight, but that would jeopardize her life and that of her child and husband, so she remained in the shadows. Sometimes hunters had come by and she treated them like any other being and pretended not to know what they were, still giving food or herbs. She knew they were searching for a witch, but they only found a woman with knowledge about herbs.
So the days turned into years until one day a hunter came to town who was more cunning than the previous ones. This hunter knew that witches couldn't touch iron and one way or another he tried to bring everyone in the village in contact with iron. One day her daughter came home with the story that someone dropped a knife in front of her feet. So she picked it up and gave it back to him. 'He smiled at me', she said, not seeing her mother's worried eyes. That night she dreamed and knew instantly that her time had come. The next morning she started to pack. Instead of clothes, she put papers and herbs in her bag. Then she sat down at the table and started to write a letter to her daughter. When she was finished, she put it all under her bed and pretended that all was just the same as always.
Later that day she ran into the hunter who managed to touch her with something made of iron. She knew now how she was going to die. He started yelling "she's a witch, she's a witch. She needs to be burned. She needs to be burned. They are a danger to our families. She kills you in your sleep. Get her, and kill her before she makes more victims."
The strange thing was, that though she had lived many years inside the community, people immediately started to retreat from her, looking afraid as if she would kill them instantly. After all those years of helping them, they immediately turned themselves against her. She ran to her house and called her daughter's name, in the meantime going to her bed and grabbed her bag and letter.
When her daughter came, she said in a hurry: "Take this bag and this letter and go, for the people will come and take me and kill me. In the letter you can read why and why I have to die and also why you have to run. My child, I love you, but please leave, for they will kill you too. And with that she pushed her daughter through the backdoor out of the house towards the woods, which she so much had loved. As she saw her daughter disappear into the forest, the people came, armed with spades, staffs, shovels and other tools. The hunter had a crossbow with an arrow pointed at her. They captured her and brought her to the centre of the village, where a stake already had been made. The death sentence was obvious, only the execution needed to be done. To make it look like they were honourable, they started a process with a scribe to write it all down.
The leader of the village spoke and accused her of witchcraft for he knew she was famous for her healing herbs, telling the people that lately a few people had died despite her herbs, and a farmers cow died mysteriously when previously he had been healthy. And she owned a cat and everybody knows that cats were companions to witches, purposely forgetting that other people had cats too, preventing them from too much mice and rats. The more the leader said, the more the people got agitated. Before she was able to say something in her defence (as if that would have helped) they grabbed her and bound her on the stake.
Just before they were about to lit it, she began to speak and in some strange way the people stopped yelling and screaming.
"My people, I knew one day a hunter would come and would kill me, just because I am a witch. But look into your hearts. Do you really believe a hunter who you don't know, over me who you've known for more than forty years? In all those years I have been there for you, gave you food and healed you when I could. If I really was as bad as he would say, I could have killed you all and none would have known, now would you. But now, your ignorance is killing me. Your fear put me on this pile of wood. Your self-righteousness is a façade of cruelty towards other kind. But know this, this all will stop!" Her voice was suddenly laced with power. The hunter, seeing that the people were really listening towards her, started yelling: "don't listen to her, otherwise she puts you under her spell," then grabbed the torch and lit the wood.
The wood started to burn but despite the fire, the villagers noticed that the air around the witch began to turn cold and her eyes began to shine. Her appearance changed and a glow fell down upon her. With her voice even more powerful than before, she looked at the hunter and the villagers, head held high and prophesied:
"Mark my words, for I see your fate and the fate of your descendants:
Beware, if you won't change your way,
You certainly have your life to pay
For a forest child will come to town
and he will bring you, hunters, down.
Just one of you he will inspire,
Who shall protect her heart's desire.
Yet still he kills this hunter's daughter,
commanding demons for the slaughter.
Though not one of us, he will do right
And protect us, defenceless, in this fight
For a glorious sword he will wield
The son of justice will be our shield
When war colours red the street
And our champion and enemy meet
To fight until the last is gone
For we have a man one can lean on
Styled son of closure for he will end
Your hunting days to our defend
Zielen's descendent, repose son,
So shall it be written, so shall it be done.
The words echoed through their minds and then sank into their souls. They felt it deep inside and knew. The power behind it made it very, very clear that though she spoke of hunters, she also included them. Cause out of fear or despise they had grabbed an innocent woman, though maybe a witch but still, innocent, and condemned her, burning her alive. If others were in the village, just like her, would they kill them too? Probably. This showed them that they were pathetic, narrow-minded and hateful towards others who weren't them. But she told them that it wouldn't stay unpunished. Someone would come. One out of them would fight for the supernatural, cause they knew that there weren't only witches but others as well. They knew the stories, though they had wanted to forget. But how could they now. Someday one would come and the supernatural would get a champion who would do them justice. For they knew that what they just did was completely and utterly wrong, but they had done it anyway out of fear of whatever made up reason. Even if they didn't know a Zielen, it was clear that his son would come and punish them. And to be honest, it would be well deserved.
But still they watched. It seemed as if their feet were bound to the ground for they couldn't move a muscle. At least it felt that way. They knew it was the witch's doing. She was making sure she would burn. And hearing the prophecy they knew why. When she would die, the prophecy would be set. Then just before the fire would reach her, a flame shot from the pile and ran through the crowd toward the witch's house. The people on the square screamed. This truly was witchcraft. Then the witch's house started to burn. It suddenly felt like their feet were released and the villagers ran towards it to fight the fire, afraid their houses would burn too. They now certainly knew that she had been a powerful witch who had lived in peace with them all those years. Now for killing her, she punished them by setting their village on fire.
When the fire caught the witch there were only the hunter and the scribe who witnessed her death. Even the hunter had been surprised by the fire. He looked at the ground but there was not a trace that there had been a trail of fire. If he just as the villagers had looked closely when they had grabbed her, then they might have noticed that she had left a trail of oil from a hidden flask. She knew when they would set her alight that the fire would follow the oil trail and would run towards her house for there still were things who could jeopardize others of her kind if found. She wanted to make sure that the hunter wouldn't get his hands on her stuff. She knew that all would run towards her burning house and would erase the trail. Which kept her secret save and made her death and words more powerful.
As the villagers fought the fire, in which they only succeeded in rescuing the other houses around the witch's one, the witch died.
The scribe who had stayed behind as a witness, wrote it all down, including the 'prophecy' as he had written that above her words.
~~~~~~
When it was night, the daughter sneaked back inside the village. The bag her mother had given her, she had hidden inside a hole in a tree. If she was caught with it, she would be taken as well and probably would be burned too. It all had happened so fast. One moment she was in the house, the next her mother had grabbed her and pushed her out of the door towards the forest with a bag in her hand. She had hid behind the trees but she could hear the screams from the villagers yelling 'witch, witch'. She couldn't believe it. Her mother a witch? She knew that her mother knew a lot about herbs and other things but a witch? But then she saw the smoke rise and knew instantly that they were burning her mother alive.
Suddenly she felt a pain inside her chest like someone had stabbed her. She wanted to scream but she managed not to make a sound. She didn't want to draw the villagers towards her. As she bent over from the pain, she felt another attack, but this one felt different. She felt an extreme pressure on her body as if someone wants to press her inside the ground. She then realised that she was gifted with power, power she knew she now inherited from her mother. She closed her eyes, knowing that her mother was dead now and that the accusations of being a witch had been true. She cried for the loss of her mother but knew that she had to stay hidden. Though she didn't feel up to it she decided to look inside the bag , for there might be something in it which could save her life. The sooner she knew about everything, the better. In the bag she found some rare herbs, some papers and there still was the letter her mother had given her. She decided to start with the letter and instantly opened it and started reading:
'My dearest child,
Time is running out and I have so much to say to you. When you read this, you'll know I'm gone. You've probably felt it too. Don't weep. Save your tears for another day. Remember the days when we were together. When you close your eyes you can hear my voice for I'll always be in your heart. I knew my time had come when you told me about the man and the knife. Now you have inherited my powers and hunters will come and try to flush you out with tricks. Stay away from iron my love, for that's our weakness.
Inside this bag are some papers with our history. A lot are just stories to hid the truth about us, but every sentence which is true has a little dot in front of it or a smudge above it or a mistake in it. Learn them and make sure this knowledge will be passed down to our kind for it must never be forgotten.
One day there will come a time when we don't have to be afraid anymore and we can live in peace with each other. I have seen it. I only don't know when for my vision wasn't clear enough, but it will happen and that is a good thing.
My child, leave this village for it is not save here anymore. Go to my family who lives a day travelling from here. Give my love to your father and I wish you all the luck in the world.
With all my love,
Mother'
Tears fell from her eyes after reading this letter but she wouldn't swap them away. Reading her mother's last words in which she showed her love, decided to leave her hometown, the place where she grew up and had her friends and family. It seemed that there weren't any friends left here. She then decided to stay hidden till it was dark. A few hours after dark she went to her house but seeing that it was burned down to the ground she decided to go to her father's sister. She hoped that her father would be there. If not, she wouldn't have a clue where he would stay for they had many friends, if he still had any left.
She stayed in the shadows, just to be sure. When she saw her father standing outside her aunt's house looking at the sky, she felt lucky despite losing her mother and seeing her father's face laced with grief. She looked around and when she saw no one, she went to him and embraced him. He started crying and she rubbed her hand on his back, trying to give him comfort whispering nonsense words. But she cried with him, both finding comfort with each other, for she had just lost her mother and he had just lost his wife and the pain started to come through and acceptance was still so far away. She told him that her mother had left her a letter in which she told her to leave town and live with her mother's relatives. And also to give her love to her father. Her father then understood that he also would lose his daughter if she would stay here, but if he gave her his blessing that he would never see her again. He told her that he would go with her, for he couldn't live here anymore. He went into the house, said goodbye to his sister and despite the darkness they left.
The next day the villagers realized the witch had a daughter so they came to the man's sister to ask about her, for maybe she was a witch too. The fact that they despised themselves for innocently burning someone the last day, they didn't see that they were trying to do the same again by looking for the daughter. The sister made it very clear that she was furious and said with a cold voice: "You've killed my family. You murdered my sister-in-law without reason and now you're looking for her daughter. My remaining family left because of you. They don't want to live here anymore and who would blame them. A village with friends who turns out to be demons in disguise, it's wise to have no dealings with them anymore. For you and the hunters are just the same." The last was said with so much contempt. Then she closed the door in their faces. They still heard her when she said vindictively behind closed doors: "remember the prophecy!" One by one they went to their houses, for the prophecy still burned in their hearts. It was true what the woman had said. They went after the daughter which turned them into hunters too. They wanted to forget the whole thing so they decided to never ask about the daughter again. A few days later they couldn't anymore, for the sister also had left the village. Nobody had noticed that the woman had left, leaving behind only a table on which she had left a message. Carved on it was a part of the prophecy: 'For a forest child will come, a glorious sword he will wield, for the son of justice protects the defenceless and he will bring you, hunters, down. Now it is written, thus shall it be done.' The whole rhyme she had adjusted but it made it much stronger now, especially the end. They all felt a chill and decided to let it all slide into oblivion. They decided to take out the table and to bury it somewhere never to be found. All were afraid to burn it, out of fear that the prophecy would destroy their village by burning it down. They just had avoided the previous one.
The day the villagers went searching for the daughter, the hunter decided to leave town. In his opinion there were no more witches. He had tricked everyone with iron one way or the other and his mission had been successful. He had killed the witch. But he wasn't pleased like the other times he had been successful, for the prophecy still ran through his head. Though he had witnessed her death, and was sure she had died, he had to admit that he still heard her words. The rhyme was easy to remember but to be sure he decided to write it down. He had to find Zielen's descendent. He had to kill Zielen's son before he was killed. But where to find him. The witch had given enough clues. Son of Zielen, living in a forest or near one but the rest were just titles and some skills with a sword. Not something concrete. And she had confessed that she knew that she would be killed by a hunter. That meant that she had the gift of foresight. And this prophecy was extremely powerful for he had felt the cold despite the fire. He had felt the words burning inside him and saw this also had happened with the people around him. When he wrote down the last sentence 'So shall it be written, so shall it be done', the temperature around him dropped, giving him goosebumps and he felt a chill on his back. Instantly he knew that the witch had used him. It wasn't her death which had set the prophecy, but it was his writing this down just as the scribe had done. Now clearly seeing what she had intended: 'So shall it be written'. Destroying the paper wasn't going to stop it. It was set! The witch must have known that the people would write it down. After all she had lived in the village and knew their way of justice. The scribe wrote down whatever happened. And she must have known that hunters wrote their encounter's down with the supernatural. So she assumed, and had assumed right, that he would write it down as well including the prophecy. And now, written down by people and hunters it was set, both instruments used by the witch. He knew he had no other way to stop the prophecy than finding Zielen's son and kill him. He felt another chill on his back. He needed help and decided to visit another hunter family of which he knew lived some towns over. The hunter family wasn't happy when he told them what had happened but knew that they had to act immediately and started to spread the story and with that the hunt on Zielen's son.
~~~~~
Years passed on and villages came and went as well as their people. And because the people wanted to forget, they erased the prophecy. But the prophecy couldn't be erased, it was too strong. The hunters knew, for it was an accusation against them. If they didn't change their ways hunting the supernatural, they would be killed. After a while they began to realize that they not only had set the prophecy but that they also had spread the prophecy by telling all their comrades in order to find Zielen's son.
After many of years they finally found Zielen. It never had occurred to them that it wasn't a person but a place, a small village in Poland, though sometimes spelled differently which had made it hard to find. Realizing that over that period it wouldn't be possible to find Zielen's descendent now. After so much time people married or moved or even changed their names. They were too late to find the person who would raise his hand against them.
~~~~~
While the hunters had been searching, the supernatural had kept taps on the hunters in case they would find him for the witch's daughter had written the prophecy down as well, for her father had told her everything that had happened and her mother's final words. Though laying low, she also spread her mother's words to those of whom she knew were supernatural who spread the word to their kind and so giving them hope for the future.
When it was obvious the hunters were too late in finding Zielen's descendent, the supernatural rejoiced, for one day there would be a champion who would stand up for them and save them from the hunters.
Authors note: Yep, people in those days could read and write and were in possession of pen and paper and don't forget the rhyme in modern English. (Storywise it would have been some kind of Slavic for the story starts in Poland, but that language is beyond my skills.) Further I wanted to give the people in this chapter names but they didn't fit in and I really didn't miss them. Besides, their part is over now. But if you were curious: the witch: Beata (blessed traveller); her daughter: Brygida (goddess); her husband: Aatami (earth, man); the sister Gaia (earth) and the hunter: Nowak (from Nowicjusz which means new one). Which according to the internet were some Polish names with their meaning. If I am wrong, blame Google. I also wanted to explain the prophecy but then I would give away the story, so no go. Besides, you're all clever enough to know who I'm writing about.
Next week Chapter 2: The beginning of the end of time