LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 54: The Honoured One
The Impala's engine hums beneath us as I stare out the window, trying to process everything we've just learned.
Each revelation about Vali feels like another piece of a puzzle I never knew I was solving - the child meant to be salvation, the being so powerful that even the world pauses at his name.
I find myself wondering what that must be like - to be so strong that no one dares challenge you, to be called "Honoured One" more than brother.
The weight of centuries pressing down, every word you speak becoming absolute law, until even family becomes more subjects than loved ones.
Stefan's hand tightens around mine, and I know he feels it too. There's a change in him I can't quite explain - something deeper than vampire nature, more fundamental than blood thirst. When our eyes meet, I see flickers of gold dancing in his usual forest green.
The night blurs past the windows, Chicago's lights painting shadows that seem to move differently now. Everything feels more significant somehow, as if reality itself is holding its breath, waiting for something to change.
"You're processing," Vali observes from the driver's seat, his crimson eyes finding mine in the rearview mirror. "I can feel your mind working through it all."
And he's right. Each piece of information slots into place, forming a picture I'm only beginning to understand.
The being that even Satan fears, not because of mere power, but because of what that power represents. The absolute authority that comes not from others allowing it, but from sheer, undeniable strength.
Yet beneath all that power, all that carefully maintained control, I catch glimpses of something else. The child who needed love but received fear instead. The being so strong that no one dares speak truth to him anymore, leaving him isolated in his own perfection.
The white light that I recently began to be aware of beneath my skin pulses stronger with each realization, as if responding to these deeper understandings. It's not just change happening to us anymore - it's awakening, revelation, truth breaking through centuries of careful masks.
Chicago's streets grow darker as we drive, each turn feeling more purposeful than the last.
Rebekah sits silently beside her brother, but I catch her watching us in the mirror, something like anticipation mixed with concern in her gaze.
"You claim complete acceptance of yourself," I say suddenly, surprising myself with the steadiness in my voice. "That love is worthless, that you need no one. But if that's true, why do you work so hard to prove it?"
The temperature drops sharply in the car, shadows deepening around us. But something inside me pushes forward, that strange white light lending courage I didn't know I possessed.
"No one challenges you. No one dares. So who are you really trying to convince?"
"Careful, little doppelganger," his voice carries deadly warning, but something in his reaction only confirms my suspicions.
There's an edge there, a tension that suggests these words are hitting marks no one has dared aim for in centuries.
"Your mother's fear shaped you," I press on, even as Stefan tenses beside me. "But being the Strongest shaped you too, didn't it? When was the last time anyone told you the truth about yourself? When was the last time anyone dared?"
Through the rearview mirror, I watch emotions flicker across his face - so quick I might have missed them if that white light wasn't making me see differently.
Anger, surprise, and something else... something almost like respect beneath the fury.
"The Honoured One," I continue, tasting the title's weight. "The being so powerful that reality itself bends to your will. But power doesn't heal wounds, does it? It just makes sure no one can ever hurt you again."
Rebekah's breath catches beside him, her eyes wide with a mixture of fear and wonder.
I realize suddenly that she's never seen anyone speak to him this way - not questioning his power, but the walls he's built around himself.
"You think understanding grants you special privilege?" Vali's smile shows too many teeth, but there's something different in his tone now. "That insight somehow exempts you from consequence?"
"No," I reply quietly, "I think it makes me see you clearly for the first time. The being so powerful that no one dares speak truth to him. The King who arranged everything perfectly because control is safer than connection."
The car's interior grows colder still, but I notice something strange - the shadows aren't attacking.
They're watching, waiting, as if even they want to know what happens when someone finally dares to challenge not his power, but his carefully constructed isolation.
The Impala rolls to a stop before an ancient church, its Gothic spires reaching like accusations toward the star-scattered sky.
Something about this place makes my breath catch - not just its imposing architecture, but the way it seems to pulse with purpose.
"Can you feel it?" Vali asks as we step into the night air. "The way this place responds to what's awakening inside you?"
I want to deny it, but the white light beneath my skin surges in recognition.
Each stone, each shadow, each moonbeam through stained glass feels significant now, as if the building itself has been waiting for this moment.
"Why here?" Stefan's voice carries new depths I've never heard before, that golden fire that I became aware of shifting within his soul making his words resonate with power he's only beginning to understand.
"Because some changes require consecrated ground," Vali replies, pushing open the ancient doors with casual grace. "Even if that consecration was meant for... other purposes."
The interior stretches before us, and suddenly I understand what he means. This isn't just a church - it's a nexus point where different layers of reality intersect.
The white light inside me recognizes patterns in its architecture that human minds were never meant to comprehend.
Blue flames ignite on their own, casting impossible shadows across ancient stone. But something's wrong with how I'm seeing them - or perhaps something's finally right.
Each flame tells a story, each shadow holds meaning beyond mere darkness.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Vali's voice echoes through the empty nave, carrying weight that makes reality shiver. "The way everything changes when you start to see properly."
Standing here, watching shadows dance with purpose across consecrated stone, I feel something fundamental shifting inside me.
The white light isn't just changing what I am - it's revealing what was always there, waiting to be awakened.
Stefan moves closer, his golden fire reaching for my light in ways that feel both new and ancient.
Through our connection, I sense his own awakening - the way his Ripper nature isn't fighting this change but being transformed by it, elevated into something beyond mere hunger.
The church seems to breathe around us, its very stones humming with anticipation. Whatever we're becoming, this place has been prepared for it, waiting through centuries for this exact moment.
The blue flames rise higher as Vali moves toward the altar, each step radiating the casual authority that comes from millennia of absolute power.
But now, with this new awareness growing inside me, I see something else too - the weight of that authority, the isolation it brings.
"You arranged everything perfectly," I say, watching shadows dance with purpose across ancient stone.
"Every detail, every moment, leading to this transformation. But tell me, Honoured One," the title carries gentle challenge rather than reverence, "what happens when your perfect creations start thinking for themselves?"
The church trembles slightly, power rolling off him in waves that make reality itself shiver.
But beneath his mask of casual amusement, I catch something else - a tension that suggests these words are hitting marks no one has dared aim for in centuries.
"Such courage," he muses, his voice deceptively soft. "Or perhaps foolishness. Do you think you're the first to try this approach, Elena? To attempt to... understand me?"
The white light inside me pulses stronger, and suddenly I can feel the weight of centuries in his words - all the others who might have tried to reach past his carefully constructed walls, all the attempts at connection he's rejected.
"No," I answer honestly. "But I might be the first who sees both sides of it. The child who needed love, and the being so powerful he convinced himself he never needed it at all."
Stefan's golden fire flares beside me in silent support, our energies intertwining in ways that feel both new and inevitable.
Through our connection, I sense his own understanding growing - the way this transformation isn't just about power, but about perception.
"You forget yourself," Vali warns, though something in his tone suggests he's more intrigued than angry. "This evolution you're experiencing doesn't make you my equal."
"No," I agree. "It makes me someone who can finally see what everyone else is too afraid to say. That all your power, all your perfect arrangements, they're not just about control. They're about making sure no one ever gets close enough to hurt you again."
The silence that follows feels heavy with unspoken weight, until Vali's laugh breaks it - not his usual calculated amusement, but something sharper, almost genuine.
"You stand here, on the brink of transformation, and choose to spend these moments trying to unravel what you think are my deepest truths?"
His eyes find mine, bottomless black depths carrying something I've never seen before. "Perhaps it's time you focused on your own evolution."
The white light surges suddenly, making my knees buckle. It's not just inside me anymore - it's becoming me, or perhaps I'm finally becoming what I always was. Each pulse brings new awareness, new understanding that steals my breath:
Colors have depths I never knew existed, each shade carrying meaning beyond mere sight. The blue flames don't just burn - they speak, telling stories in a language I'm only beginning to comprehend.
Even the air feels alive with purpose, thick with possibilities I can almost taste.
"There it is," Vali's voice seems to come from everywhere at once. "The moment when theory gives way to experience."
He's right. Everything I thought I knew about reality seems small now, limited. Like viewing an ocean through a keyhole all my life, only to finally step onto the shore.
The church's architecture isn't just Gothic design anymore - I can see the sacred geometry beneath it, patterns that speak in languages older than words.
"Focus," Vali commands softly. "Don't fight it. Let it show you what you're meant to see."
I close my eyes, but it doesn't help. I can feel the age of the stones beneath us, taste the stories in the air, hear echoes of ancient sounds. Each breath brings new revelation:
The way reality bends around intention.
How power isn't just force, but language written in light and shadow.
The mathematics of existence, beautiful and terrible in its complexity.
"Brother," Rebekah's voice carries something between awe and concern. "Their transformation... it's happening faster than you once stated."
"Is it?" Vali's smile shows too many teeth. "Or perhaps they're simply more ready than we anticipated."
The blue flames rise ever the higher, their light carrying meanings I'm only beginning to grasp.
Each shadow in the church moves with purpose now, as if the world itself is holding its breath, waiting to see what we'll become. But then, with what I know now, I suppose it is.
"You're creating something new in us," I continue, watching the blue flames dance, "Not just power, but understanding. The very thing you were meant to have."
The white light pulses gently as truth flows through me. "You're giving us what you never received - guidance through transformation, protection during change."
The church seems to hold its breath as Vali considers my words. Stefan's golden fire burns steady beside me, and through our connection, I feel his own revelation - how our changes mirror what Vali might have been, had fear not twisted his purpose.
"And you think this insight grants you special understanding?" But his voice lacks its usual edge, carrying instead something almost like curiosity.
"No," I reply softly. "I think finally having this power, feeling this peace... it helps me see more clearly. How different everything could have been, for all of us." I pause, letting the white light guide my words.
"You're not just making us stronger - you're making sure we're not alone in what we are - nature's supposed tools. Me with my blood, Stefan with his hunger, and you with your very existence."
The shadows shift, and for a moment I catch glimpse of something beneath Vali's perfect control - the child who was meant to be salvation, who chose to master damnation when love was denied. The one doesn't want to be alone in what he is.
"Your mother saw a monster instead of miracle," I say gently as I begin to approach, letting go of Stefan's hand, "but look at what you're creating now. Not just power, but purpose. Not just strength, but understanding."
The white light pulses with each word, carrying truth deeper than mere insight. "You're giving us everything you were denied."
Stefan's golden fire flares in agreement, our powers dancing together in ways that feel both new and inevitable. Through our connection, I sense his own gratitude - for this guidance, this protection, this new peace that grants him more control over his own fate.
"You arranged everything perfectly," I say, watching reality shift around us. "Not just for power, but for protection. Every detail, every moment..." The truth flows through me like the gentle pulse of that white light.
"You made sure we'd never face this alone."
Vali remains silent, but the shadows dance differently now, responding to something deeper than his usual control.
"I see it now," I state softly.
The blue flames rise higher, but they don't feel threatening anymore. Each shadow, each flicker of light carries meaning beyond mere power - they're languages of protection, of guidance, of purpose finally understood.
"The Honoured One," I whisper, the title carrying new weight as I begin to kneel before him, gently taking his hand.
"Not just because of your strength, but because you took what broke you and turned it into something that protects what you love." I continue as I give his hand a kiss, and look up towards him, my eyes filled with wonder and gratitude.
"Thank you Vali, thank you for protecting this world, for enduring all its darkness for us all..."
"Enough," Vali commands, but his voice lacks its usual edge. Something else bleeds through - something ancient and almost vulnerable. "Focus on your own evolution."
The blue flames flicker as Vali pulls his hand away, but not before I catch something in his expression - a flicker of something beneath centuries of careful control. Stefan's golden fire pulses beside me, understanding flowing through our connection.
"You still don't see it, do you?" I ask gently, remaining on my knee but letting my hand fall.
"Even now, you turn away from gratitude, from recognition of what you truly are." The white light stirs beneath my skin, lending truth to my words. "Not what your mother feared, not what the world made you become, but what you were meant to be."
"Elena," Stefan warns softly, sensing the dangerous ground I'm treading.
But the white light guides me forward, showing me truths I never could have seen before. "You took all the world's evils into yourself, contained them, endured them. And even when that sacrifice was met with fear instead of love, you still..."
I pause, watching shadows dance with new meaning around us. "You still protect. Still guide. Still make sure others don't face their darkness alone."
The church trembles slightly, power rolling off Vali in waves that make reality shiver. But it's different now - not threatening, but almost desperate, as if something ancient and wounded is trying to maintain its careful walls.
"You think this understanding changes anything?" His voice carries weight that makes the shadows writhe, but I see past it now - see the child who contained evil itself and was feared for his strength rather than loved for his sacrifice.
The white light pulses stronger, showing me one final truth. "No," I reply softly. "Understanding doesn't change what happened to you. But maybe..."
I look up at him again, letting him see the genuine gratitude in my eyes, "maybe it means you don't have to carry that burden alone anymore."
The silence that follows feels heavy with unspoken weight, until Vali's laugh breaks it - sharp and dismissive, yet somehow too calculated to be genuine.
"How magnificently naive," he says, his voice carrying centuries of practiced disdain.
"You experience a fraction of power and suddenly think you understand sacrifice?" His smile shows too many teeth. "That gratitude somehow matters?"
The shadows pulse around us, deliberately threatening now, as if trying to erase the moment of vulnerability I glimpsed. "I didn't contain evil for this world's sake, Elena. I mastered it because power was the only truth worth pursuing."
He turns away from my kneeling form, his movements carrying casual dismissal. "Your transformation makes you sentimental.
Focus on your evolution instead of crafting pretty theories about things you cannot comprehend."
But even as he speaks, I notice something - the way the shadows don't actually attack, the way the blue flames still burn with purpose rather than threat.
Through our connection, Stefan's golden fire pulses with the same understanding I feel: sometimes the strongest denials reveal the deepest truths.
"As you wish, Honoured One," I reply softly, rising from my knees. But the white light inside me pulses with certainty - I saw what I saw, understood what I understood.
His dismissal doesn't change the truth of his protection, of his unwillingness to be alone.
The air suddenly grows heavy with power as Vali turns back to face us, something shifting in his expression.
But before he can speak, it happens - the white light inside me surges beyond control, meeting Stefan's golden fire in an explosion of pure energy.
Reality bends around us as our powers intertwine, reaching for something vast and terrible and wonderful.
The church's walls seem to dissolve, sacred geometry giving way to pure possibility. Each shadow, each flicker of blue flame, becomes part of something greater.
The last thing I see is Vali's face - not dismissive anymore, but carrying something almost like wonder as white light and golden fire engulf everything.
Then the world disappears in radiance.
The transformation we've been building toward finally completes.
And nothing will ever be the same again.
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(Author note: Hello everyone! I hope you all enjoyed the chapter!
How did you all find Elena's pov?
Her new... understanding. Power that grants her peace, enough clearheadedness to see past her own negative emotions and think more reasonably.
How did you all find the dialogue between Elena and Vali? I tried my very best to make it still be in character while taking note of Elena's new form of perceiving things.
So yeah, do please tell me.
Comment and review if you haven't, like this chapter, please do comment, I really want to know you guys' thoughts about the character of Vali, since I am very proud of how I wrote him.
I would very much appreciate it!
Well, I hope to see you all later,
Bye!)