Chapter 5: Foundations of War
POV: Sam Barton
Dawn breaks over the Barton estate like a blade cutting through the darkness. In the basement, Sam's fists connect with his clone's raised forearms, the impact echoing off concrete walls. Sweat drips from both their faces—identical expressions of determined exhaustion.
"Again," Sam pants, stepping back into fighting stance.
The clone blurs into motion, Enhanced Speed activated. Forty miles per hour in short bursts—not vampire-level yet, but enough to disorient a human opponent. Sam tracks the movement through their mental link, predicting the attack angle and rolling left. The clone's fist whistles past his ear.
"Getting better," the clone says, grinning despite the sweat. "But I could move faster if you'd let me really test the limits."
"We test safely or we don't test at all." Sam wipes his face with a towel, muscles aching from three hours of training. "Speaking of testing—we need to try the damage relocation mechanics."
The clone's expression shifts to manic interest.
"Finally! Let me take a hit, see if the position swap works."
"Absolutely not." Sam's voice carries sharp authority. "We don't test that until we have to. If it fails, you die."
The clone's grin turns reckless. "But if it works, you're basically unkillable."
The thought is as terrifying as it is tempting. Sam imagines walking into vampire confrontations knowing that fatal damage would simply relocate to his clone. The tactical advantages would be enormous. But the cost—sacrificing a piece of himself, literally—makes his stomach clench.
"I can't think of the clone as disposable," Sam realizes. "It's not just an ability. It's... me. Part of me."
"We wait," Sam says firmly. "When something supernatural tries to kill me—and it will—then we test it. Not before."
The clone nods reluctantly, hyperactive energy dimming to acceptance. Through their mental link, Sam feels its understanding, its loyalty. Whatever personality quirks separate them, they share the same core drive: protect the people they're growing to love.
After showering and grabbing breakfast, Sam heads to the greenhouse. The structure sprawls behind the main house like a crystal cathedral, glass panels catching morning light. Inside, the air smells of earth and growing things—herbs, vegetables, and in the back corner, a section his parents kept locked.
Sam uses the key from his father's study, hands trembling slightly as he opens the door.
Vervain. Rows and rows of it, purple flowers nodding in the humid air. The plants are mature, fully grown, some showing signs of multiple harvests. But according to the planting records in his parents' journals, these seeds were planted only six months ago. Vervain doesn't grow this fast naturally.
"Something's wrong here. Or right, depending on how you look at it."
Sam begins harvesting carefully, filling mason jars with leaves and flowers. Enough for twenty doses of protection tea, or five concentrated tinctures for jewelry. As he works, a folded paper falls from behind one of the plant pots—another journal entry in his mother's handwriting.
"The vervain responds to intention. It grows for those who need protection. We don't understand the mechanism, but something wants guardians in this town. We've found evidence of previous archaeological families dating back to the 1800s—all died young, all left behind detailed supernatural research. As if knowledge itself chooses its carriers."
Sam's pulse quickens. His parents weren't just random victims of supernatural violence. They were part of a pattern, a cycle of guardians who discovered Mystic Falls' secrets and died trying to protect them.
"Did they know about me? About what I'd become?"
He pockets the journal entry and several vervain sprigs, mind racing with implications. If his parents were guardians, if their deaths were part of some cosmic pattern, what does that make him? The next generation? The culmination?
[QUEST PROGRESS: SECURE VERVAIN SOURCE - COMPLETED]
[REWARD: +100 EXP]
[MYSTERIOUS GUARDIAN LEGACY DISCOVERED]
[NEW QUEST UNLOCKED: UNCOVER THE BARTON FAMILY TRUTH]
Twenty minutes later, Sam walks through downtown Mystic Falls with vervain-laced skin cream rubbed into his palms. The town square bustles with morning activity—shops opening, people heading to work, teenagers like him cutting classes.
That's when he spots Jeremy Gilbert.
Elena's younger brother sits alone on a bench near the fountain, sketching in a notebook. Even from a distance, Sam can see the telltale signs—dilated pupils, sluggish movements, the careful way he holds his pencil to hide hand tremors. High. Again.
"In canon, Jeremy's addiction gets worse before it gets better. Damon eventually compels the pain away, but not before Jeremy nearly destroys himself."
Sam approaches casually, settling on the bench without invitation. Jeremy glances up, annoyed at the interruption.
"Do I know you?"
"Sam Barton. New kid." Sam nods at the sketchbook. "Mind if I see? I'm interested in art."
Jeremy hesitates, then shrugs and tilts the page. The drawing steals Sam's breath—a perfect rendering of the town square, but darker, more angular. Shadows stretch like claws, and the people look haunted, hollow-eyed.
"This is incredible," Sam says honestly. "You have real talent."
"Thanks." Jeremy's voice carries bitter exhaustion. "My sister thinks it's a waste of time. Says I should focus on schoolwork, moving forward, all that grief counselor bullshit."
"Elena's trying to hold herself together while helping Jeremy heal. But she doesn't understand that people process trauma differently."
"How long since your parents died?" Sam asks quietly.
Jeremy's hand stills on the pencil. "Four months. Car accident on Wickery Bridge." His voice is carefully neutral, practiced.
"Mine died six months ago. Archaeological dig collapse in Egypt."
Jeremy looks up, really seeing Sam for the first time. Recognition flickers—another orphan, someone who might understand.
"Does it get easier?" Jeremy asks.
Sam considers this carefully. In his past life, he'd lost grandparents, but never parents. The grief he carries now is borrowed from Sam Barton's memories, filtered through his own emotional understanding.
"The pain changes," Sam says slowly. "Becomes less sharp, more like a permanent ache. But Jeremy—and this is important—grief doesn't have a timeline. Everyone expecting you to 'move on' or 'heal' on their schedule is bullshit."
Jeremy's eyes widen slightly. No adult has told him this before.
"But," Sam continues, "drowning in it doesn't honor them either. Your parents would want you to live, not just survive. There's a difference."
They sit in silence for several minutes, watching people cross the square. Sam can feel Jeremy processing, weighing Sam's words against the emptiness he's been carrying.
"You're that new kid Caroline won't shut up about," Jeremy says finally, something lighter in his voice.
Sam laughs. "Guilty. She mentioned me?"
"Every day. Sam this, Sam that. I was starting to think she made you up."
"Caroline Forbes doesn't have that kind of imagination."
Jeremy almost smiles. Almost.
[QUEST COMPLETE: REACH OUT TO JEREMY GILBERT]
[REWARD: +150 EXP]
[NEW RELATIONSHIP: JEREMY GILBERT (CAUTIOUS FRIENDSHIP)]
As they talk, Sam spots Elena and Bonnie approaching from the direction of the school. Elena looks worried—probably searching for her missing brother. Bonnie walks beside her, animated in conversation, gesturing with paint-stained hands.
Sam stands to leave, but as he passes the girls, Bonnie literally bumps into him. Her hand grabs his arm to steady herself—skin to skin contact.
The world explodes.
Bonnie gasps, her brown eyes going wide and unfocused. Through their brief connection, Sam feels something vast and ancient stirring in her bloodline—power that wants to wake up, magic that recognizes something in him.
"You're... loud," she whispers, stumbling backward. "So loud. Like a beacon."
Elena catches her friend's elbow, concerned. "Bonnie, you okay?"
Sam's mind races frantically. Can she sense the System? His supernatural presence? The clone connection humming in the back of his thoughts?
"She's a Bennett witch. Even untrained, her psychic abilities are probably picking up something."
"Low blood sugar?" Sam suggests weakly, forcing his voice to stay casual. "Happens to me too. You should eat something."
Bonnie blinks, the unfocused look fading, but she continues staring at him with unnerved curiosity.
"I... yeah. Sorry. Just a weird feeling."
Elena studies Sam's face, processing the interaction. "I don't think we've been properly introduced. I'm Elena Gilbert."
"Sam Barton. Jeremy and I were just talking about art."
Elena's expression softens with gratitude—anyone who can get Jeremy to engage is automatically in her good graces.
"He's really talented," Sam adds. "You should be proud."
"I am." Elena glances toward her brother, who's gone back to sketching. "It's just... he's been struggling since our parents died."
"Grief has its own timeline," Sam repeats. "He'll find his way."
As the girls walk away, Sam catches Bonnie whispering urgently to Elena: "There's something different about him. I can feel it."
"My secret just became more fragile."
That evening, Sam sits in his study, the System interface open before him. His EXP has accumulated throughout the day—vervain securing, Jeremy connection, Bonnie's psychic recognition. The numbers tick upward.
[QUEST COMPLETE: BUILD FOUNDATIONS FOR SUPERNATURAL DEFENSE]
[REWARD: +200 EXP]
[TOTAL EXP: 550/500 TO LEVEL 3]
[LEVEL UP ACHIEVED!]
[+5 STAT POINTS AVAILABLE]
Sam allocates immediately: +3 INT for larger MP pool, +2 WIS for faster regeneration and better tactical thinking.
[UPDATED STATS:]
STR: 10 | AGI: 12 | VIT: 13
INT: 15 | WIS: 13 | PER: 12 | CHA: 11
HP: 460/460 | MP: 375/375 | MP Regen: 13/min
Through their mental link, Sam feels his clone practicing Enhanced Speed in the basement—short bursts around the concrete space, mastery slowly increasing. 10% now, enough for sustained movement that would blur human vision.
But Bonnie's reaction haunts him. If she can sense the System now, what happens when her magic fully awakens? When she becomes the most powerful witch in Mystic Falls history?
"She could expose me. Or worse—she could decide I'm a threat."
The calendar on his desk mocks him: September 10th. It's been a week since school started. In canon, Stefan Salvatore arrives around this time, triggering the avalanche of supernatural chaos that will consume the town.
"Where is he?"
Sam closes his eyes and makes a decision that terrifies him. Tomorrow, he stakes out the old Salvatore boarding house. If Stefan's coming, Sam will know exactly when. And if something else is stirring in the shadows of Mystic Falls—something drawn by the System, by his presence—he needs to identify the threat before it strikes.
The clone's voice whispers through their mental connection: "Multiple heartbeats approaching the estate. Three figures. Moving carefully."
Sam's blood turns to ice. He grabs the vervain darts from his father's weapons cache, hands steady despite the fear clawing at his chest.
"It's starting."
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