Marcus Hidden's Past

The winds howled through the desolate landscape, carrying with them a cold that seemed to seep right to the bones of any who dared press their luck too far from the warmth of the kingdom's walls. It was an unsettling stillness that had settled over Magnus, standing alone atop some craggy cliff, staring into the horizon. The same wind that twisted trees into strange shapes so too twisted the thoughts of his mind.

Magnus hadn't come here to escape the world or even to reflect. He had come because there were truths he could no longer ignore, buried so deep within him, even he had forgotten their weight. But as the shadow entity continued to wreak havoc upon the kingdom, threatening everything he'd worked for, he knew the time had come. The past had caught up with him, and it was demanding to be known.

She found him there as the first rays of the morning sun painted the sky orange and pink. She had noticed earlier that day how he'd slipped into the shadows, his words to no one. Magnus wasn't one to shy from the front line, but lately, something had changed in him.

"Magnus?" Leona called softly as she approached, the sound of her footsteps muffled by the dense fog that lingered in the air.

He didn't turn right away, and for a moment, Leona wondered if he even heard her. Then, slowly, he glanced over his shoulder, his face shadowed, as if carrying a burden too heavy to share.

"I didn't expect anyone to follow me," Magnus said, his voice low and distant.

Leona stepped closer, her eyes scanning his face for signs of strain. "You've been distant lately. You're not the same as you were before the rifts. What's going on, Magnus?"

He exhaled deeply, his gaze still fixed on the horizon. "There's something you should know about me. Something I've kept hidden for years."

Leona's brow furrowed in concern. She had been with Magnus through so much already, from the chaos of the rifts to the rise of the shadow entity. But this—this felt different. His voice trembled, as if the very admission of whatever it was would tear him apart.

"I'm listening," she said gently, her voice a steady anchor in the storm of his turmoil.

Magnus stood silently for a long moment, his eyes distant as memories long buried resurfaced. "When I was a child, I was found by a group of travelers. I was taken in by an old man, someone who seemed to know more about me than he ever let on. He called himself Roderick."

Leona didn't look away, though her heart clasped in confusion. "What does this have to do with the shadow entity?"

Magnus continued, his voice straining as the words left him. "Roderick was no ordinary man. He was a keeper of the discarded drafts, the ones that never saw the light of day. His job was to guard the forgotten stories, the ones that never made it into the final narratives. And he had a plan for me."

Leona's eyes went wide. "You're telling me you were part of one of the discarded drafts?"

Magnus nodded, his face haunted. "Not just part of it-the main character of a story that was erased. I wasn't supposed to exist in this world, Leona. I wasn't even meant to be born."

The weight of his words settled over her like a storm cloud. The realization began to sink in-Magnus wasn't just a nobleman with a dark past; he was a creation, a piece of a story that had been left behind. A trashed draft, no different from the characters that appeared from the rifts. But Magnus had lived a lifetime, carved out a place for himself in the world, and now, the truth was coming to light.

"Why would someone want to erase you?" Leona asked softly.

Magnus tightened his fists, the tension of keeping it all inside for so long finally making itself known in every flexing muscle. "Because my story was dangerous. In the original draft, I was a hero, but not the kind of hero the kingdom needed. In the original version of my life, I was supposed to destroy everything: the kingdom, the balance, even the world itself. I was a weapon, a tool for something far darker."

Leona's breath caught in her throat. "But you've changed. You've built a life for yourself. You've fought against that darkness."

"I've tried," Magnus said, his voice tinged with bitterness. "But the shadow entity is using my past against me. It knows who I was supposed to be, and it's trying to drag me back into the role I was meant to play."

The weight of the sentence hit Leona with all the force of a physical blow. The Shadow entity was not just some two-bit villain. It's actually rewriting the threads, trying to pull those who'd gone forgotten or erased back into it, trying to push people into their roles. And Magnus, with his connection to the discarded drafts, is literally the key.

"I have felt it," Magnus continued, now with a shaking voice interlaced with fear and determination. "The shadow entity is targeting me because it knows I am the one capable of stopping whatever plan it has. It knows that when I remember who I really am, I'll be able to destroy everything. My very existence threatens the world as it's been written."

Leona's mind was running a mile a minute, but if what Magnus was telling her was true, it meant the shadow entity was not just some force of destruction; it was a manipulator, a puppeteer of stories, rewriting them to suit its twisted vision. And Magnus- Magnus was a wild card it could never control.

"But you've already picked this life," Leona said firmly. "You've chosen to fight for this world, to fight for the people inside it. That's who you are now."

Magnus turned to her, his eyes filled with gratitude, yet clouded by doubt. "I don't know if I can keep fighting this, Leona. The shadow entity is relentless. It's already begun to pull on the threads, trying to force me back into my old role. I can feel its pull, its influence over me. I don't know how much longer I can resist."

Leona reached out and laid a hand on his shoulder. "You are not alone, not anymore. We'll find a way to stop the entity together. We will fight, and you will not be forced to face your past alone."

For a moment, Magnus regarded her as if the weight of the world had finally been taken off his shoulders. But even as the words left her mouth, both knew that the war was far from over. The shadow entity was tightening its grip, and it had a long reach.

As night began to fall, Leona and Magnus stood together on the cliff, looking out over the wide expanse of the kingdom below. The winds no longer howled, and the air had grown still. Yet the uncertainty lingered, a shadow hanging over them both.

"I have to tell the others," Magnus said at last. "They need to know the truth. The shadow entity isn't just after me—it's after all of us. It wants to rewrite our stories, tear us apart."

Leona nodded, her resolve solidifying. "Then let's go. We'll face this together."

But as they turned to leave, a cold chill swept through them both—a feeling of being watched. The shadow entity was never that far behind; its presence lay just out of sight.

The pull came again, deeper this time, the reminder of a destiny once his. But he was no longer that man, having fought to be free from the darkness of his past, and with Leona at his side now, he would fight for the world they had grown to love.

Together, they would face whatever came next, be it the shadow entity's final strike or a deeper revelation of the truth that lay hidden within the tangled threads of the world.