The Forgotten Legacy

As time passed, Luden's teachings began to vanish.

The world, as it always did, turned its eyes toward war, toward wealth, toward power. Kings and rulers rewrote history in their favor, burying the names of those who had challenged them. Scholars who once spoke of Luden found their voices drowned out by the ambitions of men who valued conquest over wisdom.

But his disciples, those who had once followed his path, scattered across the world.

Some still whispered his words in secret, passing down fragments of his wisdom to those who would listen. Others vanished into obscurity, carrying his teachings in their hearts but never daring to speak them aloud.

Luden's name became a myth, a shadow of a memory, lost in the endless tide of time.

But the truth, though buried, was never truly gone.

The Scattered Disciples

Among those who had once walked beside Luden, their fates were as different as the lands they wandered.

Some became wanderers, traveling to distant lands, planting the seeds of his wisdom in foreign soil. They did not claim to be his disciples, nor did they build temples in his name. They simply spoke, guiding those who sought answers, only to disappear before their words became chains.

Some became scribes, hiding what little remained of Luden's words in books that no king would read. They wove his teachings into legends and stories, disguising truth within fiction, hoping that one day, someone would see through the illusion.

Some became ghosts, choosing to watch the world from the shadows, waiting. They knew that wisdom could not be forced upon those who did not seek it. So they waited. For the day when the world would once again hunger for truth.

But others…

Others were hunted.

The War Against Memory

Luden had not been a ruler. He had not sought power.

But those who did feared him all the same.

In the years that followed his disappearance, the rulers of men sought to erase his influence. They burned the books that carried his words. They silenced those who spoke of him, forcing his teachings into whispers.

Even among his own disciples, some turned against his name, fearing the weight of what they carried. They abandoned his path, choosing instead to serve the world as it was—not as it could be.

And so, as the years passed, Luden's legacy faded further into the unknown.

The Lost Teachings

There were stories of ancient scrolls hidden deep within mountain temples, sealed away from the hands of men. Some believed that Aegis Latens, the secretive order founded by Luden himself, had taken it upon themselves to protect his knowledge, ensuring that it would never fall into the wrong hands.

Others whispered of a book that held the last of his wisdom, passed down through generations, carried by those who refused to let his name die. But the book was not a guide. It was a key.

A key to something that even Luden's disciples had never fully understood.

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"It has been twenty years since Luden disappeared," Larz whispered, his voice lost in the howling wind.

Before him stood the Gate to the Overworld, as silent and immovable as it had always been. Its ancient carvings, etched by hands long forgotten, pulsed faintly under the pale light of the moon. The air around it was thick—heavy with something unseen, something not meant for the world of men.

Larz placed a hand on the cold stone. It was still closed.

The seal remained unbroken. No one had crossed. No one had dared.

Yet, despite this, an unease had grown in his heart over the years.

Had he been waiting in vain?

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The Weight of a Promise

Luden had left him here with a purpose. To guard. To watch. To protect.

But never had he told Larz for how long.

At first, he had believed his master would return. That Luden, in his infinite wisdom, had simply stepped beyond the veil of the Overworld, only to come back when the world needed him most.

But twenty years had passed.

And in that time, nothing had changed.

The world had forgotten his name, his teachings fading into dust, lost to time and ambition. The disciples had scattered, their paths unknown. Wars had come and gone. Kings had risen and fallen. And still, the gate remained sealed—its purpose unchanged, its secret untouched.

Had he been foolish to believe that Luden would return?

Or had he misunderstood his master's final lesson?

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The Question That Could Not Be Answered

Larz clenched his fists, stepping closer to the gate. The carvings on its surface seemed to shift under his gaze, as if the stone itself remembered things beyond mortal comprehension.

"Did you know, Master?" he murmured. "Did you know you would never return?"

The wind howled in response, but the gate remained silent.

Had this always been Luden's plan? Had he known that the world would forget him? That his name, once spoken with reverence, would be reduced to nothing more than a whisper in the wind?

Had he known that Larz would be left here, alone, guarding a secret that no one even remembered existed?

Larz took a slow breath.

He had spent two decades searching for an answer—but what if the answer was never meant to come?

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The Guardian and the Forgotten Truth

The Overworld did not ask for worship.It did not demand followers.It did not care for kings, for wars, for the passage of time.

It simply existed.

And so too, perhaps, did Luden's wisdom.

Not as something to be held onto, not as something to be preserved, but as something that had to be found again, by those who truly sought it.

Perhaps that had been Luden's final lesson all along.

Larz let his hand fall from the gate, exhaling slowly. The burden on his shoulders did not lessen, but for the first time in years, he understood.

Luden had never meant to return.

And the gate—this threshold between the known and the unknown—was never meant to be opened.

Not yet.

Not until the world was ready.

And until that day came, Larz would remain.

Waiting.

Watching.

Guarding the legacy of a man the world had chosen to forget.

But truth, like the Overworld, could never truly die.

And neither would he.