For a moment, the canyon was silent, the strange energy pulsating in the air like a heartbeat behind the silence. Leona's chest tightened, her senses on high as she watched the figure standing before her. Elias, his usual confident demeanor now replaced by wariness, had already fallen into a defensive stance, the edge of his dagger glinting in the low light.
"I told you, didn't I?" Elias muttered under his breath, his voice tight with tension. "You've stirred up something you shouldn't have."
Leona could only nod, her gaze unwavering. The air around them crackled with an unfamiliar power, as though reality itself was stretching and warping in response to the stranger's presence.
For the first time since coming into this world, she felt a degree of danger greater than the glitches or anomalies she had seen or been near.
The figure stepped forward, unfurling his cloak, and the shadows that had clung to him began to dissipate, revealing more of his appearance. He was tall, his features sharp and angular, as though carved from stone. His dark hair fell in messy waves, and his eyes—amber and intense—shone with an unsettling clarity.
But what struck Leona most was the aura surrounding him. It wasn't just that he radiated power; it was a sense of familiarity that twisted in her gut, something ancient and forgotten, like a half-remembered dream. She felt she had seen him before-somewhere, in some time she couldn't grasp.
"I know you," she whispered, her voice barely audible. "But how?"
The figure-Alaric, as he'd introduced himself-smiled, but the expression was bittersweet. "Yes, you do. Or rather, you will. Eventually."
The words sent a shiver down her spine. The sensation was all too real, the recognition almost overwhelming.
"I am Alaric," he said, his voice low but laced with an undeniable authority. "And I am from the original draft of the novel, the one that was discarded long before Destined Hearts was ever written."
Leona blinked, taken aback. "A discarded draft?" she echoed, trying to make sense of his words. "What does that even mean?"
Alaric's eyes hardened. "It means that I was never meant to exist in this world. Not in this form. Not like this." He gestured around them, his hand sweeping over the expanse of the canyon. "I was part of a story long forgotten, a narrative that never made it past its prologue. The world you know, the world you've been shaping—Destined Hearts—is a mere echo of the story that was lost."
Leona's mind whirled as she processed his words. She had thought Destined Hearts was the original story, the one that had been meant to play out according to the robotic voice's script. But now, it seemed there was something deeper, something older beneath the surface.
"So, you're saying Destined Hearts wasn't the first story?" she asked, her voice filled with disbelief. "You were part of the original plan? But then why—"
"Why was I discarded?" Alaric finished for her, his face shadowed by a flicker of something like regret. "Because my story didn't fit. I was part of the prologue, part of a tale that never reached its climax. The world you're in now. it's a version that was rewritten, revised, shaped into something more palatable for the audience. But that doesn't change the fact that fragments of the original tale are still here."
Leona took a step back, her mind reeling. "The original tale. it's still alive?" she whispered. "Is that what's been causing the glitches?
Alaric nodded slowly. "Exactly. You've been feeling them, haven't you? The glitches, the anomalies, the sense that something is wrong with this world. Those are fragments of the story that never should have been. They are remnants of my world—the world that was never finished. And now, they're clawing their way back, trying to rewrite this one."
Leona's heart skipped a beat. "Trying to rewrite it? What do you mean? If they do, everything I've done here. everything I've fought for—"
"Everything you have built might get erased," Alaric said coldly. "The world you've worked so hard to make stable is fragile, Leona. More fragile than you may think. These fragments are powerful. They carry an entire story that was never meant to exist. If they break through, they will rip this world apart and replace it with a twisted version of the narrative that was never meant to be."
Elias's expression had shifted from wary to calculating. "So, these fragments. they're like parasites, clinging to the world you've helped stabilize. And you"—he turned his gaze to Alaric—"you're one of them?"
Alaric's amber eyes flashed with something fierce. "I am not a parasite. I am the result of a world that was left unfinished, a world that had no place in the story that followed. But I am not alone. There are others like me, fragments that in their own right are powerful, and they will not stop until they have reasserted their existence."
Leona's mind reeled. "And you're telling me this because-what? You think I can stop them?"
Alaric's gaze softened, and for a moment, there was a glimmer of something like pity in his eyes. "No, Leona. I don't think you can stop them. I think you're the only one who can. You are the Catalyst-the one who re-balances worlds and weaves new destinies. The story you have been shaping is the only one that can withstand the return of these broken fragments. But it won't be easy, as such forces are not to be underestimated."
"Then how do we stop them?" Elias interjected, his tone sharp with urgency.
Alaric's face twisted into a grim smile. "That's the problem. To stop them, it's not so easy as defeating them in a fight. These shards. they are not the normal antagonists. Ideas, conceptions, pieces of a world that never got properly realized, each with its power to reshape everything."
Leona was thinking hard. "You mean. it could be the world out of recognition?
"Yes," Alaric said, the gravity of his voice low and serious. "If those fragments succeed in making their case for existence, this world is rewritten. And what you get afterward will not be anything like the world to which you are accustomed. All the relationships, choices, and characters you've guided could all be gone."
Leona's chest constricted. She couldn't allow that to happen. She'd fought so hard to return the balance. She couldn't let it all come apart now. But what was before her was greater than anything she had ever faced.
"Then what am I to do?" she asked, her voice even and level despite the turmoil swirling inside her. "How am I to protect this world?"
Alaric's eyes shone bright with quiet resolve. "You'll have to find its source-the heart of that broken world. You destroy it, and you can cut their hold on this one, but be warned: the road will not be easy to travel, and you risk losing yourself in the process."
Leona took a deep breath, the weight of the task settling over her. She had always known that her journey was far from over. But now, with Alaric's revelation, she realized the stakes were much higher than she had imagined.
She turned to Elias, who watched her intently, his expression unreadable. "Are you with me?" she asked, her voice quiet but firm.
Elias gave a brief nod; the familiar smirk was back. "You know I don't run from a fight."
With Alaric as an unlikely friend, the first stirrings of determination began to well up in Leona. The world she'd helped build was fragile. Delicate were the threads of fate, and the power to rewrite them lay with those who sought to disrupt all that she'd fought for.
"I won't let it fall apart", she vowed. "I will stop the fragments. I will save this world."