Leonie's Heart of Darkness, The Story

"Carnal desire mixed with dark and depraved inhibitions coursed through his veins as he grew bolder, waiting impatiently to release his magic on her. Knowing she didn't matter to him, he ignored her fears. A prop. That's all she was. Her innocence; irrelevant. Leonie. Sweet little Leonie was nothing more than a prop in his play, and he forgot all about her while he prepared the final potions." King Stefan, the Darkness ~ An excerpt from Chapter 1 ~ The Banishment ~ The Origins of Darkness

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Adding the last of the ingredients to the potion, King Stefan concentrated on the elixir before him, ignoring the protestations of the maiden bound and tethered to the stone altar. She was a means to his evil ends and nothing more. Power, not love, invaded his every thought. Her soul, humanity, was irrelevant to his need to become the most powerful king in the land.
His eyes scanned the ancient tomb upon the dias. Its yellowed pages bristled in the wind as he chanted the incantation. He could feel the power clinging to his soul, intertwining their souls. Soon, his precious Leonie would fade from this world, leaving nothing behind but the empty vessel she unwillingly relinquished to the dark king.
Glancing from his potion, his silver eyes lingered on her as he watched her struggle against the ties that bound her. Her silent fretting amused him, but he knew the magic contained within her was insignificant to the power growing inside of him. Ancient curses knitted together the darkness that invaded his mind, leaving remnants of his humanity.
With the last words lingering in the air, the king lifted the golden chalice to his lips and drank his portion while watching Leonie's futile struggle. Whispering more to himself, he said, "My darling, it is time to knit our souls together forevermore. You'll see, there's nothing to fear."
Her silver eyes revealed the true depth of despair raging within her as he drew near with the potion in his hand. The pounding in her chest practically drowned out his words, but when he lifted her up, she knew damn well what would happen next.
The chalice touched her lips.
It was over.
Regardless of the fight she put up, the warm liquid fell upon her lips. Choking the liquid down, she immediately felt the bond knit their souls together.

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From the edges of the forest, a bolt of lightning interrupted the darkness. Thunder clapped; ricocheted throughout the forest. A cloaked figure in the shadows chanted, and another spell was released. Before her eyes, King Stefan vanished without a trace.
Leonie was free of her tormentor, but the shadows in the woods arrived too late, for the magic that knit their souls together couldn't be reversed. Without King Stefan. Her soul had fractured as if her true love had died.

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Gathering her thoughts in the silence of the woods, she realized that the shadows had retreated, leaving her alone to wander and fend for herself. Their sole purpose was to banish the darkness, but they held no regard for his victim.
The stone slab had grown cold under the midnight sky. She decided to find what was left of the dress he had torn to shreds. As she tried to dress herself, she stopped and stared out into the dark forest, 'Who am I now that he has left me? Who will ever love me?'
There was an unexpected emptiness surrounding his disappearance. Instead of a feeling of relief, her fractured soul felt like shards of glass piercing her heart. It was almost unbearable, but she stumbled through the night, trying to cling to the distant hope that penetrated her thoughts.
How could she love this monster, the darkness within him? Or was it the power that he held that tethered her twisted thoughts to him? She didn't have the answers as she sat by the water's edge. Sleep was elusive as she sat alone and afraid, but eventually, her sleep-addled brain hoped that this was just a nightmare she'd wake from in the morn.
The morning light didn't save her from the truth. She wandered the woods as hours turned to days, and days turned into weeks. Time passed, but her fractured soul refused to heal until she was a shadow of the maiden she was on her wedding day.