The night it happened, the city was silent.Not the kind of peaceful silence you pray for after a long day—this one was heavy, suffocating, the kind that made you feel as though something was listening.
Lyra stood in the rain, her dress clinging to her skin, her fists stained with the blood of men who had taken everything from her. The flames from her family estate lit the dark clouds above, and the scent of burning wood and death clawed at her lungs.
She had nothing left.
Nothing… except the shadow watching her from across the courtyard.
He stepped forward, boots echoing against the cobblestone. His presence felt wrong, as though he wasn't entirely bound to this world. The air bent around him. His smile was slow, deliberate, and too knowing.
"You want them all to pay," he said—not a question, but a statement.His voice was velvet wrapped around a knife.
Lyra's knees almost gave way. "I… I want the world to burn for what it did to me."
"Good," the man said, tilting his head. "Then you're ready."
She didn't understand, not until he reached out his hand. Cold mist swirled from his palm, wrapping around her like a shroud. His eyes were bottomless voids that promised power beyond imagining.
"I can give you everything," he whispered. "Strength. Wealth. Influence. Magic beyond mortal reach. Enough to make them choke on their own fear."
Her breath caught. "And what's the price?"
The man's smile deepened. "Five years of your life. When the final dawn comes, you will not see the next."
Lyra hesitated for only a heartbeat. Five years was enough. Enough to hunt them all down. Enough to watch the world that broke her crumble.
She took his hand.
The rain stopped. The city noise returned in a roar, but Lyra no longer felt the cold. A burning power surged through her veins, flooding her senses, rewriting her very being. She gasped as visions flashed before her eyes—crowns shattering, empires burning, enemies screaming her name.
When the vision faded, the man was gone.
Only his voice lingered in the wind."Five years, Lyra. Don't waste them."