The cold night air of Oakhaven didn't feel refreshing; it felt like a shroud. Shin walked out of The Broken Anvil, the heavy thud of the door closing behind him echoing like a final judgment. He didn't look back at the chaos he had left behind—the shattered tables, the unconscious brute, or the terrified whispers of the mercenaries. To him, they were already part of a dead past. His focus was entirely on the figure leaning against the damp stone wall of the alleyway: the girl with the silver hair.
In the pale moonlight, she looked less like a person and more like a phantom. Her hood was pulled back just enough to reveal sharp, intelligent eyes that didn't hold the fear he saw in everyone else. She was watching him with a calculated intensity, the kind of gaze one uses to study a dangerous predator.
「 "You're louder than I expected," 」 she said, her voice a low melody that barely carried over the whistling wind. 「 "Destroying 'The Butcher' was a statement, Shin. But statements get people killed in this city. Especially when the Iron Guard is already patrolling the lower docks." 」
Shin stopped five paces away. His hand remained hidden beneath his cloak, his fingers inches away from the void-stained hilt of his blade. His mind was already running through dozens of scenarios. Who was she? How did she know his name? And more importantly, why was she still alive if she had been at the manor ten years ago?
「 "I didn't ask for a guardian angel," 」 Shin replied, his voice as cold as the frost forming on the cobblestones. 「 "And I don't trust ghosts who hide in corners. Give me a reason not to let the shadows take you right here." 」
The girl didn't flinch. Instead, she took a slow step forward, entering the thin sliver of light cast by a dying streetlamp. 「 "Trust is a luxury for the living, and both of us died a long time ago. You want reasons? I'll give you one." 」 She reached into her tunic and pulled out a small, leather-bound cylinder. She didn't hand it to him; she tossed it at his feet. 「 "That is a manifest of the shipments entering the Baron's estate. Look at the seal." 」
Shin glanced down. Even in the dim light, the seal was unmistakable—the crest of the Royal Academy, but stained with a dark, purplish wax. It was the mark of forbidden alchemy, the kind his father had spent his life trying to banish from the kingdom.
「 "Kaelen isn't just hoarding gold," 」 she continued, her eyes narrowing. 「 "He's harvesting 'Essence'. The same essence that flickered around your hand back there. That Black Lightning... you think it's a gift? It's a beacon. Every time you use it, you're ringing a dinner bell for the things Kaelen has chained in his basement." 」
Shin's heart remained steady, but his mind was racing. He hadn't told anyone about the nature of his power. To the world, it was just destructive magic. But she knew its true name. She knew it was part of the Void.
「 "Who are you?" 」 Shin asked again, this time with a dangerous edge to his tone. He shifted his weight, ready to strike.
The girl smiled, but there was no warmth in it. It was the smile of someone who had forgotten how to laugh. 「 "Names have power, Shin Van Croft. And I'm not ready to give you mine. Not until I know if you're the boy who survived the fire, or the monster the fire created." 」
Suddenly, the sound of rhythmic metal clanking against stone erupted from the main street. The Iron Guard. Their torches cast long, flickering shadows against the alley walls.
「 "They're here," 」 she whispered, her posture shifting into a lithe, cat-like readiness. 「 "If you want to live to see tomorrow's sun, follow me. I know the paths the Baron's dogs are too afraid to tread." 」
Without waiting for his answer, she turned and vanished into the darkness of a narrow crawlspace between two sagging buildings. Shin hesitated for a fraction of a second. His instincts told him to stay alone, to rely only on his own strength. But his logic told him that she held the missing pieces of a puzzle he had been trying to solve for a decade.
He followed.
They moved through the bowels of Oakhaven, a labyrinth of sewers and forgotten tunnels that smelled of salt and rot. The girl moved with a supernatural grace, never making a sound, her silver hair acting like a faint tether in the oppressive dark. She didn't speak, and Shin didn't ask questions. They were two shadows moving through a city that wanted them dead.
After what felt like hours, they emerged into a ruined bell tower on the edge of the city, overlooking the cliffside manor of Baron Kaelen. The estate was lit up like a fortress, guards patrolling every balcony.
The girl pointed toward the highest tower, where a strange, pulsating violet light was visible through the stained-glass windows. 「 "He's performing the ritual on the next New Moon. That's in three days. If he succeeds, your 'Black Lightning' won't be enough to stop him. He'll become something that can't be killed by steel." 」
Shin looked at the manor, his eyes reflecting the distant violet glow. The hatred he had suppressed for ten years flared up, threatening to consume his composure. As he clenched his fist, the black sparks danced like tiny demons on his skin. He didn't care if it was a curse or a beacon. If it could make Kaelen scream, he would embrace the void until there was nothing left of himself.
「 "Why tell me this?" 」 Shin asked, turning to where the girl had been standing.
But the spot was empty.
The girl was gone, as silently as she had appeared. Only a small, silver thread remained caught on a jagged piece of stone where she had stood. Shin picked it up, feeling a faint, lingering warmth.
He looked back at the manor, his resolve hardening into diamond. He didn't know her name, and he didn't know her endgame. But he knew one thing: the hunt had officially begun.