Prologue — Born in Shadow

  The night the village burned would never leave her. Flames licked the sky, devouring homes, memories, and the life she had known. She clutched her younger brother, trembling but determined, as chaos swallowed the world around them. She swore she would protect him, no matter the cost.

  But fate had already decided.

  By dawn, the village lay in ashes. Her family, her home, her past — gone. And yet, even as despair threatened to crush her, something stirred within her. A part of her could not die, could not be silenced. Something ancient, restless, and alive, bound to her soul from the moment she drew her first breath.

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  They took her, not for kindness, but for power. Her small body was molded and trained, her laughter, her love, and her dreams stripped away. And still, she endured. Friends who survived alongside her — faint sparks of hope — reminded her that even in darkness, humanity could persist.

  She grew powerful, too powerful for them to ignore. When the end finally came, she asked for a single mercy: the right to choose her own fate. They refused. And in that moment, they told her the truth about her younger brother — the one she had vowed to protect. He had survived the destruction, hidden and experimented on, lost to her forever.

  Rage ignited inside her, raw and unyielding, a fire that could not be doused. And in that fire, a shadow formed — the echo of her soul, carrying every fragment of love, betrayal, grief, and fury. Patient, watchful, and alive, it waited.

  One day, the shadow would awaken. One day, it would demand justice, vengeance, and life.

  But for now… it waited.