A sixteen-year-old girl lived alone in a tiny apartment buried deep in the corner of a bustling city.
Among the concrete jungle, where neon lights painted false colors over cracked walls and cars screamed endlessly through the night, her room existed as a world apart — small, silent, and cold.
Her hair shimmered like black silk, flowing down her back in a smooth cascade that caught every glimmer of light. Her eyes were radiant, star-like, filled with a distant glow that didn't seem to belong to this world. Her skin was pale pink, soft, and almost luminous. A beauty so fragile that one might fear she'd shatter with a touch.
But behind that angelic face was a soul long decayed by loneliness.
Her name was Airi — not her real one, but the alias she used online. Her real name no longer mattered. No one called her by it anymore. No one cared to ask. Even she had forgotten how it sounded when spoken with warmth.
For most, sixteen was the age of school, friendship, love, and dreams still untouched by despair.
But for Airi, sixteen was the age of screens glowing in the dark, of trembling fingers on a keyboard, of sleepless nights and pixelated worlds where she could finally be someone.
In those worlds, she could breathe.
In those worlds, she was alive.
There, she was not the weak girl forgotten by society.
She was the dark flame sorceress, the wandering swordmaster with icy eyes, or — most of all — the Shadow Empress ruling with silent authority.
Reality had always been cruel.
Her parents disappeared when she was still too young to understand what "loss" truly meant, leaving behind nothing but a small allowance — enough to survive, but not to live.
At thirteen, Airi began working part-time jobs to keep herself afloat: scrubbing dishes at cafés, taking night shifts at convenience stores, answering phones at an old call center. Every day, she dragged her tired body back to her room, turned on her computer, put on her headset… and became someone else.
In reality, she was invisible.
In fantasy, she was divine.
Known across servers as the Queen of Shadow, she was admired, feared, and respected — the symbol of power and beauty in a digital kingdom that became her everything.
Then came the fateful day — the launch of the largest event in years: "The Crown of Shadow."
A legendary artifact said to grant unrivaled power to whoever claimed it.
Airi had prepared for it for a full month: farming materials, perfecting her builds, and practicing her strategy until dawn.
And when the event finally began, she gave up everything — sleep, meals, health — just to stay online.
Three days.
Only instant noodles and canned coffee.
Her eyes sank deep, her hands shook, her skin lost its color.
But when the system broadcast flashed:
"Player Airi has obtained the Crown of Shadow."
The entire server erupted.
Her name shone everywhere.
And Airi laughed — a frail, breathless laugh filled with pride and relief.
She did it.
She — a forgotten orphan — had become the Shadow Empress once more.
But the joy didn't last.
The screen blurred.
The sound distorted.
Her heart skipped a beat.
Cold sweat trickled down her face.
She reached for her water bottle, but her hand refused to move.
The world tilted.
— Thud.
Her body slumped over the keyboard. Her eyes stayed open, her lips frozen in that faint, beautiful smile.
The hum of the computer fan filled the silence. The victory music still played — now more like a funeral dirge.
No one knew.
No one heard.
No one came.
In a city of millions, the death of a sixteen-year-old girl passed unnoticed — as quietly as she had lived.
No tears.
No flowers.
No name remembered.
She died the same way she existed — alone, and in silence.
But death… was not the end.
As the light faded from her eyes, as her consciousness dissolved like mist, a voice echoed through the dark.
Neither male nor female.
Neither warm nor cold.
Simply beyond existence itself.
"What do you desire… in your next world?"
In her final breath, her lips moved — a whisper softer than air.
"…I want to become… the Shadow Empress."
And then, the world vanished.
No neon lights.
No traffic noise.
No loneliness.
Only Shadow — thick, endless, devouring everything.
From within that void, a faint light stirred — the remnant of a soul reborn.
Carrying her final wish, her final smile, and her endless longing to live again…
From the unnoticed death of a forgotten gamer, a Shadow empire would rise.