The air on Planet Nexus didn't just feel cold; it felt empty. In the high-tech recovery bay of the Shadow Veil Citadel, the only sound was the hum of the bio-regenerative scanners pulsing violet light over Riha's skin.
Riha sat up, her muscles screaming in protest. Two months. It had been two months since she had left the gravity of Earth behind, and her body was still adapting to the crushing weight of Nexus. But physical pain was an old friend. It was the silence that bothered her. ( dear readers i think you are getting confused so i want to clear you confusion that actually in the first chapter the location is on nexus planet and as she was sinking she starts rembering her past then she got six months period of training and also to take her revenge and she was rescused and now this location now your reading is nexus planet and shadow empire and now its been two months she came to this palnet.)
"I know you're there," Riha said, her voice raspy. "Shadows don't breathe, but they do ripple."
From the darkest corner of the room, two figures detached themselves from the wall. They were dressed in the sleek, obsidian armor of the Wraith-Guard—the Empire's elite assassins. In their hands were vibro-blades, glowing with a sickly green energy designed to sever the soul from the body."The Human Girl wakes," the lead assassin hissed. "The Council sends their regards. They believe the Shadow Lord's throne is too sacred for a creature of clay and blood."Riha didn't panic. Six months ago, she would have screamed. But she had spent half a year on Earth becoming a monster to catch a monster.As the assassins lunged, Riha didn't move her body—she moved her will.The shadows beneath the assassins' feet suddenly surged upward like jagged spears. The "Evolution" in her blood roared, a violet flame flickering in her pupils. The shadows didn't just trip the assassins; they consumed them. The floor seemed to turn into a liquid abyss, dragging the killers down to their knees. The shadows beneath the assassins' feet suddenly surged upward like jagged spears. The "Evolution" in her blood roared, a violet flame flickering in her pupils. The shadows didn't just trip the assassins; they consumed them. The floor seemed to turn into a liquid abyss, dragging the killers down to their knees.
"You're late," Riha whispered, standing up slowly, the hospital gown fluttering like a war-banner. "I've been expecting the Council to try this since I arrived. Did they really think Julian's methods would work on me? He tried to own my body. They're trying to own my destiny. Both are mistakes."
She walked toward the lead assassin, whose blade was vibrating uselessly against a wall of solid darkness. She placed a hand on his helmet.
"Tell the Council," she said, her voice dropping to a terrifying calm, "that every shadow on this planet reports to me now. If they want to kill the Successor, they'll have to come themselves."With a flick of her wrist, the shadows imploded. The assassins vanished into the Abyssal Prison, leaving nothing but a faint scent of ozone.
Riha made her way to her private chambers. The Citadel recognized her DNA, the heavy obsidian doors sliding open with a respectful hiss. This was her fortress, but it felt like a cage.
She threw herself onto the sprawling, black-silk bed and stared at the ceiling, where a holographic map of the Veil Nebula swirled. She was 1,497 light years away from her home, surrounded by aliens who wanted her dead.
She reached into the "Void-Space" beside her bed—a pocket dimension she had learned to create during her training—and pulled out a physical object. It was her Earth Album.
The leather was scuffed, and the pages smelled like the rain of London and the dust of the Roy estate. She flipped it open. The first page was a high-resolution photo of a burning bank vault. Diary Entry: Month 1. Julian thinks his power comes from his name. I showed him it comes from his server. I didn't just steal his money; I erased his existence from the digital world. He is now a ghost in his own empire. She flipped to a video file embedded in the page. It showed her, draped in a tactical cloak, standing over a trembling man in a dark alley. It was the lead investigator who had taken bribes to cover up her father's "accident."
In the video, Riha didn't strike him. She simply let her shadow grow until it filled the entire alley, whispering truths into the man's ear until he collapsed, begging for the police to take him away.
"Six months," Riha murmured, her fingers tracing the image of her younger, smiling self in the back of the album. "I spent six months cleaning the Earth of Julian's filth. And now... I have a whole planet to clean."
She closed the album and gripped it tight. The Council thought she was a weak human. They didn't realize that being human was her greatest weapon. Humans knew how to hate. And Riha Roy had enough hate to burn the entire Shadow Empire to the ground.
She closed her eyes, letting the darkness of Nexus embrace her. Tomorrow, the training would get harder. Tomorrow, the revenge would get bigger.