Introduction: A Shadow That Doesn't Follow
In one of the endless corridors of the Imperial Archive—a place where dust has slept undisturbed for centuries on forgotten shelves—Rawen sat alone, reading a book with no title.
Its cover was black, blank, marked by neither crest nor royal seal. But it needed no markings.
The book opened on its own.
There were no words inside. Only shadows of words. Its pages were not written in ink, but in something that resembled silent burning.
With every page he turned, Rawen felt something watching him from behind. But when he looked, there was nothing—just the hush of paper and stone.
In the world of Norval, it is said that books choose their readers.
But no one wishes to be chosen by a book of shadows.
On the first day Rawen read its opening line, his shadow moved half a heartbeat too late.
On the second, his mirror called his name… before he spoke.
On the third, a woman with one gray eye and another without a bottom came to him and said:
"You do not own your shadow.
And that makes you… dangerous to everyone."
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In a world where sects wage war to control shadows,
And in a city that worships light and burns those who doubt it,
Rawen will uncover a truth:
The shadow is not a part of him—
It is what remains of him,
When he forgot who he truly was.