The Shadow is known only by title, a name spoken quietly and never in full company. His true identity has been erased so completely that even veteran trackers and guildmasters fail to trace it. What remains is reputation. Silent entries. Clean exits. A pattern of death that leaves no witness and little doubt.
The Shadow kills by strict rule. He takes contracts only when the payment is significant, when the act defends or avenges his daughter, or when it protects the innocent. Outside those bounds, no amount of coin or influence moves him. This discipline defines him as much as skill. It also explains why fear follows his name while chaos does not.
His daughter, Ylena, was born of a love that cost her mother her life. After that loss, the Shadow raised Ylena with singular focus. He taught her to see, to listen, and to survive. Though he eventually released her into her own life, he never stopped watching. Distance did not weaken his vigilance. It refined it.
Despite his profession, the Shadow remains loyal to the stability of the Seven Kingdoms. He refuses work that threatens their peace and intervenes only when restraint fails. His reach extends across Cendomvita, unseen but persistent. When plans unravel without explanation, his hand is often the reason.
Ylena moves through a world shaped by that protection. Enemies rarely understand why opportunities vanish or why danger recedes. They only know something in the dark was faster and more deliberate than they were.
The Shadow lives alone by choice. He leaves no mark in public life. But in places where violence might have gone too far, his presence lingers. Silent. Exact. Unyielding.