Ava Nyx had been following shadows for as long as she could remember. Not just the ones that clung to the alleyways or slithered beneath the glow of Veilport’s neon signs—no, Ava followed the ones that lurked in people’s minds. The things they hid, the truths they buried deep beneath layers of lies. It was how she survived in a city where magic was a commodity and secrets were currency.

"You're late," came the low voice over her comm-link, breaking her from her thoughts.

Ava paused, glancing at the skyline. The horizon had bled into the early morning—a hazy, purple-grey stretch of sky above the skyline's jagged teeth of steel and glass. Beneath it, Veilport was never truly quiet. Even now, the hum of magic-saturated tech, the distant shriek of a hovercar, and the soft whirr of drones keeping watch all blended like a symphony of discordant notes.

"Sorry, things got… complicated," she murmured, adjusting her leather jacket and pulling her hair into a tight knot. The woman on the other end didn’t care about her excuses, though. Ava could almost hear the irritation in her voice.

"Remember, Ava. You’re not paid to complicate. You’re paid to find."

Ava’s lips curled into a wry smile. Simple. Clean. Find. That’s all they ever wanted from her.

But this time? It was different.

The job had come to her like a whispered rumour in the dark, a request from someone high up in Veilport’s secretive Tech Syndicate. The kind of request she’d usually turn down. Too dangerous. Too messy. Too political. But the price tag had been hefty. Enough to make her hesitate.

"I’m at the site," Ava said, voice steady as she approached the old district. The buildings here were scarred by time, ancient, twisted structures that leaned precariously against each other, as if the city itself were trying to bury its past. She stepped over cracked sidewalks, the buzz of arcane tech flickering from hidden lights as her boots clicked against the broken pavement. It was one of the last untouched corners of Veilport—the kind of place where the old magic still lingered, trapped beneath layers of concrete and steel.

The target was a missing person—a person whose name carried weight; someone the Syndicate had been desperate to find. But there was something else beneath the surface of this job, something Ava hadn’t told her employer. She’d been tracking this person for days now, and every time she came closer to the truth, the more she felt the pull of something… wrong.

But she wasn’t supposed to think. She was a finder. That’s what she was paid for.

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Just as she reached the corner of the alley, a flash of colour caught her eye—an eerie shade of purple that shouldn’t have been there. Ava’s breath caught in her throat. The flickering lights above her suddenly seemed to hum louder. Magic. Raw. Unstable. Her fingers twitched at her sides as she instinctively reached for the charms tucked into her coat, the ones that helped her track, her enhanced senses guiding her like an invisible thread through the shifting strands of the city’s magic.

"Your target’s close. Can you feel it?" the voice crackled in her earpiece.

"Yeah," Ava breathed, moving into the alley, her senses heightened as the magic wrapped around her. It smelled like something familiar—like burning incense and fresh earth. But there was something else beneath it. Something sharp.

A sudden movement snapped her to attention. Someone was there.

She didn’t hesitate. Ava whirled around, drawing one of her blades—a sleek, obsidian knife she kept for emergencies. But it wasn’t a person who stepped from the shadows.

It was a figure draped in tattered, black clothing; their face obscured by the hood that shadowed their features. Their aura twisted the air around them, dark magic swirling in a way that felt wrong. Not like the clean, precise magic of a skilled practitioner, but something primal.

A Shadewalker.

Ava’s pulse quickened.

The figure tilted their head, as though sizing her up. The air between them crackled with tension.

“I wasn’t expecting company,” a deep voice said, low and rough. Ava’s breath hitched at the words. It wasn’t just any Shadewalker. This was a person who’d learned to hide their presence, masking their energy with skill. Someone dangerous. And yet… there was something familiar about them.

“Who are you?” Ava demanded, her knife still in hand. Her instincts told her to run, to leave before things got worse. But something kept her rooted in place, her heart hammering against her ribs.

The figure took a step closer, the shadows swallowing the space between them.

“You’ve been looking for someone, haven’t you?” The voice was velvet, coaxing her in, weaving itself around her thoughts.

Her grip on the blade tightened. “What do you know about it?”

He took another step forward. His eyes, a piercing, unnatural shade of gold, met hers from beneath the hood. Something dangerous sparked between them—a connection she couldn’t explain, a pull deep in her chest that made the air feel heavier.

“You’re looking for answers. Just like me,” the figure murmured.

Ava took a step back, trying to maintain control. She’d seen this before—people who used magic to manipulate others. But there was something different about this one. His power wasn’t just magic—it was something more. Something ancient.

His lips curled into a faint smile. “You’re closer than you think, Ava Nyx. Closer to the truth. Closer to the nightfall.” He stepped into the shadows and disappeared without another word, leaving nothing but the faintest trace of his magic lingering in the air.

Ava stood frozen, her mind racing. The nightfall? What did he mean by that?

But before she could process anything further, her comm-link buzzed again. “Ava? What’s happening? You’ve gone silent.”

She glanced down at her blade. The strange connection, the eerie words… none of it made sense.

But then again, in Veilport, it never did.

“Get ready,” she said, her voice cold. “I think I’ve found something.”