Phantom Step

Riven strode through the Academy courtyard, his thoughts lingering on the duel's aftermath. Cassiel Vaigne. A name that had burned itself into his mind, not just as an obstacle, but as the embodiment of the power that had razed the Shadow Kingdom to the ground.

He exhaled through his nose, forcing his abyssal flames to fully settle beneath his skin. The rage was there, simmering, but it wouldn't serve him now. Not yet.

Nyx moved beside him, silent but watchful. Her presence was a quiet, steady force—one of the few things he didn't have to second-guess in this wretched place.

"You're brooding again," she muttered, eyes flicking up at him. "Thinking about him?"

He didn't bother denying it. "Observing."

Nyx scoffed. "I'd call it studying your prey."

A shadow of a smirk tugged at the corner of his lips. She wasn't wrong.