"Bright Andromeda, Cassiopeia, Orion and Perseus, the starry heroines and heroes of one-million human nights."
– Milan Sime Martinic.
A girl captured by a monster had shackles covered in silk. She hated the sight of them. She did not consider herself weak or defenseless – she knew she was not – yet she found herself lost and without resources. She mourned a former life with a family she lost; the monster took them away from her.
She longed for a new life, too, seeking justice and restating her strength.
There was a young man wandering the roads as the ghost from a popular legend would. The night fitted itself around him, a proper mantle that covered his entrance to the monster's lair. He did not look like a hero. In fact, the girl offered him help. The young man freed her from the monster's chains in exchange. It was a fair trade, as he would have called it.
He could tell, too, that she was not weak nor defenseless. He gave her a knife and named her The Wraith for her stealth.
The girl could notice things about him, too, specifically about the other, vengeful ghosts haunting him.
The young man told her the truth about himself. She accepted it and joined him in the shadows. Her faith was one of her most resilient qualities, it had not wavered in captivity, and it arose amidst the darkness she was entering. If he had saved her, she wanted to believe he was worthy of saving.