The gates of King's Landing creaked open. Gold cloaks stood tall. Trumpets called. People cheered.
But Ryu didn't look at the crowds.
He looked at the shadows behind the walls.
The Red Keep stood high above the city—full of secrets, lies, and greed.
Perfect.
Ryu walked through the streets with the others, hood drawn, calm. He had already sent his shadows ahead, crawling through cracks and tunnels.
---
[Shadow Gate Activated]
Shadow Gate placed inside:
Red Keep Council Chamber
Royal Bedroom Corridor
Black Cells
---
That night, as the nobles drank and feasted, Ryu stood atop a rooftop in Flea Bottom.
He used Shadow Link to speak through his shadows.
One hidden under the Small Council table.
Another in the royal stables.
A third inside a Lannister guard's boot.
He listened.
---
Council Meeting – Secret Conversation Logged
Littlefinger spoke of debts and coin
Varys whispered of Daenerys in the East
Grand Maester Pycelle lied about ravens
Cersei demanded silence
---
Ryu watched them.
Not to protect the King.
But to learn which ones to break first.
He disguised himself again, this time as a minor court scribe. Silent. Invisible.
He followed Littlefinger one evening, trailing his shadow through brothels and books.
Littlefinger paid a man to poison someone. Ryu marked both.
He didn't act yet.
But he carved their names into a black stone he kept in his cloak.
---
[New Enemies Logged]
Petyr Baelish
Hired Poisoner (Unknown)
Cersei Lannister (High Threat)
---
In the night, a scream echoed from the Black Cells. A prisoner died screaming.
Ryu watched from a shadow near the ceiling. He had left one of his lesser shadows with the prisoner. It fed on fear.
When the man died, Ryu claimed his body.
---
[Shadow Extraction Successful]
New Shadow: "Rafe" – Torture Resistance, Secret Passage Knowledge
---
Ryu now knew three new tunnels inside the Red Keep. He wrote them down with charcoal on a stolen map.
Each night, he updated it.
Each day, he moved like smoke through the castle.
No one saw him.
But his shadows saw everything.
---
One night, he visited the godswood inside the Red Keep. Strange, cold silence.
He left a small stone on the tree's root.
Black, smooth, and marked with the names of those he would one day destroy.
---
King's Landing had many thrones. But only one shadow.
And it served no king.