Nyxborn-The Forgotten Etherium

Renar forced himself to breathe evenly.

His shadow—**no, the thing inside it—**was smiling.

Not a human smile. Not even a creature's.

Just the impression of one. A sliver of curved darkness, forming a mouth where no mouth should be.

"You're afraid," it whispered. Mocking.

Renar met its gaze—if it even had one.

"No," he said flatly.

The shadow laughed. Low. Amused. Hungry.

"You should be."

The air in the ruined shrine thickened, pressing down on him. Renar's muscles tensed, instinct screaming at him to move, to run, to—

No.

He forced the panic down. If this thing wanted to kill him, it would have already. It wanted something else.

"What do you want?" Renar asked.

The shadow rippled.

"A trade."

A sharp chill crawled up Renar's spine.

A trade?

It wasn't the answer itself that unsettled him.

It was the implication.

Because it meant—he had something it wanted.

Something valuable.

Renar narrowed his eyes. "And what exactly do I have that you could possibly want?"

The shadow shifted, twisting unnaturally.

"The same thing you seek."

Renar frowned. "Answers."

The whisper curled around his thoughts, like fingers pressing against his skull.

"More than that."

The shrine suddenly felt smaller. The weight of something vast—something beyond this world—pressed against him.

"You were erased, Renar Ardentis."

A flicker of something cold settled in his gut.

"But erasing something doesn't mean it is gone."

The whisper coiled around his ear, impossibly close.

"It only means it has been buried."

A pause.

"And I can help you dig."

Renar's fists clenched. He didn't trust this thing. He didn't trust anything that came from the Nyx Etherium.

But it had said one thing that rang true.

Erased does not mean gone.

His past. His family. His true self—

They were still there. Somewhere.

And if this thing could help him find them—

"What do you want in return?" Renar asked.

The whisper smiled.

"A name."