Nyxborn-The Forgotten Etherium

Renar's breath steadied, but his heart did not.

The whisper in his shadow had fallen silent.

Because something else was here.

He could feel it.

A presence—looming, watching from the darkness beyond the shrine. Not a beast. Not a wandering soldier.

Something worse.

Renar slowly turned.

The ruins stretched before him, bathed in cold moonlight. Cracked stone. Twisted roots. Empty silence.

And then—

A figure emerged.

A man, clad in dark leathers and steel. A hood veiled his face, but Renar could see the outline of a mask beneath it.

The man took another step forward, boots silent against the stone.

Renar didn't move.

A hunter.

Not the one from the village. Someone else.

And yet—familiar.

The hunter raised his head. The moonlight caught the edges of his mask—black iron, etched with faded runes.

And behind it—

His eyes.

Renar's stomach dropped.

Because he had seen those eyes before.

Not once. Not twice.

Every day.

In battles. In victories. In shared struggles and whispered secrets.

This was someone he knew.

Or rather—someone who had once known him.

But now, there was nothing in his gaze.

No recognition. No hesitation.

Only cold, unwavering purpose.

"Renar Ardentis."

The voice was flat. Emotionless.

A bounty hunter.

No—worse.

A reclaimer.

Someone sent not to capture him—but to erase him completely.

Renar exhaled slowly.

"Who sent you?"

A pause.

Then, the hunter reached into his cloak.

And dropped something onto the ground.

A bounty notice.

Renar's own face stared back at him—blurred, incomplete, as if the world itself had trouble remembering him.

And beneath it, in sharp ink—

"Erased must remain erased."

The hunter's voice was quiet.

"You should not exist."

He drew his blade.

And charged.