Nyxborn-The Forgotten Etherium

Vael's breathing was uneven, but he forced himself to stand.

Renar watched him carefully. No sudden movements. No rush.

The bolt was still lodged in his shoulder. A cruel design. Barbed to prevent easy removal.

"Hold still."

Vael stiffened as Renar stepped closer.

"It has to come out."

No argument.

No resistance.

Vael simply nodded.

Renar braced himself. He had done this before—on a battlefield, not in a ruin under the moonlight.

"On three."

Vael exhaled. "Go."

Renar yanked the bolt before he reached three.

A sharp, strangled breath—but no scream.

Blood welled up, dark and steady.

Renar worked fast, tearing fabric, pressing it against the wound.

Vael said nothing.

He simply stared at the broken bolt in Renar's hand.

"That symbol." His voice was hoarse.

Renar turned the bolt, letting the moonlight catch the engravings.

A faint, near-invisible insignia. The unmarked sigil of an eye.

"The Order of Erasure," Renar muttered.

Vael's jaw tightened. "I know it."

Renar's gaze snapped to him. "How much?"

Vael hesitated.

Not because he didn't want to answer.

Because he didn't know.

Memories tugged at the edge of his thoughts. Shadows of something deeper—something forcibly buried.

"They trained me." Vael's voice was barely above a whisper.

"Not as a hunter. Not as a soldier."

Renar waited.

Vael's hands clenched.

"As an executioner."

A silence settled between them. Heavy. Unspoken.

Renar's mind raced.

The Order of Erasure wasn't just some secret faction.

They weren't spies.

They weren't assassins.

They were something worse.

They decided who was allowed to exist.

"How much do you remember?" Renar asked carefully.

Vael exhaled. "Not enough."

A bitter chuckle. "But I know this much—"

His gaze lifted to Renar's.

"We were never supposed to meet again."

A pause.

A slow, dawning realization.

This wasn't random.

The world—**their very existence—**had been altered.

And yet, here they were.

A mistake.

A crack in the design.

Vael's breathing steadied. Resolve settling in his eyes.

"If they erased us once," he said, voice quiet but sharp.

"Then it means we found something they didn't want us to know."

Renar met his gaze.

And in that moment—they both understood.

"Then we find it again."