Hidden deep within the cursed woods of Therwynn lay the Bleeding Hollow. A grave carved by ancient magic.
Twisted trees rose toward the sky, their roots crawling down black cliffs like skeletal fingers. The earth was dead, ashen and cracked. Bones and rusted weapons rotted beneath a thin veil of mist that reeked of blood and burnt flesh.
The sky above was dark gray.
At the center of the Hollow stood a ring of black stone, a natural arena. Crimson moss spread between the cracks like dried blood.
The wind whispered. Then came the sound of bootsteps.
A dozen armed men descended into the Hollow. Armor creaked. Blades gleamed.
They were hunting one man.
That man was Ethan, an S-Rank Hunter.
He stood alone in the arena, wounded and cornered. Blood ran down his arm. His sword dripped red. A hatchet rested in his other hand.
He was battered. But he was smiling. The first man charged.
Ethan moved faster.
A flash of steel cut through the air. A faint blue arc traced his swing, and the enemy fell, split down the chest.
More rushed him at once. Metal clashed. Sparks burst into the mist. Blood sprayed across stone. Ethan fought like a cornered beast—fast, ruthless, precise.
The hatchet spun through the air.
Crunch.
A scream cut short. They fought as time lost meaning. When the echoes faded, only three remained.
Ethan and two enemies.
One was tall and broad, red hair tied back, a cruel grin on his face.
"Looks like your time's up, freak."
Ethan coughed blood and chuckled. "Yeah… maybe."
Suddenly, he hurled the hatchet.
The red-haired man barely ducked as it sliced past his head.
In that heartbeat of distraction, Ethan lunged at the second opponent. A short man with hollow eyes. Around his neck hung a glowing locket.
Ethan recognized it instantly.
A Level Zero Artifact.
One of the rarest relics in the world.
His only chance.
Ignoring the pain tearing through his body, he dove forward and ripped the locket from the man's neck.
But a blade sliced through the air from behind. It was too fast, getting too close.
Ethan clutched the artifact tightly. "I don't even know what you do…" he muttered.
The locket hummed. Soft at first. Then louder.
Purple light exploded outward, flooding the Hollow. The two men staggered back, shielding their eyes.
Ethan smiled faintly. "Guess I'm not dead yet."
He was wrong. Fate had other plans for him. The air twisted.
Reality tore open beside him. Space split apart as a swirling portal formed at his side.
Ethan's blood ran cold at its presence.
"No… not now…"
A Hollow Gate. A dark black portal had opened beside him.
Before he could move, the rift dragged him in.
"NO—!"
The world snapped shut. Silence returned to the Bleeding Hollow.
The short one was the first to speak, furious. "That bastard took my artifact! Damn it!" The red-haired man sighed and shook his head.
"Well, at least he's dead now."
"Still," the short man growled, "he escaped with a Level Zero Artifact."
The other man sighed. "So what? Do you even know its use? We tried it so many times, yet we got no reaction from it. That artifact was broken. And something that no one could fix. You just used it like some locket."
"Useless piece of junk or not, it's one of the rarest known," the short guy grumbled. But it was useless now.
---
Everything was dark and cold.
The Hollow Gate devoured everything.
Space bent. Gray tendrils twisted through an endless void. No air. No sound.
Just then, the artifact started to hum.
Ethan stared at the artifact in confusion in his last moment. Just then, a blinding purple light shot out of it.
"What? What's happening?"
Before he could understand his situation, his body started to feel hot. He felt unimaginable heat. A purple fire caught on his body.
"Aarrgh! What is this? WHAT?" He looked at his hand. The deadly purple fire was coming out of the necklace, trying to burn his body.
"AAAAHHHH!" His scream tore through the dead Hollow space.
The purple blazing fire burned his body to the core. He felt as if it was burning his soul.
He felt a pain he had never felt before.
His body began to disintegrate, turning to dust from the edges inward.
He looked down at the artifact in his hand. He was still screaming in agony.
The artifact had stopped glowing. Cracks spread across its surface as it crumbled and turned into ashen dust.
So this is it…
He stared into the infinite dark, closed his eyes, and waited for the end.
His body turned to ash by the mysterious purple fire as he slowly disintegrated.
His scream came to a stop.
Only silence. As he vanished.
---
After what felt like eternity, he slowly started to wake up.
He had expected death. Complete erasure. Not… this.
Ethan's eyes snapped open. They glowed bright purple.
Then he felt a sickening agony shoot through his whole body from his chest.
"Ahhhhh!" It was the same burning sensation as before—like something was being carved into his soul.
He couldn't move, but a purple glowing fire tattoo formed on his chest, giving him burning pain to his soul.
"Ahhhhh!" He continued to scream. Slowly, the pain subsided.
The tattoo on his chest slowly vanished. His glowing eyes returned to their normal violet color.
"Ahh… hah… hah…" His breath was heaving as he held his head, trying to focus on the situation.
Then all he saw was light. Not harsh, but soft. His vision was blurred. But slowly, he started to see clearly, like morning sunlight filtering through a thin veil. The twisting gray void was gone.
His body felt whole again, though strangely light, as if gravity itself had forgotten he existed. He pushed himself up from something soft. Not ash, not stone… not even grass. But a bed.
Golden light poured in through parted curtains, illuminating a lavish chamber that looked like something out of a royal painting. The air was warm, scented faintly with lavender and old wood.
He was sitting on a four-poster bed, its sheets smooth and impossibly soft beneath him.
"What the heck…? Am I still alive?" he muttered, rubbing his temples.
His head ached, his memories scattered. The last thing he remembered was being sucked into the Hollow Gate… and then burning alive in fire.
But now, he found himself in a different place.
What actually happened to him?