Liam and Irina stepped out of the house together, the wooden door closing softly behind them as the afternoon air greeted them. The village looked almost unchanged from when they had first arrived. It was still strangely quiet, almost unnaturally so, with only the occasional movement behind curtains and the distant creaking of an old sign hanging from a building. Yet there was something different now. The villagers had begun looking at them differently. They no longer watched from their windows with the same fear and suspicion they had shown earlier. Instead, whenever Liam and Irina passed by, people lowered their heads respectfully, some even offering small greetings. It was obvious that the words Liam had spoken earlier had spread quickly throughout the village. Somehow, in only a few hours, the two outsiders had become the closest thing Elaris had to hope.
