The gates of Eldhar opened for him at midnight.
Without announcement or fanfare. It had only the slow grinding of ancient mechanisms as stone and iron parted to admit what was returning.
Liam walked alone through streets that should have been empty but weren't.
Demons lined the thoroughfares— watching. Silent witnesses to something few couldn't quite name but recognized instinctively.
Fear and reverence mixed in equal measure.
He'd changed in the weeks since departing.
Not physically—the human body was the same, the grey eyes still occasionally flickering crimson. But something fundamental had shifted. The way he moved. The weight he carried. The presence that preceded him like a tide.
Word had spread faster than any messenger could travel. The Radiant Empire's retreat. The Grand Commander who never returned. The seven outposts secured through violence that made veteran demons whisper prayers.
But beneath those whispers was something else.
