The streets of Eldhar were different in daylight.
Liam walked beside Lilith through thoroughfares that bustled with life—demons trading, arguing, living.
The war felt distant here, a rumor rather than reality. Children played in alleys. Merchants hawked with aggressive enthusiasm.
The smell of sulfur mixed with something almost pleasant, like spiced meat cooking over open flames.
It should have felt alien. Odd. A human walking through a city that existed to oppose everything his former world valued.
But Liam felt nothing except mild curiosity. Even that was fading.
"You're quiet," Lilith observed. She'd chosen to walk rather than take a carriage, claiming the common demons needed to see their queen among them. Liam suspected she just needed the air. "Nervous?"
"No."
"Anxious?"
"No."
"Then what?"
Liam was silent for a moment, watching a mother demon guide her child away from a vendor selling what looked like weapons disguised as toys.
