“So…” I said, watching the road ahead. “What now?”

  Liara didn’t slow her horse.

  “Now we catch the woman who tried to turn you into a weapon. Then we find whoever’s behind all of it.”

  I nodded.

  “Going into Dorwood is dangerous.”

  She smirked.

  “On the contrary. It’s the best place.”

  I looked at her.

  “They won’t even realize,” she continued, “that their enemy is right under their nose.”

  We set off again.

  Liara was muttering to herself.

  “What are you thinking about?” I asked.

  “Your legend,” she replied. “Alright then, Asgrim. You’re my apprentice.”

  “Because you’re kind?” I clarified.

  “Exactly,” she nodded. “Very kind.”

  “And not because I’m insanely talented?”

  “Nope,” she said with a straight face. “Asgrim is clumsy. Weak. And he’s always messing things up.”

  “Got it,” I sighed.

  I turned to Noxus.

  “Which means you’re temporarily… Gardolt.”

  He snapped his head up.

  “Gardolt?”

  “Yeah.”

  “You took half an hour picking your name,” he protested, “and I just get ‘Gardolt’?”

  “Then pick your own.”

  He went quiet.

  Thinking.

  A full minute.

  Very intensely.

  “Fine,” he said at last. “Just Gar. Short. Solid.”

  “Deal, Gar.”

  “Take me to finer lands,” he declared importantly, “and be a loyal steed.”

  I looked at Liara.

  “What do horses do at a moment like this?”

  “I don’t know,” she shrugged. “They just nod.”

  “Then nod, Gar.”

  “I’m nodding internally,” he grumbled.

  We rode up to Dorwood’s gates.

  The guards looked at Liara—careful, respectful.

  At me…

  Not at all.

  They didn’t even pause their gaze.

  I rode past.

  And something warm flickered in my chest.

  It worked.

  I smiled.

  Very faintly.

  And understood—

  the game had begun.

  Dorwood greeted us with noise.

  The city was alive: merchants shouting, people arguing, someone laughing, someone swearing. I walked beside Liara and felt… strange. Not lost, but not confident either.

  “So where do we start?” I muttered.

  Liara didn’t even slow down.

  “From the top,” she said. “People like that don’t hide in alleys. If she’s here, she’s somewhere up high.”

  “Logical…” I sighed. “Why didn’t I think of that.”

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  We stepped into a tavern.

  The smell of food, smoke, and cheap alcohol hit immediately. I was about to sit when my eyes caught a sheet posted on the wall.

  “The Dresk Family.

  We protect our lands.”

  Under the slogan— a crest.

  I narrowed my eyes.

  “Liara,” I said quietly. “That looks… very familiar.”

  She glanced at it.

  “Yeah,” she said shortly. “Our client.”

  We went up to the bar.

  “Tell me,” I said to the bartender, “who are these… Dresks?”

  He smirked.

  “Travelers, are you?”

  He looked me over more carefully.

  At my hair.

  “Yeah…” he drawled. “Looks like you really aren’t from around here. From very far away.”

  Seriously? I thought. So my hair surprises him, but the elf’s green hair and eyes don’t?

  “The Dresks have ruled Dorwood for a long time,” the bartender continued. “Probably four generations now.”

  He leaned closer.

  “And now they’ve got an heir. A girl.”

  “And what is she like?” Liara asked calmly.

  The bartender shrugged.

  “Who knows. Some say she’s hot-headed. Others say she’s insanely smart. Third group says she’s beautiful like a legend.”

  He smirked.

  “People talk about her a lot. But they rarely see her.”

  I tensed.

  “And today?” I asked.

  The bartender nodded.

  “Today she’s supposed to give a speech. Right in the city.”

  I looked at Liara.

  She was already smiling.

  “There,” she said softly. “That’s our moment.”

  I nodded.

  “Let’s go.”

  We left the tavern and merged into the flow of people moving toward the square.

  Somewhere ahead,

  the one we’d been chasing

  was waiting for us.

  We reached the center of the square.

  A crowd had gathered—huge. Too huge.

  Noise. A low roar of voices. Anticipation.

  She stepped onto the platform.

  Young. Beautiful. Confident.

  In her eyes—ambition honed by speeches and power.

  She raised a hand, and the square slowly quieted.

  “Our city,” she began, “was recently restored after a demon attack.”

  People rumbled.

  “But there is a threat in this world more terrifying than demons.”

  I went still.

  “For our city, that threat is… Zenhald.”

  The words hit like a slap.

  “That same boy with monstrous power,” she continued, “who destroyed an army of demons…”

  “and, in his rage, killed tens of thousands of people.”

  I exhaled slowly.

  An understatement would be generous.

  But the crowd listened.

  “Yesterday, news reached me,” she went on, “that Zenhald was in our city.”

  “He brutally killed dozens of guards.”

  “And nearly lost control again…”

  “almost destroying Dorwood.”

  “Wow…” I muttered under my breath. “She lies beautifully.”

  Beside me, Liara’s jaw tightened.

  “Do you even know,” the woman continued sharply, “why demons attack humans?!”

  The crowd exploded.

  “Because they’re monsters!”

  “Because they’re evil!”

  “Because they must be destroyed!”

  She waited until the shouting faded.

  “Demons do not wish us harm,” she said loudly.

  A heavy silence fell.

  “Their world is horrible.”

  “They were never given a voice.”

  “They were born into injustice.”

  The crowd stirred again—angry, aggressive.

  “How dare you?!”

  “That’s a lie!”

  “Demons are murderers!”

  “QUIET!” she shouted.

  And continued:

  “Today, an envoy from the demon country has arrived in our city.”

  A murmur swept the square.

  A figure stepped onto the stage.

  Humanoid.

  Horns. Tail. A calm gaze.

  “I have come from the land of demons,” he said. “I see how beautiful your world is…”

  “and I do not wish to destroy it.”

  His voice was even. Warm.

  “Demons want the same as humans.”

  “A peace everyone dreams of.”

  “Where all peoples live under one sky,”

  “breathe the same air,”

  “share the same land.”

  The crowd… began to calm.

  I clenched my teeth.

  Damn it…

  “We do not want war,” the demon continued.

  “But your king refuses to listen to us.”

  He spread his hands.

  “So we came not to the king…”

  “but to the people.”

  He looked out over the crowd.

  “What do you want?”

  “For your children to die in an endless war?”

  “For you to live in fear every day?”

  A pause.

  “Or… peace?”

  Many stayed silent.

  Some nodded.

  “I will remain in Dorwood for a week,” he finished.

  “And I will speak with the Dresk family.”

  “Perhaps… we will achieve peace.”

  Applause.

  Hesitant at first. Then louder.

  Rage boiled inside me.

  I knew the truth.

  Lesser demons—sure.

  They could want peace.

  But the ones above them…

  Hunger for power.

  Blood.

  Fear.

  Erasure.

  Every word from that stage was a blatant lie.

  And the worst part—

  people believed it.

  I slowly clenched my fists.

  “Liara,” I said quietly. “Now I know exactly who’s behind this.”

  She looked at me.

  “And?”

  I didn’t take my eyes off the stage.

  “The game has truly started.”

  The moment the crowd began to disperse,

  I vanished.

  A teleport—and I was on a rooftop, looking down.

  A carriage rolled slowly along.

  Guards. Torches.

  Her and the demon—together—heading toward the castle.

  My fingers tightened.

  Kill them here?

  Right now?

  “No,” Liara said sharply behind me. “Not here.”

  I didn’t turn.

  “If you do it in the city,” she continued, “the whole world will turn against you.”

  “So let it,” I said dully.

  “If this world wants to live like that,

  then I don’t belong in it.”

  I ran a hand through my hair.

  The silver vanished.

  The ash went dark.

  My hair turned black again.

  My eyes—mine.

  “You’ll become the kingdom’s number one enemy,” Liara said.

  “Don’t care.”

  I stepped into empty air.

  An explosion.

  The carriage tore apart like it was paper.

  “There you are,” I said calmly.

  A stone spear erupted from the ground

  and pierced the girl.

  No scream.

  The demon dodged.

  I was in front of him the next instant.

  “You won’t run.”

  I grabbed him.

  Teleport.

  We landed far from Dorwood, out in the wasteland.

  He tried to speak—

  and a few minutes later Liara and Noxus arrived.

  “You’re going to tell me everything you know,” I said to the demon.

  And at that moment I felt a crack inside me.

  Mira’s seal.

  It held…

  but it was cracking.

  Too many teleports…

  Still holding. For now.

  The demon laughed.

  “Zenhald…” he hissed.

  “Look at humans.”

  “What are you fighting for?”

  His voice was soft. Almost sincere.

  “They’ll call you an enemy for a single step out of line.”

  “They will hate you.”

  “Always.”

  He tilted his head.

  “We are not asking you to join us.”

  “Just… step back.”

  “Stop protecting them.”

  He smiled.

  “And I swear—the Lord will spare the lives of your loved ones.”

  I stared at him.

  For a long time.

  Then—crack.

  His neck turned a full circle.

  No scream.

  I burned the body to ash.

  The wind scattered it.

  Liara watched in silence.

  Then she said quietly:

  “Why didn’t you torture him?”

  “Pointless,” I answered. “He’s a mid demon. Almost high-rank.”

  “He can control his voice.”

  “He wouldn’t have said anything.”

  She swallowed.

  “You… killed a human.”

  I looked at the ash.

  “She’s not human,” I said calmly. “Not to me.”

  We stood there in silence.