After all the fragnts of mory dissolved into streaks of golden mist, Liam and Aesmirius found themselves once more atop the boundless expanse of the Aether. The radiant cosmic sky shimred above them, its glow soft yet imasurable. Aesmirius sat slouched upon his towering throne as his expression remained unbothered, regal yet detached, his golden eyes resting lazily upon Liam, who stood a few paces away on the glimring marble floor.
"Well," Aesmirius said calmly, his voice echoing faintly in the ethereal air, "now that I’ve shown you all that needed to be seen, the rest is up to you." He leaned back in his throne, crossing one leg over the other. "Leaving this domain of mine, I an. You do know what to do, yes?"
Liam didn’t bother to hide the impatience in his tone. "Yeah, I know. Don’t need you to spell it out for ."
"Good," Aesmirius muttered, his tone dripping with casual irritation. He flicked his hand dismissively, as though swatting away a botherso fly. "Then get going already," he said, his voice filled with exaggerated exhaustion. "I’ve had enough of your presence for now."
Liam rolled his eyes slightly but said nothing. He turned toward the golden staircase that spiraled endlessly down into the radiant depths of the Aether. His boots echoed faintly as he approached the edge, but just before stepping onto the first stair, he halted.
He stood still for a mont, his back facing Aesmirius, before turning halfway around to glance at the god seated on his throne. His expression was unreadable, though his crimson eyes glowed faintly in the golden light.
Aesmirius raised a brow, his gaze still on Liam. "What is it now?" he asked, the boredom in his voice unmasked.
"Nothing too serious," Liam said calmly, his voice carrying through the shimring air. "Just... curious about sothing."
Aesmirius tilted his head slightly. "And that is?"
Liam folded his arms loosely. "You said it would take Volgath ages to find Amthar, right? Which, in fairness, it did. Demons didn’t start appearing here until about eight centuries ago." He paused, his eyes narrowing slightly. "But here’s what I’m wondering—if demons are already present on Amthar, doesn’t that an it’s only a matter of ti before Volgath finds his way herr too? And more importantly... doesn’t their presence suggest that he’s already aware of your existence? Maybe not you, specifically, but Aetherion. After all, that’s what he truly wanted from the start. You were just the annoying soul wielding it."
Aesmirius’s golden gaze lingered on him for a few seconds before he sighed softly, his expression thoughtful yet calm. "You make a decent point," he admitted. "However, I doubt Volgath himself is aware of Amthar’s existence. If anything, their arrival here was pure chance—luck, if you want to call it that."
Liam tilted his head, skeptical. "And what makes you so sure of that?"
Aesmirius leaned back slightly, resting his elbow against the arm of his throne. "The absence of any Demon Lord in this realm says it all," he said flatly. "If Volgath had discovered this realm and recognized its significance, Amthar wouldn’t have survived this long. The demons you’ve faced so far are nothing compared to what he would have sent if he knew. His four children would’ve descended upon your realm the mont his forces breached its veil."
Liam went quiet for a mont, letting the god’s words sink in. The reasoning made sense—uncomfortably so. The visions he’d seen earlier ca back to him: the worlds Aesmirius had wandered, the countless realms burned and broken under Volgath’s shadow. Each invasion had been led by Volgath’s strongest—the four demon lords. But in Amthar’s history, only two had ever been recorded: Lord Sanguis of the Blood Demons, and Lord Sylvathar of the Gaia Demons.
"Even though Sanguis—the one who slaughtered your father, and sent his legion to murder your grandfather—was here," Aesmirius continued calmly, "he never truly acted with intent to destroy this realm. He could have reduced Amthar to ash in days, but he didn’t. He simply watched. Sat back, and let humanity struggle, tearing itself apart under the weight of survival."
Liam’s jaw clenched slightly at that. His eyes darkened, though his expression remained composed. The ntion of his father and grandfather—their deaths, their helplessness—cut deep. A flicker of rage burned faintly behind his calm gaze, but he didn’t speak.
Aesmirius noticed. He could feel the anger simring beneath the boy’s calm surface, and rather than back off, it only made him smirk faintly. "In the end," he said, his tone almost amused, "Sanguis found his purpose. He decided to end the lineage of dark mages. Because from the very beginning, before other affinities rose to power, it was the dark mages who stood against demons—and nearly turned the tide against them."
Liam’s voice was quiet when he finally spoke. "So, the sudden extinction of dark mages had nothing to do with erasing your bloodline?"
"I doubt it," Aesmirius replied evenly. "If thag were the case, the extinction of dark mages would have happened a long ti ago."
Liam gave a slow nod, his face blank. "Well... I guess that answers my question well enough," he said after a brief silence. "I’ll be heading out now. But before that—how certain are you that there aren’t any Demon Lords currently lurking in Amthar?"
Aesmirius rested his chin on his hand. "The last ti I took control of your body," he said slowly, "I made a full scan of the realm. The only Demon Lord I detected was Sylvathar—the one we fought. Beyond him, nothing else stirred. I don’t know if that’s changed since, but I trust Amthar remains free of any Demon Lord’s presence."
Liam studied him for a mont longer before turning toward the stairs again. "If you say so," he said evenly. "Guess I’ll find out soon enough." He took his first step down, the golden stairs humming faintly beneath his boots. "See you in a few months... maybe weeks," he added dryly.
Aesmirius leaned back in his throne, watching the boy’s silhouette descend the radiant staircase until it vanished into the golden expanse below. The vast Aether returned to silence.
The god exhaled slowly, closing his eyes as the air around him stilled. "Finally," he muttered under his breath, his tone dripping with irritation. "The bastard asks too many damn questions."
He let his head rest against the throne’s back, the faintest smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. For the first ti in what felt like ages, the eternal domain of the Aether fell into quiet stillness—no more questions, no more mories, just silence and light.
***
Back on the golden and green expanse, Liam stood amidst the tranquil openness, his crimson eyes fixed upon the endless stretch of terrain before him. For a long mont, he stood silent, letting the calm wind brush against his face. Then, with a soft exhale, he rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, the faint glimr of myst pulsing through the veins on his forearms. Without hesitation, he summoned his twin daggers—shadows folding out from his palms until the dark steel solidified in his grasp. He spun them once with effortless precision, the sound of tal slicing air echoing faintly.
"Alright now," he said in a cold, level tone, his voice carrying across the still plain. "Show yourselves."
At first, there was nothing—no shift in the air, no sign of life. But then the atmosphere darkened, and two figures shimred into existence, their forms flickering into full reality just several paces away.
Their skin was a deep, pulsing crimson, veins glowing faintly beneath the surface like molten threads. Their eyes were bottomless pits of black, broken only by narrow golden irises that glead with predatory hunger. Each had two curved horns jutting from their foreheads, their jagged mouths twisting into sinister grins that revealed rows of dagger-like teeth. They stood tall and broad—nearly seven feet—perfect reflections of each other, identical in every feature and nace.
Blood Demons. The sa wretched pair Liam had faced alone in the eastern district of Grandeur City. That battle had pushed him to the edge of death, his body shredded and soul barely intact. Yet now, within Aesmirius’s endless domain, they were here again.
The wind shifted slightly as Liam tightened his grip on his daggers, the faint red–orange glow of his myst flaring at his feet. His expression stayed unreadable, but his gaze sharpened with quiet resolve.
"Ti for our rematch," he muttered, almost to himself.
And in the next instant, his body vanished in a burst of scarlet flas, the air rippling violently in his wake as he launched forward to et them.
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