Location:Kael'thoren — Hall of Traitors / Courtyard / Elder's quarters
Date/Time:Late Ashbloom, 9940 AZI
Realm:Demon Realm (Upper Realm)
The doors were open.
Not wide — a crack. Enough to slip through. The preservation formations around the frame hummed at a lower pitch than they should have; the ancient mechanisms disturbed by the breach in their sealed environment.
Ren stopped at the top of the stairs. The corridor was dark behind him. Below, through the cracked doors, faint light. Formation light — the alcove illumination that kept the preserved bodies visible. But beneath it, something else. A warmer glow. Someone had brought their own light.
He moved. Voidshadow wrapping him like a second skin — swallowing his footsteps, his breathing, the faint pulse of the Common Path that surrounded every demon king. He slipped through the gap.
