Chapter 685 The Two Beings

Liam suddenly jumped down from the tree.

His body dropped through the darkness with effortless control, and he landed on the ground several meters below without making more than a soft disturbance in the dirt. Irina followed his movement with her eyes from the branch above, but before she could ask what he was doing, the cold entity noticed him. Its entire body seemed to stiffen for a brief moment, and then it immediately retreated. It didn’t attack him. It didn’t even hesitate. The strange humanoid figure simply shot backward and began moving away at an incredible speed, its body floating just above the ground as it fled through the darkness. Frost spread beneath it wherever it passed, but Liam remained completely still, watching the creature disappear between the trees.

The burning entity, however, didn’t follow.

It remained where it was.

The humanoid figure stood several dozen meters away, its entire body wrapped in flickering flames. Liam could see no eyes, no nose, no mouth, nothing that could properly be called a face, yet somehow he felt as though it was staring directly at him. The flames around its body moved strangely, almost as though they were reacting to his presence. Liam narrowed his eyes, prepared for an attack, but the creature didn’t move toward him either. Instead, something resembling a smile slowly appeared across the otherwise featureless area where its mouth should have been.

Liam’s expression became slightly more serious.

Then the creature vanished.

There was no explosion.

No flash.

No sound.

One moment it was standing there, staring at him with that unsettling imitation of a smile, and the next there was nothing but empty darkness.

Liam remained where he was, his eyes scanning the area where the creature had disappeared. He could have chased them. If he wanted to, he could have activated his Wings and covered the distance before either creature had gotten very far. His speed was more than enough to pursue them, and with his Aether Sight, hiding from him would not necessarily have been easy.

But he didn’t move.

Something about what had just happened bothered him.

The creatures had been fighting each other only moments ago. One had been desperately trying to attack the village while the other had been doing everything it could to stop it. Yet the moment Liam appeared, the supposed defender had immediately fled, while the supposed attacker had remained behind long enough to look at him and smile before disappearing.

That made no sense.

Liam slowly looked toward the dark forest where the cold creature had escaped, then toward the empty space where the flaming being had vanished. His mind began piecing together everything they had witnessed since arriving in Elaris. The strange attacks, the stolen souls, the blackened ceiling in Leo’s house, the shadow Liam had chased near the mountain, the presence that had been watching them from the moment they entered the village, and now these two beings. They had assumed there was one enemy hiding somewhere in the darkness, but perhaps that assumption had been wrong from the beginning.

Irina finally landed beside him. Her feet touched the ground with barely a sound as she looked around before turning her attention to Liam. "What is wrong?" she asked, noticing the unusual expression on his face. Liam didn’t immediately answer. He continued staring into the forest for several seconds, then finally looked at her and said, "Let’s go back. Tomorrow, there’s something we need to do."

Irina raised an eyebrow. "What do we need to do?"

"I’ll explain later."

She studied his face for a moment, clearly aware that Liam had discovered something but wasn’t ready to talk about it yet. Normally she would have pressed him for an answer, but she had spent enough time with him to recognize when his mind was already working through something complicated. Whatever he had seen, he clearly needed time to understand it himself. She therefore nodded without another argument, and the two of them turned toward the village.

Neither of them knew that their arrival in Elaris had already begun changing the fate of the entire settlement.

——

By morning, the villagers were stunned.

There had been no attack during the night.

For the first time in weeks, perhaps even longer, everyone had woken up without discovering another person lying unconscious in their bed, their soul slowly being devoured by whatever mysterious force had been tormenting them. Doors opened cautiously throughout the village as people stepped outside, looking at one another with expressions of disbelief. Mothers checked on their children. Husbands checked on their wives. Elderly villagers stood outside their homes with trembling hands, almost afraid to believe that the silence of the previous night had been genuine.

There were no screams.

No crying.

No frantic families running through the streets.

No body had been found.

No soul had disappeared.

The village had survived another night.

Of course, the villagers didn’t know why.

They didn’t know that if Liam hadn’t interfered the night before, they might already have been mourning someone by sunrise. They didn’t know that the two strange entities had appeared again and that Liam had watched them fight above their rooftops. They didn’t know that the creature made of ice had been trying to stop the creature made of flames from attacking them, nor did they know why one of those beings had fled the moment Liam appeared.

All they knew was that they had survived.

And for people who had spent weeks living under the shadow of death, that alone was enough to make the morning feel almost miraculous.

Liam and Irina walked side by side through the village, heading toward the home of the village elder. Their presence immediately drew attention. People who had once been afraid to even look directly at them now stepped aside as they approached, giving the two enough space to pass. Some bowed their heads respectfully, while others simply stared with admiration. A few whispered Liam’s name to one another, and Leo’s mother was among those who watched them from outside her home with quiet gratitude.

Liam noticed all of it.

He simply didn’t care.

His mind was elsewhere.

The strange smile of the burning creature kept returning to his thoughts, and so did the way the icy creature had fled from him. He didn’t believe the creatures were simply monsters. There was too much intelligence in their actions, too much purpose. They weren’t wandering beasts attacking anything they encountered. They knew where they were. They knew what they were doing. More importantly, they seemed to know each other.

And if that was true, then Elaris wasn’t dealing with a simple supernatural predator.

There was history here.

Liam and Irina eventually stopped in front of a modest but noticeably larger house near the center of the village. Compared with the surrounding homes, it had a little more space and looked better maintained, though it was still unmistakably the home of a village elder rather than someone wealthy. Liam walked up to the door and knocked twice.

After a moment, the door opened.

A middle-aged man stood on the other side. He had a weathered but friendly face, dark hair beginning to show traces of gray, and the kind of eyes that suggested he had spent many years listening to other people’s problems. The moment he saw Liam, his expression brightened considerably.

"Mr. Liam," the man said with a warm smile. "I believe we’ve never really had the opportunity to meet properly. I am Elder Eldric."

"Hi."

That was all Liam said.

Before Eldric could even respond, Liam walked inside.

Irina followed him with a faint smile, while Eldric stood there for half a second with an amused expression before closing the door behind them. He seemed almost surprised by Liam’s complete lack of ceremony, but rather than taking offense, he appeared entertained by it.

Once the door was closed, Eldric gestured toward the room and said, "To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?"

Liam didn’t answer immediately.

Instead, he looked around the room.

There was a simple wooden table in the center, several chairs surrounding it, a few shelves filled with books and old documents, and various objects that appeared to have been collected over the elder’s many years of living in Elaris. Liam’s eyes eventually settled on something lying beside an open book.

A pen.

He picked it up.

Eldric watched him curiously.

Irina, however, already had a feeling that Liam wasn’t about to explain anything with words.

Liam pulled the book toward himself and opened it to a blank page. Without saying anything, he began drawing.

His hand moved.

Then it accelerated.

The speed was so ridiculous that Eldric’s eyes struggled to follow the movement of the pen. Liam wasn’t sketching slowly or carefully in the way an ordinary person would. His hand seemed to glide across the page with complete certainty, every line appearing exactly where he wanted it. His memory of the previous night’s events was still fresh, and with his enhanced perception, recreating what he had seen wasn’t difficult.

Irina leaned slightly closer.

Eldric stared.

The sound of the pen moving across the paper was almost the only thing heard inside the room.

Within moments, Liam stopped.

He placed the pen down.

"Done."

Everyone looked at the drawing.

The room became noticeably quieter.

On the page were two strange humanoid figures locked in combat.

One was surrounded by jagged flames, its body distorted by heat and fire. The other was covered in patterns resembling ice, with frost spreading from its limbs. Liam had recreated the confrontation almost perfectly, including the distance between them and the way their bodies had been positioned when their energies collided.

Eldric’s smile disappeared.

His eyes remained fixed on the drawing.

Liam pointed toward the first figure.

"This one was made of flames. It tried to attack the village."

His finger moved to the second.

"And this one was made of ice. It was ridiculously cold. It was trying to defend the village."

Eldric slowly looked up.

Irina remained silent, allowing Liam to explain.

Liam folded his arms and stared at the drawing again. "The way they fought was strange. It wasn’t like two creatures randomly attacking each other. It was personal."

Eldric’s expression became increasingly serious.

"Personal?"

Liam nodded.

"It looked like the one made of flames was determined to destroy this town, while the one made of ice would do anything to stop it. They weren’t fighting because they happened to encounter each other. They were fighting like they’ve been doing this for a long time."

He paused.

Then Liam looked directly at the elder.

"Is there some history here that I don’t know about?"

Eldric didn’t answer.

For several seconds, he simply stared at Liam.

And for the first time since they had entered his home, the friendly expression on Elder Eldric’s face was completely gone.