"So you're saying I retraced his steps."
"Maybe not by choice," Dominic said, "but yes. The signs line up. He was seen by the Colossus, felt the thread, and from that moment his trial began. The difference is, we don't know how his ended. Only what came after."
Kael and Dominic exchanged a brief glance—unspoken agreement passing between them.
They didn't press. Not now.
Dominic's voice shifted, less interrogative, more contemplative. "The Demon King—when he appears in surviving accounts—he's already a force. No records of his youth, his training, or his path to power. It's as if he stepped out of the Cradle fully formed."
Kael added, "His enemies only ever recorded the man who had already arrived. Not the one who went in."
Dominic's gaze returned to Damien. "Which makes whatever happened to you inside… worth understanding. Even if we don't have to pull it out of you today."
