"You're not wrong. Demons and their servants often seek to corrupt holy artifacts, but failing that, they'll settle for containing them, keeping them away from those who would use them for the pursuit of good."

"It does look like the sort of thing meant to kill Evils."

"Unless, it turns out that the power was inside you the whole time. Or that the answer is 'love', which would suck."

"That would suck. Particularly for Li-Ming, who has never loved anything except herself."

"Excuse you. I also love killing."

"I guess that's one way of saving the world from demon hordes through the power of love."

"Anyway, what's the next step? Oh, and your uncle got rejuvenated already. Just twenty years, but he does look less..."

"Like he couldn't survive a stiff wind."

"Oh, good! Thanks for letting me know."

"The next step is to find the Stranger and give his sword back so we can figure out who he is." This said, she strides towards Cain's house, sword in hand. 

"Of course," Henry says, putting a hand around Ari's waist and following Li-Ming.

Li-Ming flings the door to Cain's house open. "We found-"

The Stranger isn't alone. He's bound in chains of black iron. Above him floats a pale woman with butterfly-winged creatures clinging to her shoulders.

"You!" Li-Ming shouts.

"Yes," the woman laughs. "I'm here for your stranger. My master will be most pleased with my capture of the one who has so often thwarted him over the years!"

"You won't get away with-"

thock

Abruptly, there's a foot-long spear of bone sticking out the woman's throat.

Blood bubbles from her mouth as she reaches up, shakily, to pull it out. Then her hand falls, and she slumps over in the air, still supported by her wings.

"No," Lorath says flatly, "she won't."

"Brutal and ruthless. What other charming qualities do you have?" Gabe asks Lorath.

Henry rolls his eyes and goes to unbind the Stranger.

"By all accounts I'm good with kids," Lorath offers.

"Thank you," the Stranger says. "Wizard. You have my sword."

"I do," Li-Ming says. "Take your blade, Stranger, and say why you have come here."

The Stranger takes his sword. There's a burst of light, and suddenly he's wearing a full suit of golden armor. "I remember now. I am... I was the Archangel Tyrael. But I cast off my angelic mantle to walk the earth as a man, so that I could tell you: Belial and Azmodan walk this earth once more."

"...well, shit."

"I like how you made that sound ominous."

Then at Tyrael. "Oh, hell." Beat. "If you allow me to say so."

Is this what life is like now? Archangels and the forces of evil? Sigh.

"What can be done about it?"

The former angel shrugs. "We will fight them as best we can. I know where they are, at least; Belial has taken hold of Caldeum, while Azmodan has set himself in the crater of Mount Arreat."

"Well, that gives us a travel plan, at least," Li-Ming muses. "We'll swing through Caldeum and incinerate the Lord of Lies, then eastward to take care of the Lord of Sin."

"Your confidence is heartening if not misplaced," Tyrael says drily.

"Cool, what do we need to bring? And is it disrespectful if we take a selfie with the corpse of the Lords after you've killed them?"

"What is a 'selfie?'"

"It's, uh... imagine if you had a device that can instantly paint a portrait of you? And you did that, with the corpse of Belial in the background."

"That would be fine."