In truth, Solam had not originally planned to bring this woman back. Her identity was simply too unusual. It could even be said that Solam was responsible for more than half of the reason she had become what she was now.
In Solam's original plan, this woman should have already died. Yet just as he was preparing to leave, she somehow broke through the planar barrier between Baator and the Plain of Infinite Portals and appeared before him, then collapsed unconscious from grievous injuries. Even now, Solam had no idea what exactly had happened to her.
Solam truly had not intended to meddle. After all, he was not familiar with this woman. If he had not pieced together her identity from a few clues, he would not even have known who she was. But Queen Laeral Silverhand attached great importance to her and insisted on taking her out of the Abyss with them. Unable to refuse, Solam could only agree.
Even now, Solam could not understand how a chosen of the Goddess of Magic could care so deeply about an archduke of Hell. Even if this archduke had stepped down, shouldn't she still mind her position?
That was right. This woman was Zariel—the former Archduke of Avernus, once a fallen angel, the Daughter of Destruction, and the supreme commander of the Blood War.
As for what she was now, Solam found it difficult to say. In any case, this woman was no longer an angel. Logically, after undergoing the redemption ritual, Zariel should have reverted to being an angel. And real angels should have looked like those few angels in the sky, being blown about by the wind—their skin should have been either green or silver.
But what was with this ordinary human skin tone?
Zariel had been a fallen