AARON
Wind howled through my clothes as I walked at the edge of the forest, just staring out into the darkness of emptiness ahead of me. Trees swayed like shadows, whispering only to the night to understand. The cold seeped into my skin, and I didn't move. Not even a limb. My chest hurt, as though I carried too many truths in one moment.
Azure was trying to control everything—such a storm cloud stretching across the horizon, spreading itself into every corner, every intaken breath. And in the midst of all that disturbance, one thing echoed most clearly: my father is alive.
I hadn't been able to prevent it from looping in my head. All that's transpired over the course of the past few days repeats and repeats, a broken record caught on the unfavourable part of a track. Isaiah—my father—wa
