Chapter Title: Echoes That Refuse to Fade
The wind did not settle.
It grew.
Not violently, not with the chaotic rage of a storm, but with a steady, deliberate increase that carried weight far beyond air in motion. It pressed against Azrael’s clothes, tugged lightly at his hair, and whispered across the open land with a tone that felt almost like a warning.
Something had changed again.
Not suddenly.
Not sharply.
But undeniably.
Azrael stood still, his eyes fixed on the horizon as the feeling settled deeper into his bones. The world ahead looked the same, stretched wide and endless, but it no longer felt like something he could simply walk through.
It felt like something that would answer back.
“…You feel that too, right?” he asked.
The woman didn’t hesitate this time.
“Yes.”
He
