Smoke still hung low over the pitted landscape when the wind changed.
It was not the sudden shift of power that heralded the appearance of the celestial powers or the ebbing of Cain's bloodline - it was something older, dryer. As if a long-forgotten desert still remembered rainfalls that had not touched its sands for millennia. The realization rippled through every combatant at once, weapons pausing in midair and wings stalling in their beat. Even the wounded fell silent in their agony.
Azazel stepped out of the shadows at the edge of the cratered battlefield.
