Seraphine POV
That afternoon, we arrived at the boundary of the west. The west felt wrong. Not wrong like danger. Not wrong like war. Wrong like memory.
Like standing in a place you had never been before, but somehow your bones remembered it. Raya's massive wings cut through the cold western air, each powerful flap sending currents roaring past my face, whipping my hair behind me like a banner. Below us, the land had changed. The lush greens of Agro Territory were long gone. The fertile farms, the warm villages, the scent of bread and life…Gone.
Replaced. The earth below was gray. Not naturally gray. Dead gray. Scarred gray.
As if something had burned the soul out of it. I narrowed my eyes, gripping tighter onto Raya's harness. "…Okay," I muttered. "That's not ominous at all."
