Chapter 217

The desert did not shimmer like the City of Glass.

It did not brood like the forest.

It did not threaten like the storm.

It simply… endured.

Wind carved the land into long, patient lines. Sand shifted without urgency. The horizon offered no markers, no promise of arrival—just distance.

Kaia walked for two days before she saw the settlement.

It was barely visible. Low structures half-buried in sand. Walls built thick, narrow windows cut small against heat and glare. No ...