A clock ticking is a scary thing.
1990: Bill Milo leaves home to see the world. He crosses desert and ocean, searching for purpose but never quite finding it. One day, Bill meets an old man taking his daily walk. He warns Bill that God will soon test mankind with a great flood, and that man will respond with fear and division. His words haunt him for years to come.
2015: August Milo spends her time caring for her grandparents and running her bakery. On a cold winter day, a customer named George orders a cake for his grandmother’s hundredth birthday. They find warmth in each other.
2025: Tyler Haji plots to avenge his brother’s death. Before he can realize his duty, a once-in-a-millennium flood ravages the East Coast. Many of the survivors flee west to join Bill Edenson, an alleged modern-day prophet; others stay and adhere to a resurgent Eastern regime. Tyler wallows in his past among the Eastern ranks until a greater calling beckons him west.
0017 Post-Flood: Succession is the natural order of things. Adam memorized his father’s words at a young age. Sooner than later, Adam would take on his father’s mantle, just as generations of Crombies before him had. Adam woefully accepts his fate until a mysterious herald names him heir to a greater prize: the West.
Spanning time, genre, and place, Zephyr traces the impacts of trauma, hope, and pride on ourselves and on those we hold dearest.
One family. Four generations. Infinite consequences.
John
John Milo was born in a country ravaged by civil war, only to escape at a young age. He makes sure not to forget where he came from and is quick to remind himself of his roots. He comes far in his new life in his new home. But the detriment of prosperity is pride, a quality—and disease—that John fully embraces.
Bill
Bill Milo is tied to nothing. He has no home, no family, no life to look after. He prefers freedom to servitude. The liabilities that come with intimacy terrify him, but, ultimately, he craves human connection. It is only upon establishing the Western Alliance and adopting the surname Edenson that Bill takes root. But those roots are dry and brittle.
August
August Milo clutches onto the things she knows she loves. She knows she loves her family. She knows she loves shared moments, like laughter, hope and dispute. Yet there is one thing that evades her: purpose. She grasps blindly for her purpose, and when she finds something promising, she latches on and never lets go.
Adam
Adam Crombie knows exactly who he is. He knows what future awaits him, yet feels ensnared by it, to the point of life becoming uninteresting. So, when Adam is told he is destined to revive the Western Alliance, he immediately accepts, indifferent to whatever consequences he might suffer.