CHAPTER 46: DESCENT INTO THE FIRST HUNGER
Rowan’s descent into the void beneath the collapsing cathedral felt less like falling and more like being unmade in motion. The silver light surrounding her fractured as she crossed the boundary between the Balance and whatever existed below it, as though reality itself resisted her presence. Above her, Kevin’s voice faded into distortion, followed by Rwanda’s strained attempt to anchor him, and Marcus shouting orders that no longer belonged to any stable world. The last thing she saw of them was the collapsing cathedral breaking apart like a dying memory, swallowed piece by piece by the expanding darkness. Then there was nothing beneath her except the First Hunger. It did not greet her with sound or shape. It greeted her with absence. Every emot
