The Verdict of Hunger
The void breathed.
Not in and out—but around them, as though existence itself were holding its breath, waiting for a judgment older than stars. The Hunger Before Creation loomed vast and intimate at once, its presence pressing against Ridge’s fractured core, probing, learning, deciding.
Ridge could feel himself thinning.
Not fading—unthreading.
The lattice-core within him pulsed erratically now, molten Heartfire flickering, frost cracking along its edges like glass under strain. Each beat of his heart felt borrowed. Each breath felt like a negotiation with oblivion.
Aria felt it too.
She clung to him, her silver essence trembling violently as it fought to keep him anchored. “Ridge… your core is destabilizing. You’re breaking apart. If this continues—”
“I know,
