THE LAST DAWN
Chapter 26: The Letting Go
The golden light blazed.
The old woman’s silver eyes brightened. Her white hair floated in a wind that did not exist. Her dress of gold silk shimmered with every breath, as if it were made of liquid sunlight. She was no longer just a woman. She was the hunger. She was the end. She was the beginning.
“You let it go,” Rowan said.
“I let it go.”
“The grief of the world.”
“The grief of the first sacrifice.”
“The grief of the first mother.”
“The grief of the first love.”
She nodded.
“The grief of you.”
Rowan closed his eyes.
He thought of his mother. Her smile. Her voice. Her hands.
He thought of his father. His strength. His silence. His sacrifice.
He thought of his sister. Her laughter. Her tears. Her dreams.
He thought of the village. The fields. The sea. The sky.
He thought of the hunger.
The hunger that had been inside him since the day he was born.
The hunger that had been sleeping.
Waiting.
Growing.
He opened his eyes.
The old woman was crying.
“You feel it,” she said.
“I feel it.”
“The grief.”
“The grief.”
“The hunger.”
“The hunger.”
“What are you going to do?”
He looked at the light.
At the golden warmth.
At the pulsing heart.
“I’m going to let it go.”
He raised his hands.
The light pulsed.
The hunger screamed.
The world trembled.
And then —
Silence.
The golden light faded.
The old woman faded.
The heart faded.
Rowan stood alone in the darkness.
The hunger was gone.
The grief was gone.
The pain was gone.
He was empty.
He was free.
He was whole.