THE LAST DAWN

Chapter 25: The Acceptance

The golden light dimmed.

The old woman’s silver eyes softened. Her white hair settled. Her dress of gold silk stilled. She was no longer the hunger. She was no longer the end. She was no longer the beginning.

She was just a woman.

Old. Tired. Alone.

“You are the hunger,” Rowan said.

“I am the hunger.”

“The hunger is me.”

“The hunger is you.”

“We are the same.”

She nodded.

“We are the same.”

---

Rowan looked at his hands.

They were shaking.

“What do I do?”

The old woman took his hands.

Her skin was warm.

“You accept it. You embrace it. You become it.”

“Then I become the monster.”

“You become the healer. The hunger is not evil. The hunger is not good. The hunger is. It simply is. It has always been. It will always be.”

“Then why does it consume?”

She looked at the light.

At the golden warmth.

At the pulsing heart.

“Because it is alone. Because it is lonely. Because it is hungry for love.”

---

Rowan’s eyes filled with tears.

“I don’t know how to love it.”

“Yes, you do. You have been loving it your whole life. Every time you grieved. Every time you mourned. Every time you missed someone you lost.”

“That wasn’t love. That was pain.”

“Pain is love. Grief is love. Loss is love. They are the same.”

---

He looked at the light.

At the golden warmth.

At the pulsing heart.

“The hunger is my grief?”

“The hunger is the grief of the world. The grief of the first sacrifice. The grief of the first mother. The grief of the first love.”

“Then how do I heal it?”

The old woman smiled.

It was a real smile, warm and bright and full of love.

“You let it go.”

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