Chapter 10 – The Hunger Beyond Design
It started as a whisper.
Not through ears.
But through instinct.
Every creature across the shattered world—from gods hiding in golden temples to beggars crawling through dust—looked up at the sky and forgot their names.
A voice had entered the story.
But it wasn't a character.
It was a genre.
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Within the Rift Above All Realities
A breach bled violet, ancient and raw. It pulsed not with energy, but with intent.
Kaian stood still, the rings of his Crown slowing.
The Godkiller stepped back, his smile erased.
Both could feel it now.
This… wasn't from the Architect.
This wasn't from the System.
This wasn't even from the forgotten mythos buried in Kaian's subconscious.
This was from before.
Before hierarchy.
Before law.
Before fate.
> Before the story even began.
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Somewhere deep in the Sovereigns' citadel, alarms that had not rung in eternity howled. The Sovereign of Time collapsed, weeping uncontrollably.
"I remember now," she gasped. "The One Who Was Erased…"
The Sovereign of War gritted his teeth. "That thing doesn't belong in the cosmos. We purged it."
"You didn't," Fate said softly. "You only buried it in narrative ash."
"And now, the cracks Kaian and the Seed created… are letting it out."
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Back at the Battlefield
Kaian's fingers twitched.
The Fifth Ring on his Crown had stopped spinning.
Instead, it fractured, splitting into countless floating fragments that began orbiting him like silent stars.
He looked at the boy—the Godkiller.
For once, the boy looked unsure.
"You know what this means, don't you?" Kaian said.
The boy nodded. "We're not enemies anymore."
Kaian tilted his head. "Don't mistake alliance for trust."
"Fair," the boy muttered.
They both looked up.
From the rift above, a shadow began to descend.
It had no shape.
Because shape was a construct.
And this was before constructs.
It wasn't evil.
It wasn't chaotic.
It was raw hunger.
Not for flesh. Not for souls.
But for narrative space.
For a place in the storyline it was erased from.
> It had no name. So the world began giving it one:
The Hollow Author.
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System Notification (Visible to All Active Entities):
> [A World-Level Emergency Has Been Declared]
[Class: Paracausal Anomaly - Origin: Non-Designated Narrative Axis]
[Codename: Hollow Author]
[Objective Unknown]
[Intent: Integration or Annihilation]
---
Kaian exhaled.
Then he looked at the Godkiller and said, "I'll rewrite fate."
The boy cracked a grin again. "And I'll delete the script."
They stepped forward, side by side.
Because sometimes…
> To fight what should not exist, you need what was never meant to.
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