Katabasis

by R.F. Kuang

The strategy however was to dial a dozen other things up to full volume as well, so that the airwaves canceled each other out, and the cacophony in her head reached such a saturated state it approximated silence.

The universe is incomplete, and I am one of their moving exceptions. But what does the fact of me prove, except that I am here?

I have been a good person sometimes, and a bad person at others. Sooner or later I will die. But before I do, I will try—I will try very hard—to make it count.

Time allows no exit, and it all boils down to one of two choices: end it for good or keep going.

sloe-eyed

The air cleaved apart, cut through by the outline of a door. A crack had opened in the world. The door swung open, and Peter Murdoch stumbled out.

Peter Murdoch was a book with no ending and all she wanted to do with the rest of her life was to trace her finger down every page.

I wish I were the night, so that I might watch your sleep with a thousand eyes.

How could she deserve life? Who ever deserved life? But you could not question such gifts. Elspeth had taught her this. There was no answer, only wondrous and inexplicable grace, and the only thing to do in return was simply to live. She took a breath. “Ready?” Peter squeezed her hand tight. “After you.” Alice climbed up, Peter close behind her. And together they emerged, to rebehold the stars.