Chapter 121 - The Last Throne

The corridor narrowed as they walked, though he could not remember when the stone had first begun to press closer on either side. What had begun as a broad passage — tall enough for banners, wide enough for processions and ceremonies — now funneled them forward in a slow constriction, a tightening throat of rock that permitted no turning back. The walls leaned inward at an angle so slight it was almost imperceptible at first, but the deeper they walked, the more undeniable the slant became. The space no longer resembled architecture; it had abandoned the logic of design and become something else, something that belonged not to builders and masons but to the deep, secret anatomy of the world itself.