VI | Descent
The sound of the surface world was lost very quickly and Shekalane felt as though they were hovering in empty space—before the cage shook violently and her heart skipped a beat. She quickly became conscious of her respiration—realized she was sucking in air and exhaling it in rapid bursts. The fact that they were plummeting now became evident due to external sensations, such as the rush of air past her body and the pressure against it.
She heard a low-pitched fluttering noise and a whistle of varying intensity and pitch, like that which occurred when one blew air through relaxed lips while moving their tongue back and forth. The whistle became a roar, like a giant fire—snapping, popping, crackling. The lights of the cage on the passing walls of rock even looked like flames—a
