Summary

In the Prologue, the unnamed narrator describes a personal ending where a woman is sitting by her dead child, Uche. The narrator moves on to give the reader context. He writes that the end of the world begins in a city called Yumenes. This city is unique because it has managed to remain stable in the Stillness. The Stillness is a world of shifting land plates. It has stood for twenty-seven centuries.

A man stands on a hill overlooking Yumenes. He can sense, or "sess," the people in the city. He remarks to his companion that the first of the stonelore was actually written in stone so that it could not be changed. The woman with him is a stone eater; however, he has been lonely and believes it is safe to love her. He speaks, saying, “end…please” (6). Then, he reaches...