The sun, weak at first, gradually strengthened, casting long shadows across the ravaged landscape of the grotto. Derick, his ethereal form now fully solidified, felt the warmth on his skin, a sensation he hadn't experienced in centuries. He flexed his fingers, the feeling of solidity grounding him after eons of shadowy existence. The weight of the curse, the crushing burden of his imprisonment, was gone, leaving behind a lightness, an almost dizzying freedom. He looked at Lyra, Elara, and Kael, their faces etched with exhaustion but shining with a triumphant joy that mirrored his own.
He felt a profound gratitude, a wellspring of emotion that
threatened to overwhelm him. He had been adrift in darkness for so long, a prisoner of his own torment, that the simple act of breathing free air f
