The brave child

Previously

…But as she clutched the stone, a new feeling began to surface, a subtle ache deep within her bones, a faint weariness that seemed to seep from the very stone itself. The hermit’s words returned to her, a quiet whisper in the aftermath of the storm: “Its power comes at a cost, child. A cost only the true bearer can understand.” She had used the Sunstone’s light, its amplified power, to repel Elias. And in doing so, she had drawn upon its essence, and in turn, upon her own. The adventure, she realized with a dawning dread, was far from over. The Sunstone was hers, but the price of its power was yet to be fully reckoned.