The brave child

Previously

…The path ahead was uncertain, but one thing was clear: Clara was no longer the naive girl who had climbed into the attic seeking a solution. She was a girl who had faced darkness, made a terrible choice, and paid a price far greater than she had ever imagined. The artifact’s magic was hers, but so was its cost, a silent, pervasive drain on her own life force, a phantom ache that would likely follow her, a permanent shadow cast by the brilliance of her quest. The sun, when she finally emerged from the cave’s mouth, felt less warm, the world a shade less vibrant. She had saved her grandmother, but she had irrevocably changed herself.