ERIS
The waterfall recognized me.
That was the first strange thing. Not that anything about this place qualified as normal, but the barrier that separated the cave from the outside world parted without resistance when I approached, like it had been waiting for me specifically, like the river's magic had marked me as belonging here.
I stepped through.
The temperature shift was immediate. From cave-cold to morning-fresh. From enclosed darkness to open sky. From the sacred stillness of a place that existed outside normal reality to the ordinary sounds of wind through trees and water flowing over stone.
Sunlight hit my face.
Real sunlight. Not filtered through crystal or reflected off ice or dimmed by cave walls. Actual morning sun that was warm without being hot, that touched my skin with the kind of gentle heat I'd never properly appreciated when I was constantly burning from the inside out.
I closed my eyes for a moment.
