the sun burns (10)

The sphere was their essence, their power, left behind not as a gift but as a curse. When the light faded, Nadia was on her knees, the sphere gone. Her skin felt different, her veins coursing with a warmth that wasn’t entirely her own.

She stood, unsteady but alive, and made her way back to the surface. The sun was setting, its fiery orb sinking below the horizon. For the first time in days, Nadia felt coolness on her skin.

She looked at her hands, still glowing faintly with the remnants of the sphere’s light. She didn’t know what she had become, but she knew one thing: the sun burns, and now, so did she.