"Where's El'athal's body?" Ren asked.
"Don't worry," Aimon replied weakly. "When we return... he'll return with us."
When the curse was lifted, everything nearby that did not belong to the Shadowmire would be transported back to the Material Plane—including Aimon, El'athal's cairn, and the body buried beneath it.
As color rushed back into the world, Ren was briefly disoriented.
Then his vision cleared.
He was back in the Verdant Woods.
At first glance, everything looked the same as when he had left—except for two things.
The first was the stone cairn Aimon had built for El'athal, which now stood beside the monument in the Material Plane.
The second was Amelia.
She was standing beside the cairn.
Ren ignored her for the moment and turned his attention to Aimon.
He had survived the return, though barely.
The shadows clinging to him were gone, and he collapsed onto the ground the moment they arrived, barely conscious and struggling to breathe.
He was no longer a Shade Lord.
