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For a hundred years, I'd been trapped between life and death, unable to touch the living world unless someone with the proper magic allowed it. I'd spent a century wandering the halls of my own home, watching the years pass while my body lay preserved beneath the manor.

But now, for the first time in all those years, my body was alive again. My heart was beating. My lungs were breathing. And somewhere deep inside me, I could feel my Gryphon stirring.

Celeste had awakened him…and he was calling to me.

Suddenly, I remembered the strange warmth I'd felt when Celeste was forced to extinguish the protective runes. She'd somehow managed to direct her magic towards me, strengthening the connection between my spirit and my physical form.

What if that connection was still there? What if I could use it?

I looked towards the marble table, feeling my heart pounding inside the body which lay upon it.

And I knew what I had to do.

"Celeste!" I shouted, turning towards her. "Sweetheart, I need you to think about the connection between us! The one you created when you awakened my body!"

She looked at me desperately.

"Garrik, I don't understand!"

"Your magic!" I exclaimed. "You were able to send some of it towards me earlier, even while the binding enchantment was controlling your movements. I need you to try again!"

"But Natalie told me to stop!" she cried.

"She can command your body, sweetheart, but she cannot command your heart! Think of me! Think of the time we shared!"

For one terrible moment, I feared she wouldn't be able to do it. The cursed ribbon was glowing fiercely around her wrist, and the Wraiths were drawing closer.

But then Celeste closed her eyes…and I felt it—a wonderful rush of warmth spreading through my spectral form. It was the same extraordinary sensation I'd experienced when she first touched me, the same glorious magic which had allowed me to become solid beneath her hands.

Only now, it was stronger—much stronger. Maybe because it was All Hallow’s Eve. The Gateway was stronger at this time and as a Veil Witch, so was she.

I gasped, feeling the connection between my spirit and my physical body pulling at me like an invisible cord. Oh, by the Ancients! I could feel my heart beating! Not simply hear it or sense it from a distance, but actually feel it, as though I were already lying upon the marble table! My lungs drew in a deep breath, and for one extraordinary moment, I felt the air rushing into them.

I looked towards my body. Then I reached for it with everything I had…and suddenly, the world seemed to turn inside out.

I felt myself being pulled through a tremendous current of magical energy, spinning helplessly as brilliant silver and golden light surrounded me.

For a moment, I couldn't see anything at all. I couldn't hear Celeste or the Wraiths or the terrible laughter of the witch beyond the Gateway. There was only the pounding of my heart and the sound of something enormous roaring deep inside me. Suddenly I understood what it was.

My Gryphon—my magnificent, powerful Gryphon, who'd been sleeping for a hundred years. He was awake! And he was furious!

Come on, old fellow, I thought desperately. We have work to do!

Then, with a tremendous rush of energy, my spirit slammed into my physical body. I gasped as air rushed into my lungs. My eyes flew open.

And for the first time in a hundred years, I was alive!

The sensation was almost overwhelming. I could feel the cold marble beneath my back, the weight of my own limbs, and the tremendous strength of the muscles which had lain dormant for so long. My heart was pounding like a war drum, and my entire body seemed to be filled with fire.

I sat up abruptly, scarcely able to believe what had happened. I was alive! Actually alive!

But there was no time to celebrate, because across the chamber, one of the Wraiths had reached Celeste. Its terrible claws were stretching towards her throat, and she was struggling desperately against the enchanted ribbon, unable to move away.

At the sight of the woman I loved being threatened, something inside me snapped. A tremendous roar burst from my chest, and I felt the ancient Gryphon magic which had been sleeping inside me for a century explode into life.

All at once, my body began to change. My bones lengthened, my muscles swelled, and enormous wings burst from my back in a glorious rush of black and silver feathers. My hands transformed into powerful talons, and my face shifted into the fierce, hooked beak of a great eagle.

For one brief moment, I felt as though I might be torn apart by the tremendous force of the transformation. Then the pain vanished and I was standing on four powerful legs, my enormous Gryphon body filling the underground chamber.