The water elf's eyes glimmered, sorrow and hope intertwined in their depths. Her long hair, like strands of liquid silver, drifted as though caught in a gentle current that no longer existed.
She turned one last time toward the lake — toward the Seragon's Heart — and her voice softened, reverent. "This place shall protect her until the tides turn anew. Until the ancient song of the deep is heard again."
Her other hand rose, tracing a sigil into the air — a symbol that pulsed with layered runes of blue and gold. As the sigil spun, it sank into the crystal, and the slumbering figure within it glowed faintly brighter.
Caria whispered, almost to herself, "She's… sealing her."
Sophia nodded, eyes fixed on the intricate movements. "It's an ancient preservation rite. Far beyond anything recorded. She's binding time itself around that girl."
