Seyren raised a clawed hand to halt the group, his tail flicking once in warning. He gestured toward a side chamber whose stone arch had long since buckled under the pressure of the earth. Within, the pale light of Kai's conjured wisp illuminated dozens of frozen figures. Men. Women. Children. Every one of them turned to flawless glass, their bodies captured mid-movement.
Their arms raised and mouths open, as though their final scream had been crystallized forever.
"Ah…" Orlin's rasp carried a strange mixture of reverence and distaste. "The glass dolls. I didn't know there were still some around."
Kai stepped closer to the doorway, his chest tight. The air felt different near them, brittle, as if even breathing too hard might shatter one of those delicate figures. "Glass dolls?"
