The crystalline patterns spread across Rina's skin like a healing web, each delicate frost line anchoring her chaotic energy into stable channels.
Her violent convulsions slowed, then stopped altogether.
The Shade let out a final, frustrated shriek before dissolving into wisps of shadow that dissipated against Isabelle's barriers.
Rina's eyes fluttered open, fully solid for the first time since she'd appeared in the lobby.
She tried to sit up straighter, but her body trembled with exhaustion.
"Don't move too quickly," Isabelle warned, her ice-blue eyes fixed on the frost patterns slowly fading from Rina's skin.
"What I've done is temporary at best."
Kane knelt beside Rina, relief flooding his features. "But she's stable now, right?"
"Stabilized, not cured." Isabelle's voice carried the precision of a scalpel.
"I've essentially frozen the chaotic energy at the molecular level, giving her spirit a chance to reassert control. Think of it as putting a fracture in stasis."
