The blinding light didn't just illuminate the courtyard; it tore through the fabric of the surrounding water, flash-boiling millions of gallons in a single fraction of a second. The shockwave expanded outward like a solid ring of iron, shattering every remaining marble archway and pulverizing the ancient sea-stone foundation into fine, floating silt.
Elara was thrown violently through the water as the protective barrier her mother had placed around her collapsed under the sheer pressure of the blast. She tumbled through the dark, murky current, slamming into the jagged remnants of a fallen pillar before coming to a halt in the shifting silt.
Her ears rang with a high-pitched, deafening whistle. Her chest burned with every ragged breath, but her eyes immediately snapped toward the center of the courtyard.
The dense cloud of superheated steam and stirred-up mud slowly drifted apart in the churning currents.
