Eirene placed her palm against the ruin's heart.
The response was immediate.
The ancient structure did not resist her will. Its foundations loosened as if they had never been meant to remain buried forever. Stone that had slept beneath sand and time lifted in perfect balance. The grains of desert slid away without disturbance.
And then... the ruin rose.
Eirene guided it upward, higher and higher, until the ruin floated openly beneath the sky.
Then she reached inward.
Deep within the ruin, mechanisms long dormant aligned themselves. Runes once etched for preservation awakened.
A field unfolded.
It spread outward in a slow, expanding veil, descending over the Karesh Desert like a held breath. The barrier did not press against the land. It did not seal it away. Instead, it synchronized with it.
Sand continued to shift. Life continued to endure. Time continued to pass.
But upheaval ceased.
