The water began to rise slowly.
Max felt strangely drawn in for some reason, his body unable to move even an inch as the glowing surface trembled before him. It was not fear that held him in place, nor simple curiosity. Something deeper had wrapped around him, something soft and invisible, pulling at his mind with a gentleness that made it even more dangerous.
The forest around him had gone quiet as well. No leaves moved, no insects sang, and even the whispers of the Daerfaen seemed to hold their breath as the pond slowly rose before him. Max tried to move his fingers first, then his wrist, then even the mana inside his body, but everything responded a little too late, as if his own body had been submerged in water long before the pond ever touched him.
That made his eyes narrow.
