Elara's hands trembled as she held the crystal. It pulsed with an inner light that seemed to respond to her heartbeat, growing brighter with each thump in her chest. She had found it by accident, buried beneath the roots of the ancient oak tree that marked the boundary of her family's farm.
"This can't be real," she whispered to herself, but the warmth radiating from the crystal told her otherwise. In all her sixteen years, she had never seen anything like it. The village elders spoke of such things in hushed tones, calling them "creation crystals" - artifacts from the time before time, when the world was young and magic flowed freely through every living thing.
But that was just legend, wasn't it? Elara had always thought so, until now.
The crystal began to hum, a low, musical tone that seemed to resonate with something deep inside her. She felt a strange tingling in her fingertips, and when she looked down, she saw tiny sparks of light dancing between her skin and the crystal's surface.
"What are you?" she asked, not expecting an answer.
To her astonishment, the crystal's light shifted, forming patterns that almost looked like words. Elara squinted, trying to make sense of the shimmering symbols, but they were unlike any language she had ever seen.
A voice behind her made her jump. "I wouldn't touch that if I were you, child."
Elara spun around to see an old woman standing at the edge of the clearing. She was dressed in robes the color of twilight, and her eyes held the same inner light as the crystal in Elara's hands.
"Who are you?" Elara asked, instinctively clutching the crystal closer to her chest.
The old woman smiled, but there was something sad in her expression. "I am called Seraphina," she said. "And I've been waiting for you for a very long time."