3rd person. Liora's perspective.
Liora had not left the department in days.
Time had blurred into something meaningless, measured only by the slow drip of liquid through glass cylinders and the steady glow of runes etched into the stonework of the laboratory.
The air was thick with the scent of reagents and metal, tinged faintly with something bitter, something that clung to the back of the throat and refused to leave. It was the scent of the black lotus powder, even in its most controlled form.
She stood at one of the long stone tables, her sleeves rolled neatly beneath a fitted lab coat, protective gloves pulled tight over her hands. A pair of clear goggles rested over her eyes, slightly fogged at the edges from hours of uninterrupted work. Before her, suspended within reinforced glass, was the sample that had consumed her thoughts entirely.
Lirael's blood.
It did behaved strangely, it did not decay or ooze but stayed still.
