Prompt

The Shimmering Flats, once a great and bountiful lake, now lay barren and lifeless under the relentless rays of the sun. Its once clear waters had vanished, leaving behind a vast expanse of dry salt pan that shimmered with a blinding intensity. Legends whispered of a time when a powerful water spirit had resided in the lake, guarding its depths and nurturing the life within it. But now, that spirit was gone, and with its passing, so too had gone all the water in the lake.