Freeze time (Lorica)

This spell is a misnomer since time cannot actually be frozen (else it can't be started again).

What happens is that everything material in a place is kept from moving.

In Chronicle, Qura accidentally casts this spell at the Academy when she gets caught in an initiates' magic battle. Under attack from every side, she wills for the impending attack never to occur, and because she has been enchanted with reginylgynae, she is thus able to tap into the power of this spell. Suddenly, everything around her becomes motionless, including the spells that were already flung in her direction. She quickly gets away from the instant statues all around her and, after she feels safe once again, the spell is deactivated and the people there are left staring at the sudden disappearance of the girl before their own spells hit them.

The spell is triggered when it senses the skin pinching up close - a common sign of fear.

After Qura meets up with Altair again, he teaches her how to use this spell at will. It takes only a simple gesture: showing your palm at someone as in a "stop" sign. The spell ends the same way, giving the caster the opportunity to cast it, do something else, then return to the same position to deactivate it, thus leaving the other person clueless as to the fact that they had been frozen at all.