Heat blasted Kikaru's face. She knelt in the sludge.
Gray ash slipped through her bare fingers. Deep cracks marred the white plating of her armor. Soot stained the edges.
The broken Nexus core tore the dungeon apart. Rock evaporated into steam. The floor melted away like cotton candy dropped in water.
Steam rose from the dissolving ground. The cavern walls shrank inward. Pockets of superheated air warped the light.
Kikaru stared at the ash in her hands.
Her discarded helmet lay two feet away. The cracked glass projected a distorted light against the rising steam. The public chat scrolled in a frantic blur.
She wiped her filthy hands on her trousers and tilted the display upward.
The secondary window held the private broadcast. Total blackness. A ragged breath rattled through the audio channel. A wet scrape followed.
That body wasn't broadcasting.
