Heat blasted her face. Kikaru knelt in the sludge.
Gray dirt spilled through her bare fingers. The white plating of her armor was cracked and stained with soot.
The ground around her was boiling.
Dana had shattered the Nexus core. The dungeon foundation was losing stability. The rock was evaporating into thick steam, melting away like cotton candy dropped in water.
Steam rose from the dissolving floor as the material lost structure beneath them. 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 against her trousers. She reached for the helmet and tilted the display upward.
The secondary window held the private broadcast. It showed total blackness. A ragged breath rattled through the audio channel.
A wet scrape followed the breath.
