Zari sat silent.

The fire Kael lit flickered weakly, burning on hacked mana threads and broken system fragments. They were deep underground now hidden in a quarantined server room, marked OUT OF BOUNDS in every system layer.

Her voice was flat. Dead.

“I didn’t die in a crash.”

Kael stared at her.

She wasn’t looking at him… just… through him.

“I remember fire. Screams. Not from me. From the others. Eight of us logged in that day. Closed beta. NDA iron-clad. We were promised ...