Search results

No time to dawdle. Astrid didn’t miss a beat, rushing in close, ducking and weaving around beams of Radiance from the dying machine. A blast slammed into the broken floor to her left, sending dust into the air as she unleashed her first of many strikes. Her Radiance spiked with each strike...

When she exploded again, the last thing that went through Astrid’s mind was how oddly comfortable it felt. It didn’t make sense to her, but she would dwell on it later. It had been only an instant, and she was back on her feet, lungs full of air. Astrid skidded to a halt, and...

<><><><><>

Karat. Got it. Astrid nodded once. “Thanks so much for your help.”

What in the… Wow. There was so little to inspect on the outside, and yet its basic infrastructure—something the sands of time hadn’t stolen yet—was still plenty to ponder at. Why was this crater here? Why were the buildings and doorways shaped that way? What purpose did it all serve? Every...

Astrid lingered, but eventually nodded. “Let’s see it.”

“I wonder how they, y’know—” Astrid searched for her words and for clues among the rubble at the same time. “—died off.” Not just in this world, but in others, she thought. What made the difference between a world like hers and a world like, say, Cuicatl’s?

Moldy walls. Rusted metal. Spotty lighting. Dank air. Dead vibe. The only things that remained were the skeletons of various machines, representing the ghosts of a livelier time. There were wires here and there… or—as Astrid inspected further—not even those remained, except for the occasional...