A fierce downpour drummed on BW1, the raindrops tapping out a crisp rhythm.
Flickering flames licked at and coiled around every corpse and object that could burn, charring, curling, and melting them.
Smoke billowed, blackening the walls until they looked like murals beneath storm clouds.
Whoosh—
Two figures shot out of a warped space and tumbled across the ground before finally coming to a stop.
They didn't get up right away. Like rodents, they cautiously scanned their surroundings, exchanged a glance, and only then slowly rose to their feet.
One pointed in a direction. The other nodded, and they set off.
They hurried through the downpour, then ducked beneath a huge sheet of overturned metal to shelter from the rain.
There was enough room beneath it for both of them to stand, though the noise of rain hammering the metal was a little grating.
One of them was a short, plump woman with a mushroom haircut. She wore clothes with a bizarre spiral pattern, and they were soaked through.
The other was much taller: a bespectacled, neatly dressed man in a suit.
"I told you coming back here was the right call." The chubby Tokalinu folded her thick, stubby arms across her chest. "As the old saying goes, the most dangerous place is often the safest."
Shutaner, the bespectacled man, wiped away the liquid on his face—it could have been rain or sweat—and yanked off his already loosened tie.
He tossed the tie he usually loved without a second thought, then gasped for breath.
The terrifying events of the past few hours had left him with no concern for his appearance.
"Have you looked at the time?" Tokalinu asked, rudely shoving him. She made no effort to comfort him.
Shutaner didn't dare get angry or even glare at her.
He