Ash stepped forward. "We're here to—"
"I know why you are here, Ashborn Locke." The arbiter lifted a hand, and the crystal above them pulsed brighter. "You seek the Ring's ultimate power, to control and escape from this place. But the Nexus does not serve conquerors or desperate runners."
Suddenly, Ash wasn't in the room anymore. His reality shattered into terrible, disorienting visions, like game warnings projected directly into his soul.
He saw himself standing on a mountain of dead players and monsters, the Dimension Control Ring burning red-hot in his hand, utterly useless.
Below him, the game world burned, a ruined landscape, and the escape portal crumbled into dust, forever gone. He saw himself kneeling in the ruins of player-built town, its makeshift homes shattered.
Maya lay dead in his arms, her life extinguished. Trapped players cried out, their pleas echoing, forever lost in the desolate landscape.
