The world of jade, stone, and mortar crumbled into a deep pit of blazing bright madness.
Lu Chen’s optic nerves fired in uneven, violent bursts of blinding white light.
It wasn’t darkness that threatened to eat him.
It was too much light.
The Asura Crucible’s synthesis had forced the mental model of fire blood-fire smelting directly into his mortal human lower brain.
A human mind was evolved to see campfires, sunlight filtering through leaves, and the cold gleam of moonlight on steel.
It was never designed to witness the core of an active star.
Inside his skull, billions of synaptic pathways overloaded at the same time.
