"The Spire..." Valerie gasped, coughing violently. Through the translucent blue light of her avatar, Sebastian could literally see the bright red, digitized blood pouring from her nose and ears. "The core is overheating. Galleon can't vent the mana pressure fast enough. The barrier... it's pushing back too hard."
"Cut the tether, Valerie!" Sebastian demanded, taking a step toward her flickering projection. "Drop the call right now! I'm stable! I don't need the anchor anymore!"
"No!" Valerie snapped, her blue eyes flashing with a desperate, unyielding stubbornness that made Sebastian's chest physically ache. "If I drop the tether, you lose your navigation beacon! The Core OS will isolate your coordinates, and you'll be trapped in the Dead Servers forever! I am holding this door open until you walk through it!"
"Valerie, your physical body on Earth is going to have a stroke!" Sebastian yelled, his voice cracking with genuine, unfiltered panic.
