The red targeting lasers were three unwavering points of doom, pinning them against the obsidian mirror of the lake. The drone's single optic, a blood-red jewel, processed the cavern, mapping the impossible geometry, quantifying the three fugitives and the ancient structure behind them. Its weapon pods hummed, charging for a kill-shot. There was no cover, no time for a resonant shield. They were exposed.
Mara moved first. Her knife was a silver flicker in the crystalline light, not thrown at the drone—a futile gesture—but at the lake. The blade struck the viscous surface with a thick *plunk*.
The effect was instantaneous.
