Look Before You Leap

Little else was known afterwards. She reached the elemental, this was certain, but something must have gone wrong, because as she threw the test tube at the being,
all lay witness to a blinding white light, followed right afterwards by a loud explosion. This caused everyone to instinctively cover their ears to muffle the sound. Everybody closed their eyes and covered their ears for thirty seconds. They opened their eyes to a rain of ash.  She was remembered, of course. People even went so far as to erect an obelisk in her name. So was it known that Helena Wasp was the woman who had run to her own doom.