Lauri leant against the holographic table at the centre of the communications suite. The table displayed the map of Antarctica, as satellites were rendered redundant by the almost constant cloud cover from the snowstorms, the most recent map they had access to was coincidentally taken during the bridge's construction decades prior.
A small dot moved across one of the marked-out paths. That dot was the Rhino, and not far from it was the seventh bridge.
Lauri was joined by Mele, Sansa and Lucky.
"I can't believe it."
Sansa inched closer to the table. She looked at the others surrounding the table.
"We're almost there; these hellish seven days are almost over."
Lucky nodded, following with a dry laugh.
"It's only been seven days, but every hour of those seven days has felt like hell… I'm really starting to feel like I'm not cut out for this military business."
Looking between them, Mele shook her head.
"I don't know what you guys are talking about. This week's been so relaxing. Sure, it started off with us fighting the pack of rotten pups, but after that, we met basically no resistance… I mean, there were the beetles and their Gate Guardian with that damn cloak, and then there was the seven Gates that popped up on us; that part was kind of ridiculous."
She shrugged.
"But it's mostly a blur in my mind."
Sansa slowly turned toward her, squinting in disbelief.
"It's mostly a blur in your mind because something hit you in the head and gave you a concussion."
Mele looked back at her with complete confidence.
"That can't be true, I think I'd remember getting a concussion."
For a moment, silence filled the room.
Lucky took a step closer towards Lauri, who shook his head with a soft smile.
Then Sansa's eye twitched.
"That…"
She began slowly, frustration creeping into her voice.
"That is literally one of the symptoms of a concussion."
Mele frowned harder, clearly unconvinced.
"No, it isn't."
Sansa looked ready to strangle her – a fact she quickly followed up on – without warning, she lunged.
"Mele!"
The two girls nearly crashed into the holographic table as Sansa grabbed hold of Mele by the shoulders, violently shaking her back and forth in an attempt to force sense into the other woman.
"You had a concussion! You were dizzy! You forgot where we were! You tried to attack Lucky because you thought he was a Nightmare Creature!"
Mele grappled back immediately, trying to pry Sansa's hands off her.
"That sounds completely reasonable under the circumstances!"
"It was not reasonable!"
"It absolutely was!"
The pair continued wrestling beside the table. Mele managed to remove Sansa's hands from her shoulders, only for Sansa to grab at Mele. Their hands met in the air, fingers interlocking as they struggled against each other, bumping into chairs and nearly knocking over equipment as Sansa desperately attempted to convince Mele she had, in fact, suffered a concussion.
Lauri quietly rubbed the bridge of his nose, returning his attention to the map.
Lucky looked between them for a moment before slowly raising a hand.
"…For the record, I also thought you had a concussion."
Mele gasped in betrayal.
"You too?!"
Now thoroughly dragged into the argument, Lucky barely had time to react before Mele broke away from Sansa and suddenly grabbed at him in outrage.
"You were supposed to be on my side, Lucky!"
Lucky raised his arm to try and shield himself from Mele.
"Since when!"
At the same time, Sansa still had hold of Mele, refusing to let the matter go.
"You did have a concussion!"
"I did not!"
"You tried to fight the wall, Mele!"
"The wall started it!"
Lucky yelped as Mele nearly pulled him into the mess entirely, forcing him to brace himself against the holographic table while Sansa continued trying to shake sense into her.
The three of them devolved into a tangled disaster of grabbing hands, raised voices, and mutual accusations beside the softly glowing display.
And through all of it, Lauri simply stood there watching them, slowly shaking his head as his underlings fought each other like unsupervised children.
"…We're supposed to be saving humanity."
He muttered softly under his breath before letting out a quiet sigh, though there was no real irritation behind it. His smile brightened as the argument unfolding in front of him continued to escalate.
Mele stubbornly refused to admit she had suffered a concussion, Sansa sounded moments away from strangling her over it, and Lucky had somehow become trapped in the middle despite clearly wanting no involvement whatsoever.
'It's nice, seeing them so full of energy. After everything they've gone through these past few days – the fighting, the Nightmare Gates, the threat of the Whispering Legion hanging over our heads like some insidious guillotine poised to strike at any moment… It is just reassuring to see them in such high spirits.'
The fact that they had enough energy left to argue over something so small.
It meant they were still holding together.
Still themselves.
Still capable of laughing and bickering like idiots despite everything Antarctica had thrown at them.
'And soon it will be over, we can finish off the seventh bridge and leave. We can run, run as fast as we possibly can and get to Falcon Scott. Once we've regrouped with the defenders there, we'll be safe… Well… As safe as one can be when creatures of death and destruction are bearing down on all sides.'
Quietly shaking his head, Lauri stepped away from the holographic table. Skirting around the three before one of them somehow dragged him into the mess as well, he made his way toward the living space with a small smile lingering on his face.
Lauri found Katrina sitting alone in the living space, comfortably settled into one of the couches with her data pad held in both hands. The soft glow of the screen lit her face as she read, entirely absorbed in whatever report or document she had pulled up.
'A report or document?'
Lauri wasn't convinced.
She didn't look up immediately, even as Lauri approached.
"Hi, Katrina."
Just as before, she didn't respond.
Lauri stood back up.
"Whatever you're reading cannot be this investing."
It took Katrina a moment to register that Lauri was standing in front of her, and when she did, she casually moved her data pad, leaving it lying face down on the couch cushion beside her.
"Oh, hi, Captain."
She cleared her throat a couple of times before resting her hand on the data pad. She moved it closer to herself.
"Is something wrong?"
Glancing between Katrina and the data pad, Lauri shook his head.
"Nothing's wrong, nothing at all. I'm just checking up on everyone before we reach the last bridge. How are you holding up?"
Katrina thinks for a moment before smiling; her smile was oddly innocent. Lauri even found himself thinking it was cute as she smiled. It was small at first, subtle, almost hesitant – but it settled into something warm and unguarded, an innocence that felt rare in the world they lived in.
For a brief moment, Lauri found his heart aching; it was an expression he wasn't used to seeing. He found himself painfully aware of how rare that expression was for someone like Katrina – someone who had seen too much, endured too much, and still managed to smile like that in spite of it all.
"I think… yeah, I think I'm doing pretty good. I'm still aching a little from when the Lurker Hive – was that its name? From when it hit me with its staff. But aside from that, every piece of me is still connected to me, so I couldn't be happier."
Her fingers strained against the back of her data pad. She looked up to Lauri.
"Are you doing okay?"
Lauri considered the question before smiling.
"I'm great, I've got my team behind me. How could I be better?"
Before Katrina could respond, a loud crash echoed from the communications suite, sharp enough to cut through the hum of the Rhino and the steady rumble of its engines. Katrina flinched, nearly dropping her data pad as she snapped her head toward the sound.
"What was that?"
She asked, eyes wide with confusion.
Lauri's gaze slowly shifted toward the corridor leading back into the communications suite, the faint remnants of shouting and movement still carrying through the walls.
"Oh, that? Sansa is still trying to convince Mele that she had a concussion, and Lucky somehow got caught in the crossfire. I think they either knocked something onto the floor, or they were the ones to fall onto the floor."
Katrina stared in the direction.
"Right… Wait, what do you mean, Lucky got pulled into their argument?"
As if on cue, Lucky yelled from within the communications suite.
"Ka- Katrina! Help me, please!"
Katrina jumped up from the couch, letting out a long sigh as she did so. She shot Lauri a look that was equal parts resignation and weary acceptance, as if she already knew exactly what she was about to walk into.
"I'm coming!"
She called out, raising her voice as she moved toward the direction of the communications suite.
Lauri watched Katrina go, waiting until she left the room before his gaze slid toward her data pad. He glanced back at the door and then reached to pick it up.
'Let's see what our resident reader is reading today. Will Broken Sword and Anvil be fighting back to back against a horde of acidic clothes-eating monsters, or something a little more… scandalous?
Turning to look at the data pad, Lauri's expression shifted as he tilted his head to the side.
'This isn't a story at all, this…'
Lauri adjusted his grip on the data pad.
'It's the picture Katrina took.'
Lauri was standing near the centre of the group, wearing his usual casual smile.
To his right stood Sansa and Mele, arms draped over each other's shoulders, both of them caught somewhere between laughter and irritation even in the still frame.
At the far edge, Lucky grinned brightly at the camera, all energy and confidence, as if the future itself was something he could charm into submission.
On Lauri's left stood Katrina, positioned slightly closer than the others, her expression softer, more reserved – quietly present in the way she had been before becoming more open to the group.
Beside her, Vick stood half-leaning into Danse, who looked entirely indifferent to the photograph being taken at all, his gaze already somewhere far beyond the moment, as though he had agreed to be there physically but not emotionally.
This image was taken the day before they shipped out for Antarctica, when their teamwork was more of an idea in Lauri's head than anything substantial. Only through fighting side by side against Nightmare Creatures could their teamwork be solidified.
And how their teamwork had grown.
Enough to take on swarms of Nightmare Creatures without a blink of the eye.
Lauri smiled fondly, recalling their misadventures across Antarctica.
Returning the data pad back the way he found it. Lauri moved on to visit the last two members of his team.
Danse and Vick were sitting casually in the pilot's cabin, Vick reading her book, Danse driving.
Lauri stepped into the cabin.
"You know, Danse. I thought it was very kind of you to take over driving from Lucky. It's almost as if you're growing fond of him."
Danse didn't take his eyes off the road.
"I just thought it would be nice for the kid to have a break; he's been driving most of the time all throughout our trip, so it is the least I could do."
Vick looked up from her book, her gaze coming to rest on Danse.
"So you do have a heart somewhere deep within that cold demeanour you love to wear."
Danse cut his eyes toward Vick for a moment.
"I'll crash this thing if you tell him."
Vick only batted her lashes in response.
Reclining back into her seat, Vick let out a slow breath before turning her head toward Lauri.
"How are the kids doing? Happy this little road trip of ours is almost coming to its end?"
Taking a seat, Lauri couldn't help but chuckle.
"They're great, Sansa is fighting Mele trying to convince her she had a concussion, which Mele is vehemently denying, and Katrina's trying to help Lucky escape since he somehow got pulled in…"
Danse shook his head slowly, his lips tugging into a faint, reluctant grin. It was small, almost imperceptible, but enough of it was there to soften the usual edge of his stoicism.
Vick, meanwhile, turned her gaze toward the back of the Rhino. A soft smile settled across her features.
Lauri leaned forward, grabbing onto the back of Danse's seat as he looked at the instruments that surrounded the driver's seat.
"How long do we have left until we can see the seventh bridge?"
Glancing at a screen, Danse shrugged.
"It should be any moment now."
"That's…"
As he was speaking, Lauri felt it.
"...Great…"
Something subtle at first – almost easy to dismiss.
It was uncomfortable.
Wrong, in a way he couldn't immediately define.
His breath caught slightly in his throat, becoming a little tighter, as if he took manual control of his own breathing, without him consciously deciding to do so. The air in the Rhino seemed the same as before, the hum of the engines unchanged, the voices of his team still present – but something beneath it all had shifted, like a note in a familiar melody being played ever so slightly out of tune.
Standing, Lauri stepped closer to the Rhino's windshield.
In that moment, the Rhino swung around the road they had been following. As the terrain opened up ahead, the Seventh Bridge came into view.
And Lauri's blood ran cold.
His hand outstretched, recalling his spear from the back of the Rhino.
Vick's eyes widened, her pupils shaking.
Danse's expression hardened instantly, composure breaking as his face twisted into raw, contained rage. A curse slipped from his lips before he could stop it.
They were too late; the Whispering Legion had reached the seventh bridge first.
Hundreds of Pawns were already marching across the bridge in disciplined formations, their armoured forms marching in unsettling unison. Interspersed among them were numerous Rooks – hulking silhouettes that dwarfed the rest of the Legion.
Within the formation moved the two bishops, their slender, almost elegant figures drifting between ranks with eerie purpose, and at the centre of the bridge was the Knight, its presence unmistakable even at a distance. Its cape of faint cyan mist billowed behind it, flowing unnaturally in the cold Antarctic wind.
Behind the Knight came the siege engines. Four of them.
They resembled vast domes of misshapen metal, each one warped and uneven as though it had been forged in a nightmare rather than a foundry. From within the seams of the places of metal that made up the siege engines, mist billowed outwards. Each siege engine was dragged forward by its Rooks, their hulking forms straining against the weight as they hauled the grotesque structures across the final bridge.
The Irregulars were late; that much was obvious.
'No. All is not lost.'
From the looks of it, the Whispering Legion had only recently reached the seventh bridge. Many of the legion had passed over the bridge, but the vast majority of its forces were still on the other side of the ravine. It would be some time until the whole of the Whispering Legion could cross.
A few seconds had passed since the Irregulars had arrived in sight of the seventh bridge.
The spear of light finally reached Lauri's waiting grasp.
'We just need to finish our mission.'
A radiant glow began to take the place of Lauri's body as he activated [Light Dash].
Shooting through the glass, a streak of light cut across the Antarctic night.
If the Whispering Legion had not noticed the arrival of the Irregulars before, they had now.
Thousands of armoured heads raised, all turning toward the sudden intrusion in the sky. The Bishops paused. Their slender forms tilted upward in unison, sceptres held motionless as their attention fixed on the streak of light carving through the heavens.
And at the centre of the Whispering Legion, the Knight raised its helm.
Within the narrow slits of its visor, something stirred. A dark, maddening flame ignited deep within the void of its eye sockets.
Lauri reappeared in the sky above the Whispering Legion.
He didn't attempt to slow his momentum.
He didn't summon a layer of light around his body to stop his fall.
He just fell.
Lauri brought his arm back, essence surging through his body as he took aim.
Not at the Whispering Legion.
Not at its Tyrant.
'We just have to destroy the seventh bridge!'
Lauri aimed for the bridge itself.
It was a desperate gamble,
The bridge's anchors were reinforced by an Ascended's Aspect – he knew that much, that was what the report had said. But the bridge itself… the reports from Command had never explicitly stated it was reinforced as well.
And in war, uncertainty was a gap you could drive a blade through.
Lauri twisted midair, using the momentum of his fall to drive even greater force into the throw, then he hurled the spear – and for a split second, it was as if the world held its breath.
Then the tip of the radiant spear touched the centre of the bridge, leaving a devastating hole as it tore straight through the metal.
A deafening noise ripped through the night as an explosion erupted outward from where the sphere had hit. Steel screamed as the entire bridge bent unnaturally beneath the impact before a colossal fracture split across its surface.
The seventh bridge broke.
The anchors began to break away from the ravine wall as the centre span collapsed inward, as thousands of tons of reinforced metal gave way all at once. Entire sections folded downward into the abyss beneath, dragging hundreds of Pawns with them as the disciplined formation of the Whispering Legion was scattered.
Rooks lost their footing as the structure beneath them collapsed, their hulking forms crashing through the bridge alongside screaming metal supports. All four of the siege engines tilted violently sideways before disappearing into the darkness below, their misshapen domes splitting open slightly as they fell, revealing a glimpse of something moving inside before the abyss swallowed it whole.
The two Bishops reacted instantly, their pale forms gliding across the bridge even as it began to crumple, racing across it towards the other side of the ravine.
And the Knight – the Knight did nothing.
At most, it adjusted its grip on the long, barbed lance it held in its right hand. Even as its minions fell silently into the ravine. Its steed reared beneath it, letting out a shrill, unnatural neigh as cyan mist billowed from its body like ghostly flame. Yet the rider atop it did not so much as flinch.
The dark fire burning within the depths of its helm remained fixed upon one thing alone.
Lauri.