The last traces of light faded beneath Lucky's skin as Lauri pulled his hand away.
Lucky, Katrina and Mele were still within the Dream Realm, their bodies sound asleep. But luckily, Lauri was still able to transfer his stores of light to someone, even if their minds were elsewhere.
'I wonder, is it because their souls are still anchored to their bodies that I can give them my light? If someone could untether their soul from their body, would that stop me from giving them the light, or would it simply filter into their body and disperse without a Soul Core to contain it?'
Lauri let out a long breath, rolling his shoulders, as he felt the subtle absence of light from within his Soul Core. He had filled the souls of all his underlings with light; the amount of light he had lost from his own soul was negligible, as was the difference in how much light his soul could store in comparison to others.
The Rhino rumbled onward through the Antarctic wasteland.
Not long after, the sixth bridge came into view.
Danse slowly brought the Rhino to a halt while the others stared through the frosted windows toward the bridge looming ahead of them.
Vick frowned slightly as she glanced at Lauri, who walked into the pilot's cabin.
"So…"
She began.
"What's the plan, Lauri? We're down, Lucky and Katrina, so it'll just be myself, you and Danse, who will destroy the supports, but that would leave only Sansa to guard the Rhino."
Raising her hand, Sansa shifted uncomfortably in her seat.
"I'm just saying, but if a group of Nightmare Creatures come across me whilst I'm alone, there is no world where I try and fend them off. I'm just going to drive off with the Rhino.
Lauri exhaled softly through his nose.
"Well, it's unfortunate the others haven't made it back in time."
He said dryly, his shining eyes drifted toward the bridge ahead.
"But…"
A faint smile tugged at the corner of his lips.
"It's very fortunate we made it here ahead of schedule, so we should never look a gift horse in the mouth."
Before anyone could question what he meant, Lauri stepped out of the pilot's cabin.
The atmosphere inside the Rhino shifted instantly as he made his way toward the exit hatch.
Vick called after him.
"Hey, Lauri! Where are you going? You don't plan on destroying the bridge all by yourself, do you?"
Cold air burst inward the moment Lauri opened the hatch, turning to Vick, his smile grew a little mischievous.
Then he was gone.
Snow crunched beneath his boots as he crossed the short distance toward the bridge, stopping only a few steps from the edge of the ravine.
For a brief moment, he stared down into the abyss below.
Then he stepped off the edge, causing Sansa to shout:
"Captain?!"
Lauri's body plunged into the darkness – only for a layer of radiant light to appear around his black bodysuit.
His fall stopped instantly as the layer of light held him in place in the air, carrying him forward through the darkness toward the underside of the bridge.
Stopping between the four anchors. Lauri glanced between them all.
Closing his eyes, Lauri rubbed his forehead as he scowled.
'I had wanted to save on essence, having only one Soul Core is such a damn pain.'
Blue sparks crackled into existence beside him.
A moment later, [Hailrend] materialised in the air at his side, the frost-covered blade humming faintly as cold mist drifted from its edge. Rather than grasping it directly, Lauri wrapped its hilt in condensed light, controlling the weapon through his Aspect instead.
Then, more weapons began to appear around him.
One after another, swords of radiant light formed within the darkness beneath the bridge, each dense with both essence and compressed luminosity.
A dozen in total.
They hovered silently around him, their glowing edges illuminating the underside of the colossal structure in gold and blue light.
Lauri drew in a slow breath.
Then his eyes snapped open.
The weapons surged forward all at once.
The blades crashed into the anchors, carving deep into the supports with explosive force. Sparks, shards of rock, and bursts of light erupted outward as the entire bridge trembled violently above him.
[Hailrend] was the most effective of the summoned weapons, being a Memory of the Transcendent Rank; it was more than enough to damage the anchors. The summoned blades of light were less effective due to the fact that the bridge had been constructed with the use of an Ascended's Aspect that reinforced the metal – something Lauri had missed whilst reading the documents provided to him by the government, and he had only found it on his reread.
Looking at the slow progress, Lauri's scowl grew a few shades darker.
'This pace isn't enough, these anchors are just too tough.'
As he thought this, Lauri's eyes cut to one of the light blades that was riddled with cracks, and a moment later, it cracked, shattering into wisps of light that dispersed into the darkness.
'What Ascended reinforced these anchors? Isn't it supposed to be that attack trumps defence?'
Simply summoning more swords, Lauri unleashed them on the anchors.
More swords formed and more shattered.
[Hailrend] carved relentlessly through the weakened sections, the Transcendent blade leaving deep scars wherever it struck. Essence slowly burned through Lauri's body at a steady pace as he used it to reinforce the summoned constructs, light spilling from his Soul Core as he forced more and more power into the demolition.
But inevitably, the anchors began to fail.
Cracks spread through the first support, splintering across its reinforced surface like fractures through ice. The entire anchor trembled violently as Lauri drove [Hailrend] into it one final time.
The support shattered.
A roar thundered through the ravine as the first anchor tore free from the wall.
And once the first anchor broke, the others quickly followed.
The strain shifted violently across the remaining supports, overwhelming the balance that had held the bridge together for decades. One anchor snapped apart beneath the pressure, then another ripped loose from the stone entirely.
The bridge groaned, and then the entire structure began to collapse.
Floating out of the way, Lauri watched with satisfaction as it crumbled down into the ravine.
A voice spoke down to Lauri.
"Couldn't you have just done that the entire time?!"
Shaking his head with a slight smile, Lauri raised back up to the edge of the land. Stepping onto the snow, the light covering his body disappeared, as well as the other light weapons and [Hailrend], which was dismissed into a hail of blue sparks.
"I didn't want to burn essence unnecessarily."
Reaching out his hand, Lauri ruffled Lucky's ginger hair.
"Nice to see you're back. How was the Dream Realm?"
Swatting Lauri's hand away, Lucky adjusted his tassel.
"It was fine, I guess. How's Antarctica been?"
Turning to look back over the ravine, Lauri's expression dimmed as he surveyed the empty region. There weren't any trees, nothing to hide behind, there was absolutely nothing there at all…
'So why do I feel so uncomfortable?'
"It's been… quiet."
Tilting his head, Lucky smiled.
"That's great, with any luck, it'll still be quiet by the time we get to the seventh bridge."
Lauri regarded the younger, shorter man for a second.
And then ruffled his hair again.
"You're right, Lucky, with any luck we'll be just fine."
Ducking away from Lauri, Lucky ran back to the Rhino.
"What is it with you and messing with my hair all of a sudden! I'm going to take over from Danse, so don't make me leave without you!"
Watching Lucky run, Lauri sighed in an exaggerated manner.
"Ah… They grow up so fast."
Casting one last look beyond the ravine, Lauri turned back to the Rhino.
The moment Lauri stepped back into the Rhino and sealed the hatch behind him, the engine roared louder beneath their feet. Up front, Lucky immediately pushed the Rhino forward, the massive vehicle rumbling across the frozen wasteland toward the seventh bridge.
Snow and ice crunched beneath the reinforced wheels as the headlights carved twin beams through the endless Antarctic night.
Lauri brushed snow from his bodysuit before making his way back into the living space.
Danse sat near the front, one arm resting against the couch, while Vick was reading from her book beside him. Sansa and Mele occupied the far side of the room.
Lauri's eyes settled on Mele – it seemed Katrina had joined Lucky in the pilot's cabin.
"How was the Dream Realm?"
Mele let out a long sigh, dragging a hand down her face.
"Stressful."
She leaned her head back against the wall.
"Command's a mess right now. Half the people I talked to looked like they hadn't slept in days."
"That's because they probably haven't."
Danse muttered.
Mele pointed at him.
"Exactly."
Her expression darkened slightly afterwards.
"But I did get information."
That immediately drew everyone's attention.
Mele spoke quietly.
"The evacuation is in full swing, but… Falson Scott has started to be attacked by massive hordes of Nightmare Creatures. It seems the first big wave of Nightmare Creatures travelling up Antarctica has reached Falcon Scott."
She rubbed her arm lightly.
"People are scared."
Silence settled briefly over the cabin, broken only by the rumble of the Rhino and the distant howl of Antarctic winds battering its hull.
Lauri slowly nodded.
"All the more reason why we need to crack the seventh bridge and haul our asses up to help protect the evacuation."
Rolling his eyes, Danse turned toward Lauri.
"Spot anything this time?"
Lauri's faint smile twisted downward at the edges before he slowly shook his head.
"No. No Whispering Legion scouts this time…"
For some reason, saying it aloud did little to ease the tension in his chest.
His gaze drifted downward toward the floor of the Rhino, his expression growing distant as his thoughts turned inward.
'I'm not sure whether that's a good thing… or a bad thing.'
If the scouts didn't linger near the bridge, that probably meant they had returned to the Whispering Legion, to their leader, the Knight. But if none of the scouts even remained to watch the area around the bridge, then that might mean that the Legion was still far behind them, which would be a good thing.
But if they had returned because the Knight no longer required its scouts to map out the path the Whispering Legion would take…
Lauri's jaw tightened faintly. The thought lingered unpleasantly like a dark stain in the back of his mind.
Across from him, Sansa noticed the subtle shift in his expression.
She winced, quietly asking.
"Is it that bad?"
Lauri let out a slow breath through his nose before forcing a small smile back onto his face.
"I'd feel a lot better if the Whispering Legion acted like a normal horde of Nightmare Creatures. I just, I just still don't understand why they attack any other Nightmare Creature that crosses their path… It's almost unheard of for Nightmare Creatures to kill each other for no reason; it's not like the Whispering Legion is eating the corpses. Nothing about this is normal."
Danse grunted softly.
"Luckily for us, normal stopped applying a while ago."
No one argued with that.
After a few moments of silence, Lauri laughed despite himself. This sudden noise, which was almost alien in the current environment, caused everyone to exchange confused glances.
Vick was the first to speak.
"What's so funny?"
Looking up, Lauri looked at each of the Awakened before shaking his head.
"No, no, it's nothing, it's just. Lucky said something similar. He said with any luck, it'll still be quiet by the time we reach the seventh bridge. And now Danse said something about being lucky, it was just a funny coincidence, really."
The moment the words left his mouth, Lauri felt several pairs of eyes shift toward him.
Danse slowly rubbed a hand down his face.
Vick closed her eyes for a brief moment as if praying for patience.
Sansa let out a quiet whine.
And Mele stared at Lauri in open disbelief.
"…Lucky said… That out loud?"
She groaned.
Lauri blinked.
"He did, what's wrong with you all? You all look like you've seen a ghost."
Sansa pointed accusingly at him from across the Rhino.
"Captain! You should know you can't say things like that in Antarctica!"
Danse ran his fingers through his beard, the corner of his lips twitching.
"It's basically asking the universe to punish us."
Lauri frowned.
"…I feel like you're all exaggerating, this is Lucky we're talking about."
A distant sound echoed through the frozen wasteland outside
Everyone went silent.
Lauri's expression slowly fell.
"Ah, damn it."