The walls of Bastion Hold trembled beneath the Abyssal tide. Spires of midnight glass jutted from the ruptures, disgorging revenants whose claws hissed against steel. The air itself warped, turning every breath into a struggle.
Cyg advanced across the parapet, the Azure Sigil carving a pale arc through the shadows. Each step left a trail of hoarfrost that slowed the Abyss spawn long enough for the archers to pierce their hearts. Harriet followed in his wake, flames wreathing her gauntlets as she smashed a hulking revenant back into the breach with a roar.
"Close it!" she shouted, hair snapping in the updraft of her conjured fire. "We can't let them anchor!"
"I know." Cyg drove the Sigil into the breach's edge. Ice blossomed across the rupture, knitting the fissure's ragged lips together in a brittle shell. But the darkness beneath still pulsed, a malign heartbeat that refused to be stilled.
Below them, Mia and Elaine worked in tandem, the Creation Core glowing between Mia's hands while Elaine wove channels of cleansing wind to deflect the abyssal spores drifting over the ramparts. "They're seeding corruption!" Elaine cried. "If this spreads, the entire Hold will be tainted!"
Cyg's jaw tightened. "Then purge it," he ordered without turning.
From the western wall came the clang of armored boots and a familiar voice, clear and unyielding even over the chaos: "Stand fast!" Gaia called, striding into view. The silver sigil across her breastplate burned like a star, her eyes shining with fervent conviction.
Soldiers rallied at the sight of her. Swords lifted. The wavering line stiffened. Gaia's presence was a promise that even the Abyss could not swallow hope.
She reached the parapet beside Cyg, her gaze sweeping over the battlefield. "We have to push them back. We can retake the field if we strike now."
"No," Cyg said coldly. "If you lead a counteroffensive, you'll overextend. Their numbers are still growing."
"Look at them!" She pointed to the soldiers below, hacking desperately at the oncoming revenants. "They believe in us. If we fall back again, we tell them the Abyss cannot be repelled."
Cyg turned to face her fully. For an instant, the two of them stood framed in the breach's violet glare—Gaia, radiant with unbreakable faith; Cyg, as pale and implacable as the frost coiling around his boots.
"Belief does not alter consequence," he said softly. "If we overreach, more will die."
Gaia's voice dropped to a near whisper. "And if we do nothing, we become like them—cold, unfeeling, watching the world decay."
They stared at each other, and around them the battle raged: shrieks of abyssal creatures, the hiss of boiling flame, the ring of steel. For a heartbeat, the clash of ideals eclipsed even the breach's fury.
Then Harriet bellowed from below, "Decide quickly!"
Gaia clenched her jaw. "I will not stand idle," she said.
"And I will not indulge your sentiment," Cyg answered.
Side by side, yet already a world apart, they turned to face the darkness.