[You have died.]
[Regression Activated.]
The world reassembled around Lucas at the bridge once more, and he doubled over, hands braced against his knees as he breathed hard, forcing down the burning frustration still clawing at his chest from a death that hadn’t even felt like a real fight — just his own broken skill throwing him off a bridge like all these was some kind of joke...
[Player has returned to designated checkpoint.]
[Checkpoint has been restored to the last stable moment prior to death.]
’Okay...’ he took a deep breath and straightened. ’Okay. Think. Fighting it head-on keeps failing. Every version of this ends with something falling apart.’
His eyes swept across the battlefield, past the charging Hestia already surging toward the front line, and his gaze landed instead on the twin spires rising just beyond it.
’The Gateway. We don’t actually need to kill it right? We’re supposed to pass through... We just need to cross.’
The realization arrived cutting through the frustration with something close to hope.
’If we run instead of fight, if we just get everyone across before it can catch up to us, I think we can make it.’
"Eleanor!" He grabbed her arm before she could give the order to engage, his voice carrying urgency as he spoke. "New plan. We don’t fight it. We run for the Gateway."
She stared at him, startled. "What? Lucas, we can’t just—"
"We can’t beat it," he said. "Trust me. I know that sounds insane, but I know it. Fighting it head-on gets people killed, no matter how careful we are. It has a fire breath that could level our entire formation, and it’s smart enough to change tactics when it’s cornered..."
"How do you—"
"Please, Elle." He held her gaze, desperation bleeding into his voice. "We lure it away from the bridge, buy an opening, and take everyone across while it’s distracted. We don’t need a clean victory. We just need to get through. That’s the main objective, right?"
Eleanor studied him for a long moment, doubt and trust mixing in into her expression.
"Fine," she said. "New plan." She turned to the line of fighters behind her. "We hold it just long enough to open a path, then everyone runs. No engagement past that. Understood?"
The order swept through the front line fast, confusion quickly giving way into determination.
She turned to Lucas. "You owe me an explanation later, got it?"
Lucas nodded, already thinking of some kind of excuse.
The Hestia crashed into their formation exactly as before, except this time, nobody pressed for a kill. Fighters darted and retreated, drawing the beast’s attention away from the bridge, buying seconds insteads of a tactical formation.
The fought the beast, driving it farther away from the bridge, and Eleanor gave the order once it was clear...
"Now!" Eleanor’s voice rose the moment the beast was far enough from the bridge. "Everyone move! Head to the gateway!"
The column surged forward, survivors sprinting past the beast’s flank and Lucas ran alongside them, watching over his shoulder as the Hestia thrashed in confusion, momentarily unable to decide which fleeing target to pursue.
They reached the twin spires soon after, panting and ragged breathing filling the air.
The Gateway’s blue energy was arcing bright between them, and a heavy wave of relief crashed into them.
By this time the Hestia had finally recovered and turned its back. When it saw that its prey had fled— the last of the Faction reaching the other side, it roared furiously and charged towards them.
"Go, go go!" Lucas shouted, sprinting the final stretch alongside Eleanor and Mark, as they were closer and closer towards the Gateway...
However, they didn’t pass through...
"Oof—!"
Lucas slammed hard against something invisible and solid, the impact sending him backward off his feet, and beside him, Eleanor and Mark hit the same unseen barrier too as both of them were stumbling back in confusion.
"What?" Eleanor pressed her palm against empty air where the crossing should have opened, finding only resustance, like a thick wall stopped them from passing through. "Why isn’t it—"
Panic rose through the chests of the survivors as the beast surged closer.
[Main Objective: Slay the beast and successfully cross the Gateway.]
He stared at the notification, and his eyes widened as understanding crashed into him.
After two failed attempts to kill the beast, running straight for the gateway sounded like the next logical thing right?
Wrong.
Looking at the notification as he understood that killing the beast was the only way to pass through...
"We have to fight it," he said, his voice hollow. "We were never going to be able to just run past—"
The Hestia ran towards them, closing the last stretch of ground with terrifying speed.
He looked around, eyeing the surrounding.
’There’s no space here. No room room to fight either.’
He clenched his jaw and narrowed his eyes. ’I trapped us.’
The full weight of the mistake crashed into him. He’d led them here, convinced Eleanor to abandon the fight entirely, and funneled all of them into a dead-end crossing with a furious beast running towards them and nowhere left to go.
’I made this worse. I made this so much worse....’
The Hestia’s jaws parted, and flame was already gathering deep in its throat, and Lucas understood that there was no version of the next few seconds that ended without catastrophe.
’I can’t fix this here, not now. It’s impossible...’
He looked around and his gaze fell onto the ravine below. Rocks jutting upwards as if taunting him.
He inhaled...
There was only one option left.
He took a step forward towards the edge, and someone grabbed him by his shirt.
"Lucas."
He turned, it was Eleanor...
"What are you doing? The beast is coming we have to figure out a way to pass before it reaches. That was the plan, right?"
"I—" His gaze faltered as he tried to speak...
"Elle I’m sorry. This is my fault."
She looked at him in confusion, unable to understand what he was saying.
"What are you—?"
Before she could finish her sentence, he jumped off, plummeting down into the ravine.
The wind tore past him, drowning out Eleanor’s scream of his name as he neared the jagged rocks below, and Lucas closed his eyes, bracing for the impact that awaited him.
**SQUELCH**
[You have died.]
***
[Regression activated.]
The world came into focus again, as his vision formed to meet the beast charging towards them again.
[Player has returned to designated checkpoint.]
[Checkpoint has been restored to the last stable moment prior to death.]
He exhaled, rubbing his hand across his face as a half baked plan formed in his mind.
"Elle," he called, causing her to look at him.
"Run."
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