"Fall back! Retreat!"
The command faded from the air just as a scream tore through the breach, an impossible noise that should have meant the end of his eardrums as the terrible sound raced through the battlefield. And yet, beyond the thin, shimmering fault in reality, it pressed forward. Its enormous mass of tentacles, which was more akin to knotted cables and slabs of wet sinew, slammed again and again into the crystalline barrier that separated the two worlds. Each of the relentless impacts on the crystal sent fractures of light rippling outward, the veil trembling under the creature's relentless force, while some of its children fell from the tiny cracks that were made by its effort. Its enormous body shifted slightly to adjust its size. Why that was, he didn't know, but perhaps it was trying to make itself smaller to fit more easily into the portal.
It wasn't the end, since he saw a future beyond this one, but fuck, it sure felt like it. Staring at this creature, he wondered for a bit if his efforts in the army were even worth it. Would there ever be a day when they would be free from this endless war and finally be able to live out their own lives as normal individuals in society? Truly, what was it all for? He couldn't even remember anymore. A line of supers stood at the breach, their bodies battered and bruised, while some of the worst injured ones were taken by the medics to be healed in the capsules. Yet, all he could do was just stand and watch that thing. He had earned that right, hadn't he? "Lieutenant Lently!"
The shout snapped him back into his body like a hook through the spine. He flinched, his vision refocusing as another impact thundered through the crystal veil, the light spiderwebbing across its surface illuminating the battlefield as he took in the appearance of the entire world to find the source of the noise. "Pay attention on the battlefield!" his commander roared, her voice laced with panic through the comms as she killed another swell of Thol'Marex racing out of the portal.
"We can't afford to lose this war!" The Thol'Marex's spawn hit the ground stone pavement below with a wet plapping sound, shrieking as they skittered forward to join the battle where their fallen brethren had died, the super intern moving in to intercept them without waiting for their orders, but the only thing he could focus on was lieutenant Asha, or rather, her corpse.
Though his emotions were working wonders to suppress the grief within him, he still couldn't look away from the dead corpse lying on the floor. She reached up a hand towards him, yet was unable to mutter a word as she looked at him, but she didn't need to.
Her eyes had said everything they needed to. Her hands fell onto the floor, and the light within her eyes faded.
And yet the battle continued on, as if absolutely nothing had happened whatsoever.
Her spirit, though, screamed as it was pulled into the ether at the center-most layer of the Erebos Strain.
Those screams would haunt him, for years to come.