[Lufen Portal Entrance]
Hundreds of millions of people across the Federation watched their screens, the live feed coming from dozens of news cameras positioned around the portal entrance.
The dimensional barrier rippled one final time.
Then a figure emerged, crawling through on hands and stumps.
A woman, her military uniform soaked in blood, her legs gone from the knees down.
She dragged herself forward, leaving a trail of crimson across the snow.
Her face was pale from blood loss, her hands shaking, but her eyes blazed with desperate intensity.
"HELP!"
Her scream tore across the field, raw and broken.
"There are more survivors! Commander Reeves is still inside, still fighting! He's holding off the young chief of the Ironjaw tribe but he can't last much longer!"
Soldiers rushed forward with a stretcher, but she waved them away violently.
"We tried to save the families that were left behind! Dozens of them, children and elderly, people who couldn't evacuate in time!"
