In the midst of a cave, fire crackled. Its purpose was to ward off the cold, something it wasn’t doing much about.

What it did however, if still poorly, was illuminate a portion of the passage. It was a narrow space, barely a meter wide at best. Admittedly, its dark stone walls didn’t help the light spread, but besides the sharp rock face, there was something else the light fell on... someone. Five people had taken refuge here tonight.

“Ke-keh.”

A cough broke the silence that had lingered for the past couple hours; it was caused by smoke, but that of a cigarette. The cave turned into a ravine deeper inside, so the air never got stale for long. Too bad that the wind could make you shiver in your sleep...

“I’m done.” The words belonged to Dora, who wasn’t responsible for the earlier cough. “I’m going back.” Frustration laced her strained voice. She rose from the rough floor and reached for a compact backpack that sat on a ledge by the fire.

There was a rifle attached to that backpack, though it was so large you could very well say that it was the other way around.

“You are making a mistake, is what this is.” The response came from Welthan, who was smoking the cigarette. In contrast, he sounded indifferent, relaxed. He sat cross-legged, furthest from the fire, where his smoke was the main source of light.

“Am I now? Feel free to take me to court if you manage to survive.” Dora’s gaze swept across where she expected his eyes to be and then she took one last glance behind herself. “Anything’s better than this. I get how they see us, but to give us that thing was just betrayal.” She turned away, ready to leave, but—

“That woman has saved your life twice!” Another, feminine, voice found her ears. It belonged to Lilly, who laid with her head by the fire, where the flickering light emphasized her hazelnut hair, dark eyes, and a double silver stripe on a once-white uniform. “Not only that, but she can hear you!”

The 'thing'- the woman in question, sat at the other far end of their little camp. With how narrow the cave was, it was best to have another person on a shift to look out for the ravine.

“Keep sleeping Lilly, we’ve had this conversation enough times already.” The words did nothing to change Dora’s mind. Definitely not her opinion on this matter. “Keep dreaming that a human would ever be able to communicate with those cursed rocks...” She muttered. Maybe if she had heard that woman utter a single word—had seen her show a single sign of emotions... maybe then she would consider her human, but not any sooner.

Lilly wanted to say something back—Dora had a point, she always did, but to Lilly it only meant that their companion must have endured a great deal of wrongs. Even if she had underwent an inhumane experiment, that shouldn’t have meant she couldn’t be human herself anymore. Which was still just a speculation...

Before Lilly thought of anything, not helped by her having just woken up, Dora lifted her hands to feel out the rough, rocky walls. She took a couple steps forward until she stopped in front of Welthan who, partly to her surprise, moved the cigarette to his side. “No orders? Not even a lengthy explanation on why I should stay?” Her voice softened, but it wasn’t pleading.

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“What can I say that you don’t already know?” His response carried a hint of... was it sadness? Disappointment? A tinge of concern... not something he showed often. With her back blocking what little light could possibly reach them from the fire, it was impossible for them to see each other’s faces, but they didn’t need to. Welthan reminisced Dora’s expression on the day their squad lost a rookie- she didn’t let it show then, except for a pair of sad blue eyes. Dora, on the other hand, imagined Welthan giving her the bored look- not the usual kind he had, but the conflicted one. “I do, however, have an order.” Dora felt him slip a piece of paper into her palm. “I dare say that you do have better odds with the rest of us, but if you must, give this to the LRAD.”

In response, she slid the message into her pocket right away. “That’s your plan? They will never charge that thing for the four of you.”

Welthan shook his head, of which Dora discerned only a slight change in its dim contour. “Not for the three of us, but that woman might be worth more than a handful of charges.”

“Doubtful. They would have never sent that here, if it was valuable.” Again, 'that', 'it'... This irked Lilly every time, but Welthan seemed to just ignore Dora’s choice of words... either that, or he actually agreed with her—not that Lilly would know which one it was, she had met him a couple weeks ago.

“Don’t you find it suspicious that we had a colonel with us?” The colonel that had died, together with the near-entirety of their regiment. “He seemed to have known that woman well...”

“Not really. Either he had outlived his uses for the people above him, or expected a quick promotion by leading a suicide mission in person.” Dora had to admit that she had never heard of a colonel going out into the exacrystals’ territory before, especially not this far... but if the majors did, what stopped a colonel? “Then, I bid you farewell. If you’re right, you’ll know whether I made it.” With those words, she stepped over his legs and headed towards the entrance. She was going to send him a letter anyway, once and if she got out of the army.

“Farewell, lieutenant. I hope we have yet to share our last cup of coffee.” And so, Welthan took what was left of the cigarette back to his mouth. He didn’t expect to have a chance at smoking many of those in the coming weeks.

“I would like that.” Dora’s voice echoed from behind a sharp turn in the passage.

The silence was about to return, to be broken only by the sounds of the fire crackling, but not just yet—

“Would you also like to go back?” Welthan asked Lilly, who hadn’t gone back to sleep.

She looked at him, still leaning on her elbows for support. “I... think everyone wants to go back.” Even though she woke up only recently, her face, that was gray with dirt, looked tired. As if her earlier reaction already spent all the energy she had regained. “But we end up here for a reason. You mentioned that the woman has to reach the portal in a week’s time from now—that is enough for me. The colonel must have known something, it’s just too bad he is dead now and we can only guess what should happen.” That time limit was the reason why Welthan couldn’t turn back. Apparently the readings on this portal were far beyond anything the army had ever encountered, captured from such a great distance no less. Usually it was the Long Range Artillery Division—the LRAD, that disposed of portals, but even the empire’s greatest weapon lost too much power at this range.

Lily’s words made Welthan’s lips curve into a shallow smile.

He took one last puff of the cigarette and then threw it away. ”I bet the majors were let in on the details. Unfortunately, all you are left with, is a captain.” In theory Welthan was supposed to know everything he needed to complete the mission. Still, he wasn’t sure whether that really was the case...