The Bridge of Cinders died screaming.
Steel groaned as the last girders tore free, plunging into the river below.
The current boiled black where molten shards hit the water, sending up geysers of steam and fire. The Rift-Tyrant Behemoth bellowed in fury, thrashing against the collapsing structure, its furnace-maw spitting embers as though it could hold the bridge together by hate alone.
On the far shore, Ethan and his companions lay sprawled on the cracked asphalt, gasping, lungs burning, hearts still pounding from the sprint that had carried them across.
They'd made it.
Though barely, they survived.
'We did it,' was the only thought ringing in Ethan's head as he looked across towards the city that almost became the end of them.
But on the city side of the river, under the veil of fire and ruin, a shadow still clung to life.
Pike hauled himself from the rubble, his hands raw, his knuckles bleeding as he clawed across scorched stone.
