**Corporal Sylvana Silverleaf's Log, Supplemental**
**Gnome Borderlands, Valley Approach recording**
**37 days after Rothgard's Fall**
The sky answers before the ground can blink.
They were behind schedule.
A patrol had nearly caught them two hours earlier, forcing the squad to backtrack through muddy fields and circle wide around a cluster of farmhouses. The delay had cost them precious time. Now, with the sky beginning to pale in the east, they were still moving through the valley when the border gate finally came into view.
Sergeant Jax "Specter" Kane raised a fist, and the squad dropped into cover behind a low stone wall. Less than a mile ahead, the fortified crossing stood silhouetted against the lightening sky. Two watchtowers flanked the heavy gates, and the faint glow of mage-lanterns marked the positions of the border guards. For the first time in hours, a flicker of relief passed between them. If they moved quickly, they could still reach the tree line beyond the gate before full daylight.
Then the soft, insistent beep came from their camouflaged comm charms. Kane froze. Sylvana's ears twitched sharply. The entire squad pressed lower against the stone wall, weapons half-raised as they scanned the darkness. A heartbeat later, the world behind them erupted. A deep, rolling thunder rolled across the valley from the direction of the capital. Even from this distance, the night sky lit up in brilliant orange and white as multiple hypersonic strikes slammed into the city. The sound arrived seconds later — a cascading roar of detonations that shook the ground beneath their boots. Before anyone could speak, several streaks of brilliant white light tore across the sky directly ahead of them.
The hypersonic missiles streaked low and fast, impacting the border watchtowers and fortified gates with terrifying precision. The left tower vanished in a violent flash of fire and shattered stone. The right tower followed a second later, its upper half collapsing in a rain of brick and twisted metal. The heavy gates were torn from their hinges and hurled aside as secondary explosions ripped through the defensive positions.
The squad stared in stunned silence as the border crossing they had been racing toward was systematically erased in front of their eyes. Darius was the first to speak, his voice low and rough. "They hit the gate… they hit our way out." Elara's sharp eyes were wide as she watched the burning remains of the watchtowers. "That was our only clean route through the border. We're cut off." Rylan's ears were flat against her skull, her body low to the ground. "We cannot go forward. The entire crossing is gone. If we try to cross now, we will be walking straight into whatever reinforcements are coming to investigate."
Tobin stared at the destruction, his small frame tense. " We're trapped between the burning capital and a broken border." Sergeant Kane remained silent for several seconds, watching the fires grow along the ridgeline. When he finally spoke, his voice was calm but carried an unmistakable edge of urgency. "We cannot use that gate. It's gone. We need another way through before the sun comes up and every patrol in the valley starts hunting for whoever just lit up their capital."
Sylvana turned to him, her usual composure strained. "The forest is still our objective, but every direct route just became a killing ground. If we move across the open valley now, we will be visible for miles." Darius shifted beside her. "North takes us closer to the capital's outer patrols. South is nothing but open farmland until the next ridge." Elara's voice was tight. "We need to move. Now. Before someone comes to see why their border just disappeared."
Kane gave a single, sharp nod. "We find another route. We stay off the roads and use whatever cover the valley offers. The forest is still the goal, we just can't take the direct path anymore. We turn south, to a quieter part of the border, and then cross." The squad exchanged tense glances as another distant explosion rumbled from the direction of the capital.
What had moments ago felt like the final stretch to safety had become a desperate search for another way out. They turned away from the burning border and began moving again, this time hunting for an alternative path through the valley before the enemy could react to what had just happened.