Come Together, Right Meow

The Formians burst up from the ground, their chitinous screeching silencing the nocturnal calls of the Ikal Expanse, and charged towards the walls of Wexa. Arrows were let loose with Ysoki war cries, which slid between armored plates, and brought the first wave of insects to heel. But a second rose up in their place, followed by a third.
There were always more.
Flay barked orders as she walked, pointing at a group of Formians that were growing too close to the barricade, and then swore as the wall fell, allowing the intruders into the second set of defenses. They'd be inside the village, if they weren't stopped. Clouds shouted something, but Flay couldn't hear it -- she was already falling into the mass of bodies, on her way to the breach.
She rolled as she landed, using her small size to squeeze between the startled Formians, and drew a metal sword from its sheath. Her plasma blade's battery had gone dry days ago, and her old solar panels had been destroyed in the initial attack. She'd been gone for it, still floating between home and the Doors of Death... Unable to help. Flay let that anger build in her, and the White Flame swelled, fueled by her emotions.
The battle drums took hold of her, as they often did at night. She twirled like a spinning top, blade extended, pressing the edge where it needed to be. Formians rose from the earth, and then fell back into it, buried as their tunneled soil fell back with them.
Flay was a dancer, an executioner, and a gravedigger all in one.
Flay: "To me!"
She stood at the edge of the shattered walls, covered head-to-toe in Formian ichor, and raised her blade high. The White Flame soared, climbing up her arm, and the blade came alight, roiling with colorless flame. The Tribe of the Flaming Flower cried out in victory, her fellow warriors finally catching up to her, guarding the engineers while they sealed the breach. Flay stayed with them, a blazing sun in the darkness, burning Formians with every swing of her blade.
She was the first to enter, and the last to leave, satisfied only when the engineers called out in warning. Flay rolled back inside just as the walls closed, and commanded the archers forward, putting extra pressure on the intruders from above. A medic passed over her, but she waved him off. She was barely winded, and she had the White Flame's resolve besides.
Clouds: "That was foolish! You should have gone with backup!"
Flay: "Didn't have time to wait. Are we good?"
Warmth in the Clouds grumbled, and briefly glanced outside the walls.
Clouds: "You scared them. They'll be retreating soon."
Flay nodded, letting her breath settle, and allowed the Flame to leave her. The blade was perfectly clean, and as sharp as the day it was forged -- a perk of the cleansing fire. She twirled the sword in the air for a second, allowing the metal to cool, and then returned it to the sheath.
Clouds: "We cannot survive this for much longer. We were already hobbled when they came..."
Flay sighed, letting her silence count for agreement. These black Formian were unlike any they'd ever heard of. Wild and unreasonable, with no use for technology. They'd emerged from the ground after... After Unari died. Along with their black spire. Flay could see it even now, stretching into the atmosphere, well above the treeline. They hadn't heard from the Roaring River since its arrival, and the Midnight Beasts were fighting their own battle, back at Noct.
She'd been there for weeks, before things settled down enough to come check on Wexa. It was bad everywhere she went... Clouds was right. They couldn't survive like this. Not without help. Flay had seen the fate of the Dream Team, save Mist. Despite Leaves' arguments to the contrary, her cousin's birthplace was not in Wexa. At least not as far as Rastelviri was concerned.
They were on their own.
Flay: "You're right. We can't win here. Not spread about as we are."
Clouds: "You would retreat to Noct?"
Flay: "No..."
Flay looked back to the Formain spire, and the yellow fumes pouring up from its base.
Flay: "We take the fight to them."