Chapter 660 – Suffering Through Command
It could be the fact our souls are not definite or it could be the fact that we live forever. The complex pleasures within life are quickly exhausted when we look at the overarching life of a Divine that has survived for at least one full age. Once we get to the point of survival multiple ages, we start to hit a problem in terms of recreation. There are two great filters of a Divine’s lifespan. One is around the mark of a century, when the first abandonment occurs, the other is variable, but it occurs roughly a thousand, to fifteen hundred years in.
The abandonment weeds out those of us who love humanity so much that we would forsake Divinity for it. Almost every Divines make this mistake in their early life, they find a tutor, they find a family of mortals, there have even been cases of Divinity finding a spouse, size-different be damned. Ultimately, there is no universal rule preventing such a thing from happening. It is merely not done.
It is one thing for a Divine to fall in love with another Divine, but to fall in love with a human is to unwittingly take a step down the road which reads only to the whimsical pain of nostalgia and old memories. Divines may see their initial, mortal, caretakers pass from disease or old age and then grieve for a year, maybe even a decade. The first wave of pain passes, giving reprieve for a while. Abandonment sets in after that, it becomes impossible to find a substitute mentor, there is none to replace the first. This is the first great barrier, it culls any Divine with a mindset forgoes detachment.
The second barrier depends upon the Divine, and it makes itself known roughly after a millennia of living. The world becomes explored and the mind has to sit down, stop and realise that the precious tree of novelty has finally been picked of all its fruit. Every experience, every art, from the mundanity of cooking to the precision of archery, the exhilaration of jumping from cliffs to the fatigue brought on by alcohol is worn down. All that Divinity becomes left with is their innate titles and a mind too complete for integration into the pleasant whimsy of human life.
Maybe that is why there is so much discussion between what makes up Divinity, because it is the one problem that we have tried to solve for thousands for years, that only we can truly solve, and it is has one answer which seemingly evades us to the very ends of time. My own theories of Divinity, I now shall scrap and discard.
It is not because my theory is complete. Far from it in fact.
It is because I look upon humanity and see the sheer innateness of their worth, and their total lack of time and acceptance of the unknown, and I can only weep with envy at what they have managed to achieve.
- Excerpt from the private writings of God Arascus, of Pride.
Fortia felt two sets of eyes drill into her back as if they wanted to excavate her for everything she knew, everything she felt, everything she wanted. The Goddess of Peace took a deep sigh and stared at the black horizon. It was an eye-wrenching silhouette of darkness, broken up only by the flames of the army that was advancing upon her small force.
And it would not be a threat whatsoever. Anassa and Irinika both stood behind her, waiting for orders. If she hesitated too long, Irinika would declare herself an independent Imperial Princess, Daughter Goddess of Arascus and the Divine he chose first to start his Empire with, and then she would make that terrible oh-ho-ho of a laugh and disappear into shadows. That was better than Anassa at least, that Goddess would seemingly disappear at whim. Sometimes, Of Sorcery even raced back to the Ashfront and stepped through it simply so she could find a field and pick the homegrown Esberian oranges.
“How long are we waiting?” Anassa asked. More monsters begin to illuminate the horizon. They carried great torches and their cattle pulled forth massive towers which had started appearing recently. Those were slow, but were used as both staff quarters and pillars for their Divinity to cast spells from. Imperial artillery would have to overwhelm and distract as men on the ground or vehicles capable of direct fire would move in destroy to them.
“We are waiting until I say go.” Fortia replied to Anassa. At least to Irinika, she did the job of any good commander dealing with a soldier far too skilled for their position, and she tried to explain herself. Anassa should get the same treatment, she wouldn’t bother returning back to Arascus if it turned out his daughters had ripped each other apart simply because was too stubborn to explain the situation. “They don’t see us.” Fortia said. Behind her, in the lines of trenches, the local Imperial force were waiting. “So we shall let them come closer.”
Ashen Skies, at this point, was confirmed to be a hamper for Tartarus. The demons saw well in nighttime but a total lack of light was just as devastating for humans as it was for demons. The troops waited without permission for a cigarette before the battle. The black sky overhead gave the Empire as much cover as it did Tartarus. “We could go now.” Anassa said.
“Patience is a virtue little sister, bequeath the subject unto your mind.” Fortia rolled her eyes and released her deep breath. She had not even realised she was holding it. Typical. Utterly, typical. She could recognise them by voice, Anassa was a seductress with no audience, Irinika was a theatre start in the dark. At least here, the total lightlessness of her dress melded into the scenery and didn’t hurt to gaze upon.
And as always, Anassa did not reply. The little sycophant knew her place, of that Fortia was sure. “We shall wait until they almost close the distance, I expect you two to tear through them.” They would. The only creature that pose a threat to either of them alone would be a demon prince. When they were together, the power-gap between Divinity and humanity only got larger. Anassa made some disgusted noise that sounded somewhere between a lazy exhale and the retching of vomit. If only she was sycophantic to Fortia instead of Irinika.
“Pray, why should wait be mandatory? Everyone is aware the wait is the worst part of the battle.” Fortia rolled her eyes. That wasn’t even her line, it was Arascus’.
“Why indeed Fortia?” Anassa chipped in. “Are there not better things for us to be doing?”
“This is the only attack spotted within two weeks.” Fortia said. “Whilst you two laze about, I have managed to congregate their forces for you.” Several platoons worth of scouts had been given up in the operation, but it had done its job. Three throngs of enemy troops had been redirected and grouped up for these two utterly unbearable idiots. One of them, alone, could at least be overpowered with sheer force of will.
Two though?
It was as if Fortia was back in the command tents or the throne rooms of the Great War. There, she had learned how to deal with these proud entities. Harassing Allasaria or Elassa to actually join a battle was a test of patience and how much exhaustion her mind could take before giving in, nothing more than that. “Oh my my.” Whenever Irinika used that smug tone, some terrible comment was coming. “I suppose that the Goddess of Peace is grand enough a Divine to have the privilege of serving up my meals.”
Fortia sighed. Back then though, Divinity at least tried to hide behind a veil of morality. Maybe it had been different in the Empire but here, Irinika simply seemed to enjoy the fact that she could get away with making such terrible statements. “They could have been engaged with individually.” Anassa should stick to sorcery and sorcery alone.
“They would have scattered and we would be left with a bigger problem.” Large engagements were key, she did not want the morale drop of having to shoot at shapeshifters. Fortress wards on cities taken by the Ashfront had been so effective that every day, at least a hundred civilians made the track back to the Imperial frontline.
“They would have scatted.” Fortia said.
“Not if they are dead.” Anassa replied. “Or do you not think that far?”
“You would destroy one force and split the others up.” Fortia said. “And then you would be complaining about the fact I’m having you chase down stragglers.
Anassa did not even try to defend her honour. She must have learned that tactic off Irinika. “That is something I excel at.”
“And it is a waste of time.” Fortia said. She called upon the authority Kassandora had bestowed upon her, and then Arascus had effectively authorized by not stopping the policy. “You have better things to do.”
“Indeed Anassa.” Irinika said. “The Goddess of Peace has employed us to standard upon this like statues. How could you ever argue against such a benevolent application of resources?”
Fortia didn’t even know what that meant. It was simply yet drop in the torrent of garbage that slithered its way out of Irinika’s lips. “I will have you cook for me if you cannot shut up.”
The threat would have worked back in the Great. Here though, it just made Irinika chuckle. “Maisara would not be happy that you ask the Goddess of Darkness provide sustenance for you.”
“I do not cook.” Anassa said. Of course she didn’t. Irinika chuckled to self once again, and then went on her usual verbal lashing.
“Should that not be the duty of the Goddess of Peace?” Fortia watched the approaching army. That was her job, to keep the peace. Not to fill it with her own bullshit whims of cooking. Who was Irinika to speak like that even? There was only a certain amount of annoyance Fortia could handle. “Is it not nutrition that gives man the ultimate peace? Should you not be mastering the art of cooking so that your best soldiers may operate with bellies full and warm?”
“You are Divine, you do not need to eat.”
Irinika just chuckled. “My my, what a sour little bitter soul you are Fortia.”
Anassa came in with her usual inability to sit still for longer than ten seconds. “How long until your enemy is congregated enough.”
“The lead army stretches five miles back.” Fortia didn’t even know why she was explaining. These women weren’t Maisara, they probably did not even care about the logic of her moves. “The others are about two to three miles of bodies.”
“And there exists how many such tentacles writhing upon Arda’s surface?” Another great comment off Irinika. Truly thought provoking.
“Seven.” Fortia said. Kassandora, Maisara, Arascus and maybe even Helenna and Malam would congratulate her on the sheer cleanliness of the plan. Not these two though. Fortia didn’t even mother.
“Oh my my, looks like there we be a battle indeed.”
“We could start pushing the front.” Both of the other deities had scoured Esberia. The Ashspeweres must have bee protected by illusion or hidden underground. Or maybe they were just two Goddesses trying to sweep a country.
“Kassandora forbade me from it.”
“Did she now?” Irinika chipped in immediately. “So the proud Goddess of Peace does have a boss, doesn’t she?”
Anassa immediately backed her up. “Well of course, it is our sister we are talking about.”
She had enough, they had beaten her. They knew how this worked, annoy Fortia enough and eventually she would just want you of her sight. “Shut the fuck up, you two, and move in.” It was some grand cosmic karma on one hand. This is how she had handled the White Pantheon in the past. But just because she had done it back then did not mean she had to enjoy it right now.
A dozen crimson formations appeared as Anassa’s laughter echoed in the countryside.
A short distance to her, west, a sphere of darkness began to grown.