The Greatest Sin [Progression Fantasy][Kingdom Building]

Alcohol is humanity’s oldest friend. I assume that alcohol is ancient, as we do not possess a Divine of Drink, although what a title that would be! We don’t even have a Divine for spirits and another for meads! Instead, the Divines of drinks have been broken up so much that they exist now only in the forms of specific brands. I have never been lucky enough to encounter the God of Wine before he died, although the stories say he existed for a mere twenty years before he passed.

How it happened, I have no clue. Maybe he drank himself to death? Although that would be a story to tell indeed. Now though, I can sit and I can pick out bottles and most of them have a useless spirit to simply monitor the brewing process. It is a shame. The revelry cast by an actual deity of would have no doubt been grand.

There are many theories, I subscribe to none of them. I simply do not wish to know such things, it is one of the few things I am satisfied with not knowing. The bottle is mysterious and it is made more mysterious by the fact I do not know if it has blood on it. I hope it does, for that would explain the natural attraction I have. But as I said, alcohol is humanity’s oldest friend. There is the dog, the divine and the drink. These three things are needed to keep man content. I have no dog unfortunately, nor do I wish for one, nor do I think one would be good for me. The dog and the drink do not mix whatsoever.

But if humanity created drink, it is akin to drinking humanity’s soul. I wonder who was the first to brew yeast? How did wine get discovered? Was it was really the thirstiness driving man to unknowingly taste win and then discover something akin to ambrosia? Or does humanity simply have this knowledge innately? Babies, after all, do not have to be taught how to breathe or suckle. Is it part of the soul? I certainly think so.

Helenna disagrees with me.

She says these are the ramblings of a drunkard.

- Excerpt from Malam’s Diary.

A bottle of whiskey for Kassandora to share. That was all she needed, and Arascus doubted they would get through the whole bottle. It wasn’t a time for drinking anyway, there were still things happening but, at the very least, he could spend a pleasant evening with a daughter. There’d come a time when these pleasant evenings would be every night, but that time was away. Not until Tartarus’ ash was gone from the skies of Arda, not until everything the demons stood for lay within this world’s gauntlet.

But for now, that was neither here nor there. It did not matter. Arascus looked around at the site he had chosen. It was in the mountain, close to Kassandora, but far away enough from civilization that no one would disturb them. He turned his phone off, the Empire could wait for tonight, and he sat down near a tree overlooking the fields in the distance. It was a small pleasure, of a landscape and a view, but it was a pleasure that was difficult to get bored of. The more one looked, the more they found and the world had changed a great deal.

So he sat and he waited. Kassandora hadn’t received a time, he just told her to be here in the evening so that they could see the stars come out. Ilan was on the other side of the hill, that wasn’t in view thankfully although civilization had touched this region. A motorway cut across the fields, grey snakes of tarmac turned away from it to the neighbouring villages, those were intertwined with a spiderweb of roads. A few cars were moving their ways along them. One was speeding, going far too fast for the speed limit.

Good thing Arascus wasn’t Maisara, he just smiled at the recklessness of the driver and let the moment pass. Some joys didn’t have to be culled. Footsteps came from behind, the rustling of branches and the creaking of grass being crushed underfoot. Kassandora moved like a bear, although that was nothing new. “You always choose a good location.” His daughter said as she stood next to where he sitting.

Arascus glanced at her. Of course she had come in full military garb. That was her second skin, had been cleaned at least. Still though, she could at least have aimed for a simple shirt, or ditched the long coat. “I try to.” He replied. It was the simple joys of life that made things kept living. The simplest joy, that of family, was denied to Divinity. And he would take fate by the neck and strangle it until it managed to hand it over. He opened the bottle and patted the grass next to himself.

Kassandora sat with a sigh. She sat up straight for all of two seconds, then leaned on his arm. “You’ve not brought glasses.”

“I did not.” He passed the bottle over to Kassandora. She looked at the whiskey, chuckled for a moment, and then drank.

“I shouldn’t drink during a war.” She said.

“The war will not end tomorrow.” Arascus said. “Although it will end sooner than we expected.”

“I know.” Kassandora said. “I have new toys.”

“I saw.” He had heard the news, and he had seen the videos on his way back. The video from the satellites, of Ashen Skies glowing orange for a few moments, was played almost everywhere. “What do you think?”

“I think it’s the greatest invention ever made and I have no idea how it existed.”

“Olephia predicted it.” Arascus said. “She said it, what if turn the reactor into a bomb.”

Kassandora chuckled. “Of course she did.” She sipped from the bottle again. In the distance, cars drove by across the landscape. The street lamps suddenly turned on and illuminated the darkening roads as if they great veins of light across the landscape. “It’s like Kavaa, she also is happy for the hospital. Olephia just wants to paint.”

“She’ll get back to painting soon.” Arascus said. As soon as the war was over, Olephia would be once allowed to go off into her blasted lands in Norje and sing and paint as she always did. But Olephia was not here, and although all the family liked to gossip, there was little to gossip about with Olephia. The Goddess of Chaos simply got along with everyone. “How is Kavaa?”

“She’s doing terrible.” Kassandora said in an exhausted tone with a sigh that said it was not at all as serious as the words made it out to be. “I mean, I would be too, Fer and Maisara are apparently unbearable.”

“Are they?” Arascus asked. He knew already, from the reports that Fer sent to him. He hadn’t even asked for them, Fer was just having so much fun grinding the other two Goddesses’ nerves down that she was documenting it for her own amusement.

“Kavaa said that Maisara would have quit already were it the Pantheon because Fer is that bad.” Kassandora said, chuckling somewhat. “I can imagine. I mean, we both know Fer.”

“She’s lovely.” Arascus said.

“Of course you’d say that.” Kassandora took another drink. This is what he was here for, so that she could gossip and relax and hopefully knock herself out with so that she’d get a bit of sleep. It wasn’t necessary for Divinity to sleep, but wakefulness was a joy in itself. “Did you talk with Ana after she got knocked out?”

“No.” Arascus asked quickly. “When?” Had Anassa been in trouble? And he wasn’t told?

“After the defence of the Core Holds.”

“Oh.” Arascus softened his tone. That, he did know about. “I know Fer took her away.”

Kassandora chuckled. “Oh what’s this? No one told you?”

“No one told me.” Arascus said.

“Well well well.” Kassandora said. “Now I don’t want to spill the secret.”

“What happened?” A flock of birds appeared over the horizon, large ones, flying north. Most likely to retreat from the Ashfront, it was the cold season, they should be flying south instead. Another reminder of the war. Kassandora would notice, she was too smart not to, but he hoped she wouldn’t comment.

“Fer played nurse for a week.” Arascus chuckled and felt Kassandora shift, more of her weight was put on his arm. “Ana was mortified apparently.”

“She would be, Fer probably fed her.”

“That’s what Ana told me. I’ve not asked Fer.” Kassandora said with a sigh. “They’re flying north.”

“They are.” Arascus said. So she had noticed, and she had commented. He sighed. “They would be flying north anyway.”

“I know.” Kassandora said. “Kavaa says the same thing, I apparently worry too much.” That was the understatement of the century, although Arascus didn’t comment on it. “Pax is a worry.”

“I know, have you thought of a plan?” He shouldn’t, the words would keep her aware, but he didn’t care. Kassandora nodded.

“I have thought of a hundred.” She said. “A thousand even.”

“And?”

“And I do not know. He is paranoid. We’ll struggle to get him in a minefield, and he won’t cross bridges. I have tried to fit in the avalanche strategy.” That had been thought up of long ago, they had managed to actually bury Pax in snows, and then he had been dug out. Never again had the demon walked near a mountain. “So now, I have a new plan.”

“Oh?” Arascus asked.

“It involves you.” Kassandora said. “But the edges need to be smoothed out. He cannot be hurt purposefully. Accidentally though, he can. We have seen it in artillery shelling.”

“What if you try that?”

“We would run out of shells eventually.” Kassandora said. “No, we need him out of the Ashfront first. That is a challenge upon itself.”

“Olephia could destroy the spewer.” Arascus answered. “If it’s on the bridge, Callaghan could shell it.” Kassandora pursed her lips, took a deep breath, then smelled the whiskey.

“It will be done.” She said. “But we need reorganization for a moment. Does Malam and Helenna need the trio?”

“I’ve not talked with them yet.” Arascus said. He knew the general situation but that was it. The Catacombs of Aris were infested, they had maybe a year, maybe less to clear them out before a new deity spawned. It would be done but pressure wasn’t there yet. The real threat was succubi sabotage.

“You should, they’re not happy you know.”

“How do you know that?”

“Kavaa told me. They’re grumbling more than usual. Malam has cut down on drinking apparently. That’s never a good sign.” No. It wasn’t. If Malam wasn’t drinking, then that meant she needed to be sober. It was one thing if she was slowing drinking because of her health, it was another when she was grumbling and sober.

“Then it’s serious.” Arascus said.

“Probably.” Kassandora took another drink from the bottle. “Did you get this just for me?” She asked.

“I did.” Arascus said. “I don’t want any.”

“Then I’ll knock myself out.” Kassandora replied. “Pax gives me a headache.”

“Pax gives everyone a headache.” Arascus said, shifting so that Kassie’s lean would be more comfortable. Pax could be giving her a headache, but he won already. For Kassandora to admit such a thing was something else entirely. The Kavaa treatment was working, they were in fact good for each other. Just the fact that Kassandora was talking about talking with Kavaa was already a step. When was the last time she had talked with someone?

Of War wiped her hair from her face and took another drink from the bottle. “Kavaa would be furious at this.” She said.

“You won’t get a hangover.” Arascus replied.

“No.” Silence. “But she doesn’t think it’s good. She likes her gin sipped.”

“I know, I’ve seen her.” Arascus said.

“Mmh.” Kassandora took another drink. The bottle was almost empty, it was only human sized though. She was beginning to lean heavier though. “I know. When you came back from the UNN, I was jealous.” She chuckled. “Because she came up and she told me about the night where you sent her off to bed and tucked her in. That’s just not right dad.” She chuckled and drank again. “Not right at all.”

Arascus put his arm around her and kept her close. “It was the right thing to do.”

“I know.” Kassandora said. “I know.” She repeated herself. “I know and I wouldn’t have done that. I would have just shut down or walked away or something. That’s why I was jealous.” She chuckled to herself, finished the bottle, and leaned even more.

And there it was. Arascus squeezed her shoulder. “You would.”

“I wouldn’t.”

“But you would now.”

“Only because I’m just doing what you would do.”

“And?” Arascus asked. “It doesn’t matter because of what. You would now.” It was beyond sad, although not due to Kassandora. The woman could manage the psyche of mortals as well as Malam or Helenna. She did in fact, Kassandora’s Legions did not know of such a thing as betrayal. Kassandora took a deep breath, then sighed for a moment, then relaxed.

“Mmh.” She said. “Thank you.” And silence followed. Just the deep breathing of a soul at rest. Arascus sat there for a moment, thinking he should say something. Cars drove in the distance, that car which was speeding slowed down to enter the village. He waited, he listened to her breath. Finally, he looked down to see the bottle had slipped from her hands and that she was still breathing, slowly and deeply, a smile on her face.

Arascus sat with her as the sun set beneath the horizon.

Kassie, for tonight at least, was asleep.

They would not watch the stars.

That was fine.