Chapter 670 – Kassandora-Style Victory
There is Arda’s surface, there is Arda’s oceans, there is Arda’s space and there is Arda’s underground. Of these, we have explored how much of the surface in reality? No Divine has ever made it their mission to go out and travel the world, even though I am certain most of us have thought of it. The sea-kingdoms have managed to chart the oceans, but the ravines and rifts and the deepest depths are simply uninhabitable to them. Even the merman, even when they are wrapped in their own magical weaves, are not capable of surviving such pressures. Arda’s space has obviously not been explored.
But it is Arda’s underground that is most troubling. From what the White Pantheon has gathered after the Great War ended from Imperial documents, and from I have known about the dwarves preceding the conflict, we know that they have explored… Well, a certain amount of it. We know that their Highways align with magical leylines on the surface of Arda, we know that they have holds in certain places, we know that the holds they abandoned on the surface were considered little more than military outposts and minor trade nodes and…
That is almost all we know. The dwarves have purposefully blocked certain parts of their Highways with stone. Apparently, Imperial Divinity had even assisted on a few of these barricades during the Great War. There are multiple orders which have been recovered that detail either Irinika or Anassa should go ahead to collapse a certain section of the front, or to assist with the bricklaying. These barricades are usually located in the Empire’s western half, underneath Rancais and Doschia and the low countries, although a few reports speak of shutting the tunnels to Guguo as well.
And whereas the ocean depths can be reasoned out of, for whatever survives down there cannot possibly come to meet us on the surface, and space is such an abstract concept that even Tartarus is not capable of claiming that territory, and the surface cannot be too dangerous, for whereas a certain tree may be unseen, we know the locations, fauna and flora of almost everywhere. Yet we do know almost nothing about the underground and what the dwarves are hiding from.
It can very obviously survive the atmosphere, it is dangerous, else the Highways would be being sealed off, and it must have developed some method of sustenance for we have some letters that talk of generational objectives being achieved.
- Excerpt from the private diary of Goddess Allasaria, of Light.
Fortia stared out onto the field of blades after the storm had finally died down. She had been stood behind her shield for what felt like two hours, and it was probably even longer. There had been a panic at the pinnacle of the winds, when it felt like the steel would simply bury her, and then it had slowly passed. The last few thuds of steel slamming against her barrier had been sparse and slow.
It was no longer blades stabbed into the ground, the usual mark of a battle that Arascus had participated in. Instead, the ground had been turned into sharp steel. Not a patch of grass, nor dirt, nor even a body remained. Even Fer and Maisara, who had been in the centre and not the outskirts, where had been buried. Fortia stared at the field, they would be fine though. She would have to see the bodies to believe they had died. The important part was that Pax had been killed.
She turned to Kavaa’s line and the troops. Men were beginning to peer out of their trenches, Agrita was behind a tank covered in scratches, staring wide-eyed and with awe at the change in landscape. Kavaa took no note of it, she was walking along a trench, stepping over the blades that had reached the trench-line. Every now and then, she would stop and command a man with a gash in his side or arm or chest to stand, or she would reach down her, bending towards to heal those who couldn’t move. Standard. Good to know that the Empire had not changed her. The day that she celebrated straight after battle instead of getting to work would be the day the sun rose in the west and set in the east.
The city in the distance stood silent. Several of the windows had been broken, they would be cheering once they learned of what had happened. But for now, they were witnesses to a Kassandora-Style battle and a Kassandora-Style victory. Of course it would look like this.
From the distance, the ground swelled as if a tumorous growth was forming in the metal. Sword dragged on sword, nails being dragged on a chalkboard was a prettier sound. It stopped moving suddenly, then exploded upwards. Two massive Divines, one with a mane of gold, the other with a cloak of silver for hair, launched into the air. Maisara left her tower shield as she followed Fer’s arc. They landed with heavy thuds, feet first, onto the piles of stones. Fortia watched the pair of them walk back, weaponry bending and snapping under their weight. Neither cared for the scratches on their legs for it.
And Fortia felt a lump in her throat. Between Maisara and Fer… well, she liked Maisara far more. The woman was simply on a better wavelength than Fer, but she knew Maisara well enough to know that Of Order would not have gone out of her way to give the final shot to Fortia. That was Fer’s idea. It had to be. And now, Fer had to be thanked for it. The lump got larger as Fortia thought of what to say. She did not get the first word in. “FORTI!” Fer shouted and the lump immediately changed to annoyance. What sort of nickname was that? Since when was Fer allowed to even use a nickname in the first place?! “Good shot! I was worried you’d miss.”
Fortia closed her eyes and let out a deep breath to calm herself. No. She still had to thank her. Killing Pax had been an end, it was much like ending the Pantheon. It wasn’t even about the satisfaction of claiming the kill, it was about stopping the endless annoyance that would have been knowing Pax had been ended by the hand of another. “Thank you Fer.” Fortia said, from Of Beasthood’s side, Maisara supported her with a nod and a content smile. “For letting me kill him.”
Fer just chuckled in satisfaction, the weapons under her still cracked, although she wasn’t falling up to her calves now. The sea of steel was simply shallower here. “You don’t have to act surprised Forti.” Fer said. “Of course I’d let you kill.”
This time, the nickname didn’t even register. Frankly, Fortia did not even care. She just stared at Fer with sheer befuddlement as both Goddesses finally returned to the place where they had stood just before the battle started. Maisara must have realised that Fortia did not even know how to pose the question. “Well I’m surprised.”
Fer almost jumped backwards, her palms going up in a quick gesture, her eyes wide. “What do you mean?!” She sounded properly scandalized by the statement. “Of course I’d let Fortia kill him?”
“I would have never predicted it.” Maisara said. “Not in a thousand years.”
Fer quickly managed to put up a defence. “He wasn’t my territory! What are you two even talking about?” Fortia locked eyes with Maisara, both of them saw it here and now. It was possible not to. It had happened before too, when Kassandora set Irinika under Fortia and Anassa under Maisara and how quickly they fell in line, but that could have been excused with the need for an urgent military structure. This though?
It was respect, clear as day. Fer could use her nicknames and she could joke and pester, but there was an underlying sense of respect. Pax hadn’t been her territory… Well, it was true, but in the White Pantheon, territory mattered only insofar as how much of it you could hold. Fer had willingly and easily given up the glory of Pax’s death and for what? For such a stupid thing as what her territory was? Incredible. Fortia had nothing to say, she just bowed her head. “You’re a Goddess, Fer. Do you know that?” A Goddess, a proper one. A beast noble and free-spirited, a Goddess that deserved the title of Goddess, not just the classification of Divine.
Fer chuckled. “Well of course I am.”
Fer and all of them. Pax had been an impossibility. The fact he existed had been a permanent smear on Fortia’s demesne. Fer walked past Fortia and led them back to the camp. Kavaa was already near the end of the trench, she did not even so much as glance at the three returning fighters. Of course she wouldn’t. If no one said it, then Fortia would. “I can’t believe that actually worked.”
“My little sister is rather good at battleplans.” Fer chuckled. “Quite good indeed.”
Maisara added her own thoughts. “It’s Kassandora, of course it would work.” Well of course it would. Fortia could see the simplicity of the plan now that she had witnessed it, but she simply did not know how Kass even managed to think of it. It was a display of such out of the box thinking that Fortia could only show off being impressed. There was no reason to try and pretended she would have managed to kill Pax with far less losses. If anything, Fortia would have somehow ended up sacrificing the entire unit. They walked back towards Apoli in silence, Fer began to hum a tune to herself, of course she did. Kavaa finished up, checked her phone, and stalked off somewhere. Agrita had began rallying her troops. Soldiers saluted in awe and respect, but that was all they did. It was only after the three Divines passed by that the cheers started, and even then, they weren’t all too strong.
The victory had been too easy and too painless for them. It wasn’t the satisfaction of a difficult challenge finally bested for them, rather it was the relief of surviving a borderline apocalypse sent unto them by a Goddess whose very name was an assurance that victory would eventually come. “Is Kassandora going to meet us?” Fortia asked, she must have been on the same wave-length. Now that one Goddess had been thanked for giving up the kill, the other had to be asked for being there to enable it in the first place.
“Are you missing my sister already?”
“I’m just commenting.” Fortia said. “Should commanders not inspect their troops after a battle? Even if only to cheer?”
Fer made that annoying chuckle of hers again.
“I…” Fortia opened and closed her mouth. She could not believe what she was about to say. “I wanted to thank her.”
Fer chuckled as she looked around. “What a sweetheart you are Fortia.” Fortia did not even care about the baiting comment. She wasn’t going to rise to it. And frankly, so what? If she wanted to be a sweetheart, then she would! “You’re not going to find her unless she wants to find you, get used to it.”
“Used to it?” Fortia asked.
“So it’s like this for you as well?” Maisara asked as they kept on trotting back to the camp. Past the blades stabbed into the ground, past spears which had shot half their length into the surface. Past hammers that had carved trenches into the ground.
“It’s like this for me as well.” Fer answered. “Kass can be found when she wants to be found, otherwise she is fairly impossible to get a hold of.”
“Oh.” Fortia said and Maisara sighed.
“Even after a battle?” Of Order asked.
“Especially after a battle.” Fer said. “She will be celebrating alone, or dad is here, so she may have gone to him.”
“So she doesn’t celebrate with you?” Fortia asked.
“She shows up for the official celebrations, not the cheering.” Fer replied. It was just how Kassandora was. Was it good? No. Fer hated it. Was it even respectable? No. But Kassandora would not change, so there was nothing to complain about. It would be akin to moaning about the fact that dogs smelled, or that rain was wet. She chuckled to herself, besides, she had two other Goddesses here to celebrate with. And this was a pair she could have a brawl with in which she didn’t have to hold back in fear of breaking bones. “Do not worry, you have me to drink with.”
Of Peace couldn’t believe what she just heard. Had anyone bar Maisara ever offered her a drink in the White Pantheon? She couldn’t recall a time unless it was to mock. “Drink with?” She simply had to confirm it.
“You don’t want to?” Fer asked.
“I’ll drink with you.” Fortia said.
“I will too.” Maisara added. “You owe me one.”
Fer chuckled. “I don’t.”
“I saved you.”
“I would have you too.” Fer said. “And my life is worth more than all the drinks in the world.” Maisara looked at Fortia and Fortia looked at Maisara. And once again, silver eyes met bronze ones, and the two Goddesses didn’t have to speak to know they were both feeling the same stunned surprise.
They had just gotten a new drinking friend.