Chapter 684 – A Front Falling
There are Divines who wish to endlessly write essays about the Divine condition. Those who think that should a certain set of thoughts appear in a certain order, with a certain conclusion, they will suddenly stop being miserable oxygen thieves. Rarely do I speak on these arguments of meaning and belonging and so on, but I will speak upon this, since the mentality has started infesting even the minor Divines I have been placed in charge of. They are wrong. They are so physically, materially and objectively wrong that they can never be right. It is that simple.
And they are wrong because to ponder upon this question from the very beginning is the wrong move. It is akin to willingly leading an army into a trap. To march troops into an encirclement from which they cannot leave. What then? Well nothing then. By that point, the battle is lost. The initial move had been wrong in the first place. Let me state it again, because this is what these Divines wish to do: they talk, and they argue, and they fuel their own miserable little existences. And for the sake of what? That question, they too would go ahead and argue with. For the sake of the truth! Of completeness! Of settling our doubts! I have heard these arguments before. I care not for them. For the sake of what? They talk this game because they are fundamentally incompetent in what they wish to do.
Maisara is a tyrant, from Elassa’s research, it is known that she formed as an upholder of Divine Tyrannocracy. Now, she is given a post-Reconstruction world where someone, idiots ask her to manage kingdoms. Of course she cannot do a good job. All her lands are carbon copies of each other, highly productive, and yet collapsing because she is so cold that she even manages to suppress human instinct. Allasaria, I have told her this, should be the spiritual head of a religion. Her place should be one of comfort, where she earns money through tithe and where her role is to simply give grandiose speeches and blessings. Every country underneath collapses under the weight of its own bureaucracy. Helenna is a manipulator and a diplomat. If one wishes to make the Goddess die, then she does not have to be killed. Simply the act of giving her an economy to manage will do the job.
But no, it is not their faults of course! It is never their faults! It is the fact that they are so perturbed by the question of whether we have souls or not that is causing recessions in their lands! Those trite little souls! If only they were there, then suddenly the economy would fix itself! That is why this argument is worthless, because the argument is worthless, and it is far easier to ponder upon such meandering nonsense as whether we have free will or whether we are subject to the whims of humanity then it is to learn statecraft.
The Divines that do not bother with these questions do not care enough to tell them they are wasting their time. It is only the terrible likes of me, and even then, I only write this because their mental mirages are starting to crawl into my very real field of Warfare.
- Introduction to “An Intellectual Indecency”, written by Goddess Kassandora, of War. Published before the Great War.
General Menith stared up at the Goddess of Allia as she gave up her blood for a test. Aliana rolled her eyes, shook her head when the needle pricked her finger. “It will return true.” She scoffed offhandedly, her head shaking and swaying that warm golden hair of hers. Supposedly, they were to wait for the test to finish but really, once the blood was given, Menith was fine with discussing plans. “Inside, the situation is bad. The west is uncovered, the demons are approaching the Ashfront right now.”
General Menith sighed. “Come with me inside.” They were in the town of Balbo, in the middle of the country’s very north. It was a hidden city, located in the middle of a very and surrounded by green mountains. Menith had travelled to it in the past, it was beautiful. The grey sky took away from the beauty somewhat, as did the massive military presence on the mountains, but it was still a beautiful town. He turned to the warehouse that had been taken over on the city’s outskirts. The local HQ, it was easier than dealing with the civilian administration.
“Clear!” The medic who did Aliana’s blood-tested reported. Procedure as usual.
“Are you safe?” Aliana said.
“I am.” Menith said. “I had mine done in the morning.” Every single member of the staff corps needed to have their bloodwork done. “What have you come to report?”
“The lines past the Ashfront are collapsing.” Aliana said as she started walking next to Menith towards the headquarters. Behind that, Balbo got to its daily routine. The port was busier than it had ever been during peace time. One ship had docked before the sun had even started to rise. It had brought ammunition from Epa. Endless crates were being loaded into trucks. Another ship was waiting for a spot to clear. A third was coming into view on the horizon. “It’s plain and simple, they’re collapsing. Even with Anassa and Irinika, I cannot hold.”
“Then how much time can you buy?”
“It depends for what I am buying time.” Aliana said. “Time for the sake of time is a lost cause. Is there a plan forming?”
Menith took a deep breath, he would explain it in the same way that Grand Marshal Tremali had explained it in the most recent Central Strategy Council meeting. “There is a plan forming.” Menith said slowly. “A tower is going to put up in Rilia, supposedly, it can be cleanse the ash from the air. Elassa is behind the magic, but it will be two weeks or so before it gets to Rilia. That’s if it doesn’t have hiccups on the way.”
“Two weeks?” Aliana asked as they neared the main doors of the warehouse. The building was fashioned out of golden sandstone brick, now decorated with flags of the Empire, of Esberia and banners of various divisions which made it a tradition.
“Two weeks for the test. Then a month to prepare. It’ll be mid-winter.”
“A month and a half from today.” Aliana asked as the steel doors opened. Menith saluted the pair of soldiers standing on guard. Another pair was patrolling, and every watch-tower had a pair of troops too. That was official policy too, guards could not be stationed alone. A man always needed another man to watch his back.
“A month and a half from today, if it goes well in two weeks.” Menith said. “It most likely will, I know Agrita is leading the operation, Olonia and Saksma are supporting. Olephia will be in the area.”
“Did Iliyal say anything about Olonia?”
“Saksma reported her condition being relatively stable.” Iliyal had predicted that Aliana would ask. Menith would have never thought of asking for himself. It was simply a matter of experience to know to be aware of the relationships between the troops under his command. The steel doors finished sliding open, inside, posts had been put up, the staff was busy, as it always was. There wasn’t any secret projects here, it was just an organisation of logistics. Menith led Aliana past the officers in their black uniforms into what they called the control room. It was a section of the warehouse, the walls were mere hung up on assembled steel scaffolding pipes.
“That’s good.” Aliana finally said. “She’s not…” She pursed her lips. Menith saluted the rest of the captains and majors and other commanders that worked here. “You know?”
“Tremali did not tell me anything more than that. He said she’s stable, she’s ready for battle, and that she wanted to go herself. Apparently Saksma tried to talk her out of it. You should ring, they’re not under the Ashfront yet, they’ll have signal.”
“Oh.” Aliana said. “I will then.” That was one matter sorted at least. Aliana’s troubles had hopefully been put to rest. Menith paused at the map of Esberia, the Ashfront was marked by a thick black string affixed to pins. The holes in the sheet made a slow line as Ashen Skies moved up. “This base went yesterday.” Aliana pointed to the red tower that represented an Imperial forward base.
Menith leaned over and took the marker off the map. It fell back into its small box. When the war was starting, the box was slowly being emptied. Now, as Imperial locations were being lost on the map, it was slowly filling back up. The rest of the officers shared grim looks between themselves. “Do we have a report on why?”
“No.” Aliana said. “We lost contact, I sent Anassa. She said the troops were slaughtered. There were demonic bodies on the ground. Assumption is they ran out of ammunition. Most likely reserves were low. We lost artillery.”
“It wasn’t pulled back?” Menith asked.
“We didn’t know about a force in the area.” Aliana said. Menith sighed and shook his head.
“Alright.” That was the best he could say. There was no reason to beat a subordinate like Aliana over the head with the fact a mistake had been made. She was under Ashen Skies, he wasn’t. “What of Anassa and Irinika?”
“I’ve stopped sending Anassa to the western coast.” Aliana said. “The perimeter is being tightened around what we hold. You’ll start getting attacked there.”
This though, he could not let go. “You’ve stopped sending Anassa west?” His eyes went to the maps. The north-west of Esberia was populated. They had ports there. Major cities too. He would have to mount a defense.
“Irinika confirmed they don’t walk through the Ashfront either.” Aliana said. “They have some magicians open a path for them apparently. That’s what she said, I’ve not confirmed or seen it but… Well, she won’t be wrong, will she?”
No. Irinika would not be wrong. Menith looked over the map again after the initial panic of her announcement. “You cannot let the Ashfront advance though.” He said. “Those two still have to make their patrols south to keep the spewers away.”
“Of course.” Aliana said. “I’ve said that to them already.” He gave a nod. Then it wasn’t so terrible. Ships could be re-routed. Maybe it was even easier in fact. Kassandora had given the order not to retreat but…
“I will call Tremali on whether you are to remain there. If possible, we could pull back to clear skies.” It would be a rearrangement of course.
“I can hold for another month and a half on a shorter front line.” Aliana said. “But it would be full trench lines. Not how we’re doing things with forwards bases. The demons have started moving in darkness, they don’t reveal themselves until it’s too late.”
“Understood.” Menith said. She wasn’t a terrible general. She was far better than he expected in fact. Not like Fortia and Maisara, those two had managed to actually seize territory when they were still here. Aliana was just digging in and securing what they had.
“What’s the Rilian plan?” Aliana said. “You said you would tell me.”
“There’s a tower, it will be installed, and then it will clear the skies. That’s what they told me. Rilia will test the range and the enchantment under real world conditions. The spell supposedly wells in Arcadia but…”
“But that’s Arcadia.”
“Exactly.” Menith said. “They’re bring it to Gracja, then sailing it through the Ashfront from there to install on the south-eastern coast in Rilia.” Aliana stared down at the map. She pursed her lips. The rest of the staff knew about the plan already. Menith waited for the same question that they had asked when they heard it.
“So I need to seize a port then? I can split Anassa and Irinika up but that will leave the centre open. Unless the plan is what? To drag them through the Ashfront? We’re not building them, are we? They’re ready made, right?” Menith took a deep breath.
“They’re going to be launching them. Rilia is the magical test.” Aliana blinked, she pulled her eyes away from the map and stared at the elven general. He could see her mind start struggle to process the words that had just been said.
“Launching them?”
Menith nodded. “Up and above. ICBM style, just jump the Ashfront.” It wasn’t an explanation, he didn’t know what the Grand Marshal meant by that either. He could imagine it of course, but he could also imagine a flying pig. That didn’t make his faith in flying pigs any greater.
The Goddess of Allia just stared at him. “What?” Menith shook his head. “How?”
“I don’t know.”
“What the fuck?”
That sheer stunned confusion, he did know.