The Greatest Sin [Progression Fantasy][Kingdom Building]

To become one of Arascus’ daughters was to embrace eternity. There are many humans who talk of life-changing decisions, although what is truly a life-changing decision for a human? An indulging of misery for a mere half century, at the most, is the bare minimum for a triumph. Now, the generations are even worse, for they have read the very basics of Kassandora’s, Malam’s and Maisara’s philosophies and expect to be made wise because they indulge they have an indulgent that anyone of rational mind will not participate in. A human’s understanding of the concept of life-changing is as deep as a child’s, who thinks that children are brought by storks.

How many truly life changing decisions has any individual Divine made? How many have sat down and pondered the question: for the rest of my life, I will act in this certain fashion, when they are aware that for the rest of my life is made up of eternity. Ultimately, that is what Arascus asked of us. If he approached with the question phrased as to become one of his for a century, or for a millennium, I am certain that almost everyone would have taken him up on his offer. And I am certain he could have played the situation differently, simply extending that time allotted to him in perpetuity. Nevertheless, Arascus did not ask for a world-changing Pantheon, nor did he ask for a new style of government, nor did he even bother phrasing the question as one of breaching tradition and ancient vows which were created to safeguard Arda in the first place.

Arascus’ first and most total demand was the future after him. A Divine of Empire? The Great War? Fighting against Paraideisius and Tartarus? Those were small fry when compared to eternity. I firmly believe that there is no line that the daughters will not cross.

Allasaria first floated the idea of a White Pantheon when Neneria joined Arascus. It was a power bloc of misfits then, a headache and a reason to be wary, but not something to truly be afraid of. Malam’s joining was perturbing, of course, for she is a Divine like me, which operated upon the rules of society, but the final turn of the screw was Kassandora. When Kassandora led wars, she would push, push and push and eventually, be removed from her position by a stronger Divine who seized the reins. The only time she was allowed to truly run wild ended up in the dwarven lands being flooded by the ocean drains. War is temporary in nature, it was foundational for her to never be allowed to truly end it.

Arascus adopting Kassandora signalled that he was in it for the long haul, that the greatest strategist on Arda would be allowed to push forever. The White Pantheon was created and marshalling for war a year after her submitting to Arascus.

- Excerpt from “Weeds in the Grass”, written by Goddess Helenna, the text is a scattered retelling of the years running up to the Great War. Written during the first century of the Pantheon Peace Era.

Kassandora re-watched the video as she watched the magnum opus of Empire finally triumph. When Arascus had first told her of the plan, she believed he would succeed but only because it was him. The belief was given in the same fashion that people trusted Kassandora, she brought results and she continued to bring in results and there was no reason to think that she would stop bring results. But whereas she had trusted, she had not really believed in the vision.

But now the vision was on a video screen in front of her. A shaky camera recorded by soldiers which had hastily been put into position. Agrita appeared in the video, the Goddess of Rilia stalked around her land as she waited, pacing back and forth. Flakes of ash fell in that video as soldiers idled about in a location, dug in and waiting, a few of the men were smoking, another trying to light a campfire, a sergeant was screaming at new conscripts. And then, all fell silent. The video turned upwards, the camera zoomed in for a second, then out as a section of Ashen Skies began to glow brighter, lit up by floodlamps from above. Those lamps got closer, the area of illuminated darkness got steadily wider and wider at a steady pace.

And suddenly, such a calm video became one of pure panic. The ICDT tower pierced through ashen skies like the missile it was, tearing open a gap and revealing a blue sky above as metal crashed and slammed into stone, shaking the very earth and almost knocking the cameraman over. Ground blasted upwards, as if a volcano had just decided to erupt where the tower had landed and a blast that made thunder seem quiet tore away the silence once, and then again and again as it echoed between the ground and the ash in the sky. The bottom of the tower lit up orange for a brief second as magical circuits stabilized the structure and absorbed the impact, they disappeared just as the rocks and ash and dirt and all other sorts of refuse came crashing back down onto the ground.

The tower lit up with blue veins that curled like waves in some spots, and then became sharp geometric shapes in other locations. From the bottom up, energy began to pulse along the tower as pistons hissed, gears twisted, locks unlocked. The sides of the tower fell off to reveal men in glowing armour with blade and rifle. They slid down on ropes as more plates, higher up the tower, were blown off to reveal a massive, perfectly clear diamond easily as fat as a car.

The diamond pulsed and released its spell just as everything hit the ground and the energy charging up along the blue lines in the tower. Ash in the sky rippled and began to illuminate, someone cried in joy, another in awe. The soldiers led by Agrita who had been there to record the impact and secure the area if the tower was lost upon landing all cheered. Another pulse came a half-minute later, as ash began to fill the hole left by the tower’s shockwave in the black blanket which smothered Arda. This time, the edge did not ripple but fell in a shower of glittering, transcendent, diamonds.

Kassandora finished the video and re-watched it a third time just to make sure it was real. She finished the video with a smile so wide it almost split her face. Cloudbreaking stopped being theory and became application. She could finally start on the Esberian liberation campaign.

Her hand moved to her phone, Arascus first.

No cause unjust,

Arascus stood, arms behind his back as he watched the training field of the Imperial Knights. Behind the hill to his back, the world rumbled as Ciria pulled yet another tower of the ground. Officially, Esberia should only take a few dozen, no more than thirty and that would be with overlap, after Esberia, it would be the Sassara and that would take hundreds of them. If not a thousand. The sooner Ciria finished, the sooner she could leave this place, it was good for everyone.

And he couldn’t stand to watch and listen to Of Civilization anymore, instead, he had found himself a job to do: Training the new Imperial Knights in the way of the sword. At first, the job had seemed impossible. These were men born in an era without warfare, and then once warfare finally returned to Arda, it came back armed with the tank and the rifle. He had to start from the very beginning, clean slates all.

But clean slates were clean slates, and there had been times when swordmasters would only take novices who did not know the proper form to hold a blade. There was no wrong knowledge, no ancient codes of chivalrous combat nor any sort of misconceptions save for the easily crushable delusions brought on by myth, to wrangle out of them. It was easily the best set of warriors Arascus ever had the pleasure of training.

The God Emperor of Pride watched his knights move in their heavy plate armour. Fashioned in the spirit of the ancient suits, but imbued with new technology. The chainmail that normally went under a suit was exchanged for hardy Kevlar, the plate itself had been forged of modern alloys, the helm had no eye-slit but instead a small tinted visor of something that was not quite plastic and not quite glass. The suits were painted dark and imbued with Elassa’s magic, they were manufactured in Epa, sent straight to Arcadia for enchanting, and then sent here, for the men to practice with and get used to.

And get used to them, they did. Arascus taught them to fight with all the dirty tricks that he had witnessed throughout his years. This was no honourable combat, they swung at each other swords, then followed up with a knee or an arm. The practice rifles and practice shot small pellets and Arascus made sure that every single one of them knew how to slide a blade down into a lock, then quickly pull out the small sidearm and put a round of bullets into the enemy at point blank range. Most of them still swung too heavy, carried by the weight of their armour and the reliant on its bulk but Esberia would be the crucible of fire that would weed out those with talent from those without. Then, a martial tradition could be built out of the survivors.

And it would be a martial tradition that relied on combat in its purest form, to kill and defeat the enemy immediately, and not to play around with swinging the heavy swords they were armed with.

Arascus was pondering on whether to give them shields or not when Fer interrupted him. Those could work, small bucklers, although he was against adding even more weight to their loadouts. Each man already carried more than enough arms. “DAD!” Fer shouted from behind. “I’M HERE!”

Arascus turned immediately and saw Of Beasthood flanked by Of Order and Of Peace to their rear, all dressed in winter clothes even though the season had been pushed out of this area through magic so that Of Civilization could have a cleaner worktable. Ciria must have heard it too, the rumbling in the distance had stopped. She was probably going to come up to argue with Maisara once again. “Fer!” Arascus gave a half-shout back.

“Kass told me you wanted to see me.”

Maisara and Fortia stopped with a huff as they watched the training. It was definite that they had their opinions on what he was doing, and it was definite that both of them would want to give their unsolicited advice. And frankly, Arascus did not care. Imperial Legionnaires had been unblessed, they were trained with his school of combat, and they had fared well enough against the armies of the Great War. “I did.” Arascus said.

“What are you doing here?” Fortia asked before he could continue. It was an interruption, but it let him answer and tie it back to what he wanted to talk about immediately, so it was a welcome one.

“These are the men who will serve in Operation Cloudbreaker.” Arascus said. “You three will lead it.”

No quarter spared,

“Why do we even have to do this experiment?” Fortia asked. “We’ve jumped out of planes before.” Fer chuckled to herself as she led her two friends up and down the Kaczaw airfield. This area had been cleared by an ICDT tower installed near the city and birds could fly. Epa would be cleansed eventually, although plans on how to do that all relied on defeating Tartarus first. It was only because this was a special operation that Kaczaw got clear skies.

“Because dad said so.” Fer kicked up some snow along the runway. She quickly at Maisara and Fortia. Of Peace didn’t even have to be sniffed out, her face alone said she thought that was no reasoning at all. Maisara on the other hand had the warm smell of acceptance over her. Good to know she agreed at least, Fer appreciated the reasoning too. Small wolves did not snap at big wolves after all.

“That’s not a reason.” Fortia said.

“Maisara?” Fer asked for some backup.

“I don’t care, it’s the job so it’s the job, leave me out of this.”

“I’ll do it, I just don’t see the point.” Fortia added as the three Divines eyed down a pack of civilians that had conglomerated near the chain-link fencing which enclosed the runways. Neither group budged or gave way. Fer just found it amusing that these two honestly thought that Divinity in the Empire was something to be afraid of. Just slightly less interesting than the fact ever-argumentative Maisara had chosen to step back and now make some statement which would bait Fortia into an argument. Good to know. Good to know. Those two were closer than Fer had assumed if Mai was willing to make such an exception.

“The point is that dad likes testing and doesn’t like surprises.” Fer said and then smiled coyly. “Neither do I, frankly. Not in this.” The two looked cute in their coats though, Fer had to give them that. “It’s a larger than distance than any cliff or close-air-support drop like we did in Ainai.”

“We hit terminal velocity and can withstand it.” Maisara gave her ever so logical argument. Fer just rolled her eyes.

“Weren’t you on my side?”

“It’s just a job to be done. If Arascus wants a jump test, he’ll get a jump test.”

“If he tells you to stick on a pretty maid uniform with a short skirt, will you do it too?” Fer asked. Maisara opened her mouth, then closed it, then went red as the buttocks of a baboon. Fortia glanced at her friend, her eyes going wide with awe.

“WHAT?!” Fortia half-screamed the question. “Are you serious?” Fer just raised her eyebrow and forced the answer she knew was coming. The power of smelling emotion wasn’t even needed when Of Order gave as blatant a reaction as that.

“Well?” Fer pressed.

“I did swear to the Empire, didn’t I?” Maisara said after a moment, then slapped her cheeks. “What? I can’t lie. He’s my boss, isn’t he?”

It was a shame that Arascus would never give a command like that. Fer leaned down to look up at Maisara from under the woman’s nose. “And if I said it, would you do it?”

“Obviously not.” Oh!? She wasn’t scandalized now? Was she serious?

“Why not.”

“You’re not my boss Fer.” Maisara said dryly. “It’s give or take, dependant on the situation, if I’ll listen to you.” What a pragmatic answer.

“I’m disappointed Maisara, if I’m not your boss, then what am I?” Maybe she could get a smidgen of a foothold over Maisara. If Of Order declared her a handler, shouldn’t that give her at least a little push to play with the woman?

Maisara’s answer gave no leeway whatsoever. Somehow, it even managed to stun Fer. “Friend?” Maisara actually had to ask it. Fer blinked, then blushed, then burst out into a smile herself. That was the most lovely surprise she had been given in a while.

“That is a good answer.” Fer said. She laid off Maisara, no, sticking friends in embarrassing uniforms was not a right thing to do. Fer supposed she had to explain at the very least now. “Arascus tests everything, whether we get weaker the further we get from Arda, whether the low oxygen will affect us poorly and if we need masks for the drop, how long it takes to recover, whether we’ll lose orientation on such a long free-fall and so on.” Fer listed off the main reasons. “That’s why, it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

“Oh.” Fortia said. “That, I can accept.”

“It’s a leftover of fighting Leona.” Fer said. “I agree with him frankly, it should be tested before we go for the real thing and also, there’s a better reason too.”

“What is that?”

“I just like falling long distance.” The conversation was cut short by awed gasps from the crowd that had gathered around the airfield. Ah, so the humans didn’t gasp for Goddesses but they gasped for this? Fer chuckled to herself, there had been a time in the past when she would eat someone for such a transgression. Instead, she simply turned to where the people were pointing. A pair of planes Fer knew very well were darting across the grey winter sky. Black, four engines each, now they supposedly devoured fuel instead of burning it. Their beaks coloured in yellow, no longer painted, their wings curving naturally as if they were the living limbs of a real birds.

Raptor One and Raptor Two, the first Divines of the Imperial Era.

No step too far,

“They are loud.” The feminine voice that Captain Douglas had grown used to, although hadn’t given a name yet, once again spoke over the comms. It was the plane, Douglas knew it was the plane, everyone else knew it was the plane, and yet the plane refused to speak to anyone but him. It was almost cute, in a way, if only Raptor One flew just as smoothly as it did in the past.

Now, every minute or so, Raptor One would make a small bounce as it gently swayed its metal wings into something resembling a muted attempt at a flap. Take-off was much easier though, Raptor One grew excited whenever it got a chance to say the ocean above once again, landing was the first. No camera confirmed it, nor could any engineer find the cause since the plane’s landing wheels were still very obviously landing wheels, but landing wheels did not leave trails in runways, and landing wheels should not feel like a pair of claws that were dragging along the concrete. “I know they are.” Douglas replied. He had cut the microphone to the rear cabin when he realised that Fer, Fortia and Maisara were having a mundane conversation that deserved privacy.

“I want to shut them up.” Raptor One said again. She had a smooth voice, deep somewhat. Proud of herself, slightly sultry, Douglas didn’t exactly know how to describe it, he was no artist. But he was sure that if arrogant birds of prey could speak, it would have a voice like that.

“Just ignore them.” Douglas said.

“Well you don’t have to listen to them Doug.” Raptor One replied. The plane moved by itself, slightly turning upwards as it arced higher into the atmosphere.

“We’ll go for a ride when we drop them.”

“Around Kaczaw, the air is clean there.” The plane replied through the headset. At this point, Douglas didn’t even glance down at the various controls or the countless gauges in the cockpit. They were all wrong anyway, Raptor One would say if she was getting thirsty, or if they needed to speed up, or if she was running out of air for her jets.

“Captain Douglas, This is Nest reminding you that if you want to keep talking to your bird, to mute your comms. Over.”

“Captain Douglas speaking, apologies Nest. I forgot. Over.” Douglas reached for the radio and saw the little finger-sized lever flip itself.

“Did it for you hehehe.” Raptor One replied. To think his own plane was laughing at him. Douglas didn’t even know how to take that. It was farce.

“Shut up.”

“Hehehehe.” Raptor One replied. “By the way sweetie, we’re getting into thin skies.”

“How much further can you push it?” Douglas asked. Immediately, the plane accelerated. Douglas knew the physical feeling of the sonic boom by memory even if he couldn’t hear sound of the sound barrier being broken when he outran it. The chair shifted and almost wrapped around him, the neck rest extended slightly to better cushion him and Raptor One started to sputter over the microphone. “Ten seconds.”

“Drop them on two.”

“Hehehe.” What was even funny about that? Why was she laughing at him? Douglas rolled his eyes. “Di-id you ju-ust ro-ll your eyes at me?” She sounded out of breath. A moment later, the plane twisted, the rear doors opened and the three Divines in the cargo bay fell out towards the ground. Douglas had dropped enough Goddesses at this point to pay more attention to watching the door close through the camera view on his left than to the actual Divinity.

The moment the rear cabin shut, Raptor One made a full turn, her wings retracted slightly and pulled back to become sharper, her beak straightened, her engines roared with flame, and she dove back down until the air was thick enough to breath again. “Time for fresh air you promised me Dougie.” Dougie? Seriously?

“Don’t call me that.” Douglas said.

“You’re sitting in my lap, I’ll call you whatever I want sweetheart.” Raptor One replied, the air was definitely thicker here because she was speaking clearly again. Douglas smiled to himself, frankly, he did like this plane. And he did like talking to it. And he didn’t care how insane that made him sound, especially since Raptor One found it extremely funny not to speak to anyone else. Somehow, even the internal recordings of the cabin’s audio lacked her side of the conversation.

And command came to ruin his date. “This is Nest, Captain Douglas, radio check, over.”

“This is Captain Douglas, I hear you. Over.”

“Next direction is Esberia, fly over it and see how the bird responds. Over and out.” Nest finished up.

Immediately, Raptor One had a comment to make. “I wanted to fly over Kaczaw.”

“Same.” Douglas replied.

“It was our afternoon.”

“Command says differently.”

“We should bomb them.”

“No we should not.”

Until tomorrow is secured today,

Admiral Sprance looked through the window with some emotion he rarely felt nowadays. It curiosity, but it was a pair of planes flying over a region of the Empire that obviously did not possess ICDT towers. They were flying too low to be high-altitude bombers and they had some sort of odd, shifting shape that didn’t quite sit right with him. When they first crossed the horizon, he had been sure that they were V shaped, with the entire length of their wings built into the main body. But now, as they passed over the battleships and heavy cruisers and FSS-shielding capable craft of the Western Eparika fleet, those wings were extended wholly to the sides, to a such an extent that it was more like the planes of old that he had seen in textbooks.

Either way, they were Imperial and they were nothing to worry about. If the Empire was in the process of retaking Rilia, and it would start on Esberia soon, then there was no reason as to why it should not develop ash-capable jet engines yet. Sprance looked away from the jets and towards the ashfront in the distance. It meandered over there, extending over the murky Eparika that it had ruined. Sprance felt as if he knew this part of the sea like the back of his hand at this point, all the shallows, all the deep trenches, even which way the sea’s currents seemed to flow.

“Raise FSS shielding.” Sprance gave the order. There had been a time when the ashfront was an immovable barrier. When he first saw it, it was like he was looking at the physical incarnation of the edge of an apocalypse which threatened to swallow Arda. And now?

Now he was staring at a wall of flame he had passed through a hundred times already. Endless hurricanes that his ship had forced aways just as many times. At the roaring red lightning which travelled up, down and side to side in unnatural manners and he simply saw it as lightning that should not be there. At a wall that sliced the landscape in two, from horizon to horizon, and he realised that the horizon was not so grand whatsoever.

The star missile had proved that ashen skies could be pierced. FSS shielding had proved the ashfront could be crossed. ICDT towers had proved that the curtain which was trying to envelop Arda could be ripped apart. The Empire had been caught on the backfoot, it had lost all Arika. It had failed at protecting Esberia. It lost half of Rilia. The Eparika sea was cut in half and cleansed of life. And yet, they were still here.

And they were not going away.

Today, the Esberia landbridge would be scouted.

In a week, Cloudbreaker would prove that a nation could be retaken.

Until our palms curl around eternity.

- Poem posted in the Imperial Newspaper, Everything in Epa.