Chapter 725 – Overbearing Love
There is a universal issue in morality amongst Divinity, one that is self-selecting for disaster. Morality, whether noble or self-serving almost universally presents a scenario where death is preferable to continued life. The charitable morality of ancient knighthood, for example, is a classical example of benevolence. A knight will, or should in principle, die to protect the week. The cost-benefit analysis of how many more lives the knight can save if he retreats is not even factored in. It is for the enemy to calculate. Knights were feared precisely because when they took to the field, every fight with them was a brawl to the death.
Likewise, we can look at the self-serving morality of tyrants and such, where the continued existence of a self-proclaimed noble life is the highest virtue. There were many tyrants who died in the Age of Heroes because they preferred death to losing their positions. If they could not rule, they may as well not live. Whether it was a bluff that the heroes called them on, or whether it was a real position, I do not know. I do know however that the Divines which possess traditionally ‘evil’ moralities have long since been killed off too.
Whether evil and self-serving or benevolent and pragmatic, I care not. I have respect for both varieties far more than I do for the moralities of those which call themselves Divines now. There is this terrible mixture, or caution and pragmatism, of juggling a continued existence alongside domination over the common man, that I find repulsive.
Kassandora, no matter how close we were in the past, is a prime example of such thinking. The Goddess of War has long since abandoned any attempt at making a relationship or anything else of the like, and instead is content to sit in her pit of loneliness as she rots in her misery. Her aggression and domination in her demesne revolutionizes the entire field. And, it saddens me to say, Kassandora is terribly unambitious. Kassandora will dominate warfare like no other, and any change that happens in the widen world because of it is entirely circumstantial.
That is the terrible, a moral nature of Divinity. The Age of Heroes has neutered our morality to be entirely self-directed and individual. Maisara may talk about the perfect society, but when was the last time that Maisara commented upon the family? Or romance? When has Helenna actually talked of governance, rather than noble drama? Kassandora will only lightly touch upon the changes she needs in society, and even then, they are direct linked to her demesne: more fletchers to be trained, more miners to mine iron for her steel foundries and so on. Even Elassa, who obviously loves history, will not treat herself as ‘the’ historian but as ‘a’ historian. She is the Divine of Magic! If anyone should be able to write a cohesive history of Arda, it should be her! Yet no. Elassa will not attempt it, because it is not her demesne.
That is the cowardly morality of Divines. For every Divine will profess to be an expert on every topic, and every Divine will stay confined to their field and nothing else. Those of us who have wider ambitions, I can name on one hand: myself. Arascus. Paramethus was there, when he still lived.
- Excerpt from the private diary of Goddess Allasaria, of Light.
“Well well well.” Malam said as she walked through the main structure of the IBI donut. It was a building that had all the touches of Helenna on it alright. The outer walls could have been a modern fortress. Half of it was reinforced concrete and steel, with sliding windows as if Helenna was expecting this structure to come under siege. What was not a solid was a one-way window. The outside could not see in, but the inside could watch everything in the local town. A simple, tall, electrified chain-link fence ensured there would be unsuspected guests in the IBI building.
And the inner side of the donut was all glass, all of it made so that Helenna’s statue, in the very centre of the garden within the circle, was visible. Malam was in awe at the sheer audacity of the imagery of the panopticon that Helenna had built. Every sensibility within her mind said that it was too much, that such a structure would look tyrannical. How could a bureau that was the Imperial police service could be built as to have its headquarters look like this? How could anyone approve the statue in the middle not being Arascus even, but Helenna of all people?
Malam loved it. It set a new standard for all Imperial governance. Frankly, Helenna had beat her in this, but now, the SIS needed its own headquarters. The only way to compete would be to have some sort of evil castle, or maybe a house in the middle of a field that attached into an underground base everyone knew about. It would have to be the sort of thing where a child could look at it and know that these were the people who that should be avoided in the Empire.
“So we have a problem.” Malam was all smiles as she walked behind the Goddess of Love to the woman’s office. The donut was not finished yet, but it would be soon. The final pair of sections had been crafted by mages, and now the specialists: electricians, plumbers, carpenters and all the petty labourers, were making sure that panopticon was ready to serve as the headquarters for the Imperial Bureau of Intelligence.
“Problems are my speciality.” Malam said as she looked through the windows. Even inside here, the corridors were huge enough that Arascus and Fer could stroll comfortably through them, and the inside was all glass. Every monitor was facing towards the corridor, whereas the glass was smudged just enough to hide the fine details of letters, it still revealed whether everyone was working or not. Malam couldn’t believe just how good Helenna was at actually making people miserable! Amazing!
“This is why I called you here.” Helenna said as they walked to a set off stairs and then up. A pair of cameras, not just one, in each of the corners. Malam didn’t even bother reaching for her bottle.
“I assumed it wasn’t just to show me the Donut.”
“That too.” Helenna smirked and the pair of Goddesses stopped as they came across a junction in the corridor. Straight ahead, the statue of Helenna in the centre of the Panopticon was visible. The Goddess of Love immortalized in marble stood in a dress, looking down below her. Either side of the corridor were more corridors, entirely lined with glass so that no one could hide in their office. “What? You think I’m not happy with it?”
“I’m seething and I’m jealous.” Malam said. “And I’m not even being facetious for once, I truly mean it. I should have come up with such a design first.” Helenna looked at Malam for a few moments, then burst out in laughter.
“That’s honestly the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
“I’ve said plenty of nice things to you!” Malam replied immediately.
“Oh? Like what?”
“That you squeal like a virgin for one.” Malam said. “That’s a compliment, no one likes the moans of a whore.” Helenna’s smile dropped, her blinked, her cheeks didn’t even go crimson. The blood drained from them as Malam bit the inside of her cheek. Whoops! Looks like she went too hard just now!
“I…” Helenna stammered. “You’re the worst. You know that? You’re the worst Malam. Just the worst.” So it was fine then, she wasn’t too offended. Malam smiled at the claimed territory in conversation. She always managed to impress herself when she managed to stun people she knew in the same way she had just stunned Helenna.
“I’m the worst.” Malam said. “Which way to your office? You promised you’d show me.”
“This way.” Helenna led to the left. They went clockwise around the donut, until the statue of Helenna was facing straight towards them. “This is the one room with one-way glass in the walls.” It was the only room with actual walls tool. Malam was an amateur in this field, but even her eye could catch the fact that it was fortified. There was no way it wasn’t. Normal walls did not have steel inlays like that. Helenna opened the door and held it open for Malam to enter.
“How polite.” Malam commented.
“If you call me a gentlemen, I’ll smack you.” Helenna replied without a hint of humour.
“Just a lady.”
“I’d accept it if it was from anyone but you.” Helenna said as she sat down behind her desk. Malam looked all over the room, her hand slipping to the flask by her belt. This was a room indeed, the cabinets were all finely furnished wood. There was obviously magic here, Malam could taste the enchantments in the air. There were probably weapons hidden inside every compartment, every shelf and…
“Do you have a drink cabinet?”
“It’s left of the door.” Helenna said. Malam smiled, turned around and retrieved a bottle. Helenna definitely prepared from Malam’s coming, there was even a full litre of the good clear vodka. Of Love didn’t normally drink that shit. “What do you think?”
“Of the drink?” Malam inspected the bottle. A bottle of Alandia. “It’s expensive.”
“Of the cabinet.” Malam turned around to the cabinet, took a step, then realised she had just been outsmarted.
“Oh-ho-ho-ho.” Malam chuckled, stopping and putting her arms into the arm. “My back is turned to you.”
“That’s precisely why it’s there.” Helenna said. “So that I can send off for a drink like this.”
“I’m stealing that idea.” Malam said, then turned around and then stopped when she saw Helenna behind the desk. What a few. The magnificent wooden desk was a wall, its edges smooth, shining and without a single reflection in them. The floor all wooden panels. Helenna leaning back, over the desk, in her high-backed chair. And then past that chair, looked straight through the window was the statue of Helenna. Aimed so it would be gazing no at the back of the Goddess of Love but perfectly so at the person before the desk. Malam felt the sheer intimidating majesty of it. Those cold eyes of marble and Helenna’s face holding a stern expression in stone as the subject of that statue leaned back with obvious satisfaction her chair. “Wow.”
“You’re impressed.” Helenna said.
“I’m a fucking baby and you’ve just given me candy.” Malam said. It was one thing to break people apart in the way Malam did but the sheer… She didn’t even how to describe this architecture. The overwhelming nature of it was amazing. “I’m…” She trailed off. For once, Helenna had stunned her. There was absolutely nothing to say. Nothing whatsoever. “This is the most amazing building I’ve ever seen.”
“It’s honestly baffling hearing that from you.” Helenna said. “I didn’t think you were capable of a compliment that wasn’t wrapped in a barb.” Malam shook her head and pulled up a chair without bothering to ask.
“That statue is such a touch.” Malam said, her eyes straying to the massive marble figure of Helenna looking down at her through the window. The real Helenna smiled.
“You’re going to make me blush.”
“Tell me something I can’t do.” Malam replied quickly and Helenna burst out in laughter.
“Well good to know you’re still fast.” She said. “Anyway, save for showing off, I did actually bring you in here for something.”
“What?” Malam asked. Even when she forced her eyes at Helenna, they were pulled back to that intimidating marble statue. This was psychological warfare at its dominance. There was what Malam did, with picking people apart individually, but staring at this, there was no way she could pretend to equal Helenna on that field when it came to mass politics.
“It’s the succubi that have gone into the Aris Catacombs.” Helenna said. She opened a drawer in her desk, then pulled out a black binder.
“How professional.” Malam commented.
“Don’t pretend a binder is some crazy organisation.” Helenna said. She pulled out an image. Malam recognised it immediately, Aris in night-time. Stills from what looked to be video of the surveillance. “It’s in the sky, the small dot.” Helenna tapped a dot that Malam recognised immediately.
“A flying human.”
“Humans don’t fly.” Helenna said dryly. “Either a succubi escaping, or a monster awoken during the expedition.”
“Are you tracking it?”
“It landed already in southern Rancais’ countryside. Currently staying at a local inn.” She looked to Malam. “I’m not going to let you eliminate it yet.” Malam sighed, crossed her arms.
“Then what did you call me in for?”
“Because you have the SIS.” Helenna said. “Killing one of them is inane. It’s not a step forward. Paida missed them obviously, if they’re getting out. The Aris Expedition, I don’t even know what the fuck they’re doing but they’re still alive so there’s that.” She leaned back on her chair. “So the Secret War is back on, but you have reinforcements this time.” Helenna said.
Malam leaned smiled at Helenna, then up at her statue. She opened the bottle and drank straight from the flask. She liked where this was going indeed. “So you have a plan?”
“A far better plan than anything you could come up with.” Helenna said smugly, then leaned down and revealed that she had a bottle of wine inside her desk the entire time. Malam stared at it, then turned back to the cabinet, then back at Helenna. The genius of it! The arrogance and the confidence! How could anyone negotiate with Love in any environment like this? The whole field was basically set up to guarantee Helenna a victory!
“What first?” Malam asked.