If there is any who could talk negatively of Kassandora, then it would be a sister. Our father surely has similar thoughts although he would never voice them. Not even to us. So the job falls to me. Of course it would, and I quite enjoy writing these terrible dissections of my siblings. Ultimately, people are merely combinations of flaws layered upon one another.

  To call my sister intelligent is to be state that the sky is blue, to say her willpower is undefeatable is to state grass is green. Yet once we remove willpower and intelligence, what exactly is left in the woman? That reductive step is the most important. Kassandora has two people within herself, both at terrible odds with each other. The first, the Goddess of War, is where the intelligence and willpower lies. The Goddess of War is manipulative, charismatic, hard-working, gregarious, boundary-pushing, iron-willed, hyper-competent and it is the far stronger personality that is usually on display.

  Kassandora though is a bitter, self-sacrificial little creature that thinks if she is not carrying a weight, no one can. It is impossible to fail with Kassandora about for Kassandora will shoulder all responsibility upon herself. It is impossible to be wrong, for Kassandora is always wrong. It is challengeless to succeed for one merely has to follow Kassandora’s plans.

  - Excerpt from “Dissecting Family Relations”, written by Goddess Malam, of Hatred. Never in print.

  Kavaa stood up and looked around at Hold Levhen. Whether it was still underneath Rilia or if the Second Expedition had retreated all the way back to Doschia already was a question in itself, she didn’t know this subterranean geography all too well. Although the White Pantheon had never succeeded in making major excursions into the Underkingdoms, the name of Levhen was known. It was a major armoury hold, rarely did up above move without at least some mention of Levhen in their documents. Whether it was weapons or armour or golems or automatons, Levhen seemed to produce it all.

  Kavaa did not know what she had expected from this hold. Certainly it would be grand and certainly it was grand. Even in the dark, it was one of the largest places she had ever seen. She walked down a single huge central bridge, wide enough for two hundred men to walk shoulder-by-shoulder and brimming with neat feeder bridges and stairs and elevator platforms with rails that hung off chains where each link was as large as her. Two suns had been built into the ceiling, although they were little more than massive orbs covered in endless, overlapping runes at this point. Great gears, vats that once held magma, tiny bridges,

  Kavaa waved her transport truck away and watched it set off to the Imperial camp. Spotlights were pointed about everywhere to try and push back the darkness in the depths. Dwarves and humans and a scarce few elves were moving about. Kavaa’s own Clerics were busy in wounded camps, men lying on mats that had been laid down on the ground or they were venturing through into the inhabited parts of Levhen. Military vehicles had been assigned once bridge and warehouse, there, engineers worked as they replaced damaged tracks and barrels or scraped molten rubber off wheels.

  And statues.

  Kavaa had seen them before, during the Great War. When the World Core had been forced into a stall, the dwarves lost their ability to recharge the things. It was known that the vast majority of the dwarven constructs had been taken underground but… Kavaa remembered the battles were endless streams of machinery would approach across the horizon. Everyone knew that the dwarves had numbers to rival Tartarus but seeing things here…

  There were entire bridges filled with statues. Some just of clock-work men of bronze holding spear and sword and unmoved for a thousand years. Huge four-legged gate-breakers that looked like giant cattle, save for having a battering ram instead of a head were lined up neatly on one side. Siege automatons with catapults, trebuchets or ballistae on their backs, other constructs that held nothing more than just a shield. Kavaa remembered those, they would cover flanks or serve as bulldozers to smash through White Pantheon formations as if the men were nothing but dirt.

  But the two that constantly caught Kavaa’s eye were Praerion and Immayoi. Massive machines so tall they could only barely fit through dwarven highways. From what Kavaa had overheard in talks, the machines had both gone through some bastardized form of apotheosis during the Great War. The souls of their chief builder had been transplanted into the machine. It obviously had not worked, since both now sat on thrones the size of cathedrals in a section of ground that had been apparently carved out purely to house them.

  Kavaa approached the closest dwarf she found. A short stocky fellow, still in that grey alloy that was common around the core-holds. Over his breast was the flag of Levhen, a patchwork square of grey with a spiked orange sun in the middle. Above it, the red-white-black Imperial tricolour proudly signalled its allegiance. “I have come from the surface. Where is Kassandora?” Kavaa demanded.

  The half-man’s voice was similar to the rumbling of an earthquake. “She’s at the first stone.” Kavaa looked around. Frankly, she had no clue where to go. The inside looked like a fortress. Every balcony was topped off with crenulations, every window had slits for shooting through in the side. Even the doors were all obviously heavily fortified, they were great slabs of metal with beams across them.

  “Where is that?”

  “In the King’s Palace.” The man pointed to a structure that was more akin to a keep than a palace. Kavaa had first pinned it as a warehouse or a factory. A bridge from the central road that dominated Levhen ran straight to it as men got about to their work. Now that Kavaa was considering the situation, she could see it was all the black uniforms with red outlines of Second Expedition officer-hood. High, peaked caps all bearing the same emblem of a blazing torch in the centre.

  “Thank you.” Kavaa said and the dwarf returned to watching more of the Second Expedition return from the highways. Right now, a full company of men, more than a hundred, were marching in on foot through Lehven’s grand gates and exhaling in relief. A few collapsed almost immediately as an officer approached them to inform on where they would be housed.

  Kavaa didn’t bother watching more. She had seen the internal mechanisms of Kassie’s military. She had gotten used to mothers and fathers collapse before her in tears after she healed children that all doctors had forsaken, the efficiency of orders being followed could not even hold a candle to that. It had been awesome when it was still novel but there was no way to pretend Kavaa considered this a novelty anymore. It was simply the new norm.

  So Kavaa walked, she ignored the officers and dwarves and pair of elves that gave her a salute. Through a grand set of doors that could have been a gate. It was a sliding barrier on chains, reinforced in the rear with even more beams. Small holes had been dug into the ground, Kavaa had seen them before in Epan castles. Up there, wooden beams would be slotted to serve in to serve as extensions for the door. Down here, it would probably be steel. There were more dwarves inside although all of them were moving. Everyone had been armed, the half-men had even been given rifles that were slung across their backs. It was some new model, definitely heavier with a long, protruding bayonet on its tip. Kavaa looked around for a few moments and then saw some runes on the walls. The language was unknown completely. Even though she was sure she had learned first and stone, neither character came up.

  But where could the first stone logically be fitted? It definitely needed to be through a corridor large enough for Divines if Kassie was and there was only one. There had been times when Kavaa had thought of the riches of the underkingdoms. Now that she was here, the riches were hidden. She could have been walking through any Imperial base or fortress under siege up above. The staff had that frantic pace about them. Clerks constantly ferried papers there and back. Everyone barked orders, one glance through a door revealed a radio room. A glance through another revealed an armoury. A storeroom.

  And eventually, a room that actually had guards. Kavaa knew what that meant. It was two dwarves, both in their heavy plate armour. Spears in their hand, their beady eyes kept focus on the Goddess of Health as she approached. Should she knock? Where was this nervousness coming from? To think that Kassie could reduce her down to asking whether she should knock.

  Kavaa’s boot thumped across the bare stone of the corridor and she threw an ice-cold gaze at the guards: Goddess coming through, do not intervene. They did not. She all twisted the heavy steel handle and went inside.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  An Imperial command base, through and through. There was no two ways about it. Kassandora was stood watching over a huge stone table, although it was more akin to a plate. Human Imperial commanders, all high-ranking officers. A pair of elves stood off to the side, both a head taller than the man and idly listening. Dwarves were positioned closer to the square stone in the centre of the room. It was huge rectangle, a block, some table maybe? Kavaa did not really know, but it fit the name as the first stone of Levhen. This room was the only with decorations too, silver and bronze had been beaten into the walls in decorate patterns. Empty suits of armour stood on display. Levhen’s spiked-sun banner was hanging off the walls. There was even a drinks cabinet although no one had touched it.

  And then, at the very front, stood at the head of the map, there was Kassandora. Kavaa hated the whimsy of her own reaction, the slight flush in her cheeks, the fact that for a single moment her breath had caught and the fact it took more than a few moments to meet the gaze in Kassandora’s crimson eyes. The Goddess of War merely made a slow nod as she stared at Kavaa. Taller, fuller, in a black uniform that fell low past her waist. The woman’s belt shared its insignia with her cap, the skull pierced by a blade. From it, red hair as colourful as fresh blood spilled out like a cape.

  Kassandora stared at Kavaa for a moment. No change in her face. It was in a strategic meeting though, Kassandora rarely showed emotion in these places. Kavaa remembered Arascus’ words and she knew how Kassie acted anyway. Asking would be a mistake and… Why was she even nervous? Her grey eyes ran over the whole room, a few of the mortals shied away from the Goddess of Health’s grey eyes. “I’ve been assigned to assist.”

  “Excellent.” Kassandora said immediately. She looked down at the map. Kavaa too, what was it? Just dots connected by different coloured lines? There were some names Kavaa recognised: Klavdiv, Levhen, Kuya... Wait… “That changes everything.” Kavaa stepped close to the table. She didn’t know what she was expecting. After Arascus treating her so gently, she had expected Kassandora to be more like… Kavaa honestly did not know. He would say something, would he not? Kavaa took a deep breath and forced her fists to un-ball themselves. “Levhen can hold now.”

  Kassandora pointed a finger to the table although she didn’t actually bend down to reach it, still though it was obvious she was pointing to a place just south from the ring that all the lines seemed to spiral from. No explanation. No nothing. Just downright classic. Kavaa just at the map and realise it was a network of tunnels with dots making up various holds. The upwards triangles would the holes that the Empire had dug, great connections from the surface to the underground. Then…

  Oh. “You’re retreating?”

  “That was the original plan.” Kassandora said. “Levhen is not part of the core metropolitans, it will be encircled once the ring-road falls.” Kavaa looked to the map. Around the heart of the dwarven Empire was a ring, another tunnel. There was a mark on it: Irinika. Beyond it, the lines were covered blue. Red was always the Imperial colour so blue must be… Oh. That’s where the Goddess of Darkness was holding.

  “I won’t intrude then.” Kavaa said.

  “It’s not. I will stay at Levhen. The High-King will hold the core-holds.” Kavaa looked down at the map. Above Levhen sat the minor hold of Olonite. That one, Kavaa had never heard of before. She looked and raised an eyebrow at Kavaa. Was it sign? It was an escalation. It made sense though.

  “Why?” Kavaa asked and Kassandora let out a deep breath of relief.

  “Levhen has too large a standing army here. We’re already bringing the dragons from Olonite into the sleeping chambers here.”

  “An army can be replaced.”

  “The raw industry can’t.” Kassandora said. “We’re not a core-hold here but we’re close.”

  “Neither can you.”

  “I have to stay.”

  “Then I will stay too.” Kavaa said. Knowing Kassie, even if Kavaa put her foot down now, there would be no change to the plan. “You should have an escape route ready.”

  “No one is available for excavation and the surface is busy.”

  “Mmh.” Kavaa said. Her hands landed on her hips, for a moment. Just as Arascus had said. Kassie was another Goddess. She wasn’t some damn child. To think Kavaa had actually thought of saying Can… No need for that. They were both Divines and Divines had stations. “Come outside.”

  Kassandora blinked at Kavaa with those red eyes for a moment, then looked at the rest of the room. Kavaa honestly hoped that Kassandora would come up with some snarky response or final quip to the men. Maybe even turn the command into a joke. Neneria and Malam had both failed where Arascus had succeeded. For the first time since Kassandora had been a prisoner in the Pantheon, Kavaa actually grew to fear the monster in front of her.

  Kassandora, little Kassie as Fer had called her. Who effortlessly stole an entire Order of Clerics from her back in Kirinyaa simply by exposing them to War’s Orchestra. Who had risked her own life when she entered the Jungle to save Kavaa’s friend. Who had awoken Kavaa out of death in the desert. Who… What point was there in even listing all her achievements? Kavaa had never met another Divine so flexible, so seemingly easy-going and accommodating and yet high-strung. So caring yet totally lacking in care. A Divine that knew all the ways into one’s heart and yet had her own closed off.

  Arascus had not done it.

  Fer had not done it.

  Malam, nor Anassa, Irinika, Neneria, Baalka nor Olephia had done it.

  Who had Kavaa been to think she could?

  Kavaa turned and left the room. Kassandora followed after her without a word. The Goddess of Health shooed away the pair of guards as the Goddess of War closed the door. Clerks that had been approaching with papers saw Kavaa round on Kassandora and then suddenly realised they should be anywhere but here. “Is that it?” Kavaa asked.

  “What’s it?” Kassandora asked back as she leaned back on the wall. Was it real distance? Or was it just trying to make herself seem more threatening?

  “That’s it? You’re staying?”

  “I’m not going to give you the question because I know you want to stay too.” Kassandora said. “Levhen will fall without War’s Orchestra. We need someone down here.”

  “Why not Aslana then?” Kavaa snapped back.

  “Not the same thing.” Kassandora replied calmly. “We both know it’s not. I’m more effective than Aslana. Levhen will not fall because I will not allow it to fall.” Kavaa just stared at Kassandora. What was there to say? She understood the tactic immediately. From a military perspective, it was completely agreeable, even noble to some extent. How could Kavaa just stand here and think she should be in a position to make any demands? Levhen had the industry, if it fell then it would be looted. That would be a borderline-permanent setback for what was going on. Certainly it would be out of service for the next century if not millennia. “My strategy needs this hold too.” Kassandora added eventually. “There’s other routes to the Core Holds. Tartarus will go through them. They spill into the ring road. We ride out from there and Levhen serves as the cavalry force that slams into the rear as the army is pinned.”

  It did make sense. That was the worst part of it. It was almost impossible to surround anyone down in the depths of this web of highways. An army breaking through would just cause the other fronts to cease their advance. Kavaa saw it immediately and she knew it would, or it should, work. She hated it. “Why not Irinika then? To hold here?”

  “Irinika will assist in the defence of the Core Holds or be sent to the surface. She can’t leave her junction right now.”

  “Have you talked to her about this even?”

  “Iri knows me.” Kassandora said slowly. “Fer has had communication with her. So has father. She knows.”

  “And?”

  “I am staying here Kavaa. It’s decided.” Kassandora said and smiled. Kavaa stared into that smile and into those crimson eyes. She had seen it hundreds of times before. And for the first time, she asked herself a question she utterly hated. Were those real?

  “Kass.” Kavaa began slowly. “Do you remember when you told me that you wanted a check? In Kirinyaa?” And in one instant, Kassandora’s entire attitude changed. Her lean became a support, her smile dropped immediately and she looked away. The woman’s gaze quickly scaled across the entire wall on the other side of the corridor. “Kass?”

  The only answer got was a small nod. Kavaa sighed and continued. Of all the reactions, she had not expected this. Rage maybe? Anger? Denial? What was this? Just acceptance? “You told me to stop you. I don’t know how to do that. I can only stand and tell you that Tartarus has broken through every Hold they come across in a matter of days.”

  “They’ve been evacuated.”

  “Does it matter?” Kavaa asked. “Once they breach the doors, what can you do. You of all people Kassandora. How will you stop the ashfront?”

  “We’re bringing in magicians for the hard part and running aluminium aerosol tests on the surface. It should stick to the ash and weigh it down.” Kavaa just stared at this woman. Of course she was. Of course there was an answer and a back-up plan.

  “And if that fails?”

  “The mages are for that. They will be to hold it back.”

  “And if they die?”

  “This is why I’m going to be running War’s Orchestra.” Kassandora said. “It’s thought through already Kavaa.” Kavaa just stared at the woman. What exactly was she supposed to do? Arascus had said to simply slap some sense into the woman. She had seen how Kassandora got treated by Fer. How could Kavaa even do that? Kassie may not be a magical Divine but what was Kavaa? Little more than a National?

  “It’s a risk.”

  “War is a risk.”

  Kavaa took a deep breath. What had she even been expecting from Kassie? What exactly could she even say? Why even bother arguing with her? She took a deep breath and she stepped closer. Kassandora looked down at her. It seemed to last forever. Kavaa knew she should push. She should say something. She… Call her stupid? Say she was wrong? Demand an end to this plan? Do what exactly? The simple fact of the matter was that they were in a war. Tartarus was at the gates. If it was not stopped underground then it did not matter how well Iliyal held the Epan coast. Demons would crash out of the underground.

  Kavaa looked away and put her arms around Kassandora. “I’m staying with you.” Kassandora said nothing. She just hugged back. “Tell me to leave.”

  “It’s not my decision.” Kassandora said. “And I know you won’t.”

  “Mmh.” Kavaa just mumbled.

  “Tell me to leave.” Kassandora put the same question forward, her voice a gentle whisper.

  “It’s not my decision.” Kavaa said. “And I know you won’t.”

  “Mmh.”