In ancient mythology, we have heard of such things as beings descending from the sky when called upon for aid. Likewise, demonic summoning has been done since the most ancient of eras. Nevertheless, both of these existed at a timid scale: An angel for aid from wild beasts, a succubi to warm a hermit’s bed, an exchange of a good for power or for lifespan. Ultimately, little notice of it was taken. These beings existed, it was obvious that they were independent creatures and not beings conjured up by magic, although little research was done into the topic. A misanthrope could use it as evidence for an innate complex of superiority amongst the races that inhabit, nevertheless I would stand against such an oversimplification of history.

  From the times that man has walked upon Arda, to the Age of Heroes, to Worldbreaking, there were simply more pressing issues than delving into such concepts as the origins of these beings. It was only during the Peace of Reconstruction that an organised eye was turned towards these beings. The great magicians of the time, vowing to not repeat the chaos of Worldbreaking, sought to discover new kinds of magic. Astrology defined itself as a proper concept in magicry, the stars painted a map for us. Planetary alignments confirmed distance. It was messages at first. Messages which we got responses to. The spiral into portaltry came about from summoning lone creatures, incantations were strengthened, lines were stabilized. The same words that would have brought about a creature from another world now opened a gateway.

  It was not easy and gateways were prone to collapse. They relied on specific times of day, on the direction of the planet itself, on the location of Paraideisius and Tartarus itself. Everything had to be perfect and even then, we could only keep it open for less than a minute at a time.

  Nevertheless, it was confirmed.

  Other worlds did in fact exist.

  There was an uproar in Divine politics, of course, as every grand discovery causes some sort of reaction. But it was an uproar dulled by the lack of the usual participants: Arascus, Saranael, Allasaria & Irinika, Fortia & Maisara, Helenna & Malam all retreated into their silent scheming almost immediately. Whereas the rest of us were busy trying make sense of what to do with the information, the rest of them were already planning contingencies regarding it.

  Now as I write this, with the experience of the Great War, I can confidently say I was simply out of my depth at the time. The giants of Pre-Worldbreaking Breed had to me an unnatural ability to take information and simply deal with it at face value. Back then, I lacked it. Even now, I am not sure I measure up to Allasaria in regards to how she thinks. The difference in wealth of experience is just too insurmountable.

  - Excerpt from Elassa’s own private writing’s.

  Fortia and Maisara both stared at the devastated village. Yet another set of rubble that had been devastated by the new Imperial superweapon or whatever it was. Magical definitely, it had all the signs of it. Fortia and Maisara had both watched it sweep through Tartarian Ashen Skies, slow down only slightly as skidded along the edge of the Kirinyaan Central Mountains, jump off and then form into one of the largest hurricanes in recorded history. The only saving grace was that it had been an artificial one, without the atmosphere of the tropics, it had ceased spinning in only half a day.

  Still though, half a day was more than enough to bring devastation untold to Khmet. Maybe Imperial Kirinyaa did not care, Fortia very much doubted it did. Melukal’s rebuilding had only been a token effort after all, and it had been evacuated again when the Surface War had began. Southern Khmet had not evacuated, it had more people than ever before in fact, as the population decided that if anywhere would be safe, it would be this rather tactically useless part of the world.

  Now Fortia and Maisara stared at destroyed buildings and shattered bodies. The sand was read in places, there were at least a dozen hands from people who tried to shelter inside buildings. A collection of the survivors had been huddled around the village centre, their buildings of sandstone and wood devastated by a hurricane that should have never happened. Fortia stared at the damage with nothing to say. It was one thing to lay siege to cities during times of war, it was another to execute criminals. But it was something else entirely to devastate neutral territory just because it happened to be in the way.

  Standard Imperial playbook. Victory at any cost, the rest can go to hell. If you weren’t on their side, you had just as much of a target on your back as their direct enemy. The White Pantheon may have rallied against the Empire back then, but their greatest recruiter had not been Helenna, it had been Kassandora after she revealed what happened to those who did not bend the knee the moment that the Red-White-Black was waved marching across the border. “That makes eleven today.” Maisara said. The Goddess of Order, in her silver armour, pointed forwards. “Assist them.” Fortia gave a similar to her Guardians.

  Men in shorts and carrying swords or rifles trekked past the two Goddesses and towards the towns. It should have been Clerics here, it should be Kavaa doing this. Maybe her blessing would be able to save lives. Fortia had nothing to comment on the Goddess. Kavaa had a rotten character, her treasonous rescue of Kassandora wasn’t even the worst thing she did. Frankly, Kassandora would have been rescued sooner or later. It was the woman’s monopolizing of healing that truly condemned her. Kavaa knew what sort of power and blessing she possessed.

  It wasn’t the fact she had switched sides to Arascus. It was the fact that the very moment she had switched sides, she had broken her duty to the world and handed Arascus healing on a silver platter. It was the fact that the creation of a Cleric was effortless for her and she still denied men of her power. Whatever reasoning she wanted to use to cope about how she needed to be frugal with her blessing, a power such as healing touch should not be gatekept. “We need to get him under control.” Fortia said. Him was obviously Arascus, there was no reason for this.

  “It’s not going to happen.” Maisara said. “You know him.”

  “I know that he must desire something in this world.”

  “And you think it’s a wife?”

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  “A mother for his children.” Fortia replied. It was the only way she could think now. They had their ticket, they just needed to find the entrance to the ride. A blade to Of Empire’s neck or, better yet, Of Empire’s loyalty, would be the card they needed to win the hand.

  “Then how?”

  “Raid Leona’s Temple.” Fortia said. It was the only way. It would be yet another Pantheon Civil War, but the White Pantheon had ceased to function at this point, Fortia had seen it when she had ventured up the mountain.

  “Do you know how many rules that would break?” If there was anyone who could bear Maisara’s incessant sticking to rules, then Fortia always considered herself as that anyone. But sometimes, it even got to her. Divines were had been made on Arda to guide humanity, not to be slaves to their own laws.

  “Do you care?” Fortia asked, she turned to Fortia, the remains of the village behind them. The teams of Guardians and Paladins were pulling aside the rubble and starting to search for bodies. The Khmet government had failed to organise any sizable response for the villages, they were focusing on the major towns that had been fit. “Tell me Mai, do you actually care about rules and regulations?”

  “What am I the Goddess of again Fortia?” Maisara turned to Fortia. “Go on, answer me?”

  “Then gaze upon the Order that is brought by Arascus!” Fortia pointed to the ruins. “Because this is what it looked like back then and this is what it will look like!”

  “You have bought us time, have you not?”

  “Time Mai! Time! Not a cessation and not a stopping but time!”

  “How long?”

  “How long do you think!?” Fortia shouted back. “How long do you seriously think it will take for Imperial bureaucracy to calculate the damage? Do you think they care!? No Mai! We both know they won’t! Do you know what I said?!”

  “What?” Maisara replied sullenly. “And don’t shout at me.”

  “Sorry.” Fortia said, calming her tone. “Sorry.” She took a deep breath to calm herself. “I told him not to cause Worldbreaking and reminded him we live on the same planet.” Maisara just stared at Fortia for a few moments and shook her head.

  “Half-measure.”

  “Oh?” Fortia snapped back. “Half-measure? That’s a half-measure? What should I have said?”

  Maisara just stood there for a few moments and thought. “Nothing different. It was a half-measure but it’s the best we can throw at him.”

  “Exactly!” Fortia exclaimed. “Because the moment they calculate the safety limit, we’re going to be having these storms daily.”

  “It’ll take them a while.” Maisara crossed her arms. “It has to. They don’t want to be shifting the atmosphere.”

  “I’m think a week if we’re lucky. Three days if we’re not.”

  “Unless Tartarus doesn’t venture south again.”

  “Do you think that will happen?” Fortia said. “Are they supposed to listen to me? Where do I even send a letter to? Or am I supposed to venture into Ashen Skies and hand deliver it?” It was aggravating but Fortia wasn’t angry at Maisara. There was no reason to shout at her friend like this. It was simply the fact that they had gotten nowhere.

  Maisara stood there and took a deep breath. “What if we join?”

  “What?” Fortia asked.

  “The Empire and then ask Helenna to do it. Use her spy network to find Alice?”

  “Maisara.” Fortia said the full name. “That is honestly the worst idea I have ever heard.”

  “Well I’m throwing something out at least!” Maisara said.

  “I threw something too! We raid Leona’s quarters.”

  “And if Zerus comes?”

  “So what if he comes?” Fortia asked. “Allasaria isn’t there, Elassa isn’t there. The two of us can defeat Zerus. We bring a hundred men with us, it will take a day at the most to turn her temple inside out.”

  Maisara made a disgusted face. “I dislike the assault on tradition.” She said flatly. “That is all.”

  “You died.” Fortia hated bringing this point up. It was a terrible memory made worse by the fact she had to thank Arascus of all the fucking people out there for bringing Maisara back alive. “And you fulfilled your vows. We agree on the point of tradition but tell me, what is there actually preventing you turning your axe towards the Mountain?”

  Maisara just stood there, arms crossed. She looked up at the sky. Desert vultures were circling around the ruined village. They had found a carcass in the distance over a dune of sand. Hopefully it was just a wild animal and not a human body. “In that regard, none.” Maisara said. “Like I said, it simply does not sit right with me.”

  “Unless we get a lead on Alice and get the information out of her, then we have no chance of finding her.”

  “That’s if Alice has the information in the first place.” Maisara said.

  “If she doesn’t then we’ve lost nothing.” Fortia said. “Then we start thinking about picking sides.”

  Maisara actually smiled at that comment. “And here I thought you wanted to sit this war out.”

  “Call it a personal call to be a Peacebringer.” Fortia replied dryly.

  “And? Which side do you think you’ll take?”

  “Do you really want to know?” Fortia asked.

  “I’m just wondering.” Maisara said. “I’ve been with the Pantheon for a full millennium, let’s just say it’s left a sour taste in my mouth.”

  “Let’s just say I feel the same way but don’t really fancy being at the bottom of the Imperial totem pole.” Fortia said. “Because do you want Helenna of all people bossing you around?”

  “I do not.” Maisara said. “But I don’t see a way to move up on it. Arascus is one thing, his daughter’s are another.”

  “I know.” Fortia said. “But if it continues like this.” Fortia extended an arm out to the destroyed village. “Then I’ll be honest, we are not looking at the Great War again. If the war is between Ashen Skies and Imperial bureaucracy, then I know who my money is on.” The game had obviously changed. They should have known it would change the moment that Elassa had brought her mages. Any sane mind would be able to put two and two together to work out what the power of magic could do when it was tempered through organisation.

  “I don’t want to swear to him though.” Maisara said. “That mistake was made once already.”

  “No swearing.” Fortia said. “But he took in those three and he took in Elassa. Between us and them, who would you rather have?”

  “Not the same thing.” Maisara said. “What do we offer? Men? When Arascus has all Epa underneath him? Elassa bought her way in with Arcadia and those three bought in with freeing Kassandora.”

  “Then we need a way in and I can only think of only way in.” Fortia said. Maisara held her silence for a while as she looked out over the ruined village.

  “What about Paraideisius?”

  “What about it?” Fortia asked.

  “When they come?”

  “I have nothing to comment on things I don’t know about.” Fortia said. “Right now, I see how Arascus is handling Tartarus and it’s going one way.”

  “They won’t be able to push unless they counteract Ashen Skies.”

  “Until they counteract Ashen Skies.” Fortia corrected her. “Or do you think that Arascus of all people is sat twiddling his thumbs.”

  “How do you think he’ll do it?” Maisara asked.

  “Technology or magic or both and then they’ll strike at the Rift in the middle of the Sassara. I assume they’ll use a virus bomb made by Baalka or something like that. Maybe send Olephia through.”

  “Arascus wouldn’t risk that.” Maisara said.

  “Arascus would wipe them out to the last man if he could.” Fortia bit back. “And we both know it will end with either his family dead or with Tartarus lifeless. A plague is the fastest way and it’s what Kassandora would do.”

  “You think so?”

  “We both know what she’s like.”

  “And then?”

  “And then what?” Fortia said.

  “It just sounds like you’re assured of Imperial victory at this point.”

  “I have eyes.” Fortia said. “We both saw Ashen Skies be pushed away. We both saw Continent Cracking. What is there to say? They’ve pushed back Ashen Skies already with this.” She waved her hand over the village. “They killed an Archdemon without a Divine.”

  “I want to see them deal with a Prince.”

  “If they dealt with Leona of all people, why would they struggle with a Prince?”

  Maisara sighed and held her silence for a while longer. “Very well. A raid onto Olympiada.” She sounded as if she hated the words coming out of her mouth. “So be it.”