Arusei and Kimani sat as they saw the pictures of what was happening by the Jungle. They both knew the tales, they both had seen the Caretaker be annihilated. Waf quickly retold it, in the same way he always did: “The Jungle’s madness then infected the others too. The four returned to the Jungle’s heart and agreed to lay down their lives to make sure their power could not be used against people. But the snake, in his jealousy tricked them. He waited for the lion, the vulture and the crocodile to die, then the snake wrapped around them, bound them and they became one. From four caretakers, arose one. The first one to fall to the Jungle’s whispers.” Jebet and Eyapan shifted in their seats. The Caretaker had been killed once, but the Epan Goddess who had killed the Caretaker was now busy defending Kirinyaan cities from the oceanic invasion.

What were they supposed to do now? How many sacrifices were to be given?

Falling upwards through the air, Kassandora relaxed her arms and legs as she spread them out. She had never been one to be scared of heights, likewise, she had never been one to give into terror. But there was something about being thrown so uncontrollably high by Fer that did make her heart quicken its heartbeat. The Goddess of War watched the black hole Anassa had carved become a mere black speck on the blood-red ground of western Kirinyaa. She caught the thin cold air as the wind rushed past her ears, and she hit the zenith of her throw.

Climbing out whilst defending against the Jungle would have been difficult. Fer had thought up of a smarter idea. One that only Kassandora would have agreed to out of all the sisters, but it undoubtedly made the escape easier for the Goddess of Beasthood. Fer had merely grabbed Kassandora’s hand, spun, swung, and threw the Goddess of War out of the bottom of that hole. Surely an arm was dislocated, most likely a wrist was broken, but natural regeneration could fix that.

Natural regeneration would have to fix that. Kavaa and Iniri were gone now. Lost somewhere down there. Fer was sure they had not died. Kassandora took a breath and pushed the thoughts of those two Goddesses away. Compatriots had been lost in the past too, and whilst they should be searched for, Anassa was more pressing. There was an invasion worse than Fortia’s from the coast too, that too was more pressing than Kavaa and Iniri. So as inhumane as it sounded, Kassandora simply wrote them off. It was one thing to have a person bleeding in front of you. It was another entirely to have them be lost in the tunnels of the Underground where the beckoning Jungle lay. Panicking now would only make the situation worse, there was no way to save them, thus, plans should simply write them out… Kassandora closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Was she trying to convince to herself? She shook her head and stopped trying to rationalize the loss of two Divines.

Kavaa and Iniri were pushed away. It was as simple as that. It was her failing and she would pay for it later, but now, she had to make sure it wasn’t three lost Divines.

Fer shot out of the black pit as Kassandora was half way down. From so high up, Kassandora could see supply lines ferrying supplies to the Reclamation War. Trucks filled with napalm shells travelling west, trucks empty travelling east. But that wasn’t all of it. Kassandora saw damaged vehicles and ambulances returning from the front lines. That had to be investigated. Hopefully, it wasn’t invasion from the air at the Reclamation War forces. They were minimal now, but Kassandora would do the same. Use Elassa’s magicians to sweep the area here now that all the main defences and Divines were in the east, then squeeze Kirinyaa from both sides.

Fer suddenly grabbed Kassandora. A large arm wrapped around Kassandora’s stomach, slid up past her chest to hook underneath her shoulders and Kassandora grit her teeth as she felt both of her arms pop out of their sockets. Whenever Fer was allowed any leeway in the planning stages, this is usually how it ended. How the woman managed to orientate in the air without any sort of ability to fly or float in the air, Kassandora did not know. Kassandora grit her teeth, held her breath and relaxed her muscles as she felt the ground approaching. Three. Two. One.

They plunged into the ground as Kassandora exhaled the air from her lungs. She heard the distinctive pop of an escaping its socket, but that was it. After the first few seconds of her vision spinning and the sudden onset of nausea passed, they had landed. Fer gently placed Kassandora on the ground as she waved her arms to blow the dust away. Kassandora coughed and almost fell over as she tried to take a step. “Don’t move Kassie, let it blow over.”

Kassandora took a step and realised she simply had to throw up. She bent at the waist, her stomach emptied its acids onto the red dirt and Kassandora wiped her mouth. She felt better immediately after that as Fer turned and looked into the whole. “We lost Kav and Ini.” Fer said.

“We did.” Kassandora said as Fer took a deep breath.

“When are we getting them out?”

“After Anassa.”

“Good enough.” Fer said, she turned around and looked up at the sky. Kassandora did too. There were bombers flying west, towards the Jungle. Three of them in an arrowhead formation, the huge 77T models would open their rear doors and drop dozens of tons of napalm in a single run. “That doesn’t look good.”

“That doesn’t look good whatsoever.” Kassandora said. “I saw the convoys were active too.”

“I saw ambulances.” Fer said. She sniffed and shrugged.

“Smell anything?”

“Exhausts.” Fer replied quickly as she turned to look down the hole again. “We should go get them though.”

“We will, but we’ll need someone to excavate for us Fer.” Kassandora said. “Do you know what tunnel they went down?”

“I have a rough idea.” Fer said. She walked a few circles, as if retracing her steps, then pointed north-east. “In that direction is where we got split up. Why? What are you thinking of?”

“Instead of using this entrance, we dig a new one there. Deeper obviously, to get to the highway, but we hit the highway in an area where the Jungle hasn’t infested it yet.” Fer spun with one of the widest smiles Kassandora had ever seen on the woman.

“That’s my Kassie!” She said. “I knew you’d think of something.” Kassandora nodded and sighed, of course she would, this was simply the best case solution to solve the situation.

“And we need to see what Anassa achieves first.” Kassandora said as she turned to the north. “That convoy wasn’t there when we went in.” Fer came over to stand next to Kassandora. The woman, especially with her massive mane of hair, provided enough shadow for all of Kassandora to be covered from the sun.

“Is that bad?” Fer asked.

“I don’t like surprises.” Kassandora replied dryly as she started ruffling through her own pockets. She had brought her phone in an enclosed case and, thanks to being a Divine, she was so large that the protective case could nestle in the inner pockets of her coat. She flipped out it and started making phone-calls. For a moment, she saw Arascus’ name at the top of the list. She supposed she should call to tell him everything was alright.

Kassandora flicked downwards past his name. Arascus could wait, there was a job to do and if she gave herself a reputation of calling, then he would demand she ring every day. Much easier to only give a ring when the man was actually needed for something. She went all the way down to ‘4. Central Requisitions’. The phone sorted numerically, so Arascus got ‘0.’ The other sisters got ‘1.’, other Divines got ‘2.’. Important mortals like Iliyal Tremali and Damian Sokolowski or Anassa’s four sorcerers got ‘3.’ Her phone rang twice before it was picked up. Kassandora did not let whoever it was introduce themselves. “This is Kassandora speaking, what is happening in the West?”

The person on the other side had to recover from the fact the Goddess of War was ringing the number, but he got to an explanation quickly enough. “Three monsters were detected coming from-“ Kassandora put the phone on loudspeaker and waved Fer over. Fer most likely didn’t need it, with her hearing, anyway. “-the Jungle. A giant lion, a vulture and a crocodile.”

Fer and Kassandora exchanged a look. It was obvious that they were both thinking about the same thing. It didn’t need to be even voiced: The Caretaker. “What are they doing?” Kassandora asked.

The reply was quick and definite, just as Kassandora had taught everyone serving under her to do. “They’ve demolished Army Group Centre.” The swords in Kassandora’s head started to clash and spark against each other as she thought of a plan.

“What maps are you using?” Kassandora asked. The person on the side hesitated for a moment, then replied.

“I don’t…” The man said. “Just a map of Kirinyaa?”

“On the bottom left corner, what is the number?” Kassandora asked.

“Ess-Eye-Zero-Two-Three-Kay-Gee” Standard issue, 023, Kirinyaa-General. Kassandora had made that one herself, although that was a redundant statement. Almost every map her army used was made by her.

“On sector eight, sixteen. There’s a rock. Send pickup to that rock.” Kassandora said as she turned and picked out the biggest landmark. It was one of those Kirinyaan mountains, sharp rocks that rose straight out of the ground, as if they were pebbles dropped onto the world by some giant. Fer smiled and Kassandora raised an eyebrow to her sister.

“Understood Goddess.” The person on the other side said. “All planes are currently busy bu-“

“Reroute one. Whatever bombing run you’re doing is less important than me.” Kassandora said and the man replied immediately.

“Of course. I’ll close the line to organize a pickup. There’s 77T’s close to you right now.”

“I see them.” Kassandora said and switched the phone off. That was one thing she always had to do, mortals always find it odd to drop the line when a Divine was speaking on the other side.

“It’s impressive how you do that.” Fer said quietly.

“What is?” Kassandora asked.

“How you know what all the maps are and everything. I can’t do it.” Kassandora blinked for a moment, and then she shrugged.

“I made them. I just know them.” Kassandora said. “Nothing else to add but that.” She turned and pointed to the bombers in the air. It took one half a minute, but it started to turn. Kassandora could only imagine the conversation Ground Control just had with the pilot of that plane. The hulking vehicle turned slowly, then started to tilt downwards. “We need to get over there.” Kassandora pointed to the rock, then looked at Fer.

Fer raised an eyebrow. “You want me to carry you?”

“Yes,” Kassandora replied without hesitation. Maybe someone else may have skirted the answer. She knew Fer well enough that this was the most efficient method. With practiced ease, Kassandora climbed onto the other woman’s back, positioning her head carefully to avoid getting tangled in the woman’s soft hair as they set off. They got there before the plane did, the massive, six-engine vehicle slowly came down. It’s rear door opened to let in the two Goddesses.

The flight was short, Kassandora watched the red Kirinyaan dirt become grey ash. Then she watched the grey ash become tattered with wreckages of tanks and artillery. She saw the doors open. There were three great beasts there, a lion, a crocodile and a vulture, all as large as large hills or small mountains. The lion had napalm burning on its back, as did the reptile, but neither seemed to notice or care. Both were looking west, towards the Jungle’s heart.

The giant animals were one thing. They were mere opponents to kill, beasts to hunt, objectives to complete. That didn’t shock Kassandora. What shocked her was the Jungle itself. Every plant, every leaf and piece of bark in that green ocean was tinged with a red grow. Kassandora recognised that red immediately, it was an unnatural colour, too perfect to ever be natural. More like a paint that had been smeared over an art-piece: Anassa’s crimson sorcery.

The Snake watched the delusional woman put up another red shield around herself, her magic spread around. She had accidentally broken the Jungle’s curse on the snake and now her mind had been pulled into the Jungle’s world of whispers. The beast heard the trees around it scream and demand what the Snake had just done. The monster hissed and dove into the ground once again. Once again, madness clouded its eyes, once again, the whispers turned into a song. Once again, the Snake became one with the Jungle.

But this time, within those maddening lyrics, there was something else. Obviously there, once noticed, it was absolutely impossible to ignore: a loud and obnoxious guitar that played completely out of tune.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep