General Zalewski leaned back on a huge Lynx tank and pulled out a cigarette, two of his subordinates realised they had implicit permission and started to smoke for themselves too. One long drag left a meandering trail of smoke that reminded Zalewski of a flag fluttering in a breeze. Although maybe it was simply because flags were on his mind.

The northern army under his command had been tasked to secure the borders of Central Arika in order to facilitate the land’s rule as an Imperial Province. It was called the northern army for short, officially the term was Battlegroup North, and that was because it had maybe a quarter of the usual divisions and troops required for being an army. Sokolowski had Battlegroup South, twice as large as Zalewski’s and still half the size of what the man had commanded during the Invasion of Kirinyaa, and Ekkerson had more than three quarters of the entire military under his command. Orders came from Arascus, locations had been picked where the men were to establish camp and where the flags were to be planted. It was an odd design, although Kirinyaa was adopting a similar pattern.

The red-white-black was the general tricolour of Empire, the black cross splitting a white into quarters was a provincial flag, and the top left quarter carried the local flag. For Kirinyaa, that was the green-red-blue which was the blood trapped between the Jungle and the ocean. For Central Arika, it was Elassa’s war-purple at the bottom, followed by light blue and red.

Zalewski took a drag of his cigarette and was thankful that this area wasn’t dangerous at least. At least not yet. Reports were already starting to come in of smugglers jumping on the opportunity of a lawless swathe of land in the centre of Arika. Zalewski felt the steel of the Lynx behind him, the heat of the Sun above had made its chassis warm. Orders were simple, this was a warzone. Non-compliance with the temporary government of the IPCA declared one as a military target. Rules of engagement gave the green light of free fire on military targets.

Simple.

Fortia thought about getting another bottle. She groggily closed and opened her eyes. She decided that she could not be bothered to. She thought of getting up from her couch. She decided that was too much energy too. She thought of leaving her temple on Olympiada. She knew there was a war to manage. She knew she was the only one who could do it. But why? For what? So that Allasaria could continue to rule?

And so Fortia sat on her thick couch as she looked at her feet. How many times had she sat with Maisara here? Too many. She knew the script off instinct at this point, Fortia would wiggle her toes. Maisara would laugh. Fortia would… Fortia felt a tear trail down her cheek. She couldn’t be bothered wiping it away and fell on the couch instead, bringing the thick blanket close around her. It still smelled of Maisara. Fortia stared into the cold, empty fireplace, she hadn’t bothered to light. It wasn’t cold anyway. This room had felt so large with Maisara, and now it was crushingly small. The desk was too close. The couch barely held Fortia as she lay on it. Even the gold and silver coloured carpets had somehow become duller in colour.

Frankly, she didn’t know why she had never ran through Maisara’s death in her head. Why had she never prepared for this moment? All things died in the end. Even during the Great War though, she had never expected that…

It…

It was.. it had been simply unimaginable. How could the Goddess of Order die?

She wanted to hear that laugh again. She wanted Maisara’s cold glare to scold her. She wanted someone who would stand up to Allasaria with her. She wanted the complaining and the gossip. She wanted the seething over Kavaa betraying the Pantheon. She wanted it all. She… Fortia couldn’t stop the tears from flowing. Fortia did not want to be alone.

Fortia’s exercise in intellectual masochism was brought to a sudden close when the door opened. Fortia did not move, her golden eyes simply travelled over to the door way as she saw the handle swing open. She was far too old and she had survived far too many battles to be able to simply await what the door would reveal. Even in this state, her mind started to analyse and process what was happening. The handle swung easily, that meant it was a Divine, there was no knock, which meant it was a high-ranking Pantheon member. Allasaria was trying to recruit Paraideisius into the war, so it couldn’t be her.

Zerus then. The others would knock, Theosius would not bother checking on her. The door swung open to reveal the God of Lightning and Fortia immediately caught herself. How, she did not know, but this was a different a Fortia than the one who had just been crying. The Goddess of Peace wiped her eyes, blinked her tears away. The blanket fell as Fortia reached down to grab her white shirt.

Zerus averted his eyes to give her some modesty and it sparked something in Fortia. “Don’t think I’m embarrassed by you.” Fortia said.

Zerus turned around in his white shawl lined with edges of light blue. He was as tall as Fortia, muscled and lean, with his beard shaved to reveal a chiselled jawline lined with grey stubble. His wife, Sceo appeared by the door. She wore her standard battle-dress, with dark hair flowing freely down past her shoulders. Fortia’s golden eyes narrowed at her too, and then back to Zerus when the God spoke. “I was giving you some modesty, do not be angry Fortia.”

It took all of Fortia’s willpower not to summon her spear and impale Zerus to the wall right now. “I don’t blush when a fly wanders into my shower either.” Fortia forced the words out as she pulled her shirt down and reached down for her skirt. The undergarments weren’t important, and she would return to wallowing in naked self-pity the moment these wastes-of-space left. “What do you want?”

“I understand time for grieving is important.” Zerus said, gently picking out the words. “But we do have…”

Fortia raised a gold-bronze eyebrow and Zerus shut up. “We have what?” Fortia asked. She heard more shuffling. Great. The third useless member of these fucking failures for deities turned up. Sceo stepped into the room as Alkom filled the doorway. Taller than both Fortia and Zerus, but skinnier and smaller physically. Nowhere were near as wide, with a long face too. Fortia spoke up again. “We have what Zerus!?”

Sceo came in to answer as Zerus took a deep breath. “We have a war in Epa to fight.” Sceo said. “And you are our commander.” If there was one word Fortia never wanted to hear out of that woman’s mouth, it was ‘commander’. Oh? So Fortia was the commander now? We suddenly didn’t need to be asking Allasaria for permission on anything? Now Fortia called the shots.

“You have Allasaria.” Fortia said.

“Allasaria does not lead the Guardians.” Sceo said. “They are your order, it is your duty to lead them. Likewise, Maisara’s Paladins will list…” Sceo trailed off as Fortia stared the woman down. The word ‘commander’ was one thing, but sullying Maisara’s name like that…

“You don’t say her name.” Fortia felt her voice crack and saw Zerus step forwards to cover her wife from the Goddess of Peace.

“Yet it is true too. They will die if they are not given orders. Arascus’ forces are currently re-organising, now is the time to strike.” Fortia stared Zerus down. She knew if she opened her mouth, she would burst out in tears, so she merely stared as Zerus, ever so gently, spoke again. “If not for us, then do it for her.”

The dam within Fortia did not crack. The dam within Fortia was blown up from within by a thousand tons of dynamite. Fortia’s spear dropped from mid-air by the Goddess and impaled itself into the stone floor of the room. “You couldn’t even get her out of there.” Fortia hissed as Zerus and Alkom both glanced at the spear and Sceo took a step back. “Don’t even mention her to me.”

“Control yourself Fortia.” Zerus said. “What happened, happened, we are all at fault.”

Fortia didn’t know whether she was the captain guiding the ship, the wind blowing into the sails, or simply the crewmates being carried forwards on the waves of rage. “All at fault? Could you not get her out Zerus? Could you not get her out? Could you not even blast her away? As fast as lightning are you? And yet you still fled from her!”

Zerus stared Fortia down, his eyes started to glow blue. Lightning danced along his fingertips. “At least we went in the first place Fortia. We failed, but we showed up.”

“Failed is an understatement.” Fortia hissed back. “You went, you lost her. Then you fled from Neneria. Three of you could not get through one Anassa. I’ve read the reports.”

“You would not be able to defeat Anassa either.”

“In Kirinyaa I put a hole through Anassa’s chest!” Fortia said. “She is not as unstoppable as you make her out to be.”

“But you did not go now.” Fortia opened her mouth and silently closed it as her mind scrambled and attempted to block that blow the God had just struck her with.

But those words went through, no matter what shield Fortia could raise against that terrible accusation, there was only thing that she could say at the end of the day. Zerus was correct. She had indeed stayed behind. Maisara had gone under the promise of receiving reinforcements. Fortia had stayed to organize them. She had thought that Allasaria would send massed mages. Yet Arcadia had been slow in its organisation. Then when they went for Seekers… Allasaria changed tunes and decided that Paraideisius should be called into the war.

And Maisara, who had been awaiting reinforcements throughout the entire battle, never got them.

Fortia grabbed her spear and held it pointed at Zerus. “Do not pretend you risked anything by going. Neneria cannot fly, nor can Fer. The three of you are powerful enough to defeat Anassa easily. You were never in any real danger.”

“Denial Fortia. You are delusional.”

“No, I am not.” Fortia declared. “Did you receive even a single scratch during the battle? Did you even come close to receiving a scratch? Neneria devoured tens of millions of souls and you could not be bothered to even break a sweat Zerus. That’s what I saw.”

“If we could not break a sweat, then what are you Fortia?” Zerus said coldly. “What did you do? You organized a response? The battle took more than three days! You couldn’t mount a response in that time?”

“Not when Allasaria is prancing around on her ideas Zerus! Not then!” Fortia shouted as the hand that held the spear started to shake. “Never then! But you don’t know that, do you? What do you even lead? You’ve never even had a single Order! Don’t pretend to understand even an inch of the work Maisara and I did everyday!”

“We did everything we could.” Zerus answered. “Fortia, I do not wish to fight you, I can share the responsibility bu-“

“Don’t even say another word.” Fortia said coldly. “You think yourself smart because you pretend to sit and talk things out. All three of you do. All three of you are the same type of person, that pretentious dishonest swine that lords over commoners like me.”

“I don’t even know wha-“

“But you do Zerus!” Fortia shouted. “Elassa got called Allasaria’s dog but it is you three that are the true dogs. the Pantheon? Because you like the shawl? You like the marble seats? That’s why?”

Zerus sighed as he stared at the woman. Fortia could feel the man scanning her like a puzzle to figure out. And that only made her angrier. She was about to make yet another accusation, when Sceo spoke up. “Fortia, grab a hold of yourself and-“

And Fortia interrupted this pretentious little chit. “Why are you even here Sceo? What do you even do?” And now that Fortia had started to roll, she could not stop. “It was Leona, Allasaria, Maisara and me who made the Pantheon. We recruited Kavaa, Helenna, Theosius, Atis, Iniri after that. Do you know why you were last? Do you want to know exactly what the Pantheon thinks of fools such as of Lightning and of the Sky and of the Sun? It’s that you are worthless! You stand for nothing! You have no Orders! You have no goals! There is no comparison between us! Maisara built! Maisara stood for something! Even those like Olephia, who can only destroy, at least have a purpose! What do you have Zerus? Sceo? Alkom? Your entire existence is one giant rest where you do nothing but lie down and rot!”

And Alkom came in, he stepped around Zerus and Sceo and stared Fortia down. “To understand that there are already enough fools in the Pantheon like you who wish they could micromanage the world is what we bring.” Alkom said. “Do you actually look down on us for not partaking in your petty politics?”

“I look down on you for being cowardly swine who are afraid of espousing their own beliefs, no matter what they are.” Fortia said. “And if you truly don’t have them, then I pity you for being soulless.”

Alkom stared with sheer befuddlement at the Goddess of Peace. And Zerus stepped in. “This is the end Fortia, I will not spend the entire day listening to you belittle me. Will you come with us to lead the Epan War or will you rot in your room?”

“There is no war to lead.” Fortia said. “I want nothing to do with it. Let Allasaria lead it since you wish to slobber over her boots so much.”

“Allasaria has gone to Pa-“ Zerus said, but he could not finish, once again, Fortia interrupted him.

“Oh has she? Wonderful! Then she will win the war alone, just as she won our last war! That’s exactly what happened, isn’t it? Maisara and I weren’t useful in the slightest!”

And Zerus finally snapped, he raised his tone as lightning shot from his eyes and fried one of the lightbulbs on the ceiling of Fortia’s room. “No one has ever said you two were not useful!”

“Oh yes! Praise me more!” Fortia shouted. “Praise Maisara too! Now that she’s dead and gone, we’ll get to hear all about how everyone misses her, how strong and how noble she was! You did it to Atis, you did it to Leona too! Go on! What could she do the best? Give me something else you never thanked her for when she was alive!”

“You and Allasaria are of the same breed Fortia.” Zerus said. “The only difference between you is that she is more powerful.”

“The only difference between us is that in the first thirty years, when I made decisions in the Pantheon, I built a system that lasted a millennium. All Allasaria has been doing is coasting off the success of Pantheon Peace! The moment it started to unwrap, what has she done?”

“Who led the Invasion of Kirinyaa?” Zerus asked.

“And who kept us shackled with Pantheon Peace in a time of war!?” Fortia shouted back. “It was a guide to follow, not a set of rules to never be broken! It is your cowardice and hesitation to break it that made sure we would lose that war!”

“That was a brilliant deflection Fortia.” Zerus said loudly. “But it changes nothing. We lost in Kirinyaa under your command. We lost Maisara because reinforcements did not come. We just managed to breach Anassa’s barrier.”

“Do you even know how Anassa’s delusions work!?” Fortia shouted. “What do you even know about her Zerus? The woman operates on sheer confidence! Do you think that a single Divine would have made a difference?”

“We won’t know now, will we?”

“To defeat Anassa, you catch her off guard or you crush her ego. There is no other way. The woman’s energy reserves are her confidence!” And now Zerus made a frustrated expression. Fortia stared him down, of course he did not know. He wasn’t a leader. He did not have to worry about the weaknesses of Arascus’ family. All he did was wait for a letter to arrive at his desk with the next mission plan on it. That was fucking it.

What a waste of space.

“You could have defeated Fer too if you and Maisara faced her together.”

“The only thing I could have done through that is pushed Fer to drink Neneria’s blood! What do you think will happen then? Do we even want to find out?”

“What an excuse Fortia!”

“There is no excuse, what do you know of loyalty Zerus? Tell me! What do you know of loyalty? Can you even say the fucking word? Fer would drink Olephia’s blood if it meant saving a sister! She would gladly lay down her life for it!”

“How do you even know that Fortia?” Zerus said. “I do not doubt your strategic acumen, but there comes a point where caution becomes paranoia.”

“I fight the same way Kassandora does.” Fortia said. “I simply think of the worst thing that could happen and go from there. The worst thing that could happen is that we discover Fer can process Neneria’s blood. That will only happen if we push them to it! You had to break through Anassa!”

“This is a grand story.” Sceo shouted now. Why was she even here? The woman did nothing, stood for nothing, was nothing. The title of “Of the Sky” was worthless. Her claim to fame was that Zerus had found enough pity in his rancid heart to take her as his wife. “Bu-“

“But there is no buts.” Fortia said. “We know what happens when Fer drinks Irinika’s blood and it is so terrible that not even Arascus wants to repeat it!”

“I did not know you could read minds Fortia.” Sceo said and Fortia took a step towards the woman. Wings of lightning momentarily crackled around Zerus, Fortia’s gold-bronze armour appeared around her body and her hand tightened around her spear.

“When I faced Kassandora in Kirinyaa.” Fortia said, no longer shouting. “It was Maisara and me against Anassa, Kavaa and Kassandora. I put a hole through Anassa’s chest. Do you know what happened? Do you think that Kassandora and Kavaa ran away? Kavaa, traitor to the White Pantheon, stayed. That was when I realised we lost. When traitors switch and find the other side so worthy that they lay down their lives for it.”

The three Divines before Fortia remained silent as the Goddess of Peace continued. “I defeated Kassandora in single combat as Kavaa was healing Anassa. Do you know how much pain you go through when Kavaa heals you? Anassa withstood it to protect her sister. She got up, exhausted, half healed, as I stood over Kassandora.”

Fortia took another step forwards. “I was closer to killing Kassandora than am I to killing you now. Do you know why the woman is still alive? Why she still walks? If we want to talk about who is responsible for Maisara’s death, then it is me. It is me because I didn’t end it all back then! Do you know why? Should I tell you?!”

“Why?” Zerus asked flatly.

“Because Kassandora, Daughter Goddess of Arascus, our arch-nemesis, the woman responsible for the state of the Pantheon as it is now, is more respectable than you.” Fortia hissed the last word. “Because I decided to do something for her that I would never do for you. I gave her the chance to say her last words. I gave her the chance at last words, she was impaled on my spear here.” The Goddess of Peace poked Zerus’ stomach with her hand. “And Anassa got up, still bleeding, she threw Kavaa away from me, she ripped Kassandora off my spear, she tore the fucking woman in half. Because she knew that Kavaa would heal her, and Kavaa did. I was this close to killing her. I was this close, and Anassa snatched it from me.”

Zerus stood there, Fortia could see the man tense his muscles. She could feel the anger coming off him like heat escaping a hot oven. She saw Sceo process what Fortia just said, and she saw the Goddess of the Sky falter, her lips quiver, her eyebrows dart downwards in rage. And she saw Alkom stare flatly at Fortia, what went on in his mind, Fortia could simply not guess. Most likely the information went into one ear and escaped straight out of the other. “That’s what they have.” Fortia said. “That’s what they have and what we do not.”

And Fortia took a step back. Her armour disappeared, loose strands of cloth fell from where her armour cut into her skirt and white shirt. Fortia dropped her spear. It bounced on the cold floor and clattered. That had always annoyed Maisara, and Maisara would always be there to tell her off. No one said anything about the scratches her weapon just made into the stone. Fortia doubted that Zerus and Sceo and Alkom even cared. They just had some disgusting, self-centred view of independence and letting everyone else fail to farcically learn through their own mistakes.

Fortia collapsed onto the couch. She fell over the back and lay down on it, once again hiding herself under the blanket. Arascus definitely did not treat his family like this. That lot stayed together. It had been obvious in the Great War, it was obvious now. There was no such as fleeing from a sister for them. They would stand together, fight together, fall together and die together. “Go away!” Fortia cried out at the three Divines that she knew were watching her. “Go away! I’m not going! Fight your own wars!”

“Fortia.” Sceo said gently.

“Go away!” Fortia shouted again. “Just go…” She trailed off into tears. Someone grumbled. Someone sighed. There was some shuffling. The door swung open again. It fell shut. Fortia peeked an eye out, once again, the room was empty. Immediately she tore her clothes off, curled into a ball and hid underneath the blanket. She wanted…

She wanted someone to sit next to her. She wanted someone to hold her shoulder. She wanted someone who wouldn’t just leave when Fortia told them to leave. She wanted what Kassandora had. That woman had spent a thousand years in prison, and she had not so much as cracked once. Now that Fortia’s mind raced around Kassandora, she realised that not once had the woman ever had a crisis of confidence. She could be knocked down ten thousand times, and she would be back for number ten thousand and one. Fortia wanted to stay by her side. She didn’t want Allasaria, she didn’t want Zerus. She… Fortia cried into her own arms.

She wanted that display of loyalty she had seen in Arika. From Kavaa, who could have ran but instead stayed to madly heal Anassa. From Anassa, who put herself in danger, endured Kavaa’s agonizing healing and held off respite for long enough as to save her sister. And from Kassandora, who had stood up to Fortia fully aware that Fortia outmatched her in speed, in power, in strength, in duelling prowess, in everything that was important for blade-to-blade combat. She wanted that strength Kassandora had, where she had stood because she was assured of Anassa’s and Kavaa’s loyalty and trust.

How could Fortia trust Zerus? The man was lazy beyond belief. He would let someone die as long as he could semantically rationalize that some value could be extracted from that death. Sceo? She was the same. Alkom? What did Alkom even care? Allasaria? The only reason that Allasaria and Fortia and Maisara ended up on the same team was because of Arascus. Because they were all threatened by him. Because all of them had too much of their own poisonous pride and were unable to humble themselves before him. Because, somehow, someway, the Fortia in the past had thought that she could do better as part of a terrible Pantheon than a Family.

Fortia cried harder. That was a cursed word. It shouldn’t hurt so much. But it did. It burned and seared and threatened to send her into a panic. She would face the demons of Tartarus, she would face Olephia, she would… but she wouldn’t. Because no matter what she told herself, she had been too afraid to risk her own immortal soul in the grasps of Neneria. Because Maisara would stand fearless, assured of help that never came. As Fortia did nothing…

If there was a single person who could provide even a sliver of the loyalty and trust and love that Arascus had for his daughters to Fortia, it was Maisara.

And now Maisara was gone.

Fortia just wanted her Maisara back.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep