There were once three farmers. A Tartarian, a Paraideisian and an Ardan. They had three great flocks of cattle that they tended to. Then, one day, a plague came and ravaged their herds. All three of them lost a great deal. Seeing their plight, the local lord came to his subjects for they lived in a just kingdom. He says to the Tartarian: “Come, I shall rebuild your flock and that of your neighbours.”

The Tartarian says “Aye, give what you can oh lord, and share it out equally between us.”

So the local lord goes to the Paraideisian and he says the same thing. “I shall rebuild your flock and that of your neighbours.”

The Paraideisian falls to his knees and weeps with joy. “Oh lord, thank you for blessing us so much.”

And so the local lord goes to the Ardan: “I shall rebuild your flock and that of your neighbours.”

And the Ardan? The Ardan says: “I don’t want your cattle, I don’t even like cattle in the first place, I’ll give you mine even as long as you take theirs.”

– A joke amongst Tartarian Soldiers who served in the Great War.

Fortia swung her spear in a wide arc, using it like a scythe or a halberd that cut down the demons circling her not with its edge, but with the sheer force and speed of her own movement. She danced, jumping backwards from a blow as a tank shell flew past her. The Imperial soldiers had been hesitant to fight under the command of a White Pantheon Goddess, even if she was ex-White Pantheon, at the start, but now they proudly talked of being with the untouchable behemoth that was the Goddess of Peace. She alone would hold the line and delay the Tartarian horde from moving in as they tore through the approaching army with gunfire. Fortia watched ranks around her fall. In the distance, a greater demon appeared from behind the hill. Fortia heard shouts from behind her. The commanders telling everyone to target that thing, Fortia was faster.

She arched her back, pulled back, spun her spear around, tensed for a second and then released all her energy like a coiled spring. A sonic boom pushed the ash backwards from her, like a cape of grey, thicker than the endless fall from the choked sky above. In the next instant, the demon collapsed backwards, his upper body disappearing as Fortia’s spear tore him in half with its sheer speed and size. The soldiers from behind Fortia gave a cheerful cry for a moment and then went back to shooting at the army. Fortia’s spear reappeared in her hand, she took a step forward, above to charge.

And the world went black.

Gone were the rocky, ash-covered hills of Esberia. Gone was ashen skies, gone was the very ground that Fortia stood on. Gone were the demons. Gone was the glint of Fortia’s plate on her arms or her spear, gone was her very nose and the strands of her that had loosened from the tie she used in battle and fallen into her vision. The Goddess of Peace stood in an endless, lightless void, she looked down and saw nothing. Not even her own chestplate. There was still ground around her, she felt the ash that tickled the backs of her calves and the rocks she stood on.

From above them, a woman laughed.

Fortia stood up straight, not even moving. She knew this pattern by now. The demons were dead already, or maybe they weren’t, it didn’t matter. She had seen this pattern from the outside, she had seen from the inside. Frankly, she did not want to know what Irinika did when she attacked. Her nose twitched, something brushed by her side, a small lighter’s flame suddenly sparked and lit the inside of a pipe.

Irinika took a deep breath, Fortia smelled the tobacco smoke, she dematerialized her spear, there was no need for it anymore. The Goddess of Darkness held it for a few moments, then exhaled, the darkness retreated with the cloud of smoke she blew out and Fortia returned back to the Ashen-Sky-strangled Esberia. Around her was a field of corpses.

Demons ripped apart so completely that it was better to liken them to mince over anything else. Thick black armour, strong enough to even bounce low-calibre bullets, had become scraps of paper. Even their swords and cleavers and the blades of their axes had been cracked and split into shards of metal. What had been an attacking army was thrown about, onto the cliffs of the valley that Fortia had baited them into. The grey ash, lit up by spotlights from behind Fortia to blind the demons and make them advance with their eyes squinted or facing the ground was discoloured into a red, or scarred as if Irinika had raked giants claws to scratch marks into the stone below it. “My my.” Irinika was absolutely satisfied with herself. “I do like doing that.”

“I know you do.” Fortia said. “If you’re in the area, why make us waste ammunition?”

“Did I declare I was in the area?” Fortia sighed at the question. Irinika was utterly reprehensible. That haughty manner of speech had been curious at the start, now, especially with the fact that she even kept it up during battle, it was as if someone was taking a cheese grater to Fortia’s nerves. “Or did I get here just in the nick of time?”

Nick of time she said. Nick of time. Nick of time as if they were getting overwhelmed. As if Fortia hadn’t just been successfully holding them back. Scouts had managed to bait the enemy army straight into this killzone of a valley, it had been a masterful operation. And Irinika got here to put an end to it. Fortia took a deep breath, Maisara would not get along with Irinika whatsoever, it was a matter of simply letting the annoyance fade away. “Is there anyone else in danger?”

“The entire local area has been extinguished of antagonists.” Irinika said happily. Fortia glanced at Irinika by her side. She stood wrapped that in that endless darkness that was so terrible it was as if Fortia could put her hand straight into it. It spilled from her hair, then flowed over Irinika to make a formless blob which bore no edge or curve, it was just a sheer nothing in which Fortia’s eyes desperately searched for something to grasp onto. She never had the sheer stupidity it required though… Stupid annoyance overtook reason, if her hand disappeared, then she could regenerate it. Fortia stuck a finger into that darkness. For a moment, she was worried she was going to be sucked in. Then her finger touched something… something soft of all things. Irinika chuckled. “My my Fortia, what a downright degenerate you are.”

Fortia ignored the comment, Irinika had to be generally bipedal-shaped. The darkness began at her shoulders, whatever she was touching was obviously nothing private. “Is that actually how you clothe yourself?” Fortia asked. She pressed her finger in. Skin. She was very obviously touching warm skin. Irinika put her pipe to her mouth and took a deep breath.

“Is there issue with my manner of dress?” She asked. She at least had the decency to blow the smoke away from Fortia’s face.

“Is it not wasting energy?” Fortia asked.

“Does Divinity get tired?” Irinika giggled, then shifted away. Fortia’s lips fell open, her eyebrows twisted downwards and she had to actually look up to make sure that her eyes were registering Irinika… giggling like a little girl. “Please, continue.” She said.

“Are you actually ticklish?” Fortia asked. What sort of Divine was ticklish? She had never met one! It got boring after a while, didn’t it? And wasn’t Irinika older than Fortia?

Irinika replied with a response that was thoroughly like her: “I indulge my humanity.” Fortia had to play over what she just heard. Irinika indulged her humanity. Indulge, yes. Humanity, no.

“Shouldn’t you have gotten bored of it?”

“Should I have gotten bored of it?” Irinika asked. “Are you not ticklish?” Fortia felt something scratch her sides, her arms, her legs. She looked down at her body, there was nothing there. Then her eyes registered movement in her boots, the shadows were moving.

“I’m not.” Fortia said. “Don’t bother.”

“What a bitter little soul you are.” Irinika mused and took another breath of her pipe. “I do declare you a pitiable creature, you can be honoured, I give you my pity.”

“I don’t want your pity?” Fortia had to ask it. Nothing like Allasaria whatsoever. Every conversation was somewhat like this. It was always a different flavour of sheer befuddlement, but it was always that sour taste of someone she didn’t particularly dislike the company of, but someone she would not miss if she never saw again. It was just… Just odd. That was it, Irinika was just too odd to hate. “I honestly have no clue how you weren’t killed in the past.”

“Oh hohoho!” There it was, that was the laugh. Irinika did it even with the pipe in her mouth. She did pull it out to speak though, blowing another cloud of smoke into the air. The troops behind usually cheered after a fight, this time, they just stared at the sheer carnage that Irinika left behind. “And how, pray infer unto me your wisdom, would I be killed?”

“Well I suppose that’s the issue.” Fortia said. Every Divine had to be somewhat amicable to others, the less powerful, the more generally respectful they were. A few were exceptions, Kavaa for one. But Kavaa had too great a power and it was in too weak a body to be worth killing. Irinika though? These types had been picked off throughout the ages. “I don’t know.” Fortia had to admit it.

“So now you do not know.” Irinika said. “I know how I would be killed. My little sister Kassie has a method, you kill a Divine through the separation of the head from the body.”

“Easier said than done.” Fortia answered immediately. That in the very same section of Philosophy of War that Irinika was quoting.

Irinika rephrased it with her wisdom. “Easier articulated than actuated.” Fortia just stared at her. Was actuated even the right word?

“Great.” That was all Fortia could say. How did one even respond to such a statement? “When you were appeared, were you like this?”

“Was I, the Goddess of Darkness, the Goddess of Darkness Fortia?” Irinika mused

the answer. “I do think I was.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

“Pray, what did you ask?”

“Were you this annoying?” Irinika burst out in laughter. It wasn’t the vain oh hohoho this time, it was a hearty laugh. That was another difference from Allasaria. That woman seemed to be able to find attacks on her character where there were none, this woman seemed utterly immune to whatever opinion anyone had of her.

But then, she did quiet down. And she did smile, and stare off into the distance as she spoke. “I am a terror Fortia. I am the second terror of humanity, there are none quite like me.”

“Who was the first?”

“Neneria.” Irinika said and Fortia nodded. That did make sense. “Someone has to die for others to be afraid of it, she is the original, although being the original, I and her are much like a finished version and a prototype.” Irinika smiled to herself. “Fear is a learned skill. Humanity only mastered it with darkness.” Fortia pursed her lips. This was the issue with Irinika, at this point, Of Peace did not know whether Irinika was being serious and thoughtful or whether she was simply indulging poetic whimsy for the sake of it. She looked back to the remains of what Irinika had left behind of that army. Maybe it was the first.

“I see.” Fortia said. She did not.

“So you see.” Irinika said.

“How was it?” Fortia asked. “When you formed?”

“We are both ancient, you are not so old that you need my elderly wisdom.” Fortia noticed the dodge. It was much the same as Iniri, and supposedly Neneria did not talk of that First Age either.

“That doesn’t answer the question.”

“Do you tell your followers to try out alcoholism just so they experience the joys of addiction?” Irinika asked, then answered her own question. “On this matter Fortia, some answers are worth not knowing. There is little that happened in that First Age, and there is nothing that is applicable to now. It was a different time.”

“It was the time that formed you.” Fortia said.

“Aye, it did form characters.” Irinika said. “Neneria is not a classical Divine either. Nothing like my father, nothing like you either. Iniri likewise.”

“Iniri?” Fortia asked. “Really?”

“There are none as indulgent as her.” Irinika said and sucked on her pipe. “Even I, and you see my vice openly. It may be better off that way though.”

“What was she like then?”

“Think of me, and make me worse.” Irinika replied. “She would have died were it any other age, but no, she is strong enough to survive and fast enough on her feet to take risks.”

Iniri? Were they talking about the same Iniri? “Iniri takes risks? Since when?”

“Do you consider yourself braver than her?” Irinika asked then chuckled. “Because I don’t.” Fortia did not expect the comment to sting so much. But it did, maybe because it did come from Irinika, maybe because Irinika had no skin in the game with either of them.

“You do?” Fortia said. “Iniri’s a coward.” She had thousands of examples to prove it. From going back how much the woman had to be wrangled in the Great War, to the utter depression she fell into after it, to the fact that she had been the title of Of Food & Bounty because for her to carry Of Nature was deemed too great a burden by Allasaria. Fortia had agreed back then.

“I am certain you will call Kavaa and Helenna cowards too.”

“I will.” Fortia said. They both were, the former afraid of her own power, the latter afraid to do anything but scheme.

And Irinika dropped an executioner’s axe on Fortia. “Then why did they beat you in the game to freeing Kassandora?” Fortia just stood there, she turned back to Irinika. The Goddess of Darkness was re-weighed in that moment. It was a Fer situation, that woman acted like a klutz, this one acted like an idiot. They were both intelligent though. This one, maybe more so. Fortia had no answer to that question, she did not even sense it coming.

“I…” Fortia trailed off. “I can’t answer that.”

“Because you’re too stupid to know the answer?” Irinika mused. “Pray, do not offend my ears with that, nor your own tongue for we both know it a lie. Because you can’t Fortia, that’s why. Because you know the answer and cannot voice such words, or because your mind will not let you make the connection that is so obvious even the blind can see it.” Irinika smiled as she looked out onto the corpses. “Either way, it is a pitiable existence, yours.” Fortia rolled her eyes. Back to this again, Irinika was correct. She was spot on in fact. But then she had to ruin it like that. Of all the things that Of Darkness could have said, she said what Fortia was not expecting. “Yet I shall not press this sore spot you possess Fortia, in return, do not press upon the Age you were not alive to experience.”

As much as Fortia wished to press Irinika, her mouth did not find the words. She had been utterly outmatched in this game of words. None of them ever talked about that Age, Elassa said so much in the Archive of Arda, yet that had been Elassa. Fortia had thought she could get Irinika to spill something at least. She could not though, so she just stood there, thinking about Irinika, then about the war, how else to move her troops. About the Ashfront, about Legion. “Legion has hit Bolfech, did you know hear?” Fortia asked.

“Ants head for sugar, I do declare that some rather stunning commentary.” Irinika replied.

“Do you not care?”

“Bolfech was evacuated, Legion has turned for Arseille.” Irinika said. “But I know you know so I choose not to state the fact that we both stand upon ash either.” Fortia rolled her eyes. “How do you know that even?”

“Do you have a shadow?” Fortia looked down at the ground where her shadow was. Then at Irinika. Then at the shadow.

“Do you actually spy on me?”

“I dare not admit to such plebeian subterfuge as spying.” Irinika said. “I simply know what I need to know, when I need to know it, where I need to know it.” Fortia sighed and shook her head. She did not particularly dislike Irinika, but there was little positive she could say about her. When humans talked of coworkers they managed to hit the line of getting along with, this was what they meant. “Just so you know, little sister Anassa is coming to this location.”

“She is?”

“For what reason, who may know?” Irinika mused. “But yes. What do you think of me?”

“What sort of question is that?”

“A curious one.” Fortia opened her mouth. Then closed it. Then opened it. She couldn’t argue with that. That was somewhat true. It was a curious question indeed. She could not even argue with that.

“I think you’re not terrible and not great. Bearable.” Fortia replied.

“My my, how quaintly disappointing, you do not sing my praises?” Irinika asked.

“What praises are there to sing?”

“My high intelligence? My stunningly picturesque beauty? My thesaurus of a vocabulary? My ancient wisdom.” Fortia tuned out this speech, she had heard it before, more than once in fact. Irinika had this great talent of directing the conversation towards speech every single time they spoke. It wasn’t even annoying at this point, just tiring.

Tiring and somewhat honest, this was the sole Divine Fortia knew that would boast in such farcical a manner. And if any of them deserved the ability to boast in such a manner, then it was Irinika. Anassa suddenly appeared. The Goddess of Sorcery stood in the air, her red dress waving in the air in the winds under Ashen Skies as she opened her mouth, then listened to Irinika. “Or maybe it’s my utter power Fortia? One that dwarfs the strength of every other Divine out there? Indispensable in times like this?”

“Are you finished?” Anassa asked.

“I may be little sister.” Irinika said. “My grand compatriot here, Fortia has been awaiting your arrival.” Fortia just sighed.

“How did you know I was coming?” Anassa barked. “Don’t say that you spy on me.”

“I don’t.” Fortia replied back, matching the cold tone beat for beat. “Why are you here?”

“Maisara has been recalled. I’m under your command.”

“Oh hohoho!” Irinika clapped her hands with laughter. “Fortia, you will get along with my little sister!” Fortia looked at Anassa’s face, then at Irinika, she knew the tales of Anassa. There were Divines that killed, killed gruesomely, even like Irinika or Fer, and there were Divines that no one wanted to be caught by, like Neneria, but then there were Divines were it was better to simply split one’s own veins than letting them get their hands on you. Anassa was the latter. Her effect on White Pantheon soldier’s morale in the Great War had been terrible, men would retreat before risking ending up in one of Anassa’s laboratories.

“Why has Maisara been recalled?” Fortia asked the order.

“Do I like I answer questions?” Anassa barked back. Fortia just stared at her, wide-eyed. What a response. Irinika made that stupid, stupid, stupid laugh again: Oh hohoho! “Do I look like I even know? Shouldn’t you know? You’re in command here, aren’t you?”

And Fortia realised, Irinika had actually been a blessing. How did Maisara put up with this creature in red?

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep