The Greatest Sin

“Raptor One, you have the green light for Take Off.”

“Give us four hours.” Arascus finished the call. “It’s good you called Kassie.” Kassandora rolled her eyes, he was the one who had come up with that nickname for her.

“Good.” Kassandora said, then thought of how to end the phone call. Dealing with her father was one of the few things she couldn’t just handle instinctively. “See you soon, we’ll talk when you get here.” She said and turned the phone off. That was a good conversation, she absolutely hated asking him for help, he had helped her enough throughout her life already.

Kassandora’s eyes went back to the great flaming mountain of the Caretaker that was lying ablaze. Four hours. She looked at the regeneration of the leg. She clicked her radio again. “All teams, concentrate fire on the regrowing leg, keep it down. Over.” The choir of the Binturongs stopped for a moment as they re-aimed their guns like a bunch of tall needles all turning. Then they started to fire again. She had a mere fourteen guns left. Team three had taken the biggest losses when they fired with the barrels aimed too low to the ground.

Kassandora watched her guns fire, watched the shells soar through the air, and watched them explode and coat the remaining leg in flaming napalm. This had much more of an effect, the strands of vines burned up and turned to ash quickly without the massive bulk of the body to support it. Kassandora smiled to herself and felt her heartbeat slow down as her cheeks cooled down. At least one thing was going to plan. The Caretaker thrashed about, it had luckily landed on its own wing, disabling one arm in its own entanglement. It’s free ‘arm’, a massive elaborate concoction, a moving skyscraper of Jungle fashioned together as if a giant had sewn it, smashed against the ground in fury.

Kassandora looked away from the beast, and North, at Binturong Team Three. The vehicles were a sorry sight, three had their cannons blown straight off. That was another error she made sure to note down. What was a cannon that could not shoot low?

Kassandora looked over at Sokolowski Team One. One vehicle was tracked, five were firing. Zalewski had all six of his original gun firing. Then one suddenly lost control of the turret, the barrel tilted sharply down, then slammed against the red dirt. Zalewski reported the problem immediately. “We’ve lost one gun, it’s fucked. Over.”

Kassandora clicked her radio again. “Copy that, all units, slow down your rate of fire, fuck the Binturongs themselves, but we have to hold it for another four hours in position. Over.” She quickly thought of a plan. Judging from how quickly that monster regrew, if they stopped applying pressure to the leg, then she’d give it ten minutes. “Airbase, prepare all squadrons for a bombing run but keep them grounded. Launch them three hours. Over.”

The absolute disaster of a tone from the airbase responded quickly. “Copy that, all planes will be ready in twenty minutes if you need us. Over.”

Kassandora was already waiting for them to finish so she could broadcast more orders. “Cleric Cordon, retreat from the area, you have four hours to get at least twelve klicks away. Don’t let civilians past you. Support bases, send out trucks, reinforce the cordon, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT let anyone pass you by. Over.”

The various teams of Clerics responded sequentially. “CCT-One, Copy.” And so on, ‘CCT’ for Cleric Cordon Team’.

Kassandora switched frequencies to the public channel. It was a shame that this maintained better radio silence than her actual military comms. “This is Kassandora speaking. The imminent area around the Caretaker will be destroyed. Do not enter within twenty miles, no helicopters are to fly either. News Crews, to you specifically, you have been warned, no warning will be given.” She switched back to her own channels. “Healer teams, retreat from the area. Make as much distance between you and the caretaker as possible. Over.” Kassandora looked back at her radio operators then realised they were mortals, they were only two kilometres away, only a mile and a half. Much too close for who was coming. Kassandora clicked her radio, but Kavaa beat her to it.

“What about me?” She asked in a quiet voice.

“How hot was Alkom’s Sun when we stopped it in Olympiada?” Kassandora asked. Alkom’s Sun was comparable, right? Kassandora smiled to herself. It wasn’t comparable one bit, but then, they had stood close enough to touch it.

“Come over to me Kavaa. Neneria, tell Fer not to get close, I’m pulling Kavaa out.”

“I heard you.” Neneria, even though she was breathing heavily, she still managed to sound annoyed. “The Legion, I won’t be able to hold for four more hours.”

“How long?” Kassandora asked.

“Three at the most, that’s pushing it.”

“Keep it as long as you can. Can Fer hear me?”

“I can!” Fer shouted excitedly over the radio.

“Your radiomen are to pull out, get Neneria out once she pulls her Legion away. Iniri, Helenna, you retreat now, get past the cordon.”

“Understood, over.” Helenna replied.

“I can still help!” Iniri’s voice buzzed through the steel headphone Kassandora was holding and the Goddess of War rolled her eyes.

“Iniri, get past the cordon, I’m issuing a full retreat, get out NOW!” She shouted.

“Understood.” Iniri replied.

“Airbase, this is Kassandora, send a transport helicopter to pick up my team, I’m not going, but they are. Over.”

“Copy that, helicopter will be at yours in twenty. Over.” Kassandora took a breath, that was everything sorted for now. She watched the general retreat. The Binturongs lowered their rate of fire, Kassandora wandered how long they’d be able to keep pushing the machines for. The cordon around them slowly expanded, the few news crews who were being pushed away. More trucks were bringing ammunition to the artillery, those were allowed to pass through immediately. Then other trucks were madly spewing Clerics out to assist with the expansion of the line of men around the military area.

Fer’s two men were trying to haul their radios away on their backs. Kassandora appreciated the thought, although she clicked her radio. “Fer’s radio support. Leave the radios, just escape yourselves. Over.” They stopped, looked up at her on the cliff and took a breath.

“Thank you for that. Over.” They repeated as Kassandora watched them dump the massive backpacks they were carrying, both with several antennas still blinking with lights. Kassandora turned her eyes back to the Caretaker, it was still moving, slamming its massive skyscraper of an arm against the ground, and still stuck entangled in its wing. The other had reformed its skeletal structure, barks intertwined with each other as if they were threads, and was beginning to refill with leaves.

The broken leg was still damaged, vines were cracking, but the Caretaker had changed its strategy. Beams of woods the size of container ships were beginning to emerge from its body and slowly expanding. They were covered in napalm, but the sheer size of them meant they weren’t burning. Four hours. They needed to hold four hours.

The helicopter came in seventeen minutes. It was too large to land here, and only hovered in mid-air, clearing the cliffside in a violent red waves. The map flew off the table and radio equipment fell over as the helicopter sent ladders down. The twelve men Kassandora had brought saluted, she saluted them back, they had done a good job after all, and climbed up to be evacuated.

And so, three hours went by. Kavaa had managed to scale cliff herself and stood next to Kassandora, keeping watch, although she said little. Kassandora preferred it that way, battles weren’t things for small talk. The Sun started to set, half of it disappeared behind the horizon. And Neneria’s troops, her ghastly Legions, slowly started to fade. The air cavalry was had been charging and pestering the Caretaker like a swarm of angry flies.

Their pale green glows started to fade, then they simply blinked out of existence. The archers went next. Neneria held onto the siege weaponry, the various catapults and ballista and trebuchets until she couldn’t. Kassandora watched her through her binoculars. Neneria waved her hands, her final troops disappeared and she took shaky steps towards Fer. Her legs moved as if they were made of jelly, Fer caught her quickly. Kassandora watched Neneria slowly put a hand around her sister, and the other moved to her ear. “Ka… Kassie, can’t hold…” She sounded as if she had just ran a marathon. “Tired…” Kassandora waited for her to get off the network, and then replied herself.

“Good job Neneria. Have Fer take you out of there.” Fer leaned over and answered for Neneria.

“I’ve got her Kassie.” She said, then jumped into the air with Neneria on her back. That raven black cloak fluttering in the breeze. Even Fer wasn’t moving as quickly, she must have burned through all the blood that Kassandora had given her with but nevertheless, in a few minutes, she had crossed the distance to get past the cordon.

Kassandora clicked her radio. “All Binturong teams, any vehicles that can still drive are to start evacuating immediately. Get all men out of there and report losses. Anything that is damaged, leave. Do not bother fixing it. Over.”

Once again, the team commanders replied in sequential order. Sokolowski with Team One: “Pulling out now. We have four guns left. Two have tracked themselves. Over.”

Then Zalewski. “Team Two pulling out. Five of them can drive, but only two guns are still operational. Over.”

And Ekkerson. “Team Three. Five guns pulling out. Two don’t work, but they can still drive. Over” He sounded shocked as he said it. Kassandora was just as shocked that so many of the Binturongs had survived. She had expected maybe two or three vehicles left after putting them through so much stress. The three teams started to retreat, forming ranks and lines as the combined might of tread and wheel left massive clouds of dust behind them.

Kassandora clicked her radio again. “Airbase, launch Squadron One with a bombing run, aim for the area on fire already, not the main body. Napalm still burned over the body of the Caretaker, but it was dim, the creature had put it out by swallowing the flames in vegetation. A few minutes later, three planes screamed over the Caretaker, they dropped barrels of napalm which burst out over the creature.

The Caretaker kept moving.

Another bombing run came in ten minutes later. Airbase reported that the first three planes were still being loaded, this was Squadron Two. Once again, they bombed the leg, it was beginning to regenerate faster now. Those container-ship-sized beams of wood reached its poisoned limb and dragged it into position.

The Caretaker kept moving.

Another bombing. Squadron Four this time, the two 77Ts. The two planes dropped over a hundred tonnes of napalm over the beast in a massive carpet bombing run as it used its arm to push itself up from the ground. The wing was freed, it stabilized itself, the injured leg that had been detached moved as if it had not even been scratched.

The Caretaker kept moving.

“Are you sure Plan B will work?” Kavaa asked from Kassandora’s side.

“It will work.” Kassandora did not even have a doubt. The Caretaker stood up, the crocodile on its top grew fresh trees, the lion roared, the giant snake’s head on the side of its body hissed, eyes locked on Kassandora.

The Caretaker kept moving.

Kassandora’s radio turned on, it was an unfamiliar voice, but she had shared the frequency when she called Arascus. “This is Captain Douglas of Raptor One speaking. Goddess Kassandora, are we free to drop? Over.” Kassandora smiled. Four hours had not even passed yet. Her father had always been fast when she asked. She looked up at the sky, two planes were coming in from the west, much faster than anything the Clerics possessed.

“Kassandora speaking. You are free. Over.” Kassandora clicked her radio off. Then turned it on again. Now was the endgame, there was no reason to not give it her all. “All troops, go to ground and take cover. I repeat, all troops, go to ground and take cover. All squadrons, get out of the air. This is the final message. I repeat, this is the final message. All troops, retreat and take over.”

“What’s that about?” Kavaa asked.

“You’ll see.” Kassandora said as she took a step back. There was a nice rock to sit on. Now that Plan B had arrived. “We’ve won Kavaa. You have nothing to do but sit and enjoy the fireworks.”

But the Caretaker kept moving.

Olephia looked back at Arascus as the door in the rear of Raptor One opened. “It’s that thing!” Arascus shouted, he held onto a steel pole as the wind raced passed them. Olephia looked down at the red Kirinyaan desert. It was beautiful sight, all those reds, the ocean of green Jungle in the direction they had just come from. The lake of grey ash separating them.

Olephia looked back at Arascus, gave him two thumbs up, and took a step backwards off the plane. She fell through the air like a meteor about to bring another mass-extinction event.

The Goddess of Chaos started to hum.

“You hear that Kavaa?” Kassandora asked. She recalled Joyeuse from the cliff, the blade materialized in her hand and she stabbed it into the ground. It was impossible to miss what she was talking about. Chaos’ hum was overbearing, you could hear it over the red lightning that had suddenly started appearing, over those grey clouds of thunder that suddenly materialized. The red dirt started to steam, and the limbs of the Jungle’s first abomination set alight. “That’s our victory song.”

Yet the Caretaker still moved.

Olephia looked down on the giant monster underneath her. Her eyes did everything to record the sight before her, she would paint it later. With that giant snake’s head hissing at her, its maw large enough to swallow a castle, that lion roaring. The two vulture’s wings, the crocodile jaw torn open as if it was a giant tree with a thick canopy, all held together by intertwining trees and vines. She smiled, it was good that even with how long she had lived, Arda still found ways to show her new sights.

The monster moved a massive arm. A concoction of green and grey and brown as if to swipe her out of the air. Olephia’s smile dropped. Her hum dimmed momentarily. She said a single word:

“No.”

Kassandora squinted as Kavaa grabbed at her arm. That giant had just swung it’s arm, and then that arm became a flash of light. An explosion burst from it, a ball of white light as if the Sun had appeared in a mere instant. The deafening sound came a second later. The wind a second after that. It snapped trees and blew rocks away as Kassandora stared forwards. Olephia had always awed her. She held onto Joyeuse with one arm, onto Kavaa with the other.

When all that remained was a massive cloud rising into the air, the Caretaker roared. The arm it had swung had simply ceased to exist. It had been incinerated from Arda by the hellfire of Chaos, by forces not made for the understanding of mortals.

And, somehow, defying all belief, the Caretaker still moved.

Olephia looked down at the monster below her. Arascus had told her of it. It was apparently strong. She grew disappointed again. Strong? One word had destroyed it. She had wanted to play with someone for once. The snake’s head hissed at her, those blood red eyes gazed forwards, and the monster moved its second arm.

Olephia said two words this time.

“Stop. Die.”

Kassandora held onto Kavaa as two more stars of bright white light flashed into existence for a moment, then disappeared. Another arm gone, burned, with all that remained of was a mushroom cloud that would dissipate soon enough. Olephia hovered in mid-air, in a violet dress that whipped about in the wind, her hair splayed out in all directions as if it was made of steel, the breeze did not even seem to touch it. Red lightning roared overheard, bulbous sores of cancer burst out over the Caretaker’s form. The grew and metastasized and

The sound came, then the wind. Kavaa wrapped tighter around Kassandora’s arm as Of War with nothing but pure glee.

And still, the Caretaker moved.

Olephia smiled. Three words it had taken. This monster was quite the opponent. She needed something more powerful than that. She found something bigger in her arsenal. Something more relevant to the case at hand. She had miscalculated, this wasn’t a monster she could kill. This was more like a fortress she needed to destroy. She needed something bigger.

That was one, ‘bigger.’ It didn’t fit though, ‘bigger’ was a thoroughly underwhelming word. She searched again and found it. A word to bring about the end of great fortresses and towering citadels.

Her mouth twisted, and she said it: “Destruction.”

From that day, the maps would have to be redrawn. The land was engulfed in an explosion, and then it cleared up. A new crater had formed, perfectly round as if a ball had been taken out of the ground. Kassandora pulled Kavaa between her arms and put both her arms on her blade to hold on. When the dust had settled, Kassandora opened her eyes again.

Olephia floated in the air.

And the Caretaker was below her. A gaping hole in its chest, it’s legs decimated. The snake was hissing, the roars and cries were coming from it as the Goddess of Chaos hovered from above.

And yet, the Caretaker still moved.

Olephia searched her mind’s dictionary for a word. Sentences themselves did not hold power, they simply caused more reactions to occur, it was the matter of the word itself. She needed something overwhelming.

She searched again, what would her dictionary show her. Oh. There it was. Hiding in plain sight: ‘Dictionary’. Four syllables, very strong. But it didn’t fit the situation.

Olephia searched again. Her mouth twisted into a smile. She found the perfect word. One that was rare for her to get away with using. She said it.

“Annihilation.”

And there was nothing left of the Caretaker to move.

 

End of Arc 3: The Divine Jungle