The Greatest Sin

“Arascus’ strength today is his image. We need to ruin it. He’s made himself into a saviour of Ausa, and his daughters are going to free Arika of the Jungle. We can’t let him continue like this.”

“And how do you want to do that exactly Elassa?”

“Contact EIE. Not all of his daughters are talented in speech.”

“Take your seats.” Arascus said. It wasn’t entirely like the olden days, but it was damn close. With Divines sitting around a table and planning how to rule humanity. Fer, Neneria, Kassandora and Olephia took one side. Kavaa, Helenna and Iniri took the other. All of the Goddesses he adopted were competent, there wasn’t one he wouldn’t trust, but Kassandora had by the far the widest skillset of them all. She had been difficult to convince a long time ago, although that was because War was a mere ant when compared to the giants of Chaos, or Hatred, or Chaos. Even Of Beasthood was a greater demesne, but then the greater the demesne, the more focused it got. Fer would never be civilized, Olephia would never be one for speeches, but Kassandora could do it all, and she could do it well.

The Reclamation War, which was entirely her doing, was a damn good move.

They sat as Arascus indicated for them to sit. Neneria had prepared the tent, and what that meant was Neneria used her authority to scare some of Kassandora’s soldiers into preparing a tent for them. It was a grand thing, heavy linens to shield them from the outside, with guards standing outside. Maybe Allasaria or Maisara, ever needing to be reassured of their authority would take issue with it. But Arascus did not mind the dull green of the tent, nor the tables that had been lined together to make something large enough for Divines to sit around. They didn’t have chair even, only heavy crates that had been dragged here. Arascus did not care, there had never been a moment when he once doubted his authority, he was the God of Pride. One of the grandest demesnes in existence, it would go on for as long as humanity existed. He could sit in shit and feel proud for it.

Arascus began. “Kassandora, first of all, I would like to congratulate you on the Reclamation War.” Little Kassie always needed to be told she did a good job, all of them did, but Kassandora most of all. She had been prone to starting wars in the past when she wasn’t praised enough. Kassandora blushed so deeply her cheeks became the same colour as her crimson hair.

“It’s nothing.” And that was classic Kassie. She wanted to praise, but she always felt dirty for receiving it. Arascus laid it on a bit thicker.

“With no support from me, you’ve rescued Baalka and you’ve started a campaign that will pull Arika into the Empire. There is something there to be proud of.” Kassandora readjusted her cap, still blushing deeply, and managed to utter a single phrase.

“Thank you.” Arascus turned to the three Goddess that had been in the White Pantheon only a few months prior. They were the ones this meeting had to concentrate on. The planning was secondary, the real goal was recruitment. They wouldn’t join the ranks of Daughter-Goddesses, there was no chance of that, but Arascus had recruited Divines in the past, only minors, Gods of Cities and Goddesses of Weaponries. Some demanded powerful stations, others wealth or indulgences, some joined out of fanaticism, but they all had shared a similarity: They had all found a place to belong. These three, freshly out of the Pantheon, no doubt wanted something like that too.

He had to lay it on nice at the start. “And I would like to thank you three too. Kavaa, Iniri and Helenna.” He had said it once before, but this was a good show. It would tell them how much he appreciates his own underlings. “Thank you for saving Kassandora.”

“We did it out of own will.” Kavaa replied coldly. She had changed into a similar style of uniform that Kassandora wore. Helenna had apparently designed them, they were a good fit.

“And?” Arascus leaned forwards. “You did it for yourselves, but you still saved someone precious to me.” Kassandora started to play with her fingers as Fer looked over and grinned at her sister. “I do not see a difference between you saving Kassandora and saving me.”

“We had our own reasons, is what I’m saying.” Kavaa reiterated, her voice colder this time, and harder. Arascus had expected them to be argumentative.

“I’m not here to interrogate you for your reasons.” There was no need to. Before the Great War started, he had worked with each and every member of the White Pantheon. He knew what it was like to deal with them. That was precisely why Fortia, Maisara, Elassa nor Allasaria ever got an invitation to join. “I’m here to talk about the future.”

“We’re not working with you.” Kavaa said. Helenna leaned forwards, put her arms on the table and interlocked her fingers. It creaked underneath her weight. Arascus let her think, she obviously wanted to say something.

“Now Kavaa.” Helenna said. “I agree with you on one hand.” She looked to Arascus, her hair going red like Kassandora’s. “We cannot work with you, but also…” Arascus let her finish again. Allasaria was one to tell people what to think, he had an entirely different way of working people. “Well… we don’t have much of a choice now do we?”

Kavaa leaned back, crossed her arms over chest and sighed. Iniri took the initiative. “Fer did save me.” Arascus saw the opening and he took it immediately.

“You don’t have to make a decision now.” That would be the exact opposite of how Allasaria treated them, it would be the best move right now. Of all the Gods, he had a talent only a few possessed; he could make people want to work for him. “But, I have one thing. Me and my daughters will plan our next move here. You are welcome to stay, but if you stay, I want nothing to be said of our conversation, to anyone. If you leave, I will not hold it against you.” It was the illusion of choice, no one in their right mind would give up being in one of his meetings, especially when it would be so important, and he wasn’t actually going to say anything top-secret here anyway. There would be no mention of locations, nor any names being dropped that they didn’t already know.

“I’m staying.” Iniri said first. Helenna followed up shortly.

“I will too then.”

“Fine, I’ll stay likewise.” Kavaa echoed. And they were caught, hook, line and sinker. It was rare for someone to come to work with him. Arascus always considered himself as a man with a shovel, he dug the stream, water simply started flowing and following him. By the time they realised they were only a drop in the river, they would be caught by its currents.

It was time for the meeting, something that would be expected, yet something that would pull them further away from the White Pantheon. The Goddesses themselves weren’t that important, Kavaa’s hundred thousand Clerics were the big prize to aim for. “Arcadia.” Arascus said and the mood dropped.

Neneria leaned back, Fer’s ears collapsed. Kassandora whistled. The three White Pantheon Goddesses gave each other dirty looks. Only Olephia seemed happy, but then there was little that perturbed Olephia. “Anassa is in Arcadia.” Arascus said.

“She’s held in the Divine Library.” Helenna said, rather proud of herself, as her hair turned red. Arascus did not tell her he knew already.

“Kassandora, me and you will make a plan for this.” Arascus said. “I already have one pre-emptive one, designed by myself and Iliyal.” Kassandora nodded.

Neneria raised her hands. “I’m not going to be part of it.” Her Dead Legion could only be harmed by magic. Harmed was the wrong word to use though, any half-competent mage could dispel a ghost. A hundred mages could crush her.

“You’re not.”

“There’s millions of mages in Arcadia though.” Kavaa said. “And Elassa can get from Olympiada to Arcadia in the span of three hours. That’s if she’s not going to be in Arcadia when you’re there.”

“Arika gave us an opening.” Arascus said. “Our foot’s in the door, now we just have to find a way to get leverage and drag her to Kirinyaa.”

“And then what?” Kavaa asked sharply.

Arascus shrugged. “Nothing has to happen, Elassa being here would give us a few days of opening if she had to travel by herself, but realistically, we have twelve hours if she takes the plane.”

“Elassa hates planes.” Iniri said.

Kassandora interjected. “We’re working with the assumption she’ll be using one. If she doesn’t, then that just means we have more time.”

“So it will be me then.” Fer said. “I’ll be the one that’s to breach Arcadia.” Arascus nodded.

“It won’t be a full assault, I would lead it then. But for an in and out job, the smaller the team the better.” Olephia slammed a piece of paper down on the table:

And me?

Arascus shook his head. “Could you do it? Yes. But we’re not here to cause magicide.” Olephia smiled and wrote down a reply:

Magicide. Good word, very strong.

“Even with beastmen…” Kavaa said. “I don’t see how.” This part would be kept secret, there was no reason for Kavaa, Helenna or Iniri to know anything that they could use as leverage to negotiate with Arascus with. The fact he would be out to free Anassa should be obvious, she was another of his daughter Goddesses and now that these three were working with Kassandora… well… Elassa and Allasaria weren’t idiots, even they should be able to realise his next move.

“We have a policy we developed in the first year of the Great War. Only me and Kassandora know the complete plans, and then people who are relevant to the situation know what they are doing.” Arascus said slowly. “I’m not here to offend, but Neneria and Olephia will not know either.” Helenna nodded along and Kavaa furrowed her brows.

“If you’re not going to tell me, just say it outright.” She said coldly. Arascus looked her right in her cold silver eyes. They shone like Kassandora’s did back then, a woman who worked and did little more. He replied in a flat tone to match her coldness.

“I’m not going to tell you.”

“Very well.” Kavaa said, somewhat satisfied with herself. “That I can respect at least.”

“The opening is what we are here to discuss.” Arascus said.

“You mean, the opening of how we drag the White Pantheon here?” Kavaa leaned forwards. So she did want to partake in the organisation. Arascus held his smile, it was always like this. She was a drop of water that was swallowed up by the currents even faster than he could have hoped for. “We break Pantheon Peace officially, very simple.” She tapped the table and looked at Kassandora.

“The creation of a formal army would be easy to do. Kirinyaa is primed for one, as is Ausa and the other Jungle neighbouring states.”

“Ausa would love an army, and it could field a fleet too.”

“A fleet?” Helenna asked. “How? Warships are…”

Kassandora answered for Arascus. “You’ll mount napalm artillery on ships. By the time complaints come in, the ships will be half-built in drydocks.” He was going to say the same thing. A ship was an investment, once Ausa put the money down, they would want to stick to it. “In regards to napalm artillery, the Binturongs are worthless.”

“Worthless?” Kavaa asked. Arascus had not been reading many of the reports about them, he only knew that Alash was designed a Mark Two already in Karaina. Fer leaned forwards, her voice jokingly deep to show she was playing a character.

“Fucking overdesigned piece of fucking shit. You can tell some fucking labrat made these. That’s the review by your engineers.” She wagged a finger at Kavaa. “They break apart too much, we had this issue with the same cannons and muskets back then.” Kavaa’s and Iniri’s eyes widened as they looked at Fer.

“Since when do you know about technology?”

“I’m the Goddess of Beasthood, evolution is written into me.” Fer shrugged. “The issue beastmen have is bloodlust and temperament rather than inability to create. The herds wore armour too.”

“That they did.” Kavaa said and Fer smiled knowingly at her.

“We can use the Jungle pretence to field test more vehicles. We need a vehicle capable of direct fire.”

“I would suggest arming helicopters.” Neneria said quietly. Olephia loudly slammed a piece of paper down.

Atomic Bombs. She grinned to everyone at the table. Her smile so wide it almost reached her violet eyes. Everyone returned with a pale expression and Olephia shook her head to write more down on the piece of paper: I was reading about nuclear reactor accidents. They blow up. How hard would it be to copy that with a bomb? Kavaa’s cheeks went white, Helenna’s hair pale, Iniri’s eyes bulged. Fer and Neneria both turned to look at their sister in shock.

And then Arascus saw Kassandora’s smile. He saw her red eyes, glowing with the red crimson of War’s flames. He saw their excitement, she saw him, and he knew her expression was reflected in his.

This was a weapon worthy of the modern age. A weapon to singlehandedly claim a continent. Maybe even the whole world.