The Greatest Sin

Mikhail Alash lifted the rifle up. Much bigger calibre, with a trigger made for the large fingers of beastmen. Rapid fire, no scope, that was redundant. It was a good weapon, the barrel could be extended and it would make an excellent sniper.

He turned and looked over at the heavy gun lying on the table, it had an empty belt of bullets sticking out the side. He could not wait for the beastmen to arrive for this baby to be tested out.

Arascus walked down the red sandstone steps of Kirinyaa’s parliament building. Kassandora close behind him. “I didn’t think that would go so smoothly.” Kassandora said quietly as they turned to walk on the pavement.

“You’re a hero here.” Arascus said and Kassandora put her hands in her pockets. The uniform sat well on her, the coat fell past her knees and her black boots made a satisfying click with every step. Her crimson hair fell to her hips. Cars slowed down to look at the two Divines as they walked on.

“That I am.” Kassandora said, her tone grim and deep. “Once we have this sorted, you’ll be able to pull Ausa into the War.”

“I will.” Arascus said. “They’ve seen the success here and want a taste of their own. I’ve recalled the Binturong mechanical designers to Kirinyaa, then they’ll move to Igos.”

“Not stay here?”

“Igos is better for them. More workshops and a port to work from.” Kassandora nodded and she gave her own report.

“Iliyal confirmed to me in the morning he’s sent reports of a new artillery vehicle, code-named lemur. The chassis is slightly different though.”

“Factories can be refitted.” Arascus replied.

“I said the same.” Kassandora replied. “We need an armour designer.”

“Alash didn’t take the job?”

“Iliyal said there’s no point giving it to someone like that. We’ll have another Binturong situation. I was thinking about calling HAUPT here.”

“They make suits.” Arascus said.

“And rifles can penetrate steel.” Kassandora said. “We’re not in the age of knights anymore. Armour…” She shrugged. “On vehicles, yes, but we’re not sticking inches of steel onto mortals, are we?” Arascus nodded, this was Kassandora’s domain. There was little to say about it.

“What about new materials?” Arascus asked.

“I’m sure we’ll think of something eventually, but I’m putting armour on hold. If something comes along, then we go with it, but it won’t be ready for Anassa’s rescue.”

“Have you heard anything from Iliyal about that?”

“He sent the two sorcerers off.”

“I know that.”

“Then we both know the same.” Kassandora said as she pulled out her phone and unlocked it. “Helenna rang, five times.” Arascus checked his own. It was a specialist model, more like a tablet for mortals, but then, he did stand twice the height of a man. Another car went past them and two people waved to them from the back. Arascus idly waved back.

“She rang me too.” Arascus said.

“I’ll ring.” Kassandora replied as she clicked the phone and put it to her head. “Yes, you called?” Arascus didn’t hear what Helenna said, he didn’t ask either. If it was important, Kass would tell him. Her tone changed to a fast one as her eyes started to shine. So it was important. “Understood, have you rung Fer?” A second of reply. “Then don’t bother. Call Neneria and tell her to watch over Kavaa and Iniri. We can handle it here, anyone else?” Arascus turned to a road that led to the nature reserve in the centre of Nanbasa. “Alright, are you coming here?” Kassandora shook her head. “Alright, that’s everything.” She clicked the phone off.

Arascus did not say a word, he knew Kassandora would tell him from her expression. She sighed, put her phone away and looked up at the sky. “Zerus is coming.”

“Is he now?” Arascus looked up too. It was a perfectly clear day, Nanbasa had seasonal weather. A month of monsoons, a month of nice sun, and then repeat.

“He’s bringing Sceo and Alkom.” Kassandora said and pointed to a set of stairs. Arascus wasn’t fond of the ring-city, but one thing he did like was the hill. Climbing up on any of the restaurants gave you a full view of the entire area. A man met them, all too happy to have his café be blessed by the presence of Divines.

“Is there anything I can serve? Free of charge of course!”

“Coffee, black.” Kassandora said then glanced at Arascus. “Make it two.”

“At once. I apologize for the lack of seating-“

“We’ll stand, make the coffee.” Arascus said and waved him away. The man went off as the two went to the café on the roof. Red-sandstone, a quiet place, hidden out of the way. A few people were sat here whispering in hushed tones. Business people from the looks of it. “Can you take them?” Arascus asked.

“I’ve taken them on once.” Kassandora said. “How much of your magic have you recovered?”

“Enough.” Arascus said. He took out his phone and scrolled to Olephia. “I’m going to call Olephia here.”

“She’ll make a mess.” Kassandora said.

“We’re not here for a fight.” Arascus replied.

“Just scare them?” Kassandora asked sourly. “The two of us could take one down at least for good.”

“Without Kavaa to heal, I don’t want to risk it. And any destruction of the city will be viewed badly for passing the army implementation. Chasing them away will be better in the long-run.” Kassandora nodded as the man reappeared with two white cups of coffee. “How much time did Helenna give us?”

“An hour, maybe two, they set off in the morning and Sceo is fast.”

“She’s got a good network if she found out on the same day.”

“I’m trying to be nice to her and get her to join us.”

“You’re nice to everyone.” Arascus said as he sipped the coffee. They must have skipped the line or got someone else’s. Kassandora drank hers and turned around to look at the customers. She smiled to herself.

“I know everyone here.”

“Do you now?” Arascus asked. He texted Olephia: Come here, don’t fly, we have trouble coming. He saw the message got read within a few seconds. Olephia was by the docks, she wanted to paint something to give to Nanbasa’s museums. That was a mark of Olephia, the Goddess of Chaos loved to immortalize the present in paintings. Kassandora nodded and waved to some of the customers, they too were wearing green armbands over their suits. Arascus paid them no attention.

“Oligarchs who helped fund the Reclamation War. Helenna knows them better.” She reclined and threw her head back, her red spilled down past the balustrade and waved in the gentle wind. “I hate waiting.”

“I do too.” Arascus said. “But what will you do?”

“Nothing I can do. Should we ring Fer?”

“She’s busy.” Fer wanted to see the baby lions before she set of Karaina and from what Arascus had seen on the news, she was making a stir at the zoo with allowing children to walk up and stroke the animals.

“She’s at the zoo.”

“Let her enjoy herself, she’s been suffering at the front.” Arascus said in a hard tone. Now that he thought about it, it would be better to call, he pulled up his phone and rang Fer. It took her a good half-minute to answer.

“Hello hello?” She said. There was a child laughing through the speaker.

“I’m just calling you to tell you we have trouble but we have under control, stay at the zoo if you want to.” Fer laughed.

“I’m going soon. The babies are getting tired.” She said.

“Then come over here, you should smell us, we’re close to the parliament. Olephia will be here.”

“Oh yeah, she smells good.” Fer said and the child laughed again. “Say bye-bye to Mrs Lion now.” Fer said. Arascus heard a tiny bye-bye from some child and then Fer laughed. “Thanks for ringing, I’ll be there soon. Love you dad.” She shut off the phone call and Arascus put his tablet away.

“She’ll come.”

“Well then we can take them all out.” Kassandora said with a sigh.

“I said we’re not.” Arascus made his tone hard.

“And if they come at us?”

“Then we can, but we chase them away.” Arascus said.

“And how do you know they’ll be chased away, you’ve lost most of your magic.”

“They don’t know that.” Arascus said. And so they waited. The shop keep brought them more coffees and wanted to take picture with Kassandora. She took one with him, but declined to have it be used in the marketing. Either way, their presence here had assured that the man would have a successful couple of months. People who walked past them on the street took photos and already the café owner had closed the doors to give the Divines privacy. A queue was forming outside.

“Are you thinking of leaving some money?” Kassandora asked.

“It would set a bad precedent.” Arascus replied.

“I was thinking the same.” A minivan came to a stop in the middle of the street. Black, a taxi service. Nanbasa Premium Taxis. They had expanded recently to have large vehicles fit for Divines. The owner had fallen for Helenna, and he apparently did not mind the investment one bit. The door clicked and slid open. Olephia stepped out in a violet dress.

She was smiling, as always, and waved up at them. Arascus waved down and at her shouted for her to come through. The crowd parted way for the Goddess who killed the Caretaker. Apparently, some studio in KTV was wanting to produce a documentary on that event. Helenna had been pestered by them several times. Arascus thought little of it, it was a risk, since they could always be painted in a bad light, he just had not figured out how Olephia annihilating the Caretaker could be yet.

“How much longer?” Kassandora whined again. “I have plans for today.”

“What?”

“I was wanting to scout out opinions of army implementation in the parliament.”

“Have Helenna do it.”

“She’s already on it.” Kassandora said. “I just don’t like when I don’t do it myself.”

“Not long now.” Arascus said.

“How do you know?” Kassandora’s leaned over as she looked over to Arascus’ phone. A news station had just reported Kirinyaa had closed it’s northern airspace. Planes were being delayed in airports and people wanted to know the reason. He showed it to Kassandora.

“Sceo is fast.”

“Sceo with Zerus is faster.”

“Do you think they’ll go to the Jungle?”

“Neneria will kill them then. Mere Forces can’t harm the Legion.” Neneria’s army of Ghosts. Allasaria could tear through them, Elassa could snap them away with a finger, but lightning and wind and heat? What could they do against the immaterial?

“So they’ll be coming here.”

“Most likely they know about the army implementation.” Arascus said.

“It’s fine.” Kassandora laughed and waved her hand away. “This is Elassa’s doing. Allasaria may be dead.”

“We’ve not seen her in public.” Arascus said. “But Neneria and Fer both said she got away from Artica.”

“What do you think she’s doing then?”

“We’ll see when we come to it, or do you want to plan for everything?”

“Do you think I can’t?”

“I know you can, but is it a good use of your time?” Kassandora sighed a heavy breath in answer and shook her head as Olephia got up to them. She pulled out a notebook and started writing: What’s the trouble?

“Zerus, Alkom and Sceo are coming here.” Olephia made a stupid face, her eyebrows raised, her violet eyes matching her dress quizzical. She wrote a reply.

That’s it?

“I don’t want you to fight them unless they come at us first, only scare them.” Olephia smiled a wicked grin and showed off her reply.

Oh I’m very good at scaring people.

Kassandora suddenly clapped her hands, her tone downright ecstatic. “Right guys. Wait’s over, look over there!” She was pointing to the north, past the commercial and residential districts of Nanbasa’s ring. There it was, in the blue clear blue sky with the sun shining overheard.

They saw it, then they heard the booms. Thunderstorms and lightning clouds.