The Greatest Sin

The Union of New Nations is a country that is merely a child compared to anything in the old continent, unquenchable grievances have not had time to fester. Likewise, the East has long been dominated by Great Guguo, although their own sect politics are troublesome, they rarely spill over into actual harm to the general population.

It is Epa that is most troublesome. The continent is carved onto a fabric of endless wounds that are merely plastered over. Where it not for the fact Olympiada is in Epa, the best solution after the Great War would be total annihilation of this land. It takes only a single spark to set fire to a bandage, and the foundation of post-war Epa is nothing but bandages.

Excerpt from ‘An Anarchian Perspective on Epa’, a piece by a follower of Anarchia, of Anarchy.

“Everyone but Iliyal leave.” Arascus had given them half an hour of his patience, then another thirty minutes of his sanity. He got a series of stunned glances but no one dared question a God in the flesh, Mikhail stood up immediately as if he was bored of the meeting. He gave a bow and turned to leave as the rest of the people around the table watched him. Arascus spoke up again when the man had crossed half the room. “So one of you has ears.”

Mikhail puffed out his chest in pride as the rest of the people hurried out. Although they weren’t terrible, they weren’t anything impressive either. Arascus could see the lot of them being governors of towns, not those who would become future leaders. “Sara, you’re in charge of recruitment?”

“I am Sir.” Her tone was careful now, she had said little after being ridiculed at the start.

“Then you have a good eye for people?”

“I do.” It was a statement, but her tone was if she was asking a question.

“Do you?” Arascus asked.

“I do.” She replied in a more definite voice this time.

“Good, then you’re in charge of preparing servants for my room.” She blinked, her eyebrows climbing almost up to her hair.

“W-What kind of servants are you looking for?”

“We spent two weeks on a hike and an hour in a meeting, didn’t you just say you have a good eye for people?” Arascus smiled. “Let’s see how good it is, impress me.” He already knew she would send spies to his room, so he might as well give her the perfect opening. It was easier to hide away plans when you knew who you were dealing with. “You’re dismissed.”

“Yes Sir. Thank you Sir.” She bowed and left. The doors slid closed behind her.

“Still as paranoid as ever, you’ve not changed a bit.” Iliyal said as he leaned back. He poured himself another glass of water. His green eyes finally relaxed as he was left alone with a God.

“Neither have you.” Arascus replied as he spun on the chair, they didn’t have these back in the day. “Sara’s going to spy on me.”

“She’s not a traitor, she’s just a ladder-climber.”

“Do you have any traitors?” Iliyal shrugged.

“I don’t think so, but you never know for sure, do you?” Arascus burst out in laughter as the chair finally stopped spinning. “So what do you want to ask?”

“We’re in a sorry state.”

“That we are.” Iliyal agreed as he downed the glass of water. “We don’t even have fine wines anymore.”

“You don’t have anyone on Divinity Watch.” That was the organisation is charge of monitoring the Gods and Goddesses and tracking their movements. Iliyal merely shrugged again.

“I’m Divinity Watch and I’m the only one who knows what the Daughters actually look like. For the Pantheon, they don’t hide their locations anymore and it’s bad for morale.”

“Bad for morale?”

“Maybe if we met one of the Inventions, we could take it down but any of the big names?” He let out a pfffttt. “We can’t even go up against Kavaa or Iniri so we don’t need a reminder of how powerless we are.”

“What about the weapon incarnations?”

“Locked away, we don’t know where.”

“And the Daughters?” Iliyal gave a sigh.

“Officially, everyone of them is dead.” The elf gave a laugh which sounded more like a growl. “But three, I have confirmed as alive so I don’t believe the other five are dead either. Irinika certainly isn’t, they chased her for three centuries, Allasaria did it for five. Eventually they just stopped talking about her, the others are the same. They’re simply said to be dead but there’s never been a corpse to show off.”

“Which are the ones alive?”

“Olephia is locked away is Artica.” The uninhabited landmass at the very southern reaches of Arda. It was a wasteland of ice. Arascus merely nodded, in their position he would have done the same. Olephia was of Chaos, it was such an unpredictable abstract it was simply better to lock Olephia away forever than risk her reincarnation and whatever monster it would create. “Anassa is on Olympiada, with Elassa.”

“They’ve joined forces?” Arascus asked as his eyes narrowed. Anassa was of Sorcery, Elassa was of Magic. The two had always had a friendly rivalry. It didn’t surprise him… it was merely disappointing. Anassa was always stronger than Elassa, he didn’t think expect her to break.

“I don’t know. Anassa has never appeared in public since the war, but I know for certain she’s on Olympiada.”

“And the last one?”

“Fer.” Arascus gave a nod. Of course she would still be alive. “She’s actually alive and free, she lives in the Eastern Tundra, the one above Guguo.” Ilwin looked at Arascus, his face as cold and hard as stone, his tone just as emotionless. “We’ve never made an attempt at contact.” When he saw Arascus reply with a nod, he let out a breath.

“That’s good, it would have only given you away.”

“My thinking exactly.” The elf had a good amount of pride in his voice. Arascus leaned back and thought about his daughters for a minute. Ilwin merely poured himself another glass of water.

“There’s something you need to know.” Arascus said and Ilwin answered immediately.

“Your strength has faded.” He gave a nod. “I felt it the moment I stepped into the room.”

“Have they increased in strength?” There was no question who they meant between these men.

“Allasaria, Elassa, Maisara, Fortia all have. The others have faded though.”

“How powerful is Zerus?” Arascus asked and Ilwin merely shook his head.

“Weaker I assume but the Pantheon isn’t that much of an issue anymore. There’s this Ciria about, of Civilization, and a Halkus, of Industry. They’re the big dogs now. Halkus I think is stronger but I’ve only caught sight of them a few times. Neither get along with the old lot.” Arascus leaned back.

“They don’t?”

“New kids on the block. They’re like our Sara.” Ilwin saw Arascus’ smile and shook his head. “We’ve tried already, they’re true believers in this new world. They’re not part of it, but they won’t turn on the Pantheon.”

“They’ve not met me yet.” Arascus shook his head. Of Industry may be difficult to sway but of Civilization? What a joke! What civilization wasn’t proud of itself? “But we’re not dealing with them yet.”

“I assumed as much.” Ilwin replied. Arascus took a breath and asked the question to test the loyalty of his ancient general.

“Why did the war go on pause?” Arascus and Ilwin burst out in laughter, spitting out the water over the table. The God merely raised a questioning eyebrow as the elf waved his hand apologetically. “What’s so funny?”

“I say the same the thing. There’s some fools out there who say we lost but as long as we’re alive, the war rages on.” Arascus chuckled. Of course the man would say that, he had only chosen the best to be his generals.

“So?”

“They got lucky!” Ilwin burst out and Arascus affirmed with a nod. “There’s no way we could be defeated! It’s like playing dice against someone who only rolls sixes!”

“So we agree.” Arascus said. “All that has happened is we took a millennia long break to reassess the situation. We’re not going to repeat the mistakes of the past. Before we stoke the fires of war again, we make sure to remove the greatest threat.”

“Leona.”

“Leona.”