Fually, no o me actually liked Kassandora. She was respected of course, she was loved at times and others she was feared. Her ck of power turned intreatest strength. Heroes would die during their prime of course, whether through glorious duels or assassinations, until Kassandora started the marshalling of mortals under Divine Leadership. The Dwarves tried to quer the surface, until Kassandora thought up of the o drain. Fer and Anassa created beastmen, their invasion was unstoppable, until Kassandora militarized magis. Whereas Divines excel in the creation of tactics that rely on themselves, whether through serving as a trepiece of the army or the final on to be used, Kassandora went the other way. She is a weaver’s mill for battle pns, eae desigo be reproduceable in mass. There is no ‘Perfect’ with her, but everything is ‘Good Enough.’ Yet all it takes to win is enough.

  When we saw Arascus approach Kassandora, there was ridicule and ughter. I myself art of it. Kassandora turned her nose up at grander Pantheons already. It was unceivable that Kassandora would willingly enter a Pantheon in any permanency, there was no pret and the Goddess of War did not share her demesne freely. To fight on Kassandora’s side, her payment was ultimate authority until the end. But then there was another reason too. We could only ugh and ridicule, because the alternative was unthinkable. It took them more than two decades to grow together, but then, the alternative option became reality.

  In one day, War died and War was reborn. No longer was it a Divi, it became a structured, scable and utilitarian mortal industry. The entire world took a collective breath as it realised what happened. Just as with the marshalling of mortals and the magi’s militarization, the advent of kingdom-ending tactics such as the o drains, we khat something was going to ge.

  Kassandora joihe ranks of Daughter Goddesses.

  Two year ter, the newly formed White Pantheon was already marshalling forces.

  Excerpt from ‘The Leadup of the Great War’, written by Goddess Alsaria, of Light, kept within the White Pantheon’s Closed Library

  Kavaa felt her hand tighten around the hilt of her bde as she started at the Tartarian Rune. She rarely found herself in ft disbelief, terrible things happehey would have to aowledged, embraced and moved on from. She had fought against Arascus and his family in the Great War, the amount of times Kassandora had outwitted her oio everack off. At least once a week, there’d be a spy caught, once a month a battlepn would have to be re-written, once a year the entire front had to be ged because it was crag.

  A, as she stared at that rune, she felt her lips tremble into a smile. She didn’t know why she did it, but she ughed. Laughed in the same way she did when she healed Fer and Kassandora brought her back from the edge of death in the scorg sands of the Sassara. Why was Tartarus even on Arda? They left after the signing of peace. Did Alsaria recall them? But then why did Kavaa not know?

  She stood there and sighed as puzzles re-arrahemselves. The abando of underground exploration, the clearing and sealing of holds. Maisara and Fortia had always been against it, they should have pushed the advantage on the kingdoms uhe surface whilst they were still reeling from World-Core sealing. But a tury had passed. Then another. A third.

  Aually the problems of yesterday became the unsolved mysteries of history. The dwarves had beeed, a few had defected to the surface, the rest had retreated. The issue of under-kingdoms became less pressing as the aaintaining Pantheon Peace took on priority. Kavaa realised she had shut down when she saw Iliyal take a step through the doorway and heard Fer sniff the air. The Goddess of Health blihe shock away, she could deal with the questions in her mihere was surgery to attend to now.

  “Well…” Fer spoke up first. “That’s something.” Kavaa took a breath as she realised the woman was still trying to keep the five already crowding in the small resting in the dark. There was a corridor, there’d be a small barracks, most than likely a small armoury, a bath. Certainly all of them would be empty.

  That would expin why there was no tracks of animals in the dwarven hold they had ehrough. “ you smell anything?” Kavaa asked, although Fer was already sniffing the air.

  “Nothing, just storace amounts of iron, but its in the walls.”

  “These mountains are ri iron!” Olonia chimed in. Kavaa, Fer and Iliyal all gave the Goddess a ft look. Did they look like they were on a geological expedition here?

  “It says stop.” Iliyal said as he shown his torch directly onto the rune carved on the wall. It was beating like a slow heartbeat, although with the tor it, the pale red was barely visible.

  “You read that?” Kavaa burst out in shock.

  “Mam traheir script.” He took a sigh and turo the five Goddesses. And then stopped. He looked to Kavaa, she merely shrugged. Frankly, she had no clue on what to tell them.

  “You’re here for the thinking.” Fer replied. Iliyal nodded as he drew his sword and poi at the rune.

  “This is a Tartarian Rune.” He said. “It’s what demons use to mark their territory.” Kavaa looked at the different Goddesses. Olonia’s jaw dropped. Kavaa quickly grabbed Agrita as she realised the Goddess was about to faint and poured some healing into her to wake her up. Paida blinked, her hands started to shake. Saksma had ion, then her mouth cracked into odd ughter. Aliana leaned on the wall to support herself. Iliyal monitored them too, as Fer went to ihe rest of the room, the fshlights strapped to her wrists f her to wave her arms around. “You took it better than I expected.” Iliyal said. “Demons are not all they’re made out to be.”

  Kavaa sniffed in humour. Only someone who had fought in the Great War would say that, Tartarus and Paraideisus had both been mythologized during the era of Pantheon Peace, but it was true. If they were even half of what the stories said about them, theher could have won alone. “I…” Aliana said. “Are you not lying?”

  “I’m walking proof they’re not.” Iliyal said. Kavaa let Agrita go and took positioo Iliyal. He could rally, that was true, but he could be too heavy-handed in his talk. The man expined what he thought would need expining, and that was it.

  “I fought by their side.” Kavaa said. “They’re much like humans or elves. Stronger slightly, but it’s not parable to Divines.” At least the grunts weren’t. They had their own equivalents for Divines, and nothing on Arda as it was now could match even a single Archdemon. Fer returned, walking easily as she left, she air again and turo look deeper into the tunnel.

  “I’m here.” She merely growled. “Don’t worry about it.” She turo look back at Iliyal, that golden mane shining with the ambient light of the torches. “Are we going deeper? This…” She gestured to the rune. “Well we’ve all heard bad jokes before.” Iliyal walked to the rune and touched it. It didn’t react whatsoever to him.

  “True, is it even real?” He asked then chuckled. “I’ll be ho dies, I think anicked for a moment there.”

  “That was you panig?” Paida asked.

  “You get used to it.” Iliyal said and turo Kavaa. “I assume you won’t know, but I have to ask anyway. Was there a pn to inscribe fake runes simply to keep people away?” Kavaa stood there in shock as the man fihat was so unlikely… a now that he said it, was he wrong? This was exactly the sort of pn Alsaria would jure up. And Essa could manufacture runes like this, the lifespan wouldn’t matter then, the Goddess herself could go and rehem every now and then. Maybe at the bottom, there’d be an energy p them.

  “I don’t know.” Kavaa said holy. “But…” Frankly, she was impressed. An idea like that would have never crossed her mind. But just because it didn’t cross hers did not mean it wouldn’t cross Alsaria’s. “Well, I see it.”

  “It’s a possibility.” Iliyal said as he left the room and started following after Fer. Kavaa quickly caught up to two in the front as the five in the back started to slowly meander behind them. Iliyal lowered his tone, but kept on looking straight as they kept on marg. “But the ce of that is low.” He whispered, Kavaa’s perfect hearing barely caught. “If it was a fake, it doesn’t expin the ck of signs of wild animals ipost.”

  “But if it is them.” Fer’s voice was barely a purr. “Then there’d be the smell of sulphur.”

  “Uhat rune isn’t for us.” Iliyal said. “And it’s just for them.”

  “Or it could be that they developed new runology at the end of the war.” Kavaa said quietly. “And they’ve somehow mao get around the leaking problems.” That ossibility too. It existed for all of ten mihey reached the resting room. Iliyal and Fer entered, Kavaa stood outside and waited for the five to catch up. They were talking amongst themselves, obviously terrified. Eae tried to remain quiet, none had any real practi stealth. Every fifth word out of their mouths sent an echo dowunnel.

  Olonia saw Kavaa’s face, saw the Goddess of Health keep her hand on the bde, and shut up. “Keep quiet.” Kavaa said. “There could be something here, watch, if you see movement, then call.” And Kavaa ehe rest-room where Fer and Iliyal had disappeared into.

  And she stopped the moment she got through the doorway. Fer and Iliyal were both iing a series of ruhat had burned out. The elf turo see who ehe poi the lettering. “This I ’t read.” He poio a colle of jagged symbols in the middle. “But that says ‘go no further’.”

  “I’m impressed you read anything.” Kavaa said. Tartarus and Paraideisus both had fought on her side, but they only provided logistid direct military support. Fortia could read both scripts, Alsaria could too, but Kavaa had not been privy to the strategy cil.

  “I was fluent.” Iliyal said. “This is new words they’ve ied. There’s traces of old ones, but I ’t.” Kavaa only smiled, nothing would surprise at this point.

  “You were fluent?” Why did she even have to ask? Frankly, she didn’t even doubt him.

  “Mam even wrote some poetry in their script. I was fluent.” Iliyal said definitely. Of course Mam did. Of course Iliyal was fluent. The man was a walking encyclopaedia of anything that could eveaially reted to warfare. Fer lea and touched one of the words they knew. It did nothing. She dragged her finger onto the unknown calligraphy.

  And the calligraphy set alight. It didn’t burn Fer, it simply sparked like a crag fme, and then it burned out. “Well that is definitely new.” Fer said.

  “That obviously wasn’t good.” Kavaa said, she felt like ughing again.

  “Well at least it didn’t burn me.” Fer said, chug. She turo leave, took a step, and stopped.

  Fer sniffed. She looked to Kavaa, her nose wrinkling, her ears jumping. There was o even ask, she didn’t need Fer’s absolute pinnacle of a sense of smell to know what the woman was refereng. Frankly, she didn’t even need a single drop of Divinity, even a human child would be able to notice this.

  The rank smell of sulphur.