It’s a question I get asked a lot. Not so much by mortals but by other Divines. Some have demesnes obvious and tained: Essa, Anassa, Neneria & Kavaa all restrain themselves to tight-knit, highly-literal, interpretations of what Magic, Sorcery, Death & Health are. Others, like Kassandora and Fortia, try to cim the world with their demesne. Both could make even a drop of rain somehow fall uheir purview.

  Of course, both are wrong. They are wrong not because they are wrong, but because they simply don’t have perspective. Only demesnes such as Arascus’ Pride alrond’s Gluttony, which are intrinsianity, even y cim to omnipresence. And in that, then it is mine which is at the forefront. In this regard, it is irrelevant to apply materialistic descriptions to my demesne.

  It is beh Love to try and expin itself. Every person on this world point Love out when they see it. The only ones who cim to deny it as a set of circumstanotions are those bitter that its sweet touch has left them. Some Love selectively, maintaining the autonomy that Love takes as a price. Others Love freely, their hearts addicted to the sweet embrace of Love.

  I assume it may be possible to be loving and autonomous, but I have never seen it. The amount of power, even Divines would fail to match. Hearts simply get tinged with nostalgia a as they experience loss. It is a natural process. I agine a Goddess loving, especially from among the age I am from. We have simply lived too long.

  - Excerpt from the autobiography: “Roses, Bdes & Blood”, by Goddess Helenna, of Love.

  Fer stood, arms crossed, brows furrowed, mouth tightly closed, as she watched whatever was happening to the Juhe trees had started to tear themselves apart, regrow, then tear apart again. As if whatever Anassa had doo them on the inside had resulted in a rapid cer that they were trying to forcefully excavate out of themselves. But those trees, Fer did not care about in the slightest. Trees were trees, maybe Iniri would shed tears over them, but Fer had different loyalties.

  She listeo the pain wheezing of that giant lion as it colpsed. Whatever Anassa was doing on the inside was having an effe the Jungle guardians just as much as it did on the Juself. And while she had nothing against hunting and taking lives, Anassa’s sadism had always sat badly with her. Pain ain, suffering was suffering, they were facts of life. She didn’t feel bad about hunting wild game, but…

  She saw the Lion take a step and fall over onto its side. A sandstorm of dust erupted from it as the trees fell like dominos uhe tainer-ship sized beast. That wasn’t hunting wild game though. Fer sighed and watched as she waited for Kassandora to start whatever she nning, her ears fell ft on her head aailed whisked from side to side as she looked around the enviro. The Crocodile gave up in the dista y ft in the bag Sun as if it was simply waiting for whatever Anassa was doing to be over. The Vulture squawked from above and crashed into the ground.

  Helenna turned her eyes from Arascus and Alsaria in the air. Nanbasa, once a ring, now stood as a an arc of a circle. The easterion blown up by explosives, the northern pletely devastated by the two Divines. Alsaria’s beams did more damage than the explosives themselves, there were new ravines dug out of the ground. Another pair of skyscrapers were falling as the two bck dots danced around each other like two duelling s. O lines of swords and spears s through the air, the other beams of light that ie whatever they touched.

  And then Helenna’s eyes went to the giant mohat took aep through Nanbasa’s zoo. General Damian Sokolowski ulling his troops away, keeping the distah the beast as shells impacted against its muscled bear chest. The monster’s beard of tentacles curled around its head to make a of flesh, and they revealed the beak that shrieked madness at the men. It took aep, once again its chest was bathed in fmes, once again aeam of bombers flew in from Nanbasa’s west. And it took aep.

  She had to do something.

  Fer jumped heard engines approag from the south and turowards the midday Sun. A group of Lemurs were slowly driving up here. Her eyes went to the three Jungle Guardians. She put down members of her pack when they grew ill, or when they damaged limbs beyond repair. But that utting them down. She didn’t burn them alive, she put them down. Fer looked at the three great beasts. The Crocodile unmoving, the Vulture madly beating its wings into the ground and the Liohing heavily as it gave short spasms on the ground.

  No. They may have tried to attack her, but if they were going to die, then it would Anassa’s or Olephia’s job to put them down. Fer wasn’t about to stand here ahem be buro the bone by napalm or slowly torn apart by artillery. If they had a on that could ie them in one go, then Fer would let it happen, but not like this. It was akin to throwing a lying into a of flesh-eater ants. Kassie would be mad, but if Kassie wahis job done so much, then she should have stayed here a Fer wrangle Essa. Fer turned and jumped to the approag artillery.

  Neneria looked down in surprise at her phone. Well, that was new. Kassandora had forced one on her for unication, but the most thought Neneria gave it was keeping it on her. And now it was ringing with some odd tune. Unknown number. Neneria looked up at the city around her. Ghosts raced through walls as they wiped away ahousand of Uriamel’s soldiers. What was odd about these creatures is that they fled quickly. Neneria had mao capture a few of them, but it was almost as if they ko pass on quickly to protect their very souls.

  Neneria looked down at her phone and thought about answering. It was an unknown hough. Should she really ahat? And she was busy. A massive, bck Lynx tank parked o her to shield her from the explosion that shook the city. Bombers were ing in to drop bunker-busters on the giant turtles. Neneria’s ghosts had emptied the towers fixed onto the back of their shells of defenders, but the beasts themselves were simply too big fhosts. She g her phone again. The s had turned off.

  Oh. She had waited too long and missed it.

  Fer nded crashed into the dirt of the approag Lemur artillery and stood up straight. It was twelve massive trucks, six wheels each, with arms on pistons that would extend into the ground. Rotating turrets on the back, with ons twice as long as Fer was tall, aood so tall she didn’t even have to e her o look into the driver’s that had a dder leading up to it. The first vehicle stopped, the driver looked at her, then rolled his window down. “Goddess Fer.” The driver said as Fer walked over to him.

  The Jungle squirmed and started to rip and tear at itself. Vines shot out of the ground, they pierced trees that uprooted themselves and fell. One colpsed, as did another, until they went like dominos. The green leaves, tinged with the crimson glow of sorcery as if they themselves were casting it, started to discolour themselves until they were shinihe three beasts cried out as the Jungle, filing in its madness, started to hit them as much as it hit itself. That, Fer didn’t feel bad about. There was needless suffering she could stop, and then there were things she could not. There was no reason to reminisce about the tter. “Are you going to shell them?” Fer asked.

  The driver looked to Fer, to the animals, then nodded. “That was the pn.” He sat there, in a green shirt tinged e with the red dust.

  “I’d rather it wasn’t.” Fer said. There was no need for intimidation or harsh tones or threats or appeals to authority. She was Fer. That was enough for men to listen to her. The man sighed, then looked to the other two men in the with him. One of them shrugged, the other didn’t look happy.

  “Don’t shell them?” The man asked. Fer nodded. “Then…” He sighed and colpsed into his seat. “The order to shell them came from Goddess Kassandora.” He quickly erupted into fast speech. “And si’s her, I’m not saying you don’t have authority but-“ Fer reached into the and patted the man’s shoulder.

  “Kassie, I’ll haer. Don’t worry.” She gave them a thumbs up and looked at the three suffering animals. “Thank you.”

  Helenna grit her teeth in frustration at the Goddess of Death. Once, she uood. Twice, maybe the woman was busy. Five times though, she was simply being ignored. Olephia hen. Helenna rang. This time, the call was simply denied. Olephia sent a text over, a simple face made out of characters: ‘ :| ’. Helenna stared down at it in fusion as tanks firing frht outside the building fired. The walls of the Imperial Governance tre shook. A text came through. “I don’t talk Helenna.”

  Oh. Helenna blinked. She quickly started typing out a text, but one from Olephia came through just before Helenna could send hers: ‘I have Alkom to deal with here. He es in several times a day to one of the cities and I get dropped off to send him away. I ’t leave here. Sorry Helenna, but it’s Kassie’s orders.’ Then aext came through even faster. The woman really did have fast fingers. ‘Unless you want something else, in that case, ask away.’ And to top it off, a little smiley face. ‘ :D ‘. Helenna wao cry as she looked at that smiley face.

  Was there no one who could help?

  Fer soared through the air a her phoart to buzz. Who was calling her now? Now? Of all times? About what exactly? She maintained her posture, angling herself so that she would go feet-first into a tree that was being driven mad and fighting its neighbours. Its leaves turning red and dying, some were starting to fall off. That was Anassa’s work alright. Fer smiled to herself as she put one arm forwards, her feet crashed into the bark, a spray of wooden chips exploded around the Goddess as her sheer bulk eviscerated the wood.

  Immediately, and the Juarted to scream and grab her. It wasn’t like the st time she had entered. It was unfocused, as if unaware Fer had once agaiered. And the screaming was directed seemingly in all dires, from all dires. A vine hurtled towards Fer’s ned she quickly jumped again. Fer nded on top of the Lion itself. It had soft fur, almost as soft as her golden locks.

  The Goddess saw the animal’s eyes watg her. They were sore. But they weren’t maddened anymore. Nothing like the gaze of the Caretaker. Fer put her hand on the Lion’s s rumble was as delicate as the buzzing of a bumblebee, and as a loud as an avanche crashing down. And the Goddess of Beasthood smiled, it truly was just an oversized animal. There were thin traces of sanity in that rumble, as if it was trying to form words. She was about to speak to it, when her phone buzzed again.

  Once was just a call. Twice was serious. It could be Kassie.

  It wasn’t Kassie.

  It was Helenna.