Neneria has ood for anything, Neneria has never chosen a side in any major flict before. It is not that she dismissed humanity, enough payment and she would allow for a final union with the dead. But whilst the payments were great, she rarely kept them for herself. I always saw them as Neneria’s test, to prove that a loved meant enough material possessions in order to warrant her involvement.

  I utterly despise that Of Death was recruited. My most minripe with it is that I did not think of this idea first, no one, me, nor Maisara nor Fortia nor Essa even sidered recruiting Neneria before she ted as another of Arascus’ Daughter Goddess. But more importantly than that, it is a defilement of a Goddess better than all of us. Neneria was the most ral for existence, a wanderer who was given a roof ah in whatever pce she visited. Arascus destroyed a certain purity in her, she embodied a trait of a Divinity: the overwhelmiy above, who favoured none and treated all equally.

  It is that which most offends me about Neneria joining Arascus. I could look at Divines such as her and see a better world. From before the Ages of Statehood, where Gods and Goddesses were not aligo national values but to humanity as a whole. Neneria and Olephia are two sides of the same in that regard. I hate Arascus for it, but when I look at Of Death and Of Chaos, I only feel a certaiful sadness: I should have beeo stop them from joining this great game.

  - Excerpt from “Death’s Apathetic Mistress”, written by Goddess Alsaria, of Light.

  Maisara stormed into the UNN’s are One, CC1 or just CC as people generally called it. The proper houses of gover and trol had all been washed away iidal wave brought on by Essa’s ti Crag. Eta was here, tall for a moddess, only scraping Essa’s height amongst the old stock. She reached up to Maisara’s shoulders, fair-skinned, with a hard fad brown-gold hair that reminded Maisara of gold hidden within the earth. The woman wore a pristine blue uniform with a tie as she helped the President of the UNN, Rudyard Koski, run…

  Well, it wasn’t the rebuilding of the try yet. It was simply averting greater disaster. The man sat in a rge bck chair, in just a week he had aged a decade, his skin was looking gaunt and pale. His hair had started to both grey and thin and apparently he had started to subsist entirely on a diet of cigarettes and coffee. Ciria was here too, dark-green uniform as if she was rolepying at being a soldier. Halkus was off, busy somewhere, at least he was being useful. What was Ciria even doing here? Standing and farting about? She had built this CC1 true, simply pulled it out of the ground, but she should be off building ports for dog rather than relying on White Pantheon help.

  In the huge dark room, the walls covered with ss and endless desks filled with puters, was an army of bureaucrats and anders and politis all running around. The UNN had been forced by Fortia to create a standing army and was scripting soldiers to serve in the rebuilding and up efforts. The threat of nuclear meltdowns had beeed, but still the actual reactor cores had to be ed up. Tasaidien in Anktyda had already raised issue with the amount of trash and garbage which had been washed into his o and someone o go build floodwalls around the ndfills that the water hadn’t started to retreat from yet.

  Why wasn’t Ciria doing that? Maisara didn’t bother raising the obje, the Goddess of Civilization hated the Pantheht now and she wouldn’t do anything unless Eta asked her to. The room went silent, everyouro look at Maisara as she strode in. “We have a problem.” Maisara’s voice was cold and anding, but it had always beely. “Look at this.” She threw a series of pictures taken by drones which had been searg froups on survivors on the mountainous coasts, but then had been redirected to where the twelve ASF-1 had been dowhe air-superiority-fighters Oheosius and Halkus had worked together to design. Halkus had focused on making sure they could be manufactured in mass, Theosius had beeo make sure they would actually be bat-worthy.

  So when twelve of them had disappeared, even if the mortals in the UNN had thought of it as mere misfortune, Maisara had redirected rescue efforts to make sure they found out why. Well, they knew why now. The drones had brought images, the same ohat Maisara had just thrown onto the round desk. Eta, Ciria and Rudyard all took the foremost photo as the rest of the UNN deakers scrambled to get a look at the others. “What are we looking at here?” Rudyard asked.

  “The twelve downed ASF1s. As I said before.” She made sure to cast a gre at Ciria, the little Goddess had thought this was some mere act. Acts happeo one pne, maybe two, not twelve at the same time. “We have Arascus’ daughters firmed. On those images are Anassa, in the red, Neneria, in the bd Fer, with the gold mane.”

  “Oh.” Eta said, her voice quivering.

  “Why are they here?” Rudyard asked.

  “Neneria is the Goddess of Death.” Maisara said coldly. “She has e to reap souls.”

  And the entire room fell silent. Rudyard aa exged looks and even Ciria’s expression had ged from that distrustful annoyao now a slightly more worried and pressing face of discertion. A few of the men gasped, several dropped the images they were holding. Blood drained from faces and the room went so silent a pin dropping may as well have been a drumming gong. It took her a few moments to realise, but Maisara eventually caught on that they were waiting for her to expin. “Neneria scripts those who don’t move into her Dead Legion, it’s a scription, it’s not a choice. She pulls souls into herself, her horde will grow by millions if she is not stopped.” Koski slumped into his chair further as Ciria straightened herself.

  Even wheried, her eyes could only level with Maisara’s chest. Of Order, in her damaged uniform from the work she was doing at the nuclear power pnts, with her cold grey hair and even crey eyes, stared of Civilization, all in blonde-gold, down. Maisara dared Ciria to ask a question, and Ciria did. “How do you know that?”

  Inexperience was ohing. y was another. Both could be excused. Yet y and inexperience when put in a position of power, as Ciria had done for herself, was worse than having a traitor in the midst. At least traitors would pretend to be petent. “Ask yourself what would Kassandora do in this situation? Would she let millions of souls go to waste? Or would she recruit them immediately?” It was obvious, even a quick chat with Kassandora would expose Of War’s ruthlessness. “Throughout the entire tury of the Great War, we predieneria only scripted about five to ten million souls.”

  “That’s quite a range.” Ciria said dryly.

  “Apologies for never having the ce to ask her.” Maisara answered. “Deaths in the UNN measure around sixty-million. White Pantheoimates say she recruit anywhere up to forty million at this point.”

  “What happens then?” Rudyard asked dryly. The man had seo ask about this at least.

  “If she breaches twenty million, then we decre her aential threat who poses a dao all Arda. If she breaches thirty million, then our predis say that even if all Arcadia came together, they would not be able to stop her army.”

  “And there is nothing that stop her if that happens?” Rudyard asked again.

  “With the quality of magi we have today, there is nothing.” Maisara said. She prided herself on not once having told a lie, and it was true. An archmage of Worldbreaking or a full battalion of mages from the Great War would be needed in order to even think about how to start draining Neneria’s reserves. The Arcadia of today would simply be rolled over.

  “There is actually nothing?” Eta looked so pale it was as if she was about to faint..

  Maisara sighed, she hated expining, but sometimes expining was necessary. “It is akin to o waves. A small wave be handled without any damage, then.” Maisara pressed her finger into the table and started dragging it away from her. “As it gets rger and rger, it bees harder to stop. If Neneria gets multiple tens of millions, we’re dealing with a wave of souls whose equivalent would be the same tsunami that just devastated the eastern third of your try.”

  And the room went silent once agaiook a deep breath, she looked to President Koski, the man looked up at her. The entire horde of bureaucrats around the table exged the same wordless expression, with sighing eyes and silent cheeks full nation. Only Ciria tried to issue any sort of terattaaisara’s words. “Is that the UNN’s problem?”

  Maisara turo the little Goddess. If they were in private, Ciria would not be alive by now. From what Fortia had told her about that oing the Goddess of Peace had with of Civilization, wheer made one final attempt to stop the Invasion of Kirinyaa, Ciria was a imist who should be ignored. Fortia had been wrong, Ciria was a imist, but Ciria had bee forceful in her y and optimism. That sort of mentality is exactly what lost wars. “Do you enjoy the freedom you have?” Maisara asked.

  Ciria did not respond, so Maisara asked again, harder this time. “Do you enjoy the freedom you have?” Ciria only looked down at her feet and leaned back from the table. Maisara turned her attention from one Goddess to the other. “Eta, what about you? Do you enjoy the freedom you have?”

  “I do.” Eta answered.

  “And you Rudyard?” Maisara asked.

  “Of course, this try was founded on freedom and the right to choose.”

  “Mmh.” Maisara said. “And do you think Arascus’ Empire will guarantee you that freedom? Or the White Pantheon’s reserved guidance.”

  “Look where that guida us.” Ciria muttered.

  “That guida us a millennium of Peace Ciria.” Maisara said. “We spent a millennium under Pantheon Peace, do you uand what sort of aplishment that is?” The Goddess of Order made her tone harder. “But you don’t, do you Ciria? Because you’re from this age, you don’t know what it was like before. And I’m not talking about the Great War here, I’m talking about before even then.” Maisara realised she was being watched by the whole crowd of people and took a step back to project her voice across all of them.

  “Do any of you know what it was like back then? When Divinity aligself to kingdoms? Whero Forces and Abstracts were mere meraries for hire? any of you imagine what those wars were like?” All she got was ashamed pairs of eyes staring back at her, Ciria’s included. “The success of the Pantheon is undeniable. We have hit a setback, that is true. No one will deny that the Pantheon is not in trouble. Yet pare the track record of the Pantheon and promises of Arascus. What does he give? Dreams of Empire? Hope of subordination? The freedom of scription into Kassandora’s Legions? He oalked of quering the stars. I wonder how high he would stack the mountain of bodies befiving up.”

  Maisara finished and looked around the room. The UNN did not o be pushed to support the Pantheon, but reminders every now and then were helpful. If for no gain then simply to make that they were kept ooes. Of Order looked around the room. “The situation is as this: Alsaria is heading to Arcadia to vihem to support the White Pantheon.” That was true, although it was only a half truth. Alsaria was going to recruit as many magis as possible to set up a new White Pantheon College of Magie that would not be reliant on the Essa. That Goddess simply could not be trusted anymore, so as many magis had to be stolen from her as possible.

  “Fortia is anizing a mass assault onto the three Goddesses.” Maisara tihat was true too, Maisara had given of Peaand over most of the Padins in the UNN. “I will go ahead and slow them down.” Of Order added. “Whether I go alone, in the same fashion that I ventured into your nuclear stations, or with support, is entirely your decision.”

  There. That was a good enough speech, short and to the point, just as Maisara usually gave them. She looked around at the room. Ciria slinked away, Eta looked to Rudyard. The President of the UNN sighed a heavy breath. A few of the bureaucrats turo him, gazes expet of affirmation on the faces. A few more, then a few main. Bit by bit, until the whole was looking at the man, waiting for an ahe man looked up at Eta, then down at the desk, then finally at Maisara. And he spoke.

  “Uhe powers bestowed upon me by the people of this great try.” He let the pause hang for a while. “I decre that the UNN will do everything it to stop Neneria, Goddess of Death.”