The foundation of Lieze’s thesis only continued to strengthen as she devoured the corpus of Tonberg’s most reputable scholars. From the moment humans were able to put words to stone, fables of the world’s greatest heroes had been recorded for future generations to recount, and between the lines of their poems and hymns were copied tidings of the times, from prosperous to destitute.
A few of the most esoteric texts even referred to something that sounded awfully similar to Lieze’s scale - an artefact grafted to the palm of those destined to influence the world’s trajectory. As she had suspected, whichever God those heroes professed to worship played a part in shaping that trajectory, spreading their influence across the world to the glee or horror of its inhabitants.
“I was chosen by the Gildwyrm…” She muttered, “Does that mean I’ll inadvertently be welcoming another golden age of worship into the world once I discover and defeat every other Scion?”
-But she was a pawn of the Gildwyrm no longer, for in the valley between life and death, she had been offered a second chance by the Blackbriar’s grace - an offer of stubborn life in exchange for replacing her diverse repertoire of [Heavenly Favours] with those of a significantly more cruel disposition.
She was being used. Manipulated by greater powers in a gambit for unconditional control over the world. The doubts she’d harboured about the freedom of her powers as a Scion were well-founded. Victory over the world and its nations would not be enough to guarantee the future she sought. Immortality in the afterlife was pointless if the Gods were truly as fickle as she was led to believe.
“If there’s no world left to rule, why would the Gods settle for a victor like me?” Lieze wondered, “Without humans, Dwarves, or Elves to exert their influence over, their status as true ‘Gods’ would come into question. The only exception to that is the Blackbriar, which desires the extinction of all life.”
Her mind became conflicted. She tripped over her own thoughts on the path to a rational conclusion. What was her goal besides total extinction? As the likelihood of her victory increased, she was led to that topic more often than she was comfortable with. How much of her own philosophy was tangled in the web of her upbringing? Her devotion to the Blackbriar?
Was everyone her enemy? Not only the living, but the Gods as well? Her subordinates? Marché? Roland? Lüngen? Drayya? For well over two decades, she had obeyed the ideals of the Order without hesitation. Even now, having planted herself squarely at the tip of its hierarchy, she was still seeking the end of the world without stopping to question her own beliefs.
But if not the Order, then what did she believe in?
“What am I doing…?” She sighed, “I can’t entertain the thought of stopping now. I’ve come too far to start questioning my own goals.”
The sanctuary of death. That was her only desire. She wouldn’t stop until the last flames of life had been snuffed out from the world. She wouldn’t - she couldn’t - deny herself that future. The crucible of life would disintegrate by her hands, and whatever faraway whims of the Gods came crashing down to oppose her victory would be vanquished all the same.
“It’s time to start taking this seriously.” She resolved, “I’m wasting my time with all this studying when there’s real work to be done.”
Focusing her mind, Lieze felt her body being pulled across the phantasmal void between realities back to the dust-choked confines of her study. She grabbed Lüngen’s exhaustive notes on the particulars of Dwarven culture and military theory before storming out of her room.
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When brought together as one, the Order’s army was a splendid sight to behold. With the addition of Skeletal Necromancers, thousands of Gravewalkers had been pulled from the neighbouring cities to form an ocean of undead that could rival any nation. Observing the horde from atop the city walls, Lieze had a hard time comprehending the fact that she was the one responsible for amassing such a force.
“We haven’t even come close to emptying Saptra, Bascoroch, or Dolore yet.” Drayya wore a prideful smile as she spoke, “It’ll take weeks for us to get close. The army could very well triple or quadruple in size by that time.”
“A ‘large’ army is not necessarily a useful army.” Lieze replied, “As cohesion decreases, it will become difficult for us to quantify losses or ascertain weaknesses in formations. It’s best to remain sustainable while keeping the rest of our potential thralls in reserve.”
“I take it from all this military jargon that you’re beginning to form a plan?”
“How much do you know about the Dwarves, Drayya?” Lieze asked.
“Uh…” She paused, “...They’re small.”
Lieze sighed, “You’d be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t know that.”
“They hate dragons. And they live inside mountains.”
“What about their military strength?”
“They rely on machines to do their work for them.” Drayya nodded as if she’d given the perfect answer.
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“You would think that, but take a look at this.” Careful of the wind, Lieze revealed a few of the diagrams and notations Lüngen had created, “It’s no exaggeration to say they’re fans of siege engines and the like, but the Dwarves themselves are impeccable warriors known for their strength and resilience.”
“Hoh…” Drayya’s eyes glimmered with interest as she examined the pages, “Lüngen’s a good artist. He should become a painter or something.”
“Try to focus, Drayya.”
“Sorry…” She flashed an embarrassed smile, “So what if they’re talented fighters? We’ll just send a few Briarknights into the fray.”
“Up until now, our only concern has been the Church.” Lieze explained, “Tonberg’s guards were troublesome, but not the best warriors by any stretch of the imagination. We’ve always been able to rely on the strategy of overcoming them with sheer numbers, but an organised group of Dwarves will prove difficult to break through using the same strategy.”
“-And we’ve got the machines to worry about.” Drayya slipped a paper out from the sheaf to have a look at just one of the Dwarves’ many contraptions, “If Lüngen’s got this right, those ballistae are effective at ranges of up to 2km with the right view. We’ll have holes poked into our army a full hour before we can even get close to the border.”
Lieze cracked a sly smirk and pushed her finger against the paper, “Who said we were going anywhere near the border?”
Drayya stared at her with widened eyes. She had to count the weeks in her head leading down to the last time anything resembling a smile appeared on Lieze’s face. It was an expression she was loath to share in anything but the most elating of circumstances, but in that single moment, she wielded it with all the freedom of an innocent child.
“...What’s wrong?” Lieze asked.
“Uh- no… nothing.” She redirected her gaze to the diagrams, “What’s this about the border?”
“It covers the whole length of the continent.” Lieze continued, drawing a line with her finger along the thick scribble cracking across a crude map of the land, “Some areas are less fortified than others, but there’s at least some inkling of Dwarves the whole way across. That is to say, we’ll inevitably be spotted no matter which direction we approach from.”
“Yeees…?” Drayya tilted her head, “What are you getting at? There’s no way across without getting into a scrap.”
“Across land?” Her voice rose to a chirp, “Absolutely. But across sea?”
Her finger came out of the diagram entirely, circling around the yellowed paper as if to indicate the unexplored oceans beyond. In contrast to the grandiosity of the ocean, the wall was a mere decoration.
But Drayya was still confused, and it was evident on her face that an explanation was required.
“What are you suggesting?” She asked, more than a little puzzled, “That we lead our thralls into the ocean and march them through the kelp forests and coral reefs until we emerge, covered in seafoam like mermaids, onto the shores of the Dwarven Mountains?”
Lieze smiled again.
“Beautiful.” Drayya thought. She was a very pretty girl without all of the scabbed Godflesh tarnishing her image. The word came deadly close to sneaking out of her lips before Lieze spoke up to interrupt her.
“What if I am?” She asked.
Drayya’s clouded mind cleared in an instant. She shook her head like a dog out in the rain. “...Lieze, we’re human beings. I don’t know what kind of ridiculous things you’ve been reading in that study of yours, but historically, humans have always been very poor at breathing underwater.”
“You may be right-”
“-No, I am right.”
“-But, thralls aren’t saddled with the responsibility of breathing. They couldn’t care less if their lungs were filled with seawater.” Lieze continued, “All we have to do is secure some method of slow and sensible ocean travel, then we would lead along every Gravewalker and Rot Behemoth while they traverse the ocean floor.”
Drayya sighed, “-And what if there’s a typhoon? A storm?”
“What if it rains tomorrow?” Lieze shrugged her shoulders, “Your shoes might get wet, but that doesn’t stop you from working, does it?”
“That’s really not…” She covered her face with both hands, dragged her eyelids down, and brought her palms together in a matter-of-fact fashion, “Where are we getting a boat?”
“Dolore.” Lieze answered, “It has the largest port this end of the continent, and I’ve heard many testimonials from the cultists and Skeletal Necromancers that a few seaworthy vessels are still moored there.”
“And you can captain a ship, can you?” Drayya folded her arms.
“How hard could it possibly be?” She wondered, “You put the sails down, then it goes.”
“I respect the confidence, unfounded as it might be.” Drayya drove her index finger into the diagram of the walls, “-But do you really think it will be worth the trouble? Just to avoid a single battle?”
“One battle less would be the very least of our rewards.” Lieze continued, “Not only would we be skipping the border entirely, but we’d be avoiding detection the whole way. The Dwarven Mountains will be anticipating an attack on the border. Once a report of the battle is received, the Dwarves will have weeks to fortify their defence and scout out our forces. You wouldn’t argue with me if I suggested that a sneak attack would be better than a head-on assault, would you?”
“Okay… alright.” Drayya couldn’t help but smile as she held both hands up in surrender, “You don’t need to launch into a tirade. I understand what you’re getting at.”
Lieze dropped Lüngen’s report into her Bag of Holding, “So you agree with me that it’s the best possible plan?”
“Reluctantly. Unless something better turns up.”
“Let’s get a move on, then.” She wandered towards the archway of a nearby tower.
“...What? Now?” Drayya asked.
“Do you think I went through the trouble of moving every thrall in the city outside just for fun?” She replied, “We’re still waiting on that report from Marché and Roland, so we may as well get ourselves organised in the meantime.”
She was acting more proactive than usual. More animated. Drayya could hear half-hidden notes of excitement buried in her forever-monotone voice. A warmth built up in Drayya’s cheeks as she considered the possibility that her presence might have had something to do with it.
She breathed in, “Alright… don’t hurt yourself on the way down.”