Not long after Isaa’s ship arrived at Vatiguth, a second ship also arrived. Zilliad had sensed that a force was manipulating the winds up the River Conbols to flow south, aiding this ship's progress. Now, Zillliad was anxiously pacing back and forth on the docks. Was it her father who controlled this ship? Zilliad wondered to herself. Would her father be fierce and strong like Isaa? Or gentle and kind like Sab?

The new ship docked parallel to Isaa’s, on the opposite side of the harbor and a group of humans ran out of Vatiguth’s Harbor Office. The Harbor Office acted as a doorway between Vatiguth and the docks and paintings of Isaa’s golden trident hung above the wooden doors on both the front and the back of the office.

The humans tied this second ship to the port and helped set up a bridge for the occupants to exit from. Isaa stood at the foot of the newly arrived ship’s bridge with his arms crossed over his chest with a stone-cold look on his face, his fisheyes unwavering. Zilliad observed that this ship was in rougher shape than Isaa's. The sails were ripped and there were several patched holes along its haul. This company of humans and deities didn’t have the convenience of using Sego’s powers to manipulate time and restore their damages.

A figure finally emerged from the second ship's cabin. It was one of the deities with fur as light as silver, separating him from the rest of the deities who had brown or black fur. This deity also had an extra set of wings that acted as ailerons when in flight. Zilliad knew right away that this was her father, Haboo.

Haboo held a short, wooden staff in his right hand. The wooden staff had a golden ring set at the top with three different colored metal hoops dangling from it. The metal hoops sang as Haboo made his way towards the hastily assembled bridge to the docks of Vatiguth's Harbor.

Mahon, deity of vegetation and farming, and Foal, deity of the hunt, followed Haboo out of their ship’s cabin. Mahon and Foal were created in the second trinity of deities, along with Noies, to be the life partners of the first trinity. Mahon and Foal detested the barbarity of Isaa, Sab and Haboo (the first trinity) and instead dedicated their lives to the plants and animals of Garsuna. Foal wielded two bows, one gold and one silver in each pair of her four arms while Mahon’s hair follicles had been replaced with plant’s roots that created long, flowing vines cascading down her back and over her wings.

Isaa began to storm up Haboo’s ship’s docking bridge, leaving Zilliad to wait on the docks with Sab, Sego and Cajo. Isaa met the other three deities where the bridge connected to the top deck of the ship.

“Apena has returned from Stellrend,” Isaa began filling his brother in, “and decimated nearly half our human troops. We did not find Garsuna or Ninecht as we had hoped. I fear we are in a worse position than before.”

“The plan to reclaim Isonia fared no better,” Haboo's face was grim as he walked down the bridge, “Tanpk and Atma are holed up behind the city's Enclosure Walls, crafting with incredible haste. Creatures never to have walked on Garsuna ooze from Isonia's gates.”

“Creatures whose weaknesses are not apparent to me,” Foal added.

“Splitting forces did not prove to make us any stronger, only weaker.” Isaa said, “I shall think twice before listening to that fool, Sego, again…”

“Do you have word from the others?” Haboo asked, cutting his brother off.

“Not a word."

“Whether they have completed their task, we will need to replenish our numbers,” Haboo stated. “When we were first ambushed outside of Isonia, I sent a woman who was with child down the River Conbols. I expect we will have another…” Haboo trailed off as he found the docks of Vatiguth and his eyes met Zilliad’s.

“Father…” Zilliad uttered softly before running to embrace him.

Zilliad wasn’t sure what had come over her. She had the strong urge to squeeze this deity and feel the warmth of his heart. Haboo did not share the same sentiment and was surprised by Zilliad’s behavior. Haboo awkwardly held out his arms at first, not reciprocating Zilliad’s embrace. The deity of the wind slowly brought his hands together and hugged his daughter.

“I named her Zilliad,” Isaa said with a slight grin on his face.

“Zilliad,” Haboo repeated, “you have your mother’s eyes.”

Zilliad retracted her arms and stepped back from Haboo. Zilliad stood in front of her father and realized that she didn’t think of what she would say to him once they finally met. She had been too anxious from just anticipating Haboo’s approach. A thousand questions began bombarding Zilliad’s brain.

“Did her mother survive?”

“I am sorry brother, but her wounds were too great,” Isaa replied, “and she lost most of her blood to the water.”

“Eflowin was a wonderful human,” Haboo said with a hint of remorse Zilliad wasn't accustomed to hearing in the deities' voices, “and she served her purposes in their entirety. With a half-breed born of the holy trinity on our side once again, we might still have a chance at winning this war.”

"The child of prophecy, nonetheless," Isaa added before receiving a quick glance from Haboo.

Zilliad’s excitement for meeting her father was mixed with the same hollow feelings Cajo gave her. Zilliad felt the deities looking at her like they looked at the humans, nothing more than a tool. No, lower than a tool, Zilliad was the child of a tool.

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“I am here to serve you, father,” Zilliad uttered through barred teeth while presenting a slight bow.

“Good.”

Zilliad forced a smile and then turned away from her father. The deities escorted their humans off of their ships, through Vatiguth’s Harbor Office and into the city of Vatiguth. Zilliad noted that most of Haboo’s humans were injured from their battle and Sego began treating them as they worked their way through the docks.

Vatiguth is a small city and one of the youngest cities on Glotpon. It was built at the mouth of the River Conbols in order to serve as a harbor city to the Enratic Sea. The city was composed of dozens of rows of wooden buildings that serve as homes for the human inhabitants. With the now eighty humans that entered Vatiguth from the docks, the city had a population of over three hundred. Isaa and Haboo’s human soldiers disappeared into the hastily made buildings, eager to find a stationary place to rest. Zilliad and the others followed Isaa and Haboo to a large stone castle that overlooked the wooden shacks of Vatiguth.

The castle belonged to Guth, deity of trade, travel, and messages. Vatiguth only recently became a human city when the deities needed a way to transport their human soldiers to the other continents around Glotpon. Zilliad joined the deities at a large, circular, wooden table found on the ground floor of the castle for dinner. The stone walls of the castle made Zilliad’s bones cold, and the stillness of the air made her feel sick. Zilliad sat between Haboo and Sab while the deities were discussing the state of the war.

“I believe we may be better off than we think. The Makers probably find themselves in the same position we do,” Cajo said. “They must forge new creatures as we must forge new humans.”

“At least we will have even footing then,” Zilliad turned her head to look at her uncle, Sab, “life created is never as tenacious as life that is born and nurtured by survival.”

“That is why we need to maintain our human populations in Lamia so that they can breed,” Isaa commented, “with Noies there, we can double their productivity.”

“But a life born into crisis is much stronger than a life born into peace,” Sego added.

Isaa shot the deity of time a nasty glare.

“That luxury is not available to us,” Mahon uttered quickly, noticing the tension. “We do not have the time it takes for a human to properly grow.”

Isaa nodded his head, “with Tete’s luck, we have one day before the Makers realize our position and act to remove us from Glotpon again.”

“They will come from Isonia to the north. Their beasts are terrestrial and therefore cannot use the power of the River Conbols to aid them,” Sab looked deeply into the glowing eye of his bulwark as he spoke.

“There are only the two Makers, Tanpk and Atma, in Isonia?” Isaa asked, looking to Haboo.

“Aye."

“The Maker of Thought and the Maker of Control,” Cajo whispered with a shutter. “A terrifying duo.”

“We cannot rule out that Apena won’t join in as well,” Sego started, “the hourglass tells me…”

Isaa slammed one of his fists down onto the table and the wood splintered and collapsed under the deity's might.

“We aren’t following your premonitions any further,” Isaa growled. “Mahon and Foal, you two will forge as many humans as you can. Sab, fortify the city’s defenses. Haboo and Zilliad, keep watch on the sky. If anything so much as passes wind, I will hear of it. Cajo, you will join me in preparing the humans. And Sego… just don’t fuck anything else up.”

Sego looked down towards his feet, “that will be a decision you regret,” he whispered.

There was a long silence as the deities exchanged weary glances and finished their dinner. As Zilliad understood, Isaa had assumed the leader of the deities and the others feared defying him. Isaa and Sego together plotted the initial assault, slaughtering Natala, Maker of Reproduction, to ensure the Makers could not effectively breed their creatures in the war that would follow. Zilliad could tell that since then, Isaa and Sego’s relationship has deteriorated significantly.

“You all start tomorrow,” Isaa finished, speaking with a mouth full of food.

The deities retired to separate rooms within Guth’s castle. Zilliad slept in a room on the third floor, between Mahon and Foal’s rooms. In Zilliad’s room there wasn’t a bed, only a cushioned chair set by a desk. On the desk, there was a map. Zilliad sat on the cushioned seat and tried to find a comfortable position. Regardless of how she sat, Zilliad’s wings kept getting squished by the back of the chair. Zilliad poured over the map to ease her irritation and hopefully tire her mind. The map was a topographical display of Glotpon, "the fertile continent" of Garsuna placed in between the continents of Stellrend to the north and Lamia to the south. Glotpon is where the deities were first created, in the "Forge of Life," more commonly referred to as Mount Hetes.

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When Zilliad awoke she promptly began searching the castle for her father, Haboo. There was a slight rumbling that reverberated throughout the stone walls. Zilliad soon discovered that she was the only one still in the castle, having slept in later than all of the deities. Zilliad quickly vacated Guth’s castle to find Vatiguth in a bustle.

On one side of Vatiguth, newly forged humans stood naked and steaming. The naked humans were coming out of one of the wooden shelters where Mahon and Foal were hard at work. The fresh humans were waiting in a line that went to the middle of Vatiguth where Cajo and Isaa fitted them with armor and weapons. Isaa then directed the humans to Sego who drilled them on how to use their bodies for combat. The humans that didn’t have to be created were building more wooden shelters to house their new comrades. Sab was using his bulwark to construct a perimeter of light brown, granite walls around the city, explaining the culprit behind the rumbling within the castle.

As instructed by Isaa, Zilliad immediately joined her father in the sky. They spent the entire day scanning the movements of the winds, anticipating an oncoming attack that never came. It was exhausting. Zilliad wasn’t sure if it was due to the circumstances, but Haboo kept very lonely company. When Zilliad made attempts to talk with her father, he would only nod or shake his head. Nonetheless, Zilliad enjoyed being near the deity of the wind.

When the first sun set and as the second sun neared the horizon, Zilliad and the deities returned to Guth’s castle. Mahon and Foal announced that they successfully restored their human forces to suitable numbers. Cajo and Isaa declared that they were low on armor, making some of the humans less protected than the others. Sab assured everyone that the fortifications around Vatiguth were secure while Haboo and Zilliad had nothing to report. After another night of prolonged deliberation, Zilliad and the deities retired to their separate rooms.

Zilliad was stirred in the middle of the night by the same rumbling reverberations she heard the previous morning, from within the castle's walls. Slightly annoyed, Zilliad shifted in her cushioned chair, assuming the commotion to be Sab constructing more walls. Zilliad immediately realized that it was not Sab when the rumbling was accompanied by loud explosions, followed by the screams of humans.