Fortia’s Might & Magic Doctrine relies too heavily on ancient Champion-Doctrine. I was correct back then, as were many who now I call family, that Champion-Doctrine would eventually come to a close as the great heroes of the past died, defeated by battle’s swift close or by time’s creeping crawl.

I propose something new entirely. To relegate Divinity to the supporting role entirely, to have them serve as mere shock troopers and logisticians. Wars are fundamentally mortal affairs. Mortals should be the ones to wage them. This radical philosophy has served three decades in global warfare now, its success is undisputable. To have scored victories against Divine Leona, Of Luck is an already immeasurable achievement.

Thus I formalize it. A war philosophy that removes dependence on Divinity. Wars will not be fought through the unreliable variability of might and the whims of magicians. Wars will be fought through the consistency of steel, supported by sorcery.

Excerpt from Goddess Kassandora, Of War’s, Art of Victory: The Steel & Sorcery War Doctrine. Written during the Great War.

Kassandora watched Fortia’s spear disappear from the beaten sand of the desert. Kavaa turned back around to face the oncoming appear as Anassa hovered above. Black helicopters made swathes of sand as they turned, tilted and flew to either side of the camp, their pilots hearing Kassandora’s tune in their own heads. War’s bombastic orchestra that had gone silent for the instant Fortia threw her spear, and now returned with a rhythmic beat, great drums beat in the background to trumpets and trombones that played each of Kassandora’s plans.

Tunes changed, came and went as Kassandora thought of something and discarded it. Those attacks could be completed. Fortia and Maisara were both strong, but nothing beat Anassa’s delusions of speed that manifested into reality. Kassandora gave a silent command to Sokolowski, the order simply carrying itself through her blessing, the man turned on his heels immediately and ran off back to his command tent. Phone in hand, he checked up on the two neighbouring divisions that had been called when Waeh was still alive.

“Fifth infantry, we’ve covered a tenth of the way. Over.”

“Sixth infantry, setting off. Over.” Kassandora heard the words through Sokolowski’s ears. She saw his clean tent and watched through his eyes and he unfurled a topographic map of the terrain. Kassandora fed him what lines to draw as the man started working a red pen.

Three platoons of men burst from their defensive positions and ran to the front. The drums started to beat as Kassandora fed orders for artillery to start firing. That shield could be broken through Anassa, but it could be beaten and broken through sheer force. Throw enough toothpicks, and you will eventually get through the brick wall. One hundred and eight men sprinted across yellow sand under bright blue sky, ahead of them Fortia’s army took a step in the shadow of its shield, trails of napalm that had been extinguished made black smears across that picturesque sky.

Anassa blinked in position as Kassandora tracked the flight of her shells through watchers. Men raised their binoculars to peer at Fortia. The woman stopped as her troops started to circle around, the Goddess of Peace raised her spear like a javelin again, aimed straight at Kassandora. So it would be like this, only Anassa could parry a swing like that. If Anassa destroyed the shield, she would a half second to recover, Fortia’s spear would cover the distance in half that time.

Anassa re-appeared hovering back over Kassandora’s frontline. Kassandora saw Fortia’s golden eyes go to her, then to Kassandora. She smiled and changed the spear throw to a stretch and a yawn. Artillery shells impacted harmlessly against that risen layer of air and water and sand weaved into each other. And same as last time, the caught in bubbles of water. Deprived of oxygen, the napalm jelly went out and was thrown off.

This required a change of tactics. Engineers stood back as two dozen of the lemur artillery lowered their barrels, only a slight tilt downwards. The sand shook around them as their extended arms kept the guns from ripping apart the truck carriages. Tracked binturongs fired again, one slid as its arm snapped and a , the rest of the lemurs started firing in sequence. Their turrets carried the lessons of the binturongs, they could sustain the rate of fire.

Shells started exploding over Fortia’s shield every few seconds. One here, one there, another in the middle. Binturong shots whistled through the air and then engulfed the shield in flames. And another single shot from a lemur. And another. Like a man forced to stand under dripping water, eventually each drop would feel like an anvil dropped on the head. That was the plan at least, and Fortia’s magicians struggled to keep with the constant removals.

The lemurs that changed firing angle let out a volley of napalm shells. Then another. A third, a fourth. Kassandora held fire and let the guns cool down as the first volley landed in the sand in front of Fortia’s army. A flood of fire submerged the ocean of sand before Fortia. Black smoke drifted up and Kassandora changed positions. A few steps to the side. Just in case.

Anassa flicked into position above the army. Helicopters higher up to give Kassandora vision. The crewmembers couldn’t see as well as the ground troops, nor could they see through that murky barrier of elements the mages had conjured up. Kassandora tracked the latest volley from the Binturongs, counted the seconds down, and Anassa got the order.

Anassa clapped her hands, sorcery flashed around her. Crimson discs emerged around her, then expanded forwards as quickly as lightning. As if an artist had decided to flick red paint onto a moving canvas. They ploughed into the barrier. A hole opened. Another. A hundred. Two hundred. A second passed.

Anassa blinked back as Kassandora heard a sonic boom that signified the breaking of the sound barrier. The black barrier of smoke from the napalm of ground was cleared by a perfect circle. Anassa reached out her hands, then stopped as Kassandora informed her she had moved. It had merely been a gut feeling, but the sheer force of the wind almost knocked her over as Fortia’s spear pierced perfectly through the location she had stood. Several men in the trenches were knocked off their feet and shouted in panic as the wind threw them up. Kavaa’s Clerics got to the duties of healing.

Kassandora did not even turn, she moved again, a few steps in another direction as that hole in the barrier of black smoke cleared up. She watched through the eyes of the crew inside the helicopters as the mages tried to reform barriers. Not fast enough. The binturong volley made contact inside. Men were thrown in the air, bodies were broken, magician and gold-bronze guardian and silver-steel clad paladin perished in the explosions and the burning flames.

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And then, through the eyes of the crew, Kassandora saw the glint of gold. She heard another boom and her vision went dark. Kassandora watched one of the helicopters crumple up as if someone had caught it on a fishing line. It jerked awkwardly up and exploded. A beam of fire followed by rocks was shot at another of Kassandora’s flying eyes.

Anassa stopped this one. Her guitar roared through Kassandora’s orchestra again, out of tune and terrible, as two of her appeared and Kassandora closed her eyes. Seeing through the gazes of her troops was like naturally switching cameras, as if flicking through a screen. Seeing through the eyes of Anassa was looking through one that was two. She always felt sick whenever Anassa did that.

Anassa snapped her fingers, the fire was put out as if was never there. The rocks harmlessly dropped into the flames below and there was another sonic boom. Not the spear this time. Kassandora held her breath as she tracked Maisara through the air, heading straight to Anassa.

And this is why she had to link with her sister. A word would have been too slow, a thought wouldn’t cut it. Kassandora moved her body on instinct, simply twisted her chest. Anassa moved in the same way, Maisara’s axe slid through the air. It would have severed Anassa in two if Kassandora hadn’t been there to watch.

Maisara flew through the air in her dull armour, she stopped her spin through manoeuvring her axe and Kassandora sighed. That was a good move, Order’s Executioner would need to be assigned a Divine or else she would rampage unstopped through Kassandora’s ranks. She flew over the camp as Kassandora gave an order. “Anassa, break free, take care of her.” She only thought the words, but they appeared in the choir that played through War’s Orchestra.

“With pleasure.” And a second choir came in to answer. Anassa’s guitar faded away as the Goddess of Sorcery, in her red dress, gave chase to the line of silver.

Maisara extended her axe to control the spin. Her eyes scanned through Kassandora’s army beneath her. Fortia had just thrown her, it was a classic tactic. Kassandora should have predicted it, or maybe she simply had nothing up her sleeve.

Her ears caught the deafening booms of cannons and her eyes turned. That was the target. If those drums were silenced, then the army could ramp up the speed. They didn’t even have to be destroyed, Maisara would just need to slaughter the crews.

She tilted her axe up, caught the wind, changed direction immediately, and slammed through a truck with a cannon mounted on its back.

Anassa took a deep breath as she felt Kassandora’s will leave her. Without little Kassie’s music, the battlefield seemed almost quiet. The din of artillery in the distance, the lockstep march of boots nearing them, the burning flames. Kassandora’s army biding their time, waiting to be given permission to fire. It was almost… dull.

She took a step. Kassie complained about managing her, but Anassa knew that Kassie actually loved it. Or at least, Anassa thought she did. She appeared in the middle of the camp, close to where Sokolowski had parked his artillery. Sixty lemurs apparently, Anassa had seen them shoot now. Certainly more impressive than the cannons of the past, but how much stronger were they really? They couldn’t even break through a dismal shield like that.

And she saw Maisara in the middle of them, her armour charred and scratched by flames. She stood on the wreckage of one vehicle that had been perfectly severed in two. The massive barrel now lay harmlessly in the sand. “Oh Maisara!” Anassa cooed and took another step into the air. She enjoyed fighting, but she enjoyed trampling little insects far more. Discs and blades appeared around her.

Maisara could not fly. Maisara had no magic. Maisara only had her Divine Might within her. Maisara was like Fer. But Maisara was nothing like Fer, because Anassa loved Fer, and Anassa did not love Maisara. It was as simple as that.

Anassa snapped her fingers as Kassandora’s soldiers received their commands. No doubt little Kassie was paying attention, and no doubt squads would be assigned. Already the crews were arming themselves with pistol and rifle. Disembarking from their vehicles, Kassandora always said that the men needed to be trained, the guns could simply be re-built.

The drums in Kassandora’s orchestra stopped, and so did the shield above Fortia’s army. It moved to the front and they began to run. Very smart Fortia, very smart indeed. At this rate, it would only be a matter of minutes. No doubt Maisara had blessed them with her strength. Kassandora stood and waited as her troops rearranged themselves. Heavy guns were pulled back deeper into the camp, the front trenches were left with a mere skeleton crew, and men formed line over line instead of a single solid wall.

Anassa snapped her fingers. The ground around Maisara disappeared, replaced by a drawing of crimson spikes. Maisara jumped into the air, her axe shattered the sorcery. Anassa snapped her fingers again. A sword came down, thin and opaque and aimed for Maisara’s back. The Goddess of Order spun again, her axe hit a piece of the lemur and she let go of it, launching herself forwards and towards another vehicle.

Anassa snapped her fingers again. What an annoying little Goddess Maisara was. Delicious to an extent, prey that fought back were always more fun than prey which did not, but annoying none-the-less. A disc appeared by Anassa, another and another and they all launched forwards. Maisara’s axe rematerialized in her hands, she cut through another vehicle and dodged low to the ground.

Anassa snapped her fingers again. What a fast little bug indeed. Another Anassa appeared. A third. A fourth. A dozen. Maisara wanted to play? Let her play. Every incarnation of Anassa focused their sorceries onto the Goddess of Order, blade and beam and spike and claw and wave of red drawings crashed down upon her. Maisara turned and twisted and parried all of them. One scratch on that silver armour. Such an attack, and all Anassa had achieved was one scratch.

And Maisara swung her axe, let go of it, and sent it spinning towards one of the Anassas. The Goddess of Sorcery merely disappeared, blinked away as another Anassa tracked Maisara’s movements. Under a vehicle, then through it. Anassa saw the opening. Going for a kill would be difficult, much better to simply injure. Maisara took a step and Anassa waved her palm.

The ground where Maisara was about to step turned and twisted shot upwards as a sword of crimson shot from the sand. And somehow, beyond all belief, Maisara spun, her leg pulling up immediately as she pirouetted through the air. She actually had the gall to kick off the blade and into another vehicle. That huge executioner’s axe re-appeared in her hands and she slammed into the vehicle. Cutting it into two.

Anassa clicked her tongue. What a damn fly. She attacked and Maisara dodged. Maisara would throw her axe up, and Anassa would blink away, and so it went. For how long, Anassa lost track of as she focused everything on the Goddess of Order.

Maisara heard Fortia’s warhorn. Enough time had been bought. The charge began. Anassa could be defeated, but there was no point risking her life alone when she could do it easily with Fortia by her side.

Kassandora cooked in rage as she signalled Sokolowski. Half an hour on fifth division, forty minutes on sixth. She looked back at Fortia’s army as Anassa fought with Maisara in the rear of the camp. As they closed the distance, the shield ploughed through flame and pushed sand up. Mages lifted into the air, minor Divines took to the field. And the barrier shield, just before it slammed into Kassandora’s army, disappeared.

Anyone else would have hesitated. It was too fleeting a moment for words to even be said. But Kassandora’s army moved to the tune of her music and they opened fire immediately. A hail of lead cut through the ranks of Guardians and Paladins.

Kassandora pulled Joyeuse out of the sand and took to the field.