With everything said and done, there is absolutely nothing I can say positive about this Kirinyaan conflict. The White Pantheon has already been humbled after sending more than two hundred thousand soldiers into Arika. Then with the overhaul of Arcadia after the attack seven months ago, it all begs one simple question. If Kassandora is so weak, if Fer is so trivial, if Anassa cannot compare to Elassa, if Fortia can singlehandedly defeat Arascus in combat, if Olephia is the only who is worth any headache, why go through all this? It simply does not add up, if Arascus is so powerless and weak, why go to such an effort? If he is such a threat, why treat him as a joke?
- Excerpt from a modern geopolitical analyst on the Invasion of Kirinyaa, broadcast by Everything In Epa.
How Kassandora managed to predict the increase of Fortia’s and Maisara’s armies on the eastern front, Zalewski did not know. How she managed to calculate almost to the exact day when reinforcements would start arriving, Zalewski did not know. How she managed to keep up with the pressure of Elassa’s attack, Zalewski did not know. He would have crumbled under that terrible pressure already, but Kassandora did not, and if she did not, he would not. It was as simple as that.
Zalewski on a small foldable steel stool, under a camouflaged net in a small dugout near the base of some hill. On the maps, it was labelled as Hill 23, but that was as unique as the hill got, a mere mound in the Jungle. Kassandora had said that relying on direct vision from hilltops was the mark of an amateur, that professionals would see no difference between being underground and in a plane if presented with a map. So Zalewski made sure to stare at his maps until his eyes hurt, and then he stared some more. Maybe it was the fact that Kassandora had no flashy powers, or maybe she did and merely did not show them off. There was none of Fer’s lightning fast speed and terrible strength, no Anassa’s crimson drawings brought from imagination into existence, nor was she Olephia.
Zalewski silently seethed that it was Ekkerson who had ended up with the Goddess of Chaos on his front, and not him. He had witnessed that woman destroy the Caretaker, and now could only dream of how easy the war would be if she was here. Frankly, the situation was dire on the Eastern Front. Reinforcements were coming, but it was simply divisions freshly raised by Arascus, equipped with rifles and supported by artillery companies, but that was it. The KAL had no planes to spare with Elassa’s thrust, and the sorcerers were needed on Sokolowski’s front more than they were needed on Zalewski’s.
And so, Zalewski ended up with the largest army of the three fronts, yet arguably the weakest one. The only Divine support he had was Anassa… And that was Anassa. Every single damn time he called a Code-One-Red alert, he ended up receiving another verbal lashing from the Goddess of Sorcery about how she is not some janitor to call and clean up a dozen mages. Worse still was the fact she came and went however and whenever she went, at least Fer would always turn up and announce her presence. He turned and looked behind himself, it was just mud and two soldiers working the radio, another man was stood watching the skies, his rifle slung over his arm and a pair of binoculars hanging around his neck. It was just humans in the trench, thank the Divines for that, thinking about Anassa simply made Zalewski paranoid.
Zalewski walked around the table as he looked at the collection of counters on the map of the local region. Divisions Eighteen was holding the edge of the Central Mountain, Fifteen was next to it, then Division Sixteen. Seventeen was missing, they had taken thirty percent casualties on top of another eight percent dead. Right now, they had been pulled back to the jungle to be healed by one of the Cleric support companies. Twenty through to Twenty Nine made a wall of guns and bodies along the rest of the Jungle. Thirty through to Thirty Six made a wall to the coast. Then Thirty Seven through to the Fortieth Infantry Division served as Zalewski’s skirmishing troops. And now, Arascus had sent him the Forty-First, Forty-Second and Forty-Third Infantry Divisions. He had well over a hundred thousand men under his command.
Looking at it like that, maybe someone else would have cracked. But Zalewski had been chosen by Kassandora. In the same way that Iliyal had that fanatical dash of madness within him, so did the man. It simply started to grow as he thought about his situation. Of everyone Kassandora had picked, it was him and Ekkerson and Sokolowski to be made into Generals. How could he disappoint her now?
“Send word to Three-Eight and Three-Nine. Have them move into sector nine.” One of the scouting companies had seen Maisara’s Paladins there. “Permission to fire on sight is granted. Twenty-Two is to pull south further into the jungle, Twenty-One and Twenty-Three are to fire on Twenty-Two’s current location once they’ve pulled out. Send orders.” Zalewski said and the radio operator got to work.
Twenty-Two was going to be attacked, Zalewski simply sensed it. Whether it was part of Kassandora’s blessing or his own intuition, he didn’t know but he would attack Division Twenty Two right now, the jungle pulled north there, and that location could be flanked from three sides. “Actually.” Zalewski held up his hand. “Twenty-Two is to pull to the edge of its sector, leave a rear guard in its current position, don’t disassemble the camp but take the ammunition away. Twenty-One and Twenty-Three are to prepare to shell the entire sector, from north to south. Send a sniper company to provide overwatch on the rear-guard, tell them to hold fire.”
The radio operator saluted and started to transmit the new orders. Zalewski could see it now, when the Paladins would descend on the camp, napalm would cut off their escape route and the amount of men he had to manage right now was getting too high. Apparently, Arascus had successfully managed to find enough volunteers to fill another twenty new Divisions. “Transmit to Division Twenty Two, tell the rear guard to retreat as soon as they see signs of opposition.”
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“Understood!” The radio operator called back and Zalewski leaned back. That was sorted. Now was the main issue of his forces, the jungle made an impenetrable wall, but it was that slice of plains that was dangerous. Already two defence lines had been breached. Anassa had been permanently assigned to that front, but with Alkom, Maisara and the difference in magic, the guns and artillery did little to counter that power.
He leaned back and sighed, he waited for the radio operator to finish. “Kassandora is in lockdown, right?”
“She is Sir.” The radio operator replied. “She said not to call unless it’s dire.” Zalewski looked down at the map again. It was bad, but it wasn’t dire.
“The line to N…” Zalewski trailed off. That was his old self coming through now, he couldn’t be asking men to confirm information now, he was supposed to be their leader. The leader was supposed to know everything at all times, and if he didn’t, then he should act as if though he did. The line to Nanbasa was secure, the engineers hadn’t dragged over a thousand miles of wire for no reason. “Call Arascus.” The radio operator looked at Zalewski, then at the phone. “I’m not going to repeat an order soldier.”
“At once sir.” The man dialled the military number. It was channel zero-zero-zero-zero. Kassandora was zero-zero-zero-one. And he held the phone for Zalewski. Arascus did not pick up. Zalewski would not call again. He simply stood and waited.
Fifty miles north of him, Division Twenty-Two pulled out of their camp. A rear guard was left, a few dozen healer clerics from the support company and a thousand men to cover the camp. They set up campfires, made lots of smoke and noise, and waited.
And as Zalewski had predicted, Division Twenty-Two’s camp came under attack. From three sides, with support from two minor Divines and several hundred mages. Trees burst from the ground, the soil split to form ravines. Clouds condensed into rain, which then formed into a hail of icicles that pierced and stabbed and tore men apart. The Paladins advanced as they always did, in a turtle formation, heavy shields overlapping against each other, reinforced by magical barrier to stop the fire of machine guns.
And a lieutenant phoned a captain, and the captain called a major, a major called the colonel, and the colonel called Zalewski. “They’ve come.”
“Two-Two, shell the camp. Two-One and Two-Three, cut off the retreat.”
“Understood General.”
Seventy-Two artillery pieces deployed dug their ploughs into jungle dirt. Pistons groaned and sighed as stabilizers pierced the dirt. Men input co-ordinates into computers, lines of loaders formed, from munitions trucks to guns. Barrels raised high into the air, men ran away and plugged their ears.
Kassandora’s mighty organs started to play.
One shell was easy to stop. Zalewski had learned that the hard way. Two shells, just as easy. A hundred were a slightly bit harder. Combined with burning napalm, it was possible to simply overpower mages. Mages were still men, and men got tired, no matter how much power they had. But that was a waste of shells.
“Send word to the sniper company, standard procedure.” Zalewski said as he stared at the map. He didn’t know how it happened, but he could see it. He saw men move on the map, he saw where his artillery was positioned, he saw the flames and he saw where Maisara had ordered her Paladins to surge forth. He heard the snipers open fire, each one a tiny pluck of a violin compared to the overpowering organ of the artillery.
But he saw the mages fall. He saw their heads pop. Maisara would adapt eventually, but she still hadn’t informed the mages to set up side barriers as they defended against artillery. One man in a blue robe fell. Another. A barrage of artillery shells fell, explosions flowing splashes of napalm and setting fire to the jungle trees around them.
And the shield cracked. Sand and water started to leak, the Paladins raised their shields. It was too late to run anyway. Another set of sniper rounds came in, another dozen mages fell, and with them, so did the shield.
The Lemurs let out another volley. And another. And a third. The first landed, men were thrown about. One of the minor Divines was set alight, another escaped into the air, a sniper got him in the stomach, he stopped for a moment. Another bullet ended his life when it pierced his head.
And the second volley landed. Whoever remained standing with the strength of Maisara’s blessing now fell. The third volley turned them into pieces, the flames devoured what was left. Zalewski took a heavy breath as he heard Kassandora’s orchestra come to a stop. The drums finished. He gave an order for the guns to stop firing.
What was that? Five thousand paladins? For a thousand men? He stared at the map and felt… there was nothing there. A thousand men had just been lost. And there was only satisfaction. Was it Kassandora’s blessing? Or was it just himself? Maybe Kassandora had sensed it within him? Zalewski pushed the question to the side. Frankly, it didn’t need an answer.
“Arascus is calling!” The radio operator suddenly shouted. Zalewski blinked and looked at the man. Now? The operator had already answered it. If it was from anyone else, Zalewski would have given the man a punishment, but it was Arascus. The man passed him the wired phone.
“General Zalewski speaking.” Zalewski said. Arascus replied immediately.
“I was busy, you called.” Zalewski held in the sigh that the God didn’t sound annoyed.
“Goddess Kassandora is currently under siege, she told me to not call unless the situation is dire.” Arascus chuckled through the phone.
“And is it dire?” He asked.
“Not yet. But the defences in the planes won’t hold.” Zalewski said. “We need either air support or sorcerers.” Zalewski took a sigh. “Or Fer to return, otherwise we’re going to be overwhelmed within a week, maybe two if luck favours us.”
“Luck doesn’t favour us.” Arascus replied immediately. “The KAL and Fer is busy with Elassa, the sorcerers need to be at Front-Centre.”
“I see.” Zalewski replied. “I will aim to hold for as long as possible, but ground will be lost.”
“Ground can be lost.” Arascus replied immediately. “And you’re getting something else instead.” Zalewski narrowed his eyes. He didn’t want to be rude but from what Iliyal had told him of Arascus, the man preferred talking straight.
“Is it secret?”
“It will arrive tomorrow. You’ll hold when they get there.”
“And may I ask what they are?” Arascus merely chuckled.
“First and Second Kirinyaan Armoured.”