The Dwarven Underkingdoms were never conquered, but they were effectively removed from the Great War during it’s eighty-second year. Paraidesus thought up of the project, although they were always more advanced with this sort of power than we were.

The Underkingdoms were fuelled by the eternal World-Core. Obviously, the destruction of it would spell the end of Arda, but sealing it off? The project took ten years, its stagnant energies were laid to rest. The Suns under the surface burned out. The Dwarves no longer posed issue.

- Excerpt from “The Great War.” Written by the White Pantheon. Kept within the White Pantheon’s Closed Library.

Kavaa stood next to Iliyal as they watched the five Goddesses practice. Olonia had a simple task, Iliyal taken a log and nicked it with his blade. Olonia was swinging at a small log that hung off tied to the branch, she was to split the entire log without missing that nick once. A single blow that even scraped the bark off, and the log was replaced with another. Already there were a dozen logs by the tree, but Iliyal said it was good practice for slashing at weak points in armour.

Kavaa supposed it was, although she had survived through the final century of worldbreaking. That had been an age where such practice was frowned upon. Why train and expend energy when at any moment, the sky could open up?

Saksma, fully armoured in grey steel plate, had the simplest exercise. She merely had to stand, her arm outstretched, and holding that greatsword of hers pointed forwards. Iliyal had told her if she could manage that posture for an hour, she could take it into battle. Saksma could only hold it for twenty minutes so far, although her initial attempts, she could barely manage five.

Kavaa had little to say about such muscle building exercises. It was Kassandora’s thinking through and through, not to train specific swings or feints, but instead to build up a foundation of strength and endurance that Saksma would use to forge her own style of combat in battle.

Aliana, also in armour, was tasked with running and shooting targets. The Clerics were assisting her, throwing small pieces of prepared firewood into the air or sliding it across the ground. Iliyal said that an archer had only two skills necessary to be qualified: a good aim and the ability to run. If he wanted to have snipers, then Aliana could be replaced by elven sharpshooters.

Kavaa could not argue with that. Aliana had absolutely not a shred of talent with the sword, seven hundred years she’s been around and woman had held a blade more times in the past month than in the past seven century preceding that. Could she be trained? Possibly, but she was no Atis. And they weren’t here to turn these girls into champions, nothing but battle could do that anyway. They were here to make sure they were good enough to make it through a battle in the first place.

Agrita was fighting with a small bird. Fer had called it, some special species that was native to Erdely. Agrita to catch the bird with her spear as it annoying pecked her. She had been given unwieldy plate armour, then chain mail, then the remains of Olonia’s first set of scale mail. Every time she made a movement, the sound could only be compared to the cacophony of a nursery for small children, each armed with bells. From the expression, Agrita was furious too at the bird’s evasive. It flashed around her like a mosquito and gave her another peck, on the back of the hand this time.

Iliyal said the exercise was needed for spear users, and that they used Neneria’s ghosts for this training in the past. She would never get the bird with that fruitless mad stabbing, she would to rest, calm down, and sneak in a blow. That was how spears should fight. Frankly, Kavaa agreed with the elf. Agrita didn’t need defensive training anyway, she had come in here knowing how to parry and spears naturally kept opponents at a distance.

And finally there was Paida. The one Kavaa had grown to most appreciate here. A woman much like herself, although far more pleasant in character, Kavaa did have to admit. She was humble, she was smart, she fought without show, in plate and with sword and shield. She didn’t bother with extravagant moves. Frankly, she could do well. Kavaa nodded at she looked at Paida do the same exercise as Olonia, but with one arm held down by a shield. Very much like Kavaa herself.

“What do you think of them?” Kavaa asked Iliyal, she didn’t turn to look at him, but he stood by her side, arms crossed and watching the Goddesses train as Clerics further on were sat around and played card games.

“Not good, not terrible.” Iliyal said and shrugged. “I was going to ask you the same thing.”

“Me?”

“I don’t know if I can measure Divines.” Iliyal said flatly. Maybe someone else would be sheepish in their admission, but not Iliyal. He simply said it because it was true.

“What do I know about Divines fighting?” Kavaa said and Iliyal chuckled.

“Considering you spent a millennia with the Pantheon, I assumed a good amount.”

Kavaa didn’t shake her head, didn’t move. She simply replied just as Iliyal did. They were both here for a job, so the job had to be done. “None of them are comparable to the forces and abstracts. I’m not a good measure either.”

“No.” Iliyal said flatly, although there was something else in that tone. Something that almost sounded like respect, or maybe excitement? “Most Divines on Arda right now didn’t survive the Great War.”

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“They didn’t.” Kavaa agreed. “So you shouldn’t measure them against me.” Even now, Kavaa could still take them on five on one. The fights weren’t clean anymore, Kavaa did have to use underhanded tricks she herself had developed, but she was still coming out on top.

“So neither of us are good for assessments then.” Iliyal said, lighter this time. “Or maybe we’re simply too good?”

“If you didn’t kill Atis, I would tell you to stop boasting.” Kavaa said. She was still in disbelief at that. She knew it happened, everyone, even Fer herself confirmed that it was Iliyal who had killed him. But she still couldn’t believe it. It made no sense, Atis had been merely a non-ideological force, but he could best Maisara or Fortia in a duel. And Iliyal had somehow gotten the jump on him.

“Growing soft does that to you.” Iliyal said. “I didn’t have the luxury of living on Olympiada for a thousand years. If Allasaria wasn’t there, then Maisara and Fortia would have become dull too.”

“Mmh.” Kavaa said. She no longer cared about the elf’s silences. She had simply grown to realise that he wasn’t a speaker. There was no reason to prod him with questions, and he didn’t prod her either. What secrets both of them had, they both let the other keep.

“When you fight.” Iliyal spoke up. “You tend to overfocus on your right side.” Kavaa blinked and turned to look down on him. He was stood there, his head only managing to maintain height with her bosom, as if he was merely commenting on the green grass and woods around them.

“Excuse me?” Kavaa said.

“You overfocus on your right. I only noticed it recently but you do, six out of ten times, with three opponents around you, you go to the right.” Kavaa blinked. He really was impressive. If he was a Divine, he would definitely be some battle entity.

“And should I change it?” She asked as she readopted the original stance. Hands behind her back, simply watching the five in front of them.

“Up to you.” Iliyal said. “It’s not something I care about, and when you see openings on your left, you go for them. It’s just…” He trailed off. “It’s just odd.”

“So it’s not a problem?”

“If I notice it, I assume Maisara and Fortia notice it too. Don’t overthink it, but just know.”

“Ah.” Kavaa said. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” Iliyal said. “When you fight Fer, you should stay lower to the ground. Same with Fortia and Maisara. They’re all so tall that…” He swung his arm before himself and circled it, palm grasping at the breezeless air. “Well you see, I only have a few feet between me and the ground. Fer has to bend down to hit you below your chest.”

Kavaa blinked as memories played in her mind of training. Here with Fer now. Of the Great War. Of watching Maisara and Fortia duel. It was so simple, so true… and yet she had never noticed it. Not once. “I honestly…” Kavaa said. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me for this, it’s a triviality.” Iliyal said. “I have no flaws to point out in your combat style. The most I can give you issue with is these minor things.”

“I’m impressed you can point anything out.” Kavaa said. She didn’t consider herself a perfect warrior, and the lack of powers harmed her in hierarchy but when the men said that, some dam of doubt gave way within her heart. She looked back through her memories again, when she had duelled Divines that were, or should have been, equivalent to them. And she blinked in shock again. After the Great War, had there ever been anyone outside of the direct Pantheon Divines that had given her trouble?

“I was trained first hand by Goddess Kassandora.” Iliyal said. “It’d be shameful if I had no words.”

“Thanks anyway.” Kavaa said.

“No problem.” Iliyal replied.

And so they stood in silence. Olonia cursed as she missed the cut on the log and hit the bark. She angrily untied it, kicked it, and sent it flying into the air and the forests around them. Agrita cursed to herself too, as the bird so audaciously landed on her shoulder and pecked her cheek. Saksma groaned, her arm dropped and she gave it a spin. Twenty three minutes that time. She wiped the sweat off her forehead and swapped arms. Aliana ran out of arrows and went to collect them. Paida still made careful swings at her own log.

And Iliyal spoke again. “I have something to say, on my own authority.”

“Oh?” Kavaa said.

“Come with me” Iliyal turned his back to the Goddesses and walked to the other edge of the meadow. Far past the tents, far past the clerics. Still within sight of the Goddesses, but definitely not within earshot. Iliyal pointed at the trees. “Look that way.”

Kavaa turned her back to the Divines who were training. “Did you see something?”

“No.” Iliyal said. “I just don’t know if they can lip-read.” Kavaa allowed herself a smile. This was the sort of caution that revealed whether a man had fought against Leona or not.

“So what?”

“When we came here, it wasn’t to train Goddesses.” Iliyal said. “Well that’s part of the task at hand, but there is something else too.”

“What is that?”

“Fer is searching for Dwarf holds that are still accessible and unsecured.”

“Ah.” Kavaa replied. That explained the region too, Erdely was secret, but if they wanted pure secrecy, then any of the Allian islands could do. Those would have been easier no doubt too, without risking a landing of troops in the forest either. But the mountains to Erdely’s east, they were one of the most fortified locations in the world. The south even more so.

“If you any, that would help out.”

“Military organization was Allasaria’s domain exclusively. Only Fortia and Maisara may know, but that’s because they…” Kavaa trailed off. Because they had serious battle orders, and not Clerics. That’s why they knew.

“Don’t worry about it then.” Iliyal said. “Fer knows where they are, she’s just scouting them out, there’s enough that I doubt all of them are found. That’s not why I’m asking anyway.”

“What are you asking for?”

“Fer and I will go in.” Iliyal said. “I know you were taken as a healer into the Jungle back then, but now, you’d be part of the frontline, I’m the handicap.” He said it with the same voice he would use to comment on the bark on the tree in front of him. Kavaa couldn’t help herself.

“And you need a healer?” She asked.

“A healer would is never bad.” Iliyal said. “But no.”

“So why then?”

“Because you’re one of us now, you’re part of the war council. So you deserve to know. We want to enter to see what lies in there, whether any dwarves are alive, and if they are, why they have not come out.”

“We did send troops to explore the tunnels.”

“You don’t know them.”

“And you do?” Kavaa asked.

“That’s why Fer is taking me.” Iliyal answered. “Because half of them were built during the war, they were our logistics links.”

“Ah.” Kavaa said. “I see.”

“You don’t have to make a decision now.” Iliyal said. “I don’t know if it will be dangerous or just a waste of time. But when Fer finds one, I’m going immediately.”

“I’ll think on it.” The tunnels… Men who entered didn’t return. Kavaa took a breath as Iliyal turned around and left her standing there. And it wasn’t just during the Great War.

There was a reason every major underground highway had been sealed off.