At the end of the day, it is not any specific invention that has broken the Divine stranglehold on rulership. There still exists no such thing that will make a mortal equal to a Divine. No weapon, no poison nor any magical spell can be employed against us and have a success rate even of one-in-ten-thousand. It is thought that has advanced, and it is thought and philosophy that has forced Divinity into a retreat. The worst part it, it was not even human thought. Generally, they are quite content to be guided into a stable future and uncaring of who is actually leading the way.
It was the ideas of Divines. Conceptualized by us, to fight against each other. Each one is another arrow in the mortal quiver against us.
Elassa, with her Magic, showed that even if one man cannot stand against Divinity, mortals can break Worlds just as Divines can.
Kassandora, with her War, rationalized strategies that, whilst difficult, work in theory. And even if the chance is less than one-in-ten-thousand, there is more than a million of them for every one of us.
Helenna, with her Love, awakened a beast greater than any dragon when she conceptualized the idea of love and loyalty to nation-states.
Malam, with her Hate, defeated the fear of Death and the instinct of self-preservation.
Anassa, with her Sorcery, proved that the strongest sorcerer can stand against the weakest Divine, and once one falls, why can others not fall?
Arascus, with his Pride, told mortals they can do better and tied it all together.
Excerpt from ‘Divine Rule’, written by Allasaria, Goddess of Light.
“You four and your teams are dismissed.” Kassandora stopped as she looked at Eliza, Fleur, Lyca and Edmonton. The four sorcerers that led the surviving sorcerers after Worldbreaking. Eighty Kassandora had brought, thirty-seven were still standing. “Raptor Two is yours, it will take back to CR, I’ve already called it in.”
“Understood Goddess!” Lyca half-shouted with Anassa’s variety of salute. A fist over the heart. His clothes were burned and he his arm was in a sling made out of his shirt, but Kassandora got the feeling from the boy that he was showing off his muscled chest too much. Eliza was next him. She had ripped the sleeves off her shirt and tied them around her head; Starfall had made her ears bleed.
“If…” Edmonton began weakly and then coughed up some blood, just like the other two, his black suit was charred in random spots, as if the man’s body had simply overheated during Starfall to burn holes in the cloth. “If…” He croaked again, unable to hold even that single syllable steady.
“Speak.” Kassandora said as she turned to him.
“If-If I may.” The man really did sound terrible, each word was another nail on the chalkboard. “How long in CR?” Kassandora stared at him in confusion for a moment. People usually thought spies asked this sort of question but she knew Edmonton wasn’t a spy. And spies typically tried to be more suave about it.
“Not planned, why?” Her soldiers, she would tell off, but the man had more than proved himself today. All of the sorcerers did, they had served as living catalysts for Elassa’s magic as she channelled her power. Kassandora’s soldiers wouldn’t have been able to do that.
“Healing.” Edmonton said and Kassandora shook her head.
“You’ll have time to heal. Clerics are in CR.” Edmonton smiled and sighed.
“Th-Thank you.” He croaked the words with all the grace of a frog. Fleur grabbed him, saluted to Kassandora and helped Edmonton down to the ashen ground. Kassandora let the other walk off as she turned back to Elassa. The Goddess of Magic was the only one among them who looked perfect and untouched, even Kassandora’s uniform was darkened, with the edges singed, simply from the amount of heat Elassa had expelled from herself.
And yet Elassa stood on that ash and yawned. And that was it. The woman had only gotten slightly tired. It almost made Kassandora jealous. Kassandora caught the thought and corrected it, it did make her jealous. Just as jealous as when she saw Olephia annihilate armies with a word, or when Fer blocked blades by merely grabbing them. If Kassandora had that sort of power, there would have never been wars in the first place, she would have won millennia ago.
Even after unleashing so much power as to destroy the Jungle in one blow, Elassa still had enough to carry them back here. And she didn’t even look exhausted, merely tired. In the same way that mortals did when they had an early morning in the day. Her blinking was slow, she was smiling, and standing at ease, hands behind her back in that blue dress of hers as she stared at Kassandora. The land here was ash, but it was all ash in all directions. There was nothing else to say. “Can you clear out a runway?” Kassandora asked and Elassa smiled.
“Here? Or where?”
“Here.” Kassandora said. “They’re tracking my radio, so close.”
“Understood.” Elassa said as turned around and lifted her hands up. Kassandora watched the woman for any trace or tell about her power. It was rare one got to study Elassa using magic with much ease. There was nothing, but that was a tell in itself. When Anassa used Sorcery, her hair and dress would stop being affected by the wind. When Fer jumped or exerted herself, her muscles would shift in such a way that they would be visible even from a distance.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
And now, as winds suddenly started to race past Elassa, there was nothing but the Goddess’ quiet chant of an invocation. Her blue dress whipped around her legs and stomach, and her hair was thoroughly messed up by the winds, yet the ash being blown did not stick to the woman. It did not avoid her, like it did Anassa, but it simply slid off, like water sliding down glass. Kassandora made sure to record it all to memory. What she could gleam from it, she did not know, but that was typically the way of these things. Each tiny little fact of information was a puzzle piece, it was simply a matter of collecting enough puzzle pieces to be able to guess as the completed picture.
Elassa sighed and stopped as she turned. “So? That fine?” Kassandora leaned past the woman. Fine? It was downright beautiful, as if the woman had cleared the ash out and the smoothed the ground down with a steamroller.
“That’s good.” Kassandora said and Elassa looked surprised for a moment.
“Thanks.” She answered. The planes came quickly. Captain Doug and Captain Erik deserved bonuses after this operation. Both have been in the air for more than thirty hours over the past two days, even during the Great War, Kassandora had not pushed her soldiers so hard. Raptor Two with Erik landed first. Kassandora sent the sorcerers off with CR and watched the plane take off.
It shot away from the ground, booming like a great thunderstrike, as it broke the sound barrier. Raptor One landed shortly after. The jet-black jet kicked up a storm of dirty ash is it landed, but those jets had been tested in Karainan swamps. They would need to buried to be stopped from taking off. The side door slid open as Captain Doug, his face hidden behind a visor with a tube for fresh air leading to his mouth and nose, waved to them. Kassandora gave the man a single nod as she stepped aside for Elassa.
The Goddess of Magic hopped on and immediately went to sit on one of the seats fixed to the wall. She leaned on the wall and smiled as Kassandora jumped on. The pistons of the door started to hiss as they slid the metal shut. The pilot’s voice, surprisingly sharp for being up so long, came over the speakers. “Captain Douglas speaking, good to see you Goddess. Where are we flying to?”
“Fetch the co-ordinates for when you dropped us last time, when it was five of us. There.” Kassandora shouted as she sat down. She saw Elassa looking at her with suspicion.
“You said we were going to save Anassa.” Kassandora gave the woman a flat look in return.
“Where is Anassa?” Kassandora asked.
“Well isn’t that why we should look for her?” Elassa said, arms outstretched as the engines of the plane started to turn on. The two Goddesses in the back of the cargo hold slid on their seats as the plane tilted and ascended through the air. For a moment, the lights turned off and were only replaced by a blinking red one, although they came back on after a moment.
“Apologies for that.” Douglas said into the speakers. “This girl doesn’t like being pushed so much.” Kassandora ignored the man entirely.
“How big was the Jungle?” Kassandora asked, then made her tone more pressing. “I’m asking Elassa, how big is the Jungle?” The Goddess of Magic did not reply, Kassandora had not expected her to. It was obvious who was in the right here after all. Kassandora stared at the woman for a few moments, she saw Elassa almost shrink, her head dropped, her arms fell, her legs out on in strength. And the Goddess of War sighed, Elassa had always been like this. She could commit tragedy after tragedy, she had no qualms about live-testing for the advancement of knowledge, and she rarely opened up her to others.
Kassandora was much the same in that regard. But Kassandora knew there was a difference, it was what separated her from Kavaa as well. These sorts of Goddesses closed themselves off because they got like… like this, Kassandora stared at Elassa looking down at the floor. Her eyes were starting to silently sparkle. They got like this when they lost someone.
Whereas Kassandora rarely opened up because there was nothing for her to open up with.
So Kassandora leaned forwards, she made her tone soft, she put her face into Elassa’s feel of vision so that the woman would see someone else. It was the best way to cheer her up. A tiny voice in the back of Kassandora’s mind cursed the Goddess for her thinking; normal people would hope to cheer others up, only Kassandora would sit there and coldly strategize what facial expressions to make, how high her eyebrows should be tilted and how wide her eyes should be open. If she could do it at will, she would dilate the iris of her eyes too. “Ela.” Kassandora whispered softly.
“Mmh?” Elassa asked sadly. She wasn’t crying, but tears were slowly making streams down her cheeks.
“Wherever Anassa is, do you really think she’s in danger?” Elassa opened her mouth, her voice cracked, and she shook her head. “Do you really think you can find her?”
Elassa took a deep breath, she blinked her eyes clean, and she wiped her cheeks with her blue sleeve. “Kass.” Elassa said. “I’m not…” She sighed. “I am worried, I know I can’t do anything, but I am worried.”
It had been like this in the past too, Elassa always thought to much. “Then take your mind off it.”
“Mmh.” Elassa said and croaked out a mirthless laugh. “Where are we going?”
“We lost Kavaa and Iniri in the tunnels.” Kassandora said flatly. She knew the change of tone would make Elassa laugh, it did.
“I don’t know how you can just say that.” Elassa said. “Kavaa doesn’t even like me.”
“Iniri doesn’t either.” Kassandora said. “But Anassa likes both of them. Kavaa especially, for some reason.” And now, even though she knew exactly why Anassa was fond of Kavaa, she let herself sound confused. “And I don’t like making Anassa mad.” No one did, so Elassa would be able to relate to that.
“Mmh.” Elassa said sadly, then narrowed her eyes at Kassandora. “You didn’t tell me I would be rescuing Kavaa though.” Kassandora stared at the woman for a moment. She looked into those blue eyes, there was some excitement there at the prospect of showing off her skill again. The lips of her mouth were quirked up too.
“I’m not going to beg Ela.” Kassandora said. “Kavaa is good for the war effort.”
“And now you’re asking me to sabotage my own side?”
“Do you care?” Kassandora asked quickly. Elassa caring about her side in a war would be a first. Even when the world had come to her to face off against Fer’s first incursions, Elassa had practically been dragged kicking and screaming to the front lines.
“Well…” Elassa said. “I suppose I could do you a favour.”
Ah. There it was. Elassa wanted Kassandora in her debt. Classic.
Classic, but it wouldn’t work.
“I’m doing you a favour.” Kassandora said.
“Are you?” Elassa asked.
“And I’m not even asking for anything in return.”
“How are you?” Elassa honestly sounded curious, not even offended or insulted.
“Do you want to face Arascus after losing two Goddesses?” Kassandora asked. “Because I don’t.” Elassa laughed for a moment as she sat back up and crossed her arms. She closed her eyes and smiled.
“Great and noble Kassandora.” The woman was being sarcastic, but Kassandora didn’t care. Working Elassa was simply a manner of keeping her smiling. That was it. At the rate they were going, she could be convinced to switch sides sooner rather than later too. “I never thought I’d see the day you were nervous.”
Kassandora finished her coup-de-grâce. She made her voice sound stupid, as if she was embarrassed of what she had just said. “Me? I’m never nervous.” Kassandora croaked.
Elassa laughed. She shook her head, smiled and leaned back. “I’ll go for a nap Kass. That tired me out. Wake me up when we’re there.” And Elassa fell asleep.
Kassandora sat back up and sighed. It was that easy.
Honestly, this sociopathy was her only ability that she hated.