The Greatest Sin [Progression Fantasy][Kingdom Building]
Chapter 371 – The Bulwark Hold

The White Pantheon calling Paraideisius and Tartarus ultimately proved me right. Arda stands alone against external threats and Arda, as it has up to now, only exists thanks to the mercy of others. I refuse to resign myself to allowing my world to become a playground for others and I refuse to simply wait out this existence we have been dealt with.

Whether it is their morality, their power-balance or their aversion to conflict, I do not care. Every factor that binds them to not conquering Arda is out of our control, thus it is impermanent. Eventually, the royalty of Tartarus and the councils of Paraideisius will change and what then? Will Arda’s hope for survival be left to a die roll outside our control? Or will we have to suddenly start paying tithe for our continued existence? What happens when the power-balance between Paraideisius and Tartarus shift and one seizes control over the other? What happens when those two worlds fall into crisis and need a sacrificial lamb to save themselves?

This question can be reframed in a countless ways but ultimately all the ways can be reduced to one core statement: Arda’s existence is not secured, Arda’s existence is allowed. This analysis, hopefully, will be proven wrong by the march of time. It has so far. Yet it needs to be proved right only once before it turns from paranoid delusions and into ignored prophecy.

The only way for Arda to ensure it has a future is to secure it itself. Our world must stand tall and stand alone because as long as it stands in the shadow of another, it continues to have its existence be allowed and tolerated rather than claimed and secured.

When all things have concluded, the future only has two conclusions to pick from: Mankind will surpass or mankind will perish.

- Excerpt from God Arascus’, of Pride’s, private writings

Iniri stared up at the grand hold of Fazba as the living wood carried her body. Kavaa’s torrent of life energies had slowed down. No longer were they a dam torn open but rather a flooded river after a rainstorm. Iniri stopped her body burning up from the excess life as long as she had somewhere to divert it to. Kassandora needed food for the men. Divine ambrosia fruit was one of nature’s treasures and it needed a ridiculous amount of time and energy to grow.

But with Kavaa serving as the plant bed and the fertilizer, Iniri still left a trail of ambrosia for the men to feed off and stopped herself from burning up in the sheer excess life that Kavaa bathed the world in. “Kavaa, you stay here.” Kassandora said as she pointed to one of the small doors in the side. “Iniri, you come with me, we’ll open the gates for the tanks.”

The thought of entering Fazba sent a chill down Iniri’s spine. But the thought of repeating the trek from here all the way to Arika was even worse. Iniri sighed and shook her head as gave Kavaa a thumbs up. The Goddess of Health smiled, eyes half-closed, and nodded for Iniri to follow after Kassandora. Illuminated by the torch-bearer tanks, Iniri saw Kavaa’s hair had slowly darkened. Iniri pushed the obvious thought about why that had happened out of her mind; it was simply the lack of sunlight. It had to be the lack of sunlight.

Iniri turned and followed Kassandora as the rabble that the remains of the Legion’s vanguard waited. No one sat down to rest their first or take breath, no one was even tired. Iniri herself certainly wasn’t and the men, although looking mad and on the verge of sanity, all had shining eyes that brimmed with so much energy they may as well have been pumped full of stimulants. Iniri caught up to Kassandora and tried to ease her own worries. “There won’t be any danger here, right?” Iniri asked.

“Hopefully.” Kassandora said. “If it was evacuated, then it should have be looted. The doors are open at least.” Kassandora pointed to the bronze doors that had been left open. “But hold gates aren’t hard to open from the inside, I don’t know why they’d be closed.”

“Maybe Tartarus didn’t need to open them?”

“Maybe.” Kassandora said, although it was obvious that she didn’t believe that was even an option. Iniri did not either. Black armour that brilliantly reflected the torchbearer’s artificial white light appeared around the Goddess of War as she stepped towards the door and then gingerly pushed it open. And immediately, Kassandora jumped back.

Nothing.

The Goddess of War looked to Iniri and made a comforting smile. “Sometimes the dwarves would booby-trap them with explosives.” Iniri’s head did not move, but the branches around her moved up and down to nod in understanding. Kassandora put her hand through the doorway, gave it a wave, and then looked through with her head. Left. Right. Up. Left again. Right again. Up again. And she pulled back, looking even more confused than before. “Can you get a light?” Kassandora asked. One of the branches by Iniri’s side edged forwards as a set of glowing mushrooms sprouted on them. Iniri gave them more energy as they pushed past Kassandora and the blue-purple light started to illuminate the entire corridor.

Kassandora stepped through the doorway and Iniri followed in. She had been in the surface holds in Epa after they had been abandoned but never in a deep hold. This corridor, fashioned obviously with Divines in mind, did little to reveal the so called grandeur. It was stone and stone. Clean, but there were only a few patterns in the wall with runes Iniri could not read and lines running along the edges of the floor and ceiling. Iniri followed Kassandora down a corridor. “Do you know the way?”

“Once I go somewhere I don’t forget it.” Kassandora replied from ahead. The Goddess’ armour shone in the light of the mushrooms and Iniri made a thick barrier of wood around her body. Just in case. Tiny vines spread all around the wall to check for cracks or hidden entrances but there was nothing. This was truly just a side entrance and nothing else.

“Through here.” Kassandora said as she stepped through another doorway. Iniri followed along and… And there was a floor. That was it. No walls here, no ceiling either. The mushrooms glowing by Kassandora’s side did little to illuminate more than a dozen metres in all directions. Apparently that wasn’t enough. Iniri stuck close to Kassandora as the Goddess of War confidently strode through the darkness. Joyeuse appeared in her hands but other than that, the woman could have been striding through a meadow.

On one hand, it was inspiring beyond belief. Iniri kept moving only because Kassandora did. On the other, it was the most infuriating thing on this world that somehow, the woman got so childishly flustered with Kavaa but could stride into what felt like crushing doom with her head held high. Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Iniri sighed as she focused on the only thing that was illuminated, the floor. It had a pattern of lines and angles and seemed to be allergic to the very idea of a curve. Iniri didn’t like it, but it was better to stare at the floor than try and make out patterns in the overwhelming darkness that felt like a giant wolf about to snap its jaws around them.

Eventually, Kassandora stopped when the light of the mushrooms touched a bronze wall. The Goddess of War hefted that massive greatsword into the air with one hand. “Send some of the mushrooms up there Iniri.” Kassandora said. The Goddess of Nature made a branch break off by itself and then raise slowly. They couldn’t have gone deep in, Kavaa’s energy still flowed thickly through this wall. Without it, Iniri didn’t think she’d be able to manage.

“How high?” Iniri asked.

“Higher.” Kassandora said. Iniri raised the mushrooms higher. More bronze, carved with similar line-patterns. “Higher.” And Iniri went higher. “Higher.” And then the mushrooms found what looked to be a solid block of bronze sticking out with a massive chain, each link larger than the two Goddess far below it.

“What’s this?” Iniri asked.

“That’s the pulley mechanism. The blockade will be above it.”

“We have to go higher?!” Iniri exclaimed.

“We do.” Kassandora said as the thin branch holding up the mushrooms went higher and higher and… “That’s too high.” Kassandora said coldly. It was easily as tall as a castle. “Can you try and find the blockade? It should be around that height. You won’t force it open as long as its locked.” From the branch holding the mushrooms a thin vine sprouted and shot onto the bronze. In the next moment, it spread out in all directions, thin branches that probed and inspected every crevice and every bend. Iniri found a rectangular protrusion almost immediately, she brought the mushrooms close. It looked to be a giant hook, classically dwarven, instead of being curved it had a right angle at the bend. “That’s the blockade hinge.” Kassandora said coldly as she turned around to inspect behind them. Nothing but a sea of overwhelming darkness that tried to erase the illumination of the mushrooms.

“Is that good or bad?” Iniri asked. She wished she didn’t say anything, but she had to know.

“It means the hold is unlocked.” Kassandora said. “Go back down to the pulley system and force it open. Maybe it’s jammed?” That last statement was definitely a question. “It should just slide open, they look heavy but without the lock it won’t…” Kassandora shook her head. “Just give it a try.”

Iniri brought her branch back down to where the pulley system was and found both of the massive blocks that shot out of the grand gates. One from each door. In the middle of them, a branch placed an acorn, the acorn exploded into wood and bark. In the span of a few seconds, an oak had sprouted sideways, its roots pushing against one block, its top pushing against the other as it shook its branches. Iniri made its core grow and…

And the gates moved. It was nowhere near as difficult as she thought it would be. Kassandora grimaced and raised her hand as the artificial white light of the torchbearers flooded in to assist the pale blue-purple mushrooms. Iniri kept watch over her oak, she didn’t want to turn around, she just wanted to stare at her tree and just keep on working and not thinking about what lay here and why and-

Iniri felt Kassandora’s hand on her wood. She heard trundling treads and engines and wheels and boots marching. The gates were open more than enough. “Should I close it?” Iniri asked.

“Leave it open for Neneria and the rest of the Legion once they catch up.” Kassandora replied. “Have you ever seen a deep hold?”

“No.”

“Then have a look.” Kassandora said. Iniri took a deep breath and turned around.

It wasn’t a cave or a series of rooms. It wasn’t a huge corridor. It was an entire metropolis underground. The main stretch of highway kept on going straight, but it became a bridge instead of a tunnel. The massive spotlights installed on the torchbearers, requisitioned from lighthouses that guides ships in storms waged a victorious war against the darkness down here as they pushed it away.

And as they did, Iniri felt her breath catch as she stared. From the ceiling, great balls of metal hung off bronze chains. Then thousands of bridges, with other pathways interconnecting them criss-crossed up and by the sides and below the main road that was the highway. There were parapets still armed with the ancient great cannons, there were statues of ancient dwarves, there was even one of a sorcerer that Iniri recognised as Sirianius from the Great War, only by the heart-stone staff in his hands. There were ballista aimed at the aimed at the gates. There were aqueducts now empty. There were tubes of metal and grand fireplaces, still with coal and ash within them.

But what amazed Iniri was the sheer size of it. It easily spanned the area of an entire forest, forget a city. And vertically, it would probably put small mountains to shame. There was so much space here that Iniri wondered if all of it could be explored in a year. And nearer the centre of the hold was a massive crack splitting the walls but not the bridges. Iniri stared so long that the Legion caught up to them, with Kavaa dragging her legs and looking around with just as much awe. “Let’s get moving.” Kassandora said to kickstart the two ex-White Pantheon Goddesses into action. It was good that she did, the awe was just as great as the creeping fear. The more that Iniri looked, the more she realised that a place like this had utterly no reason being empty and deserted.

“Let’s.” Kavaa said and Iniri nodded. She let go of her mushrooms and felt Kavaa’s energies start to warm her up. If she was feeling it warm, then the men must be burning up, so more ambrosia had to be grown. “Is that good or bad?” Kavaa pointed to the crack mid-way through the massive hold. Maybe that had been it? The world had cracked and noxious gas had flooded into the hold?

“That’s the Fazba fault-line.” Kassandora said. “It’s nothing.”

“Nothing?” Kavaa asked curiously as Iniri felt some of her hope wilt away. It would have been better if that fault was something.

“That’s how it was the last time I saw it. It’s a Worldbreaking fault-line, not one of today. Just a buried crack from an ancient time.”

“Oh.” Kavaa said.

“Honestly I wish it was that.” Kassandora said heavily. Why would she say that? For what reason? Just to be ominous? Because the situation wasn’t scary enough.

“Why?” Kavaa asked. Oh. And now the doctor opened her mouth! Because we needed a reason for everything now didn’t we?

“Because then we’d know what was going on.” Kassandora admitted not knowing anything. Great!

Iniri finally felt herself crack and slip like a tree being broken by the storm. “DO YOU TWO HAVE TO TALK LIKE THAT?!” Both of the Goddesses jumped and turned to look at the Goddess of Nature, all encased in an eggshell of bark and using flowers and plants to see.

“Like what?” Kassandora asked.

“I’m scared Kass!” Iniri said. “You too Kav! I’m scared right now. Do you understand?!” Iniri took a deep breath and kept on moving. “Come on. Let’s keep moving. Alright?”

Kassandora and Kavaa both looked at each other with curious smile as if they hadn’t been on the verge of crying just ten minutes before this. There was nothing to smile at. “I agree.” Kassandora said. “Let’s go.” Iniri herself would have been able to cross all Fazba in a matter of hours, Kassandora and Kavaa could have ran across it easily too. But with the Legion? With the rolling torchbearer tanks?

“How long will it take?” Iniri asked.

“Two days as long as nothing breaks down. There’s multiple gates here.” Sometimes, Iniri wished she kept her stupid mouth shut. Why bother asking a question when she knew the answer would be terrible. “You should scout it out.” Kassandora said.

“Excuse me?” Iniri asked.

“Send seedlings and vines to see what is going on.” The Goddess of War said flatly. “Even a few moments of warning will be better than getting jumped.” Iniri opened her mouth to argue and then realised she couldn’t. Kassandora once again was right. The Goddess of Nature said nothing, she just drew on that endless well of life flowing from Kavaa and stopped wasting the energy on fruit.

Instead, thin vines spread from the Goddess of Nature, no thicker than a finger as they covered the stone bridge as if it was a puddle of gasoline being touched by a match. They trailed downwards and dived into darkness and they lunged for other bridges. With Kavaa’s energy and with the fact that Iniri was simply calling upon the bare minimum that a plant could be, they sprinted forwards like a snake stuck in a permanent lunge. Iniri could not see anything, but she felt one set of vines come across runes carved into stone. “I found something.”

“What is it?” Kassandora asked lightly. She must have known that it wasn’t urgent because of Iniri’s calm tone.

“Can you read their runes?”

“Some, their alphabet has changed.” Kassandora replied as Iniri grew a set of thin wooden branches in the identical arrangement as to the vines pressing themselves into the carved stone. “That says Waking Dragon One.”

“Excuse me?” Iniri asked.

“I have no clue.” Kassandora replied as Iniri’s vines travelled further along. She felt more runes in the same corridor. The bark affixed to Iniri’s cocoon and held before Kassandora rearranged itself.

“Waking Dragon Two.” Kassandora said. Next set of runes, more wood rearranging itself. “Waking Dragon Three.”

“Do you think it’s a street name?” Kavaa asked, Kassandora audibly chuckled and even Iniri found herself smiling. This is why she considered Kavaa one of her best friends, there was no one else who could bring a crazy idea crashing back down to the ground like she did.

“Honestly could be.” Kassandora said. On the other side of Iniri, vines found more runes in lightless corridors as the web around Iniri kept growing. It was as much to use up Kavaa’s power before it burned as to not waste time scouting. The bark before Kassandora rearranged itself and the Goddess of War read it before it was even done. “That says Armoury. That’s an easy one.” Iniri didn’t know what was easy about this rune that had twenty individual lines.

And then Iniri’s vines sensed something else. She sprouted a sunflower and looked through it and saw… Well, she actually saw for one, but she saw a pale grey-green light. The exact same that Neneria’s ghosts emitted. Apart from the fact that this ghost was a dwarf. In angular ancient armour that was common in the Great War, with a helm that exposed the stunty little fellow’s face. He had been stood on a parapet and basked by the tremendous light of the torchbearer tanks which hid his glow from a distance.

When he was watching just the Legion, it had been a gaze of curiosity and confusion. When he saw Iniri’s plants though… “Kass?” Iniri tried to control the panic in her tone. She barely managed it.

“Did you find something?” Kassandora said.

“I have.” Iniri stared at the ghostly dwarf through her flower. How long had it been sitting here? The dwarf opened its eyes and looked at Iniri. The Goddess froze as she felt herself be pinned in place by those eyes. She had seen the monstrous rage of beastmen, she had seen the vile contempt between Fortia and Maisara versus Allasaria and Elassa, she had witnessed Olephia’s still glare during the Great War and she had stared down Irinika as the Goddess of Darkness basked in her own glory. But never once had a look been so… So personal. The dwarf stared at the sunflower with all a hatred that drowned and froze.

 “Ah…” The dwarf said. “Finally one of the world-traitors shows themselves.” It should have been impossible, but somehow the immaterial touched the material and he pulled a lever. “My watch has not been a waste indeed.”

Iniri, Kassandora and Kavaa all froze as they heard something crash and fall in the impenetrable darkness.