There is a certain beguilement I receive from sitting here and reading the reports of Kassandora, Malam & Arascus on how they tried to deal with the elven population crisis. Their approach is not as heavy-handed as Maisara’s idea to simply enforce reproduction yet it is obvious that they come from that very realistic, very pragmatistic school of thought. Of course, we shall not abide by Maisara’s idea to simply lock them into reservations with promise of freedom under the condition that they produce children. Nevertheless, it is almost entertaining to see how deities that fought against us in the Great War would have dealt with the issue.

  And also, it is almost eye-opening on how they try to deal with this species. I read their perspectives and I can only imagine what they would do with me. The elves predate what Elassa has coined as “Year X” in her chronology of the world. That original day is unknown to all of us. Even my existence as one of the oldest beings in this world does not stretch back to it. When I arrived, humans already walked this world, as did elves and dwarves were only starting the building of ancient of Holds. I have pointed Elassa to these lesser Holds for I am sure they hold great histories in them. The founding of Klavdiv happened during the Age of Gaia, I remember when the idea of a “Deep Hold”, entirely under the surface, came about. What I mean to say is that the dwarves adapted to the new world after this so called ‘Year X’. True, they became hidden underground dwellers, and they may be hampered now by the shutting of the World Core, but I doubt they will go extinct even in the darkness. They have this same trait of adaptiveness that humans possess.

  And elves lack it completely. From as far as I can remember, the history of elves has been controlled by beings not necessarily greater but definitely more brave in pursuing their ambitions. First it was Gaia itself. Elves gained their reputation as nature-bound from the fact that they knelt to the trees that were unbound to me. When the Age of Gaia ended with the conscription of fire and the proto-powers that would become magic, elves split. Those who joined the cursed monsters became pale dwellers of the darkness. Their extinction came about when Pride, Love, Spirit and Hatred entered this world and humanity began to mobilize. In the Age of Tyranny, they served as the administrators of despots, in the age of Heroes, they served as facilitators to heroism. In Worldbreaking, they organised refuge. In Reconstruction, they were the first race of mortals to join the Reconstruction Authority and they became landed aristocracy. During the Great War, they split once again.

  Yet there is a pattern to this. It is said that they ruled this world. So little remain that all of them can trace a lineage to royalty. Now, they are little more than petty nobility. Humanity has surpassed them in all levels but agelessness. It is no wonder that they themselves wish to go extinct yet are too cowardly to do it themselves.

  Their existence is one of an ever continuing slide into irrelevancy.

  - Excerpt from “Thoughts on the different kinds of Man”, written by Goddess Iniri, of Nature. Dated to within the decades after the Great War.

  Olonia came to a sudden stop and thrust her hand into the air. Behind her, the One-Seventeenth came to a stop on their trek through the calf-high ash and the world went silent save for the waves crashing against the beach. Tanit had talked about how once, these coasts had been infamously calm. A person would have to struggle to down, she had said. Although the Ashfront had retreated over the horizon to the north, its effects were noticeable. The waves of the Eparika sea rolled and crashed against beaches that had once been almost white with clean sand and now were different shades of grim greys. Even the wind had stopped moving here.

  Olonia’s hand moved, her fingers opened up into a flat palm. She held the posture for a moment. And she closed her palm into a fist. Immediately, the torchlight coming from behind went out as the One Seventeenth prepared for another clash. The route to the west had been blocked entirely by the constant stream of reinforcements and the creation of the land-bridges. Olonia hoped that the Empire at large knew of what was happening. They had to, she refused to believe that they did not. But if they did not, then she would warn them.

  So the endless march to the east had begun. Through small towns and villages were resources were scavenged. Those were all buried under ash, doors had to be unburied before they could be opened. Roofs were always checked by Tanit or Olonia to make sure they wouldn’t collapse. Without the pair of Goddesses, the trek would have been twice as slow.

  Olonia led the troop, Tanit was close by her side and just slightly behind. The two Goddesses would use their sheer size to carve out two trenches in the ash for the rest of the One-Seventeenth to march in. The formation wasn’t safe, it wasn’t even especially fast in comparison to what troops in block formation could march in, but it was the only way to avoid quick sands and pits were the ash hid a fall. Tanit would be to catch herself or Olonia with her powers and the pair of trenches would continue snaking east, to Khmet. Above, black skies rolled over thick and heavy and falling with ash that felt like warm snow which slightly pricked at the face when it touched skin. Every single moment Olonia had spent in this stolen land was another reason that she would die before she let would Tartarus reach Epa and her home.

  “What is…” Tanit said and trailed off as she reached the trail of yet another sand dune. Even a few months ago, this would have been a picturesque sight to take photos of the desert. Now, it was the embodiment of loss and a deep-seated misery that didn’t need horror to reveal itself. “Oh.” Tanit said, her eyes would caught the structures in the distance as well.

  “Do you know what city it is?” Olonia asked. It was obvious they were coming to something that had once been inhabited. The terrain in Ibya, even after it was covered with ash, could either be as flat as a field, a rolling dune or a one of the sparse, rocky mountains they had. There was nothing else. And ahead, hidden under a veil of darkness, the terrain became something else. Ash suddenly swerved and shot upwards, it stretched out into the black waters of the seaside which were flushed with foam as they crashed against the continent, there were pieces that were obviously in colour too. It was difficult to tell in the darkness, but Olonia was sure that colour was exposed sand.

  And exposed sand here, with that constant falling ash from the sky, could only be a sandstone wall. “No.” Tanit said. “I’ve lost all sense of direction save which that the sea is north.”

  “Fair enough.” Olonia replied absentmindedly as she looked down. Her military uniform had been repainted by the ash into a dull grey. The rifle she carried on her shoulder was so caked in ash that Olonia doubted it would ever wash off. But she still standing on the zenith of a dune like this. Her snow-white hair, divine and pristine and very much like the picturesque snows of Lubska, was so silky smooth that it seemed to wash itself without any help. Ash would settle on it, but Olonia still felt as if she was walking around with a beacon on her head. “It’s big.”

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  “That it is.” Tanit said. That it was, built onto what was obviously a mountain, with the remains towers and skyscrapers that were grey against the dark sky. A few spots had retained their original colour against the ash, where they were protected by a roof or a balcony. “Realistically, it could only be Anghazi.” Tanit said. “With how long we’ve been marching.”

  “That good or bad?” Olonia asked.

  “That’s alright.” Tanit replied. “The Khmet border is two days drive away, sleep included.”

  “Then it’s a week marching.” Olonia asked.

  “Probably.” Tanit said. “If you can think of a way to get us through the Ashfront.” That, Olonia had been putting off. Her original plan and her sole plan would be to push Tanit to the brink of what the Goddess could do and have her excavate an underground tunnel which would let the entirety of the One-Seventeenth to cross. That original plan had not changed whatsoever.

  “We’ll talk over it once we take shelter.” Olonia said. Tanit still didn’t know. Olonia didn’t want to tell her. The Goddess of Ibya was too hesitant on her own strength. “In there.”

  “Do you think it’s safe?” Tanit asked.

  “Do you see flames?” Olonia asked. That was a universal constant when it came to dealing with Tartarus. They had captured a few demons during the skirmishes. Those had all died in the long march east. Upon inspection by combat medic and by the few of Kavaa’s clerics, they exhibited similar symptoms to frostbite. That was the most important piece of information that had been found so far. The Arika was dark but the day and night was still able to be traced through temperature alone. It would drop to just over freezing when the sun didn’t shine upon Ashen Skies, it would venture ten degrees higher when the sun did. Good information to know for an Epan War. Iliyal, Kassandora and Arascus probably already knew, but Olonia would tell them anyway.

  “I don’t.” Tanit said. Olonia did not either. When the ashfront had rolled over the city, it left the steel struts of the taller buildings reaching into the air as if they were the metallic remains of a giant’s ribcage. Some of the smaller buildings had been knocked down but certain structures had held. The governmental buildings that were built to be low and wide. The rows upon rows of homes that connected and supported each other’s weight. Even if fire had been set alight within them, their windows should be glowing.

  “Are we entering then?”

  “We are.” Olonia said slowly, she turned back to the one Seventeenth that was slowly coming closer. Men had ventured out of the pair of trenches left by the Goddesses and were setting up to breach the dune’s crest in a single long row as was standard, field-tested tactic. They were just vaguely humanoid shapes stalking about in this lightless world, but their dirtied uniforms and faces smothered by ash were a single shade darker than grey ground of the settled ash. Olonia raised her hand again and gave a signal to the closest men. They rearranged themselves and drew rifle and knife. It was more for show and for extra pairs of eyes, ammunition was starting to run low enough that designated marksmen were being assigned. Those who missed out could only hope that Tanit and Olonia managed hold all the attention of the enemy.

  And so Olonia turned around and set off. No words were given and no speeches were said. At this point, everyone was too exhausted to speak. Flashes from the torches would be used to call men down, everyone knew that three meant to come close. A single long hold was a call to retreat. “It’s a port city.” Tanit said quietly.

  “You want to try the Ashfront on the ocean?”

  “I’m just mentioning it.” The team headed by Olonia slowly made its way to the city down the slope. “It may have supplies.”

  “It probably will.” Olonia said. Anghazi had been on the list for a refugee port and the Empire had been sending old rifles and boxes of ammunition to the locals. How many of those locals managed to make it was questionable though. Tanit chuckled. “What’s funny?”

  “Feels like the final stretch.”

  “Don’t say that.” Olonia said. “It’s not over until it’s over.”

  “I know.” Tanit replied quietly as the Goddesses turned and to choose a less steep slope. “But it’d be nice to see the sun.”

  At that though, Olonia couldn’t help but smile. “It’d be nice to see a shower.”

  “A shower and then a bath.” Tanit said and Olonia chuckled. She had just told Tanit not to say it was the final stretch, but it really was starting to feel like it. If Khmet was only two day’s drive away… Well. They had crossed the Ashfront to get in, how hard could it be to get out? “In Lubska, I have the Land of Gods.”

  “I’ve heard of it.”

  “You should build a holiday home there.”

  “I could never.” Tanit replied.

  “You will.” Tanit said. “If not, I’ll get someone to build it for you.”

  “Really?”

  “In exchange, you build me one here once it’s over.” Tanit burst out in laughter at that. And then it stopped as they got closer. It was one thing to dream about leaving Arika. It was another when Olonia considered what was to be done about the land here. Maybe they were just detached from the rest of the world, but it didn’t feel like the Empire was doing anything. Not once had Ashen Skies even been disturbed save for when the One Seventeenth had destroyed that huge portal. Tartarus must have replaced it by now. And that massive Archdemon too… Olonia simply tried not to think about life in Epa. Tanit, apparently, did not. “How do you think they’re holding up over the sea?”

  “I’m sure they’re holding.” Olonia said. She was sure because she had to be sure. Because there was no point to this march if Epa had been drowned already. “They have too many people there. Kassandora and Tremali and Arascus. I’m sure Olephia killed that Archdemon. Just with a word, how I told you about her.” Everyone knew of Olephia because everyone had seen her almost destroy Igos and then wipe the Caretaker from existence. Even Tanit did, even if every time that name left Tanit’s mouth, it sounded like the woman was trying to convince herself Olephia was not just mythology.

  “And there’s the sea.” Tanit said. “They wouldn’t be building those bridges if they could build a portal on the continent.”

  “Exactly.” Olonia said. “I’m sure there’s a plan.”

  “Now you sound like you’re trying to convince me.” Olonia didn’t who was convincing who at this point. “If there’s a radio on the port, we should try it.”

  “Do you think it will work?”

  “No.” Olonia admitted. The silence held for a few moments. Both Goddesses burst out in laughter as they got closer to the town. They got closer to the ruins. It was almost odd. Where houses had been broken a collapsed roof and ash had fallen, even the furniture could be picked out, perfectly unmoved and untouched, down to the plates left on the table. Where the storms and hurricanes of the ashfront had carved a path through the city, nothing remained. It was two sets of ruins intertwined with each other and all painted grey and black.

  Olonia got to one of the homes and looked down at the street. She blinked and her hand immediately shot up. Too much time had been spent wandering these deserts to not be able to read the signs of when something was off, and something was very off here. Each side of the street had the ash cleared out to make a long thin line like the trenches that the One-Seventeenth left behind when they marched. Olonia had seen clearings like that in Lubska when snow fell and men cleared out the pathways so that homes would be accessible. Tanit leaned over her shoulder. She saw it immediately too. “Someone’s been here.”

  But then they saw no flames when they approached. Not even the orange ambience that carried far in this lightless world. Then…

  Human survivors.