Deceiving the Gods (1/2)
Right now, Das is standing on his balcony as he watches from his balcony. There, at a great distance, is Freyya's army, which marching closer and closer.
Of course, her army is enshrouded in an impenetrable mist, but it's fairly obvious what she's doing as the blanket of mist slowly encircles the capitol. 'Obviously, Freyya is trying to hide where she's putting the bulk of her army when she attacks my wall.'
It IS a fairly standard tactic to hide this information from your enemy. It's important to attack with great forces where they think you're weak and put few forces where they think you're strong.
While Das is thinking about how to best infiltrate the white mist and find out the invading army's layout, Haalfrin suddenly speaks up:
"My lord? I think that Freyya's army is going to go for your temples and shrines in the various cities. If she can damage the base of your faith, then you'll be far easier to fight. I'd suggest moving most of your latent forces away and having them guard the rest of the world."
Das shakes his head to this, "No. That's not a good idea."
Haalfrin doesn't say anything back to this, but he just looks to the side with a disappointed frown.
Seeing Haalfrin's let-down expression, something seems to click in Das's mind. 'I knew it. Haalfrin is trying to sabotage the war. He's trying to get me to move my attention and forces to everywhere but here - all so that he can make us lose the war. If we lose, then he'll fall in battle like he wants. That must be what he and Freyya are planning.'
Even still, Das wants to keep the pretenses up a bit longer, so he says aloud, "Freyya would be stupid to have her armies spread out like this. If she dared to do so, then our more deadly and concentrated forces would rip right through her people like butter, and there'd be very little her people could do about it."
Haalfrin opens his mouth, as if to protest, but he chooses to remain silent.
Seeing this, Das offers a friendly hand, "Listen. If she does end up spreading out and attacking my temples and shrines, it wouldn't be too late to spread out ourselves and chase her."
He then points to the massive energy signature coming their way. "Besides, her army is right there. I can sense a huge pile of mana there. If her army isn't there… well… that's impossible."
Haalfrin scowls, "If I may… sir… You are a governor – not a tactician. I know that the most advantageous thing for Freyya to do would be to take out your temples and cripple your divinity. While you're at your weakest, she'd send in her best fighters and take us out.
Das breathes in heavily in frustration, "My word is final. Prepare for battle."
If Haalfrin had been any other general, then Das may have trusted his word. Alas, he knows all too well that Haalfrin is really on Freyya's side.
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- The Far Future -
Right now, Emperor Imho'Reeth and General Haalfrin standing on a balcony discussing the coming battle.
While the emperor is lost in thought, General Haalfrin speaks up. "Your majesty. I have important information on the coming battle."
"What is it?"
"… This is something my wife and I knew for a very long time – ever since I was a mortal… but we've had an experience where we've seen the future of this battle. Drakavar is going to spread out her forces and destroy all the branch worlds before coming here. We need to spread our forces across the World Tree and stop her plan."
The emperor turns and looks at Haalfrin incredulously. He then gestures straight up to the sky. "Look at that!? Don't you see the massive energy signature coming from up above? The only thing that big could be her army."
Imho'Reeth suddenly goes silent before asking, "Why do you think you know this?"
"Because of Yiirkavar," Haalfrin immediately replies, "The Elder God of Time and Possibilities wants us to defeat Drakavar."
'The Time God?' Imho'Reeth scoffs in his heart, 'Why would the Time God only tell one person of this? That seems awfully sloppy. That makes it more likely that the General isn't telling the truth.'
The emperor then looks suspiciously at Haalfrin, and a thought runs through his head, 'Did my rival, the Death King, send the general here to sabotage the battle? There's no way, right? But… If the entire universe dies, then the Death King will become the greatest and eternal ruler of all existence!'
As this doubt sprouts in his mind, the emperor immediately begins to dismiss what Haalfrin was saying.
Sure, Imho'Reeth wouldn't like to think so negatively of Haalfrin and the Death King, but the old emperor has seen far too many treacherous plots, even coming from people he had trusted with his life before.
To an old monster like him, who'd managed to sit on this throne for millions of years, everything is potentially a plot.
Still wanting to keep up civility with the rather strong man, Emperor Imho'Reeth politely replies, "Spreading out would be foolish. Our forces are strongest when together, yet the dragon Queen would be sentencing her forces to a pointless death if she spread them out now. We've gotten far too many elementals on our side, and we'd crush them individually.
"But your majesty-!"
"ENOUGH!" the Emperor then looks down at General Haalfrin. "Get ready for battle. I expect to see you with the rest of the army when the dragons arrive.
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Loud, angry stomping is heard coming down the stairs away from the Emperor's guest champers. When the door at the bottom of the staircase slams open, General Haalfrin ghosts through with a scowl on his face.
Just on the other side of the door are a few familiar faces waiting for him, Freyya, Fisco, Kaalhyme, Kalastros, and Fina… Yet, there is noticeably no Dakka.
"So… did you manage to convince him?" Fisco asks apprehensively. Everyone can see how irritated the General is right now, so they already know the answer.
General Haalfrin looks down in frustration, "Despite knowing the outcome and cause of this battle, nothing seems to be working. We rescued the Fox girl and Wolf boy from their necromancer captors earlier than expected, but that stupid emperor took them away for 'safe keeping'. Then, when I tried telling him how the battle would go, he wouldn't even listen to me!"
Freyya immediately pats him on the back and says, "It's ok dear. If the gods are meant to die now, then so be it. Maybe it was just Fate working against us?"
Kaalhyme and Fisco then put their hands on both of Haalfrin's shoulders. Kaalhyme says, "Brother, we're probably going to lose… but on the off chance we can beat Drakavar, we'll just have to fight our hardest."
Hearing this, General Haalfrin calms down and puts on his helmet. "Agreed. Come. Let's prepare for battle."
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-The Present-
Soon, the white mist that's cloaking Freyya's army has completely surrounded Das's palace. The powerful mana being emitted from the mist is bright enough to block even Das's senses.
Das has some golden battle armor on, and he grips the handrails with Haalfrin at his side. "They're here."
Without waiting for anyone else, Das teleports down from atop the front gates, and he shouts at the mist of grey fog, "Reveal yourself, cowards!"
There is no movement from inside the mist.
Das briefly glances at all the magic canons lining the walls; these weapons are linked to his divine Essence, so they are QUITE powerful.
And so, feeling a little agitated, Das motions with his hand and issues a mental command to them. 'FIRE!'
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-The Far Future-
Emperor Imho'Reeth stands at the front gate, looking on as a thick black mist rolls over the landscape.
Seeing that the main capital city is surrounded by this shroud, yet there's no movement, Imho'Reeth gets a little impatient.
"Reveal yourselves cowards!" he shouts confidently into the darkness.
…There is only still silence…
Sensing that something is seriously wrong, the god-emperor's nerves get the better of him. He holds up his right hand – grabbing the attention of all the battle gods lining the walls, and he issues them a mental command. 'Fire!'
A torrent of energy blasts out of the walls and all the air is immediately sucked dry of oxygen. The gods' attack is so powerful that even space bends in place.
However, a few moments pass away, yet there is no response from the black mist.
Just when everyone is starting to wonder if there's really nothing here… the cloak of shadow slowly recedes from the land.
Immediately, everyone atop the walls holds their breath as two golden eyes shine so brightly that they pierce through the darkness; their golden slits could be seen clearly, like dark daggers held in front of a bright light.
A black-scaled foot reaches out of the black fog, and a proud woman with a crown of horns atop her head steps forward and slowly lowers her hand.
The second her hand drops to her side again, the invisible shield around her drops. The onlookers then notice that the space immediately around her is completely unscarred from the gods' bombardment.
… The emperor isn't the only one; everyone immediately feels despair and fear in their hearts.
'HOW!?' Imho'Reeth cries in his mind.
He then thinks back on Haalfrin's words. "If Drakavar is here alone… then where's the rest of her army…?" he wonders aloud.
"Exacting revenge on the gods by destroying every world that worships them," Haalfrin answers as he steps up behind the emperor.
"But how is she here!" Imho'Reeth asks irately, "We can't sense her power at all!? Plus, she has the biggest mana signature of them all; it's impossible to hide it!"
He, as well as the rest of his people, could swear that Drakavar was on the other end of the universe! In fact, they can still sense her there!
Is the apparition here merely an illusion of her, meant to scare them?
The emperor doesn't have any more time to complain, since the "lifelike illusion of Drakavar" suddenly takes a step forward. Seeing Elshirothe suddenly move nearly makes the gods' hearts leap out of their chests.
Ever so slowly, the Archdemon of Destruction steps forward and raises her hand up.
Imho'Reeth's palace had originally been a present from Mora himself – a creation befitting the hub of all Divine beings in the World Tree. Its gate is called "Alrond Gethkin", which means "Heaven's door" in a long-dead language. This gate has stood unbreeched and unmarred since the dawn of time. Countless Divine Emperor's have ruled this city and passed away, yet these gates remained.
Standing 10,000 feet tall and built with the greatest magic available in the World Tree, it has withstood countless invasions from the Death Realm, as long-dead gods have attempted to return to the World Tree from the land below. It's also stood firm in the face of all the past dragon invasions.
However, when the Goddess of Power reaches her hand forward, the gate shakes. When she curls her fingers, the gate crumples like tin foil. The pent-up mana inside the gate explodes like a dying star, and the agonizing sound of the metal being unwillingly bent out of shape bursts many eardrums.
Drakavar, of course, doesn't realize how historically significant this gate is. In fact, from her perspective, this thing was about as hard to destroy as a common door. She couldn't even feel the difference.
And so, the Goddess unceremoniously rips the gate from its hinges and tosses it behind her.
Unobstructed now, she steps forward and makes her way into the city – completely ignoring the gods on the walls who are trying to attack her out of panic.
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-The Present
The mana cannons atop the wall fire at the white fog for several seconds, yet Das is feeling no change coming from there.
Das is already suspecting the truth, but when the fog recedes, he still gets surprised when he sees a lone, black knight. That black knight is currently holding up his hand and blocking all the mana cannons' strikes with his palm.
Before Das can issue another order, the black knight suddenly takes off "his" helmet… and the old god sees a familiar face. 'Freyya? How…?'
Well, it's not that hard, when you think about it. There's usually some extra space inside a suit of armor – enough space for a woman to comfortably hide her gender. After all, despite having to squish her breasts a little, there's still enough space in the armor for it to fit comfortably.
Frankly, Freyya didn't even have to wear an illusion to pass as a boy, though she had a spell on to make herself look taller, just in case.
As for her wings… That needed a special illusion spell to hide.
Seeing Freyya here, Das is noticeably disturbed. "If Freyya is here, then where is the rest of her army?" he wonders aloud.
Haalfrin answers, "She has those soul lanterns, so she can store her armies in small places. She could have easily stored them away, then sent them after your shrines."