Sister

  If there is one thing that Anrosh learned about war, it was that war was paperwork. It was astounding just how much was required in order to lead a successful war. Supplies, projections, orders, everything had to be recorded, even if permission wasn’t always required. At least not in the Sects. She shuddered to think how other factions fought wars, how much more paperwork they had.

  Sects had people who served as independent commanders, making all the decisions in the field and even deciding how to fight and execute their orders. Anrosh had read somewhere that some factions dictate everything to their armies.

  At least Anrosh had capable people to execute her designs.

  She read through a report from Nayra’s front. Her advancement had accelerated. Many factions had turned on the Exalted Empire in the path of the Sect armies, making the advancement easier. But there were also instances where the enemy had outright abandoned their positions, letting Nayra march unopposed. From the other reports she got, Anrosh assumed that they were being pressed from different sides and were forced to reposition.

  The Triumphant Hive had struck on their northern border, and every report she got from that side of the front told her the same story—the empire was losing badly.

  They’ve been also losing key strategic positions all along the coast, and deeper inland around rivers. They didn’t know who, but someone was hitting them hard on that side too.

  From everything that Anrosh was reading, it seemed like the war had turned heavily in their favor. What had once been estimated to be a war that could last decades, now seemed winnable in a manner of years. True, the lands they were advancing through right now weren’t the heart of the Exalted Empire’s, it was their occupied territory. Taking over their old territories would be a lot more difficult.

  Anrosh leaned back in her chair and stretched her arms over her head. Her armor was made perfectly to size, so it didn’t really bother her, but she still felt stifled in it. But she had learned very quickly that she should always wear it when on the front. She might not be on an active battlefield, but the enemy had shown that they could strike behind the front-lines with alarming ease.

  She sighed and rubbed her eyes, trying to think if she should take a short break to stretch her legs or just power through what she had left. Just as she was about to move to another report, she felt a tug on her Soul. Immediately she sobered and stood up, accepting the call. Kagehime appeared in her hand, ready for combat.

  This was the first time outside of training that Ryun had used his ability to call to her. The sensation was a familiar one. She felt pulled from the world, images of a deeply dark forest flashed before her eyes, the Essence of the End surrounded her gently, washing over her, and then she was somewhere else.

  She landed on the ground and looked around for threats. What she saw took her breath away. The territory around her was decimated. Massive craters covered the ground, some so deep that their bottom was hard to see. Mountains with pieces of them missing were easily seen in the distance; some were collapsing even as she watched, giant rockslides rolling down and crushing the forest in their wake.

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  The forest that was on fire, a massive blazing inferno that sent a cloud of smoke into the air creating a black curtain that covered half the sky. The air itself was red, the sky broken and void spilling through. The sun couldn’t be seen, its light shone faintly barely enough to illuminate anything. The light that let her see came from the inferno in the distance.

  Anrosh had seen a lot of battlefields, but she had never seen devastation quite like this one.

  She’d of course noticed the enemy immediately. Her attention turned to them, her Qi cycling in her core.

  “Here,” she heard a familiar voice say from above her. She didn’t turn her eyes away from the enemy, the hundreds of enemy metal ships and their mechs, but her perception could feel Ryun all around her through their connection.

  “She will be your opponent.”

  Immediately she turned her head to look above where Ryun, or rather one of his vessels, stood in the air.

  “What?”

  “What?”

  Her sentiment was echoed from the mech suspended in the air directly across from him.

  Then, Ryun turned his eyes to her.

  “Good luck sister,” then his vessel fell away, leaving her alone before an enemy army.

  On the other side of the territory, Ryun’s second manifested vessel watched from a mountain peak.

  “Are you sure that was wise?” Erdania asked; she stood nearby with her arms crossed over, staring at him.

  Ereclaw growled from his position next to her, though he was sitting and watching what was happening in the distance.

  Ryun turned his eyes to Erdania, though his attention was on Anrosh and the start of her battle.

  “We are too strong Erdania,” he said slowly, regretfully. He had already known this; it had just taken him meeting someone who was considered on the peak of power for it to set in. “I understand better now what the Dealmaker meant. What we are, what we are meant to be, it was not intended for this here realm. There is more beyond, we were supposed to be in the heavens.”

  “That might be, but it doesn’t matter, we are here Ryun. Don’t tell me that you suddenly want to take a hands-off approach? What is this?”

  Ryun grimaced. “No, of course not. You’re right, we’re here and we are part of this world, but I don’t think that there is anyone in this world who could be a real challenge to us. Not anymore. No, there is only one, and we are going to find him. Ra’azel is the only being that I will leverage all of my being and power against. You must’ve felt it too, right? Every time we fought in this war there was a lack of urgency, of threat. We obliterated everything and everyone with barely an effort. Beings like us were not meant to have such a direct influence on this world. We are more now, we are Axioms, and this here is part of who I am.”

  “Pitting Anrosh against the Herald of the Machine?” Erdania asked.

  “Yes,” Ryun nodded. “I am here, witnessing the end of a journey. And she is my instrument, my Herald. It was poetic in a way, the Herald of the Machine against the Herald of the End. Each representing a god. I’ve felt off balance ever since we became what we are. I didn’t understand it. But meeting him and realizing just how weak he was compared to me… that made things snap into place. We are gods, and we have our domains, the meanings of our Souls, our natures.”

  Erdania glanced back at the battle, though she didn’t need to. Ryun could feel her authority stretching just as his was, brushing against each other as they monitored the entire territory. He could tell that she understood what he meant.

  “You still pit her against a small army, Ryun; you might be expecting too much.”

  “She is my Herald, this is the least she should be able to do. She had done well so far in using my authority, in acting as my hand, but this here is her true calling. She is the one that will bring the End in my stead, act as my will in this world. And she needs to learn that too.”

  Erdania sighed and walked over to him, then sat down next to him, leaning her shoulder against his. Together they watched his first real friend in this world, the sister of his Soul, his Herald, bring the End.