The Greatest Sin [Progression Fantasy][Kingdom Building]

First the sorcerers, now Malam. General Iliyal Tremali stared at the cloth of his tent as he mentally re-calculated his plans. The Goddess would come first, and the Goddess was urgent, but sometimes the Goddess had such stupid requests that it made him want to throw the stupid phone in his hand against the wall and scatter it into a million pieces.

Yet Iliyal did not smash his phone. He did not shout. He did not get mad. He merely stared at the wall and thought about what he did in his past life to be cursed with the position he had now. He did not even audibly sigh or roll his eyes even though no one could see him. Malam’s voice came over the phone “So, it’s urgent, but can it be done?”

“How much do you need?” Iliyal asked. Could it be done? Of course it could be done. This was the Imperial Military. What it could NOT do?

“A container full?” Malam replied as if she wasn’t sure herself.

“So enough for a hundred men?” Iliyal asked and then immediately answered his own question. ‘Don’t worry about it. It will be done.” Malam wouldn’t know what a container full of rifles even meant and the fact she didn’t give a number meant she didn’t know herself. “I’ll send two hundred, how about that?”

“Thanks sweetheart.” Malam replied and Iliyal stared at the wall. He liked getting praised. A person who said they did not like getting praised was a liar. It was basic instinct. However, he did not like when Malam called him sweetheart. “You there?”

“I am. I’m getting your guns now.” Iliyal said.

“No worries sweetie. Knock yourself out.” That was somehow worse.

Lyca threw one leg over the armrest of the chair as he looked at his three friends that had dragged him back to this dreaded continent which had chewed and spat him out. They had fine cars, they had expensive wines, they had running water and electricity, and Lyca would not trade his land in Kirinyaa for a single moment of this.

Those acres of fertile ash-land were his. The Imperial government had organised a re-greening campaign. Planes swooped low over the ground, spraying a fine mist of seeds and pollens. It had settled and now Lyca would step out onto his porch to see a field of multicoloured flowers and treelings breaching out over the ash. That, and he would see Eliza. His little home had no running water, nor did it have electricity. It was a simple structure of wood and stone and brick. But Eliza was there with him and they were enough for each other.

And now, as Lyca stared around the room of this Doschian motel, he felt as if he was about to go insane. It was a simple structure, the only reason it had been chosen was because of its proximity to Iliyal, the frontlines and the airfield from which Raptor One would set off to take them into Rancais. Yet for now, Raptor One was busy somewhere and Iliyal said he would have a report prepared for them. So the four sorcerers sat in this room and waited.

Lyca had unbuttoned his shirt to reveal the thick black hair on his chest. In Arika, he rarely, if ever, walked around with a shirt on, but here he had enough respect for Iliyal to not go shirtless before the general. Eliza had changed into casual clothes a size too large for her. Fleur and Edmonton stayed as they had before Iliyal, Fleur looking as if she was dressed for a funeral whereas Ed was ready for a military march. “How much longer do we have to wait?” Fleur asked for the tenth? Maybe twentieth time today.

There was nothing in the room apart from two beds, two small tables and a clock on the wall. “Precisely fifty-one minutes have passed since we got here.” Edmonton said. “It’s not even been an hour yet, even Iliyal is not that fast.”

“Well he should be! It’s not his family!” Fleur said. Lyca and Edmonton and Eliza all shared a look. Sorcerers had access to more documents than common soldiers. And it was Fleur herself who had shown them the Operation Skystealer reports. Iliyal Tremali had sent Ilwin Tremali, his grandson, off on what was effectively a suicide mission just for the chance of drawing Leona to him. But that didn’t matter, Fleur wouldn’t want to hear it now. Frankly, Lyca wished he could got and snuggle with Eliza privately. But he couldn’t, he had to pretend he was in any way competent at supporting Fleur through this time of crisis. So he sat, sprawled out on an uncomfortable chair, and waited.

The hairs on his neck stood up first. Then on his arms. Then his chest. “Are you fine?” Eliza asked as Ed narrowed his eyes as he saw the saws stand up.

“That is fucking weird Lyca.”

“Don’t be jealous just because all your hair is above your eyes.” Lyca said, although he knew what the hairs standing meant. He pointed to the door. Ed, Fleur and Eliza all turned to look at the shoddy piece of blue-painted wood. Lyca heard the footsteps from the outside. He didn’t know how he could hear it, he didn’t know when it changed, but he had noticed it in Arika. Eliza could be in another room and Lyca would hear her even when she was tip-toeing about.

“What?” Edmonton asked.

“Five.” Lyca said as he listened to the steps. “Four. Three. Two. One.” And there was a knock on the door. Eliza beamed a proud smile at Lyca, Ed and Fleur both looked at the man sprawled over the chair in surprise as Lyca smiled up at them and raised a taunting eyebrow.

“It’s the hair on your chest.” Lyca said. “Makes your hearing better, did you know?”

“Shut the fuck up.” Edmonton said in exasperation as Lyca stood up to see what it was. It was safe here, but it was a habit he had developed during the invasion of Kirinyaa. It wasn’t even a case of being ambushed, instead it was better to be standing simply in case it was Anassa who was behind the door. Tall Ed twisted the handle as the four sorcerers stood at attention.

It was a soldier. Nothing more than that. A completely normal man in a suit of grey and green, with a beret and a rifle slung behind his arm. He had a letter in his hands. “For the four sorcerers.” The man declared who the letter was for in a half-shout rather than said normally. “I assume that’s you.”

“That is.” Ed replied. “Ed Weaver.”

“General Tremali did not give me your names. He just told me you would be expecting something.”

“We are.” Ed replied coldly as he looked at the letter in the man’s hands. “That’s for us?”

“That is.” The soldier handed it to Ed and saluted. Lyca smiled as he felt his hand move automatically and saw Edmonton, Fleur and Eliza all respond at the same time. Some things had simply become muscle memory after Kirinyaa. Returning a salute was as natural as not needing to think about breathing. The soldier finished his salute and bowed his head. “Thank you. Gods bless.” He made a sharp turn on the spot and marched off.

Now that he was up, Lyca decided he may as well get the bottled beer he had put into the small fridge next to the beds. Everyone got a bottle, Lyca crashed back onto his seat as Eliza climbed to sit on his bed and Fleur sat on Ed’s. Ed himself stood and tore the envelope open. He scanned the first line quickly and then realised he wasn’t alone. “Sorry, it’s a report from Iliyal.”

“Well read it out loud then.” Fleur said.

“He is fast.” Lyca said. He assumed they would get a report today, Iliyal wasn’t the sort to keep people waiting, but sometimes he was so fast that it made Lyca feel put to shame.

“Well he is a General.” Eliza said. “That’s a different breed.”

“Right. It’s not that long though.” Edmonton said as he changed his voice to a flatter tone. “Operation Lawbringer: By General Tremali, Iliyal.”

“It sounds like he’s quoting his own name.” Eliza said jokingly and everyone laughed. They all had too many experiences of writing essays back in Arcadia for it not to be funny.

“There’s no pre-amble or introduction.” Edmonton said. “He doesn’t waste his time. He just goes straight into it. Team A will be dropped over southern Rancais during the day time. They will locate the target and call for support. Raptor One will land to pick them up.”

“Simple enough.” Lyca commented.

“Simply isn’t bad.” Fleur quickly added.

“That’s it.” Edmonton said. “That’s the plan, there’s a page of warnings though.”

“Is there now?” Lyca asked. “Let’s hear them.” Frankly, he could not give a rat’s ass about these warnings. What? Bring food? Don’t get poisoned? Edmonton scanned them quickly and whistled.

“Some of them are serious. This one is: Anarchia, of Anarchy, is not to be engaged under any scenario. The Goddess is capable of stealing power as has been discussed. This does not have to be done through touch. Getting within of Anarchy’s leeching ability is an effective death-sentence. Once it starts, no help bar retreat can be given.”

“That’s standard Divine procedure.” Lyca said. “Remember facing Elassa in the mountains?”

“I never saw her.” Edmonton said and Lyca shrugged.

“You didn’t miss out.” Eliza said. “She just came in and wiped entire brigades away. Like this.” The girl snapped her fingers and flicked her brown hair back. “Literally just that, there was nothing to see.”

“Oh.” Edmonton said.

“I saw her twice.” Fleur said. “I lost two sorcerers to her once.”

“How did that go?” Lyca asked.

“It didn’t.” Fleur said seriously. “If I didn’t know they were sorcerers, then I would have just said they were normal humans. Honestly.”

“So we avoid Anarchia if she appears.” Lyca said. “Fair enough.” It really was, he knew he was powerful, but there was a limit to power. Anassa had beaten that limit into him. Maybe once day he would be able to surpass Anassa, but Lyca simply didn’t worry about it. He knew where he was.

Edmonton cleared his throat and read out another point. “For pick-up, we will either fashion a runway or clear one of the highways if no airport is available for the Raptors. Alternatively, if we get close to Rilia, Doschia or the coast, pickup can be via helicopter.” Edmonton raised an eyebrow but no one had any comment. That was standard procedure frankly. Lyca had expected needing to fashion airstrips. “We’ll get guns, ammunition, a pack, meals, water and radio. What we can carry basically.”

“No tents?” Eliza asked.

“Rancais is warmth this time of year.” Fleur said.

“Will you carry one?” Ed asked.

“I suppose I won’t.” Eliza replied.

“I’ll bring a sleeping bag.” Lyca said. “What about the guns? Why them?”

Edmonton re-read one section of the paper. “It’s because if possible, we’re not to use sorcery. The sooner we reveal ourselves, the greater the chance of Anarchia or…” Ed cracked a smile and a laugh.

“What?” Eliza asked.

“Why are you laughing?” Fleur was just as fast.

“I’ll say it how it’s written.” Edmonton and proceeded to quote the letter. “So called superheroes.”

“Excuse me?” Eliza asked.

“Like in the movies?” Lyca asked. Superheroes? What?!

“That’s what it says.” Edmonton said. “There’s a section on them here, listen: Superheroes are given power by Anarchia. The mechanism of energy transfer is unknown. Strength, speed and durability large enough to pose an issue to Divines has been confirmed. Averages of these capabilities are unknown. Maximums of these capabilities are unknown. Minimums of these capabilities are unknown. Visual signs of these capabilities are-“

“Let me guess.” Lyca interrupted the man. “Unknown?”

Edmonton tilted his head from side to side. “I’d give you that but it says: Unknown, however individuals with no changes yet enhanced characters have been confirmed. Some units report additional limbs although these are undocumented.”

“Wonderful.” Eliza said sourly.

“Anything else?”

“Non physical characteristic enhances are unconfirmed but unknown. However rumoured to exist. One unit in southern Doschia swears that they have captured images of a group of enemy soldiers however when inspected, the images are blank. Note: This can either be unrecordability or mass psychosis.”

“Anything real?” Fleur asked.

“What?”

“Like magical capabilities?”

“That’s true actually.” Lyca commented. “I don’t think any of us actually care about unrecordability here.”

“There’s nothing else.” Edmonton said as he scanned the paper. “Actually, there is one thing more.”

“What?”

“The green light is tomorrow at dawn.” The man put the report down and made a face to all of them. He picked up his bottle of beer and took an exasperated sigh. “Well that was something, definitely.”

“Are you having second thoughts?” Lyca asked. He took another swig of the beer.

“Are you?”

“Am I?” Lyca asked. “Do I look like I’m worried?”

“No, you’re excited.” Edmonton replied.

“Really?”

“You sound it.” Fleur said coldly.

“We’ll save them.” Lyca said and lifted up the beer bottle once again.

“I have no doubt we will.” Edmonton replied as he looked at Fleur. The girl was staring at the report he had at down, unaware of the open bottle of bubbling beer next to her. Eliza saw Lyca’s eyes pass over her and smiled as she raised her bottle. So did  

Lyca raised his glass even though it was Eliza who gave the toast. “Cheers to saving everyone!” At first, Lyca had assumed this was going to be a simple in-and-out mission. A pickup of civilians and then a quick leave. This though? There were people who called themselves superheroes?

“Cheer to us.” Eliza gave hers and Fleur quickly sprung into motion as she realised it was her turn to give a toast.

“Cheers to a job well done.” Fleur said and turned to Lyca.

The man gave his own, horribly sarcastic and taunting. “Cheers to seeing how super these heroes will actually be.” That was something to drink to indeed.