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[color=7bcdc8][h3][color=#0AF7FF]D[/color][color=#10E6F1]z[/color][color=#16D6E4]a[/color][color=#1CC6D6]l[/color][color=#22B6C9]l[/color][color=#28A5BB]i[/color][color=#2F95AE]t[/color][color=#3585A1]s[/color][color=#3B7593]u[/color][color=#416486]n[/color][color=#475478]y[/color][color=#4D446B]a[/color] VI[/h3][/color][/center]

There was calm in the lunar inspired fields of Node 9. The Daman were gone, their race still ongoing, and the goddess finally could appreciate the silver dunes and shining white flowers as well as the visage of the cold mist that rose from the freezing shores of this land's massive crescent shaped lake.

Of course this land provided booms for her people, the white lotuses floating in the nitrogen waters, the sugar cane on the gentler fields, even the flowers themselves, the silver cotton, the seeds and herbs. It still was inhospitable to most, not deadly, but even animals seemed to avoid the land, a few darting and rabbits called this land home, almost free from predators, almost, for in the conversion, a few drakes had too been tamed and bound to the land, though as the lesser version of the lesser version of a beast, they were little but another animal of the land, chaos fully expunged from their core.

[color=7bcdc8]"I wish we could stay here longer"[/color] she whispered to her wolf companion, but, much like everything else, Anak'Thas and the Crucible stole all that was dear to her. With a sigh she stood up, touching the node one last time to share it with Xavior, then leaving to collect samples of all she had gifted the land, so that her magistrates and newly founded alchemists would find their uses and further enhance the Duskland's potential. 

She was sure they would love the sugar especially, so far they had to make do with concoctions and apple extracts, but this was sucrose in its purest. The sugar canes could also produce ethanol, another product that was becoming highly desired, especially in Badja Kiri. With her hands full, she looked once again at the field of white and grey, dunes and flowers, a mirror of the moon above and...

[color=ed1c24][b]CARMINE[/b][/color]

[color=ed1c24]The sky shone red, tinting the pure and white of the moon with blood, her fields of innocent white were poured in the sanguine carmine, each and every tulip, lotus and rose, the streams of cold nitrogen, red. Her mind too, went red, her eyes too she imagined, a feeling surging into her, as if the world broke a bit more, a hollowness in her chest and yet a rush of blood and fury to her head. Cracking crystal and tooling bells.[/color]

[b]WHITE[/b]

In a moment, it was gone. But the feeling of red stood. A scar in her mind, and a memento in the flowers and plants she had just caught, all fallen to the ground. What had just happened? Whatever it was, it was not good... something that could turn even the gentle night into something so obscenely deranged and violent... truly, the crucible would not allow her to have anything.

When she returned to Vallora, further proof would be given of that.

[hr]

[color=7bcdc8]"And this is what happened at Coldshanks"[/color]

The room where the goddess had met with her elite overlooked much of the verdant land of Node 13, tainted with the red of the dawning sun. It was a silent cold morning, the only noise being made were the exhausted panting of a magistrate, who had run day and night to deliver this message and their first hand account, which the goddess could peer into given the link between her and the magi.

"How could the fortress fall so quickly?" questioned Daga, sister of Zed, and one of the three best skilled generals in all of the dusklands, one of the two darkhorses of the program held at the Mirori dream battles. "Even with magic, a bunch of kopesh yielding zealots should not be able to simply overrun Paladins. Its... not logical, is Anak'Thas willing to send his whole population against us?"

"Why should he care? The population of the verdant lands breeds like rats in a granary." ever stern Hatzur retorted, wife of Marana, leader of the unshakeable Hatzur-Marana banner. The one who all expected to be one of the leading generals, and she had lived up to expectations. "Their people don't know struggle or hunger, they do not have to plan for dry seasons and winters, especially in the new Nodes. So he sends them in human waves to be slaughtered, but not before the men breed the women so that the another wave may grow inside them."

Silence, the Orichalk clad woman looking to the side. "No offence." she declared to the third great general, the second and most true of the dark horses, for the man was not a dusklander, on the contrary, a few season ago he had been one of the most fierce of their enemies, with the blood of people they knew and liked in his hand. 

It took divine intervention for the man to not be killed when out of nowhere he showed up in Vallora, 'I was just following orders' didn't cut with Hatzur, who had merely retorted 'then blame and hate those who ordered you for what I am about to do.'. But he had come in peace, unarmed, with his family, something was fishy, and both the magistrates, and later Dzallitsunya, had given him the benefit of his doubt.

He tried again and again to explain Anak'Thas tactics, but his tales were so wild the dusklanders took them for fables. Being ignored, he took to himself to join the competition of dream generals, landing the second position. Theodoro, the sunlander, the wretch of Anak'Thas, even with Dzalli's blessing, most took his appointment as insanity.

Now, with the images Dzallitsunya saw in the Magistrate's mind, he had been truly vindicated.

"So." he declared. "As I warned, the Legion is a machine, Anak'Thas, cursed be he, has warped them fully out of the spectrum of humanity. A movie wall of cold eyed bodies, ready to strike." he took a sip of the fire tea he had been served. "And this is only of the many debaucheries he brings. Be prepared."

[color=7bcdc8]"Theodoro, I must say I am sorry. Seeing what I saw, I can understand why you took your daughter away from it."[/color] the goddess said in a low, almost ashamed tone.

"I could not have her grow to be part of that or worse things." The man shook his head, sorrow in his eyes. "I wish I had believed in you sooner too. I believed in bright lights, but the brighter the light the darker the shadow, but the gentle light has a gentle shadow."

Hatzur and Bada stared at each other for a moment, the latter deciding to speak. "My lady, what shall we do now? Do you think the troops we have and are sending will be enough?"

Hatzur crossed her arms and. "Goddess, the food situation is truly problematic, we put so much effort into making our lands bountiful, while other lands get all of that with much less effort."

[color=7bcdc8]"I think retraining and adaptation would be best, but we need a stronger military presence right now or risk worse results. As to you, Hatzur, There are consequences to taking farmland for granted, overproduction without care will lead to loss of quality given enough time."[/color]

"Right, but that is in decades or centuries, but right now, more free hands not tied to the farms would be better. Perhaps, moving farmers next spring? From the more arid areas of 8 to maybe farms in the 13? With our techniques and irrigation allied to the already bountiful land, the crop output would be absurd."

At that the goddess stopped, rubbing her chin. [color=7bcdc8]"If we expanded our farms to the sunlands, there is the danger our techniques would spread, can you imagine how much scarier the verdant lands would become with our botanical expertise available?"[/color]

Hatzur for once was shook. [color=7bcdc8]"Yes, exactly what you are thinking. Thankfully, Badja Kiri has made us proud and met expectations, I will give them directions and I am sure they will further work on solve our issues, there is much potential still in all of our lands. They may be harsh, but they are rich in resources and filled with excellent people."[/color]

Theodoro leaned forward "Some blessings are curses, roads and bountiful farmlands make it ease for anyone to prosper, friend, or foe. A dusklander army can easily forage for food in Node 13, 14, and so on, but could a foreign army do the same in 8 or 7?"

"A foreign army will never step in our lands." Hatzur cut him quickly. "But I see what you mean. Still, more hands to hold weapons will always be welcomed."

"Oh, but what about the reinforcements from the other paladins and the Xaviorard mercenaries?" Daga questioned.

"Psshhh, Benea just left her own to die like dogs, we should not count on her for a thing. Do not forget we also once held Node 14, but she made no effort in defending it."

"Hatzur... we were just discussing how the fanatical attack of Anak'Thas caught all of us..." Daga stared at Theo before adjusting her sentence. "Most of us by total surprise, its likely she did not expect them either. As for Node 14 uh... I am sure she had her reasons. Right Tsunya?"

The goddess was looking to the fields, somewhat distracted. [color=7bcdc8]"I do not understand Benea either, so many illogical choices, and now that the situation is bowling she seems to be gone."[/color] this slapped the optimism out of Daga's face. [color=7bcdc8]"But I have confirmation that more troops are arriving soon. I will also have the Paladins use my magistrate administration to coordinate more efficiently, this should give us enough of a surplus of forces... to send Daga and Hatzur back to the Mirori to train more troops and themselves."[/color]

A unified what filled the room, including Theodoro. 

"My lady, to split forces now. That is absurd." Hatzur had risen from her chair.

"I question why you elected three generals if two will be out of it for the whole thing?" Daga insinuated.

"The enemy is employing human waves, the more troops ready to attack the better, else it will turn into a torrent of defeats in detail."

Bathed in the red of the sunrise, Dzallitsunya smiled. [color=7bcdc8]"More armies means a more reserved Anak'Thas, therefore less armies means its more likely he will into the field personally, if he does, I will put out his light and save the world from bloodshed. If he does not, then I will still be on the field, holding the line, while the rest of the Dusklands marches forward, readies up, and comes fully prepared to march into 14."[/color] she laughed. [color=7bcdc8]"We must force his hand, the sooner the better, the sooner, the less people die, and if he denies us that, then that just means our control of 13 will be total, that Kiri Tzur in the central sea will be ready and functional, that our scouts will go deeper and deeper into his land and wreck havoc on their supply."[/color]

Tension somehow both increased and eased with her words, as paradoxical as it sounded.

"It almost sounds like you are itching to battle him."

[color=7bcdc8]"Oh I am. Perhaps Benea gave you the wrong impression of the gods with her total failure at Coldshanks. I do not leave my own to die, if I must, I will put myself in harms way to solve an issue over simply letting the mortals suffer for it. And the sooner Anak'Thas dies, the sooner peace will prosper, the less people will be blinded by his light."[/color] she waved at the window, causing a magistrate to lower the curtains, hiding the now fully risen sun. [color=7bcdc8]"Theodoro has reminded us of something important, which is, dusklanders are not defined by blood but by character. Anyone can become a true dusklander, once they see the harms of burning ambition and embrace the gentle shadows. We are liberators my friends, we are the truth and the promise of a better world. Once that vessel of obscene light is put out, we will bring peace to everyone from Node 13 to Node 17, and beyond."[/color]

[hr]

Bada was the last one to remain in the room besides Dzallitsunya. She hummed. "Like old times, eh Tsunyi?"

[color=7bcdc8]"Weren't we meeting regularly until recently, sister in law?"[/color]

"Ohhh boo hoo, in my brother's home I become Auntie Bada, not here, here I am good old adventurer and troublemaker Bada!"

[color=7bcdc8]"Hmm. On one side both versions look like brats, in the other, at least Zed is not asking for you to produce offspring and find a husband."[/color]

"Yeah..." she sighed. "Man, times sure changed eh? War with gods... bah. The only war back then was me teasing Croll..." the mood immediately soured. "D...Did you know his grandson became like, the head of a department in Badja Kiri? The blood runs strong! Well... after skipping a generation and... oh... damn I messed this up, huh?"

[color=7bcdc8]"Croll leaving us so soon was shocking, I was so sad back then, we lost many good people so far, many. And to bring peace, I will have to kinslay, this is all a bad joke..."[/color]

"Tsunyi..."

She turned to Bada, smiling. [color=7bcdc8]"But with each node I become closer to a god. A true god. And what problems can a true god not fix? I can somewhat defy death right now with my limited power, imagine what I can do then! So I am not really sad, this war, this slaying, it bothers me but it doesn't matter, when the world in unblinded, I can bring him back, them all back, and there won't be another fight, because we all will rest peacefully under the gentle night."[/color]


[hider=Summary]
1 - Tsunya contemplates the lunar lake and dunes, sees all these nice things she made that will all be useful and... oh shit the sky is red (cause Tael died), the moon going red has an effect on poor Tsunya, but she is okay.

2 - Back to Vallora, a magistrate gives her first hand imagery from the fall of Coldshank, it has an effect on dusklander morale. Everyone is worried, but Tsunya isn't, she has three main generals at the moment: Bada, sister of Zed, Hatzur, wife of Marana, and Theodoro, a sunlander! One that used to worship Anak'Thas before he started going full mindless clones.

3 - Tsunya and Bada remember old times and Tsunya gives a very reasonable speech about how death doesn't matter since with more nodes she will be a god and therefore she can just brings back everyone she kills. :)
[/hider]


[hider=Might Usage]
Initial 5 + 4 bonus

4 might - (Tier five) Raise a civilization to the transitory age or early fantasy industrial age (cannons and swords, longbows and gears) 
1 might - Share Node 9 with Xavior
1 might - Share Node 8 with Xavior

3 might remains.
[/hider]