The first of the trinity to arrive was obviously the master of the land where the meeting ground had been made, the goddess of dusk, the champion of the northern wars, the blade of the eclipse, Dzalitsunya. Long ago, back when her mind was young and her body less scarred, she had made the palace in the hopes that someday all gods would sit on the tables and discuss a better future. Such delusion had long been dispelled, the illusion of the planet on the walls was not one that inspired hope, but instead, courage, for the battles yet to come.

She took her seat, still at times tugging where shadow petal was supposed to be, other times touching the side of her face now clad in an eye patch, the wound from the battle never recovering, perhaps by her own decision.

All alone in the room, she was left with enough time in her hand to rearrange the furniture to better reflect the trio of the northern alliance, over the long table of the gods. Then, at the last minute, she undid her change, keeping the table and all of its extra seats, perhaps a reminder of all that they had to lose to get here. Then, all that was left for her to do was to wait.

“So gloomy, darling!” Benea had snuck up on Dzallitsunya during her thoughts and placed both her hands on the goddess' shoulders. “I commend you for your strength in all this.” Benea’s voice seeped with compassion. Looking up at her, the typically overbearing goddess hadn’t changed a bit. She still had her smile and she still had her flowery clothes and flawless appearance — she seemed calm, relaxed, as if the world wasn’t ending. Then again, this wasn’t the first time Benea had seen the end of the world.

Dzalitsunya now had the maturity to understand much of Benea, enough at least to understand how far ahead the other goddess was. Perhaps she too would stopped changing so drastically given thousands of years and multiple apocalypses. Not that her plans would allow for such long term worries.

“Pardon me Benea. I just did not feel like erasing the dead like this. It was not my objective to be gloomy.” the scarred dusk goddess smiled and gave the calla lily a hug and then smiled for once. “How were things in the far east? Did you bring me a souvenir?” she joked.

"A little carving of a weasel." Benea plopped the small trinket into the goddess's lap, clearly ignoring any joke on the matter. "Sly and cute, much like our sweet Tsunya."

“Aye! In some land people would take weasels like insults, but these fellas are held in some respect on dusklander society.” she bowed. “I myself, don’t have much, unfortunately, the lands of Anak’Thas to the east were too warped by war, I did however, want to return this to you.”

The goddess of the dusk offered to Benea the rings of the fallen Paladins of Coldshanks, wrapped in the fort’s main banner. Benea smiled softly as she took them and then laid a hand in Dzallitsunya's shoulder.

"Thank you of course, dear," Benea said before pouting. "But where in all that is good is our lovely Xavior?"

Spoken of, the demon appeared, clad in a business suit and carrying a pair of very uncontemporary tablets beneath his arms. He paused at the precipice of the room, lips pursing for a moment as he beheld the original intent of this room, before regaining his composer and greeting the pair “Benea. Dzalitsunya. I hope I did not keep you waiting too long? ”

"Not particularly. I would classify it as, hmm, fashionably late. As the youth would say." Dzalli leaned and gave a somewhat weak but sincere smile. "I hope you are fine? I have to confess I completely zoned off the western areas given the battles."

“All is calm in the west. Well. Mostly. There is a fair amount of… agitation regarding the end of the world, as you might expect” the god replied carefully as he set down the tablets on the table and took a seat “but other than that all is well. It is the south we need to be concerned about.”

"I am doing all I can to repurpose what is left of Anak's force while also licking my own wounds. The Daman are thoroughly defanged, though I have avoided contact with Anna given her recent actions, I would dare say that the North is well secured." The goddess that had been so warm now spoke with a certain steel edge and an equally unmoving iron expression.

"For the South. Our main worry seems to be the way the enemy can spread. With my navy in the inner sea the blockade of information is less critical, though far from perfect. I say we join forces, but together all over our, ahem, fireworks, at play, especially using my navy to get close to the node, and then we scorch that which is already lost." The globe meant to be a reminder of the peace and tranquility, now seemed more like a strategic planning screen.

"Our enemy will be attached to the central node, this might give us the advantage. My people, with the Cinnabar Forge, and yours, Xavior, with the magmatic magic, with the survival expertise of the Paladins and their wasteland training on node 2… we are best fit to take and exploit node 28, put those endless volcanos to excellent use. My magistrates will scout the south for any sort of resistance left, be it the mages and what not, whatever else can be added to our power. This will be the final war and there is no reason to spare any resources, even if a front will be too weak to push, a total attack from all sides will still be our best bet."

“Our biggest concerns are the hivemind in node 18 and Garravar,” Benea added, her voice akin to a seasoned leader all of a sudden. “No doubt Garravar will appear in the first battle, do not engage him — I’ll finish what I started on my own. It’s the safest way. As for the hivemind, I suggest bringing our best shock troops to support my dragon.”

“There have been some recent aerial innovations on my people’s end that might be best suited to escorting your dragon. Speed being of the essence here I’ve taken the liberty of assembling a loyal strike force consisting of all the fliers at my disposal, and would put myself at its head so as to move across the world as fast as possible” Xavior suggested, having put aside the doubt about Grym being their foe in the name of pragmatism. The universe, it seemed, had had quite enough of his wait and see approach to things. 

“As for the rest of my forces… I will admit, my style of leadership and governance is not well suited to all out war, and the transition to it is having some… teething problems” he had to admit before clarifying simply that “financial incentives do not hold much weight when the world is about to end. Which is why it is imperative, for me, to get an understanding of what victory will look like, so that the people know what they are fighting for”

“Which brings us to the big question,” Benea interjected. Sitting between the two, she took each of their hands and gripped them tight. “Which of you two will bring about their will, who will inherit the world?”

“You are excluding yourself from the running already?” Xavior noted with curiosity “May I ask why?”

“I had my time, dear,” Benea answered coolly and with a smile. “Though, if you two wish to defer to me a third time, I will do so without question.”

Xavior nodded, before turning to Dzalitsunya and saying “So. You and I.” pausing for a moment and then offering her the floor by saying “If you have a sales’ pitch, now would be the time for it”

Dzallitsunya smirked. “It is simple. We blow up the sun.” she gave some time for the joke to land, but instead, seeing some of the expressions, she suspected she may have overshot and made herself sound too serious.

“Jokes aside.” she said with notable emphasis. “I believe in a world with less ambition. I know it may sound anathema to what we have to believe, but I always found the stars of the night, with their diffuse light, better than the overwhelming light of day. Fighting Anak’Thas my will over that became more steel-like than ever, the veneration of a god-king above all others, the belief that sacrificing one’s will and identity for the sake of said king. It is the same situation we see on the sky under sunlight, a light so strong all else vanishes but its power. It is the same as what we have with the crucible.”

She took a deep breath. “Would it be fair to say that among us there is a common understanding that someday, somehow, having our descendants free from the cycle of crucible and its node would be ideal? To let them rise or fail by their own accord, not by a presset game?” her words became far softer than they were when she was talking about the war. “And yet, we cannot break out the cycle, not yet. So my desire is to at least turn the possible futures towards ones that may get closer to that freedom, and, so, come to action the changes I wish to make towards that.”

“For one, yes, I do wish to diminish the sun, to keep it in a constant state of eclipse would be enough for me. People imitate what they see in nature, and the forces a ‘sun-king’ emanates are just not constructive. Second, I will try to change mankind, in particular, the chimeras of the Daman, the sensibility and telepathy gifted by Anak’Thas, perhaps even some of my own, of yours, Xavier and even the souther magiks. Third, I will see what I can add to the nodes, and if possible, try to further the regional system for more integration, as seen in the Dusklands, but node-bound. Fourth… My first act will be to abdicate godhood. The stories told by Benea convinced me of one thing, too many mistakes in the past were born from emotional attachment, time after time again. Some people, in the council of Eunomia or the Magistrates, already think gods are unnecessary, I do not think that, but should I live in the next world as a god, then I myself will become like the sun, overwhelming others with greater experience and authority… My plan, if possible, is to try to become a memory-less mortal with my family, if I cannot do that, then I will simply erase myself.”

“That seems like a gamble…” Xavier began and then paused, taking the time to think it all over, face a frown and hand stroking his goatee thoughtfully before concluding “no, that’s the wrong way to think of it. It is more of an experiment. A crucible has many gods, an interim one, so what a time with no gods looks like is indeed an interesting question that might open the way out of this mess, if not for us, then for a future generation. It is also,  ironically, akin to the question our foe is asking, just taken to its logical extreme, and, of course, without any murder invovled. Assuming we consent to share the same fate as you, of course” to which he glanced over at Benea to gauge her reaction to this.

Benea was still the entire way through the explanation. A skeptical gleam was in her eye by the time Xavior addressed her directly, summoning a flashing smile from the Goddess. "You think removing the current gods will end the cycles? What about my own birth, or my sister's? There were no gods to will us into existence and yet we were created. Voittaja was gone by the time I was born, and yet there I was, in a fresh crucible." 

“True, but we have no idea why that one ended either. It could be an interim is tied to the life of the god who made it?” Xavior hypothesized “really we just have so little information at hand, the best we can do is struggle in the dark and ensure we keep what we do know alive. Which admittedly does become more difficult if we remove immortal gods from the equation"

"Which is why I said I disagreed with the belief gods are not necessary." Dzalli interjected. "And we know interins fail, which should signal us even a lone god can become auto destructive, or that… given the lack of gods, the nodes will find their own. Perhaps there is even the possibility that given millennia and no godly oversight mortals may learn a method of ascension or of claiming a node…" this got Dzalli thinking about the only crucible that lasted thousands of years, as far as she knew.

"Benea. Excuse me for the slight change of topic, but what happened with Garravar? What was his finding that drove him to madness?" She took a deep breath. "This information was withheld before, but surely, if you trust us two enough to allow one of us to lead the triggering, then you could also trust us with that, right?"

Benea sat back in her chair and stared at Dzallitsunya for a while before nodding. “It began with the maddening of Falbach, when Falbach grew paranoid that the friends he recreated with the nodes were simply that — recreations. Then of course, Garravar was madly in love with me, and couldn’t fathom an existence where we weren’t our pure selves.”

"Explains your worry over madness being spread. And once again, makes me worry about the emotional attachments of us gods." Tsunya whispered almost as if she was thinking aloud, but she wanted to be heard in this case. "Perhaps… Perhaps we can test this somehow. If you two exchanged a code I do not know… or if a third god interjected… Hmmm. No. In any case any result could be altered by the event, if I imagined a copy of you two they would have their own code, but would it be the same? Sigh. It does not matter anyway. There is no proof the world wasn't created this very day and all else are implanted memories, to get caught up in such questions and end up committing so many atrocities against gods and mortals… how pathetic of them."

“This might be a good moment for me to bring up this little discovery of mine, tough whether it boards good or ill I can not say” Xavior reached into his coat pocket and retrieved his monocle, before placing it atop the two slabs he had brought in with him and sliding the whole set over to Tsunya  “that lens will dispel the obfuscation effect” he explained before turning to the eldest among them and asking “Now, while she reads that, tell me Benea, do you know anything about the first gods?”

“How dapper,” Benea commented offhand before looking at Xavior and giving him a big, drawn out blink. “I don’t know of them, dear, are you to say you do?”

Xavier just tilted his head to the side towards Tsunya and then waited a moment for her reaction.

Dzallitsunya’s face varied a lot while she read the work, more than it typically did, showing some rare expressions for the goddess, especially after she picked up the sword, both smugness, surprise and notable shock and discomfort. “I was once annoyed at the drama of the previous crucible that has in many ways defined ours, but drat, at least there is a direct link between us and them. To have our lives defined by these long gone entities, I guess I understand how some mortals find us frustrating. On a similar note, I guess I should apologize for thinking your people were silly for digging deep trying to escape the triggering, there is actual precedent, impressive work.”

She adjusted the monocle and patted at her chin and lips pensively. “We know the name of one of these people, Benea mentioned it, and it stuck with me. It’s the central core of much of my plans for the future. Benea told me that when she won, she was given two rules to follow, don’t mess reality and that the children of Trine would live. At the time I assumed these to be human, and it seems my shot in the dark strikes true, the four primordial gods are rings and clouds, but Trine has a face, has blood, a heart, closer to a human than flowing liquid at least. Three primordials are killed, but the one who is said to be compassionate on the tablet, was also a name Benea saw in the triggering, Kaksi… Then there is the companion… or weapon? I wish not to name it for reasons you should understand. Undoubtedly, getting involved with the killing of primordial gods is already very bad, but to have their name echo with such power is peculiar… Blegh.” the goddess simply stood back on her chain now, putting the monocle back in place, massaging her temple to alleviate the stress.

Benea raised a brow and held out her hand. “Mind if I take a look?”

Tsunya handed it over.

Slotting the monocle in place and wriggling her nose until it was comfy, Benea took a gander at the slabs. Her eyes scanned for a while, seemingly impassive at what she was reading up until a certain point where a horror entered her eyes and she slipped the monocle off. “Well if nothing else, dears, this confirms the origin of Trine and Kaksi. Like it or not, we are currently bound by their rules. Makes you wonder why, I don’t think anyone here is bound by any of [i]my[/i] rules…” She bit her thumb, unsure. “Right?”

“Well we don’t exactly know what they are, so only you can say I suppose” Xavier said before adding “Oh and for some reason, only we are bound by whater rule of fear that name creates. Mortals seem entirely immune and/or simply not targeted.”

“Well that doesn’t make things any easier to cipher.” Benea puffed a breath of air.

“It doesn’t… but I think there might be a clue?” she pressed her lips together. “A shot in the dark, if you may. But that name is related to Trine. Trine is related to humans. Humans do not fear that name. Trine and the name slayed gods… but the system that creates us gods seems concerned with the creations of Trine and under the will of the one god Trine would not hunt down.” she shook her head. “It's hard to think up solutions when we don’t even know what or who that name is. It could be a device custom made to banish divinity, it could be a person who betrayed Trine and Kaksi, it could be a person who made this system.”

“Betrayed them and then let their wills cover subsequent crucibles?” Benea seemed skeptical. “I think we need more information, dear. Perhaps we use this triggering event to prolong our lives to complete our investigation in the next.”

Tsunya was no less skeptical than Benea, she was merely creating suppositions. “I don’t particularly think it is that either, but there is precedent, Peninal was the creator of this crucible and yet still fell by Garravar’s sword and made sure his dear Olipha would be reborn” she then smiled. “As I said, should I take such a position, gods will continue to exist, I think… I would not mind you two continuing to exist. I do not know of Xavior’s arrangements, as he has so far not made his case or stated his will, but I doubt he would forcefully erase you.”

“Of course not. As for will, well, I will be frank, I have focused on the here and now for most of my life, and on the past more recently. My will for the next world would be very much being cobbled together at the last minute. That does not seem like a stable foundation to base our hopes on” Xavior admitted, before adding some more practical justification atop it “besides, as a pure numbers game goes, choosing you gives us more time, as you hold the most nodes already. Plus you have experience as a general and warrior both, whereas I only have training and experience in combat, limited as it may be. It would, I think, be optimal for you to be safely commanding from the center while I and Benea act as the proverbial wings, moving swiftly to face threats like Garravar and Grym while not risking our node holder in direct combat if possible.”

The reaction of the dusk goddess was unexpected, she blushed. "Ah? Truly? But then… wow. I… did not expect I would actually have support from the start." She brushed her hair to the side. "Nevertheless, ahem, I do agree this would be the right path… though it pains me to hide behind others, there is no doubt that I would make for the most logical target." She turned her head from one side to the other. "If Grym has defiled the bodies of the southern gods like he has with Peninal, there is no doubt they will be at play. I was wondering…"

"If seeking out Anna would be fine. Despite her transgressions and the slaying of Monica, she is not vile, merely… not smart. I was on a somewhat friendly term with her last we saw each other, and I do think she would be interested in some southern action, at the bare minimum I would like to set up a few nexus so that we may have greater mobility when it comes to taking nodes."

Benea tapped her chin and leaned back in her chair. “I will allow it, Tsunya, if only because she has your referral and we have quite the task ahead of us. How about you, sweet Xavior?”

The god had actively bristled at the thought, but he pushed down his anger and offered the concession of “Just... Keep her away from me”

“It's understandable, I will oversee her then.” Dzallitsunya bowed. “Benea, how much time do you think we have in general? If possible, I would like to extend the Mirrory training to your paladins and Xavior’s troops. As well as equipment in Mitsitaralle and Tzurkortze. Mythril and Orichalk.”

“It’s impossible to say, but I think that should be partially possible.” The Goddess put her hand ontop of Tsunya’s, “But now it is decided, your will shall be the heir to the crucible — all that’s left is the final details of battle.” She looked at the map. “I’ve sat here twice before…”

“It's a great duty I will do my best to me up to, I shall not fail your trust.” Dzallitsunya looked sternly for a moment. “May I just make one last request from you two, however? For the sake of good luck, perhaps a group hug?”

“Mmm. Fine” Xavior pushed back his chair and stood despite his general dislike for physical contact

"If you're going to give a hug, dear, do it right," Benea repeated an old phrase and stood up. She pulled Xavior in close with one arm and dragged Tsunya in with the other. Then, wrapping her arms around both, she gave a heavy squeeze.

[Hider=Summary]
NATO finally makes their reunion seeking to unify their vision on how to deal with the incoming triggering event. They do it at the palace Tsunya made like a century ago at the core of Node 7.

The discussion is pretty clear cut, Benea desired it to be between Tsunya and Xavior, and Xavior decided to let Tsunya have it, making her the future heir of the Crucible, should the trinity win.

On the topic of winning, they start to talk about their equipment, armaments and their plan on how to firebomb the global south, as NATO would. On that front, Tsunya makes the decision to try to seek Eleanna for some side-line help, despite her acts as the murderer of Monica.

They also speculate on the past, finding some hints on the nature of the first crucible but not breaking through the full truth, still, it does re-assure Dzallitsunya of her plans for the future, which is to change humankind and the environment as to guide the crucible towards a path that can break the eternal cycle of needless destruction.
[/hider]