[color=aaaaaa] [color=FFFFFF]"I just hope ye know what ye are doin'."[/color] Hope was about all anyone had left. Perhaps the horrors of war had softened Uncle Lalli, or maybe a part of him wanted to believe like the rest of the Henriksson family. Either way, it was decided that the nameless goddess’s life would be spared. But this did raise one final complication; The ritual to awaken her from such a cursed slumber would not be over quickly. The fighting in Silver Myth Keep would continue, and every twelve hours, one of the witch queen’s boats would arrive to deliver supplies and fresh guards. If not stopped, they would learn of the keep’s fall, and would send reinforcements in time. The nightmare would persist for a little longer. Many more would die, but in the following hours the keep was controlled by the rebels. Several days passed with the periodic blood queen ship showing up. The temptation was to try to take them out before they landed, but the more pragmatic approach was to let them dock and ensure none of the guards could report what happened. This fighting wasn’t as bad anyway. The rebels had taken many weapons and gained access to tomes filled with forbidden magic. Forbidden in the eyes of the blood queen at least. She had been careful to recover as many of Gilla’s arcane texts as possible. The machine gun nests had been moved to the back of the castle where they could do far more good against the guards, and the rebels even had a few skirmishes where they didn’t lose a single life. After a few days the next ship missed it’s delivery time. Everyone knew what that meant. They had figured out something was wrong and were getting together to retake the keep. When the queen’s forces next appeared, it was an assault on all fronts. The sea, land, and even sky were filled with her forces. The Henriksson magi surrounding the goddess had gotten little rest during the ritual. They had chanted and prayed well into the night, not even interrupting their ritual to eat or sleep. Some collapsed under the strain, and a fresh Magi took their place. In this way, Gustaf was unique. While he might not have been as experienced as some of the older mages, he had the vitality to see the ritual through. Finally, the goddess sat up with a start. Her hand clutched her bed sheets as she gasped for breath. Her youthful features made her appear quite young, but her eyes betrayed that. She had seen many horrors, and despite her long slumber, she looked like she hadn’t slept for a [i]very[/i] long time. The silent goddess did not have a name that anyone knew. She was often just called the goddess or the nameless goddess, as she never spoke. Scripture was unclear on her role in the creation of the world, but she always made an appearance before times of prosperity. As the queen’s forces closed in on the keep, they were met by an invisible barrier. Bombs from above, mortar shells from the sides, and cannon fire from the sea. Twelve high mages pooled their mana together to summon a meteor and dropped it on the barrier, only to watch as it was reflected back into the sky. The witch queen's forces realized they were too late and fled before the rebels could retaliate. The goddess lowered her hand. Her breathing slowed and she looked at those that surrounded her. Strangers, but far friendlier faces then the one she saw before going to sleep. After taking in her surroundings, she placed her hands over her eyes and wept. It was over. The nightmare was over. … … … Elsewhere, the blood witch queen continued her campaign. There weren’t many cities left, and once she was done here she would have all the greater nations under her control. Then she could start conquering what was left of the lesser nations. But the prospect bored her. With such resources at her disposal there was no reason to personally attend battle. That had been the case for a long time. While her mount laid waste to a hapless village, she thought back on how it all started. She had devised a cunning plan to weaken the silent goddess and inherit her powers. That was the most daring thing she had ever done. Even when she waged war on Gilla’s [i]wicked[/i] queen, who would murder her parents simply for practicing blood magic, it paled when compared to the rush of laying a goddess low. She could still recall her frozen gaze before the blood witch placed her in an eternal nightmare. There was something inherently satisfying about defiling the pure. Perhaps that's why she liked conquests so much. Few things brought her as much pleasure as turning a perfectly functional society on its head. A smile crossed her face when she thought back on her childhood. Her sister often built little towns out of twigs, and the blood witch would always come by and knock them down. Her sister would ask her why she didn’t just make her own buildings to knock down, but it was pointless to explain. Surely her sister realized it was [i]always[/i] more fun to tear down what someone else has built. Before her massive army was a single soldier. One too young to call a man. He had a rifle in his hands, and a sword and shield on his back. Calipsa was not a wealthy nation; each guard carried a rifle with exactly five shots. After depleting them, they brought out their swords and shields to finish skirmishes. This lad thought he could actually shoot her. But no gun could hit her before she could hit them. The boy foolishly fired anyway. His bullet would never hit his target. But after the shot, The blood beast howled. The queen’s silver throne tipped side to side before sinking inside the blood beast. The creature’s blood ran off like a melting snowman, and the bones were left on the ground. In a matter of seconds, the illegitimate queen was laying in a pool of blood surrounded by the bones of things long dead. She was surprised, but not as much as the soldier that fired at her. She raised her hands in hopes of recovering the blood beast, but nothing happened. The flames that wreathed her form started to go out, and she was left cold and covered in blood. What happened? The soldier’s bullet certainly hadn’t done anything. The blood witch had set things up so that she couldn’t be beaten. The nameless goddess worked in dreams, so the queen's power hinged on keeping her in an eternal nightmare. The goddess’s nightmare became real through her magic, and assisted the queen on her conquests. Anything that could bring down the blood beast would have to be powerful enough to interfere with the goddess’s magic, but such things did not exist. The blood witch had defeated the silent goddess through guile. Had they had a traditional fight, she’d have surely been slain. She could have only lost the blood beast if the goddess was awakened or slain. Either the Gilla rebels finally gotten inside Silver Myth Keep, or her incompetent sister managed to botch things somehow. After thinking about it, her sister couldn’t screw something up so trivial. Such stupidity, while not wholly below her sister, was still unlikely. It had to have been the rebels doing, and she [i]knew[/i] there was no way they awakened the goddess. The blood witch grinned when she tried to picture the goddess in her final moments, surrounded by those who should have been trying to protect her. They must have felt so conflicted when they realized killing her was the only way. Tho The people of Gilla could play the oppression card all they liked, but they were no different than her. She just happened to be wealthier and stronger than them. They would all rule just as she had if they were in her position. The Calipsan soldiers drew closer, guns raised. Her own army had realized something was wrong. While the blood witch’s forces were impressive, they were all cowards. People who had decided it was better to comply than to resist. The idea that they may be in trouble destroyed their morale. The brave among the blood witch’s ranks struggled to get their men under control. Meanwhile, the smaller, yet determined Calipsan soldiers had been backed into a corner. Such simple creatures were practically forced to go forth. If she still had her powers, they would be dead already. Now they knew something was wrong too. The blood witch could tell they weren’t going to kill her, even if they wanted to. They would capture her. The people of Calipsa were known for their empathy and compassion towards their enemies. They would make an example out of her for sure, but she would be shown mercy if she returned what she conquered back to the people and disbanded her new world order. She might be allowed to live a humbled, yet comfortable life in a Calipsan monastery. What a despicable existence. Even without the power of the goddess’s nightmares, the witch queen’s powers were still potent. She cast her hand forward and the pool of blood behind her turned into a salvo of blood arrows. The Calipsan soldiers all fired on reflex. Hundreds of metal pellets soared past the witch queen, but even more hit their mark. Her beautiful cloak was turned to rags in an instant. Her marble white skin ruptured and tore in irreparable ways. Her teeth, the ones that hadn’t been shot out of her head, were stained red with her blood. Her spell failed before it could reach her targets, and she collapsed onto her back. She couldn’t feel her legs, and knew she’d never stand again. As her strength faded and her senses dimmed, Her gaze was cast towards the open sky. If she could have conquered a bit longer, maybe she’d have taken to the skies to do battle with the gods that resided there. But ultimately, she decided she was satisfied with what she was able to accomplish. Historians would be writing books about her until time itself ceased to function. She was a legend in the making, and no one would ever truly forget about her. If she were ever reincarnated perhaps she would have the chance to try again. [color=FFFFFF]"Thanks everyone. Until next time."[/color] the blood witch could hear footsteps approaching, but couldn’t tell if it was her own men or the Calipsan soldiers. But as her vision of the sky faded to black, perhaps it didn’t matter. With the last of her fading strength, she curled her lips into a smile. And that was the last thing Gilla’s illegitimate queen did. Her reign had finally ended. … … … Without the queen to manage her dark empire, it quickly crumbled. Over a number of months, the last remnants of her armies were put to death. Many of the territories she controlled were able to liberate themselves. But the world had been greatly affected by the blood witch and wouldn’t be going back to normal any time soon. Yet the present was becoming more bearable. The newly in power were able to direct their countries in a direction that best served their people. In Gilla, the blood witch had wisely destroyed the royal family to ensure her rule was unchallenged. For a time, the Silent Goddess was made leader. But she quickly helped build a new government and left her post to the new prime minister. Through the ages she has been sighted around the world, and continues to be a good omen wherever she shows up. It is believed that the world’s gradual recovery from the blood witch’s reign is largely due to her influence. History would remember the blood witch’s effect on the world more than her individual conquests. No history book bears her name, and treats her rule as a cataclysmic event that should be forgotten. Everyone who served her was put to death, and the forest she grew up in was razed to the ground. Her story lives on as a cautionary legend about a covetous witch who used the nameless goddess’s power to acquire the world. Like she suspected, she will never be forgotten, but she won’t be remembered with a great amount of clarity. The world will never return to normal. But if things keep moving in the right direction, peace and prosperity would be attainable for a time. Silver Myth Keep was turned into something of a tourist attraction. Through careful use of divination magic and traditional sculpting, every soul that was lost that day was immortalized as a statue. Everyone’s statue was placed where they had died, though there were a few embellishments. Great Grampa Lalli, while he rode on a motorcycle, was depicted riding a rocket straight into the fort’s walls. Apparently that was what he had originally wanted to do, but the blood witch had made it near impossible to do such a thing. Kaapo Lalli had his pistol aimed at a guard, who appeared to be collapsing after the shot landed. Though Kaapo was heroically posed in the jaws of a shark and using his legs to keep its jaws open. Viivi Lalli was posed dying in Richard’s arms, having just opened the draw bridge for everyone else. Great Grandma Henriksson’s beehive had been instrumental to stopping the machine gun fire, and so she was carved out being full of vitality. She stood upright, back and legs straight, with her staff transformed into a giant sunflower. Boston Jones was also there, cheering on Kaapo while his truck shielded everyone from gunfire, and Sally Dallas was up on the battlements landing the killing shot on the gunner. Even the forces of Silver Myth Keep were immortalized, if less favorably. Chase was depicted, suitably, as a cowardly individual. But he was sculpted jumping off the battlements out of fear, with a hungry shark waiting below him. Though perhaps the most egregious example of embellishment was the blood witch’s sister. She was depicted as a tall, shapely, seductive vixen. And rather than boldly standing her ground, she was depicted fleeing the room, with a dagger sticking out of her back. It was a slightly controversial piece, but few would complain about the sister of a treasonous dictator being depicted that way. Some say the dagger in her back is from how she was betrayed by the blood witch rather than an attempt to paint her as a coward. Perhaps the most gripping piece was the one done in the sleeping goddess’s cell. While every statue at Silver Myth Keep was erected to remember those that died, the ones here were done to remember the feud and its resolution between the Lalli and Henriksson families. Unlike the rest of the keep, there was little embellishment here. The tense standoff between Uncle Lalli and Great Grandpa Henriksson was on full display, with all the other family members present. Uncle Lalli had just lowered his gun, with Gustaf trying to wake the goddess. The only alteration to the scene was that they corrected Gustaf’s crooked glasses to suit the mood better. While it is always good to remember the past, one must not forget to take steps towards the future. There will be plenty of trials and tribulations to keep the world busy on its road to recovery. Another tale for another time, perhaps… [/color]