Before the Battle

"No, I didn't lie to you, and no I didn't withhold information either. I told you his Knights wouldn't be coming and they didn't. I told you they were stuck in a tough war and they were! And those Archbishops made their decision after you woke up, I didn't get the chance to tell you, ok!? Plus it all works out for the better anyway, what's the problem!?" Hethoria was seething indignantly.

Simon had come into the dream understandably angry that she had avoided telling him literally any of the information that Sonia's scouts had learned, and consequently chastised her for more than a few minutes as she grew more and more irritated.

"The problem is I have three weeks to learn how to help in a fight that we're almost definitely going to lose if I don't! And you, oh great goddess of knowledge didn't have anything to say to me to warn me in the slightest!"

"Three weeks is plenty of time, look at you, how much you've learnt in a week! Triple that and you'll be talked about in hushed whispers before you know it. And look, I'm just as surprised that Aiolon's winning as you are, everything I saw made it look like I was doomed. But that's the thing, I'm not all seeing and I certainly don't have foresight! How am I supposed to guess what some random inconsequential Archbishops are going to do?"

Simon hated to admit it but she made good points in her defence, nonetheless, it did little to quell his frustration at her failure. "How useless can you be! You're a Goddess aren't you? Can't you have predicted anything?! Absolutely useless!"

This seemed to be a step too far for her, while she had clearly been annoyed by his line of questioning before, she had been treating him with some grace and letting him rant. Yet something he had just said had broken her patience and unshackled her anger.

She didn't move in the slightest, yet the void around them began to close in and darken, its bright if hollow atmosphere replaced by a black pit of dread and danger. The very air felt like it had grown heavy and cloying. A tremendous force had gathered, threatening to crush him beneath its great weight.

"I have had enough of your pettiness child. I am not your equal, and I am not your guardian. It is not my duty to solve humanities' infighting for them. You have asked for my aid and my guidance and I have given it. It is through my powers that those your scouts gleaned what knowledge they did. It is through my will that any of you possess the abilities you rely upon. It is through my will that you are not yet a corpses buried beneath the earth. Do not deign to insult me so readily child. I have entertained you and let you throw your tantrum, and now I warn you not to test my patience further."

Her words echoed through his bones, they crashed against him and consumed him in their swell, drowning him in their meaning. He could not breathe as she spoke, he could not look away, he couldn't move the slightest muscle. She commanded him not to, and he could only obey.

"That will do." The light returned as quickly as it had left, Hethoria's dark countenance gone as if a moment of nightmare in the dream.

"I trust you will weigh your words more carefully from now onwards, yes? Do not answer. We are done here tonight. I have heard your complaints and will offer my aid if I feel it necessary. It will be some time before I meet with you again. Now go, fight your little battle and see the true strength of my gift"

Simon was trembling when he woke. After the first few nights, he had begun to treat Hethoria as an equal, engaging in banter with her where he could. He had felt that, even if they couldn't truly say they were friendly with one another, they had built some form of rapport.

Tonight had proven the depths of his foolishness. He was no more her equal than an ant was to a man. If she wished, she could destroy him so readily he could not even mutter a sound in retaliation. The thought terrified him, merely her words had left him shaking, drowned in fear even as he had stood there impotently in the face of her will.

He tried to shake the thoughts away, reaching for a pitcher that had been placed on the desk beside him. It was still the dead of night, and he would have to rest for the battle tomorrow. He hoped the water would serve to cool him down and drown away the chill in his bones. Yet he did not stop shaking until dawn.

He rose that morning in trepidation. Not only had he spent the night wracked by a cosmic fear, but today he would watch Sonia risk her life and be powerless to help in any way. His own uselessness frustrated him immensely, and had likely been the real crux of his rant last night. He had justified grievances, but he knew that was not his real purpose as he berated her.

His thoughts were distant as he met Sonia in the courtyard. She and five other priests had gathered there ready to fight with their lives on the line. If they felt fear or anticipation, they did not show it. They stood stoic and patient, ready to face the coming storm. 

Simon couldn't help but feel somewhat ashamed after seeing them. He wasn't even the one risking his life and he was more terrified than they were.

"You're here Simon, that's good. We shall be leaving in a few minutes. As soon as the horses arrive from the city stables."

He realised the problem too late. "I don't know how to ride a horse actually." he sputtered.
"I had imagined not, do not worry, you will have no need to do so. The horses purpose is only to help us pursue them if they flee."
"But how are we getting out of the city then?"
Sonia smiled at his confusion. "Magic, naturally. The spells you've soon are far from the limits of what we can do."

Sonia spent the next couple of minutes talking with the other priests, reaffirming their battle tactics and preparing various contingencies should anything go wrong. It was roughly as their discussion reached its end that the horses arrived.

Simon had yet to encounter any animals in this world outside of birds. He had though he'd seen cows in the distance on some of his runs, but they were too far away to properly see. It was some relief then that the horse seemed normal to him, no unique features or notable separations from what he had experienced in his past life.

The reins were handed to Sonia and the five priests one by one, each gathering in formation at the center of the training yard afterwards. Sonia led the front of the van, with two sets of two priests lined up behind her, a singular man took position at the rear.

"Next to me Simon, it'll be safest for now." He didn't need to be told twice, shuffling into place beside her.

There wasn't any particular signal from Sonia for them to begin. Instead, the world seemed to shimmer for a moment before him, space seemed to stretch and compress before tearing itself apart. Simon wasn't sure it was possible to describe what he was seeing as anything other than a portal. He saw a vision of a rocky passage running through a deep ravine, a small river running beside it. The portal edge was poorly defined, the rim constituting little more than blurred space, refracting the light like a heat haze.

Aside from a light startle from one of the horses, nobody but him seemed surprised in the slightest at what they were seeing, likely a common enough occurrence for them that they had grown to expect it.

Sonia quietly led the way forwards and through; Simon followed close behind, any potential trepidations pushed aside by awe and trust in Sonia's abilities. There wasn't any particular shift as he stepped through, no inertia or warping. It was simply like any other step he had ever taken, except this time he had moved miles.

The others followed close behind. Their horses happily led through and safely deposited in the ravine, the portal closed. If the space it had occupied had left any evidence of its existence, Simon couldn't see it.

The party moved in silence, clearly having coordinated this all beforehand. Simon followed suit, keeping his mouth shut as long as they did. About one hundred meters behind them the passage curved before opening into a wider clearing. The group brought their horses hear, tying them to a lone tree growing beside the shallow riverbed. The task complete the group crouched around the clearing and waited.

Sonia beckoned him over to where she crouched at the front of the pack, whispering into his ear. "Right now we're waiting for Thea - our scout - to arrive. She's tracking the enemy from atop the ravine and will report to us when they're close. Keep quiet and stay behind me in case something has gone wrong."

"Ok, wait and see. Got it." Simon whispered back before placing himself similarly crouching a little distance behind her.

The minutes seemed to crawl by in the silence, the only sounds the occasional crumble of rock and the gurgling of the river. The tension grew by the moment, the air felt heavy in his throat, and the anticipation intense.

"They're two minutes away. Heading here on enhanced horses, going at full speed. No chance they stop." A woman's voice tore the tension apart, causing several of the priests to jump before quickly processing her words and rushing forwards out of the clearing. Sonia had managed to stay steady, equipping the helmet she had been holding under her arm and sallying forth with the rest.

The new woman, pale with raven hair in a bob cut, ran up to him. "Hi mister leader, I'm Thea, love to introduce myself but we're in a bit of a hurry. Hold on to me, ok? Going to be a bit of a shift."

Thea grabbed on to his arm, and before he could even fully process her words the dusty gloom of the ravine was replaced with craggy rock and open air. Simon hadn't even opened his mouth to answer her, and realised he was getting very used to not having the opportunity to reply.

"We're on top of the ravine now, you following? Well I hope you are because we're going to be leaning over there and looking down in a second." Thea pointed behind her to a hole in the floor, or rather at the ceiling of the ravine.

Again not waiting for his reply, she rushed over and placed herself prone, her head barely peeking out over the edge. Simon was unsure whether he was intended to mimic her, but given no other instruction he followed suit. Below them he could see Sonia and the others standing in a formation six men long, completely blocking the passage. He couldn't make out any details from where he was, but it was still close enough he could see their movements if he needed to.

"Sonia told me to tell you to look at her, ok? Said you could learn from it." Thea took the moment of opportunity to scan him up and down. "You look nervous, don't be, there's four of them and six of us, plus Sonia's basically a Knight herself with how good she is."

Her words did little to ease the knot in Simon's stomach, worry the foremost emotion in his mind as he watched the scene below.

The sound of thunder was the first sign of the Varokian forces. The sound of their horses hooves rose and echoed against the cavern walls, a battle drum of natural make. The sound grew louder and more pronounced as they approached, rising at a terrifying speed. They came into view as the sound crescendoed, a final lightning strike as their astonishing speed came to a halt so instantly it defied physical sense.

There were four of them, all clad in heavy black and red furs and robes, clearly uniforms designed for a colder climate. Their leader wore the least, helmetless and without any furs. Simon struggled to make out the details, but a crop of thick red hair seemed to define his silhouette.

"Well well, a welcoming committee! Or perhaps this is all the forces your Order has left to order?" The man laughed joyfully, his companions followed suit. "I had thought we'd managed to avoid any would be spies, but you Hethorians always have been skulking little rats, haven't you?"

The Varokian man unsaddled himself and sauntered forward, paying little heed to his enemy's silence.

"You can't truly mean to stop us? With so few bodies? I'd be insulted if it wasn't so humorous." The red haired man stopped, scanning his head left and right. "You were smart enough to bring some spears at least! Heard of the Varokian cavalry charges have you? They are quite terrifying after all, the earth rumbling under your feet, the sound of rolling thunder as they approach, the black horde as it consumes everything before it."

Thea whispered beside him. "He's fond of his own voice isn't he? Gonna be fun seeing him get run through." Simon couldn't really see the fun in that but nodded regardless.

"Enough rambling though. Today we'll fight on foot, give you a chance hmm?" The three other men dismounted behind him, two drawing large axes, and one a warhammer. They looked tremendously large and unwieldy even from where Simon lay,

The leader drew his own weapon, a large slab or iron Simon supposed was somewhere between a greatsword and a hammer. He wondered how they were possibly carrying these things on their backs, let alone how they would use them as weapons.

The group of Varokians approached the Hethorian battle line, a cocky confidence in their gait. Their leader said one last thing before the battle began. "My name is Ernhar Voldesia, I'd ask you yours but I have a feeling you prefer your quiet, and I probably wouldn't remember it anyway." He hoisted his weapon over his shoulder as easily as if it were plastic. "Forwards"

The Hethorians didn't utter a word.