Arthur Bryant Senior felt himself trip and then fall flat on his face as the entire world rumbled. It wasn’t an earthquake, it was the mud and debris from the autumn rains slowly washing down from the countryside. He had heard earthquakes before, this shifting ground sounded nothing like it. It was a slow buzzing interspersed with the snapping of tree and concrete and steel that sounded like the entire valley was gasping for breath.
Arthur caught the ground with his palms and silently thanked himself that he allowed himself to be persuaded to wear the thick black gloves that came with the bright-red rescue uniform. The uniform was a bright red coat and heavy waterproof trousers of the same material and colour. These rescue-uniforms were the exact opposite of the fatigues that were so common in Epa right now. Instead of being made to conceal a man from side, they were as reflectively bright and eye-catching as possible to make sure that anyone who got lost could be easily found. Commander Noel recovered the first, the man did not even fall, he held his arms out for balance and wobbled from side to side. “Prepare for mudrush! Brace!”
Arthur quickly scrambled to his feet as he raced to the window of the building they were in. It wasn’t protocol, but being near a window had saved him once and so now he always ran to it. Henry, the radio operator, stumbled back to his feet as the rumbling of the ground continued and squatted in the ruined room’s corner. Commander Noel held onto was once was a doorframe. The rest of the quickly scurried around like ants on the ground as they found things to catch onto. “How’s it lookin’?” Noel shouted to Arthur as the latter stuck his head out the window.
Rockport, so named because of the rocky bay, was not in the shadow of any large mountains like the towns further inland, but that didn’t matter for the rains. Once the loose mud brought inland by the Great Waves started to move, it became a vicious glacier of soil that raced downstream until it hit ocean. Valleys and rivers and small hills only did so much to guide it. Arthur looked out over the ocean. There was an Imperial Navy ship there, officially, they weren’t wanted. Unofficially, Arthur was thankful for the fact someone other than the UNN was picking up scrap out of the seaside. The ocean was dark, the grey clouds which had been drizzling rain for the past week had not moved or changed. Towards Arthur, the remains of Rockport lay sprawled across the ground.
The city’s natural bay and the sheer distance it was in the north had protected it from the very worst of the Waves. In the south, there weren’t even buildings to search through whereas here, they had been quite lucky. A third of the city still stood. It would have to be demolished of course, the buildings were beyond inhabitable, but they had to be picked clean first. If not of valuables, then of bodies and diaries. Arthur looked over the city and saw other Rescuers in bright red rush to buildings and up stairs. A trio was stood with a camera on a roof and were recording the event from across the street. Arthur couldn’t pick out the faces. He turned his head inland. And his eyes grew wide when he saw the wall of soil racing towards them. “IT’S A BIG ONE!”
Iniri did not know whether she should panic or whether things were going as planned. The Second Expedition’s southern thrust had stalled out, or at least that was what the rumours said. The Second Expedition’s Eastern thrust should still be advancing, or at least that was what the rumours said. There was movement to go and relieve Irinika from her duty guarding some crucial chokepoint, but again, that was what the rumours said. Iniri could listen in through the flowers and trees but down in this underground? She actually had needed to go out and openly ask soldiers for what was happening.
And the simple fact of the matter was that if Iniri did not know what was happening, then the men knew even less. They didn’t even seem to care, most were more confused as to why she was even asking such a question. Knowledge, they had said, was something that Goddess Kassandora would share with them when they needed it and when they didn’t need it, that meant it wasn’t important to know in the first place. The only person who truly knew what was happening was probably Kassandora herself. Maybe Arascus too. Iniri doubted that even Anassa knew though.
But Iniri could guess it was bad. Kassandora had rang her after all, and Kassandora had directed her here to assist in this retreat. Either it wasn’t important, which is why Anassa had not been sent here, or Anassa was busy elsewhere. Yet now, travelled through being carried by a giant leaf whose stem transformed into bark and then grew as thick and smooth to slither like a snake across this stone, Iniri watched the soldiers of the Imperial Legions retreat at full speed. This wasn’t an enormous highway, but it was still large enough of a tunnel for all the vehicles to comfortably have lanes assigned to themselves.
Huge, off-road armoured cars drove past Iniri in a long line. They were filled to the brim with injured men wrapped in bandages, or men who glumly held onto their rifles. Large trucks, their rears filled with more soldiers, or with guns and ammunition crates, had two lanes designated specifically for themselves. Tanks and other, military vehicles had claimed a whole side of the tunnel. Although it was obviously a full division in retreat, and that would be several thousands of men, Kassandora’s soldiers still kept some level of normalcy and organisation amongst themselves. No vehicle was speeding madly to get away, not even the ones that had broken windows or signs of battle damage: scorch marks and dents in the metal.
And eventually, Iniri reached the rearguard of the retreating soldiers. Or what remained of the rearguard at least. It was four huge tanks painted in black, their turrets equipped with blinding spotlight that they used to momentarily slow groups of demons in armour down before turning them into mists with high-explosive rounds. In the distance, the demons had deployed one of their gun platforms, those, as impressive as they were, had been designed for dealing with dwarves. They could not compete with modern vehicles. A few winged demons were flying in a dodging slalom as they avoided bursts of fire from the two dozen or so men that had spread out in front of the vehicles. And…
Iniri stared at it in confusion. This was it? Certainly as things were right now, these men would not be able to hold against the numerous teams of demons that advanced on their location but a whole division had been forced into retreat. At the end of the day, a whole division should be able to force an enemy horde into stalemate if not push it back outright. Why were they on the back foot? Iniri was dropped by her leaf next to an officer. A man with a pistol who stood near a radio operator. He wore the standard issue greys of the Second Expedition and was stabbing his finger into a paper map. Iniri interrupted his ruminations. “Goddess Iniri reporting commander. I have been sent by Kassandora, what do you want?”
“Both men jumped as one of the nearby tanks fired again. The smell of sulphur was stronger here, and the air was obviously warmer, Iniri’s breath was no longer misting. There must be a lot of them if the temperature increase was this noticeable. Maybe retreat had been the best bet. The tanks shell made another huge explosion as its turret started to hum with machinery as it found a new target. The commander bounced on his feet, realised he was being spoken to, and then quickly explained the situation to Iniri. Or explained it as well as he could. “There’s a monster, a demon, it’s nothing like we’ve ever seen before.”
More gunfire made his voice almost inaudible. Iniri decided to put a stop to it for the immediate moment. If they were here to retreat, then she could cover the rearguard and then ask for information once they put some distance between themselves and the Tartarian forces. Acorns burst from Iniri’s dress. They rolled along the ground, they sprouted into oaks that dropped more nuts. Oak after oak buried itself into stone and intertwined with each other. Branch curled around branch or snaked along trunk. Leaves rustled as they reached the ceiling. And the trees, under Iniri’s guidance, kept on growing. They reached higher and higher. They smashed and crashed into the walls on either side of the tunnel. They stabbed upwards through the ceiling. Their bark hardened with Iniri’s command until it became as strong as iron. Until it was the sort of wood that could be used in the construction of modern skyscrapers.
Iniri took a step as she marvelled at her own creation. That was a wall so impenetrable and touch to crack, it would be easier to just deploy miners and dig around it rather than try to get through. Everyone knew the moment it had finished, because the screams of demons from the other side were simply kept out. Precious silence fell over the tunnel once again, broken up only by the sound of rumbling engines and men taking the moment of rest to reload their guns. Immediately, the temperature started to drop once again, although that was only for a moment. Iniri felt it stabilize quickly to still maintain something warmer than the usual freezing air of the underground.
The Goddess of Nature opened her mouth to reply and then her eyes narrowed when she felt the first hints of heat caress the wall of branches she was making. That wood may not be composed of skin and bone, but it was still as much part of her as she was. Luckily its nerves were dulled compared to the ones on her body, but Iniri could still tell something was wrong. She was the Goddess of Nature, naturally she had withstood and tasted forest fire and inferno in the past. Those were terrible, but they did not…
Sear? Sizzle? Iniri felt as if the branches were melting. But that was impossible, wood would ignite long before it melted. The amount of heat to achieve that state, and the sudden rise in temperature was insane. Iniri tried to grow a serious of sunflowers on the huge wall she had called up to see what was going on outside but felt them immediately combust. There would be no flower sturdy enough to withstand temperatures like that. Iniri forced branches forward. She knew the twigs did not get further a finger’s length from the huge wooden barrier before they ignited. And Iniri felt the heat get even higher.
“Look at that!” One man shouted and Iniri looked up. Her tries weren’t burning up, the ceiling itself was twisting and contorting. And not through force or magic, but… Iniri realised she should have not been so confident in the first place. Whatever was causing the heat on the other side of Iniri’s barrier was indeed powerful enough to cause it to melt through wood. It was disfiguring stone when they were so deep underground.
“Retreat.” Iniri barked the order. “As a Goddess of the Empire, this retreat is under my purview now, all men, retreat. You cannot stand against that.” The men backed away without a word. A few only got a few steps before they broke out into a jog. One man started off at a sprint. The vehicles followed, their guns still pointed towards the barrier, but they slowly picked up speed. Those four personnel carriers stopped to pick the men up. Iniri did not care, her mind was scanning through demons she knew were strong enough to reach this level of temperature.
It obviously could not be any incubus or succubus. Their flames, Iniri could outgrow even when every inch of bar was being kissed by such fire. It would have to be stronger. A Greater Demon? An Archdemon? Both of those relied on brute strength. Iniri wished she was Kassandora for a moment, The Goddess of War achieved levels of analysis twice as high and in half the time.
And Iniri realised she had gotten sidetracked in her own thoughts. But wasn’t it obvious to some extent? Was there not one obvious creature that possessed so much power? Iniri had seen it before, when a demon singlehandedly melted fortress walls and put even Alkom to shame with the sheer amount of heat he could produce. A demon that was part of Tartarus’ royalty, a demon that was their answer to Divinity. And to Divinity so powerful and tremendous that it should be compared with the ranks of Allasaria or Irinika and definitely not to the sort of Divine that Iniri was. A demon called Ashmodai.
Iniri took a step back Iniri saw the men. She felt the heat. She remembered fighting in the Great War on the same side as the creature trying to get through her barrier. And she… Iniri pushed the panic out of her mind. It Kassandora had sent her here.
The worst thing Iniri could do was return with her tail between her legs and beg for apology. She had to act like a Goddess. A proper, decisive one. The sort that would… She was delaying again. Iniri looked up at the stone. It wasn’t that difficult a job, was it? It would… And again, Iniri knew was delaying. She would be able to do it. Kassandora would praise her after this. She would safe thousands of men. She just…
She just needed to do what was obvious. Just because she could not fight did not mean she was not the damn Goddess of Nature. And this was the underground. This should be her demesne of roots and plants, should it not? Iniri raised her hands and channelled her power.
Her dress exploded with vines and oaks. Branches shot out in all directions, they sprouted seedlings, those seedlings exploded with life as they transformed into huge oaks. “Run men! Run!” Iniri shouted again. That got the men moving even faster as even the Goddess of Nature herself started to retreat. Huge oaks formed pillars reaching up from the floor to the ceiling. They kept growing, they became hooked. Their branches became scythes. They stabbed into the hot stone. They twisted. Iniri roared and threw her hands down toward the ground. The oaks moved with her.
They brought the melting ceiling down in a huge cloud of stone and dust and countless tons of material from above.
That should buy enough time for the evacuation.