The Greatest Sin [Progression Fantasy][Kingdom Building]
Chapter 399 – Air At Last

Paramethus was killed on the final day of the Age of Heroes.

Worldbreaking began the moment the news of his death spread.

- Excerpt from “History of the World”, written by Goddess Maisara, of Order.

Kassandora’s fists landed on her hips as she watched Iniri turn around, a downright stupid expression on her face. The Goddess of Nature’s dress was flowing madly, roots blasting off into the stone and rubble as dwarves and men raced back towards the Dineh tunnel. This was another spiral road, barely an incline as a thousand years ago, minecart-trains would be funnel supplies from Dineh to the Epan front. Those ancient rails were still here, although they had been torn by the Goddess of Nature’s crazed rampage of flora which tore stone like paper and ruptured through the tunnels.

The tunnel had been collapsed to cut it off from the surface. It was Iniri’s job to hurry a decade-long excavation down to a few days worth of exertion. This was day five. Progress was being made. “It’s collapsing.” Iniri said flatly. The short Goddess of Nature hung in the air, held up by vines and roots, a giant oak tree cradled her within its bark and provided cover from the dust coming from above. It filled

“And?” Kassandora asked. “Can you not hold it?” Iniri an eyebrow at Kassandora as she raised her hands. The oak cradling her exploded with branches as if they were cancerous growths. Wood splintered and howled as bark snapped. Branches fell off the tree and then became entire trees as they swam through the air. Roots shot off into the ground, wood stabbed upwards. It spread out like a web over the ceiling. Green leaves expanded to be as large as cars and as thick as arms. They caught the dust as Iniri’s eyes began to glow.

Iniri said nothing. She just stared with a dry expression at Kassandora. The forest that had just filled the tunnel strained, wood cracked, regrew, and then pushed however many million tons of stone upwards.

Well, that answered the question.

Olonia stared and at the jagged horizon in the distance. It sung a final song for the dying mountain that was collapsing. The peak was engulfed in a cloud of white fog; the snow-cap that had been disturbed and created an avalanche. Trees were rumbling as they were torn by the moving stone. And the rock itself cracked and ruptured. Cliffs exploded as they were crushed from the twisting pressure. Rivers and streams turned and twisted as their waters were thrown about and away. Boulders rolled down the steep hillside. A set of small cracks shot out along the ground, as if it was a lightning blast fashioned out of ravines.

That rumbling stone deafened and overshadowed every other sound in southern Lubska. Birds in the air were inaudible as they squawked and madly flapped their wings to get away. Wild deer and wolves and foxes, badgers and bears all raced away from the avalanche. Their roars and cries and howls didn’t register even in Olonia’s Divine ears. Cars which had been parked at the base of the hill now raced away, completely ignoring all speed limits and traffic regulations. A pair of campers ran across a field, their belongings left behind.

Olonia blinked the shock away and got moving. Arascus had not been wrong. Of course he wouldn’t have sent her here if it was only going to be an earthquake. Bielik swung his massive wings up and initiated a dive. The white eagle of Lubska, as white as Olonia’s snow-white hair and as white as that avalanche plunged towards those campers on the field.

“I have to push the stone upwards to displace it.” Iniri said to Kassandora as the Goddess of War turned around to inspect the men who were to help with excavations. Iniri was only here to craft a path through, it wasn’t the role of Divine to make things perfectly clean and even if it was, it was better to carve a path out first. Trucks from the main body of the Expeditionary Legion were being hand-loaded with stones. Dwarves, both live and skeletal, as well as humans were working with modern pneumatic hammer and ancient pickaxe to break the car-sized boulders which had initially dropped from the ceiling. In the distance, a Torchbearer tank was parked, its massive lighthouse spotlight illuminating the entire tunnel.

“Then push.” Kassandora answered. What was the issue exactly?

“If there’s people on the surface then…” Iniri trailed off. “Well, it won’t be safe if I push.”

Why was Kassandora saddled with this woman? Where was the Iniri that they faced a thousand years ago? The Mother Nature who served as warning for children not entering deep dark woods or the Mother Nature that reclaimed entire cities back for the planet? Even if there were people up there, how many? Kassandora knew where Dineh lay, and she knew the map of modern-day Lubska off by heart. It was only forgotten villages for miles around. Nevertheless though, it wasn’t liked, but it wasn’t unexpected. Iniri had changed or something had changed Iniri, but Kassandora knew about that. “Arascus has given the green light.”

Iniri looked at Kassandora with confusion. Even though her face and body turned, it was obvious that the Goddess of Nature wasn’t in her body right now. Those green eyes, glowing as they were, were so dull they could have belong to somehow blind. “How did Arascus give the green light?”

“There’s a phoneline up to Fazba now.” Kassandora said. “I sent a message that we’re coming out and to expect earthquakes, he sent one back that Olonia has been told and dispatched.”

“Oh.” Iniri said, sighing with relief. “You’re smart.”

Kassandora didn’t know how to feel about that. She would rather Iniri be decisive rather than be nice. “Keep digging Iniri.”

Olonia grit her teeth as Bielik fell faster through the air. Wind whipped past her ears and as her snow white hair followed behind her like a cape. Ahead of her, the mountain stopped collapsing and began to slide. Its sliding peak fell off the top in a great gust of white snow darkened by the grey fog of stony dust and that dragged the entire structure down. Like a ladder that had tipped backwards, past balancing point, the peak broke up into thousands of barn-sized boulders as it fell. That rumbling was so thunderous it drowned out even the wind rushing past Olonia’s ears as the whole world began to shake.

The Goddess of Lubska wasted no time. She intuitively communicated with Bielik, a thought here, a leg press there, the animal simply knew what she was thinking. The giant eagle spun in the air and Olonia flew off its back at the pair of campers. A man and a woman in their mid-thirties, both in dark green shirts but little more than that. Neither of them had even managed to put socks onto their dirty feet before they began their run away from the crumbling mountain. They stopped, holding each other’s hands, as they saw the Goddess of Lubska.

And Olonia fell almost on them. “I’ve got you!” She crouched down and cradled the campers in her hands. And in the same fashion that Bielik knew how to drop her, Olonia knew exactly how he would pick her up. She crouched, arched her back and jumped at the very moment as Bielik’s giant talons hooked around her. The great eagle picked her up with a great screech into the air. It flapped its wings as the campers, stunned, silently curled into Olonia’s chest. And then they soared higher. Olonia turned her head as she watched the mountain fall. It wasn’t just the peak sliding off now, it was all of it. The whole structure was buckling as if it was a thin piece of cloth being prodded at from below.

On one hand, it was terrible and terrifying. But then… Olonia realised that the terror she was feeling was not at the fact a mountain was collapsing but rather at the fact she was so calm. But why wouldn’t she be? If this was dangerous, Arascus would have sent a daughter. Or he would have sent the Imperial military. He wouldn’t have sent just her. That thought sparked another: was she stupid for being so trusting?

Doubts did not matter at this point. She could sit down and discuss them later. Now, there was a crisis at hand. Olonia couldn’t stop mountains from collapsing, but that didn’t mean she would just stand by and watch as her people were killed.

Kassandora took a deep breath as she the air suddenly tasted… fresh. It was still laden with dust and rock, that had not changed whatsoever. Yet within it, there was something else too. Cool moisture which had simply not existed in the underground. It was cold too, like snow or ice. The rumbling of the caverns became deafening. Iniri grabbed her from behind and held on tight. “Hold on Kass.”

The first question in Kassandora’s mind was who was holding onto to. The next thought, which came instantly, killed that line of thought. Kassandora grabbed Iniri’s wrist and squeezed. And the forest around them gave one final giant push as the flora groaned with effort. Tree and leaf and vine and root all twisted and cracked and ground themselves into stone and then pushed. The forest around Kassandora lifted up for a moment, and then shot upwards like a dog that had suddenly been let off the leash.

Kassandora saw it the same moment that Iniri did. For a moment, that defeaning rumbling of a mountain sliding down did not matter whatever. It may as well have been nothing but background noise to Kassandora. The beam of light which illuminated dust and cool snow in the air peered through a branch. Then another. And another.

Iniri slid off Kassandora’s back, breathing heavily, as she waved her hands in front of herself. The trees ahead of them parted to the side as if they were a giant sliding door. The Goddess of Nature took a shaky step forwards as wind and sunlight rushed in. Cool air followed by a snowflakes. Sunlight followed by warmth. The sound of a rolling avalanche. Of birds squawking in the sky. Of an eagle. Of car engines and the whir of a helicopter in the distance. And then a cheer from behind. The Underground Expeditionary Legion and all its men who had made it to the end.

Kassandora pulled away from Iniri and walked towards the blinding light ahead of them. She hadn’t realised how desensitized her eyes had gotten under this ground, but a single step through that opening reminded her of what she had missed.

The fields and the rivers. Villages in the distance. Planes leaving long trails in the sky. A pair of helicopters coming from the north. Clouds in the sky. A curling wind that caressed Kassandora’s neck and face like a cool silken cloth. Sunlight that kissed every inch of her exposed skin like a pair of sweet lips. High above her was a giant eagle; Olonia’s bird with the Goddess riding it. Below was what looked to be all the stone of a quarry transported to the surface. Snow and trees, boulders and rocks, dust and ice and dirt which had been devoured by the landslide. To her left and right were sheer, jagged cliffs. They looked so sharp that they may as well have been carved out with a knife. The mountain had been toppled.

Kassandora looked around at the landscape as she lost track of time. Iniri caught up to her. Olonia circled overhead on her eagle. The soldiers of the Legion started to pass by as they took steps outside and then collapsed on the rugged stone. Some men burst out in laughter, others started to cry with joy that they finally saw the sun. That was far too great of a reaction, but even Kassandora had to admit that she wasn’t so cold as to not sigh with relief. It was as if she was wondering the desert and had just come across an oasis, as if she drowning and just caught a breath of air, as if she was lost in the woods and come across a cabin she knew was safe. Inside her was a torrent that washed away her doubts and stresses although there was no reason to say so much. One word was enough.

Finally.