You never defeat Olephia. You merely survive her.

  Saying among White Pantheon soldiers during the Great WarRaymond sat in the monit tre of the Arti Prison Facility. In gsses, a white coat and balding, he looked like the stist this job said he was. It was a simple job, it should be a simple job, it had been a simple job for the past twenty years. Simple and well-paid, directly from the coffers of Olympiada. All that was needed was a lot of time and the willio sign a non-disclreement. Still, it was six months on, six months off. The wage was more than good enough to pay for his entire family. “It’s going down.” He said.

  “I SEE IT’S GOING DOWN!” Gees screamed back, a Karainan man, tall, he had been fit a few years ago when the project accepted him. Now a beer-belly stretched his white coat. Officially, they were stists, unofficially, their ‘sce project’ relied entirely on monit a s and finding ways to pass the time. Right now, the Goddesses were ing so the monit tre had been ed up. Spare PCs had been moved away, the boxes of snacks had been hidden in cupboards, the extra monitors were taken down. Raymond wondered if this was what the bridge of ship looked like, seats, various simple ss filled with graphs, and a rge s ahead of them. It read 28.9% in white letters over a red background. “When will they get here?”

  “We’ve sent the report a month ago, Olympiada told us Leona would be here…” Raymond sighed. “Well, she should be here now.”

  “I KNOW THAT!” Gees shouted again. They all khat, it was their st method of g with the fact Leona’s energy was running low. Everyo nervous whe hit below 40%, then panic mode hit at 30%. The less there was, the faster it went. It made no sehe drop from full charge to 90% took four months usually, then the en pert would take two. By the time they got to the sixties, they would lose a pert a day.

  The s ged. 28.8% now. Aron opened his mouth to give more bad news. A tall fellow, in the white coat they wore, with a rather snakish face. He was borderline uable in the game nights they held. It flicked again. 28.7%. Raymond took a deep breath, that was the first time he had seen it lose a full tenth of a pertage so quickly. “LOOK AT THAT!” Gees shouted again.

  The door to the monit tre slid open. The guards came in. Ex-Order members, all of them, usually pulled from Seekers although a few Guardians and Clerics were mixed in. onry, officially, was forbidden in the monit tre. No one cared about officiality here though, all of them had the standard issue greatswords they received when Olympiada accepted them for the job. The tallest man, Isaiah, was the captai the rank because he had served as a Seeker Captain some decade past. “I have bad news.” He said.

  “Worse than that?” Gees pointed up at the 28.7% on the s.

  “Worse.” Isaah said, it was the first time Raymond had ever seen traces of Seeker discipline in the man. “We called Olympiada about Leona. They said five pnes set off some fifteen ho.” Raymond put his cup of tea down before he dropped it. Strength drained from his arms and he felt his cheeks go pale. It was only a twelve-hour flight.

  Gees sat down in his seat. “Then whehey?”

  “We sent out droo chart the area. They were on a direct route to us, the same ohey always take.” Isaiah faltered for a moment and leaned on the desk to tinue. “We found them.” The trol room went silent. Raymo his breath catch, he did nothing to ease it. “Five pnes downed, bodies around them. Goddess Alsaria brought thirty-five minor deities with her. We firmed the deaths of twenty-one. Goddess Alsaria is not among them. Goddess Leona is.”

  Raymond was gd he put his cup down just in time. His arms dropped to his sides. Gees colpsed into his chair, the rest of the so-called stists in the monit tre did too. A few dropped whatever they were drinking. Cups and gsses smashed on the cold tiles of the ground. Raymond looked back to the s. That 28.7% was all between them and the awakening of Olephia.

  “Le…” Gees could not even the name. “Co-firmed?” Isaiah replied with a slow nod before speaking.

  “It’s the Su tingency, worst case sario. We will prepare for her awakening.”

  Raymond wao turn and run. To flee. That wasn’t an option though, they were in the middle of Artica, in the middle of nowhere. No one among them evehe co-ordinates of the location. Only the pilots of Olympiada and the Gods themselves were privy to that information. Pnes where scheduled to pick him up a month from now. Raymond looked at the 28.7%. 28.6% now.

  “Have you called it in?” Gees asked. Isaiah nodded again.

  “I’ve called it in already. Olympiada has told us to hold.”

  “Hold?” One of the other stists shouted. “That’s it?”

  “Do you have any ideas?” Isaiah shouted back. “Does anyone have any ideas?”

  No one answered.

  He turned back to his monitor and turned on a s that was checked out of boredom and curiosity only. It was a direct feed to Olephia’s sleeping chamber. The Goddess of Chaos almost two miles deep in the ice below them, the only e was a siaircase carved out a millennia ago. Olephia y on the floor in the middle of the room. It had been refurbished as time went by, now the walls were white-paiitanium, reinforced with beams of Godstone.

  A series of yellow crystals lihe room, eae with a thick leading from it into the wall. Those were the dream geors. They kept Olephia wandering for all eternity. How it worked, no one really knew. Maybe Olephia and Alsaria themselves did, but everyone who worked on the project had long passed away by the forces of time. It wasn’t even supposed to work. Theoretically it only had a one-in-five ce to keep her asleep for an hour. The ce dropped to near zero after a day. It was a statistical impossibility for Olephia to be held in her dream state lohan a week.

  Through Leona’s powers, it had maintained Olephia asleep for a full millennia.

  And now there was no Leona.

  Raymond looked up at the main s again. There it was, a single number in white on a red s: 28.6%

  28.5%

  28.4%