With the way things had been going on this island, Apoy its name was if the Wasp woman remembered correctly, her battalion had been shifted from one front to another. This island had changed a lot since the war had start, much of the jungle growth had been devastated from marching soldiers and was becoming muddy. But there were still large patches of standing trees left on the island and its general topography made it so that Sharifa and her unit were in position to make an ambush.

This was no ordinary target either, this was a high-value target in that it was the Goddess of Storms herself that they had learned was coming this way with her own fighters. What their plan was the Wasps and allies didn't truly know, but what they did know was that the Gods of these lands were getting their powers back, somehow. To that end as they still were mortal they needed to die and fast, and thanks to Sharifa's escape and passing of intelligence she knew exactly who all of the Deities were and that only one of them, Angela, was at the moment, was able to bring them back from death. So far Angela had proven to be too elusive, she was well defended in that city and the other God with her, Xunatar, was proving troublesome.

But Sharifa had been shifted to this part of the war effort, called up to lead the ambush. They knew that the God of Strength was on this island as well, a werebear by accounts, a beast that she had her kin had never encountered before but they had heard from survivors that he was strong. He would be dealt with in time, to be sure, but for now, they knew Shiloh's location and had scouted their route.

Sharifa had a mix of units with her, most of them Elites from their respective kin. She herself and another five Wasps, another six Ants, three Mantis mages and two massive and heavily armoured beetle units. These latter units were terrifying indeed, ten feet tall and massively strong they would add the much needed front line to Sharifa's squad. She would have liked more Wasps, but she knew well how Ants, Beetles and Mantis fought so she was still comfortable.

The two huge beetles had buried themselves under the ground and would burst upwards on Sharifa's command. The rest of them were staying in the trees and under the foliage, the Mantises using their magic to help conceal everyone that little bit more. Now it was just time to wait for that right moment, Sharifa smiled, she would get to kill a 'Goddess' today!

So far she had been working overtime in making sure their position was well-defended. Call her paranoid, but after Dalanesca took a fatal blow she wasn't taking any chances. There was a reason why she never explicitly showed her true face to anyone except those whom she could trust, and those were few in number. To the people who worshiped the Conclave, she was just a metal helmed figure. The additional defenses she had planned were still in progress, something that bothered her to no end. Recent attacks against her myrmidons were increasing in frequency, adding fuel to the fire for her worries of her safety. What she wouldn't do for a set of coordinates of the enemy's base right now…

Everybody was on guard, and while Nerine thought she was being too tense Shiloh begged to differ. Being a deity didn't change the fact that she could still die, thus reinforcing her habits of extreme harm reduction. She hated this war, she hated being put in the line of fire. The only reason why she was doing this was because if she didn't, nobody else could. Reports of seismic activity from the volcano weren't looking good. She'd never been one to believe superstitions, but apparently the yearly ritual sacrifice of throwing a girl into the volcano was supposed to appease the thing. And since Kinigoh had to be evacuated before the time of the annual rite, the refugees had lamented that the mountain was already beginning to spew ash. There was no way she was going to throw somebody to their death just to quell unfounded fears, but that aside, the volcano was starting to rumble. Yet another reason why she was pushing so hard on securing this island before it started to blow.

She already had a hundred and other things to worry about when she heard a voice in her mind that was all too familiar. A look of horror came over her as she began to grasp what was going on. "No. NO! Don't do this to me, I don't want it!" Just as she had never asked to be a deity, she was forced into taking something she never wanted. A surge of power hit her like a bolt from the sky, unseen to the others but very much visible to her. Shiloh saw it heading her way and tried to run–to no avail. Hitting the ground, it was like something exploded inside her head sending thousands of images pouring through her very being. Visions of past, present, and future all in one were overloading her senses in a chaotic mess. Grabbing her head in her hands she convulsed on the ground, eyes wide and externally screaming.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!" 

Tristana had only arrived to the island a day ago and had joined the forces of Shiloh. Although she didn’t present herself to Shiloh at all. For all she knew, the goddess has forgotten all about her and moved on with her life. Or even worse might have been annoyed with Tristana due to all the letters sent to her. As a result Tristana was hesitant to even be near Shiloh in fear that she would be mad or there would be awkwardness. Still, Tristana came to help the battle. She had already helped so far but it wasn’t enough. Until Canelux was safer Tristana wouldn’t stop assisting in battles.

The first thing Tristana noticed about their position was how heavily defended and tense everybody was. It made sense to have such high defences but it made Tristana concerned about the soldier’s mental health. With all this nervousness and intensity, fear was rising. Nobody spoke of it but it was clear in the faces of the others that they were afraid of what might happen next. They feared their own deaths and what could happen if the goddess died. Would the storms go wild? Would there never be luck or rain again? Would any of these people be able to return to their beloved families or homes again? The likeliness of them surviving was rather small. With these worries they held their ground and instead looked into the depths of the jungle awaiting that future they feared so much. It was admirable.

Tristana needed to prepare herself. So she drank a potion of greater mana and used a spell. Arcane empower. In case she needed to use magic, this spell would make it smaller. Tristana could feel the sweat on her cheek as she thought about the humidity of the jungle. A soldier next to her had dried lips. It was easy to tell that he hadn’t had much water. Tristana reached for her canteen of water and offered it to the soldier. He accepted it graciously and drank some of it. The soldier was careful to not drink all of it but it was clear that he would have if he felt that he could have. He then tried to give it back to Tristana.

“You didn’t finish it.” Tristana stubbornly said pushing the canteen back towards him.

Suddenly there was a scream in the air. Tristana turned to see that Shiloh was on the ground, clutching her head. Soldiers crowded around her, confused and scared. Tristana pushed her way to the front.

“Stand back! Give her room!” She ordered. The soldiers did not move. “Move now!”

Tristana shouted in a louder voice. Finally the soldiers backed up and gave Shiloh her space. Tristana was a healer so she had previous experience with medicine. However this clearly was no physical or mental ailment. This was magic. A strong magic that nobody there could probably dispel. So it was better to give her the space that she needed than to crowd around. Tristana herself stepped back and gave the goddess some room. Whatever was going on with the goddess would be very important. Either the goddess was magically being attacked or this was a goddess thing that they didn’t know about. Tristana knew she wasn’t a leader and was not half as close to her as some of the other people here probably were. So she stepped back and stayed out of the way. She had done her part and did not matter anymore. Tristana hoped that the sound of Shiloh’s scream wouldn’t attract the enemy to their location. It probably would. Tristana felt on edge as she scanned the forest with her eyes of any sign of an enemy. 

Oh, Shiloh's scream didn't need to attract the enemy, since the enemy was already around them!

When the Goddess and her company was close one Ant saw them and a unspoken message was passed from the other Ants to everyone else; their target was close. Heavily guarded but clearly not expecting an attack right at this time. This was perfect then for the insects, Sharifa would reap a reward from her Queen after this mission, to kill a Goddess! Surely Sharifa would be elevated enough to be allowed to breed with a equal male, and continue the strong bloodlines they would combine!

The hidden attackers waited and waited as their target came into view and into their trap. Shar smiled and waited just a little longer. She was next to an Ant who was next to a Wasp, and that pattern continued down the line. When she placed a hand on the Ant's should he would tell his kin to do the same to the Wasps closest to them, this was the signal to attack as one, the Mantis would pick up on the signal when the others attacked.

Sharifa's hand was just about to tap the Ant's but she stopped when she heard the scream and watched the woman, Shiloh, fall to the ground in what looked like a lot of pain. She hesitated a moment wanting to see what would happen for a moment. The soldiers all turned to look at their Goddess, one female running to help before backing off, it looked like none of them could help her.

The Wasps smiled, perfect!

Shar touched the Ant's shoulder and his hive mind translated that command to his kin who touched the shoulders of the Wasps next to them. As one of dozen fighters attacked, six of, three Wasps and three Ants moved in from the bushes with melee weapons drawn. The last six, Sharifa herself one of them, drew back bows and arrows and started to loose them towards the soldiers, but Sharifa's goal was the Goddess herself. The moment she saw an opening she would take it, using the Beetles waiting below the ground as her ace in the hole, as it were.

Yes, if they could kill Shiloh and take her head, Sharifa would drag Shiloh's body back to her front lines, away from Angela's reach. But this sudden pain that the Goddess was in, it was curious, and while Sharifa fired off arrow after arrow, ready to drop it and draw steel at a moment's notice, that was nibbling in the back of her mind. Why had the Goddess fallen down in such pain? She would have been find that opening sooner rather than later.

For now she focused on firing arrows, taking aim at the female that had went to help the Goddess first, thinking that she was some kind of aid to Shiloh.

Her spheres collided, clashing violently. Storms and Fortune were already a volatile mix, and adding one so powerful such as Time resulted in an unstable reaction. The two domains she was given upon her ascension were in direct conflict with the newly granted one, like a metaphorical struggle for dominance. Before anyone could help or hurt her, everything exploded.

A maelstrom of the combined spheres enveloped the entire island as temporal distortions were running wild. A massive supercell thunderstorm was churning above in the sky as winds were reaching record speeds. The world around her was in flux, trees growing and shrinking as they were being tossed about along their timeline. Tsukihigui was completely out of control, but instead of repairing objects things were being aged and reversed at an accelerated rate. Weapons were turning to dust, then thrown back to their prime, then reduced to their based components. The aura of good fortune meant to aid the Conclave fighters was suddenly inverted, releasing waves of misfortune upon enemy and ally alike. Her grasp over her own abilities was slipping, and thousands of shadows began flooding out of her form. Lashing out in a frenzy, they took on shapes of shadow aberrations attacking anything they saw. Then, it all stopped. At least that was what it appeared on the surface.

Outside of Apoy, the world's time was flowing as it should. However the base on the volcanic island was essentially trapped in a broken loop of time. Time was being replayed and rewound hundreds of times over. People found themselves in the same spots and places they were in moments before. No matter what they did and how they tried to change things, it all was reset in seconds back to the beginning. Perhaps it was due to some innate desire for self-preservation within the deity's subconscious mind, or a deep-seated wish to change the present by going back to the past. But outside of the base, time was speeding up. The jungle was growing at a frightening rate, and old Apoy was now spewing black plumes into the air. Tremors were rocking the island as the unintentional effects of Shiloh's clashing spheres were accelerating its imminent eruption. Ash and rocks were being flung from the smoking crater, and all the birds were fleeing. Disaster was descending upon them all.

Out of the bushes approached the enemy. There were three wasps and three ants with their melee weapons drawn. Arrows flew from the forest and attacked the group of soldiers. Tristana got lucky and the soldier, who she had given water to earlier, held up the shield in front of her in order to protect Tristana from the arrows. Seeing as how Tristana herself had no defenses or weaponry except for a simple bo staff. Tristana quickly cast a spell of arch protection. Light shot out from Tristana’s hands and went directly to the soldiers closest to her and to Shiloh. An invisible sphere of magical defense would protect them now. It would be able to stop a lot of the arrows and some of magic that could attack them. But only projectiles would work. If it was a melee weapon, well Tristana’s practice in the spell wasn’t good enough to help with melee weapons yet. An arrow got past the shield and scratched Tristana’s arm.

Luckily it did not hit directly and only caused a scratch. She checked to arm and bits of blood were trickling out. However it wasn’t bad enough to be concerned about at the moment. Suddenly a thunderstorm appeared and the winds became fierce. The world around them became incredibly chaotic. Trees were growing and shrinking. Weapons were changing turning to dust then changing again. Blasts of misfortune hit them fiercely and shadows erupted from her form. One of the shadows headed straight towards to Tristana and began scratching at her. Her arms, chest, legs, face all received scratches from the claws of the shadows. Tristana had little time to prepare or defend herself. She did her best with a shield that had been dropped on the ground by a soldier.

Fear and confusion dominated her mind at the moment. Then the shadows were gone and some of the chaos stopped. Tristana dropped her shield and the first thing she saw was Shiloh. Tristana didn’t know what exactly was going on through Shiloh’s mind. But what Tristana saw seemed to be fear and pain. All the chaos around her seemed to vanish and her focus was only on Shiloh. Tristana no longer saw a revered goddess or someone of great power. Even with all the amazing power demonstrated around them. Tristana saw a scared girl who didn’t know what was going on. A reflection of herself. A mirror. Before Tristana even knew what she was doing, she ran over to Shiloh. Tristana wrapped herself around Shiloh in an embrace.

“We will protect you!” Tristana shouted over all the chaos around them.

She didn’t even think about the irony of a normal girl telling a goddess that she would protect her. At the moment she had forgotten all about that. At the moment her desire to protect and help Shiloh overroad all of her awkwardness and doubts. Tristana’s eyes widened in surprise. A shot of pain was in her back. An arrow, or what was left of an arrow, had struck her in the back. Tristana felt pain begin to cover her entire back due to the arrow lodged in her. But she did not let go of Shiloh. Suddenly Tristana opened her eyes and she was back where she was a few moments ago. Yet she did the exact same thing. She ran over to Shiloh and shouted the same thing she had earlier.

“We will protect you!” And the arrow lodged into her back again.

She would do the same thing over and over again. Tristana would protect Shiloh and embrace her as many times as they repeated. Shiloh was hurting and in pain. That was all that Tristana could see. A person who needed somebody to help them. Tristana knew that she could not take the pain away or stop whatever was going on. But at the very least she could be there for Shiloh and find a way to support her. Even if it meant receiving an arrow in the back over and over again. The pain would not go away nor would Tristana get used to it. It would feel the same repeatedly no matter what Tristana did. Some of the soldiers around them were trying to escape. However many of them were fighting instead. They were fighting back the oversized insects and making sure that Shiloh was not going to be killed, even if it cost them their own lives. They repeated these acts just as Tristana repeated her act. They were demonstrating how they would continue helping Shiloh and the cause she represented. Even if it meant receiving the same pain forever. They were all there for Shiloh. 

A few defenders went down as a result of the ambush and Sharifa smiled when her arrow found its target, even if it was only a scrape, of the young human who now raised a magical shield. The insect melee fighters moved in to attack their weapons clashing against the defenders' shields but some of the strikes got through and the humans fell to insects.

Sharifa heard the Goddess scream out and the world went wild around them! Shar watched the trees grow and shrink and then grow again, die and come back to life and become a seed before becoming a full tree again. The insects backed off for now, at least the melee ones, the archers and mantis casters kept up their attacks from range, until they could figure out what was going on. Shar knocked an arrow and took aim, only to have the bow disintegrate in her hands before suddenly repairing itself. ”What is going on, Sharifa?!” One of her kin asked her over the chaos around them.

”I do not know! She is the Goddess of Storms and Luck, not of Time, or whatever this is!” Sharifa called back, a little panic settling in now. What was this?! Shadows attacked them all, including the Goddess' allies and Shar swatted at them with her bow, drawing two daggers and slashing. She felt herself getting cut but didn't care, until suddenly they were gone.

Sheathing her blades she raised her complete bow again and called out a command. From under the ground the hidden beetle units burst forth while Sharifa loosed an arrow at that same female from before. The arrow sank home in her back and she was about ready to knock another arrow when her mind swam.

She loosed the arrow at the same female, smiling as it sunk into her back while the beetles burst forth from the ground. Wait, why did this seemed familiar? Shar shook off that feeling and went to get another arrow…

She loosed the arrow at the same female, smiling as it sunk into her back while the beetles burst forth from the ground. Wait, why did this seemed familiar? Sharifa's head started to hurt, but she got another arrow…

She loosed the arrow at the same female, smiling as it sunk into her back while the beetles burst forth from the ground. Wait, why did this seemed familiar?

Her head pounded, no no, something was wrong! What was this?! She looked to the beetles as they burst from the ground, they looked just as confused as she did, all of her allies did in fact. ”Swarm them!” Shar called out to her kin.

As one her and her Wasp kin threw their hands out and each of them called forth a swarm of biting and stinging insects to try and over come the magic. This wasn't going to plan, the Goddess needed to die and she needed to die now! She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked back to the Mantis behind her, who pointed to the volcano in the distance; ash and rocks were spewing from its mouth. If Shar's eyes weren't totally black one would have saw them widen; but that volcano was inactive! She looked back to the Goddess. ”Focus her down, now before that volcano erupts!” Sharifa called out and her forces attempted to pour everything they had in Shiloh's direction to try and finish this fight before it went any further.

While the winds raged, Shiloh was trapped in her own personal maelstrom. With Time running wild, she was reliving the very worst moments of her life in overlay with what was happening in the present. She was brought back to the last time she was chased down by soldiers and armored guards, their forms superimposing over the insects crawling out of the ambush. The rogue felt the fear running through her veins, her heart pounding in her ears, the rapid gasps for breath, the burn in her arms and legs as she ran. She heard shouting voices, saw fingers pointing as they hounded her with dogs. They were going to kill her. She was going to die.

Memories and imagination were intermingling as hands grabbed at her shirt from behind, dragging her back as she clawed against the dirt. Faceless figures were pulling her down and clammy fingers were grasping her face, the air was being forced out of her lungs as she sank deeper and deeper into the depths. Then she saw a familiar lumbering figure charge at them, pushing them back. Unna wrapped her in her arms as she shielded her from the hands.  

"We will protect you!"

More and more spectral hands tried to pry Unna away, only for Erra and Agur to appear with her. Then the brownies, boggarts, and other Little Folk came too. They were all holding her together, saying the same thing: 'We will protect you, no matter what–just as you did the same for us.'

For the first time in many years, she cried. The memories kept going and going. All the failed executions, the beatings, the interrogations, the trial before the Council, the last moments she had in her world before being buried alive.

You can't keep running away. Something spoke inside her mind. Why couldn't she? Running won't make things change. She denied it in her thoughts. Why did she have to face something the impossible? Protecting herself from being hurt, from being harmed, from things that brought discomfort–was that so wrong? If others could do that then why couldn't she do the same? She blocked out the voices; she didn't want to hear what they were saying anymore. Images of the hateful faces of the Council flashed before her eyes. All she wanted was to life a peaceful, unassuming life.

Why couldn't they just leave her alone?

That was all it took for grief to turn into rage. A deep, slow-brewing anger seethed through her being. Thunder roared as the crackle of lightning came down from above, the winds shrieking like banshees. A faceless helm enveloped her face as flesh transmuted into metal. The broken loop of time stabilized for a moment as she grabbed a headless ax handle and hurled it at one of the ants. The splintered shaft of wood rematerialized its cutting edge right before burying itself deep into the insect warrior's skull. The shadows which had escaped their containment swarmed back to their host as she held a blade of dragonbone in her hand. With the crack of her Tenebris amulet, she cursed through clenched teeth at the invaders: "I'm going to send you on a one-way trip to Dalanesca."

The winds were roaring and it was becoming a little difficult to breath. Still Tristana ran straight to Shiloh whenever time had restarted. Tristana didn’t really understand what was happening with the time but either didn’t care or didn’t notice it yet. At that moment, all that mattered was trying to protect this scared person who clearly needed somebody by her side. Time reset again. However this time the arrows stopped and the bugs were about to swarm Shiloh. Tristana ran to Shiloh’s side again. This time, Tristana was going to do something drastic. If the bugs were going to swarm, then Tristana would have to make sure that Shiloh got out of this alive. If the goddess of luck and storms died then there would be no storms to keep crops healthy, no luck for anyone, and no misfortune to keep the world balanced.

However, the more important thing was the fact that Tristana made a promise. Tristana claimed she would protect Shiloh and there was one thing that Tristana never did. She would never break a promise. Tristana held out her hands above Shiloh and her hands began to glow. It felt as though there wasn’t enough time to get a good enough protection spell or quick enough. Tristana knew that she was not strong enough to defeat all of them or even half of these invaders. The spell that she was going to use would be the safe passage spell. It would take Shiloh somewhere safe where no invaders or weather would be able to harm her. Unfortunately the spell was only meant for one person. If Shiloh went then Tristana would end up staying behind with the bug insectoids. Of course Tristana would not go down without a fight. But it was unlikely she would be able to fight them off on her own and survive. At least Tristana would be able to keep her promise and Shiloh would be protected. Besides, Tristana was just a waste of space anyway.

“I will keep my promise.” Tristana whispered as she was about to finish the spell.

Before she could, Shiloh stood up. This made Tristana drop her spell in surprise. Shiloh seemed different. No longer scared but instead filled with rage. Tristana quickly moved out of Shiloh’s way. Thunder was roaring as the wind blew harder. Now it was incredibly difficult to breath with such high winds. Or at least that was how it was for Tristana. She used wind meld in order to slightly move a tiny bit of the winds in order to breath and keep herself standing. Shiloh’s flesh transmuted into metal and it seemed that she was able to go into battle. Then she threw an axe. Yep, definitely ready to go into battle. Tristana rushed over to some of the soldiers who were knocked down. A drone ant tried to get into her way. Tristana was done with these oversized bugs! The bug was in between her and somebody who needed help.

Tristana’s eyes became intense as she flipped up into the air using the direction of the wind to help her. She grabbed onto the shoulders of the ant drone then used her strength to slam it into the ground. Since time was somewhat restored, the weapons that had fallen onto the ground were now useable again. Tristana picked up a dagger and stabbed the ant drone in the face. Then she ran to the soldier that had fallen much earlier and used a healing potion in order to restore him as much as possible. He was able to walk now. Tristana went over to a few other soldiers then directed the soldiers that were remaining to immediately leave the area. With Shiloh’s anger and the raging storm, it didn’t seem like a good idea to let the soldiers stay.

Especially since they were already so damaged. There was a good chance that lightning or some other force could destroy them. Tristana then walked over to where Shiloh was. She was prepared to fight alongside Shiloh and protect her to her best ability. Tristana drank one of her greater mana potions then placed the bottle back into her sack. With a good portion of her mana restored, she was ready. Tristana cast Arch Protection on both Shiloh and herself. This spell was much stronger since she had more energy and there were only two of them to protect this time. Now the spell would be able to protect against all range attacks and some magic. It was even able to protect against a bit of melee magic. If somebody had the strength they could get through that protection but now most projectiles would be useless. Tristana picked up her bo staff, now it was fully restored, and prepared for battle. Her eyes had changed along with her general attitude. She was not enraged but her eyes stared with a strange intensity. As if fully focused but also surprised. It was time to take the enemy down as much as possible. 

Sharifa was furious as the winds whipped around her people, they couldn't communicate through speech the winds were too loud. At least they had their hive mind to work off of, the Ants as well, the Mantis weren't hive minded but at the least they had magic to use telepathy that way. Time finally seemed to stabilize around them again as her people sent out swarms of insects, but the wind was making that difficult to say the least.

When the crack of lightning came down from above it forced the insects to stop their attack for a moment and shield themselves. When the flash was gone from their eyes Sharifa watched as the Goddess stood and a metal come over her skin, or perhaps her very skin turned to metal? She watched the headless axe fly through the air as it restored itself and buried into the head of a feral ant dropping it instantly. A blade formed in her hand and she cursed out to the insects, Sharifa was buzzing with rage now. ”Attack! All out attack!” She called out, all insect units drew steel, or their equal to it and advanced on the humans, wanting to get to the Goddess now.

From under the ground, once more, the two huge beetle units burst forth, giant mandibles snapping at the air. Once out the living tanks oriented on Shiloh and her mortal guardian and charged, heavy horns down and trampling any foolish enough to stand in front of them. In that gap Shar's Wasp forces charged in, weapons in hand and slinging magic where and when they could.

Sharifa felt a hand on her shoulder again and was forcibly turned around by another Wasp. ”You said they had lost their powers, Sharifa!” Clearly he was angry at her for misinformation.

The female Wasp looked down at the shorter male with stingers for eyes. ”They did! This one is Luck and Storms from I learned, now she is manipulating Time it seems, that is nothing I knew of! Now, obey my orders and attack!” She grabbed him in turned and shoved him ahead of her before she drew her two stinger rapiers in her primary hands and two daggers in her lower hands.

Her wings buzzed as Sharifa dove for the Goddess directly, she must be still mortal! If the Gods regained their immortality then this invasion was for naught and Sharifa didn't want to think of the consequences she may face for its failure. As the leader of the forward scouts that had went out the Queen and other insect leaders may well lay they blame on her for giving them false information. She could not allow that to happen!