She isn’t dead yet.
I got that out of the way, because I know if I started with anything else you’d just skip down till you got to that part.
We didn’t drive her off. She didn’t overcome me. None of the contingencies we considered have come to pass. She’s done something else, something we never gave serious consideration to.
Nothing.
I was so certain she would strike as we assembled before Olympus, as my Brides passed in review one after another. Nothing. We passed through an assembly of the greatest of my Warlords a few days later, a chance to humble me before all who believed in me, nothing. She does nothing.
At this rate I am starting to believe I may actually end up walking all the way across the goddamn continent. What a kick in the teeth that would be.
The Demon, a woman so venal she once crossed the world in order to slay Barabus for stating publicly that she wasn’t afraid of her, is demonstrating patience. The mind reels.
I remember you mentioning, in passing, that knowledge of mortality is the truth difference between deities like us and the rank and file. They know that they will die. We… know that they will die. And so it comes to pass. I had always counted the Demon on our side of this spectrum.
But maybe it is not so? Maybe when she asks her oracular pet what will happen if she comes against us she cringes away from the answer that she receives? It wouldn’t be the first time someone lauded for their bravery turns coward at the last.
A pleasant fantasy, but not one that I take seriously. Prevailer has fought for decades, heedless of the odds. The Demon has never backed down before. It is inconceivable, utterly bewildering, that she does so now.
We are missing something. Reach out to our contacts in the infidel lands. Reach out to KEM if you have to. Find out why the Demon isn’t answering our challenge.
And if you ever meant one word of your professions of love, do so quickly. The Brides are not enduring the march very well.