I scarcely know how to begin.
Events swirl thick about our cause these days, but none bring themselves close for examination. There is no resolution, only an endless array of unforeseeable occurrences and baffling circumstances.
I do not know who blew up the ocean. The Heathen would have directed such an attack against your Host directly, and the Demon would no doubt have struck once again at the moon. The great waves and distant shaking seem a poor prize for what must have been a vast expenditure of resources and powers.
I do not know who killed Death. I found her dead outside my audience chambers. Calliope viewed her past, and informs me that her killers were a mob of strong Ultras, not Linked, not any of our warlords. I can only surmise that in her zeal she confronted the Union directly, and fell to the strongest among them.
And, finally, I do not know why the Demon does not stir. Our agents have confirmed that her torpor is not confined to your Great Pilgrimage, however. She goes forth to her own territories no longer, and remains, so far as the public is permitted to know, cloistered within her Lair.
I might choose to believe that she feels your tread upon the earth, that she knows her days draw to a close, and frets away the hours until your arrival. But I do not. We both know that ignorance is never victory’s herald.
I propose the following:
You have written to me of the difficulties that you face maintaining control of the Brides in the face of the tedium and endlessness of the march. I believe, in the face of the Demon’s inactivity, that you should allow them a little exercise.
Choose the most rambunctious and rebellious of that lot. Let her win your favor by leading a strike team of her sisters against the Union. Send the malcontents forward.
Not too many. Not enough to meaningfully weaken the Army of Sunset. Just a hundred, or two hundred. Enough to destroy the Union, if the Demon does not act.
Send alongside them one or two with the power to alert you to their fate. If they conquer, well and good. If they fall, then the strength we take from learning how will make up for their absence on the field of battle.
You know my only thought is of the billions in our keeping. The waves are far from the worst that could be turned against them. Only you have the might to save mankind. Only your gift can keep schism at bay.
Crush our enemies and come back to me.