These are Great War tactics, their effectiveness is wholly unknown against a modern Tartarus. Nevertheless, in the same way that humanity has advanced from using the stick, to the sword, to the rifle, the simple expectation is that could not have possibly revolutionized their entire species. This document ensures to inform all battlefield commanders with strategies that have proved effective and patterns that have been observed in Tartarian warfare.

In regards to this, and something that all will have to prepare themselves for, is the greatest weapon in the Tartarian arsenal. This is not their princes, nor their archdemons. It is not the endless horde of demonspawn nor the infestations. Rather it is the phenomena of Ashen Skies.

The air becomes thick and difficult to breathe. Short exposure has only minor effects to health, the incorporation of Clerics into the Imperial Military has effectively nullified any long-term sicknesses that may arise from breathing their air. Rather the impact of Ashen Skies is most felt during march, during battle and during rest when men run out of breath from tasks that they should be able to do effortlessly. Environmental conditioning becomes a priority for the troops. Extreme endurance exercises should be held now.

The perpetual night is another factor. Whereas it is not our department, the evacuation of rare flora and fauna from southern Epa is already taking place. Vitamin D concentrate has already been assigned to rations. Officers will be held responsible if malnourishment without explanation occurs. Troops are to prepare for total environmental devastation and know that the grass they are standing upon will soon wither and die. Whereas some personal pets are allowed in the Imperial Military, birds and rodents are exceptionally susceptible to the change in atmosphere. It is advised to tell troops to send them back home if possible.

Ashen skies will also prevent the deployment of the Imperial Airforce. Officers are to be aware that supply drops and air support will not be available. The Bureau of Weapons Development project for Ashland Aircraft has been given more resources. My own personal advice is to not expect aircraft throughout the entirety of the war. Mages, Sorcerers and Divines are still able to fly.

The second most important information to prepare for is Tartarian Portal Magic. If they are allowed to step foot on Epa, then we shall see them drawing summoning circles on the ground. These are relatively easy to detect by magicians or sorcerers. Nevertheless, demons, for everything that is said about them, can be persuasive. They will translate our languages within the first two weeks of the war, as was done in the past. And they will use whatever trick, whatever guile and whatever cunning there is to worm their way into free passage.

Expect to see Fer’s Beastmen in every camp. They are able to sniff out shapeshifters and succubi dressed in mirages. The SIS will also be deployed. Both have been given extrajudicial authority to imprison and, if corruption or treachery is found, execute on the spot. Be aware, they are under Strategic Council Command.

- Excerpt from “Tartarian Strategies and Tactics, First Edition”, a short booklet hastily written by Iliyal Tremali and given to Imperial Staff Officers.

Olonia watched the cloak shift in her tent as a gust of wind came back. Here she thought it was Captain Henek she had sent off to the communications tent in order to report what Tanit had just told them to the Strategic Council, to Iliyal. He had given her a test and she would not fail him so quickly. No. Olonia took a deep breath and looked down at the box.

Satisfaction always felt better when put off. Shooting a rifle would not be difficult, but there were too many variables involved for now. An ammunition crate would have to be taken. It would have to be carried to a truck, that would put them out of action for another few minutes. There were men still out in the desert. Tanit may have crossed the desert with her innate power but even vehicles specifically brought in for crossing dunes could get stuck here.

The smile of excitement crawled onto Olonia’s face. “Muster the men.” Olonia said with satisfaction. She always wanted to say that. “Prepare vehicles, bring arms and recording equipment. Get the drones too.” Tanit still knelt by her side but Olonia did not care at this point. All these men had fought in Epa against Divines. Some of them were even veterans of the Anarchia Crisis. Everyone had seen death.

At the end, how bad could it be? Olonia had killed demons before. Only once, but it was the first blood she had spilled without help. Down in those dwarven tunnels, just as the weak-willed Epan governments were declaring Epan Separation. Demons with cleavers and blades. Fer had destroyed that machine true but what did it matter? They had an arsenal now. With rockets and heavy rifles and grenades. With men that could mow down charging infantry at range. “Go! Go! Move!” Olonia said and the officers all ran out.

Olonia turned to Tanit, the coppery Goddess of Ibya had finally stopped crying and move was leaning away from Olonia. “Come Tanit, stand, you’re a Goddess.” The exact cold tone Iliyal used for her. The same one that had dragged her out of useless mascotry and into the National Goddess she was now.

“Olonia.” Tanit said. “Olonia, it’s not. We have to run!” Her voice rose to a shout. “They’re coming! How?! What are you even doing?!”

“I’m carrying out orders that have come to me.” Olonia said. “Stand. I will not do you the disservice of picking you up.” Oionia’s eyes went to the crate. If Tanit was not moving, then she may as well inspect it now. The knife came out again, Tanit flinched back and Olonia crouched down next to the crate.

In she slipped the blade. A twist made a gap. One of Olonia’s pale fingers got inside. It was tough wood, battered in with hundreds of nails and with what felt like bubble wrap on the inside. Wood it may be. Iliyal had made her tear logs in half during training to prove her own strength. A year ago, Olonia would have tensed and bit her lip. Now, she just moved her arm as smoothly as if she was tearing paper apart. Iliyal’s strength exercises had not been for the elf. It had been so that Olonia could know what her own body was capable off.

And Olonia stood up as she smelled the fresh steel. The tinge of gun oil. The plastic of the bubble wrap. She stood up.

What a beauty.

Inside was a rifle as tall as Olonia. A cannon with a trigger and a scope. A rectangular muzzle on the front. Huge magazine. Bullets… nay, shells arranged in boxes. 37MM. Each one as large as a man’s hand. Olonia bit her lip. Iliyal knew her well. Olonia leaned down and tested it. She felt like a princess out of a fairy tale.

Flowers. Bottles. Homes. Ten times in her life some rich man had given her an estate to curry favour. How many horses had she received? How many dresses handsewn by master artisans? Finally someone gave her something smart. Something worth having.

“What is that?” Tanit asked.

“A rifle for Divines. I’m going to be testing it.” Olonia said. “Now pick yourself up, you’re going to carry me.” That was the biggest issue with movement here. Tanit could control the sands and Tanit could summon her own eagle, but the cloudless Sassara gave now way for Olonia to call upon Bielik. She would have been doing the scouting runs herself in between managing operations then.

“So you don’t even if it works?”

“It’s Imperial, of course it works.” Olonia did not have a hint of doubt. She checked the mechanism on the side. Bolt action. Traditional. Olonia smiled. Who said tradition was bad though? Better this than jamming in the sand. The magazines carried six rounds each. She tested the weight of them.

Well… light they certainly weren’t. Olonia tested the belt that was lying in the crate. It nuzzled across her waste. They needed proper vests like how the soldiers had. That was essential for carrying more bullets. One loaded and two spare should be enough though. Olonia hefted the huge cannon over her shoulder and tested the weight. She took a step to the side as Tanit finally got to the her. Then another. Forward. Back. Spin. “Watch it!” Tanit yelped as she fell into a duck again.

Olonia realised she had almost smashed that huge muzzle into the woman’s head. “I didn’t mean to.” She leaned into the box. There were some papers. Most likely specifications or whatever. More ammunition. Spare magazines, all already loaded. No other toys to play with though. “Alright, let’s go then.”

“Olonia really.” Tanit moped as Olonia left through entrance tent. “Olonia please. Listen to me.”

“Divines are always listening.” Olonia said. “Just say what you need to.” Another lesson that was so intuitive and natural, and yet had to be verbalized to be taught. “Say it.”

“Say what?”

“Say that you can just speak.”

“What?”

“Just speak!” Olonia said.

“I can speak!” Tanit shouted and sighed. Her dark hair flew from side to side as she tried to mount some argument. “Really! Olonia. It was huge. We didn’t see demons. You’re going to be heading into a cloud. You can’t just shoot it!” Olonia smiled in pride at how well Tanit had just learned the lesson. She probably didn’t even realise she did.

“We’re on a reconnaissance mission.” Olonia said. “That is all there is to it. If we spot something, then we’ll decide on the spot whether we should engage or not.”

“Do you really want to go out and kill something that bad?” Tanit asked. Olonia did not even bother replying to that as she left the tent. “Hello? Olonia?” Tanit ran after her. Around, the soldiers were preparing to mount. Vehicles had already started. Men were sat on motorcycles or on pairs buggies. Tents were being thrown open as sergeants ran through and made their final checks. A garrison would be left behind, just to make sure no looters would come although Olonia doubted that would happen here.

And ahead of them, south, where the sun was still climbing up to its zenith was sand. Sand and more sand. Sand that rolled in great wave that they would have been called picturesque rolling hills if they were green with grass. Fools would call these beautiful too. Olonia had done that on her first night. And then she realised how dreadful the smooth Sassaran sand was to field armies in. “I’m listening.”

“Well can you answer?”

“I do.” Olonia said. “I want to see something and I want to shoot it because I’m excited to.” Tanit fell silent. She stopped walking. Olonia took a few steps and realised she didn’t hear the heavy thuds of the Goddess who should have been following her. “What are you doing?”

“I’m not going.” Tanit declared.

Olonia stood there for a moment in shock. Now this though? This was new entirely. Even when she had broken down before Iliyal after Waramunt had almost defeated her, she had still kept on marching with him. Even when they were gossiping at how painful the training in Erdely was, they kept on going. And now? “What do you mean you’re not going?”

“I’m not going.” Tanit said. “I will not be a tool for you to just use.”

Olonia took a deep breath. “Tanit. You’re going.”

“I’m not.”

“You came, you know the way.” Tanit pointed south, behind Olonia.

“It’s there. You won’t miss it.”

“That’s not how it works.”

“You told me Divines don’t ask.” Tanit said. Olonia wanted to test the huge rifle over her shoulder on this Goddess right now. She… But Iliyal had done that to her. Nor had Kavaa. Not even Fer, as brutal as she had been. Fer had not even mentioned saving Olonia from Naro in Epa apart from asking if she was fine to continue. “So I’m not asking.”

“Do you know where you are stood right now? Do you know who I am?”

“I am stood in the Sassara and you are Goddess Olonia of Lubska.” Tanit said. That wasn’t the answer Olonia was expecting. It was stupid and it stumped her.

“Do you know how these things go?”

“I’ve heard you execute traitors.”

“Cowardice is not treachery. In Epa, you would be sent to the backlines.” Olonia corrected her. Whatever. It didn’t matter anyway. “Tanit. You are coming with us so that you can see what is going on.”

“I’ve seen it.”

“And?” Olonia said. “I haven’t. That’s why we are going. I need to report on something.”

“At the speed it was moving, it will be upon us by dusk.” Lovely. Fantastic information that! Olonia should have been told sooner!

“All the more reason to go and see what we are preparing for.”

“It’s the end of the world.” Tanit said. “Ashen Skies as you call it.”

“As all of us call it that.”

“It’s the end of the world.” Tanit declared again. What had Olonia done? Tanit should have been humbled before. They had skipped that part. Of course. There had been no Waramunt to humiliate and to be humiliated. There had been no Kavaa to effortlessly show her how out of her league she was.

“Tanit. The end of the world is coming to Ibya. You are the Goddess of Ibya. Stand and rise. Do you think I want to be here?” Olonia asked and Tanit opened her mouth. Olonia kept on talking so that the woman would not get another argument in. “Do you think that evacuating your entire nation is easy? Do you think that the Empire does things like this for fun? Do you think there’s voices in the staff that say we should not just abandon you?”

Tanit’s eyes of gold-brown grew wide. They were the same colour as the desert at night. And Olonia kept on talking. “I know what I am.” Olonia said. “I’m a haughty little Goddess of Lubska, from across the ocean, we don’t even share the same sea. And I’ve come here and I’ve been treating you like shit the entire time and frankly, I don’t even feel bad about it Tanit. Do you think this is new to me?”

“No Tanit. It’s not. I was there as Maisara marched her army through Lubska. It was my land that was the main front. What do you think it was after we left? When we saw villages turned to rubble? Grain fields as far as the eye could see turned to ash? Rivers polluted with gasoline? How many children do you think I’ve seen be dug out of rubble? I saw Kaczaw be shelled. A city as grand as Orripoli easily. I saw children run through the street as they tried to get to shelter. Into bunkers and subways or just to the buses that we were evacuating them with. I almost got killed there. Did you know? Naro, the God of Discipline, bested me in combat. Fer saved me.”

And finally, Olonia saw a light in Tanit’s eyes she had not seen once: Recognition. It tasted sweet. “And that same hell is coming to you. It’s even grander in fact. I just faced the White Pantheon, you have all Tartarus descending here. But you’re Imperial and I am. And I do not care whether you would do the same or not for me. I was told to be here to see and record world’s end because you, me, everyone knows that there is no chance stopping them in North Arika. We get what we can, we skirmish, we pull out, and pray that the information we acquire will save more lives than we lose. That’s my job. That’s our job. And that’s all there is to it.”

“So yes Tanit.” Olonia said. “We will go and we will see what is coming and preferably, if there’s something there, we will kill it. Do you know why?” Olonia answered her own question. “Because every demon we kill there is one less that will descend upon your city. If there’s some forward scouting party of theirs, then we destroy them and buy your cities one more hour before they have to raise guns. It doesn’t matter if there’s one second of difference because your people will appreciate that one second like nothing else. You know what that one second is?”

“What?”

“It’s the difference between someone’s son or daughter getting their foot on a boat or whether the ship will leave without them.”

And to that, Tanit had no reply. She just sighed heavily and shook her head. “Let me grab my spear.”

“Go. Don’t delay us.”

Olonia turned back to the vehicles. The largest two, part of a team four, were the massive flatbed trucks for the Divines. If Olonia and Tanit both rode the same one, they would be too heavy for the vehicle to carry in the sand. One of the captains who was staying behind was ready with Olonia’s radio in his hands. His eyes grew wide at the cannon she was carrying. “Thank you.” Olonia said as she took it off him, gently placed the cannon in the back and stepped on herself.

A series of hand movements were all the orders needed. Olonia caught the marking of the other vehicle. “T-1, report. Over.” Everyone knew her voice here, there was no reason for introductions.

“Private Becker, I hear you Goddess. Over.”

“Wait for Tanit, she’ll catch up. Over and out.”

“Copy Goddess. Over and out.”

A troop of fifty small vehicles set out onto the desert. Buggies and bikes and all other toys Olonia had thought she would never see used by the Imperial Military. But the armour was needed in Epa and the no-fly zone was expanding into Ibya already. So they rode, a storm of sand behind them. Tanit’s transport caught up eventually, the Goddess had come indeed. Over one dune, down to what could have been a valley and then up. An hour? Two? Three? Olonia kept checking her watch. The radio had little chatter, the only noise was from their engines, the still air and the flocks of birds that were flying north.

Olonia stared at those falcons and eagles and everything else from the mountain of a huge valley. One vehicle had gotten stuck. Two men had to sit with Tanit. Their motorbike had broken down in the sand. The reconnaissance team Tanit had taken with them had not been spotted. Maybe they took a different way around. Eventually, the party did get moving again.

Vehicles began to stop as they reached the peak of the next dune. No one even said anything on the radio but Olonia knew they had seen it. She waited until her vehicle reached it and…

Olonia felt her heart stop as she looked south.

From where the sun rose in the east to where it fell in the west, dark clouds of grey and black and every shade in-between. As if the universe itself was tucking the Sassara into her bed for sleep, under a duvet of ash. Winds howled in the distance, Olonia could not see them but she heard it. Storms rumbled from that mass. Lightning and thunder crashed every few seconds, striking the ground or spiralling upwards or sideways through the filthy cloud cover. Tornadoes and twisters rose from the ground like great skyscrapers of spinning ash. They set alight in orange flames, they fell apart, they reformed. Ash spewed forwards, wisps and trails of ash launched forwards onto the group Olonia had led.

And below, the desert had turned black as pitch. Whether it was covered in ash or whether the sand was still exposed was impossible to tell. The mass of darkness above it fully blocked the sun. It was completely lightless save for the flames that randomly set blazed for a few moments and then burned out. Olonia narrowed her eyes. No. Not all of them. Deeper in, she could see fires that were moving. Torches and pyres. They weren’t disappearing. There were huge figures ahead of them which would travel and momentarily block Olonia’s line of sight.

Something warm touched Olonia’s hands. Olonia touched her finger. Snowflakes. Not snow though. Ash.

Poof.

And Olonia felt something there. Her smile dropped. That excitement was missing, that want for glory. That…

“Pull back.” Olonia said into her microphone. “Fall back immediately.”