Eli let Alice hold him for a moment. He didn't hug her back. Perhaps he didn't know how. He simply stood there, stiff and confused. What we he supposed to do? Pat her pack? Alice's Renfred-Punch was God-Send, all things considered.
"I probably deserved that..." Eli muttered, cradling his skull. "I owe you a lot more than a drink, Alice. I owe you more than I could ever repay. As for how I'm here... It's complicated, to say the least..."
"Tragically, the Goddess isn't the God of Record Keeping. The history of the Holy War's early days has long since been lost on a sea of rumors, hearsay and propaganda. Luckily for you," Eli chimed. "You're speaking to someone unfortunate enough to have been present for most of it.
"From what I understand, the Goddess captured you during the first stage of her Inquisition. After purging the Fellowship's Wider Council, the Goddess vanished, for a while. Everything was quiet. We were all expecting Luthor to take control of her little Cult, but he never appeared. He vanished shortly after the Goddess' return. I saw an opportunity to secure so assets for the future, so I took it. I tasked CORI with finding some old friends. We reached out to some old friends who were freed in the Fall of the Nether. We made contact with some former Secularists living life on the run. We started gathering weapons. Objects of power. We secured a few safe houses. Outposts. Places to lie low. We knew that once the Goddess returned, her Dark Crusade would start anew. We wanted to be ready."
"A lot of my early efforts proved fruitless. Veranke is MIA. She vanished in a crowd of Goddessians, never to be seen again. Urien's gone, though I doubt anyone will be missing him. I made contact with Azrael for a spell. He went dark a year later. A couple of anonymous sponsors kept us afloat. But we were't going to stay above the waves forever.
"Then... then Seteth reached out to me. He had gathered an army. An incredible army filled with incredible troops. They worshiped him. They all did. My friends and I sponsored his war with the Fellowship. Without a strong leader, the Goddessians couldn't do much to keep his forces at bay. Eventually, he got greedy. He destroyed one too many idols, and he brought the Wrath of the Goddess down upon him. The Seteth's Secularists were trying to harbor peace between two warring kingdoms in this universe. Hoshido and Nohr. They were on the verge of striking up an Alliance with Kana's father. With a united kingdom backing the revolution, the Fellowship wouldn't stand a chance...
"The Goddess wasn't pleased, to say the least. She made a
rare public appearance in Nohr to kill Seteth herself. And... Seteth repelled her. He never told me how. His losses were great. The conflict devastated Hoshido. Kana's birth parents died at the Goddess' hands. But... the Goddess was repelled. For the first time since her resurrection, the Secularists were high on hope.
"So the Goddess cheated. The next day Seteth woke up to find his daughter missing. A letter arrived in her place. Seteth never let anybody read it. But whatever it contain
broke him. He never picked up his spear again. He released his dragon. Disbanded his army. He fled into the Astral Plane. A few years later, he appeared in New Valla, a nation built my war-orphans. Izana recognized him and welcomed him into the Kingdom. Before he knew it, he was a member of Kana's court. A safe job. Cushy. Far from the Battlefields he was born to tread.
"My contact in the Castle informed me of Seteth's arrival. I tipped off some mutual friends. The Secularist army flocked to New Valla. Some believed that Seteth would one day remember who he truly was-- who he was
meant to be. Some just wanted to serve their old leader however they could. I'd say... about 45% of Valla's standing army are personally loyal to Seteth, at this point. Such a shame he won't mobilize them until
we rescue his daughter for him.
"Where was I? Ah. Yes. Whilst Seteth was pretending to be a politician, I was expanding my spy network. We've been a thorn in her side for some time. Perhaps I'm giving my men too much credit. We're gnats flying around her head. But we keep her distracted. We keep her jumping at her shadow. Every shred of power she wastes trying to hunt us down is a shred she can't use on the rest of Multiverse. In a speech to her followers, she called us 'the Godless'. The name stuck. As long as we keep her busy, so long as our name brings hope to the multiverse's downtrodden, I consider that a win.
"But symbolic victories will only carry us so far. Take Nina, for example. She's got spirit. She's one of the lucky ones. She remembers a world before the Goddess. But her children? Her children's children? They won't be so blessed. It's a race against time, friends. The Goddess wishes to crush our spirits. Keep us subservient. She wishes to rule over a fattened, meaningless world. Before my time comes, I want to see her dream dead. I trust you feel the same way.
"As for the world outside of the Goddess' sphere of influence... The multiverse may be large, but the Goddess controls the truth. Her people have being working around the clock to protect her image. They're working pretty hard to keep us isolated. Alone. To the wider world, we're terrorists, extremists opposing a just and noble leader. Even now, the Goddess' Fellowship is lobbying with the Kanzuki Foundation. She's meeting with Pym in a week. She's on the verge of gaining formal recognition. If the Goddessians gain the Fellowship's support, the Goddess won't need to dirty her hands hunting for us down. We'll lose the support of our allies. We'll lose the benefit of the doubt. We'll miss out on our
one shot at changing the culture surrounding the Goddess. The Multiverse will band together to hunt us like dogs.
"That's our current situation, Rei. That's what you've missed. You want the highlight reel?
Seteth abandoned the cause. The Goddess has his daughter. We need to expose her or kill her if we want our kids to grow up in a world were they don't have to make a pledge to the Emerald Empire before class. The first step to doing that is bringing the Green Haired Bastard back into the fight. Can you see where I'm going with this?"
[At last, some due credit!] Cori snapped.
[If it weren't for me, Odin would have never found you in the Sleeping Death. You'd still be floating in that endless void. The Boss and I chose you all for a reason. You can thank me now, or you can send me a gift basket later. Your choice.]
"I'm going to ignore the latter part of the sentence and say 'it's good to see you, Jester'," Eli sighed. "You may not be the most...
gritty soldier I've encountered, but your spirit will do wonders for morale. You were one of the first souls to defy the Goddess. Welcome to back to the War against the Emerald Empress, Chosen. We've missed you."
@Yun Lee @Takumi @Capri @Lucky
