Journey to the Trinity Tree

As the rest of the champions and other fighters wept, Gluttony just sat, watching the rain mercilessly pelt the fire in a desperate attempt to put it out, not that that would do much now; after all, by now, both trees had passed the point of no return and stood no chance at being saved. No one approached her, just leaving her to sit and smirk at the destruction all around. The black and white she-cat had had no stakes in the battle, so it wasn't like she cared about the outcome. Perhaps that was heartless, but that was the truth, the cruel reality of the situation. Gluttony couldn't have cared less about who won and who lost; she was just eager for the chance to destroy something. Watching that destruction unfold for both sides, rather than just for one or the other, simply made it all the sweeter.

The crushed spirit that hovered over every cat and lion, citizen or champion, was more comforting than it should be to Gluttony, but that was because the feeling was all too familiar to the fraud of a goddess. That despair as you looked around and saw that everything you had worked towards had been destroyed was palpable in the air at the moment, and it was exactly how Gluttony had felt when she was a child, long before she had found her way to the Depths and gained a position as one of the gods in the Graveyard of Gods. They'd taken everything that made her her and destroyed it; Gluttony was completely reshaped into something else, something that would fight for them and not question the words that they said after questioning them for so long. She had swallowed her pride, her intelligence, her honor, her morality. Something snapped when Gluttony realized the reality of the group she'd been born into, crushing her and leaving her vulnerable to their attempts to make her their perfect fighter.

She hated that feeling, hated what it reminded her of.

Gluttony briefly turned her attention from the burning battlefield to glare at some of the nearby felines, all of whom were still bemoaning the destruction of their precious trees. How was she meant to bask in the destruction caused by the fire when they all lurked around like this, their despair clogging and polluting the air around them? It was ruining everything, reminding her of a time she had been taught to block out and ignore. Gluttony had been weak then. She'd been weak before they broke her, and she'd been weak after. That was why she'd murdered them all. Once they were all dead, there was no voice left for her to beg to shut up or that would tell her to quiet. There was just Gluttony.

The black and white she-cat's red eyes went back to the battlefield as she flexed her claws against the grass and dirt beneath her paws. She could not just slaughter the citizens and champions surrounding her. The time for that was over, and besides, she could ignore them. Gluttony was not weak any longer; she could ignore the feeling in the air, no matter how reminiscent it was of a simpler time, one where she had a few screws tighter than she did now. Tail flicking back and forth behind her, Gluttony shut her eyes and just let herself bask in the distress of everyone surrounding her.

Wasn't that what made destruction so beautifully satisfying? The feeling that she dreaded and hated easily became a source of enjoyment when Gluttony took on a new perspective. This was the reaction she had wanted to see, all too reminiscent of the shrieking of both trees.

This was good.

---

This was bad.

No, this was worse than bad. This was terrible. A disaster. The worst outcome that could have come from the night. It wasn't even an outcome that she had considered, because it seemed too far removed from the realm of possibilities to even be worth preparing herself for.

And yet, here they were, both trees aflame as champions, beasts, and citizen alike all gathered off the battlefield and away from the fire, their status as enemies temporarily forgotten in the chaos that both sides had caused.

"What have we done?" Kina whispered, staring at the smoke beginning to fill the sky above both of the spots the trees had once stood.

"We destroyed them both," Maji muttered from beside her, the mark on her face from where Kina clawed her only just starting to stop bleeding.

Kina couldn't meet the older lioness' eyes as she answered, eyes falling guiltily to the ground as she kneaded at the grass beneath her paws. "Both sides failed. What does that mean for us?"

"What do you mean?"

Kina managed to raise her head to fix the Soldier with her deep blue eyes. "They brought us here. How do we get back?"

Maji actually seemed caught off guard by her question, as if she hadn't thought that far ahead. "I don't...I don't know. But-"

Kina cut her off, looking back towards the plumes of smoke signifying where each of the burned trees stood. So close together, and yet so far apart. "What does this mean for life and decay? We didn't just tip the balance; we utterly obliterated it. What happens to everyone that lives in this realm? How does losing both of those gods affect them? Does it just affect this realm, or does the affect of losing both trees go beyond this realm and affect ours too?"

"If losing one of the trees affects how they live their lives, you really ought to be glad your side didn't succeed in destroying life for the sake of decay." Maji said coldly. Kina flinched, opening her mouth to retort, but Maji continued before she could. "Wouldn't that mean there would be no more new life? Everything would just die, and it would not be replaced."

"So what, is this realm now stagnant?"