Deep in the desert stood a large fortress made of sandstone. Many bunny people could be seen on the walls standing guard vigilantly. They were all mages and specialized in long-distance attacks meant to demolish enemy forces before they could even come close.
This place was aptly named fortress city and was the biggest oasis around. With a population of 30'000 bunny people and 2000 humans, it reached the limit of what one oasis could handle even with some of the inhabitants being impoverished and left starving.
In the middle of the fortress was a large temple made from obsidian with sandstone as the base. Here the gods of the desert pantheon would come together to discuss the happenings in the desert. Believers were naturally banned from entering that highest and holiest part of the temple.
There were currently only a few gods inside the meeting area. These were the highest gods. The others had gone on a mission to destroy a town of sinners that had refused to worship the greatness of the desert pantheon. That giant sand storm would show them what it meant to refuse the kindness of their gods.
As they were sitting there the gods that had gone our returned in a hurry. Well, only some of them did. At least a third of those that had originally gone out was missing. Pire, the leading god of fire who had sent none of his subordinates was quick to mock.
"Why are there only so few of you? Did some of you lose your sense of direction while returning or did you throw yourselves onto the swords of those villagers?"
"Keep your cowardly thoughts to yourself. Who was it that didn't dare send a single god under him in fear they would screw up?"
Solon, the leading god of light was furious as the gods of his element were the least to return. At Pire's mocking, he lashed out with harsh words himself and Pire did not take well to being called a coward.
Both Pire and Solon were known for their short fuses and no one in the room was surprised at their outbursts. Rocha and Fa the leaders of the sand and wind gods just sat at the side. Both goddesses had no interest in getting involved and were instead whispering with their most loyal followers to find out what happened.
"Enough out of both of you. There is no reason to fight amongst ourselves. First, we must know what happened. Who can tell me what happened?"
Everyone fell silent when Qwas spoke. He was the only water god known in this realm so he held immense power and the faith of all believers went solely to him. Despite that, no one dared to step forward. All the gods with decent strength had left early so only a few weak ones that had survived knew what happened. Qwas observed the crowd and grew displeased with the lack of response.
"Why can no one tell me what happened? Did we not lose a third of all gods we sent? Explain!"
Finally, a god in the form of a sandworm wiggled forward and spoke in a low reverberating voice that was hard to understand. This god was a sand god who had thanks to his form as a sandworm been able to burrow through the soil they had been trapped in and escape. He'd always resented his body for being ugly but now he was kind of glad about it.
"Lord Qwas, that oasis is protected by powerful people. One of them destroyed our sandstorm with just a single swing of his sword. The other used some detection spell that found all of us. Some managed to escape but the others were all attacked by a weird darkness. I don't know what happened after that."
"Thank you for relating such vital news. It would seem that the oasis in question was taken by other, hostile gods. Since those gods seem quite powerful we'll attack the town first and try to eliminate all their believers. That way they'll leave without fighting."
Qwas sounded very calm about the potential deaths of all those gods. His words were filled with confidence and showed a clear path forward. The other gods all felt like they would be fine as long as they followed his lead. Rocha immediately followed up with a suggestion.
"The Buns have just returned from conquering another oasis for us. They are the beat raiders we have so why not send them. Their merciless attitude will surely be useful against those sinners."
The buns were an elite unit of mounted raiders founded by Pire himself. Sending them would be efficient but Pire didn't look too happy. Whatever unit they sent would have large casualties if those opposing gods got involved and he didn't want that. But what could he say when he saw Qwas nod in approval.
He could only swallow his anger and send a message to one of his believers. He clearly relayed his orders to have the buns attack that town but added a little order of his own. In his anger, he ordered his men to brutally slaughter everyone inside the village. Just killing them wasn't enough to quell his anger.
"Now that we have decided how the mortals will proceed I will also send some gods in case those gods decide to interfere in the affairs of mortals. Pire send your second in command and a few others, Solon and Fa, you'll go personally with a small escort each."
All leading gods glared at Rocha, the sand goddess had long been trying to get closer to Qwas and it would seem she had finally succeeded. The water god's orders were so blatantly biased that it made the others gag.
Qwas then shooed them all out with the exception of Rocha. An exception that didn't go unnoticed but Qwas didn't care.
Once they were alone Rocha stood up and walked over to Qwas who remained seated on his throne.
"Qwas dear, thank you for being so nice to me and keeping me here. You must like me a lot."
Rocha wanted to say more but a hand had tightly grabbed her throat. Panic and fear shone in her usually mesmerizing eyes as the hand's hold tightened.
"Don't misunderstand. The only reason I kept you here is that I need an heir and you seem the best candidate. Just like the others, you are nothing but a slave living to help me advance to greater heights. Understood?"
All that Rocha could do was helplessly beg with her eyes for Qwas to release her. Not a sound was capable of escaping her throat and a seal had appeared on Qwas' hand to prevent her from using her powers.