The trio said their goodbyes and hurried toward the wasteland as fast as they could, Dave was worried. something was wrong very wrong. Dave wasn't psychic nor had the gods told him but his long life had honed something on an instinctual level.
they were only a stone's throw away fro m the base of the mountain "Master you look rather upset, has something happened?" the simple fact Dave wasn't smiling was enough to worry Dong and Lilly.
"I hope not but somthins got my hackles up and I need to find out." he stopped dead in his tracks, Lilly walked into him like a wall and fell back and Dong nearly tripped over his own feet keeping up with the movement.
*HUFF* "I got nothin'. somethings off but donno what. you guys remember what I told you about evil?" a nonsequitur but Dave was thinking faster than his mouth. his 'Hi-brain' outpacing his normal one almost as if his Int. stat was no more than a search engine he had access to rather than part of him.
"MN!, Master said there is no evil." he gave Lilly a look that every parent knows how to do when being misquoted. "oh, Master said there is no such thing as an evil act only evil people."
"right, people can be evil and do good things, and good people can do bad things like I said it always comes down to why." he paused and looked sad for a moment. "but that's not as true as people would like to think, there is evil in everybody and everything..."
They sat down as Dave told them the creation myth of Darkweld. when he got to the part about miasma 'he knew the rest was fact' "the gods did not know evil existed but there it sat in a pool and all that touched it was forever changed demons and monsters now roamed free."
"Lilly doesn't understand, if evil is a pool why are people evil?" Dave was almost in tears his eldest son drank from a miasma pool for power.
"they, the gods didn't know evil was always part of everything, 'sand and stars, water and wind, sun and shadow.'" part of the prayer of death's blessing. "some people just have more than others."
"Master, do you fear the heart of the desert is one of these pools?" Dong now felt nearly panicked.
Dave hesitated a moment. "no, a pool breeds monsters, not ever-expanding sand. no this is maybe something related." Dave had not yet relaxed.
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Now Dong understood the fears but not the haste, the desert was older than the empire even if it was expanding it obviously was not an urgent matter. before he could speak Dave held up a hand. "it's growing approximately 3 inches a year in a perfect circle." as if that explained anything.
*sigh* Dave didn't get it either he knew the math but where a smart person could explain it he barely understood it. it took several minutes for Dave to sort the information into something communicable.
he drew a small circle on the ground it had a 3-inch diameter. "k so if this grows by 3 inches in every direction it jumps from 28sq. inch to 113sq. inch, so at least we know it's not doubling in size every year or the world would be gone by now. however, a 3-inch diameter increase on a circle hundreds of miles across is still hundreds of sq. miles."
"Lilly understands! if it was all in one place a whole city would disappear but nobody sees it because it's small on the outside!" she figured out the whole thing in seconds it wasn't numbers but the very concept she understood at 9 what Dave struggled with even with a calculator.
she smiled up at Dave hoping to be praised, he of force had no choice but to pat her on the head. *happy loli noises* "Right, so whatever it is it's growing faster as time goes by and that's reason enough to hurry."
even at a forced march, it would still take 4 months to reach the edge even with a wagon the timeline wouldn't change much. then there was the desert that nobody really knew the full size of the last estimate was 25,000 miles across. there are no reports about the center.
"hear me oh spirits of the wind bestow upon us your boon, send your favored children, and grant us a swift journey." 3 horse-sized winged white wolves stored down from the clouds. "Lil, don't try that spell it takes 5x the mana than you have and if the spirits don't like you it can take more." "MN"
they landed silently and sniffed the air the smallest one went straight to Lilly with no hesitation sniffed her more closely and sneezed. after shaking its head in that doglike way it pinned her to the ground by laying on top of her and licking her face. "I think he likes you." *giggle*
"you just summoned the sacred beasts from the theocracy... .I, I, HOW!" Dong was despondent, he was born and raised there and still had some faith in the goddess that ruled. even now knowing she was just from the higher realms. the largest of the wolves looked his way with obvious sympathy.
"no harm bud, just making friends not like I'm gonna bind 'em or nothin' just asking for a ride." Dave missed the point but assuaged his fears in one way worse in another. Dong just sighed and shook his head. Dave just smiled ever brighter and scratched the big one behind the ear. "who's the goodist holy beast."
after a few moments, they took flight toward the wasteland. Lilly's joyful squeal could be heard over the howling wolves and wind. "hi-ho silver away!"
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