[HORSE]

[bloodyashes]

[There is no text in this message. All there are are some drawings of rather strange creatures. After some time, a drawing of a completely different creature is scribbled into one corner.

However, anyone in or passing near Dorm 25 will be able to hear a soft argument between Asch and Murtagh (oneformisery) along the lines of "That's not a horse, it's some kind of monster." "Of course it's a horse! Do you think I'm making this up?"]

Comments

why not just recite a whole lecture on Physics 101 while we're at it

[oneformisery]

There are very few things from that explanation that he can manage to grasp and understand. It's an entirely new system of magic and he can't apply his own knowledge to its particular laws. From what Asch is saying, he seems to be suggesting that these fonons can become solid. So they weren't energy? Energy didn't-- no...

Murtagh looks just a little frustrated. "Lorelei," he says, reaching for something halfway familiar, "is a...god?"

[bloodyashes]

"No, he's a headache," Asch quips briefly, shaking his head slightly before Murtagh even asks him to explain the remark. That aspect is definitely too complicated for this conversation, even if it was the sort of thing he felt like sharing. Most people, he's well aware, would think he was crazy if he told them Lorelei has repeatedly tried to make contact with him since a young age. "Auldrant doesn't have gods, though the fonon sentiences are probably the closest thing, and they used to be worshipped as such. That was long before the modern era, though. The church might be called the Order of Lorelei, but they worship the Score, not Lorelei itself."

[oneformisery]

There is a wary, dubious look from him. "These sentiences don't demand human sacrifices, do they?" he asks. "The dwarves in Alagaesia have their gods but their belief rests on faith rather than a tangible entity. The only other religion I know worships a pair of monsters."

[bloodyashes]

The idea is so absurd that he almost laughs. "Except for Lorelei, I don't think they care much about humans in any capacity. The tides still answer to the moon, whether there's ships in the harbor or not." A saying he'd heard once from the gardener, Pere, to Guy, and didn't it make more sense now, knowing they were both from Hod. His tone turns bitter. "The only thing sacrificing humans on Auldrant is other humans."

[oneformisery]

"Well, there are some things which remain constant between worlds at least."

Murtagh doubted it was possible for humans to ever stop sacrificing other humans. The same went for the other races. They all felt the same emotions, which meant they were all capable of the same vices - and virtues.

...And at the end of it all, his eyes still drifted back to Asch's initial drawings of a horse and he shook his head. Just humans.

[bloodyashes]

Asch, having basically been one of those sacrifices, just nods somewhat in agreement. "Most people are content with being who they are and doing what they're already doing, unless they have a reason to change," he says.

Auldrant is changing, but there's already people resisting it strongly. Every time Asch heard people complaining about the Score being gone, he'd wanted to scream at them, yell the truth at the top of his lungs. That direction involved everyone thinking he was a madman even if he was right, though.

In retrospect, though, he probably could have hired the Dark Wings to start spreading rumours to that effect. If he ever gets back to Auldrant, he makes a note to do that.