[Text] @zobrien

[flying_fish]

[Zed isn't in the best of moods since another person he cared for disappeared, so he's taken to drink. Not that the alcohol has ever helped him, but it has him thinking about home...and some not so pleasant business back there.]

There's an item back home that operates like the Chinese gu. Except instead of venomous creatures, you insert humans. It is said that once the ritual is complete, it will lead to the destruction of the world.

The humans inside are forced to kill each other and mix together until becoming one being. The skin disappears while the skeleton, muscles, and organs fuse together. They're neither dead nor alive because of the magic that binds them.

Let's say the item broke, and a part of the conglomerate was separated from the whole. The humans that make up this "specimen" are children. Do you destroy it to prevent the ritual from being completed?

Comments

[flying_fish]

You are correct, but I figured it would be easier to answer from a more hypothetical perspective.

Would you have any doubts?

[torsion]

Little too specific to seem that way to me.

No.
If you don't do it, things keep going. They get worse.
Life is never so simple. There's rarely that special last minute "save everyone" option that'll pop up.

[flying_fish]

It is what it is.

I get it. Although the leader of my group and some other members may argue otherwise. I don't think it's wrong to hear out those who would want to save the people sacrificed to the ritual, but I also understand the need to prevent things from going downhill.

[torsion]

Yeah. I know how it goes.

Don't understand why those sorts don't understand that you'd do it if you could. Of course no one wants to sacrifice anyone or save only a portion.
Who would choose that over protecting all?

But someone has to act while there's still time to make a decision. Before it's too late.

[flying_fish]

I think that choice focuses on saving all, including the victims. Whether it's desperation, guilt, or wanting to grasp some faint hope. The place I came from has its own hidden miracles even when chaos is overwhelming, so it's not entirely difficult to imagine wanting to bet on that hope.

It may be too late when I return, unfortunately. There are more factors that complicate the situation that my group is in.