D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad

Kat was looking over the city. They'd finally arrived… and she couldn't stop the twitching in her eyes at the sight. You see, despite how close they are, they'd just woken up and walked maybe thirty minutes tops to get this view. Xiang had insisted they were close when he woke up early in the morning, before Yang even. He was correct in this of course, but had previously ignored Kat's questions about if it was worth it to continue later the previous evening, only to backtrack in the morning and put forward it all as his idea.

Now, it is true they weren't exactly close yet, it was just easily in view, but Kat was still very much annoyed with this turn of events. Granted, a lot of that annoyance was an insistence Lily also be awake for this view… which was just underwhelming and didn't help fix the annoyance Kat could feel infecting her mind. It was all just, mildly inconvenient. But when they all added up… Kat was not so happy a camper. Lily started to purr in Kat's ear and she felt so much of that building agitation drain out. *Thanks.*

Lily sent feelings of love and affection through the link as they looked out over the lake and the city nearby. Sure it was partially as they'd been told. A wonderful river spawned from dense water qi that could be felt by the cultivators apparently. It was a smooth, flat lake with spouts of water dotting the surface and had that been it, Kat was sure it would be an unforgettable sight. What ruined things was everything else.

The lake had more boats than a sporty ginger had freckles. They were everywhere, which the boats only increasing in size the further away from the city they got. Probably starting to live on them. Use the fact they were one of only a few in that section of the lake's fishing grounds. That's not to say the lake shore was any better. The city encircled the lake, not like a protector, but like a tangling vine strangling the life from something else much more wonderous.

It was clear the lake was shrinking. It might not have been happening in real time, but Kat could see a number of piers, both private and commercial, all at various lengths in the water… and with a keener eye still you could see that a few of the piers that had yet to be demolished were further back into the shoreline, not touching a drop of water. Without waves, it was clear to see that water would never return. Still, they seemed to need all those piers in various states of use, because the boats needed to be tied up somewhere.

There were other issues as well. The shoreline had a few very nice buildings right in the centre, and a clear effort had been made to keep that nice and pleasant looking… but as you got further from that nice centre more and more shacks held together with dirt and prayers could be seen. They covered nearly the entire lake's shore, with only a few open spaces further away from the city. Yet even directly opposite had a few more shacks, making use of just how 'remote' it was.

A lot of these shacks had large chunks of wood sticking into the ground in front of them as well. No prizes for guessing they were for tying off yet more boats. Kat also tried to ignore the people she could see dumping literal shit into the lake. They weren't even trying to hide it either. It was a big line of people on one of the largest piers just lining up with wagonload after wagonload of garbage and shit. *I don't know why I expected better from a place with magic… but apparently I did. They really aren't taking care of this place at all.*

[Kat… it seems like the poorer people are just as poor, if not more so then many places back on Earth. It… really isn't better back home if you know where to look.]

*I know that… I mean… I really should know that but… I guess I'm not watching them do that sort of shit right in front of me. I mean… there are literally dumping wagons full of shit into the river!*

[Kat, plenty of places dump sewage into the waterways back at home, or just the ocean. That's probably worse then just shit though for some reason I can tell you also saw garbage… which, neat that I know that, not very neat that it's happening. I… I just don't see much we could do about it Kat. Remember, one of the very few rules we have is we can't uplift people… and that still wouldn't fix the problem for decades probably.]

*I just… maybe it's different at home because as shitty as it can be we have other lakes, other rivers. Other oceans… this… this looks like a once and a lifetimes opportunity. A lake like this might never exist again and the fact that they're just… letting it go to waste isn't pleasant in the slightest.*

[Ok Kat… don't take this the wrong way… and I'm certainly not saying I'm any better then you are in this… but we only have on Earth. It's precious, and unique and if we destroy it, not even completely just a little too far… then we're all dead, or in need of an entirely new planet. We will likely live to see the destruction of our natural world. It is no different to this lake, in fact, it's quite a lot worse from certain perspectives.]

Kat found that she didn't really know how to deal with that information. *Oh… I… did you have a plan for that future?*

[Yes Kat. I planned to leave. I think there's a good chance we'll wise up a bit as a species and slow our inevitable end long enough for everyone we're good friends with on Earth to either take the chance to transform like us and leave when we're ready, or die. It used to be one of the big existential problems I never knew how to solve… and now with the option available I'm not sure I want to try.]

*I… why? Why just leave things like that?*

[Kat… we'd have to go full magical demonic dictator to stop it I think. Even if tomorrow everyone just stopped polluting… as a species we'd find something else that's just as bad or worse without realising it. We've done similar things many times. Unless you want to rule the world, I don't see any way to avoid leaving. On top of that… when you consider how many worlds there are… humans on our Earth might die… but we are going to outlive the entire solar system. We'd just be leaving a bit earlier.]

*I don't think I like thinking about this.*

[I don't think anyone does. It's one of the reasons nothing gets done Kat. One of many, but still one of them.]

Kat just pursed her lips and stepped forward as Xiang and Yang started to move again. Xiang didn't seem to see anything wrong with the picture, but Kat could see Yang's narrowed eyes and clenched fists. It wasn't clear what part, or parts she found objectionable… but after the conversation she'd just had with Lily, Kat didn't feel like finding out at all. It was things she didn't want to consider. Lily was a much better long term planner so… best leave it to her. That's what Kat would tell herself anyway.

When they got closer to the city, the group started to slow down, it was something Xiang did first and the rest followed suite. Kat suspected it was a courtesy thing. Nobody should be charging full speed into the city centre. It would lead to all sorts of problems. So with a more normal speed, Kat had the chance to ask, "So Xiang… what exactly is the plan here?"

Xiang licked his lips slightly as he thought that question over, "Well… we've got a few ways we can go about this. The first, and the most questionable would be to show up at the Lord or Lady's district and just… walk around. The buyer will be exceptionally arrogant, but revealing we're cultivators would let us make a sale then and there. Probably for a good deal of coin… that we don't really need… but a good deal of coin at least.

"Other than that… two options really. The first is finding the biggest merchant in the city and offering it to him. We'll be undercut massively but probably paid in things more relevant to us. Perhaps he might have a few old cultivation jades, or some ingredients. It really depends on what's in stock. If we're really lucky," Yang rolled her eyes at that and gestured grandly towards Xiang with a slight nod, "we could find some rare cultivation thing that the merchant doesn't recognise… but that's only if he's too dumb to wonder why we want that over other things.

"Then there is one more thing I'm interested in… probably the best option, at least I think… the Auction House.