Day One Thousand One Hundred #DiaryoftheEndoftheWorld

My thoughts turned to Quasimo today. No doubt prompted by our new surroundings.

Tomas and Mr Kagi have ensconced us in a palatial villa very much like the one in which Quasimo had us pause for a meal on our way out of Babylon, not long after Stan thought he had eliminated Elijah and myself.

To get to it they led us by immense holding pens in which many loyal citizens of the world government had been incarcerated. The stench from within was horrific.

Apathy and neglect can be as deadly as overt hostility.

Tomas no sooner had left when he returned with another guest in tow. Quasimo’s cousin.

She had been sent from the hiding place to retrieve us.

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Day Eight Hundred Nineteen #DiaryoftheEndoftheWorld

Our guide has switched roles today, looking to Elijah and myself as guides into the Truth. He hung upon every lesson as Elijah taught from the surroundings. The plants heavy with grain, the water nourishing their roots, and the very light of the sun’s rays helping us to see these things.

Time seemed to stand still as we kept on our way. Before we knew it we were beyond the fields and into unreclaimed desert. The dryness added discomfort to the heat.

We began a swing to the north following the contour of a bowl-like depression, the end of which meant a steep climb up to a new elevation and a view of the megapolis- minus its tallest building.

Day Eight Hundred #DiaryoftheEndoftheWorld

The nothingness of our surroundings continued right up until the afternoon. Then, a line crossing our road quite some distance ahead, joined it from the east. In distinction to our route it held a lot of activity, with many vehicles passing in both directions.

They were too small to make out at our remove. Only later could we identify the bulk of the traffic to be tanker trucks.

We halted for the night with this road in view, but taking pains that we were not.

We needed to decide our next course of action. Stick to the road or travel parallel out of sight.

Traffic continued without abatement. Most limited to our road ahead, very little on the western road.

Day Seven Hundred Fifty Four #DiaryoftheEndoftheWorld

Tomas did find another path. We have taken it and left behind the busy road and its dangers. It is pointed due north and looks to keep true to that orientation.

Early on I remarked to Elijah that the terrain we were passing through looked familiar. He replied that there was a good reason for my recognition of our surroundings. And stated that we were on the approaches to the place in the north we had visited by the power of the Spirit many months ago.

The memory of that time flooded me with peace. We had been there less than a span of a day, yet it was unforgettable.

And I’ll never forget Jordan’s astonishment at our sudden return.

Day Seven Hundred Thirty Nine #DiaryoftheEndoftheWorld

By the time we went into camp last night, the view of our surroundings was cut off by a thick fog. Or they may have been clouds, given our elevation.

This morning, whether it was clouds or fog, they had all dissipated under the gaze of the rising sun. And we could then see the lake winking at us far below.

The way ahead was more difficult, narrowing down to a mere track. Beside us water splashed down the rock bed of the ever present brook.

I looked ahead and could see Tomas stopped on a precipice. And guessed the destination our army companions.

Flashes of white behind Tomas drew my eye to a glacier on the next mountain peak.

Day Six Hundred Ninety Eight #DiaryoftheEndoftheWorld

We hadn’t realized it. We’d been traveling for over an hour without any contact of any kind along the road. Soldier or peasant.

The Captain spoke up first. He had a feeling that he could not shake off. An oppressive sense of impending danger.

Our surroundings had changed subtly. From open country to something else that none of us could describe.

After the Captain shared his apprehensions he suddenly blurted out the thought that perhaps Tomas was being held by the great army to our north.

Elijah stood there and smiled at him, then he turned to me and said that the time had come to turn our steps towards the center of the valley to seek our friend Tomas.

Day Four Hundred Twenty Nine #DiaryoftheEndoftheWorld

Late into the night Elijah and I discussed what to do. Before turning in we concluded that we would explore our immediate surroundings.  

First on our list was the northern road that runs out of the one open gate. In the hills just outside the city we discovered a series of villages and farms. In those that were closer to the city the mark was prevalent. But further out it disappeared. Good news.

We were able to restock some foodstuffs. And gain some information. Those without the mark had been driven from the city. They uneasily await a future expulsion from their current locale.

Come that time Elijah advised them to prepare to travel north to search out the Purser.