Changing from a flat paper map to a relief map added some unexpected complications to the ritual, and divination rituals weren’t Serenity’s focus anyway. Rissa could help, but only as much as any other participant; while her oracular talent was technically divination-based, it didn’t have any particular ability to do what the ritual was trying to accomplish and she was low enough Tier that her help was limited.
Serenity was really too low a Tier to do what he was trying to do. That was one of the reasons he needed a ritual to do it; if he were the Final Reaper, he’d just be able to cast the spell.
Blaze couldn’t help and Senkovar was interested in how the ritual worked, but they were also unable to do more than participate. Of all the people he had around him, only Ita could really help with the divination spell. He was using the cub’s fur to look for something connected to it, after all.
When Serenity went into the cub’s room to collect some of his fur, he found a rather large surprise. The cub was curled up on top of Brightleaf, using it almost as a pillow. It wasn’t quite the same way a human would use a pillow; instead, the big cat’s forelegs were propped up on Brightleaf and his head lay on one of them.
Serenity frowned down at the Vrak. It seemed a brighter green than he remembered; weren’t its outer leaves a bit more yellow and spiky? “Brightleaf? Are you fine down there?”
“Serenity?” Brightleaf’s voice wasn’t even slightly muffled by the cat, but it seemed to have to twist in order to see Serenity. He wasn’t certain where the eyes were; he couldn’t see any, even after the plant turned towards him. “There you are! Yes, I’m fine. I’m not sure why this large warm creature wants to use me as a support, but it seems to like it. It only seems fair to let it, since it helped me trim away my protective outer leaves. If I wanted to stay on Tzintkra’s surface, I’d keep them for protection, but now that they are gone it is far easier to accept the local mana.”
Serenity blinked. Was he really talking about pruning a plant with the pruned plant?
“I’m not sure why it ate them afterwards,” Brightleaf continued, “but it definitely wanted them and curled up here immediately afterwards.”
Serenity frowned at that and sent a request to Blaze to come take a look at the tiger cub. If it could eat World Core Crystal, he couldn’t count on it not being able to handle leaves, even ones tainted with Death affinity, but he also didn’t want to count on it. Babies would put anything in their mouths; he wasn’t certain what age White Tigers had to reach to stop doing that.
For that matter, he’d heard cats would eat grass if they didn’t feel well. Curio was no basis for comparison; Curio would eat anything at least once and never seemed to suffer for it. He didn’t know if that also applied to magical tigers, but he definitely wanted to know if the cub was ill.
While he waited for Blaze, Serenity went ahead and trimmed some of the tiger cub’s fur. It stayed asleep despite both the movement of its “pillow” and the haircut, which made Serenity even more worried.
Serenity was back in the room he’d set aside for the ritual when Blaze found him several hours later. He couldn’t do anything for the cub as far as he knew; if he could, well, Blaze had a phone. He could call and Serenity would come as quickly as he could.
“He’s fine,” Blaze told Serenity, but the frown on Blaze’s face said something wasn’t as Blaze expected. “I couldn’t find any plant matter, toxic byproducts, or Death-attuned mana at all. He seems to be in the process of Tiering up, but it’s odd. He seems to be overflowing with Life-attuned mana. The same mana Brightleaf uses.”
“Is that a good thing?” It certainly sounded good, but the cub was odd enough that Serenity wanted to ask.
“I think so. His aura’s Tier and his physical Tier are closer to each other now. I can only think that that’s a good thing.” Blaze’s frown deepened. “I’m beginning to wonder if this is the reason the tigers are hunting creatures that live near World Cores, like the Black Tortoises. What if they need something cores can give them but it works better if it’s processed through something else first? Tigers are carnivores, after all.”
“I didn’t see any plants near the Black Tortoises, but I suppose they might be full manavores, like dragons. And apparently like Vrak.” Serenity paused as a horrible suspicion washed over him. He didn’t want to say it out loud until he spoke to the tiger mother, but he couldn’t help but think about the similarity between the tigers’ problem and the dragons’ young. It wasn’t quite the same, or at least he didn’t think it was, but the tiger that started killing Black Tortoises simply to kill them sounded all too much like the insane wyrmlings Serenity remembered Althyr mentioning.
He was definitely going to have to talk to Althyr once he dealt with the White Tiger. He hoped he’d have better information by then.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Keep an eye on him,” Serenity told Blaze. “It’s more important than the ritual to find his mother; I have other people helping with that, but only you can make sure nothing goes wrong with the cub.”
Blaze looked down for a moment, then nodded. He didn’t seem happy about it, but it was clear that he understood why Serenity made that call.
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“More popcorn?”
Dragon glanced at Coyote, vaguely annoyed, before he supplied the cheerful canine with a fresh bucket. He was far too worried about Serenity’s most recent string of discoveries to want to worry about snack food. The Black Tortoises were a complete shock; he’d assumed they all died with Tranquility. It probably made sense that they hadn’t, since Tranquility survived, but it was still a shock.
It probably would have occurred to him that White Tigers would have issues like the dragons’ if he’d known they survived, but they vanished with the Black Tortoises. Killing a Black Tortoise was a rite of passage for a White Tiger; those who survived kept a tortoise shell in their den to sleep on or under for as long as it lasted. He’d long suspected that the tradition was necessary and it looked like the White Tiger mother had decided the same thing.
He hoped she wasn’t the White Tiger the way he was the Dragon. Serenity could probably stand against the White Tiger despite the Tier difference; as both the Lord of Dungeons and the Incarnate of Death, he ought to be qualitatively stronger than a Beast God with few Beasts, even powerful ones. It was still not a match Althyr wanted to see. He might have to step in if it came down to it, and that would break things he didn’t want broken.
She probably wasn’t the Beast God. The White Tiger was an ambush predator, but the only things she ever chose to hide from were her prey. She knew how powerful she was and she saw no reason to hide it. Hopefully the current White Tiger Incarnate was like the one he remembered from the past. The one who was on Tranquility when it exploded.
The tradition of killing and eating a Black Tortoise before using its shell as a bed didn’t apply to dragons. Althyr was still worried; the symptoms were all too similar and when he thought back through time, he realized that the incidents were rare before Tranquility’s destruction and slowly became more and more common. He didn’t know what tradition they’d lost that could explain it, and he ought to know. He’d been Dragon since long before his project destroyed Tranquility.
Dragonhome. He still missed the world as it had once been. Perhaps he would visit Earth once the Voice lifted its restrictions. He could bypass them, of course, but he wouldn’t until he knew his Tier wouldn’t damage the world he’d once taken for granted. It wouldn’t be the same but perhaps it would be similar.
Dragon could remember what it was like, the freedom of the skies on the largest and most mysterious of planets before the dragons left as it became too crowded, then again when it became Order’s Council’s world and others began to leave for better places. Before he decided that it was the only world strong enough to support the Voice.
He’d been right and wrong about that, but that wasn’t what he thought about. No, he remembered the freedom of the skies. He remembered winning a mate in the sky and teaching their children and grandchildren to fly. He remembered the first Council of Dragons, then the last held on Tranquility. He remembered exploring volcanoes and under the sea ice. There wasn’t much of the planet he hadn’t seen over the years.
“Dragon?” Coyote threw some popcorn at the other Beast God. “Pay attention. Serenity’s almost done with the ritual.”
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The White Tiger was moving.
Serenity considered that a very good thing; it probably meant she was still searching for a Near Point. It would make her harder to catch up to, but it should still be possible. He’d just have to map out where she was and what she was doing; he might also have to keep the ritual running while he searched. That would suck; he’d have to send Senkovar to catch the White Tiger instead of going himself. Having the main leader of a ritual abandon it was possible but generally not a good idea and he hadn’t built this ritual with that in mind.
It took four hours for Senkovar to catch up to the White Tiger even after the Death’s Wings set him down near her but in front of her probable route. Serenity didn’t know what he did to make her come with him, but two hours after Senkovar reported success, he arrived back at the dome he’d started from with a distinctly annoyed but not actively fighting female White Tiger standing protectively over her son.
The son was still asleep on Brightleaf. At some point, he’d retreated halfway under the Black Tortoise shell; his rear was covered while his front end lay there, clearly happily unconscious. Serenity tried not to laugh at the image; the White Tiger mother was trying to protect her son from Blaze while the cub imitated a turtle-cat and used Brightleaf like a plant plushie. It was ridiculous.
Senkovar was the first into the room, but Serenity and Ikatha followed closely behind. Serenity checked the video feed as he entered; it was working. Rissa, Ita, Desinka, Rakyn, and everyone else would be able to watch from the large Observation Room if they wanted to. Serenity expected that Tek was watching as well, though she didn’t need the display so she wasn’t in that room.
The White Tiger gathered herself up and seemed ready to leap until Ikatha entered; she was the last simply because of her size. “A Black Tortoise?” Her gaze moved from one person to another. “And a dragon? No, how?”
Serenity gave the White Tiger time to think. He didn’t need to pressure her right now.
Ikatha was of a different opinion. “And a phoenix. Three to judge the fourth; as it was, so must it be.”
Serenity gave Ikatha a long, hard look. She was clearly referring to something she hadn’t bothered to tell him or Blaze about.