Trying to explain “how Earth worked” quickly turned into “watching a documentary about recent human history.” It was surprisingly difficult to find anything that wasn’t either about old history, whether that was Rome or World War Two, or hyper-focused on a short time period, a location, or a person. Fortunately, this was something Aide could easily handle after Serenity had trouble finding what he was looking for: a relatively short overview from ancient times to modern times. Relatively short was not the same as actually short; the one Aide settled on was over two hours long.
Serenity had to follow it up with another video that described A’Atla. He didn’t have to get Aide’s help to find that one. He’d been following the various documentaries about the island.
Serenity was actually in some of the footage that was shown. He’d have preferred to avoid showing that, but the best documentary had him in it. To be fair, it probably wouldn’t have been complete without mentioning the way he and “Tom Cooper” stopped the sniping and theft from turning into anything worse before there were enough people on the island-ship to make it more difficult, at least in the commonly used areas. Theft still happened, but at least it was a little less blatant.
“A’Atla was not in the first presentation,” Lord Cymryn commented once the second documentary happened. “It was lost history?”
Serenity nodded. “There were legends, but no one thought they were real. Well, no one who didn’t know there was more to the world than …” He wasn’t sure how to end the sentence. How do you explain that no one believed in magic to someone who’s always known about magic? That would be like telling someone that an entire culture didn’t know about fire.
Maybe the number zero was a better analogy? Serenity knew that there were cultures that didn’t consider it a number; it was nothing and how could you count nothing?
“Was it the Terror War? I’m pretty sure that was the last history-destroying event in the Font sector, other than things that are world-specific.” Lord Cymryn seemed to almost be talking to himself; Serenity wasn’t even certain it was a real question.
Serenity answered it anyway with a shake of his head. “The Terror War didn’t come here. There weren’t any portals; that was before integration.” He waited a moment for Cymryn to nod in acknowledgement before he continued. “It was a war between gods. That’s what they were called later, at least; I’m not certain if they were worshiped before that or not. There was a coup; some time later, the deposed ruler escaped and later came back and tried to recapture A’Atla. There was another war in there, too; the entire sequence is a little fuzzy. It’s been too long and the records are terrible.”
There was no way he was going to introduce them to Amani Valles. The builder of the Vault deserved not to be pulled into politics. He might introduce them to D’Nehr, but only if the old Guardian agreed first. For now, he’d talk about it as if the only information he had came from records. That was more believable anyway, plus there were some records. They were nothing more than the ordinary business and personal records of a busy port city, but that was definitely more than nothing. It was possible someone might have been able to put together what Serenity had said from them. It didn’t seem likely but it was entirely possible; it all depended on what people had written in the letters and journals that survived.
“A Godswar? How can there be multiple gods on a planet without magic?” Lord Cymryn sounded both surprised and puzzled.
Serenity blinked twice. “When did I say Earth didn’t have magic?”
“You said the planet was Tier Zero before integration. That means no magic, or at least very weak magic.”
He had said that, hadn’t he? Serenity wasn’t certain Cymryn’s conclusion followed directly from that, but he didn’t know where else the Imperial could have gotten the idea Earth didn’t have magic before integration. “There was magic. It just wasn’t turned into Path Skills. It was dangerous and idiosyncratic, because you had to actually know what you were doing. As for the Tier, well, Earth was once at a higher Tier. The World Core’s been damaged twice; the war where Apollyon sank A’Atla was the second time, or at least it was close to the same time. That’s one of the things that isn’t entirely clear.”
“That can’t be from records on the island that sank.” Lord Cymryn looked like he enjoyed pointing out the hole in Serenity’s information.
Serenity shrugged. “It’s not. Gaia told me. She’s not very good at time, which is why I can’t be sure on the timing, but she thinks they were close in time, or rather she remembers A’Atla being on the surface before her core cracked but the next time she looked it wasn’t there.”
Those weren’t the words Gaia used, but he thought he’d gotten the events correct.
“Gaia?” Unexpectedly, the question came from the World Shaman.
Serenity had started thinking he was simply a quiet person, but he was clearly interested in something Serenity had said. Serenity wasn’t certain what. “Yes, Gaia. Earth’s World Core … well, technically Earth’s World Spirit, I think.”
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“You’ve spoken to her? Enough to have her tell you about her past?” There was no question about it; he’d surprised the World Shaman. If it had been someone else, that would have made sense; most people didn’t talk to Worlds. Serenity was pretty sure that Senkovar did, however; he couldn’t think of anything that sounded more like the duties of a World Shaman than talking to the World.
On second thought, maybe that was exactly why Senkovar was surprised. As a World Shaman, he’d know how hard it was to get a World to talk to you; Serenity hadn’t managed to speak to Lyka or Aeon until he interrupted and poisoned Lykandeon’s ritual and he’d never spoken to Zon at all.
Serenity was less certain about Tzintkra; he’d talked to something powerful early on when he tried to get a message to Rissa, but he wasn’t certain if that was actually Tzintkra’s Core or if it was simply a relic of his position as a DeathLord. He’d definitely spoken to the World after he killed the Necropolis City Lord and recovered the pendant based on the chunk of World Core she’d broken off to use as an aid for increasing her Affinity. That was a special case, much like Lyka and Aeon.
Earth’s World Core, Gaia, was a special case as well, though it was a different special case from the others. He hadn’t done anything special to get to see her originally; instead, he’d followed his father-in-law’s instructions. Looking back on it, Serenity was pretty sure that it hadn’t been about getting a Guardian for Rissa; instead, that was clearly an excuse to make certain Serenity wasn’t harmful.
Russ had even admitted that was part of the reason at the time.
Serenity couldn’t blame his father in law at all. If anything, he was grateful for the man’s care; Russ definitely cared about his daughter and did his best to keep her safe without smothering her. Serenity was beginning to realize just how difficult that could be, and his daughter was only three.
With all of that said, there was a reason other than Russ’s approval and link to D’Nehr that explained Gaia’s willingness to help Serenity and answer his questions whenever he had them. It wasn’t his assistance with Earth’s dungeons, though that probably helped. Instead, it was something he’d done the first time he saw the World Core.
“I helped her deal with some tainted World Core shards. I’m not sure which event they were from; I think they may have been leftovers from the Godswar, but it could have been from the first time.” Serenity paused and bit his lip. Was there anything he could say about the first time?
Serenity ran over what he knew about the first time Gaia was damaged in his mind. He didn’t really want to say that it was when the Voice was created; that was only a guess, not a certainty. When he got right down to it, he couldn’t really pin down why he thought that was what damaged Gaia the first time, and he didn’t want to say something that might be wildly wrong. Even so, if he was careful, he could probably say something. “Gaia doesn’t really remember much about what came before the damage, but what she does remember implies she was once much larger. I think the event also damaged her memory, but she seems fine after that.”
“Tainted World Core shards?” The World Shaman was definitely interested now; he was leaning forward intently. “What were they tainted with?”
“Death,” Serenity admitted. “Pretty strongly. I think it’s why people here are more likely to have the Death Affinity.”
The World Shaman frowned. If Serenity had to guess, he looked troubled. “Do you have the Death Affinity?”
Serenity nodded. It wasn’t like that was a secret; everyone knew he’d taught Death magic during the Tutorial. That made it blatantly obvious that he had the Death Affinity. The Imperials might not know that yet, but he was certain they’d find out.
The World Shaman’s lips twitched as he thought. After a moment, he seemed to figure out how to ask his next question. “Do you still have the tainted shards?”
Serenity shook his head. He didn’t want to say he’d eaten them, even though it was essentially true. “They don’t exist anymore. I had to get them away from Gaia’s core. The only fragments I have are untainted.”
Senkovar closed his eyes for a moment. His face seemed to tighten then relax as he took a deep breath before opening his eyes. “You have World Core fragments of a World you’ve spoken to?” He sounded horrified.
Serenity frowned. Did the World Shaman think he’d broken them off himself? “They’re from the crystal that broke off thousands, maybe millions, of years ago when Gaia was first damaged. She says she doesn’t mind if I keep them and that she can’t take them back.”
World Shaman Senkovar Et’Tart stared at Serenity for a long moment. “You are the oddest World-Speaker I’ve ever met.”
At least he didn’t sound horrified anymore. That was a good change. He’d also mentioned a term Serenity wasn’t familiar with. It seemed obvious from the name, but it was still worth asking. “What’s a World Speaker?”
The World Shaman’s lips twitched like he was suppressing a smile. “Anyone who talks to a world without proper training. It’s the most reliable indicator for those who can become World Shamans, but many World Speakers who try do not succeed. I can usually tell, but you are so odd I have no idea.” A cloud seemed to pass over Senkovar’s face before he changed the topic slightly. “What is your world’s, Gaia’s, natural affinity?”
Serenity shook his head. “I don’t know.”
“You’ve seen the World Core; you should know.” The World Shaman frowned again. “What color is it?”
It wasn’t a color. It was clear and iridescent. Serenity wasn’t certain what color he should call it, but he knew an Affinity that was also that color. “Oh. I should have guessed. It’s Arcane Affinity.”
Serenity could see the doubt flicker across the World Shaman’s face even before he spoke, so Serenity reached into his Rift and pulled out one of the chunks of World Core crystal he’d picked up on A’Atla.
He’d originally intended to use it to alter Apollyon’s ritual and turn it into a trap he could dismantle rather than a time bomb, but with Apollyon’s death he hadn’t needed to finish those plans; all he’d done was remove the anchors. Most of the ley lines didn’t move far even with the anchors gone, but Serenity knew they could now move freely. It would take time but the ritual would probably fall out of alignment within a few years.