Eitchen sucked. There really wasn’t a more polite way to say it; the planet was beautiful from space but the civilization only barely qualified for the name.
Eitchen didn’t have a spaceport. What it did have was landing fields near a few of the larger cities. They were cities the same way Londinium was a city back in Roman times; even the largest seemed tiny to Serenity. Their destination, the largest city on Eitchen, was probably barely over a hundred thousand people. The people weren’t the reason for the choice, at least not directly. Instead, the reason they were headed there was the same reason the people were there: a concentration of ley lines, nodes, and dungeons.
Serenity had been to some cities that were a similar size that managed to be lovely places to live. Eita didn’t manage that.
Tek was there when the door opened, eager to get a look at a new planet. She took one look at the all too literally shitty road that led by the landing spot, declared that she had an appointment with a viewscreen and the owner’s chair, and disappeared into the spaceship.
Serenity more than half wished he could follow her; the smell was unpleasant and made him wish he were undead again with the accompanying loss of sensory acuity. At least he’d probably get the observation room he wanted out of it; she’d probably install more seats to go with the viewscreen.
Truthfully, it wasn’t anything he hadn’t seen before. It could easily be a poorer part of the world, or simply less occupied, even if the sheer amount of dung on the road indicated that it was well-used. The fact that there were several vehicles visible along the stretch of roadway visible from the starship’s door was less indicative; after all, that was the direction of the city they’d landed close to. Those could easily be people coming from the city to meet the ship.
Serenity was glad he didn’t have to deal with that. His business was with the planet. If they had a ship’s trader, that would be the person who dealt with the locals; since they didn’t, it would probably be Baxter or Rissa. That wouldn’t last, but it would do for this landing. Serenity had confidence that Rissa would find someone else before the next landing if she didn’t like it.
Senkovar was the first person to walk out of the ship down the long metal ramp, but Lord Cymryn was right behind him. Serenity and Rissa were next, then several members of the crew.
When he reached the bottom of the ramp, Lord Cymryn didn’t wait for any of the locals to arrive; he simply pulled a collapsed flyer out of nowhere and let it expand to full size. It was large enough to carry all four of them in comfort. In fact, it was one of the most comfortable-looking flyers Serenity had ever seen; it reminded him of a flying car more than the usual flying carpet or flying disc.
Lord Cymryn hopped onto the flyer. “Captain Tsa’ikeet asked me not to use a flyer on the ramp. He said that some flyers interfere with the ship, though he didn’t say how they know which ones do and which don’t.”
Serenity suspected the answer was testing, but it could just as easily be that they prohibited all magical flyers. They didn’t need them; the Tsarualk had technological equivalents. He hadn’t seen anything magical on the ship that wasn’t brought on by the passengers. The Tsarualk didn’t seem to use magic, even though they all felt to be at least Tier Two and most were higher.
That fact gave Serenity hope for Earth’s humanity, because it meant that technological Paths also worked. He knew that, theoretically, but it was still good to see. He suspected that Earth would end up with a hybrid technology that also used magic, but that wasn’t important; what was important was that Earth would eventually be able to stand on its own without him. He wouldn’t live forever.
On second thought, maybe he would. If he did, however, he didn’t want to bind himself to protecting the planet forever. Children had to grow up eventually and come out of their parents’ shadows; for Earth’s people, that meant he wanted to be able to let them protect themselves and only help when it was truly necessary. That day was a long way off, but he needed to keep it in mind. Forgetting to prepare for succession was one of the major causes of the downfall of short-lived empires, after all.
Serenity pushed away his worries and climbed onto the flyer, taking the spot next to Rissa. For now, everything was fine and he had plans for the future. They’d change when the time came, but that was just the way life went.
Lord Cymryn turned to Senkovar. “Where are we headed?”
“I know you spent more time with the map than I did,” Senkovar stated. Serenity could see a faint smile on his face.
Lord Cymryn shrugged. Serenity couldn’t see his face, so he couldn’t see what his expression looked like, and the shrug didn’t tell him anything. “I know the area, not where you want us to go.”
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“The nearest nexus that doesn’t have a dungeon.” Senkovar leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. “Wake me when we get there.”
“It’s not that far,” Lord Cymryn protested.
“Then perhaps you will be pulling me out of a trance instead of a nap,” World Shaman Senkovar seemed pleased to remind them of his status indirectly. “Serenity, you should try to reach out to the World as well. I’d offer a prize if you beat me, but I have no idea what someone who can afford a spaceship would need me to provide.”
Serenity didn’t know either. If he did know, he’d probably already have bought it, whatever it was. There weren’t many tools associated with what the World Shaman had taught him so far, so that was out. “If you weren’t already going to help, I’d ask for your help protecting Earth from the World Eaters. I’m not sure what else to ask.”
Senkovar chuckled. “I won’t withhold my help if you lose, that’s true, but I still want you to try. The more Worlds you speak to before your first Worldspeaker Path, the better the Path will be.”
Serenity raised his eyebrows at Senkovar. He wasn’t nearly as certain that was true as Senkovar seemed to believe; yes, doing more before taking a Path could help out the first Path in a series, but it wasn’t that simple and straightforward. On top of that, getting a marginally better early Path wasn’t that big an advantage. Senkovar was probably trying a different way to entice Serenity to contact the planet, since a race with a prize wouldn’t be effective.
Serenity grumbled internally and leaned back in his own seat. Whether his suspicion was true or not, Senkovar was correct that they needed to talk to Eitchen. It was the first step in finding out if the World Eaters were already on Eitchen. Serenity wouldn’t be able to take the second step on his own, but this step he could manage. There was even a good chance he’d beat Senkovar, since he could reach through his personal node instead of waiting until they reached the Nexus.
Serenity felt Rissa settle against his side. His eyes were closed, but he hadn’t shut out the world yet.
The last thing he heard before he did was Lord Cymryn’s mutter, “Always a messenger. You’d think there would be more important things for me to do, but no, Senkovar can’t go to a planet where I can arrange things; he has to go to a backwater where my most important role was as a driver. I should have kept the guards with us …”
Serenity had the feeling Lord Cymryn wanted his words to be heard but wasn’t willing to say them to Senkovar’s face. Well, that was for them to work out; Serenity didn’t need to get involved.
Serenity used his node to reach the planet’s ley line network just like he had on several other planets, then used the network to stretch towards the planet’s World Spirit. He’d spoken to enough of them over the years that finding it was easy; it wasn’t trying to hide.
The first thing Serenity saw when he reached out was a small chunk of yellow crystal threaded with bright orange lines. Serenity didn’t feel like Eitchen was watching him; in fact, he didn’t think Eitchen had noticed him at all. Serenity tried to call out towards the yellow-and-orange crystal. :Eitchen? Are you there?:
:Oooo?: The wordless sensation of surprise/curiosity/confusion washed over Serenity as a sort of yellow cloud seemed to rise from the crystal and turn towards Serenity. That had to be Eitchen and it meant Eitchen was very unlike any of the World Spirits Serenity had spoken to before. They all seemed confident in themselves and none seemed to be able to or want to separate from their crystal.
On second thought, had Eitchen separated from its crystal? The cloud was the same color; it even had the same sort of orangey intrusions. On top of that, it always touched the World Core across a large part of the crystalline face nearest Serenity. Its wordlessness implied that it was young; had it simply not finished coalescing into a solid core? Was that even how it worked for World Spirits?
Serenity wasn’t certain what to do next. If Eitchen couldn’t talk, how could he ask it if the World Eaters were here yet? Maybe the World Spirit would understand if he kept it simple. :Eitchen? I’m here to help. Has anything hurt you?:
:Oooo?: Eitchen projected a similar feeling of curiosity and confusion, though its surprise seemed to be dimming and curiosity taking its place. The cloud stretched further from the crystal but couldn’t reach Serenity.
Serenity didn’t think the World Spirit understood at all. It did seem to want to touch him, so Serenity decided to risk getting a little closer; the risk seemed low and it might make the Spirit happy.
:Oooo!: The yellow-and-orange cloud emitted excitement as it drifted over Serenity. It froze when it touched him, then seemed to draw back, almost like taking a breath, before it rushed to completely cover him. “Ooooooooooo!: It seemed to shout its happiness at finally reaching Serenity.
Serenity couldn’t help but grin. In that moment, the young World Spirit reminded Serenity of Curio when he was a tiny little kitten first exploring the world. There was also a strong similarity to Jenna whenever she found something she wanted to play with; somehow, she was able to move far faster and steadier to reach what she wanted than at any other time. :Yes, little guy. We’ll help you out, figure out how to keep you safe.:
The World Spirit projected warmth at Serenity, but Serenity didn’t think that was because the World Spirit understood. Instead, it seemed to be because the World Spirit was happy to have him there.
Serenity knew Rissa would be able to pull him out of the trance when they arrived, so he decided to spend some time with the young World Spirit. Serenity wasn’t certain how long it actually was, but it didn’t seem like long before the World Spirit’s :Ooooo!: accompanied by a blast of curiosity and anticipation alerted Serenity that Senkovar had arrived.