“What did you say he did to hurt himself like this?” Blaze frowned at Serenity. He still had his hand on the cub’s head as he examined the injury, but he seemed to be able to pay attention to the outside world at the same time.

“He hit his head on the top of the tunnel when he jumped towards me,” Serenity repeated. “I didn’t think he’d hit it that hard, but maybe it’s because he smacked himself earlier when he tried to turn around?”

Blaze shook his head and the frown seemed to get deeper. “No, that wouldn’t do this. There’s definitely damage from the second hit, there’s clear damage to the top of the skull. That shouldn’t be possible without external action; if you’re high enough Tier to dent bone that easily, you’re high enough Tier to take it. Only his bone doesn’t feel any tougher than Tier Two.”

“Tier Two would match what I saw him do when he jumped at me,” Serenity agreed. “He didn’t seem nearly as physically capable as I expected from a Tier Six.”

Blaze shook his head. “He’s definitely not Tier Six. Tier Two seems more likely, though …” Blaze trailed off and turned to stare at the cub instead of Serenity. “He has physical issues throughout his body. Some of them have to be from eating crystal, he’s definitely not built for that, unlike you. Some of it, though … he’s been hurt a lot. It’s almost like he’s not growing right, like his body isn’t keeping up with itself. There are a bunch of half-healed injuries. With what you said, they could all be self-inflicted, but the Voice normally doesn’t let Tier growth happen like that.”

Blaze looked up at Serenity as he kept healing the cub. The frown on his face was echoed in his eyes; Blaze was clearly very unhappy about what he’d found in the tiger cub’s body. “Physically, there isn’t always much change from Tier Zero to Tier Three; some people are sturdier than others and you’ve always been unusual, but most people fall within a range. Anyone who reaches Tier Four … no, that’s not the way to say it. No one at the bottom of the range reaches Tier Four unless they somehow improve. Aura is usually a better indicator of Tier, but his aura and body don’t match at all.”

“I wouldn’t expect eating World Core crystal to enhance his aura. It didn’t for Legion; at the amounts the cub’s probably eaten, I think it would have killed even Legion. Could it be the other way around? Could eating the World Core crystal have damaged the cub’s body?” Serenity wanted things to match up but they didn’t. He frowned down at the cat, but the best option he could come up with was also the one he’d started with. “If you can heal him, we can ask.”

“Eating World Core won’t make the body lower Tier,” Senkovar stated firmly. “It can and usually does damage the body, but it won’t make it Tier down.”

“Do you know something about this?” Serenity silently scolded himself for not asking earlier. Of course Senkovar knew something about it! Serenity had run across a number of different clues and people trying to use World Cores in different ways to improve themselves; of course Senkovar would have seen the same, probably even more. He was a World Shaman, so it wasn’t even happenstance if he came across it. Worlds would tell him if something like that was happening!

“Unfortunately, yes,” the World Shaman admitted with a sigh. “World Core crystal is … well, it’s like dungeon crystal: in small amounts, it makes Tiering up easier. Possible, even, in some cases. It has to be taken slowly, however, or it will kill the person using it. It’s knowledge we suppress, but if you don’t already know that much, you will soon. Legion’s existence will do that, even if I don’t understand everything about them.”

“Why would … oh, you’re saying that you expect Legion to Tier up more easily?” Serenity still didn’t know how to get across to Senkovar that Legion was one person, but that wasn’t the point right now. He frowned, because that didn’t make sense. “Legion isn’t Tiering up any faster than anyone else on Earth. I’m the fastest, but there are a few people who’ve made Tier Five and I think one at Tier Six. They can’t be completing their full Path sets, but it’s increasing in Tier that’s usually hard.”

Legion wasn’t slow to Tier up, but Legion also wasn’t mono-focused enough to level as fast as some people. On top of that, Legion always took more than one Path per Tier; experience delving drove home the reasons that was a good idea in a way that Serenity’s explanations didn’t.

The people on Earth who didn’t take more than one Path per Tier were the farthest “ahead,” technically, but they were often not as good as people who were more thorough. Few if any were delvers; not only did that require dungeons at a higher Tier, it required you to survive those dungeons. Neither of those were possible on Earth. Instead, they had other Paths. Serenity had seen ads based on the Tier of a single person, as if that were a guarantee of a higher quality result.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Six Tiers in five years?” Senkovar shook his head. “Your entire world is strange. Your people shouldn’t Tier up that quickly; people riding the ragged edge of core toxicity are slower than that. It has to be because your planet is saturated in World Core dust. That probably also explains why so many of your people survived on Lyka. Maybe it wouldn’t be so obvious to you, then. All of you may Tier up far too easily.”

It hadn’t been five years yet, but there was no reason to correct Senkovar. A few months wasn’t important.

“He’s about to wake,” Blaze interrupted. “I hope you know what to ask.”

Serenity moved down into the cub’s line of sight and motioned everyone else to get out of the way. He waited a long moment before he saw the cub blink his eyes and shake his head slowly.

“What … grr. It’s you.” The white tiger cub rolled onto its belly then pushed itself upright. It moved slower than Serenity expected, as if it expected to hurt and was surprised it didn’t.

“You hurt yourself. We’ve healed you,” Serenity informed the cub. Perhaps introductions were in order before questions. “I’m Serenity; may I have your name?”

“Healed me?” The cub lifted one paw to awkwardly pat its head. It didn’t look like the feline’s shoulder should bend that way, but apparently it did. “It doesn’t hurt. I don’t hurt. How?”

“Blaze is a very good healer,” Serenity told the cub as he gestured for Blaze to step closer. “Now, what’s your name?”

The cub shook his head. “Don’t have a name. Have to survive the Awakening for Mother to give you a name. I …” He looked around. “Where is the crystal? Have to eat until I Awaken. Then Mother will return.”

Serenity glanced at Senkovar, then Blaze. He wasn’t sure how to answer the question. Unfortunately, it looked like they weren’t sure either. “We need to find you something else to eat; it’s hurting you. What do you mean by Awakening?”

The cub shook his head again. “Eat crystal until something changes. Mother will know when it happens. I can hunt outside, if I can hunt, but I am young. I cannot hunt so I eat more crystal. Mother says that is good, that younger means I am more likely to Awaken.”

“How old are you?” Blaze knelt down in front of the cub so that his head was on the same level as the cub’s. It was only possible because the cub was holding his head down; if he’d been fully upright, Blaze’s head would have been below the cub’s. “I know you aren’t full grown, but that doesn’t tell me how long it takes.”

The cub lifted his head a little so that he could look down on Blaze and whuffed softly. “Mother has two litters that are younger than I am. I am a big cub!”

“Yes, you are a big cub,” Serenity whispered. The cub was so clearly young and generally trusting that it was almost painful. He’d clearly also been dealt a terrible hand by his mother. No good mother should abandon her half-grown cub and tell him to hunt for himself without teaching him how. “Let’s get you something to eat.”

Serenity reached into his Rift and pulled out one of Minu’s brisket steaks. It ought to be good enough for a tiger cub.

The brisket was barely on the tarp before it started disappearing down the cub’s throat like he hadn’t eaten in days. Other than World Core crystal, which didn’t seem like it would be very filling for anyone with a normal stomach, he probably hadn’t.

“Were there other litters? Maybe ones dropped off on other planets before you were left here?” Senkovar waited until the brisket was almost gone to ask.

“Mmmhmm,” the cub said with a nod. He didn’t look away from the meat. When it was all gone, he started licking the tarp to get the juice.

Serenity could guess where Senkovar was going with that. If the World Eaters were a family of space-traveling white tigers that literally ate World Cores to “awaken,” then the string of World Eater attacks was probably more cubs. If there were only two that were younger than this cub, the others had to be either older or from other tiger moms.

“What Tier are you?” Blaze asked. “According to the Voice, that is.”

“Tier?” The cub gave up on licking the tarp; he’d already gone over the area twice. There must not be any real taste left. “I am Tier Zero. Mother told me not to take a new Path until I Awaken. If I take a Path too soon, I may lose myself and become an animal. One of the cubs from three litters before me did that, Mother had to kill him when he ate my littermate.”

The cub spoke in a completely matter-of-fact tone of voice, as if it didn’t affect him. His body language didn’t match his voice; his ears and tail were both down, as if he was unhappy.

There were far too many questions here; Serenity could already tell that they needed to talk to the cub’s mother. Taking a Path should never be dangerous; they only helped you with what you had already shown a talent for. How you used it could be dangerous, but it shouldn’t hurt you or drive you insane the way the cub implied. There had to be something more he didn’t know.

“Come with us,” Serenity invited the cub. “We’ll find your mother and figure out a way for you to awaken that doesn’t require you to be here alone, eating crystal shards.”

“Do you have more of that meat?” The cub looked up at Serenity with clear hope in his eyes.

Serenity chuckled. Treats always worked. “Yes, I do.”