The tortoise shifted closer to Serenity. As he did, the World Core moved around him like water. It was an odd thing to see; the tortoise’s head and part of its shell were out of the World Core, but he moved more like he was walking than like he was swimming. Was the tortoise somehow able to make the World Core act like the ground when and where he wanted it to?
Now that he thought about it, tortoises were land creatures, weren’t they?
“We’re trying to catch up with her.” Serenity wasn’t certain where to begin, so he started with the obvious. He’d figure it out from there. “We think she’s the reason that Worlds have … no, that’s not quite right, let me back up. We’re looking for something we know as World Eaters. I’m not sure where the name came from, but what it means is that worlds start descending in Tier for no obvious reason, some more than others, along a path through space. It takes years.”
“Some descend more than others,” World Shaman Senkovar added. “It’s been happening every few decades for centuries, at least, always to worlds that weren’t affected the previous time. I mostly know of it from records; I was only able to examine one or two worlds from previous outbreaks each time it happened, always long after the damage was done. I simply didn’t hear about it until it was too late.”
Serenity twisted around to frown at Senkovar. It wasn’t quite a glare, but he wasn’t entirely happy with the other man at that moment. He’d gotten the impression that the World Shaman knew more than that.
Maybe he should have expected it. He hadn’t known the cause, after all; Senkovar wasn’t able to find it. That meant he’d clearly never actually gone to the World Core of an affected world. Serenity didn’t think he’d ever heard Senkovar say exactly how much investigation he’d done; all he’d said was that he hadn’t made much progress. If most of the investigation was recent, that would explain things. A few years was a decent amount of time to put into something, even with the amount of travel that was required.
“This time, one of the early worlds it hit happened to be a world the Emperor likes to visit when he has time to get away from it all; I understand that he was most unhappy about it. He finally authorized access to the records I needed to start actually tracking the patterns. That led me to worlds earlier in the process.” World Shaman Senkovar glanced at Serenity and shook his head slightly. “Those worlds still couldn’t tell me anything; as far as I can tell, World Spirits can’t tell what’s happening and I was unable to trace it myself. Serenity managed that part.”
The destruction of worlds only got attention because one of the worlds that was damaged happened to be the Emperor’s preferred vacation spot. Why did that make so much sense?
“Most World Spirits can’t see their own core, this is true,” the Black Tortoise agreed in its gravelly voice. “Still, that does not explain why you were hunting a White Tiger; what do you believe the tiger was doing?”
“On Themrys, we found a tunnel burrowed into the core by a white tiger cub. Well, a white tiger that wasn’t fully grown, at least; he’s about my size but clearly will grow larger.” Serenity shook his head. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting from this story; his best hope was that the tortoise would know something useful, since he clearly lived near the World Core. He was somehow swimming in it, after all. “He said that his mother told him to eat the crystal until he awakened and that she’d come back for him.”
“Eating the Core directly? Not eating black tortoises?” The black tortoise stomped inside the World Core. A deep noise seemed to echo throughout the room, followed by a high pitched keening that made Serenity flinch.
Serenity rubbed the side of his head. “We didn’t see any tortoises at Themrys’s core. All we saw were golems on the surface, from a nearby dungeon that overflowed. The locals said it sent everything out and couldn’t be opened. I didn’t check on it.” Serenity felt a little guilty about that, even though there was no reason he should feel guilty. He’d done what he could; checking on the dungeon wouldn’t have fixed it and wasn’t his responsibility anyway.
“No tortoises at all?” The black tortoise sounded unhappy. “Perhaps they hid, though a tunnel … no, there were no tortoises there. No honorable tortoise would allow that. That the White Tigers hunt us is normal; we have our shells. A World Core has only a soft shell of earth and stone. This is my home, but perhaps another might aid your journey.”
The black tortoise disappeared into the core as if it sank. A few minutes later, the head of a different tortoise breached the surface and walked out of the core. Serenity could only tell that it was a different tortoise by the size; it was only half the size of the one that had spoken to them, which made it clear just how large that tortoise was when this one came close enough for Serenity to realize that its shell was over ten feet long.
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The ground made a ramp for the black tortoise as it stepped out of the World Core, then settled back into its old shape once the tortoise was on the ground. It was one of the smoothest examples of elemental manipulation Serenity had ever seen; it might or might not have tremendous amounts of power, but this tortoise had extreme control of its element in a way that reminded Serenity of Blaze’s ability to heal.
“You are Serenity?” The tortoise dipped its head as it spoke.
No, Serenity corrected himself, as she spoke. Her voice was clearly female, and now that she was right in front of Serenity, he could see that her mouth didn’t move as she spoke. The tone of her voice had to be something she was managing with magic, which meant she chose to make it sound like a woman’s. It also meant that the deep growl of a voice from the previous tortoise was a deliberate choice rather than merely a result of his size.
Serenity nodded. “I am. The other tortoise didn’t say why he went to get you?”
The lady tortoise snorted. “Old Morrek never does, he thinks everyone knows as much as he does.”
“I heard that!” The shout came from the World Core, even though no tortoise head was visible above the surface.
“You were supposed to, you old coot.” Her words were harsh, but her voice was warm with fondness. “I am Ikatha. Like Morrek, I am a Lorekeeper. Unlike Morrek, I am prepared to join another World Core’s clutch or even start my own should the World Core prove empty. I am also prepared to answer your questions and aid you in your hunt for a White Tiger that has broken the ancient Oath. All I ask is transportation to this World Core you spoke of that requires aid.”
“Oath?” Serenity had no idea what Ikatha was talking about.
“Of course you would not know,” Ikatha started. “You are both young. Coume, young dragon and phoenix, and listen.”
“I am no phoenix,” Blaze objected. “I may bear some of their blood, but that only means healing and fire come easily to me.”
Ikatha turned towards Blaze and tilted her head. “It is true you have not started your rebirth, but has so much been lost? There must truly be almost no phoenixes left. Once, any phoenix would tell those who were ready. Have you never met one?”
Blaze shook his head with a frown. “I’ve never seen one, or even met anyone who has. I’ve heard of them, but always on high Tier planets, high enough Tier that I wouldn’t be comfortable.”
“Then clearly I must begin at the very beginning, with the tales for hatchlings. I tell the tortoise’s story; you should ask your own lorekeepers the stories of your kind when you find them.” Ikatha met Serenity’s eyes, then Blaze’s. She ignored Senkovar and Legion.
Serenity definitely needed to ask Althyr about this. He was the head of the Council of Dragons; even if he didn’t know about it, he would know someone who did. He’d like to assume that the story wasn’t that different, but he knew that it might be. Two people who were at the same event might remember it completely differently and this was a story passed down for generations. A different perspective could change everything.
“When Time was born, so were we, the first of the Four, the solid Shell that protects the Heart from the cold of the Outside. In the beginning, we swim through all that is and it is one. As our Home grows, it forms a Nest, a central Heart that is our place to live and grow and breed.” Ikatha broke out of a clearly practiced pattern to add something for the outsiders. “You call it a World Core. We call it our Nest.”
Serenity nodded. There were no surprises so far.
“The second born was born of fire. They were our opposite, born with a desire to move and to travel, to see new things and abandon the past, quick to be snuffed yet also quick to relight. The birds born of fire did not help us defend our Nest, but they also did not act to harm it. We do not fight the phoenix, for they will never do more than scorch our shell in play.” Ikatha nodded at Blaze. “You seem less playful than most. One more thing that has been lost, it seems.”
Blaze nodded sharply once, his face fixed in a frown.
“We know not where the third born came from, for those who saw chose sight over their shells and in the end saw nothing. Our opposite once more, but in a different way, the creatures born of Light sear away our Shadows. Their claws and teeth may breach our defenses, yet our shells can still stop them; a surprise for us both. Beware the Tiger’s Claw, young ones, for they taught us that defense is not enough.” Ikatha settled to the ground. It seemed to reshape under her to hold her more comfortably.
“The lastborn were our opposites once more, yet this time they were the opposite of all who came before as they took something from each of us. The scales of a tortoise’s shell, the claws of a tiger, even the wings of a phoenix; the dragon is all of those who came before and yet none. Where Black Tortoises are the solid center, the darkness made real, Phoenixes are fire and flight, and White Tigers are the cutting light, dragons fill the spaces in between.”
Serenity grinned a little at Ikatha’s description of dragons. He liked the idea of not being limited by that which came before. It didn’t matter to him that she sounded slightly disapproving.
“Young tortoises often wonder what the others are like. We can no longer send them out to see, but we know the stories. A tortoise does not fly and cannot bite. Even less can a tortoise shatter like the dragons. Those who have tried return in time, happy with the solid home that is who we are.” Ikatha’s ending sounded well rehearsed but also heartfelt. Ikatha, at least, felt no desire to be anything she wasn’t.