Suratiz was completely willing to talk. What it said was a surprise. “You aren’t Aramvar.”
“No, I’m not,” Serenity agreed. “I don’t know Aramvar; should I?”
“I hoped. You feel a lot like Aramvar.” The World Spirit sounded wistful. “I know, he is long gone. He has been gone longer than he spoke to me. He was the first, you know.”
“The first?” Did that mean what Serenity thought it meant? The first World Shaman?
“The first to speak to me. He was not like the others, always asking what I could do for them. He wanted things, yes, but he gave more than he took. He taught.” There was a long sigh from Suratiz. “He wanted a place to live, but what he offered! It was all things I’d never seen. He showed me what he saw, things he found before he came to me. He never left until the end.”
Serenity knew what that had to mean. Anything could die, and almost everything eventually would. It wasn’t easy if you were the one left behind. He’d never thought he’d end up comforting a planet. “He came to you near the end of his life?”
“He said so. It was not long enough.” Suratiz was silent for a long moment. “I accepted others later because of him. I am happy he taught me to watch their lives, to see what is there for what it is. You are not Aramvar. Who are you? What is your story?”
“My name is Serenity. Senkovar brought me here; you probably know him.” Serenity started with the current situation and slowly worked his way backwards. Suratiz was unlike any other World Spirit Serenity had met before; he was actively interested in Serenity’s story. Suratiz asked question after question and Serenity found himself telling the World Spirit almost everything. He even mentioned returning through time, or rather the fact that he had memories of a time that didn’t happen, to explain why he’d been so adamant about dealing with the World Eaters.
Suratiz’s questions led to stories from Suratiz, as well. He didn’t have that many of his own that made sense to Serenity, but he retold parts of Aramvar’s life where it connected to things Serenity had experienced. He also spoke about the later arrival of the Suras; it seemed like Aramvar was not the man who brought the Suras to Suratiz, even though he was the first World Shaman Suratiz met. Serenity didn’t get a full picture of Suratiz’s past; instead, it was mostly individual stories, disconnected from each other.
When Suratiz finally ran out of questions, Serenity was tired. He’d been talking to the World Spirit for hours and wasn’t sure what to say. He’d already revealed what Senkovar wanted; should he push or not? He didn’t really want to push.
Abruptly, Suratiz broke the silence. “The Voice calls you a Friend to Worlds. I see why.”
“Thank you.” Serenity wasn’t sure what else to say. He wasn’t a friend of Suratiz’s, not yet and probably never. Suratiz seemed nice enough but Serenity simply didn’t expect to spend the time necessary on the planet.
“No matter what I do, you will leave,” Suratiz stated sadly. “You are far more active than Aramvar. You care about more places. Aramvar was mine; you are not and you do not want to be. Still, I like the stories.”
Serenity nodded to himself, even though Suratiz wouldn’t be able to see it. He had to speak for Suratiz to know. “Yes, I will leave. I’ve enjoyed talking, but this isn’t my home.”
“Aramvar talked about home,” Suratiz mused. “People and place was what he said it was. This became his home. This is not your home, but you are building something greater, something more than a single world.”
How had Suratiz gotten that from what Serenity said? Was he not clear when he talked about how he’d accidentally ended up in charge of several worlds?
“I do not care about the ones who cannot speak to me, the ones who cannot tell stories, but your Trial … that is interesting. Is it your blood that lets you speak to me? Your teacher can barely talk, but that is still more than most. It is something. Will you talk to me when you return?” Suratiz sounded wistful.
Serenity hurried to reassure the planet. “Of course. I don’t know when I’ll next be here, but I’m sure I can take some time to talk when I am.”
Happiness washed over Serenity. It was clear that the world was lonely, which wasn’t something he’d expected to ever feel from a world. Weren’t they naturally solitary? “I think it is best that I grant your teacher’s request. I do not care about Sovereigns, but I do care about talking and your Trial should help others reach me. I will only accept those who can speak to me; at this time, that means you and your teacher. In time, there may be another who can speak and tell the good tales who does wish to stay here. I have time.”
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
If there was one thing a world had, it was time. Suratiz was right about that.
Serenity could already imagine Senkovar’s face when he was informed the planet had elected him Planetary Manager and wanted him to tell it stories. He had the feeling the other man’s feelings would be conflicted; it was clear that he had the power to rule already, which meant that, like Serenity, he didn’t want to. Serenity didn’t plan to give him the choice for now.
Senkovar was going to be even more surprised when he found out that what Suratiz wanted was real-life stories. Serenity looked forward to telling him.
Imperius was both a world and a city. It was a new sight for Serenity, since although Vengeance spent quite a bit of time in the Empire, he’d never made it to the capital. The Final Reaper might have visited the capital, but if so Serenity was certain it was much later. He knew most of his scuffles with the Empire were closer to its borders, often outside the Empire’s current borders.
Serenity listened while Lord Cymryn talked the Imperial space traffic controllers into allowing them to land. It might have been difficult if they weren’t expected, but this was more about Cymryn proving he was who he said he was than it was about actually convincing them they should be allowed to land. Serenity tuned it out once he figured that out in favor of watching the planet approach.
Imperius was a pretty world. It reminded Serenity of Earth; the shapes of the continents were different and the planet was probably larger, but it was still a pretty blue-white marble with green and yellow and brown areas when checked closely. The white of the poles was closer to the equator, but that was really the only difference other than continental shape that was obvious from orbit.
Serenity’s attention was pulled back to the conversation for a moment right after Cymryn finished giving his authentication. “You’ve been authorized to land at the Palace spaceport. I also have a message from your grandfather attached to the authorization; it requests that you and your guests come see him once you’re on the ground.”
Who was Cymryn’s grandfather that he could attach a note like that to a landing permit without a name? Was he the same person who authorized them to land at the Palace spaceport, wherever that was?
Serenity suspected he was going to find out once they were on the ground.
As they came in for a landing, the cities became more obvious. They were laid out differently, without the tall central concentrations of Earth cities but also without the wide travel and parking areas. The cities all had walls; many of them had internal walls as well as external ones. There were sections of fields inside cities, but Serenity had seen that on Earth as well. It was more common here.
The biggest difference was the areas that were sectioned off from the cities that clearly sprawled around them. It didn’t take much thought to realize that those were dungeons.
There were a lot of flyers, more than any other world Serenity could think of offhand. Serenity wasn’t surprised by that; the Empire was wealthy and Imperius was where that wealth was concentrated. Of course there were a lot of flyers. On Earth, they would probably have had strict regulations, but here they seemed to travel wherever they wanted. Serenity suspected there was organization he simply didn’t see; maybe there were only certain people who were able to fly wherever they wanted.
That would suit the Empire. It was, after all, all about power. You could become Emperor in more than one way, but one was by killing the current Emperor in a sanctioned duel. At least, Serenity thought that was how it worked; that was what the stories said. It was probably not that simple.
Indeed, as they came in to land, the flyers seemed to vanish. Serenity wasn’t certain if that was because they were coming in at a spaceport and flyers weren’t allowed in its airspace or because of where the spaceport was. Serenity didn’t know Imperial spaceports, but Cymryn did, and he was obviously surprised to be directed to land at the Palace.
That made sense when Serenity saw where they actually landed: a tiny spaceport that could clearly only handle one ship at a time right next to a large building with a golden domed roof. The building’s walls weren’t white; they were iridescent, like they were covered in pearl.
Aide’s analysis told Serenity that the golden roof was literally that: it was covered in gold. He couldn’t confirm the pearl, but he agreed that it was similar.
The plan had been to secure an inn in the city and do some delving while they waited, but Serenity was no longer sure that was a viable plan. He couldn’t get the last words from the space traffic controller’s landing authorization out of his head; just who was Cymryn’s grandfather?
Serenity headed to the large observation room. He’d meet Cymryn there; that wasn’t a new plan, after all. Cymryn was supposed to be their guide.
When Cymryn walked into the observation room, he looked around and seemed relieved when he found Serenity and Senkovar waiting for him. “Oh, good. I need the two of you to come with me for a private meeting before we head out to find an inn near a dungeon.” He paused for a moment, then continued. “We may or may not end up staying at an inn; it depends on how the meeting goes. I don’t expect to have rooms at the Palace, but I’ve also never been told to land here so I’m not sure what to expect.”
Serenity blinked at the sudden flow of words. Cymryn was nervous, wasn’t he? “Should I be worried about the meeting?”
Cymryn shook his head. “No, it’s … It shouldn’t be a problem. I’m not sure why he wants to meet you, but it should be fine. It has to be because of the World Eaters, he probably wants to know more about the White Tiger.”
To Serenity, it almost sounded like Cymryn was trying to convince himself.