Irwin's Journey - The Cardsmith

Greldo lay on one of the benches against the galley, watching Zender pace through the room.

"Don't worry, he'll get you a card," he said with a wide grin.

Zender nodded and sat on a chair, but only a moment later, he was back up and pacing again.

Greldo sighed and closed his eyes. He smiled as he listened to the soft hammering and singing.

He's improved again, he thought, listening to Irwin's deep bass humming and singing some seemingly nonsensical song about metal shining in the moonlight. Had he used words before? He couldn't tell, but definitely not this many.

When Irwin finally ended, Greldo listened to his muted conversation with Ambraz. When Ambraz complained about Irwin's quick progress, he couldn't resist a grin.

Trimdir was complaining about that too, he thought as he got up.

Zender turned to him, eyes wide.

"Is he done?"

"Calm down, he is coming," Greldo said as he stretched his arms. The slight muscle ache from his constant sword practice was almost gone, meaning he could start again soon.

Zender was almost jumping up and down, staring at the entrance to the kitchen.

Can't really blame him for being this excited, Greldo thought. He recalled how happy he had been with his first card, a simple gripping strength common. Nothing but a tiny bit of its strength remained in his heartcard, but he sometimes still thought about it.

A few moments later, Irwin walked into the mess, grinning widely and holding a single green card.

"Captain? Did you succeed?" Zender asked, jumping up and down.

Irwin pulled his thick beard, causing a soft rasping. "Perhaps…"

Zender's eyes were wide, focused completely on the card.

Greldo snorted. "Don't bully the kid, Irwin! Just tell us what it does?"

Irwin laughed as he handed the card to Zender.

"He will find out soon enough," he said. "Let's let him show us?"

Zender didn't even bother waiting. With a thank you that was so fast it seemed a single sound, he put the card above the final empty socket of his left hand.

Greldo rose from his seat, watching him quietly. A tiny bit of worry grew, and he hoped the card wouldn't be rejected. Or worse, have too much energy. He recalled that Rindiri had said Zender's card shouldn't be too powerful, and Irwin had a habit of overdoing things.

"Don't worry, I made sure to go for control and stability over power," Irwin whispered. "Although it's a very good card, its energy is below average."

Greldo nodded gratefully, but he kept his gaze on Zender.

The card sank into Zender's hand, and for a moment, nothing happened. Then Zender jolted upright, his eyes widening before he crumpled to the ground.

"Zender!"

Greldo rushed forward, catching him before he could hit the ground.

"Don't worry," Irwin said as he walked forward, arms crossed. "It's normal for a card with such a large physical change. Better put him down!"

Greldo hesitated, then lowered Zender. As he did, he felt the boy's shoulders and arms ripple oddly while his pale skin was changing.

"Will he change like you?" Greldo asked as he watched muscles ripple and skin begin to gleam silvery.

"Not as much as I have," Irwin said. "More like when I got coperion body. He will gain a similar active ability, though it won't be as powerful due to the lower energy."

"I thought these elemental body-type cards were very rare?" Greldo said with a frown.

"They are," Ambraz grunted. "And forcing one along a path that goes from being focused on hair to affecting the entire body is ridiculous!'

"It's because I could use part of my own card during the resonance," Irwin said.

"Bah, that's only half of it," Ambraz muttered.

Greldo grinned. "So you are going to make more and become filthy rich?"

"Not a bad idea," Irwin said, but Greldo heard a slight hesitation.

"What?" he asked. He'd noticed that Irwin had been preoccupied with something but hadn't shared anything yet. "Is it the music sheets again?"

Irwin froze, and Greldo sighed. "Did you forget about them?"

"No… well. Perhaps?" Irwin muttered.

"It's fine. He practiced them enough at the start," Ambraz said. "We will have plenty of time the coming half year for him to learn the rest."

A soft groan came from the ground, followed by a snore. Greldo stared at Zender in wonder. The boy's purple hair had lengthened by a hand and turned slightly darker. His skin gleamed very faintly and had a dark silver hue to it from certain angles.

"He really does look like you," Greldo muttered, shaking his head. "Is he going to grow as much?"

"No, he doesn't have the energy, and he lacks my first card," Irwin said. "Can you bring him to his room? He will be sleeping for a few hours now."

Greldo looked at his friend. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to get Rindiri so she can look after Zender. Besides, it's my time to steer."

--

Four days after Zender had gained his new card, Irwin was standing on the deck. Greldo and Zender were practicing below, their racket having chased him up. Well, that and something he'd wanted to talk to Rindiri about. He had been shoving it away for a while now, but he couldn't do that much longer.

He looked at his first mate, her hair purple with pale-gray, almost white stripes.

"I wanted to ask you something," Irwin said, still not sure how to begin.

Rindiri looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"I saw that more of your hair became gray… are- Are any of your other children still alive?" he asked.

Although he was very uncomfortable, he knew it was best just to get it over with.

Rindiri's eyes stilled, staring off into the distance. It lasted for a few moments before she focused on the narrow horizon again, her eyes moving sideways.

"Four are still alive somewhere," she whispered before waving forward with her hand. "Out there somewhere."

"Can you sense where they are?"

"Very faintly," she said. "It's easy when I'm far away, but the closer I get, the more muddled it comes."

"Shouldn't it be easier when you are closer?" Irwin asked, surprised.

Rindiri shrugged. "They aren't strong enough," she said softly. "I can sense Ibiri's general location until I get within a city's distance. Zender… well, with his new card, he is almost as easy to find, really. Thank you again."

Irwin shook his head. "It's fine. Please don't thank me every time it comes up."

"You have no idea how much it means to my people to get help like that," Rindiri said with a weary smile. "But fine, I'll leave it at that."

Irwin nodded gratefully. He'd had about enough of the vocal gratitude.

"And your own soulforce?" he asked, pointing at her hair. "Did any return?"

"No," Rindiri said. "Whoever killed my children drained them of all the energy."

Irwin waited for a bit before continuing. "Do you know of anything that could do this?"

"None that made it off our world before it shattered. There used to be some horrible monsters, but we had mostly wiped those out before…" Rindiri sighed, shaking her head. "Well, before we were wiped out."

Irwin grimaced, but Rindiri shook her head again, more violently this time.

"Don't worry. I wasn't there and only know the pain through my mother. Anyway, when we get anywhere near my children, I'll warn you."

"Do that. We will try and save them," Irwin said, crossing his arms before his chest.

Rindiri smiled gratefully before looking away into the distance.

"There might be one in or very close to Sesnanser. The others are… very far away."

"Far enough to be past the blockade?" Irwin asked.

"Maybe. It's hard to say," Rindiri said.

Irwin stayed with Rinridir until Greldo and Zender were done practicing before heading back into the cabin and then his room. He had managed to dodge the sweaty boy's questions and sat down on his bed.

Technically, he should be sleeping now, but besides not being tired, he also felt agitated. He wanted to do something. After hesitating for a bit, he got back up and sat at the table, pulling out his cards and booklet.

He opened it on the last page, which showed a short list of ideas for cards he thought might work well with those he had now.

> Anything that increases sensitivity or sensitivity control

> Something that lets me condense soulforce

> Perhaps something to increase my soullake or its regeneration

> At least one dash ability like Scintila's

> ... something to regain an active metal shape change ability?

Staring at the page, he hummed, rustling with his pen through his beard.

"Do you think I could change or increase my Firesteel Elemental Vaelite Heart?" he asked, thinking about his current soulskill. "Maybe turn it into something better than Firesteel?"

Ambraz rustled out of his pocket and landed on the table.

"No. As far as I know, it's impossible to change a soulcard," Ambraz said. "But you could think about making a card that adds to it. Perhaps a full armor summon. You have your hammer, which means you already have an affinity with it."

Irwin thought about it for a bit, then sighed and wrote 'second soulcard' above the current page, flipped to the next page, and wrote 'third soulcard' on it. Then he added a short bit about a potential full armor summon by adding different summons together. After a second, he flipped back to the other page.

"We don't have any card that we could reforge to do anything like what I have here, right?" he asked, tapping the page with his pencil.

"No," Ambraz said. "Kid… you are trying to go too fast!"

Irwin sighed, closed the book, and closed his eyes.

"I am going to try again," he said.

"I gathered," Ambraz snorted. "Fine, I'll go and help. Again!"

Irwin ignored Ambraz's complaint and focused on the soft, barely audible sound of the ambient soulforce. Besides the sound, as he focused on it, he felt the resonance increase in clarity. Of all the places on the ship, none had as much soulforce as his room, and as he breathed in through his nose, exhaled from his mouth, he felt Ambraz start to resonate. A moment later, the Anvil began humming.

Irwin continued breathing calmly, then opened his eyes. Pale purple ripples of soulforce expanded from Ambraz, flowing across the table in tandem with the soft tune and the humming.

Being able to not just sense but also hear and see the soulforce had greatly improved his sensitivity to, and his understanding of it.

He raised his hand and began humming the song of the Chaos Whales.

Ever since he'd come up with the idea to create cards from ambient soulforce he had attempted touching the soulforce somehow. Gathering it without drawing it into his soulcard. Holding it in one place. Trying to manipulate it.

Raising his voice into a soft, low song, he felt his soulcard begin to resonate. A moment later, he used his Kinetic energy to slowly vibrate his chest and throat, and his voice deepened even more.

Loose objects in his room began rattling softly, but he barely noticed it as he focused on the soulforce.

Move to my hand, he thought, trying to somehow exert his will on the soulforce. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

As every other time he'd attempted it, he felt the soulforce, but just like those times, nothing happened. It was as if he had put his finger on water. He could feel it was there, but moving it to the side just didn't work as his hand passed through.

It was so confusing! Added to his ability to see it, sense it with his soulcard, and hear it, it made the soulforce as real as anything physical. But no matter what he did, it wouldn't move. It was as if it was completely immobile.

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Even then, it was the only progress he had made. During his first attempts without singing or with random songs, he hadn't even been able to touch it. Using the Chaos Whale song, he could touch the soulforce.

If only I could understand the meaning of the song, he thought, not for the first time. Perhaps then he could break it up in parts and figure out if there was some way of manipulating the sounds to do what he had to.

He continued for a good while, enjoying the simple sensation. Only when Ambraz stopped did Irwin know it was time to sleep. He let out a deep sigh and released his hold on his soulcard.

"Do I even need to ask if there was progress?" Ambraz asked before yawning.

"I need to figure out how to move it," Irwin said softly. "Touching it is step one. I just know it. Moving it is two and manipulating it three. Perhaps I can find more information on the Chaos Whales. Some way to find them again."

"Good luck with that," Ambraz said as he flew to the bed and lay down beside the pillow.

Irwin grinned and lay down on the bed. As unsuccessful as his attempt had been, he felt calm and happy.

Closing his eyes, he decided he was going to try again tomorrow.

Perhaps I should try with the Galadin music from those sheets, he thought as he drifted into sleep.

--

Three weeks later, and far beyond the narrow gap that had once led them to the massive landmass with Eluathar's portal, they were finally closing in on the temperature increase that surrounded Sesnanser.

The ship they had been towing was gone, left back at the Eluathar portal during a short stop to replenish their supplies and let everyone know they were alright.

"The Roaming Shipyard, or what's left of it, should be an hour from here," Rindiri said.

She was looking out across the distant rocky wasteland, seeming calm and collected. Irwin knew better, though, as he saw her clenched fingers seeming to almost strangle the steering wheel.

"One is either there or in Sesnanser," Rindiri said. "The others are still so far away that I can sense their general direction."

"Alright, let's go and see what's left of that place," Irwin said. "Xi'kroak said it was crawling with Galubs when they were there."

"That was over a year ago," Greldo called from the prow, where he was keeping an eye out for Galub raiders.

Yeah… which makes me wonder how anyone could still be alive there, Irwin thought.

A short while later, he saw a distant shadow appear on the horizon.

"Greldo?" he called.

"It's a mountain-range that goes along the right side of the gallery. I don't see any movement, but there's something on one of the mountains."

They continued forward, and eventually, Irwin began making out the individual mountains.

"I can see it now. Still no movement," Greldo called.

"I'll get ready, just in case," Irwin said, walking towards the prow. He summoned his hammer and began hopping on his toes, building up his internal Kinetic Energy.

"If you get any heavier, you are going to bounce the ship up and down," Greldo said without looking.

Irwin laughed softly, then focused on a smudge he saw on the side of one of the mountains. As they closed in, he began making out squashed-together ships. There was no sign of their sails, and many had massive holes in their sides. Some had dropped from the side of the mountain, and wood debris covered the foot. That which was left was easily the size of a town, and hundreds of things could be hiding within.

After a moment's hesitation, he triggered Incandescent Eyes. Tiny swirls of soulforce moved throughout the ruins, but nothing powerful.

"There's something there," Greldo said, leaning forward with narrow eyes.

"What do you see?" Irwin asked, searching for any heat signatures or soulforce signatures but seeing nothing.

"I saw a flickering movement near the top ship. It was there for only a moment, but…"

They continued closer, slowing down as they did. Soon, Irwin could see the details of the ships, tied together with ragged-looking ropes and rusty chains. There was little that gave the idea of a habitable place, with what must have been the docks, a long stretch of wood between two of the larger ships, now covered in ship debris.

"There's definitely someone or something there," Greldo said. "I'm going to scout around."

Irwin nodded, raising his hand. “Rindiri, stop here.”

The ship stopped, and Greldo moved into the nearest shadow before disappearing.

Irwin put his hand on the railing, scanning the chaotic town-sized collection of crushed ships. He saw no sign of movement. Behind him, the Cabin door opened up, and a moment later, Zender stepped up beside him. Irwin took a quick look at the taller boy. His face had filled out, his skin a dark silver hue, and his hair was so dark purple from a distance it looked black. All in all, he looked both a few years older and healthier than he had before.

He was also holding a long, rolled-up silver whip in one hand and a simple shortsword in the other.

"Do you think there's one of my siblings here, captain?" he whispered, wistfully looking at the ships.

"I don't know if there's one here or-"

A high-pitched scream came from the top area of the ruined Roaming Shipyard.

For a moment, Irwin saw nothing as he searched for the origin of the sound, then a part of a ship's wall burst outward. A familiar, pale shape crashed through the splinters and debris, then slammed into the roof of another ship's cabin.

"Nyzir," Irwin shouted as he readied himself. “Zender, stay with Rindiri. Keep an eye on the shadows!"

He focused on his soulcard, drawing in all the water he could and creating a thin cloud of steam all across the deck. It took only a few seconds before a sense of movement came from the entire cloud. He also saw a faint gleaming soulforce all throughout the steam but shoved his surprise at that away.

He could feel Zender running to his mother, then turned back to the ruined ships. There was no sign of any other movement, but he knew that didn't mean there weren't dozens of Nyzir around.

A second boom rattled the ruined ships, and he was just in time to see Coal hurl another Nyzir away before vanishing into the shadows.

"Rindiri, I need a hand!"

Irwin turned to the side, where Greldo stood in the shadow of a ship struggling with a purple-haired girl. A dozen small blueish-white shapes were climbing across him, biting into any exposed skin while the girl was scratching at Greldo's face with long, razor-sharp pale-blue nails.

What are those? Irwin thought, eyes wide.

"Earila, stop attacking him!'

Zender's scream caused the struggling girl to freeze. Irwin saw her look up, purple eyes wide in panic as they searched and found Zender.

"Zender?"

"Let him help! He's a friend!' Zender shouted.

"Earila, everything is fine now!" Rindiri shouted.

Irwin saw the small creatures retreat from Greldo, who had dozens of bloody wounds across his hands, arms, and face. Irwin was about to sigh in relief when a shadowy moment appeared behind Greldo.

"Look out!'

Greldo and the girl vanished as a tall Nyzir slashed a gleaming blade through where they had stood. Irwin gripped his hammer, wanting to help but knowing throwing his hammer would never hit the thing.

Coal appeared and bit at the shadowy Nyzir just as it vanished.

"Irwin!"

At the moment of the scream, Irwin sensed three beings appear inside his steam. He turned and ran before he even saw the three Nyzir attacking Zender. Rindiri had her hand raised, seeming ready to act.

Knowing Greldo would have to help himself, he sprinted for the ladder, clambering up. Zender nimbly dashed to the side, then used his whip on one of the Nyzir. A startled scream came from the pale shadow walker as it ripped at the cord around its neck.

Irwin reached the upper deck, and two of the Nyzir spotted him. They jumped back into the shadows and vanished from both his vision and his steamcloud senses. The remaining Nyzir ignored the whip and rushed at Zender, blade raised and ready to disembowel him.

Zender's eyes widened, but he moved fluidly, blocking the blade with his own, displaying a speed and agility that surprised Irwin.

Then Irwin reached the Nyzir, and he grabbed the shoulder and the arm. Before the Nyzir could react, Irwin's flame rippled out of his hands, engulfing the Nyzir. Zender gasped, and Irwin saw the whip release and pull back out of the flame.

Right, the whip, he thought, grimacing and hoping Zender would be alright.

The Nyzir let out a high-pitched scream that lasted only a few seconds before Irwin felt it go limp. He held it for a second longer before hurling it overboard. He stepped beside Zender, who was rubbing his left hand. Rindiri was still at the steering wheel,

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, just a bit of a sting in my hand," Zender said. "I think the tip of my whip got burned."

"Sorry," Irwin said as he looked around.

Something appeared on the lower deck, and Irwin spun around, his hammer appearing in his hand.

Greldo and Coal stood there, looking around. A short, purple-haired girl stood beside them, wearing a thick, formless coat that was three sizes too large. Small mammals with blue fur and silver highlights sat on her shoulders or hung from the side of the coat, looking around with gleaming blue eyes. When she saw Zender and Rindiri, she ran forward.

"Zender!'

"There's a dozen of those things in the shadows," Greldo shouted before vanishing. Coal looked around, then disappeared into the shadows after Greldo.

Irwin gritted his teeth. "Rindiri, get us out of here," he said." Zender and… Earila? Stay close to me!"

The young girl looked at him with haunted eyes before turning back to Zender. The small creatures on her shoulders were looking around, as were those dangling from her coat.

"Zender, how did you survive? What happened to your skin?" she whispered, only for Zender to completely ignore her questions.

"Earila, how did you survive there? How did you even get to this place?" Zender asked, examining her, going as far as gently stroking her cheek, which caused Earila to take a step back and frown. She glanced behind him at where Rindiri was standing behind the wheel.

Irwin felt something appear on the prow, and a moment later, a massive boom came as Greldo appeared, holding a Nyzir before slashing his shortsword straight through its chest. Greldo vanished, and the taller Nyzir appeared where he was, a gleaming blade slashing through the air, only for Coal to appear and barely miss the Nyzir who vanished.

Then flashes and appearances came in rapid succession as Greldo and Coal fought to catch the tall Nyzir, only to keep ending up short. Finally, after a minute, it stopped.

Irwin watched with bated breath only to see Greldo reappear at the back of the ship, followed by Coal. They were staring at the quickly distancing Roaming Shipyard.

"He ran," Greldo said, sounding annoyed. "That one was… dangerous. He was faster than we were."

Irwin frowned, feeling a slight worry at that. "Alright, keep an eye out. Have Coal check the ship to make sure none are hiding somewhere."

Greldo nodded while Coal vanished. Irwin moved to Rindiri, who was constantly throwing glances at Earila.

"I'll take the wheel. Go and see if she is alright!"

Rindiri didn't hesitate and rushed to Zender and Earila.

Irwin calmly watched while keeping an eye on the front. They were heading towards Sesnanser, but it would be hours before they reached it.

"Earila, are you alright?" Rindiri asked, reaching out to touch Earila.

"You left us," the girl said, taking a step back. "Why did you leave us?"