Irwin's Journey - The Cardsmith

Irwin hummed happily along with his own soulstrum guitar, his hammer striking in a slow cadence before speeding up again. The Gneisian ore was way smaller than it had been when he'd started and gleamed with an internal light. Ethereal Strings felt like it would overflow at any moment, and he continued hammering the ore.

It had been four days since he'd reforged Greldo's heartcard, but it had shaved days off Ambraz's estimate for when his soulstrum guitar would grow to diamond.

As the sense of buildup in the card grew, Irwin felt his anticipation grow with it.

Finally, a dozen strikes later, the guitar's sound gained a momentary howling quality, and Irwin stopped hammering as he felt the card's soulforce capacity expand. The power he'd put in his strings had been close to the limit just a moment before, but now they began hungrily sucking in soulforce at a breakneck speed. Before he knew it, the power in them had doubled, and the part of him that was in his soulscape gawked as the volume increased with an explosive bang.

Waves of soulforce rippled from it, bouncing from the nearby mountain, the waves scattered by its jagged surface.

Irwin stopped playing, looking at the guitar and noting some minor changes. The neck had lengthened, and the strings burned even brighter than before.

He felt a shift in his soulscape, and then Ambraz appeared beside him.

"Damn… Kid, this was way faster than even I had thought! I think we should find more people that need a heartcard," he said.

Irwin nodded, looking at his soulstrum guitar and then at Ambraz.

"How long do you think it would take if we could have some more heartcards to reforge?"

"It depends on their difficulty and whether there are diminishing returns, but I'd say weeks instead of months," Ambraz said.

Irwin nodded, letting his daydreams of growing that fast and getting a second ammolite card play for a moment. Then he sighed.

"Sadly, there's nobody who needs a heartcard on the ship."

"Wrong," Ambraz said, his metallic lips curved in a grin.

"What do you mean?" Irwin said, quickly going over everyone on the ship. "Unless you mean me…?"

"Well, we could gamble with that if you are very close," Ambraz said. "If we have to. But, no… try again."

Irwin was quiet before shaking his head. "Those smiths all still need some cards, and Boohm still needs a bit to go before his soulcard is finished. Greldo already has one, as do Zender and Earila. So…" his eyebrows shot up. "Hind?!"

"Exactly! I've been thinking about it, and although the card we gave her helped, why don't we just make another one? Her resonance is already much better, but there is room for improvement. Why don't we just give her another five? If we use cards that strengthen her soulscape, and we reforge all of them into a heartcard to perfectly balance out her soulcard, it might not fix her, but it should give her even more time. Who knows, perhaps if she can fill it up to a soulcard, those two can balance each other out?"

Irwin nodded slowly. Ambraz was right, or at least, it was a good idea to try. There was only one little problem with it.

"Do we even have cards to strengthen a soulscape?" he asked, trying to recall what he knew of those.

Like most cards dealing with soulscapes, they were rare, and they were on of the few categories of cards that needed to be above ninety percent after reforging, or they would shatter.

"Nope," Ambraz said. "You are going to have to make some."

Of course.

Still, he felt anticipation as he moved to the small vault where his cards were.

--

Another few days passed, most of which Irwin spent purifying, practicing, and attempting to reforge cards. After a half dozen failures, cards that didn't break but did things other than strengthen the soulscape, he managed a single success. He didn't hand it to Hind yet, as he wanted to get all five of them ready.

Nearly two weeks after they had left, early in Irwin's shift at the helm, the distant Dimarintsia River came into view. He still only had four, but his mind wasn't on it. Instead, he and everyone else was looking at the scene unfurling before him.

Even Dahlia, usually quiet and reserved, was leaning forward with glittering eyes, barely able to hold back her excitement.

Ships, almost too many to count, floated or flew above the wide Dimarintsia River. There were hundreds of large merchant vessels surrounded by their escorts, hovering near them in tight clusters, small scout ships either alone or in large groups, and even two distant military vessels, so large they made The Concerto look like a rowboat.

The number of them was unusual, but something else made Irwin's skin crawl. They were all moving in one direction—and it wasn't the way he wanted to go.

"This isn't good," he whispered, looking at Greldo all the way at the front of the deck.

His friend vanished from within the shadow of the sails to appear beside him.

"There's a flying market over there," Greldo said, pointing at something Irwin couldn't see. "I'm going to head there and see what's going on."

Irwin thought for a moment, then steered The Concerto away from the side entrance from which they came.

"Alright. I'll move this way slowly, but we need to know what's going on first," he said.

"Okay, I'll find you," Geldo said.

One of Coal's shadow clones appeared beside Irwin, lying down on the ground and seemingly asleep.

Irwin looked at it, then at Greldo.

"Coal can locate all of his clones," Greldo said, his silver eyes glittering with humor. "Now, don't do anything stupid, and I'll be back as soon as I can."

Irwin snorted, but before he could say anything, Greldo vanished.

"That's my line!" he muttered.

He looked up and saw Hind walk towards him.

"This isn't normal," she said. "I'd heard there was some trouble with a chaos storm, but this-" she waved her hands. "I've never heard of anything like this!"

"Greldo is going to check if he can find information," Irwin said. "Can you ask Earila if she can take over? I want to be ready in case I need to act."

Hind looked at him and then around as if wanting to ask what he expected to do.

"Sure," she said before belatedly adding a "Captain".

Irwin watched her walk away, then scanned one of the side entrances far away. A steady stream of ships came from it.

It's like rats being flushed from a basement.

--

Greldo jumped from shadow to shadow, never lingering on a single ship. He had no idea if there were any other shadow walkers or if some ship had a way to nullify his ability, and he wasn't interested in finding out.

His sharp vision was locked onto the small flotilla that hovered high above the water, dozens of merchant vessels connected together with cables, and a large wooden scaffolding built between them. Smaller vessels hung nearby while a milling mass of people walked across the makeshift square, which was filled with stalls and small tents.

Merchants will be merchants, Greldo thought, getting a humorous response from Coal.

His greatly increased soulforce capacity allowed his friend and summon to move along easily with him, and as he reached his target, he had barely used a tenth of his energy.

Can't wait to get this thing to a soulcard, he thought as he mentally prodded his second heartcard.

It felt like a wellspring of power, far more so than his first card, and it felt slightly intoxicating. Part of him almost wanted to make his third card another one, even though Ambraz had said it would be best to focus on one of his other strengths.

Hovering in the shadows of a large tent, he looked around. As soon as he was sure nobody was looking, he stepped into reality, and the deluge of sound, chatter, and shouts increased in volume. He hesitated when Coal prodded him, then shook his head.

'No, remain nearby, but stay out of sight. It's too crowded,' he said.

Coal snorted in his mind, indicating a towering Niox walking along with an enormous serpent wrapped around his arms. The head, easily the size of Greldo's torso, was hanging to the side, forcing people to walk around it.

'True, but we are trying not to draw attention, remember?'

Sensing Coal's reluctant agreement, Greldo headed into the stream of people. For a while, he just followed the flow, listening to the chatter and scanning the merchant stalls. He picked up titbits, and as he did, his worry grew. When he decided he'd learned all he could from just wandering about, he headed towards a small tent.

He had seen it a few times and paid attention as certain people went in, chatted with the man inside, and paid him, but never seemed to take any of the cards he had stalled in the few crystal stalls. The few people who actually looked at the cards as they browsed continued on their way as if they saw nothing interesting.

The tent was open on one side, and an older merchant with silvery eyes and two full hands leaned back in a low chair. He was scanning the people walking by, and as soon as he and Greldo locked eyes, he leaned forward but said nothing. Greldo sensed a familiarity coming from the man, one he'd started noticing as he grew stronger. It meant the man had shadow-typed cards and strong ones.

Greldo did as he'd seen the others do and as he had done on a few occasions. He sat down in the opposite chair and eyed the man for another few moments.

"Tell me everything you know about the current troubles and why people are fleeing," he said.

The man's eyes widened as he leaned back again. "That will be expensive… How many details do you need?"

"Everything on the bullshit with the smiths and on the fleeing part," Greldo said, not hesitating. "And give me the overlay of the rest. I'll decide if I need more after."

"I have only titbits on the smiths, but it will cost you two thousand soulshards," the man said calmly. "The rest together will be one thousand or more if you hear something you need more information on."

Greldo nodded, no longer surprised by the exorbitant prices people asked in the central regions. The price he was about to pay could let a whole family live in luxury on Fiverio for months. Out here, it was only enough for a single person a few days.

"Half up front."

Greldo blinked, then raised an eyebrow as he gazed at the man.

"No need to worry, I won't flee," the man said, turning his gaze to a shadow at the back of the tent where Coal was hiding. "Besides, from what I can sense, I think I'd hardly get far either."

Greldo hesitated for only a moment, then removed a card from his inner pocket. Boohm had told him what it was worth, and it should cover this and more. He tossed it on the table, and the man raised an eyebrow before picking up the topaz card. As he touched it, his eyes widened.

"I hope you have more questions because I don't like having to hand something back."

"I'll pick out some cards," Greldo said, not bothering to care. Irwin had given him both cards and soulshards, and he still had his own if need be.

"Fine. I'll start with the current troubles, though if you walk around, you would hear a lot already," the man said. "There is a chaos storm moving this way from outer branches, and it crossed two exit portals. After it passed, the exit portals were gone and the temperature had dropped so low the merchant that reached it lost two crewmen before the rest managed to get below deck."

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Greldo thought for a bit, then nodded. "Tell me which branches, preferably with a map, and draw out all the info on the storm and where it goes."

The man snapped his fingers, and Greldo heard something rustle behind a shelf. Looking at it closely, he noticed it was standing just a bit too far from the back of the tent.

"You will have it before we are done. There are rumors that the storm also leaves behind shattered barriers, though this information hasn't been fully validated yet. If this is true, we will likely lose some of the paths we have. Also-"

Greldo quietly listened as the man continued giving him information until he reached hearsay.

"So, the rumors on the Smiths Guild are true; their worlds are being attacked. It is unclear who is up to it, but I have it on good authority that Currant Hunters have been spotted near at least one world before it was attacked. At least twelve worlds have been attacked, and from what I hear, most were left lifeless after. There are some unsubstantiated rumors that the smiths that are being abducted are being moved to the central worlds through Dimarintsia, but…" the merchant shrugged. "It would be impossible to validate those without going there. Beyond that-"

He continued relaying a ton of unlikely facts and rumors, one of which almost made Greldo curse.

"-Sesnanser. Also, there's a short list of smiths floating around. Apparently, whoever brings one in will be helped to a soulcard. I don't know many details, but from what I hear, there are only emerald and ruby rank smiths on it, and all have been training for less than a few years."

Greldo frowned, then shook his head. "We are in the territory of unlikely stories now?"

The information broker didn't seem bothered by his remark and just shrugged.

"You paid for everything, and this is still in the realm of possibilities," he said. "I got it from some reasonable sources, so I'd give it a one in three chance of being real. Besides, a friend of mine is from the Central Worlds, and he told me stories about how most worlds there have multiple diamond-rank smiths."

Greldo didn't respond, and after a short while, the man continued feeding him information on what had been going on. When he finished, Greldo waited for a moment, then shook his head.

"That's not worth the card. Let me pick four cards from the junk you have here, and I'll call it even."

"One, and I'll give you five hundred soulshards."

"Three and two hundred soulshards."

They continued haggling until settling on two cards and fifty soulshards, which Greldo pretended to be happy with. In reality, he couldn't have cared, but he knew if he didn't try his best, he might have a shadowy tail he'd have to get rid of as he headed back.

Just as he headed out, a young man with blue hair and green skin rushed in, coming to a halt as he saw Greldo. His eyes went from Greldo to the information broker and back.

"Sansian… why the rush?" the information broker asked as he beckoned him over.

The boy leaned over, whispering in the information broker's ear.

Greldo faked interest, but his heart started beating faster. "New news?" he asked.

"Nothing I can sell yet. Unless you want to hand me a card back?" the man asked, looking slightly hopeful.

Greldo pretended to be thinking, then shook his head. "No, this will do."

"Then I hope to do business with you again soon," the man said with a shrug. "We will remain here for another day, then the flotilla will move a week further."

"I'll come find you in a week or so," Greldo said before calmly walking away.

As soon as he reached the edge of the square, he ducked around a tent, listening for anything following him. Coal told him nothing was around, and he stepped into the shadows, rapidly teleporting to the nearest ship and then onward.

He rushed forward, only taking enough time to make sure he wasn't being tailed, and when he finally landed on The Concerto in the shadows of the sail, he was glad to see Irwin near the railing.

"I'm back," he said as he stepped out beside his friend. "And I've got some bad news."

Irwin looked up, eyes narrow, the burning orbs growing bright.

"What?"

"There's information coming in from Fiverio. Another Chaos Storm has hit the harbor, destroying it and closing the exit portal. Two merchants managed to flee as it approached, and they said they saw massive bolts of chaos soulforce lay the entire place to waste."

--

Irwin stared at his friend, thinking about his time in Fiverio and the people he knew there. Balarn and the other low-rank smiths had remained behind…

"Did they see where the storm came from?" he asked.

"From the outer branches in the directions of Sesnanser."

Irwin took a deep breath, then walked to Earila. She had been watching them with a quiet look of worry.

"Take a rest. We are going to head home, and we're going as fast as we can," he said, taking the steering wheel.

"Captain, do you think Mom will be alright?" Earila whispered. She was petting one of her Fearits, which hung from her shoulder.

"Rindiri is a great navigator, and The Sonata is a good ship. She will be fine," Irwin said, hoping he wasn't lying. "Now, go and warn the others. Tell them we will take the shortest route, which means we might be coming across some raiders- if they haven't fled."

Earila hesitated, then nodded and ran away. When she reached Zender, the two of them whispered before leaving below deck. The others remained to watch the ships for a while longer before all headed below.

Irwin had quietly listened to Greldo, who had told him about everything that he'd heard, including about the list of cardsmiths.

"Great. Why do I have the bad feeling that I'm on there?" Irwin muttered before he looked around. "We need to tell Daubutim about what's happened. Let's see if we can get home before getting caught in a storm."

He vividly recalled the storm that they had moved through before they found Eluathar. Back then the Chaos Whales had saved them, he didn't expect something similar to happen again.

A soft flash came from one of the Ganvils, and a moment later, Hou'dor appeared beside Irwin.

"If we need to, we can move through a storm, but only if they aren't too large," the Ganvil said. He landed beside Irwin, returning to a larger shape. "Between the four of us, we can create a barrier to keep out the lightning and keep the ship stable."

"That, or raider attacks," Irwin said.

"Or that," Hou'dor replied, showing little worry.

"Good," Irwin said. "Let's hope we don't need it."

"Hope for the best, prepare for the worst," Hou'dor said.

"Spouting random wisdom, you big lug of ore?" Ambraz snapped.

"Weren't you the one that told me that?" Hou'dor retorted, his metal lips in a sarcastic grin.

Ambraz let out a laugh. "I called it wisdom, didn't I? Anyway, on to more important things. Kid, even with our increased speed, it will take almost a month to reach the sidebranch we need. As soon as we get past this area, you need to increase your practice so you can finish your heartcard."

Irwin was about to ask why when Ambraz continued in his mind.

'Just in case we encounter more of those Chaos Whales. Remember how that filled your soullake?'

Irwin had no effort to recall the massive increase in his soullake after he'd sung in the storm. If he could get his heartcard ready, just in case, that would give him a running start.

I wonder what would happen if I used my guitar, he thought before shaking his head.

What use was there to keep his hopes up if hoping for a storm large enough to have Chaos Whales was as dangerous as it was? Still…

"I'll ask Earila and Greldo to take more watches," Irwin said.

"Don't forget about Dahlia," Hou'dor said. "That girl's had the training, so she should be fine on such a long straight stretch."

Irwin didn't respond, pondering Hou'dor's words. He'd spent less time with the other smiths than he'd expected. Greldo's words had proven true. Each of them had been mostly helping on the ship or practicing just like he had, all but Dahlia. He couldn't say if it was his own desire to pilot the new ship or because he didn't fully trust her, but he somehow hadn't asked her yet.

"You are right. Could you ask her to meet me here?"

"Sure, I'll get her," Hou'dor said with a laugh as he turned into his smaller shape.

Irwin waited till he was gone before using his smaller self inside his soulscape.

'You think we can trust her?' he asked.

'I'd trust Hou'dor with my life, and he told me she can be trusted…' Ambraz said.

Irwin could feel the but coming, and he was right.

'But I'd still tell Greldo, Earila, and Zender to keep an eye on her."

Irwin's main self, as he was starting to see it, didn't hesitate.

"Grell, warn Zender and Earila that Dahlia will join us in sailing," he whispered, so soft he knew nobody other than his friend -who was standing on the stern- would hear. "I don't expect trouble, but just in case, keep an eye on the course."

A shadowy version of Coal appeared beside him, nodding at him before vanishing again.

That's one way of sending a message, Irwin thought.

Hou'dor returned soon, and a few moments later, Dahlia walked out of the main cabin toward the helm.

"So, finally decided I'm allowed behind the helm? Afraid I might have rammed it into the walls earlier?" she asked after she'd climbed the ladder.

Irwin wasn't sure if she was joking until he saw the corner of her lips tremble as she held back a smile. He immediately felt better but showed none of it. Instead, he stared at her and raised an eyebrow.

"So you have sailed one of these before?" he asked.

"I've sailed a military frigate once or twice," Dahlia said, her grin growing.

Irwin couldn't stop his eyes from widening at that, which only improved Dahlia's mood. He wondered if she'd been bored or was just happy to be included. She seemed a quiet girl, but perhaps he'd misread her?

"Good. I need to finish something, which means that, for as long as you are with us, you will take one of the shifts."

Dahlia stepped forward, taking the helm and showing zero effort, manipulating the runes in the center to change the speed slightly before turning the wheel to keep them on course. Her actions were more fluid than Irwin had expected, and he was impressed.

"Have you decided what you will do yet?" he asked, holding back on leaving until Zender or Earila came up.

Dahlia's grin faded, and she sighed. "I wondered when you would ask… I've thought about it for a while and initially planned to leave at the first stop, but I've reconsidered. I'll come with you. I had really hoped to go my own way, but with storms everywhere, everyone heading to the most central worlds, and smiths still being abducted, being a lone cardsmith is simply too dangerous. Just don't expect me to stay there forever or to be a teacher. That's grandfather's thing. I prefer exploring and adventures."

"Alright, then we are going to skip any detour and stop," Irwin said, not responding to her implied questions. He had no idea how long things would take to get Eluathar ready to defend itself, but he wasn't going to just let anyone go there and then leave.

"Are you sure? That's a very long trip without any shore leave," Dahlia asked in surprise.

Shore leave? Irwin thought as he looked at her. He'd heard the term before, but only by a few of the Interconnected Portal Galery sailors he'd spoken to during their trip to Granvox.

"You need to tell me about your time with those frigates during dinner sometimes," he said before he turned to the numerous ships that were sailing by every moment. "But yes, I'm sure. We need to hurry. There are too many troubles, and after I bring everyone home, I have to go to Igniz."

"Igniz? For Hind?" Dahlia asked. "Wouldn't it be better to go there first?"

Earila and Zender walked up from the cabin, chatting as they moved towards the sail.

"No, not with all of you here," Irwin said, though internally, he felt a tiny part of him rebel.

Seeing that Dahlia was about to ask for details, he turned to the staircase. "Now, I need to hurry with my practice. I have something that needs finishing before we reach the narrow corridors again."

"Sure, I'll be sure to keep us away from the barriers," Dahlia said.

Irwin waved over his shoulder, sharing a quick look with Zender before he headed down to his cabin. With Greldo looking out for troubles from the ships and the two kids making sure Dahlia would keep the course, he needed to continue practicing. If he wanted to finish within a month, he'd need every moment he could get.

---

Jort leaned back in his chair, sipping from the water as he watched Daubutim, Lord Bron, and the others go over the things he had just told them. His head was hurting from the constant soul talk, and he somewhat hoped Lashara would learn to speak soon. A soft clench in his shoulder made him look at Verd, the green bird that sat there. Its black eyes held a slight hilarity… either that, or he was staring to imagine things.

Weeks had passed since he'd first spoken to Lashara and Zegritar, and they still preferred speaking to or through him. Luckily, progress had been made, which was why he was now here.

"Jort?"

Jort looked up to see Daubutim look at him, his lightning-filled eyes causing his entire face to light up. The young noble glanced at Verd before focusing on Jort again.

"You said that Lashara had cardslots but didn't have any cards? Can you be sure they were real?"

"No, but they looked like them," Jort said with a shrug, which caused Verd to bob up and down.

'Yes, yes, they are real,' the bird said. 'Now stop jolting me, or I'll peck you!'

Jort grinned. "I'll stop jolting if you tell me why Lashara has no cards."

'I told you before, they are far more precious in our world! Perhaps one in every thousand Sylvaneth has one, and enough to combine them like half of you all seem to have? Nearly unheard of.'

Nearly, Jort thought, wondering again if Verd was insinuating there were powerful beings in his homeworld or just saying he wasn't sure.

"Verd says the same thing. They are very precious, and very few people have them."

Daubutim nodded as he leaned back. "They have no portals besides this one, so it's normal. How did they open it?"

'He has a hard time memorizing things? It was open when we found it,' Verd said, sounding aggravated.

"He said the same thing again," Jort said, leaning back and rubbing his head. "Can we stop? My head is killing me."

"Sorry, Jort," Lord Bron said as he sighed. "A final question."

Jort nodded, hoping it was really the last one or just the last one Lord Bron would ask.

"Have Sylvaneth always had cardslots?"

'Of course…? What a weird question!'

"Apparently, they have," Jort said with a nod.

He saw Lord Daubutim share a look with Lord Bron before they looked back at him.

"Interesting. That means the Galadin have been to their world before…"

'Oh, you also have those old songs?' Verd said, surprised.

"What old songs?" Jort asked as he turned to the green bird.

'The songs about the ancients, how they scattered across the worlds?'

Before Jort could say he hadn't, Verd began singing softly in his mind.

'From the shadows, they emerged,

Hiding, running,

By fear urged,

Like fleeting shadows,

A few of many,

Through the portals,

They all surged.

Chased by fears unknown, unnamed,

Monsters lurking, dread untamed,

Death's presence is constant, a future unclaimed.

So the Galadin, they withdrew,

Transformed to groves and trees of new,

Hiding always,

From that which hunted, that which grew.

Now they wait and bide their time,

For those they fear?

Will return in time.'

Jort looked at Verd in stunned surprise before turning to the others, who had been watching curiously.

"I don't think the Galadin just came here. I don't think they ever left," he said.