Irwin's Journey - The Cardsmith

"Everything worked out perfectly," Ambraz said, landing back on Irwin's shoulder.

"So… you are going to make my heartcard now?" Hind asked.

Irwin looked at her for a moment before answering. She was sitting in his cabin, leaning forward from her spot on the couch, her eyes wide and filled with excitement. Two days had passed since he had helped her slot the cards, and with Ambraz awake in a great mood and Hind returned to full energy, he knew it was the best thing to do.

"You are sure you don't care what's on it?" Irwin asked.

"As long as it fixes my soulcard and helps with my soulscape, I will be happy with anything," Hind said, nodding firmly. "Even if it did nothing but that, I'd be good."

"Then let's make your heartcard," Irwin said, looking at the closed door. "Grel, please warn Hou'dor and the others that we are going to start in a minute."

There was no response, but he didn't need it to know his friend had heard it.

Still, having a card to talk with others like I can with Ambraz would be useful, he thought.

"Listen up, Hind," Ambraz said as he landed in the middle of the forging area.

Irwin already knew what was coming, but he saw Hind look at the Ganvil with a slight worry.

"As much as I think things will be okay, there is a tiny chance that we will fail to reforge your heartcard. If we do… you will most likely not survive. Your soulcard wouldn't be able to take the strain," Ambraz said. "If we don't try, you will probably be able to live for a very long time as is- I think we can do this, but, well… It is your call."

Hind rose, her jaw set and her eyes stern.

Irwin already knew what she would say, as he had when Ambraz had told him of the possibility. It was the choice he would have made himself.

"Thank you so much for all you have done," Hind said. "But if there is even a tiny chance for my soulscape to somehow be repaired, I want to take it."

"Good! Just checking," Ambraz said. "Then let's stop wasting time and get to it!"

Irwin felt a tension set in his shoulders as he rose. This would be the first time he would reforge a heartcard that could result in someone's death. One of the lessons he'd had back in the academy had spoken about these situations, but back then, he'd expected it would be a very long time before he was in such a situation.

I wonder if that means if some of the other things they taught me are going to crop up sooner instead of later, he thought as he rose and removed his jerkin.

"What….?"

He looked up to see Hind stare at him with a frown.

"Reforging can get messy," he said, walking forward and summoning his hammer. "I don't want my clothes to be destroyed."

"Right, of course!" Hind said, walking forward. She was already summoning her handcards when she reached Ambraz, obviously knowing what was expected of her.

Irwin took a deep breath while his soulscape-self summoned his soulstrum guitar and prepared.

"Alright, let's begin," Ambraz said. "Kid, as soon as the card appears I'll figure out what we need and I'll start humming. You make sure you record the song."

Irwin nodded, readying an empty page on his Tablatures of Soul and Song.

I wonder what this song will look like when it's done, he thought.

--

It's better… again. I wonder if Trimdir and the others will improve this fast after they bond with those Ganvils, Greldo thought.

He stood in the hallways as a thrum ran through the entire ship. Things loose were jittering, while above deck, the sails shook softly. Behind him stood everyone who wasn't essential to keep the ship moving in a straight line and safe.

Boohm had his eyes closed, swaying to the thrumming sound of the soulstrum guitar, the wordless song, and the loud thudding that seemed to create the beat for the entire song. Zender stood next to him, grinning widely while five Ganvils hovered in the air above them, moving from perch to perch, seeming unable to sit still.

"I don't believe it," Selene said, arms crossed, as she glowered at the door to the Captain's cabin. "Even if he was bound to a world anvil, this isn't anything a topaz or even an emerald smith should be capable of! Let's not talk about the nonsense he did when helping Hind slot those cards. This? The sheer amount of soulforce resonance is so much that even non-smiths can sense it! A smith with three soulcards would find it difficult to reproduce this!"

"I'm telling you, he was only there for half a year," Montain said, looking to the side with raised eyebrows. "You think I would lie about that? Why?"

"He isn't lying," Greldo said, interrupting Selene, who seemed ready to argue. "We were only there for half a year."

"Then how is this possible? He had a diamond-ranked master? Before he came to the academy? Someone really famous?" Selene asked, staring at him with eyes hungry for an answer.

Greldo didn't say anything, but his grin widened.

Trimdir is going to have a laugh when he hears that!

"He's a natural," Esther suddenly said.

She had been quiet ever since Irwin had started, and they had run out of their room, but when she spoke, Selene and Montain shut up and looked at her.

"The smoothness of the resonance is not something you can just be taught, even if he uses the Musical smithing style. Some things can be learned, some things trained… but this?"

She turned to Montain. "He's like you."

Montain blinked, then grimaced. "There's no way I can do this!"

"Not yet," Esther said. "Which is why I told you that you should practice more! You are more talented than anyone I know, but you keep wasting time on unimportant things!"

Montain didn't respond as the song began climbing into a crescendo echoing from the walls. Still, Greldo saw the stone-like man's fingers squeeze his own biceps in a death grip. As the song continued to grow in power, a look of growing desire filled Montain's eyes.

"Blasted Stone Teeth," Selene hissed, putting a hand on the wall. "It's getting louder, and there's… something extra to it? It's like the air itself is humming!"

"I sense it," Montain said.

Esther didn't answer but looked to the side where Dahlia stood. She was the only one yet to speak.

"I've seen this before," Dahlia said, her eyes narrowing. "He is causing the ambient soulforce to resonate. I thought I sensed it when he was doing her handcards, but I hadn't been sure. Now, though—" she shook her head.

Greldo continued to grin as he saw the four smiths stare at the door in disbelief.

As he stood there, listening to the song, which he knew he could only hear the surface parts of, Greldo hesitated again. He was also Galadin… perhaps he should try? It wouldn't be too bad to use his next soulcard for some smithing-related cards…

Who am I kidding, he thought, shaking his head. As much as he enjoyed listening to the music, he just couldn't see himself doing all the things he'd seen Irwin do. It would bore him within a few months.

Feeling the tiny annoyance fade again, he leaned against the wall, listening to the song rise to a crescendo. He knew what that meant. He'd been around a few heartcard reforges now, both his own, a few back on Giard, and some on Eluathar. The card forging would be done soon.

"I don't think I can do this," Selene said, seeming angry as she glared at the door. “Its… its…”

"I want to try," Montain said, turning to Esther. "I don't know if I can, and probably not like this, but I want to try."

"Good. I'm sure Grandmother will be very pleased if you manage even half of this," Esther said.

Selene seemed ready to speak, but they all fell quiet and turned to the door as the sound reached a peak. A soft, dangerous cracking came from the hull below their feet as it began shaking.

"He can't blow up the ship… right?" Greldo asked, looking at Esther.

"No," she said before seeming to hesitate. "Probably not?"

"I don't think so," Dahlia said. "Unless he can make the resonance even stronger?"

Both looked at Greldo, who rolled his eyes.

Now you are asking me? he thought, staring at the door.

The crescendo hung at its peak for a short while, and then it stopped, leaving just a soft song and two more hits before it was quiet.

Greldo readied as Selene stepped forward, but Esther grabbed her before she could move another step.

"Let's all head to our rooms. I'm pretty sure the Captain will need to rest after that," she said.

"What? No! We should-" Selene fell quiet as Montain turned and began dragging her along.

"Brother?"

"Let's go. You are helping me practice today," he said, his voice filled with something Greldo hadn't heard before.

Selene seemed so surprised that a moment later, only Greldo and Dahlia remained. Boohm was wandering to the kitchen, humming slightly and looking at his own hands every so often.

"Grampa told me a bit about where you are from, but he kept holding back on some details," Dahlia said as she looked at Greldo.

Her silver eyes were slightly brighter than Greldo's own, telling him she was much further along on the path of filling her soullake. She looked mostly human, with only her golden hair and eyebrows gleaming like metal wire, showing that she was definitely more than just that. Like all smiths, she was powerfully built, though compared to the three Granitians, and let alone Irwin and Hind, she almost looked like a slender woman.

I wonder how many soulcards she has, Greldo thought while raising an eyebrow.

"I don't understand what you have found that makes you all so incredibly hesitant to share information," Dahlia said, shaking her head. "Well, if it was your intention to get me curious enough to do what Grandpa wanted, you have succeeded."

"You are coming with us then?" Greldo said, deciding he wasn't at all averse to that idea.

Glancing at her long, shapely legs, he smiled to himself. Not averse at all.

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Dahlia looked at him, then snorted softly as she walked away. "Yes," she said. "So, are you going to tell me a bit more now?"

Greldo gazed at Irwin's door, then followed after Dahlia.

"No, but I can tell you about the time we saw the Chaos Whales," he said.

"You what?!"

--

Irwin lay on the couch, his mind numb, his soulscape-self unconscious again, and his soulforce completely spent. Hind lay on the other couch, eyes closed. Her handslots were gone, and if she opened her eyes, Irwin knew they would be silver. He heard Greldo and the others leave and wondered if he wanted to sleep.

'It's really insane, you know?' Ambraz said.

Irwin closed his eyes and stepped into his soulscape, something he'd not done with his main-self in a while. As he appeared, the warm wind flowed around him, and he smiled at the beautiful sight of the steam clouds roiling along the mountain-like volcano. He was surprised to see his soulscape-self, hovering near the small lava lake at the base of the volcano, a blurry shape that looked like a copy of him.

Ambraz was darting along his soullake, which had grown again- roughly another ten percent, just as much as Irwin's soulscape-self had.

"Do you think we should try and get another mental clone card?" he asked.

"The chances of us making another similar one are almost zero," Ambraz retorted. "Besides, I had a talk with Hou'dor and the others, and none of them ever heard of a mental cloning card increasing the size of the soullake. By all means, it shouldn't work like this."

"Well, it is a soulclone, right?" Irwin said as he flew to his soullake, staring at the dry lake bed and wondering how long it would take him to fill it the next time.

"Yes, which has to be part of the reason. But Kid, Brazardian told me that soul clone cards are things he has only heard rumors about."

"So… what do we do? Change the plan for the next heartcard to have that one at its core?" Irwin asked.

"What, instead of an ammolite card? No!" Ambraz said. "But… perhaps we should use it as the main modifier. I know you wanted to use Sonic Shift for that in the hopes of making you able to shift to ambient soulforce, but if you can increase your soullake even more?"

Irwin stared at his soullake and hesitated. Having the largest soullake he could get sounded great, but he knew he was going to be going into combat again- and probably sooner than he'd like. His second heartcard would already do very little to boost his strength, and before he could get to his third card, years might pass.

"Irwin, listen," Ambraz said.

Irwin looked up at the Ganvil using his actual name. He only did so if he was about to say something important.

"Soullakes normally don't increase in size after the first soulcard unless people use specific cards for it. Yours is already much bigger than the largest one I know of, probably twice as big as any regular Ammolite soulcard…. Gah, I can't believe I just said that. Regular Ammolite card, as if they aren't already ridiculous," Ambraz grumbled. "If we change the heartcard to have your Ethereal Strings as the backbone and take as much from Dual Soul Fragment as we can, it will, at a minimum, increase your soullake to bigger again. A bigger soullake will increase your soulforce regeneration, which will increase all your current combat abilities!"

Irwin knew Ambraz was right, but he also knew there was one other problem if they did that.

"If I make it even larger, won't it take even longer to fill?" he asked.

"Yes, but it will also make the resulting soulcard more powerful," Ambraz said. "Besides, to fill it out, you can use cards of the instrument type, and those aren't in big demand. It should be much simpler to get them."

"Except that we want to bring those to Eluathar," Irwin said.

"The ones you have now, yes. But you want to head to Igniz after that, right? You can just collect all those cards, anything that deals with soulforce and sound."

Irwin hesitated a while longer, but eventually, it was the knowledge that he might not find other ways to increase his soullake again that tipped his decision.

"Alright, let's go out and change the plans," he said.

"Great!" Ambraz said. "That will also increase the speed with which I grow!"

Before Irwin could respond, the Ganvil stepped out of his soulscape.

I should have thought about that, Irwin thought. The faster Ambraz grew, the better it would be for him too, as he'd never be able to do the things he was doing without the Ganvil's help. Not at the same level, at least. Just thinking about how difficult creating Hind's heartcard had been caused him to shudder.

Let's hope my own won't be as difficult, he thought as he stepped out of his soulscape.

As he looked up, he saw Hind sitting there, staring at him with a stupidly large grin.

"I can enter it for a few minutes at a time! And it's healing!" she shouted, her voice almost as loud as Boohm's. "The holes are covered by a really thin membrane, and the edges are shrinking! It might take years, but-"

Suddenly, Hind put her arm across her face, and she began sobbing softly.

Irwin didn't say anything and silently waited for her to let go of years of worry and pain.

It barely lasted for a minute when Hind rubbed her face, then looked at him with red eyes.

"I'll pay you back, somehow," she said, almost aggressively. "You saved my life! I'll come with you and help with whatever you need until I repay this!"

"I… Listen, I wanted to help you, but I also benefitted," Irwin said slowly, feeling slightly uncomfortable.

"Doesn't matter," Hind said. "And you don't have to worry that I'll be doing something stupid!"

She rose and made an odd bow, with a single fist on the front of her head and the other holding the elbow.

"I, Hindrica Oredelver, pledge to repay Irwin Roddington for saving my life!" she stated before crossing her arms and grinning. "Just so we are clear, that doesn't mean I'll do anything you want! Got it?!"

Irwin, who had been feeling even more uncomfortable by the bow, blinked, then let out a sigh of relief.

"Good, and please don't act like that, okay? It makes me feel like I'm a noble."

Hind hummed, then nodded. "Sure. Now, I've gotta go and figure out what all this means for my soulcard and its abilities. I've never really been able to use them until now, but I feel like I could do so now."

"Make sure you are careful," Ambraz said.

The Ganvil had been quietly observing everything but now flew from his perch to Irwin's shoulder.

"We can't go and fix anything you break this time until your soullake is full!"

Irwin nodded when he thought of something.

"What rank was your soulcard anyway?" he asked.

"Topaz," Hind said before frowning. "Though… it feels stronger than it did before."

Irwin saw Ambraz's mouth slowly fall open as he gasped, but it was too soft for Hind to notice.

"Thanks again, and I promise I'll be careful," she said.

She walked out, closing the door behind her and leaving Irwin alone with Ambraz, who still looked dumbstruck. Before Irwin could ask what was wrong, he vanished to reappear in his soulscape.

'Kid, she is right! Her soulcard wasn't Topaz anymore, but it was Emerald! I didn't notice at first, but- This is incredible!' Ambraz shouted. 'Kid, if we can figure out how to crack soulcards, we might be able to reforge them into higher grades! That's… that's… unheard of!'

Irwin lay back, and the face of an older ranger popped into his head.

That would mean there might be a way to upgrade Jort's card!

He closed his eyes and popped into his soulscape.

"How do we even break a soulcard? And wouldn't that kill someone?" he asked.

"Not if we do it in the same way we did with Hind! If they still have a handcard slot open, we can create one or more cards on the border of shattering to imbalance them! Then we wait for it to create cracks in the soulcard, and we fix it back up with another card or two!"

Irwin felt himself nod, his own enthusiasm growing. It sounded almost impossible, and he had no idea how he would even experiment on something like that, but that hadn't stopped him before. He was still trying to move the ambient soulforce every morning, with the hopes of eventually using it to create handcards from it. This seemed a whole lot less impossible!

Ambraz had continued rambling, and he quickly focused.

"Wait, you mean someone would still need to be able to get another heartcard?" he said, feeling the hope that he could help Jort die again.

"Yes, so people with an Ammolite card are out," Ambraz said, not seeming to notice his slight sadness.

"And those with Quartz soulcards," Irwin added with a weary sigh.

"What? Why not?" Ambraz said, turning to him.

"Well, they can't form another heartcard, right?" Irwin said.

"What? No, but that doesn't matter?! They would actually be the perfect targets to practice on because their cards are probably way easier to destabilize. Then, when it cracks, and their soulscape is damaged enough, we rebalance it and just forge another heartcard. It should work, and it would be way easier to go from topaz to emerald!"

Ambraz began flying around. His lips curved in a large, hungry smile.

"Kid… do you know what would happen if we can prove this? We would be the first in thousands of years to improve upon the basics of smithing! Forget your pipedream of creating cards from ambient soulforce. If we can reforge even quartz soulcards up to amethyst, we will become the most wealthy people in the entire Langost branch!"

Ambraz continued flying around, laughing like crazy.

Irwin let him continue for a while as he thought about everything, and slowly, a problem kept popping up.

"Okay, but how are we going to practice this?" he asked. "One mistake and someone will die before we can restablize their soulscape…"

Ambraz froze midair, then fell a few feet before he resumed flying, much slower now.

"Right… that is a problem. It's not like people like Hind are that easily found. They usually die fast, and most people with normal soulcards wouldn't want to offer themselves up for testing."

As Ambraz continued muttering, Irwin felt his weariness catch up to him. He yawned and returned to the real world.

"I'm going to sleep," he said. "Greldo, can you ask the others to take over my shift on the helm? I'll make it up to them tomorrow."

There was no reply, and he lay back on the couch, slowly drifting off.

--

Daubutim walked away from the portal, ignoring the worried looks of the people around him.

Lord Bron stood together with Susin Teblin and Grun Darlton, the gardener and farmer who had gotten the first cards from Irwin. Susin was hopping from one foot to the other while Grun stared at him with a resigned look. Susin was now the head of the Green Fingers, the association Lord Bron had created that dealt with anything plant and growth-related, including the crops that kept them alive.

"Lord Daubutim, is it as bad as they said?" Susin asked, wringing her hands.

"Let us talk in Basil's office. He will need to hear this," Daubutim said.

He saw Bron's eyes narrow, and he knew the astute older man had already drawn his conclusions. Most likely the correct ones, too. He looked to the side to see Lisbeth appear out of the shadows and move to stand beside him. They locked eyes for a moment, and when she smiled, Daubutim felt a surge of joy. He glanced at her stomach faster than he knew anyone would be able to pick up, noticing that her armor was still covering her growing stomach.

I wonder what Irwin will think, he thought as he walked forward.

The Portal Keep was bustling with people, mostly guards, rangers, and others in training- but there were a few merchants. None bothered approaching them.

When they reached Basil's office, Daubutim took a quick look around the large room. There were weapons on walls, training dummies, and a squarish table shoved against a wall that had a map of the island drawn on it with what he knew to be eighty-three percent filled in. Not that they had true knowledge of all parts, but at least they roughly knew what was where.

"So, believe me now?" Basil asked.

He was sitting on one side of the table, his massive shape easily fitting in the oversized chair. Jort and Verd, the young Leafarit, were also there, as was Satiya, the Frozir woman who had remained with Lord Bron after the rest of her people had moved to create a small outpost to the far west.

"I believed you," Daubutim said as he sat down.

His mind was zipping along as he did, still not sure what the optimal solution would be.

"So?" Jort asked, showing very little of the deference he had once done.

"Basil's information was right. There's a massive storm that shows little sign of simmering down, and it has cut us off from The Terullian Ruins and anything beyond."

"Shit," Bron said as he sat down.

"Are the trees holding out?" Susin asked, fidgeting on her chair and sharing worried glances with the stoic Grun.

"The storm has reached the sides of Harbor Grove," Daubutim said. "Some trees have gone white from ice and snow, and a few… well, the smaller ones seem to be dying."

"No! That's horrible. Is there something we can do?" Susin asked.

"No. Xi'kroak and La'suna are keeping an eye on things, and if it gets worse, we will have to create a barrier around the portal tree," Daubutim said.

"Can we?" Basil asked, leaning forward. "I mean, we have some people with barrier cards, but I thought Trimdir said nobody is ready for anything on that scale?"

"After you warned me, I told Trimdir to prioritize the cards we have that could get reforged to something with barriers," Daubutim said before he looked at Jort- or, more aptly, at the green bird on his shoulder.

His mind rushed by so fast that everyone seemed to be standing still as he contemplated his options.

Even after having been in contact with them for the last few months, exchanging information and knowledge with the Leafarit and the Sylvaneth had been slow. They were reluctant to speak with anyone but Jort, who said it had something to do with bonding and the Leafarit working on much longer timescales. From what Daubutim had been able to deduce, it was likely that they wanted Jort and Verd to bond in the same way they did, as it seemed to create a bond of trust. The only problem with that was that Verd was young, and it would take nearly a year, according to the bird.

All that said, he knew it wasn't a bad thing to ask.

"Verd, can you contact Zegritar and Lashara and ask if they can help?"

The bird cocked its head, and after a moment, Jort sighed.

"He says we can ask, but don't expect too much," Jort said. "The Leafarit Elders would probably see it as a good thing if the exit portal was closed."

"If it closes, that means we would lose control of it if anyone ever finds it," Daubtim said. "That would put us at someone else's mercy."

"We will ask," Jort said, shrugging.

Daubutim was quiet, then turned to Lord Bron. "Can you contact the others and find everyone that can make a barrier against the storm?"

"We will," Lord Bron said, turning to. "What are you going to do?"

"Talk with Bronwyn and tell him it might be difficult for Irwin to return," Daubutim said

He sensed his own worry grow at the thought of his friend on the other side of a storm that he had no control over and might last a long time.

I hope he doesn't try to just cross it, he thought as he began hashing out the details of different plans.