Irwin's Journey - The Cardsmith

Irwin tapped the page of his book, staring at his proposed next heartcard.

"This is going to remove the ability to zoom in to see distant soulforce resonances," he said.

"Probably, though I'm not sure," Ambraz said. "This card will be focused on only soulforce and sound, wrapped around your soulstrum guitar, and it is way more specialized than your other heartcard was. It is possible that you will always see the ambient soulforce ripples instead of needing to use the card actively."

That's not necessarily better, Irwin thought as he pictured always seeing soulforce everywhere.

He guessed he would get used to it.

"There's one thing you need to do before this," Ambraz said, seeming not to notice his worries.

"Which is?"

"You need to write down all the things your recording card recorded that you want to save. I'm not sure if anything will remain…"

Irwin sighed as he focused on his Tablatures of Soul and Song. A moment later, the thin book appeared in his hand, and he flipped through it. The first two pages were filled with songs he had practiced with Skylar and the others, and he dragged his regular book towards him and started copying it.

He also copied the final song they had used for Hind's heartcard, then decided to discard the rest. They were mostly just experiments and other things.

I do hope I get some more pages to work with after this, he thought. Having just a dozen meant he couldn't really use it as a library of songs and card resonances.

When he was done he put the book on a shelf and looked at the page, then scanned himself. Both his mainself and his now nearly half-as-big-soulscapeself were awake and full of energy. Still, he had the idea he was forgetting something.

"Alright, what else?" he muttered.

"Nothing! I'll get Hou'dor to put up a shield in here so we don't destroy the ship in the process," Ambraz said as he flew up, then away.

He moved so fast that Irwin only saw a blur, one of the benefits Ambraz had gotten from his rank-up—that and even more refined control over soulforce. There was more, but he'd not wanted to share them, instead grinning mysteriously and telling Irwin he'd know when the time came.

Irwin looked at his hands, realizing he'd be creating another heartcard, which would mean silver eyes and no handslots for a potentially long time again.

And losing out a few things from the cards, he thought, before shrugging. Not that it mattered. He'd only miss out on a few things this time around, not like with his first heartcard. Back then, he'd had way more unrelated cards.

I guess if I can do that again, it would ease my life a lot, Irwin thought.

He continued pondering about the future when Ambraz returned with Hou'dor in tow.

"Alright, you two lunatics," Hou'dor said. "The others are ready to put up an outer shield, just in case, and I'll try and make sure you don't blow us all up!"

"Better try hard then," Ambraz said before landing on the ground and turning to his working shape. "We are not going to hold back! I'm a rank four now, so if you think that last heartcard was something, just wait for this one!"

The two Ganvils began laughing while Hou'dor landed before the door. A pulse erupted, wrapping around the walls, ceiling, and floor, not unlike how Lord Bron's card worked.

Irwin took a deep breath, then walked to Ambraz and summoned his hammer. As he looked at the massive shape, the core of his first heartcard and later soulcard, he felt the thrumming power within it, and by extent, him. It felt both a long and short time ago since he'd started reforging it, back on Scour. Back then, he'd needed the tiny Purperion anvil that Ambraz had made to have the energy for what he was going to do. Now? Now, his mindscape held enough energy on its own, and his soulstrum guitar was already ammolite rank. All of the risks were smaller, while the cards were all far closer together.

As he thought about the first time, he realized just how much of a risk it had been. Then again, it wasn't like this was going to be a complete walk in the park. Part of him looked at his hammer, while the other part looked at the soulstrum guitar. Using even a single card while reforging his heartcard was difficult, and he was planning to use two.

Three, if you count that, I'll be trying to record the song while I'm reforging the cards, he thought.

He hoped the song would actually register in the new heartcard. Ambraz said it was a fifty-fifty chance, as it might get reset.

"Okay, remember the start of the song, kid! It's the most important thing to get right," Ambraz said, interrupting his introspection.

The Ganvil began humming, a soft, multi-layered sound that almost seemed like a dozen people instead of one. Some were deep, others more high-pitched, and they blended into a beautiful song that Irwin knew would be the basis of his new heartcard. His soulscape-self began gently playing along, the soulstrum guitar's sounds starting to resonate with his soulcard and soulscape.

"Holy… what things did you select when you ranked up?!" Hou'dor asked in surprise.

Irwin couldn't blame him. He'd had roughly the same reaction when Ambraz had done it the first time.

"What are you so surprised about?!" Ambraz snorted as the humming stopped. "My bonded smith uses music and song. Did you expect me not to take anything I could find to support him?"

"Course I didn't, but where did you even find this ability?! Or…” Hou'dor barked a sad laugh. "This is what you got from being a Prodigy? Brazardian somehow gave the lot of you abilities to better bond with your smiths! I thought that was just a rumor?"

"It is a rumor, and it needs to stay that way," Ambraz said. "Mostly because he has only succeeded twice so far and isn't sure exactly what caused either."

Hou'dor grunted, then let out a weary sigh. "Great, some just get all the luck."

"Exactly, and don't you forget it," Ambraz replied with a mock laugh. "Now be quiet. We need to focus!"

Irwin stood before Ambraz as his companion began humming again. He wrapped his mind around the two bundles of cards he felt in his hands, surprised again by just how well they meshed. With a tiny jerk, they appeared above Ambraz's flowing shape, one of them glowing brighter than all the others combined.

"Ready," he whispered.

There was no response, which he didn't expect. Instead, he waited as Ambraz finished the start of the song, then fell quiet. A long second passed, and then, as Ambraz began again, Irwin brought his hammer down, causing a surprisingly melodic booming sound to ripple around the room.

Energy flowed from his soulscape as if he'd gained a hole, rushing into the cards before him, some spilling over into Ambraz.

At least I don't have to waste so many cards again, Irwin thought.

It was his final thought before he turned his full focus and attention on reforging.

--

Hou'dor was quiet as he looked at the tall, burly smith striking Am'braz. Soulforce flowed and rippled against his barrier, which was already showing signs of cracking.

Bloody insane bastards, he thought as he forced more energy into it, stabilizing it.

Ambraz's humming, which had been the loudest sound so far, was slowly drowned out by the crazy sound of the young smith's weird instrument. There was no sight of it, but Hou'dor wasn't surprised. Am had told him of Irwin's ability to do two things at the same time- including using his cards.

The pressure on his barrier kept increasing until it finally stabilized.

That's about the amount of energy a four-soulcarded ruby rank smith could push out, Hou'dor thought.

He was about to sigh when a deep voice began singing a wordless, energetic song. He stared at Ambraz, barely believing what he was hearing as his friend sang along with the music.

I thought he'd taken some multiple-voiced hum, but-

A second voice, deeper and with a rough edge, joined the first, and Hou'dor felt his mind go blank as the soulforce pressure began growing again. As he continued pumping in more energy, he looked in silent disbelief at the smith, who had a crazed smile and sparkling eyes, and Ambraz, glowing a soft purple as an unheard-of amount of purified soulforce spilled out from the point where their resonances overlapped and flowed into him.

As he watched the purple mist, Hou'dor felt a small bit of sadness. He was one of the few below rank six that could see purified soulforce, an ability that was normally reserved for rank six and above. Long ago, he'd thought that this meant he'd be meant to grow beyond the shackles of rank six, but it had never happened.

I wish Symor could have seen this. He thought about his long-dead bonded smith, Symor.

His friend had never managed to get beyond ruby rank, Symor unable to keep even the most simple of resonances on that level together. A deep sense of loss filled him at the memory of the enthusiastic young smith, so happy when Hou'dor had chosen him and so sad when it eventually showed he wasn't up to the task.

I wouldn't have chosen anyone else, Hou'dor thought, though a tiny part of him wondered what could have been had he still been fluid and unbonded- able to bond with a smith like Irwin.

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He lost any sense of time as he listened and watched as the cards began swirling around each other, parts of them bright, others dulling.

At some point, the brightest drifted to the center, and as it did, the song began building up again, a deafening sound that he knew would cause trouble for any fleshy that was close. A swirling mass of purplish purified soulforce surrounded the Smith and Ganvil as if they were standing in the eye of a hurricane.

They are going to reach rank six easily, Hou'dor thought as he stared with a sad kind of longing at his friend, knowing he was growing more in a few minutes than he had in dozens of years.

A tearing sensation came from the barrier, and he ground his teeth. How was this energy still increasing?! This was ridiculous! As he strengthened the barrier again, something touched him, and his thoughts froze. A moment later, it came again, and a tiny trickle of purified soulforce flowed into him like water on a dry sand bed.

What?!

Hou'dor watched tiny whisps of purified soulforce drift around the room as the central hurricane of energy began increasing in brightness, slowly blinding him. Time seemed to slow as he felt another trickle, then another, and slowly, he felt his growth, which had stagnated for longer than he cared to remember, increase.

This is NOT possible, he thought, but as he did, all he could do was increase the barrier again, as he felt it try to expand like a balloon.

This… is… not…

The barrier trembled, and Hou'dor's mind went blank, as all he could do was focus on holding the barrier together while the entire room slowly filled with purified soulforce.

--

Irwin struck again and again, feeling the energy in his soulscape drain more and more. Pain, blinding and horrible, was somehow spread across both selves, making it manageable - if only just.

He continued singing, his voice and Ambraz's creating a loud, energetic song. The connection to his soulstrum guitar had already vanished, and he knew that meant the cards were combining, but they had been so long.

How- much- longer? he thought, even his thoughts feeling halting. If not for Ambraz's lead, he'd have long since lost where he had to go and how the song had to flow. Instead, he held onto Ambraz's voice like a lifeline, following it, building upon it.

Finally, he felt the end close in, the song's crescendo, long and seemingly desiring to go on into infinity, petering off almost anticlimacticly.

All he saw was a purplish fog and the gleaming card hovering above Ambraz- then, as his hammer dropped for the final hit, the card trembled, and it shot towards, then into him. The pain vanished as he sensed the spot in his chest where a heartcard could sit was filled again. A tiny buildup of soulforce began flowing through his body, and he felt his eyes burn for a moment before the sensation vanished.

Suddenly, a wave of weakness caused him to fall to his knees, his hammer unsummoning as he realized how little soulforce he had left. If it had continued for only a bit longer, he might have actually knocked himself out again. A quick check showed that his soulscape-self was even worse, barely clinging to consciousness.

He was about to let it rest when he felt the new card appear in his soulscape. Both his main and very tired soulscape-self's full attention focused inside, and he watched in awe as a glowing card appeared above his soullake. As it fully materialized, it began gleaming as if wet, and a single drop fell from its tip, landing on the bottom and remaining there like a crystal clear bead.

"Great job! That was so much easier than the first one!"

Irwin glanced at Ambraz, who had appeared beside him.

"How long do you think it will take for my soullake to fill?" he asked as he watched a second drop start to form on the bottom of the card.

"Without absorbing cards or finding more Neamhnathair?" Ambraz asked, his lips curling up in a grimace. "A hundred years? More? No idea really, but you would still be alive if that's what you are asking."

Irwin nodded. "How old do you think I can become now?"

"No idea… If you were a real Fiz'rin I'd say over two thousand. But now? Your cards should keep you stable for at least a thousand years, so I'd not worry too much!"

Irwin stared at his new heartcard, sensing the powerful resonance that came from it. All around, soft wafts of soulforce moved around like thin fog while bright ripples moved around, some pulling swaths of the soulforce with him.

I can see way more soulforce now, Irwin thought as he looked around.

Before, he'd only been able to see the more condensed areas, but now even the fainter concentrations were visible. At the same time, he heard the soft, constant ambient tune, slightly chaotic but beautiful nonetheless. He wondered what it would be like to be in a world again- would he be constantly bothered by the visual and audio cues?

"So? Summon it!" Ambraz said.

Irwin jolted back awake and focused on his heartcard.

"It feels more powerful than my first one did," he said.

"Of course it does! You are more powerful, and your soullake was bigger, so it's already stronger than your first one, which was a year after you got it," Ambraz replied, seeming barely impressed. "Now, let's see it!"

Irwin held out his hand, and his soulstrum guitar appeared in his hand. It had changed from its previous look and was now such a dark copper that only the gleam showed it wasn't truly black. The neck had straightened slightly but remained curved, almost like a blade. Focusing on his soulforce, Irwin fed it into the heartcard, and six snares appeared, glowing bright. Feeling barely any effort, he increased the soulforce he fed into it, and within moments, he surpassed what he could before.

Feeling slightly worried, he continued until over three times as much was inside, and only then did he sense it was full. He gazed in awe at the strings, which were humming and flickering as if ready to explode.

"Kid… you might want to be careful when you do this in the outside world," Ambraz whispered.

Irwin didn't react, very gently putting a finger on the top string.

A dull thrum burst from the guitar, rippling outward and blowing all the ambient soulforce of his soulscape to the edges in a single woosh. The steam clouds rippled, and only the strength of his first soulcard kept them roughly in place.

"If you strike a single chord like that, you are probably going to deafen all weaker heartcarded, shatter every window in a large area, and might shake apart some buildings," Ambraz muttered. "Perhaps a little less soulforce?"

Irwin fully agreed, letting the soulforce slowly leak back out until a tenth remained. Then he struck a chord, and a blast of loud, clear sound boomed through his soulscape. Curious, he played a part of one of the songs he, Skylar, and the others had come up with. It was loud enough that his nearly impervious ears began humming and complaining, and he tuned it down even more. Only when he had one-fortieth of the maximum power did he think it was a level that he could play it around others.

"So, final question before we get out," Ambraz said, humming happily. "Did you manage to record the song?"

Irwin unsummoned his stoulstrum guitar, and a moment later, a finger-thick book appeared in his hands. A beautifully curved representation of his soulstrum guitar depicted the front surrounded by musical notes, and as he opened it, he saw that the first page was covered in tiny print.

"That's great! You even got some more pages," Ambraz shouted as he hovered in front of the book filled with music sheets. "I want to examine it later, but for now, let's head outside. I have the feeling Hou'dor wants to talk to us."

Ambraz spoke with a barely contained hilarity, and Irwin wondered what he'd done this time.

Irwin's main-self looked up, leaving his soulscape-self to examine the music sheet.

The first thing Irwin saw was that everything that had not been nailed down was hurled about. Papers were strewn across the ground and against walls, and his vest was shoved below a table. A puddle of water lay on the ground while the carafe it had come from had rolled into a corner.

Hou'dor stood in front of the door, glowing dimly while his lips were pursed in a thin line. Irwin had the feeling he was either angry or upset, but Ambraz didn't appear to care.

"Hey, you old rustbucket! How do you-"

"YOU COULD HAVE BLOODY WARNED ME!"

Irwin clasped his hands over his ears in shock as Hou'dor's voice erupted like a volcano. He took a step back, somewhat surprised, but Ambraz didn't show a care in the world.

"Bah! And where would be the fun in that? Also, STOP SHOUTING YOU BIG LUG!"

Irwin grimaced, surprised at the level of volume both Ganvils were able to produce.

"You… you—What just happened?!" Hou'dor snapped, changing to his flying shape. He barreled towards Ambraz with what Irwin had the feeling was intent on ramming.

Ambraz dodged, laughing happily. "Whatever are you talking about?"

"Am, there was more purified soulforce in here than I have ever seen in one place except during A Birth of Creation. I had wondered how you grew so fast, after all you told me but this? I actually grew again! For the first time in… decades!"

"I'd hoped that would happen," Ambraz said, and his grin fell away as he landed on the table.

Irwin sat down on the couch when he saw that Hou'dor had calmed and landed beside the table, returning to his larger shape.

"Brazardian gave us some Gneisian Ore to take with us," Ambraz said calmly. "We have been purifying it for months, and I've let it create a tiny layer atop my-"

"Are you suicidal?!" Hou'dor hissed.

"-my back, which works pretty well with the ability I gained when I became rank three," Ambraz continued, ignoring Hou'dor. "So, when Irwin began reforging the card, I used it to purify the overspilling soulforce from his soulscape and saturated the room. I went from just becoming rank four to closing in on ten percent."

Hou'dor's mouth was opening and closing, while Irwin couldn't hold back a grin.

"How does that even work if you resize yourself?" he asked.

"It only works with certain rare grades of metal," Ambraz said. "I took the skill because of the purperion we found… I mean, you never know right?"

"You took… a skill that you might never use as one of your three rank-up skills…?" Hou'dor whispered.

"I was planning to head back to Granvox," Ambraz said. "I knew Brazardian had Gneissian Ore and some other things. It wasn't that much of a gamble."

Hou'dor was quiet while Irwin hummed.

"So, we need to get you more ore to increase your growth," he said softly.

"You two… are really crazy," Hou'dor whispered. "Purperion, Gneisian Ore, next thing you tell me, you are going to search for Anamalliage?!"

Irwin had no idea what that was, but from Ambraz's snorted reaction, he guessed his companion did.

Still, neither said anything while Hou'dor continued muttering about insanity.

"What's Ana… Anamalliage?" Irwin asked.

"Don't bother, kid. The other things we have found so far are all known to exist. But Hou'dor is just telling fairy tales now. Nobody has ever seen that, and all we know are rumors from the homeworld. No, we should try to find more Purperion, or perhaps we can locate some Aurorium or some Ancestral Coperion." 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

"You think Hind's father might have been on to something?" Irwin asked, thinking back to her story.

"No idea, but if we do find some, it should be able to do the same as Gneisian Ore, and that will allow this old rusty chunk of ore here to perhaps reset his resonance and rebind," Ambraz said.

Hou'dor let out a long, weary sigh, and Irwin had the feeling he would have shaken his head if he had one.

"You say I'm talking about fairy tales, and you say that?" he said. "I'd need… eleven or twelve more of these sessions to even attempt that? And you know what happens if I fail!"

"Are you seriously happy to wallow away until you fall aslumber to never wake again?" Ambraz snapped.

"Did you hear what I'm saying? You two have found two rare metals- that's more than most people even hear about!"

"Yes… you said twelve more, right?" Ambraz said, suddenly very quiet.

Irwin was the one to shake his head now. He had a pretty good idea of what Ambraz was going to say, and he decided to keep quiet. At least, he'd planned to…

"Kid, how much longer would you say till the Gneisian Ore is purified?"

Irwin looked at Hou'dor. "Probably a few more months."

"Great, that means I can create another layer, and I'm sure we can find someone back home who needs a heartcard!"

"You are crazy," Hou'dor said, but his voice had lost some of its previous power. "But…"

"Don't worry, you old lug. I'll keep an eye out for useful stuff. You just keep that bloody world safe while we are gone, and eventually, we will get you bound to another smith!"

Irwin leaned back, weary from reforging, the whole tiring conversation, and wondering why Ambraz was still so energetic. When the two finally left, after a lengthy debate about the likelihood of the endeavor- or lack thereof, he closed the door and fell asleep.