Irwin's Journey - The Cardsmith

Irwin followed Greldo through the forest, breathing in the cool air. The cold wind and fresh scent promised more rain. If there hadn't been as much moss and grass below the forest, they would be walking through a thick layer of mud.

He was constantly looking around, ears perked for anything out of the ordinary.

The novelty of the forest had worn off after walking through it for over a week, Irwin having seen only the same dense undergrowth mixed with vast stretches of open clearings.

Coal, who had been walking just to the side of them, froze mid-stride, one of his paws a few inches from the ground. Greldo stopped almost at the same time. Although Irwin knew it was futile, he tried to hear what had caught their attention.

There was nothing but the constant rustling of leaves, the chirping of birds, and the occasional distant cry.

"Finally!" Greldo hissed as he turned around. "Coal has found another of those rabbit things and is tracking it from within the shadows."

Unbidden, Irwin felt his mouth water as he thought back to the taste of their first day's meal.

"Are we really going to chase after-"

Ambraz's complaint was interrupted as Greldo grabbed Irwin's arm and pulled him into the shadow realm. Irwin expected them to start moving rapidly, but instead, the world turned fully black for a moment as Greldo teleported them. The next moment, the muted reality of the shadowrealm reasserted itself as they appeared on the edge of a large glen.

The forest floor ended in a steep drop a few steps further to give way to a valley filled with trees and bushes. A narrow stream flowed out of the side of one of the rocky walls to vanish in the opposite one and split the entire glen in two. Rocky outcrops of glistening boulders dotted the valley, and a carnivorous rabbit sat before a cave in front of one.

All of this, however, wasn't what really drew Irwin's attention. Instead, he listened to the faint oddity in the soulforce, looking at the cave behind the rabbit. The soulforce waves that flowed from it were just a bit different from anything else he saw. Although he wouldn't be sure until they left the shadows, as they muted his perception Irwin felt his excitement grow.

Still, the longer he looked, the surer he was.

There's a portal… and with such a strong fluctuation! Is it open?

He wanted to warn Greldo, but his friend was already moving- dashing around the shadowy edge of the forest toward a tree that had been partially uprooted, standing crooked but somehow not toppling yet. It created a long stretch of shadow almost all the way down to the valley floor.

Greldo moved down, then along the smaller shadows cast by rocks, plants, or trees, until they reached the valley floor. Irwin waited till Greldo ejected them from the shadowrealm, hidden from view behind a group of massive boulders, still glistening from the recent rain.

As soon they appeared, Irwin sensed the surrounding soulforce, listening for its melody, and immediately knew he was right.

"This has to be their-" Greldo began with a gleam in his eye.

"Portal," Irwin whispered, causing his friend to shut his mouth with a snap, eyes widening.

"What?! Are you sure? I don't sense anything!" Ambraz exclaimed.

"Quiet," Greldo hissed, looking up and seeming to listen.

They were all quiet for a bit, then Greldo frowned. "It heard us and retreated into the cave."

"We should go and look! From what I can tell, there's one in that cave," Irwin said. "And it's open!"

"So they didn't come swimming across," Greldo responded, frowning. "Too bad. I had hoped we could hunt more and start adding them to the menu."

"Kid, there's something more important," Ambraz hissed. "How come the portal is open?!"

Irwin shared a worried look with Greldo before turning to Ambraz, who was perched on his shoulder.

"How likely is it that we've found another adjacent world with intelligent life?" he asked.

"Small," Ambraz said. "In stable worlds, there's nearly always life, but intelligent life is another matter. It's not impossible, but from the little I know of rank-five and higher worlds, there should be way more worlds without it."

"In other words, we found another one," Greldo muttered.

Irwin looked at his friend, who shrugged.

"What? Odd things have been happening around you ever since we left home! It'd almost be surprising if we didn't find another world filled with intelligent beings. Probably flying, talking hammers called Ghammers or something."

Ambraz snorted. "Oh, how original. Now, instead of fooling around, how about we go and check what's inside the cave?"

Greldo grinned, shaking his head. "What do you think Coal's been doing? The cave leads down into a cavern filled with water and some odd mushrooms and fungi on the ceiling. The portal is hovering in the middle of the cavern, a dozen feet above the water, and those rabbits seem to be trying to jump inside.

"Then what are you waiting for," Ambraz muttered. "Go and get us over there so we can see it!"

Irwin grinned as he grabbed Greldo's shoulder.

"Exactly. Let's go, shadow transporter!"

"Oh, I'm so tempted to drop the two of you into that underground lake," Greldo muttered before bringing them into the shadow realm.

When they reached the cave, Irwin saw it was more a dug-out burrow than a cave, and two corridors led away from it. Greldo took them through one, and after moving through a winding network of dug-out corridors, they arrived on the edge of a water-filled cavern.

Three large rabbits were running across the rocky ground before leaping towards a portal floating in midair. It was too far, and as they failed, the sound of splashes filled the cavern.

Irwin watched as the two swam back to the side with incredible speed, their large, flat feet propelling them forward. The third one vanished deeper into the water, only to shoot back up, seeming intent on reaching the portal like that. It almost made it, the tips of its ears nearly brushing the glowing portal.

Perhaps they came here by accident? Irwin wondered, surprised at the tenacity of the creatures. Didn't Coal say there were a dozen, though?

He looked around, but there were no signs of others. He did see something else, and it caused his skin to crawl. Further to the side, in a slight indent, was an area filled with bones of various sizes. There was also the half-eaten corpse of a Bullfrog, and he wondered how they had even managed to get the thing down here.

As he was wondering what they should do, the rabbits let out a shrill roar, glaring at ten of Coal's shadow clones that had appeared. The rabbits didn't hesitate but charged forward while Greldo moved them to the side. A moment later, they appeared, just in time to hear Coal's shadow clones clash with the rabbits. Two of them dashed to the side, towards the exit.

"We need to stop them from leaving," Greldo said. "Kill them!"

The intense anger in his voice surprised Irwin, and he was about to ask what was wrong when Greldo vanished. Not sure what was happening, but deciding to trust his friend, Irwin let out a roar before triggering his heart card's ability and rushing across the soundwaves.

He reappeared in the tunnel exit in time to see one of the rabbits expertly dodging Coal and his shadowclones, weaving through them. Behind them the others were being easily handled by the rest of the clones and Greldo.

Irwin summoned his hammer, watching the marble-like black eyes of the rabbit. He had no idea what it was focusing on, and he didn't care. Although it was more agile than Coal, it was also too big to slip past him. Not that the rabbit knew that. It probably saw enough space on each side of him. Irwin waited for it to choose which one to try and slip past before stepping that way as if to block it. At the same time, he held his hammer on the other side. The rabbit dodged to the side, away from where he stood, and toward the seemingly open entrance.

Got you, Irwin thought.

He enlarged his hammer as much as he could, causing it to almost block off that entire side of the tunnel. There was a sickening crack as the rabbit jumped headfirst into the solid, extremely heavy metal object. It bounced back, one of its ears hanging down while dark red blood welled up from a deep laceration on its narrow forehead.

"Bam," Irwin said, moving along the soundwaves of his own voice, reaching the rabbit before it could recover from the shock and grabbing it in the scruff of its neck. The coarse fur bristled, and the rabbit began bucking, shaking its head, and kicking out. None of it mattered, as its strength and weight were far from enough. He grabbed it with his other hand and then snapped its neck. It took slightly more effort than he had expected, and the loud crack sounded more like a tree splitting in half instead of a single branch.

The rabbit's hind legs kicked oddly a few times, then it slumped in his hands. Irwin dropped it and looked up to see all the other rabbits dead, Coal and his shadows moving around them. Greldo was walking with the bones to the shallow area. Irwin hummed and moved along the soundwaves, reaching the spot beside Greldo.

"What is wrong?" he asked.

Greldo grunted and pointed at a set of bones that lay partially against the rotting Bullfrog carcass. Irwin looked at them, noting a slightly round, comparatively small skull. It still took a moment before it clicked, and then he hissed.

"Are those-"

"Human bones, yes," Greldo said as he knelt beside the bones.

"I didn't hear any rumors of people disappearing," Irwin said.

"Every now and again, there's someone that gets into trouble with the Bullfrogs or Razorteeth," Greldo said. "Usually, their bodies are found. But not always."

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"So, that means they have been traveling much further than we thought," Irwin said.

He took the map from his pocket and looked at it. "Where are we right now?"

Greldo rose, looked at the map for a moment, then tapped a place just above the bottom center of the map. It was at least an hour at Greldo's top speed away from where they had been.

How far did Coal's shadows scout? Irwin thought in surprise.

He knew they were capable of partial independent action, sending back information and only needing the occasional bit of direction, but he also knew that if they went too far, it would become harder and harder for Coal to control. At least, that's what Greldo had told him.

"That's pretty far from where we were," he said, looking around. "Either these rabbits roamed further than we thought, or people have been scouting around further."

He didn't see any clothes anywhere, nor weapons, meaning it couldn't be a ranger. Those had armor, which definitely wouldn't have all been eaten. That meant it was likely a farmer or villager.

"You two are forgetting another option," Ambraz said. "Who says the bones aren't from someone inside that portal?"

Irwin turned back to the portal, looking at it and wondering what was on the other side.

"Someone has to have opened it, right?"

"I'd say so," Greldo agreed.

"..."

Both of them looked at Ambraz, who was humming thoughtfully.

"Ambraz?" Irwin asked slowly. With how long they had been together, he knew when the Ganvil was acting odd.

"Technically, it doesn't have to be someone," Ambraz said.

"What? Portals don't just open by themselves," Irwin said, trying to recall everything he knew about the subject. "Portals only occur randomly between unstable worlds…"

"Exit Portals can't open by themselves," Ambraz said. "At least, not from what we know… but this is an adjacent portal. Although they are nearly always opened from one end, there are a few other ways for them to open up. Though the bones would suggest to me, it might be opened from the other side by something humanoid if there's a source of powerful soulforce on the other side that can also open it."

Irwin frowned. He was sure he'd never heard of that before. He glanced over at Greldo, but his friend looked just as lost as he was.

"Portals to adjacent worlds are different from other portals," Ambraz said. "If there's something like a powerful tree that draws in soulforce that grew on top of near the entrance, or a very powerful soulskilled creature…"

"Like a very powerful rabbit?" Irwin asked, staring at the bodies.

"Or that," Ambraz asked.

"What kind of rabbit are we talking about here?" Greldo muttered.

Ambraz didn't respond but hummed thoughtfully. "Kid, do you sense the stability of the portal?"

Irwin had been looking at the portal, and as he focused on the soulforce fluctuating around it, he saw what Ambraz said.

"It feels… solid," he said.

"Exactly. That means the portal has been here for a while. Long enough to stabilize, but not long enough for its existence to destabilize the world on the other side."

"How do you know?"

"Because if it had, the portal would have shown another sense of instability. It's hard to say because we are in a rank-six world, but I'd say this portal has been open for over ten years… maybe even twenty."

"Okay, so what the heck does all this mean?" Greldo asked as he moved towards one of the rabbits. "Who or whatever opened this portal hasn't done anything with it, but these rabbits managed to get through? They haven't been here that long yet- less than a year. There's not enough old bones."

"It means we need to figure out what's on the other side," Ambraz said, sounding excited. "If there are soulskilled creatures there, we might have found another source of cards!"

Irwin hesitated, looking at the portal. Part of him didn't mind jumping in, trusting his own powers to keep him alive- either due to his body's strength or his ability to move across the soundwaves and out of harm's way. However, the part with more common sense told him not to act carelessly. If there was a powerful soulskilled being on the other side, or if it was submerged, he might get into trouble.

"I think it's time we get Daubutim," he said. "I'd love to go inside, but-"

He was cut off as three things happened at the same time. His second self noticed a wave of powerful soulforce rushing up from the depths of the water so fast it could barely keep up, summoning a hammer in his hand, while Greldo jumped, grabbed his arm, and yanked him into the shadowrealm.

A split second later, a glistening, wet, massive shape shot out of the water and through the space they had been standing in, striking the back wall of the cavern with a crack that was even clearly audible in the muted shadow realm.

What the hell?

Greldo moved them to the side, and Irwin watched as a rabbit the size of a small house crawled up and shook its head before looking around. A dull keening wail came from it as it jumped toward one of the dead bodies. Its size caused the large cavern to look smaller than it did.

Gelwin's balls, is that their mother? Irwin thought.

He'd barely finished the thought when the larger rabbit bit into the body of the smaller one and ripped off a large chunk of flesh. Irwin felt his skin crawl as it began devouring the smaller kin. It took only a few minutes to finish, leaving behind an almost immaculately cleaned set of bones as it moved to the next one.

Greldo kept them there until the giant rabbit finished. It looked around, glared at the small tunnel leading out, then jumped back in the water, disappearing with a splash. A few moments later, the cavern was a quiet, tranquil place… minus the bloody bones.

Greldo remained in place for a moment before Irwin felt himself pulled through the shadowrealm. They shot through the tunnels, out into the clearing, and along the few shadows. For the first time in days, the cloud coverage was broken, and beams of sun lit up the canyon.

Irwin was ejected back into the real world behind the same boulders they had been before.

"Thanks," he said, turning to Greldo.

"That thing ate its own kind," Greldo hissed, shaking his head in disgust. "Coal is there, keeping an eye on it, but I think we need to get Daubutim here."

Irwin thought for a moment, both his minds spinning before he nodded. "You go and get him. I'll remain here to make sure nothing comes out of that cave. If those things can become this big, we need to make sure none get away."

Greldo seemed to hesitate.

"Don't worry. Even if that thing could come out, I'd be fine," Irwin said. "It was fast, but not fast enough for me not to react. Besides, if it's partially aquatic, I'm sure it wouldn't enjoy my flame."

"Alright. I'll leave Coal here," Greldo said, looking at the distant cave.

Three of Coal's shadow clones appeared beside Irwin.

"I'll be back as soon as I can," he said.

Irwin watched him disappear and turned his attention to the cave.

"Great," he muttered. "Ambraz, what are the chances of those rabbits coming from this world, having found that cave and just hidden inside to kill whatever comes from it?"

He didn't really believe that was what it was, but the idea of some unsuspecting person coming out of the portal, falling into the water to get eaten alive by a giant rabbit played through his mind.

"I'd say, small. My guess would be that they came from the portal and kept the cave as their home," Ambraz said. "What I am wondering about is how they procreate and why there's not more of them."

"Perhaps they were all male or female?" Irwin said. "Or the small ones couldn't mate yet?"

"Plausible," Ambraz said. "Well, at least we found another portal!"

Yeah. Too bad its another one that could prove potentially dangerous, Irwin said.

It took barely half an hour for Greldo to reappear, and it wasn't Daubutim he had with him. Instead, Clarish appeared, stumbled, then gagged, and seemed close to vomiting. Greldo looked much better.

"Your teleportation is horrible," Clarish said when she finally managed to get a grip.

"Hey, Irwin. So, you return, and a few days after you start looking, you find a portal? Right on our own Verdant Isle… We really need to get more people cards like yours!"

Despite her weary tone, Irwin saw the smile on her face, and he returned it.

"Good to see you too, Clarish," he said. "I take it you are here to bring the others over?"

"Yeah, I still need to have been somewhere at least once to be able to teleport there, and although I have been around, I've yet to be this far. Be careful! I'll go get Daubutim and the others," Clarish said before vanishing in a mass of swirling fog.

"Nothing happened while I was gone?" Greldo asked.

"No. It was quiet, and I didn't see any sign of more rabbits," Irwin said.

"Coal says he didn't hear or smell anything, but he also didn't see any sign of that big one," Greldo said.

"I wonder if more of those things have spread out across the island or if this was all of them," Irwin said.

"We will find out soon," Greldo said. "Daubutim is bringing a dozen rangers, and we will be scouting around while you come up with a plan to kill that rabbit king."

"Rabbit king?" Irwin said, raising an eyebrow. "How do you know it's not a queen?"

"Call it gut instinct," Greldo said with a laugh.

Although they were bantering, both of them were constantly looking around. Irwin was using one of his selves to keep an eye on the surrounding soulforce while the other kept listening and watching.

Barely two minutes later, there was a soft whoosh as a large cloud began forming a few steps away from them. It expanded for a while before being blown away by the wind, revealing Daubutim, Clarish, and six men and women that Irwin recognized from their armor were rangers. Next to them stood a burly black-skinned man with a bald head and a wide grin and a towering metal-skinned, fiery-eyed woman.

"Hind? Boohm?" Irwin asked, looking at his cook in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"I asked him to come," Daubutim said. "From what you have told me, they are among the more powerful people we have available, and that seems appropriate at the moment."

"Captain," Hind said, inclining her head before looking around curiously.

"Captain! Greldo said you found some tasty beasties that need some killing?" Boohm shouted, his voice causing everyone but Greldo and Irwin to look at him in stunned surprise.

"Boohm, you need to whisper a bit," Irwin said, knowing it would probably not be enough.

"Can do, Captain," Boohm said, his grin not diminishing and speaking at what normal people would likely call loudly-conversational.

"Alright. Greldo, you and the rangers go and scout around and see if you can find any tracks that show there's more of these things," Daubutim said.

"Already looking forward to it," Greldo said. "Coal hasn't seen anything move in the lake, but if you want to go in, tell the shadow clone."

With that, he turned and began jogging to the edge of the glen's steep side, followed by the silent rangers. A few moments later, only Irwin, Daubutim, Clarish, Hind, and Boohm were left.

Irwin quickly filled Daubutim and the rest in, getting a sad groan from Boohm.

"So there's just one more? Too bad, I would have loved to experiment with the meat," he said, shaking his head wearily.

"The one left is very big," Irwin said, raising his hands and standing on his toes. "About this high and wider and longer."

Boohm's eyes widened, a hungry glitter appearing, while Daubutim's lips pressed into a tight line.

"How dangerous would you think it is?"

Irwin thought back to how the large rabbit had moved out of the water and how it had been much slower in jumping back in.

"It's fast, but not nearly as fast as you," he said. "Also, I'm pretty sure if I can get it when it's out of the water, I can either squish it, burn it, or suffocate it."

"Good," Daubutim said, seeming relieved.

"Clarish, can you go to Portal City and tell Basil we found a portal and need scouting group one?"

"On it," Clarish said, vanishing in another column of fog.

"Scouting group?" Irwin asked.

"They are trained to go through the portals if we don't know how dangerous the other side is," Daubutim said. "You have actually seen all three of group one, Nasar, Gleemi, and Itweeg. They were in the group for whom you made heartcards. Each has experience in closing portals back on Giard."

It took Irwin a moment to recall faces and cards to the names, but when he did, his eyebrows shot up.

"Those were among those that needed emerald rank heartcards," he said.

"Exactly," Daubutim said. "We are asking them to enter portals that could potentially be dangerous, so you or Greldo don't have to."

Irwin looked at his friend. Part of him wanted to be the one going through the portal, but he knew it wasn't the right risk at the right time. He was already going to be doing dangerous things in the near future- it wasn't smart to do more than he needed.

Besides, we are going to have to take care of that overly large rabbit, he thought.

His stomach rumbled as he recalled the taste of the first one.