Irwin's Journey - The Cardsmith

Time flew as they traveled around The Verdant Isle, Irwin searching and not finding anything odd. During the evenings, Greldo would hunt something for them, and their meals consisted of rations and fresh meat. Although they both knew they could easily return home if they wanted to, they continued traveling the forests.

The only thing of note that happened during those relaxed times was that Irwin began feeling more at home in the forest of the new world. So far, every time he'd been here had been spent either crafting or planning. The few times he'd gone out of the city to explore things had been by teleporting. Now, as he traveled the lands, walking between the trees that were darker, larger, and had sharper leaves than those back on Giard, he slowly got used to it.

They traveled slowly, scouting out caves and other large areas with care. After finding the portal leading to—what Greldo was calling—Insect World, hidden below the ground, neither wanted to risk missing one.

So, over two weeks after they returned from the adjacent world, they finally reached the last of the towers on the west side of the island. It was the same as all the other ranger towers, though slightly lower to match the surroundings. The trees here had gone from towering giants to those Irwin could sometimes even wrap his arms around.

The salty scent of the sea blew in from the north, and the distant crashing of waves mixed with the constant rustling.

Irwin scratched his neck, removing an adventurous insect that seemed to be searching for a spot to drink his blood. He looked at what had probably been a fly, now squished between his fingers, and then wiped it on his grimy pants. There was barely a clean spot left, and he wondered if he should burn them instead of trying to clean them.

"So, you are sure you want to head back now instead of checking out the east side?" Greldo said as he came out of the tower.

"Mom will be worried, and unless you want to be the one explaining things to her, I think it's time," Irwin said. "Also, Daubutim had other things he wanted me to do first. Let's scout the final bit before heading back."

Greldo let out a theatrical, reluctant sigh. "Fine! Back to work, I guess!"

Irwin smiled as he walked toward the distant shore.

It didn't take them too long to scout the final region, and eventually, Irwin found himself on a gray pebble beach, staring at the dark sea swirling in front of them. The dark gray sky, promising rain, and the dark sea gave everything a gloomy feel to it.

"Let's head back. Daub first, then back to New Malorin," he said.

Greldo stood beside him, staring at the sea with a look of distaste. "I really hope there's no aquatic portals here."

"Brat, I already told you ten times that the chances of there not being one is close to zero," Ambraz snapped.

"Exactly," Greldo muttered. "Not zero."

Irwin held back a laugh as Greldo turned to Coal. The massive, almost entirely black-furred hound had been standing nearby and curled its lips up in a scowl.

"Yeah, yeah, I know you prefer staying here," Greldo said. "After we return Irwin to his smithy and see what Daubutim wants of us, we can go and scout that new continent."

Coal barked, a dry, rough sound that conveyed agreement.

"Yeah, or Insect World," Greldo said, turning to Irwin. "Are you going to-"

"Stop reminding me," Irwin said, shaking his head miserably. "Yes, I'll continue reforging that stubborn card. It's already less 'devouring my wielder' and more 'going on a rampage in any town to feed on all life'.

"Alright, just saying, having one of the rangers with an Insect Queen summon would probably make their life a lot easier," Greldo said with a smirk.

"Don't make me get out my guitar," Irwin said threateningly.

"I'll leave you here to teleport back on your own if you dare," Greldo replied.

They mock-glared at each other until they both began laughing.

"Right. Let's scout the east side in a month or so," Irwin said, staring that way. "We can just start from here when we do."

Greldo walked back toward the tree while Coal trotted ahead, vanishing as he reached the shadows.

Irwin took a final look around, scanning the ambient soulforce and listening to Eluathar's beautiful, slightly chaotic song. As he turned to walk toward Greldo, he was glad to head back home. There were cards to be reforged.

--

"You could have come to tell us that it would be longer!"

Irwin smiled at his mother, giving her another hug before walking to the table. Drum was anxiously moving around, and as soon as he sat down the boy scampered onto his lap.

"Is it true that you found another world? One filled with insects? Did you eat them? How did they taste? Why do you smell so bad?"

Irwin grinned at the little boy's barrage of questions, waiting for him to quiet down. Carla sat on the other side of the table, frowning at her son while rocking Celeste. The tiny girl was looking around curiously, her smattering of hair still flattened against her face from her afternoon nap.

"I did, it was, I didn't, so I have no idea how they taste," he began answering Drum. "And this is what you smell like if you don't listen to Gram or Mom and bathe regularly."

Drum frowned, seeming to ponder that before shaking his head. "It's probably because you fought. Daddy always smells bad after he fights."

"Training, not fighting," Carla said from the other side of the table.

Irwin's mother walked into the kitchen, humming happily as she began cooking up something.

"So, you will be home for a while now?" she asked.

"On and off," Irwin said. "I'll need to check on the Academy and reforge a lot of cards. But Daubutim did ask me to travel around, reforging heartcards in the different places, so I'll be doing that."

"And you will scout the rest of the island with Greldo?" Carla asked.

"Yes, but that's a while yet," Irwin agreed.

His mother put a bowl of stew before him, the familiar smell making his mouth drool.

"Good," she said happily.

Irwin smiled, but his other self sighed wearily in his Soulscape. He already knew his mother wasn't going to like it when he was going to leave, and although it was some time from now, it was unavoidable. Besides needing more information, he also found that the prospect of just staying here didn't appeal to him. He wanted to go back into the portal gallery, explore its secrets, find Aurorium and cards, and see how Scintilla was doing.

That's for later, he thought, focusing on the here and now.

The day after was spent talking with Trimdir and the others, getting up to speed on the Academy's happenings, and reforging some cards.

Before he knew it, almost three months had passed in a flurry of card reforging, teaching, creating heartcards, and cursing the queen's stubborn summon card. He ate with his family, talked with his mom, and explored the ever-growing city of New Malorin. The only interruption was a nearly two-week trip with Greldo to scout the other parts of the island.

--

"Alright, do you sense this?" Irwin asked as he stood before the class.

He waved his hand through a dense cloud of ambient soulforce that slowly drifted through the room, checking the faces of the smiths standing around him. None of them had Ganvil's yet, and Irwin sighed as he saw them share worried looks. They had been going through different tests, from reforging to purifying, for an hour now, and none had performed very well.

"I think… it's like there's something humming there?" one of the younger smiths muttered thoughtfully.

Irwin waited for a bit, but none of the others reacted.

I guess I'll be sending another group home, Irwin thought, feeling a bit sad.

It wasn't the first time, though it was likely the last for now. They had whittled down the smiths to just over eighty, which included four of the Viridians. Although the other Ganvils were now flying the hallways, searching for a bond, Irwin's initial worry that they would just bond to the first smith they saw had proved wrong. Either due to Ambraz's warnings or their own inborn pickiness, most of the Ganvils were willing to wait until the right person presented itself.

As one of his selves continued to reminisce, the other focused on the young woman who had said she had heard something hum. Without any special cards to increase her sensitivity, being able to sense the ambient soulforce in any capacity meant she had at least some talent for it—not as much as the best, but enough to warrant keeping her.

"Walk around and try to point where you think the ambient soulforce could be."

She nodded excitedly, walking around the room and pointing at four spots, three of which had dense areas of soulforce. Irwin had noticed a few brighter, rapidly moving ripples of soulforce move there as she was looking around, and he knew the result was good enough.

"Alright, go to Esther, she should be in the theory room," Irwin said, knowing he wouldn't like what came next.

The young smith nodded and, with a few sad looks at her friends, sprinted away. When the door closed, Irwin looked around. The younger smiths seemed anxious, while the older ones just looked back with weary acceptance.

"Alright, I'll be frank. In a few days, all of you will be returned to your cities and towns. You all know how few cards we have, and for now-"

He continued explaining for a bit, noticing the looks of shattered dreams in some eyes and the steely resolve in others.

"When we get more cards in the future, more academies and smaller schools will start appearing. When they do, all of you can apply again," he finished.

The smiths began slowly walking away, and Irwin wondered for a bit if he would see them again. When the door closed, he let out a relieved sigh as he sat down on a nearby anvil.

"Don't act all melodramatic," Ambraz snorted as he flew down from his perch.

A few other Ganvils sat there, having looked at the proceedings with interest. It had bothered Irwin at first, but he'd quickly gotten used to them.

"I wish we had more cards so all that wanted to could learn," Irwin said.

"Well, with some cards arriving from Ciarog every few weeks, at least we have a steady supply," Ambraz said.

"Barely enough for a few smiths," Irwin said as he walked towards the door.

Ambraz landed on his shoulder, and they headed to his private chambers.

"So, with that done, are you going to be focusing on your own crafting now?" Ambraz said.

"Probably," Irwin said as he pulled out the ruby card that had been annoying him for months. "Let's just give this thing another try."

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"Kid, that card is a lost cause," Ambraz snapped. "Even with all your skill, you haven't been able to push it far enough to the side to make it safe."

"Perhaps, but we still have time, and-"

A swirl of soulforce appeared in the side of the room, and a moment later, the fog of Clarish's teleport appeared.

"Hey, Clarish-" Irwin began, falling quiet as he saw Clarishe's worried look.

"You need to come to Portal Keep right away!" she said, hurrying over. "Greldo is getting Boohm, Hind, Zender, and the others."

"What is going on?" Irwin asked as he stepped up to her.

Clarish looked at him, slightly pale. "I think it's best if you see it for yourself."

The world swirled as Irwin felt himself be pulled across space.

A moment later, he arrived in the central building of Portal Keep, the exit portal humming on one side. Rangers stood around, staring at the portal, while Clarish ran toward it.

Not sure what was going on, Irwin followed her, jumping into the portal after her.

As he shot through the corridor, he realized he was still wearing his smithing outfit.

It has to be something to do with the storm… unless we were found by someone!

As he traveled through the corridor, his worry grew, and by the time he reached the end, he was ready for about anything. The world shifted again, and he stumbled out of the exit portal into the large room on the other side.

He instantly heard a very faint sound rumbling on the edge of his hearing. It was faintly familiar, but before he could recall what it was, there was a shout from the entrance.

"Irwin, this way!"

He looked up to find Basil waving at him from the door. His jaw was set, and he had his massive sword in his hands, nervously fidgeting with the handle. Clarish was already halfway to him.

Irwin ran after her before falling in line with Basil, who walked out of the building.

"Daubutim should be on his way, and Greldo is getting the rest of your crew," Basil said as they ran through the hallways.

"What is going on?" Irwin snapped.

"You didn't tell him?" Basil asked, looking at Clarish before shaking his head. "Never mind, right… there's something approaching. Xi'kroak has taken command of The Ruby's Revenge while every ship we have is ready except for The Concerto."

"What is approaching?" Irwin snapped, getting angry as he followed Basil out of the building and to the promenade that now surrounded it.

"That," Basil said.

Irwin sucked in his breath as he saw a small group of tiny familiar shapes move toward the exit portal. They were like tiny dots of condensed soulforce, almost as bright as stars. Behind them, the storm raged beyond the barrier, which was easily visible through a large jagged hole. Their distant sounds, almost like panicky singing, were what he had heard, and now that he had seen them, it was even clearer. All that was bad enough, worse, were the three dark blobs of tentacles and burning red eyes chasing the whales. Radiating almost as much soulforce as the Chaos Whales, they were slowly catching up to their prey.

Oculithar, Irwin thought, gritting his teeth. He looked at the harbor, seeing that all of the ships were arrayed before it, crowded with people. The only ship still there was The Concerto.

The worry he had felt building grew almost into a panic as he saw the Chaos Whales rush their way. He looked around, looking at the growing harbor they were building. It had looked big before, but as he pictured the Chaos Whales reaching it, followed by the Oculithar, he realized just how small it was.

A sense of panic bubbled in the background as he thought about all he knew about the Oculithar, of a way to lure them away or kill them. Anything. He barely heard Basil start talking again as both of his selves juggled his fear and memories.

"According to the scouts, a massive bolt crashed into the barrier, ripping a hole in it. Moments later, those crazy fish came through, followed by whatever the hell those are," Basil said. "The hole is closing, and hopefully, it will before more of those things are coming."

The sound of running feet made him look back, and he saw Daubutim, Greldo, Hind, Boohm, Earila, and Zender running his way. A green bird on the shoulders of the two Yuurindi, and that would have normally made Irwin curious, but now it only served to shock him awake. He had heard that Zender and Earila had both gotten a bonded bird, but he'd been so busy. Now, the sight of them made his mind flood with images of the world and everyone in it.

If we have to fight, we need every advantage we can get, he thought, as both his minds started working at the same moment, spinning up a plan.

"Well, great!" Greldo snapped. "And how are we going to-"

"Go back and get Hou'dor and the other rank fives," Irwin interrupted his friend.

Greldo's eyes widened, and he turned, sprinting away. As soon he reached a shadow, he vanished.

Irwin turned to Clarish. "Follow him and bring Esther, Montain, Selene, and Trimdir! Tell them to bring a dozen cards each!"

Clarish nodded, and a swirl came around her as she teleported to the entrance portal.

"Ugh, I should have thought of that," Basil growled, rubbing his head. "This is going to take time."

"Are Xi'kroak and the others ready?" Daubutim asked as he stepped forward. "Also, have you called for the ranged groups?"

"Half is here already and divided over the ships. The others were with their families," Basil said. "The teleporters are getting them right now, and they should be arriving soon."

Irwin turned to his crew, focusing on Zender. For one second he hesitated if he should tell him and his sister to go back, then wiped the fear away. He would need their help. "Get the ship ready to leave. Earila-" he turned to the girl. "- go behind the helm and move the ship next to The Ruby's Revenge. The others and I will join you when they are back. Boohm, Hind, go with them and prepare for… for a battle, I guess."

His crew sprinted away, Zender rapidly gaining on the others as his body grew, turning more silvery.

"Couldn't we just chase those Chaos Whales off?" Basil asked. "Then those tentacled things will just follow them."

"Are you crazy?" Ambraz snapped. "There's no way for them to go back through the barrier, so they would remain around here, hunting all ships!"

"Fine, fine," Basil said, staring at the incoming whales.

"They will be here in five minutes and twenty seconds," Daubutim said, his voice calm. "There is no way Hou'dor and the others will get here in time. Ambraz, can you create one of those shields?"

Ambraz's lips pursed, and Irwin could almost feel the reluctance wafting from his companion.

"I can, but not as strong as the one Hou'dor and the others can make," he said. "And it will cost me…"

Daubutim nodded absently, and Irwin could see the lightning swirling faster and faster. He knew his friend was trying to come up with the best solution, but he knew there probably wasn't one.

"What do we know of fighting these things?" Irwin asked.

"Fighting an Oculithar? … I'd say it's impossible, but these are tiny. It is possible that they are young, if that is how that even works with those monsters. I've never read about anyone fighting one off and winning. From the few stories I've heard when a big one comes, whole branches are abandoned, exit portals, and the worlds beyond are left to fend for themselves while the harbor cities are ruined," Ambraz rambled before taking an audible breath. "There's a legend… a rumor that the original Hegliron fleet, which would be the first to the seventh, protected a world from a bigger one. They lost all but one ship, thousands of diamond-soul-carded warriors."

Irwin clenched his hands as he glared at the incoming Oculithar. Part of him was angry at the Chaos Whales for heading this way, the other part recalled how some whales had saved them in a storm long ago, giving him a memory he would never forget. Besides, as they closed in, he was getting a better few of the group fleeing from the larger Oculithar. A scarred one was at the front like a tip, larger by far than the others, while dozens of smaller Chaos Whales flew in the center of the pack.

"And how did they do that in that legend?" Daubutim asked.

"It didn't say," Ambraz said.

Irwin felt his mind rattle. The difference between his quiet yet busy workings at the Academy and all his crafting to this was jarring. He kept staring at the incoming Chaos Whales, their multiple eyes were now visible as tiny specs, their bodies glowing with soulforce. The lead one, especially, seemed to radiate a soulforce so powerful that it made Brazardian look like nothing.

Did they always do that, and I just never saw it? he wondered before shoving the thought away.

He turned to Daubutim, who was looking at him, his eyes a storm of lightning to rival that beyond the barrier. They moved from dull to bright, and Irwin knew he was forcing himself to the brink of one of his troublesome periods to come up with a plan.

He held his friend's gaze, trying to come up with a plan that didn't involve fighting, and came up short. He waited for a moment, then another, hoping Daubutim would pull through again, but nothing happened.

"Go back through and prepare in case we all fail," he said, steeling himself.

Daubutim's eyes refocused on him, the swirling storm dying down.

"If all else fails, I'll try to draw those things away and attempt to escape. Take Hou'dor, Trimdir, and… Esther back when they arrive. We can't risk losing them. With those two, the smiths will learn enough."

"I…" Daubutim gritted his teeth, an uncharacteristic anger flashing through his eyes. "I want you all to come back, but if we do that, we risk the exit portal being destroyed. But we don't have anything powerful enough to fight something this size. I planned for other ships, raiders, pirates, but this-"

"It's fine," Irwin said. "We will try to distract them, pull them away. If that doesn't work, we will try fighting-" he held back from shaking his head at that idea.

"If we can hold out till Hou'dor and the others are here, we might have a chance," Ambraz said. "These are smaller than the one that attacked us before, and we managed to hold that back. If we can draw their attention and the others can keep shooting, either we whittle them down, or we scare them!"

Irwin looked at Ambraz, then at the now very close giant monsters, and finally at the portal.

"How long till they return?" he asked, looking at Daubutim.

"If they find them right away, at least fifteen minutes," his friend said without hesitation.

"Then I'm going to the ships and trying to buy us time," Irwin said.

Daubutim took a step forward, clasping his lower arm. "Try to survive. No matter what, you need to return. If all goes wrong, I will leave someone here till the last moment to see what happens. I expect that if you fail, he will tell me you are fleeing into the storm," Daubutim said.

Irwin stared at his friend, not sure what to say, but one look at the now very close Chaos Whales told him his time was up.

"It is what I will tell your mother and brother, so don't make me a liar," Daubutim snapped.

Irwin clenched his teeth and nodded. He looked at Basil, nodding at the other before turning to the ships. He let out a wordless shout, then shot along the soundwaves, rushing toward where The Concerto was moving toward the other ships.

A few seconds later, he thudded down on the ship. Boohm and Hind stood on the prow while Zender was up in the sails, polishing them as fast as he could.

"Captain, I hope you have a good plan cause those things look hungry," Boohm shouted.

"We need to distract them till Nim'dor and the other rank fives reach us," Irwin said as he walked to the prow.

The Ruby's Revenge lay beside them, and he saw Xi'kroak stare at him. As soon as their eyes met, the stocky Da'xi with blue plates across his face zipped from the deck, flying towards them.

"Zender, do you know those signals your mother used?" Irwin shouted.

"Most of them, Captain!"

"Xi'kroak should have taught them! Signal all ships to spread out and stay slightly behind us," Irwin shouted.

Xi'kroak landed on the deck, his silver eyes calm as he looked up at Irwin. "Do we have a plan?"

"We need to buy time for the rank five Ganvils to arrive so we can create a barrier around the ship that will be able to resist those tentacles," Irwin said. "It will take close to fifteen minutes. Ideas?"

Xi'kroak's plates began chattering together excitedly.

"When I was young, back home, we had a game called Chrakrin," he said. "It involved using small ships to navigate the shipping lane and keeping out of the hands of the enforcers. I would suggest we attempt something like that."

Irwin looked at the Da'xi, wondering what Xi'kroak would have done if he hadn't arrived.

"Do you have any idea on how to kill these things or chase them away?" he asked.

"None, so let's hope that your barrier plan works," Xi'kroak said as he floated back up. "La'suna will bait the left one. I'll do the center one, so you will have to do the one on the right," he shouted before rushing back to his ship, already shouting orders.

Irwin watched the Da'xi fly to his ship when a deep rumbling hum came from ahead of them. He looked up and saw that the Chaos Whales were almost there.

"Earila, full speed ahead and up," Irwin shouted before looking at Hind and Boohm. "We are going to try and attract that thing's attention, and I hope it's not as fast as the one we saw before. Ambraz…”

"Sure, kid, I'll do something no rank four is supposed to do!" Ambraz snapped. "Now get behind that helm. You have more experience!"

Irwin nodded, turned, grunted, and shot across the soundwaves to land beside Earila. She stepped away to let him behind the helm, and he took her place.

"Captain…"

Irwin looked up, noticing she looked scared but at the same time filled with resolve.

"If we don't survive, thank you for everything you did for me and my family!"

Then she dashed away.

Let's just bet on surviving, for now, Irwin thought as he increased The Conerto's speed.

He zipped past the group of enormous Chaos Whales, noticing that some of the calves seemed to struggle to keep up.

That's why they weren't fast enough, he thought.

Not sure why, he drew a deep breath and let out a deep, rumbling hum- part of the song he had long ago learned. He'd practiced it hundreds if not thousands of times by now, and with the increase in power from all his cards, he was able to increase the output of his voice far more than before.

Dozens of eyes focused on him, and the massive bull let out an almost curious-sounding hum in reply.

"No idea what you said, but you will have to tell me later," Irwin muttered, focusing on the black mass of tentacles surrounding the red eyes of the Oculithar. "Boohm, draw his attention!"

"Eat this!" Boohm shouted, striking forward and causing a ripple to move at tremendous speed away from him.

It almost seemed to shrink as it crossed the final distance to the Oculithar, and as it hit the monstrous thing, it looked like an arrow striking a castle. Another followed, then another, as Boohm kept striking out, punching the air.

A dozen red, burning eyes focused on The Concerto. The massive monster changed course, and tentacles shot forward.

"Here we go," Irwin shouted as he spun the wheel and pressed the central runes, causing the ship to bank left and down, dodging below the flurry and shooting past the Oculithar. It felt like he was running along a massive building, and it took seconds before they shot past.

Irwin turned around, hoping the thing would follow them. If it didn't, he'd have to return- a powerful soulforce signature rushed at him, and Irwin yanked on the helm, causing the ship to bank right and up, barely dodging them. Looking back, he saw two tentacles had almost struck them with the tips large enough to puncture barrel-sized holes through the hull.

"It's working, captain!" Boohm shouted. "All three are following a ship."

Good, now all we have to do is stay alive, Irwin thought, putting one of his selves on steering and the other on detecting were the Oculithar's tentacles were.