Irwin's Journey - The Cardsmith

Irwin followed Sahroot into what looked like a tavern or ordinary restaurant: tables placed neatly in rows, with bushes separating them. A room-spanning bar made from a single piece of wood and gleaming a very pale yellow was nestled at the back. A tall, older Viridian woman stood behind the bar, her hands on the bar.

Although there was no door to close, the sounds from outside muted as soon as they crossed the threshold, and none of the other Viridians followed them.

Sahroot stopped when they were near the bar before turning around, ignoring the barwoman who was calmly watching them.

"Alright, please start by explaining what happened at the exit portal," he said.

Irwin glanced at Tang, but the hulking man wasn't paying attention to him. Instead, he looked around, visibly annoyed, as he bent over from the waist to fit inside the room. He seemed perfectly fine with letting Irwin explain.

Fine, Irwin thought, quickly gathering his thoughts.

"We only know what we were told," he began, before quickly explaining what had happened with the invaders and how a few managed to get away, finishing with: "- meaning, the blue-haired demon you mentioned is likely one of them."

"There were two that got away?" Sahroot asked, looking highly worried.

"From what I was told, yes," Irwin said. "But it might be safest to assume there were more."

The woman behind the bar spoke for the first time, her voice hazy and fearful. "Sahroot, what do we do? If they were able to fight through the Blademaidens, how are we going to stop them?"

Sahroot shook his head, his dry leaves rustling before focusing back on Irwin. Something about him, the way he looked and behaved, felt familiar to Irwin, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"I don't know about any Ignitzians lost down here, but one of the Grovekeepers that handles the beaches has been complaining that someone has been pulling Scorchi berries from the bushes. I thought it was a sign of the demon, but we have also been finding many of the Silver Burrow Beetles dead and partially consumed."

Irwin frowned. Scintilla had always enjoyed meat on Scour, but he didn't see her eating beetles.

"Can your Grovekeeper show us to the beach where this happened?" he said.

He fully expected Sahroot to ask something in return and wasn't disappointed.

"If we help you with this, I'd request you help us in return," Sahroot said, looking at Irwin.

A glint appeared in his eyes, strengthening the odd familiarity Irwin felt towards the ancient Viridian. He stared back, trying to recall if he'd seen him on Scour or during his travels, but couldn't recall the other man. He was about to ask what he wanted when Tang finally interjected.

"Sahroot, I'll have a look in the forest," the massive Fiz'rin rumbled. "Send a few of your binders with me because if it's the invader, I need someone to pin him down for me."

"Alright. If you do that, I'll have Heimnin show your friends to the part of the beach," Sahroot said.

They talked details for a few more minutes, after which Sahroot seemed far less stressed.

"I would love to offer you some of our local food and drinks, but I'd prefer we take care of business first," he said.

As soon as he said it, Irwin realized who he reminded him of. In this setting, and with the other's clothing, it had been so far from what he'd come to expect that his mind hadn't been able to make it click, but the word business made it all click.

"You are a merchant," he said, surprised.

Sahroot smiled and shook his head. "It's been a hundred and twenty years since someone called me that. But it was what I did before, yes."

As they walked outside, Tang let out a content groan as he stretched his back, cracking his neck.

"You need higher ceilings," he rumbled before stomping away toward the forest's-edge.

The others followed him, and Sahroot walked beside Irwin.

He felt a lot more comfortable now that he knew what had felt off. Besides that, he'd lived with Viridian's for years on Scour and enjoyed their company.

"How did you end up here?" he asked.

"After I started the last season of my life, I realized I had lost most of my family to the treeblight," Sahroot said wearily. "It took a few years before I learned that one of my seedlings actually had left for another world, and traveling there, I came across Loumei. When the blight found us there, we left to search for a hiding place and found it here."

"The treeblight?" Irwin asked, not recalling having heard of it before.

"Aye, it only touches us-" he waved his hand around. "-Shadelightbirch. It doesn't surprise me that you wouldn't have heard of it. Most people only encounter the others of our race, as we are slowly going extinct."

"There is no cure for it?" Boohm asked, his voice loud and drawing the attention of a few of the Viridians that had remained behind.

"Aye, there is. There are cards with the Treegeneration type," Sahroot said, focusing on Irwin. "But as our smith must know, those are rare and expensive. If that wasn't the worst, using those as the base of a heartcard makes the forging process ten times as complicated. Rare are the smiths that are capable of reforging them."

Irwin saw a tiny sliver of hope in the ancient tree's eyes as he thought about the cards he had. He couldn't recall if they had any with that type and turned to the Ganvil on his shoulder.

"Ambraz?"

"We have four of those, but as Sahroot said, they are precious cards. Rare like some metals we work with," Ambraz said.

"You have four?" Sahroot asked, his voice dumbfounded. "Even during all my travels, I only managed to collect a dozen. You must have been traveling for many years- you are not as young as you appear?"

Irwin shrugged. "Not that old yet," he said, trying to figure out how old he actually was. Twenty-six? Twenty eight? He didn't feel that old yet…

"About twenty-six," he finally said, deciding it hardly mattered.

Sahroot stared at him as they walked to the edge of the forest. The temperature dropped slightly below the canopy of yellow and orange leaves. Irwin saw only a single other Viridian standing there, but two bright bundles of soulforce a few steps away, hidden within the undergrowth, told him there were more.

Heartcarded, or very weak soulcarded, he decided.

"It still surprises me that some allow their young to leave that early," Sahroot finally said. "Would you be willing to trade away those four cards?"

"Probably," Irwin said as the green and yellow-leafed Viridian approached them. "But first, I need to find my friend."

Sahroot didn't respond but turned to the other Viridian.

"Heimnin, I need you to take Irwin and his two friends to the part of the beach you told me about. They will explain why as you travel. Make haste."

"About time," the younger Viridian said. "It's a good thing these mercenaries came when they did. There was a wyrm sighting by one of the others. Will they also help with that demon?"

"I'll take care of that," Tang said as he lumbered into the forrest, ignoring a few of the narrow paths. "Send me a few of your scouts."

He vanished into the dense undergrowth, pushing aside pale white, winding branches and golden leaves easily. Within moments, only the slowly rescinding tremors showed he had been there. Heimnin signaled to the forrest, and one of the two hidden Viridians rushed away.

"Alright, you three follow me," Heimnin said shortly.

Irwin got the distinct feeling the Viridian didn't like them, but with the prospect of getting another step closer to Scintilla, he didn't care.

"I'll have something to trade for those cards ready when you return," Sahroot said.

Irwin and the others waved their goodbyes and followed Heimnin toward one of the narrow game trails.

"We aren't taking a ship?" Boohm asked, his loud voice muted by the surrounding foliage.

"No."

Irwin raised an eyebrow at Heimnin's back, then shrugged at Boohm.

I wonder what his problem is, Irwin thought as they followed Heimnin.

--

Scintilla snuck through the bushes, stuffing her pockets with berries while chewing on more. The heat of the Scorchi Berries made her feel a lot better, and she felt a bit of the weary fog from the last few weeks recede.

Grabbing and pulling more berries from the bushes, she tried to be careful but still snapped up many of the delicate branches. If she'd had more time, she would have gone slower, but speed was of the essence now. Still, it pained her as she saw the wounded plants. It would take a decade for the slowly growing bushes to recover from the damage.

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Staying near the edge, ready to turn and rush back to the safety of the stone outcrops beyond the beach, she continued for close to ten minutes, trying to take from all bushes so she wouldn't damage anyone too much.

Mother would make me do extra drills for a year if she knew, she thought as she finished filling her pockets.

The image of her mother made her sad, and she wondered if she'd ever forgive her.

Why didn't she just warn me, she thought, gritting her teeth as she recalled the conversation after she'd returned. If she'd known the consequences, she'd-

Scintilla shook her head, her anger fading as fast as it had come. What would she have done? Not have her embers? One thought of the tiny little bundles of heat, half of which burned with the fire of Irwin, made her sigh sadly. She probably wouldn't have done it, but she wasn't sure.

It's her own fault for sending us out at that age, she thought, recalling how she'd been unable to think of anything at the time. Even now, a year after her shape had finished its finally chaotic growth spurt, she could vividly recall the way she'd been unable to think normally. Puberty, the humans called it. Scintilla preferred it over what her own people called it, even if the one humans had was timid compared to that of the Ignitzians.

"Perverted Haze," she muttered. "Whoever came up with that name should be used as a sparring dummy."

Just like the one that decided to send the young Blademaidens, who were at the height of it, out into the world. Yes, it resulted in many new Embers, but at what cost? She felt a sense of sadness grow as she knew her sisters had managed to get through it without ruining her family's prospects.

She should have told me, she thought again.

Her belly and pockets full, she turned to head back to the Embers. With her soulforce rapidly refilling, she knew the return trip would be much faster. Still, she decided to conserve her energy as she sprinted through the bushes and then across the pale beach. Had it been any other time, she'd have loved to be here, deep in the hot bowels of Igniz, on a beautiful beach with food aplenty.

Halfway across the beach, the rock wall that held her path back exploded outward, dust billowing up while shards of black stone shot everywhere.

Scintilla slowed, her eyes widening. She barely had the presence of mind to use her Inferno Blink, dodging the rain of razor-sharp stone that pelted the beach. She reappeared behind a twenty-foot stone outcrop and looked around the edge to see what she'd feared hanging partially out of the stone.

How did that thing find me?!

She'd barely finished the thought when something moved in the corner of her eye. Turning her head, she saw a pale blue streak rush off into the distance. It was heading toward a luster of stony hills that sat on the other end of the beach.

That little, ugly ice cube!

Scintilla barely stopped herself from shooting after it. She wanted nothing more than to crush the icy invader that had killed so many of her Bladesisters, but that would mean leaving the embers unguarded.

She stared at the hills, then back at the earth titan that was still hanging out of the rocky wall. It seemed to be confused about what to do, which didn't surprise her. The earth titans were used to move through solids or liquids. Having its body partially in the open air must be jarring.

A shiver ran through her as she realized it might have caused the tunnels she needed to cave in.

The fiery red aura that permeated everything dropped slightly, and she Inferno Blinked ten steps to the side as a blueish beam ripped through the air she'd stood.

Spinning around, she saw a distant pale yellow aura with an intense blue core of cold on the top of the hill. Before she could even wonder how the invader had spotted her, the aura turned pale white, then a streak of white shot through the usual red and she dashed away. It wasn't needed, as the beam wasn't aimed at her. Instead, it flew a hundred feet over her head, slamming into the earth titan.

It couldn't have been more than a love tap against the enormous thing, but the earth titan opened its mouth wider, and Scintilla felt her ears pop as her vision turned blurry. The next moment, she was lying on her back, blinking away the black spots while her head was thrumming painfully. A high beep was all she heard.

What…

She pushed up just in time to see another pale beam of the icy cold shoot at her. There was no time to dodge, and she triggered her fifth card. Her temperature dropped as a blueish aura gleamed out. It was barely an inch from her skin when the beam hit her, tearing a hole through her shoulder.

Clenching her teeth from the sudden pain, Scintilla rolled to the side, ignoring the sharp stabs that caused. She wasn't unfamiliar with anguish, and as she got up, she cast a quick glance at the jagged hole through her bare shoulder. Golden blood oozed from the edges, a stark contrast to her skin, which had turned a deep silver, while the tiny hairs shimmered with blueish flames.

A crackling sound came, and she looked up to see the earth titan pulled back into the hole. There was no sign of the blue invader.

What is he up to? Scintilla thought as she ripped a long stretch of her already mostly destroyed over-tunic. Winding it around her shoulder, she knew it wouldn't do more than keep her alive when her card's ability ended. She needed to return to the embers before then.

A tremor ran through her feet as something massive drilled through the rock below, and her eyes shot open.

"What? Why-"

She vanished from where she stood, a fiery streak moving across the beach, heading toward the destroyed wall. The ground behind her exploded up as the earth titan's head ripped through the stone, throwing huge swathes of the pale white beach sand into the air.

"Leave me alone," Scintilla snapped as she stumbled forward. Her body was back to her normal golden red, and the wound was bleeding far heavier now. The pain also increased in intensity.

--

Heimnin stopped as the distant explosion shattered the peace and quiet of the forrest.

"What was that?" the obnoxiously loud Onyxian shrouded, and Heimnin almost cursed at him. Did he not understand that if it was something dangerous, his shouting would potentially draw it to them?

"Something burst through into the cave," Heimnin snapped, jumping to a branch above him. "Stay here, I'll check."

He climbed up, reaching the tip of a tree in a few seconds. As he reached it, the smith appeared beside him out of thin air, odd ripples moving away from him as he grabbed the tip of the tree. The foot-wide branch he had landed on creaked and bent down. Luckily, it held, as did the tree top, even though it hung sideways dangerously, leaning against the tree beside it.

"What are you-"

A blue flash was followed by a deafening scream. Heimnin felt something in his head go pop, and then everything turned black.

--

Irwin stared at the earth titan as it opened its mouth and screamed in agony. His ears popped, and a moment later, all he heard was a high-pitched whine. Heimnin slumped down and vanished in the canopy, but Irwin barely noticed. All he saw was the tiny red figure on the pearlescent white beach, which turned pale blue as a lance of blue icy light speared through her shoulder.

"Scintilla," Irwin roared, his own voice lost to him as all he still heard was the beep.

He shot along the soundwaves, reappearing when they clashed with those of an explosion. Spinning around, he saw the earth titan burst out of the ground and a red streak rush to the wall it had been at before. He let out a roar of anger, but the soundwaves from the debris and cracking interfered, and he only managed to move another few hundred feet before reappearing.

The burning red streak vanished into the rubble, and Irwin roared again. This time, he managed to get past the rest and reappear near the wall. Stone dust filled the air while the ground shook and shivered below his feet.

"Scintilla?!" Irwin roared again, his voice a muffled cry in the distance, telling him that his hearing was already returning.

A sharp, piercing blow shoved him forward, causing him to stumble while a dull pain came from his lower back. He instantly knew it wasn't lethal, nor had it pierced deep.

That bloody…

Irwin spun around in time to see a distant beacon of soulforce atop a hill pulsing. There was no sight of the forrest, blocked by the hills, and the earth titan was sinking back in the ground.

Another burst of soulforce came from the distant spot, but Irwin shot sideways along a soundwave. He wanted to go over there and twist the demon's head off, but he had different, more important issues. How bad had Scintilla been injured, and where was she? He turned and pulled from his heartcard until it shivered painfully. Jumping to random spots each step, he flickered forward, searching for a sign of Scintilla.

Seconds turned to minutes as three more beams struck the rocks around him, and the rumbling in the ground receded. Then he saw it: drops of golden blood, gleaming in the light from the yellow vapors in the ceiling. It led into a narrow corridor, and Irwin was rushing into it instantly.

He reappeared a hundred feet into the tunnel, which had been cracked and partially filled, making passage through difficult. A bloodstained smudge said near a partially caved-in section, and Irwin ran to it, looking inside only to find more empty tunnels.

"Scintilla!" he shouted, moving with the soundwaves through the narrow passage and repairing on the other side.

Like that, he kept running, paying attention to the still-present shaking in the ground.

That thing is still lurking about, he thought as he shot out into a slightly larger, jagged cave. Freshly broken and ruptured stone lay everywhere, while the walls and ceiling looked like they had been partially blasted apart.

There was no sign of Scintilla anywhere, nor any blood, and Irwin took two steps inside, looking around.

The rumbling was growing more intense, and dust and pebbles were dropping everywhere.

Was that thing hunting her? He didn't know, but if she had been deafened, more shouting wouldn't help. He clenched his teeth, wanting something to punch. How was he going to find her? There had to be a way! He thought about Ambraz, then about his cards, when it finally hit him.

Cursing himself for being a fool for wasting time, he drew on his soulcard, trickles of steam, then clouds of it rapidly forming around him. Holding nothing back, he pulled in more and more before spreading it out, thin and barely visible, but enough that as it leaked into all crevices and tunnels, a map of the surrounding cave system began forming in his mind. He would find her or some sign of her!

Blood!

The golden, slightly cooled Igntizian blood was still filled with soulforce, and as a tendril of his steam flowed past it, it was like a tiny signal fire. Irwin hummed and shot through his steam cloud, drawing what he could with him and reappearing near a narrow crack in the wall. He forced his steam inside, and a few hundred feet in, it flowed into a larger cave.

An image of an Ignitzian slumped on the ground next to a basin of something shimmering and odd appeared, and Irwin hissed as he shot along the soundwaves. He appeared in the small cave and ran to the Ignitzian, who lay slumped on the ground. A slight puddle of golden blood was forming below her while her fiery hair was growing duller by the second.

"No!"

Irwin turned the Ignitzian around and saw the pale face of Scintilla, her eyes closed and barely breathing.

A storm of fire burst out of him as all of him, both selves pulled from his soulcard and flame. Within moments, the entire cave's temperature shot up, and fire licked the walls and the Pyroflux.

Irwin barely noticed how tiny embers jumped out of the Pyroflux and began flying through the room, surrounding him. All his attention was on Scintilla, whose soulforce was painfully low and her temperature too cold. Her breathing had turned laboursome and ragged.

No!

Irwin barely knew what he was doing as he began singing, his other self reappearing in his soulscape, striking his soulstrum guitar without restraint. A powerful, fast, and energetic song made the walls resonate while his flame shuddered, forcing the temperature up and up.

Finally, as the pure black obsidian rock began turning gray, a shiver ran through Scintilla, and her breathing eased up. Slowly, her soulforce began refilling.

Good! You can do it, Irwin thought, as he kept the temperature where it was.

--

Scintilla slowly woke, feeling warm and comfortable. It took her a few moments to remember what had happened. She'd fled and barely reached the basin. Was that where she was? Inside the Pyroflux? No... that made no sense.

She knew she should open her eyes, but it had been weeks since she'd had such a good sleep. No nightmares, no worries. Besides, the arms wrapped around her made her feel safe.

Arms?

Scintilla's eyes snapped wide open as she readied to trigger her Inferno Blink. Two big, beautiful eyes of molten metal stared down at her as familiar lips pulled up in a grin.

"About time you woke up."