Irwin's Journey - The Cardsmith

"No, you misunderstand," Tiscian said, interrupting Scintilla. "I want you and Irwin to go through the exit portal and flee."

"I understand, but we aren't leaving," Scintilla said, arms crossed as she frowned at her mother.

"Are you…. Daughter, if you don't leave now, you might not be able to when this is all resolved," Tiscian said.

"I won't leave one of my embers here! Not if I can't return," Scintilla said, her eyes narrowing. "And you should know that!"

Irwin stood at the back of the room, leaning against the wall. He had expected a few things when they arrived at the exit portal tower, but not this.

Tiscian's face softened as she stepped closer to her daughter. "I understand, but it is impossible to know where she is or when she can come back. You know I will do all I can to find her and keep her safe."

Scintilla took a deep breath, and Irwin saw her shoulders lower slightly. The argument had been going on for a while, and he could understand Scintilla was getting weary, but he was definitely not going to step in.

"No," Scintilla said, shaking her head. "I want my embers to come with us."

Tiscian stared at her for a bit, then took a step back, a flash of pain crossing her eyes.

"You are planning to leave…" she said softly. "Permanently."

"I shouldn't have returned," Scintilla muttered. "If you had just told me… warned me… I would have stayed away, and you could have just added me to the list of-"

"Of what? Daughters and granddaughters that might be dead and who I'll have to mourn for the rest of my life?" Tiscian snapped. "Besides…"

She turned, and Irwin did his best to keep his face calm as she gazed at him.

"As much as I understand your desires, I gave you rules!"

Scintilla's shoulders slumped more, and for a moment, the glow in her eyes dampened. Then she took another deep breath, and Irwin could almost see her steel herself.

"I know, and that is on me," Scintilla said. "If there were things I could do to make that right, I would, but-" she raised her voice, interrupting Tiscian, who had seemed ready to speak. "But, I won't stay here, and I'll not leave without my embers."

Tiscian's mouth opened, then closed again, and finally, she let out a scamper laugh.

"Why am I even surprised about this," she muttered, turning away from Scintilla and walking to the low-sitting area of her private chambers. "You always did resemble the most extreme parts of me and your heatfather."

"What!? You said you don't remember him," Scintilla shouted, dashing after her mother, who sat down on the couches.

Tiscian sat down, waving to Scintilla and Irwin to sit opposite her while snorting.

"I know exactly who each of the heatfathers of my embers is," she said, leaning back. "What do you take me for? One of those foolish followers of the Flourishingmatriarch?"

Irwin had no idea what that was supposed to mean, but Scintilla snorted, a wide grin on her face.

"Well, with how many daughters you have," she said. "It wouldn't have surprised me."

Tiscian mock-glared at Scintilla for a moment before sighing.

"We'll talk again after you are as old as I am," she said before hesitating and turning to Irwin. "Then again, I always enjoyed the short-lived of the other species…"

"I'm not going to share my heat with anyone else," Scintilla said, crossing her arms and scowling at her mother.

"Perhaps," Tiscian said with a small shrug. "Life is long, and time changes people. I know of but very few of our kind that managed what you suggest, but hopefully, I won't have to be around to see how this unfolds. For now… Yes, I remember your heatfather, and I'll make you a deal. If you manage to find your final ember and reach this place before everything is settled, I will tell you off him."

"What? Why not now?" Scintilla snapped, leaning forward.

"Because I never tell any of my daughters who their heatfather is, so they don't go and try to find him," Tiscian said calmly. "In most cases, they told me they prefer it that way, and the few who didn't have long since returned to the primordial flame."

"And what happens if we don't find it in time?" Irwin asked.

"Then I am afraid you will need to leave alone or remain here," Tiscian said.

"Dream on!"

"Why?"

Irwin and Scintilla said at the same time, Scintilla looking angry.

"Because we will have a new Bladematriarch then, and she won't allow you to leave," Scintilla said calmly. "And don't think you can just escape in Irwin's soulforce. There are safeguards against that in the tunnel leading up to the exit portal."

And what safeguards would those be, Irwin wondered as he stared at Scintilla curiously. There was a soft tremor from Ambraz, who was on his shoulder and hadn't said anything yet.

Scintilla seemed to be fuming, her lips pressed in a tight line.

"The new Bladematriarch won't allow Scintilla to leave… nor our embers?" he said. "Meaning you know who she is?"

"Yes, I know who will be the next," Tiscian said quietly. "If things had gone differently, it would have been me or one of my sisters. However-" she glanced at Scintilla and smiled ruefully. "-that door is closed. Now, one of the Claimareh sisters will be chosen, and we have a long-standing feud with them."

Scintilla moaned, shaking her head before resting it in her hands.

"Exactly," Tiscian said, looking at her daughter.

"How long do we have?" Irwin asked.

"A week, two at most," Tiscian said.

"The reinforcement armies will arrive sooner, but it will take a few days to clear all of these-" she smiled sadly as she waved her hand around. "-unfortunate people and another few to find and finish the Bladematriarch. After that, the other matriarchs will start arriving, and when all of them are here, the new Bladematriarch will be chosen from among the contenders."

Irwin frowned and turned to Scintilla. "How can we find our last child?"

Scintilla sighed, looking up at him and shaking her head. "Usually, we ask the oldest of embers to find her, but you know that Mia searched for weeks before she found us and wasn't able to find her."

Irwin nodded, turning to Tiscian. "Do you know a way for us to find her?"

"No," Tiscian said. "This is one of the reasons we try not to get too close to our Embers; there is a chance that some will be in the depths for years or even decades. Scintilla is a good example of this, as she was deemed lost for over twenty years before she finally found her way back to our family estate."

"What? You never told me that," Scintilla hissed. "Is that why I have no heatsisters?"

"You had four," Tiscian said calmly. "Two returned within the first year but died during their time in the portal gallery."

Scintilla was staring at her mother in disbelief, and Irwin could understand why. She'd just heard that her father might be out there and that she'd actually had four sisters, two of whom were dead.

"And the other two?" Irwin asked.

"They are deemed lost in the depths," Tiscian said, looking at the wall, her gaze distant. "Perhaps they will return in the future, but…"

"Why didn't you tell me any of this?" Scintilla asked, her voice dangerously calm.

"Because you have no need to know," Tiscian said, looking at her daughter. "What would it have changed?"

Scintilla's mouth opened, then closed, and after a few moments, she shook her head angrily.

"I'd have known I wasn't alone," she muttered, not sounding convinced of her own argument.

Tiscian didn't even bother answering it.

"You two should leave now while you can," Tiscian said, looking from her daughter to Irwin. "If your last ember appears, I will-"

"No," Irwin said calmly, crossing his arms. "We have atleast a day left, perhaps longer. Tell me how I can attempt to find them."

"I just told you. There is no way,” Tiscian said.

"You are telling me that in all the thousands of years of your people's history, nobody ever managed to find an ember?" Irwin asked.

Tisician frowned, and Irwin leaned forward, sensing an opening.

"How?" he asked.

"The most likely reason for an ember to be unable to return is that it's locked away in the body of an earth titan," Tiscian said slowly. "Long ago, before our people found the exit portal, the only way to gain soulcards was from Earth Titans. So, they lured them up, killing them for their card and freeing many embers in the process."

"Why did you stop?" Irwin asked, surprised.

"The danger," Tiscian said. "Every now and then, multiple Earth Titans would be drawn to the lure, and they would rampage through the subterranean cities. Killing one Earth Titan is very hard. Fighting multiple has only led to death and ruin."

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"How do we lure them?" Scintilla asked.

"If you do this, and something goes wrong, staying on Igniz for the rest of your lives might be the least of your worries," Tiscian said slowly.

"How!?" Scintilla asked again.

Tiscian quietly stared at her, then at Irwin, and finally sighed.

"If you want to do this, you will need to do so far below the burrows. If Earth Titans appear here now, they might start eating the Addled, and I have no idea what the consequences of that might be."

"We will go as deep as we can before we start," Irwin said.

"Very well. I'll get you one of the lures," Tiscian said, getting up from the couch. "Our family has a few left, although none have been used for thousands of years."

Irwin waited for her to leave the room before turning to Scintilla, who was dully staring at the wall. He was doing his best to keep himself calm, but the idea that one of his children was lost in the depths was making him worried and angry. Why did the Ignitzians just let them leave on their own like this?! It was dangerous and irresponsible. He'd almost said as much to Tiscian, but he knew she'd not react well to it. Scintilla had reminded him, on the way there, that it was one of her people's oldest customs, and wars had been fought over it.

"Are you alright?" he asked, reaching out and putting a hand on Scintilla's shoulder.

Scintilla shivered, then looked up. "I'll be fine. But how are we even going to find the correct Earth Titan? Worse, what if our last ember isn't in one?"

Irwin grimaced, as it was one of the things that had also occurred to him.

"I can find her," Ambraz said softly.

"What?" Scintilla whispered while Irwin looked at Ambraz.

He was confused for only a moment when an idea came to him.

"You can sense her soulforce resonance," he said, feeling a sudden relief flood him.

"Not yet, but if I get close enough, I'll find her," Ambraz said. "But… you might not like what we have to do."

"What do you mean?" Irwin asked, the relief fading as fast as it had come.

"Neither of you can go down with me," Ambraz said softly. "I'll need someone to guide me through the tunnels in the depths, and there's only one person who can do that."

"Mia," Irwin whispered.

"She's almost solidified," Scintilla snapped, shaking her head. "If she goes with you, she might solidify in the depths, and that would kill her!"

"What if we send one of the others?" Irwin asked quickly.

"None of them know the way," Ambraz said, his metal lips in a thin line. "Mia was the only one to search for them, and she has knowledge of the paths."

Irwin leaned back, turning to Scintilla, whose hands were clamped around her knees, knuckles white.

"Let's talk about this after we return to the others," Irwin finally said.

"Alright," Scintilla whispered.

Twenty minutes later, they were standing near Lava's skyship, and screeching and roaring came from beyond the black onyx walls. A large, rune-covered sheet of metal with a partial card embedded in the center lay in the back of the skyship. The resonance that came from it created a complex, energetic song. Tiscian had warned him that activating it would cause a resonance that was painful, especially to those sensitive to soulforce fluctuations.

"Thank you for your help," Tiscian said.

"It is fine, but you will have to tell me how you knew how to contact me," Lava said.

"I will," Tiscian said before she turned to Scintilla. "Daughter, be careful. Return as soon as you can."

Irwin could sense Scintilla's roiling soulforce resonance, but there was barely any worry on her face.

"Yes, mother," she said before climbing aboard the ship.

After saying his own goodbyes, Irwin joined her, and a few moments later, they were shooting up in the air above the walls.

A horde of crazed Addled were raging around the walls, streams of more coming from the distant city. Many tried to climb the walls, only for the defenders on the walls to shoot them with blasts and jets of flame. The bodies of the unmoving Addled were starting to pile up, making it easier for the rest to try to reach the wall. Although to everyone, it would look like an ant's nest of activity, to Irwin, it was worse.

His soulforce vision made the entire scene a mass of holes in the ambient soulforce, as all of it was being pushed away by the presence of the addled, which themselves looked like tiny holes of nothingness to his soulforce vision. The resonance that had Irwin's hairs stand on end wasn't actually coming from them but was the howling, painful sound of the surrounding ambient soulforce that screeched in agony.

Another way to manipulate the ambient soulforce, Irwin thought, as his hands tightened around the sides of the airship. Sadly, or luckily, there was no way for him to use this one.

"Don't worry, they will be fine," Lava shouted above the constant sounds of screaming and explosions.

Irwin didn't respond, and he watched the tower rapidly shrink behind them. When he couldn't see the tower or the horde of Addled, he turned to where they were flying.

One week to get back, find our last ember, and head back, he thought.

Even using the shortcuts Lava knew, it took over a day to return to the burrows, and as they rushed into the lowest region, everyone was anxious. Lava had the ship angled in a steep descent to the rocky ground below, landing beside one of the massive rivers of magma that slowly dribbled into the depths.

"We need to go now," Ambraz said, flying away from Irwin's shoulder. "Mia can't hold back fully forming for much longer."

Irwin nodded as he jumped out of the ship while his otherself was inside his soulscape, talking with Mia and Scintilla. The other three of their children, growing far faster than was normal, were rushing around in the Pyroflux, annoyed they couldn't come along.

"Don't worry, Irwin, I'll keep the kid safe," Ambraz said as he landed on the lava, showing no issue with the intense heat.

Irwin just nodded and put his hand in the magma. The hot, rough stream rubbed along his hand as he drew Mia from his soulscape, quickly followed by Scintilla. As soon as Mia was there, she stuck her over a fist-sized head out of the river. Her hair had turned a deep golden, slightly metallic, with strings of red in between, while her eyes were now nearly the same as Irwin's and Lava's. Her entire top body looked like that of a tiny girl, covered in flames and sparks, while where her legs should be, was still a torrent of flames and fire.

"I'll fine, Dad! Worries no!" she squeaked, her voice like that of a bird, and her sentences still mangled as she had a hard time articulating her thoughts. She used the word he'd thought of her instead of what she had initially called her, and Irwin felt his heart clench slightly.

He glanced at Ambraz, sensing the surety from his companion, the lips in a slight smile.

He leaned forward, forcing himself to smile as he prodded her in her chubby cheek. "You had better be, little one! Promise me that you won't do anything dangerous?"

"Promise!" Mia squeaked before swimming to Scintilla, who was beside the lava, and hugged her while her own flaming aura rippled around her.

"Careful, okay?"

"Fine, fine, momaheat!" Mia said as she squirmed free and swam a bit away.

"Let's go, kid," Ambraz said, vanishing in the magma.

"Bye bye, momaheat and dad!" Mia shouted, disappearing down into magma.

Irwin took a deep, shuddering sigh as he looked at Scintilla, who was pale as she looked at the magma.

"I hope we didn't make a mistake," she whispered.

"Ambraz will keep her safe," Irwin said, recalling all the times Ambra had saved him. "Let's go. I need to talk with you about your next card."

Scintilla showed barely any interest, just nodding as they climbed back in the airship.

--

This is one nasty world, Ambraz thought as he rushed down the lava-filled tube.

The entire world around him was filled with fiery soulforce, and he was again glad he didn't have those stupid fleshy things called eyes. He'd be totally blind if he had.

'Uncle Ambraz, where go now?'

Ambraz had to keep his lips closed to prevent magma from spilling in, but he wanted to grin. Mia's voice was a tiny peeping thing, reverberating across the ambient soulforce, and like every time he heard it, her voice caused him to feel warm and fuzzy. The first time it had happened, he'd been surprised to the point of silence. After spending more and more time with the little ember, he'd realized why it was. Somehow, her resonance and her speech had a part of him inside of it. Or, more like, his own resonance and that of Irwin had bonded so closely by now that it was nearly the same, and all of his children had a large part of that.

Mia, however, especially when she spoke, was a step above the rest, and the fact that her sentence structure was still off seemed to just make it worse.

'More down and that way,' Ambraz said, using his soulforce to generate a slight poke in the direction they had to go.

'I know pace! Follow!'

Mia swam down, then into a large tunnel, Ambraz right behind her.

They had been around, down, sideways, and for over a day now, dodging all Earth Titans they encountered as neither was the one they needed. Instead, they continued towards the faint, distant resonance Ambraz sensed. Not that they were actually that deep. Ambraz had soon realized that it wasn't that easy going straight down, and if he could have gone in a straight line, he probably could have reduced the trip to a bit over an hour.

As those thoughts passed his mind, his lips quirked up in a wicked grin.

He continued swimming after Mia, the temperature and pressure around them increasing constantly, not that it bothered either of them. As close to Mia was to completely setting, she wasn't fully there yet, and Ambraz knew he could probably resist the pressure even in the depths of the planet. There were legends of his old world saying that some of his people lived in the depths with the stone elementals.

Time continued to pass as they flitted past when Mia suddenly stopped.

Ambraz scanned around, but there was no sign of any Earth Titan, and they were still a while away from where he sensed the final resonance.

'Mia?'

'There… is… - way this!' the tiny ember shouted, suddenly rushing away from where they had been going.

Not sure what was going on, Ambraz followed her into a large crevice, then through a denser layer of magma. Finally, they reached a narrow tunnel and after pressing through after her, they exploded into a lake of Pyroflux, its clarity muddled by a constant influx of rocky debris from the magma and lava.

'Why are we here?' Ambraz asked.

Mia didn't respond, shooting up, and as he scanned ahead, Ambraz finally sensed something. Faint resonances ahead of him, that cleared up as he came closer.

Why didn't I sense them before? he thought as he followed Mia until they hovered before a group of tiny Embers, radiating worry and fear.

Mia began talking with them through emotions and memories while Ambraz hovered around. Something was… blocking his perception.

It took him a few moments of trial and error to find that the source was a part of the cave right behind the embers. The soulforce around him almost seemed to vanish as he pressed himself up against it, and he could barely sense anything beyond.

What is behind this wall, he thought as he tried to come up with ores, minerals, and crystals that could be responsible for this.

Dammit, if I ever tell Brazardian, he is going to gloat so much, he thought, knowing that his progenitor would have known without any problem.

'Uncle Ambraz, Embers hiding here because none of mean fishies come!'

Ambraz jolted as he'd not sensed Mia move towards him, and as he turned and swam after her, he felt his perception of his surroundings and of the surrounding soulforce slowly return.

'Alright, then if we have to flee, this is a good place to go,' he said, focusing on the wall behind him and wondering what it was that was causing it.

'We need to bring embers when we leave,' Mia continued.

Ambraz frowned, then nodded.

'Alright, but let's go and find the Earth Titan first… also, are they going to be able to follow us?'

'Probably,' Tia said happily.

Ambraz held back a sigh and indicated where they had to go.

They continued for another thirty minutes before finally stopping in a massive chamber far below where they had been. No matter how much he tried, Ambraz wasn't able to recall the maze they came through, and if he hadn't been able to sense Irwin's presence, he might have been worried.

'It's the fishy below us,' Ambraz said, amused that Mia was calling it that.

'Alright, then you go up and tell Irwin to get the lure ready,' Ambraz said, making up his mind.

'Uncle Ambraz? Mia no help?'

'No, you go and help the other embers and bring them to your dad,' Ambraz said as he focused on the massive Earth Titan.

'But… you know, way back?'

Ambraz drew on his deep well of soulforce, sensing it resonated with Irwin far, far above.

'I don't need it,' he said. 'Now, just go back up and tell Irwin I'll be there in two hours after you reach him.'

He could sense Mia hesitate only a moment. Then she put her hands on his surface in a hug.

'Okay! Mia go up!' she said, radiating full such trust that Ambraz couldn't hold back a chuckle. She didn't even ask how he would know when she found Irwin or how he was going to go back, just trusting him.

He sensed her swim away, and as she did, he began preparing for his soon-to-be race back.

Can't wait to see the kid's face!