Irwin's Journey - The Cardsmith

"Thank you," Lord Harborth said, bowing as deeply as others did to him. His hands were shaking softly, and he kept glancing at the Slaztragh, who stood beside him.

"It is fine," Irwin said, looking at the young boy tenderly held by Slaztragh.

The reforging had been almost anticlimactic after all the pressure and worrying over the last month. It had also been less difficult than he'd pictured.

"Thank you," Slaztragh muttered, his voice cracking as tears slowly fell from his eyes.

The old man looked as if someone had taken an enormous weight from his shoulders, and he was just staring at the boy with a wide smile. If someone hadn't known better, they would have thought it was his grandson.

Irwin didn't react but scanned the boy's card a final time. It wasn't as incredible as the one he'd made for Terusa, but it was still one hundred percent, and he was happy with the result. There were no traces of the cursed card's bad effect left. Instead, like with Terusa, he'd managed to take a few of the better parts of the cursed card and implement them into the new heartcard.

It had also gotten him thinking. What kind of cursed cards were around? Right now, he was able to actually use those for a net positive, as the effects of the cards were usually fairly strong. If nobody wanted them, perhaps he should start buying them up?

"I will bring you the second life card within the hour," the Lord said, drawing Irwin's attention back to him.

Lord Harborth was looking up, his face relaxed. For the first time since Irwin'd seen him, a constant tension and a layer of fake joy were gone, and the man seemed ready to jump and hug him.

"Rindiri has gone to the Great City of Suiderfuix," Lord Harborth said. "She switched ships somewhere in the storm before taking a straight line there. Rather impressive navigational skills, I must say. From what I can tell, she has arrived on the side that holds the main branch of the Cardsmiths Guild. Sadly, the person I had placed tracking runes on was cleaned of these shortly after she arrived, likely by a representative of the guild."

"You can place tracking runes on a person?" Irwin asked, a whole new set of complications rearing their ugly heads.

Lord Harborth's smile grew somewhat proud. "Don't worry, Master Cardsmith, to do so requires cards like mine and a rather deep knowledge of runes. I am able to create a blood rune within the body of anyone who has no soulcard. Do you have an interest in rune crafting?"

Master Cardsmith?

Irwin held back, saying he wasn't that yet, and instead pondered runes. Although he wasn't interested, the knowledge was priceless. They needed more knowledge of runes, and it was far more difficult to acquire than cardsmithing skills were. The different guilds and noble families closely kept the detailed knowledge to themselves, and all they had were the few common runes that Rindiri and some others knew. Even Daubutim had known but a smattering, and he'd said that rune-making seemed something created over the more recent centuries.

"I have a daughter who is interested in these things," Irwin said, thinking of Ti. She was quiet and a deep thinker compared to his other children, and he knew she was interested in many things.

"I will get you a copy of my personal knowledge and notes about rune crafting," Lord Harborth said. "I will include two cards that are needed to create them. Only amethyst, but I'm sure you will be able to turn those into something everyone would covet. I do ask that you keep this knowledge to yourself and your family. The Runecrafters Guild is fairly harsh in their methods to keep their knowledge out of common hands."

Irwin frowned at that, but he nodded.

"I'll make sure to only give it to my family," he said, knowing that as soon as he was back on Eluathar, he and Daubutim would start working on creating a school or academy for rune crafting.

If Lord Harborth noticed his halfhearted promise, he didn't seem to care and merely bowed.

"If there is anything else I can do, don't hesitate to ask," he said.

Irwin was about to say it was fine when he thought of something.

"Can you get me more cursed cards?" he asked.

"I'll start talking with my contacts immediately," Lord Harborth said. "It might take a few days…"

"That's fine," Irwin said as he thought of something else he needed to do. "I'm going to be scouring the city for cards either way."

Lord Harborth smiled knowingly. "Although most districts have a large shortage of cards, there are two districts, usually restricted to nobles and merchant families, that have no such issues. I will make sure you get access to both of them."

Irwin nodded, and he was about to say he was going to rest when a final thing came to mind. He frowned, starting to worry he was perhaps overdrawing on Lord Harborth's goodwill, but the noble stepped forward, eyes wide.

"If there is something else, please tell me. I don't think I can ever repay you for saving my grandson, but that won't be for lack of trying!"

Irwin looked at the man, again surprised by the two sides of him. On the one hand, he was capable of handing a highly dangerous, cursed card to a young child. On the other hand, he was a caring grandfather who would do anything for his family.

I have to make sure that doesn't happen to me, Irwin thought, as he recalled his own reaction to when Glow had been taken.

"I need a ship with a sail that can be powered to withstand the storm," Irwin said before thinking about something else. "Preferably a small one."

Lord Harborth frowned, and he seemed to fall into deep thought. Finally, after a minute, he began nodding slowly.

"Captain Timorlay Hardy took all that remained of the Currant Hunter fleet with him as he left a month ago," he said slowly. "But there might be one of the ships that were damaged during Lasther's first battle that can be repaired. I'll also see if I can find one of the Deadpact Mercenary ships. If none of this works, I'll see if one of the larger merchant groups is willing to sell me a ship. I fear it might mean you need to stay for another few weeks."

Irwin let that thought play through his mind for a bit before pushing it away.

"Let's see what happens first," he said.

Lord Harborth nodded, then turned to Slaztragh. "Let's get Firgus to his room. He still hasn't fully recovered from hearing that thirty years have passed."

"Yes, My Lord," Slaztragh said, looking up at Irwin. "Master Cardsmith, thank you for saving my ward. I am forever in your debt."

As Slaztragh walked out of the room, Lord Harborth turned to Irwin one more time.

"Also, Greldo and I have been speaking with the other nobles and all the guild masters still present here about the Guidar problem. A few of them have been contacting their main families or larger branches on The Tweelak Branch. Your friend has the details, but it seems the knowledge has already started passing through the network, and a few reactions have come from some of the Central Branches, some of which I hadn't even heard of before," Lord Harborth said. "We have been careful not to include both your names in any of this, but I fear some others will have connected the dots by now. It is impossible for me to be sure they haven't spoken about Cardsmith Rodd, so it might be best if you don't use that name going forward."

Irwin grimaced as the Lord walked away, leaving him alone in the room he'd been holed up in for over a month. He'd barely done anything but cardsmithing, and with the reason for that now done, he was at a moment's loss of what to do.

"Kid, go and see what Greldo's doing," Ambraz said, landing on his shoulder. "If there's even information from the central branches, things down there must be going poorly. Sending messages from here to there requires more soulforce than even you can comfortably hold."

Irwin cocked his head. "So, how do they do that then?" he asked, curiously.

"Ugh, I'm sure I told you this before. It's the soulcrystal shard in The Central Registrars. Remember?" Ambraz said. "It can hold a vast amount of soulforce."

Irwin frowned as he thought about the soulgem. It felt like ages ago when he'd taken one from Doomblade. What had Bron called it? Greeny? He'd not paid a lot of attention to the soulcrystals, but something about what Ambraz just said…

"How much soulforce?" he asked

"No two are the same, but the one back on Granvox could hold at least ten times what you can," Ambraz said. "And before you dismiss that… you can hold more soulforce than anyone I've met."

Irwin frowned. Only ten times didn't seem like a lot. He'd been wondering if he could use them for his experiments with creating handcards.

Still…

"So, if I can increase my soulforce by ten times and get my hands on one of those crystal tablets, I could send messages across the Portal Gallery?" he asked.

Ambraz's mouth opened, then closed, and he let out a strangled curse.

"Every time I think you can't surprise me anymore," he grunted, but a wide grin came to his face. "Yes, and you don't even need to get ten times more soulforce. You would just need to charge the soulcrystal over a few days."

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Irwin hummed as he dropped onto his couch, which creaked dangerously. "Tell me again why we don't have one so the others can contact us?" he asked.

"Have one… are you crazy? First, because those things aren't just like cards that can be found! They are sent to other branches from the Central Branches. They are gathered in a world that is probably one of the most closely guarded secrets in the entire Portal Gallery!"

Irwin grinned as he watched Ambraz sputter for a good five minutes about how rare the soulcrystals were.

"Alright, but say we can get one? Maybe from one of the shattered worlds?" Irwin asked. "Could we use it to talk to home?"

"To receive a message, the soulcrystals need to be connected to the network. This requires them to be in a world that is at least rank two because they need ambient soulforce," Ambraz grumbled. "You could, technically, take one with you and use it to send messages, but you wouldn't be able to receive messages. Also, before you ask! The connection process is lengthy and requires a lot of ambient soulforce. After it is connected, the soulcrystal is however, findable through the network…"

Irwin grimaced as he remembered he'd already known that. The implication was simple. If the soulcrystal in Eluathar's Central Registrar was connected to the network, they wouldn't be hidden anymore. Not something they were ready for yet.

"Too bad," he said with a sigh. "I guess we need to try and find more shadow teleport cards, as we talked about back on Mudball."

They chatted about the possibility of having shadow teleports that could cross the length and breadth of a Portal Gallery Branch for some time as Irwin unwound from creating, shattering, and then reforging another heartcard.

After Irwin got bored with coming up with hypothetical card scenarios, he walked out of the room he'd used to reforge the cards. He wasn't sure he'd return to it, as that would depend on how long they remained.

Walking through the elaborately decorated corridors, he had to keep his head down while crouching below some of the corridors until he reached the high-ceilinged main hallway. Still, even then, he was happy when he made his way outside. Stretching his arms up and out, he felt his back pop a few times.

The fake sunlight that glowed down from the runes in the distant ceiling cast long shadows from the building while a faint breeze rustled the leaves of the surrounding garden forests. Waves and clouds of Soulforce rippled, pulsed, and wafted around while a cacophony of songs mingled into an incoherent mess.

Irwin quickly scanned around for his friends before suppressing his latest card.

"They are training again," he said, shaking his head.

"It's such a surprise, isn't it?" Ambraz asked. "There's little they can do here, and by now, everyone knows there's some enormous war on the horizon. Isn't that why you are doing all you can to grow stronger?"

"I know," Irwin said as he stretched his legs, enjoying the sense of not having to shorten or slow his steps.

Knowing he didn't need to reforge any cards soon, he let more of it flow into his Gentril's Body Control card. There was barely any sense of shrinking, even with his immense soulforce lake draining into the card.

"How much longer are you going to wait before making your next heartcard?" Ambraz asked.

"I'll make it after we leave," Irwin said, hearing the distant sounds of laughter and shouting.

"Why not here?"

"Because I don't want to risk someone interrupting me while forging it," Irwin said as he reached the forest, the fresh scent making him smile. "Although things have settled somewhat, this city is so big that I don't like the chances of someone lurking about who is powerful enough and harbors some resentment against me."

"But you are not waiting till you have shrunk more?"

Irwin hesitated as he walked through the trees to see his distant friends.

"I'm eight and a half feet now," he said softly. "I can't stay this big, but if I wait for eight feet like I had planned, it will take three months more. With Greldo's new speed, it will take almost two months to reach Suiderfuix. I will use all that time to shrink, and a few days before we reach it, I'll make my heartcard."

"Kid, the chances of the ability remaining are high…"

Irwin didn't respond. He knew Ambraz was trying to make him feel better, as both of them knew that it wasn't at all certain what would happen when he started reforging the card. Although the cursed titan card was still dormant, it might not stay that way if he started removing things.

"Rodd!"

Irwin looked up to see a tall, metallic, black-skinned girl wave at him, a wide grin on her face.

Just seeing Brecca made Irwin conflicted. On the one hand, he felt an innate joy at seeing her, as if he was looking at his sister and someone he knew by heart. On the other hand, he knew that was a mix of how he'd lived through her memories during the creation of her new heartcard, combined with how her heartcard had gained close to half of what it was from his soulscape. He knew Brecca's heartcard was some form of a Firesteel Elemental hybrid, just like his. Although she didn't have his devouring flame or steam control, she had become able to see in the dark, and instead of a hammer, she now had an enormous, stony-spiked club that she could summon and resize as she saw fit.

She even had some control over stone instead of fire!

Besides those things, her body had changed from small and stocky like all Oynxians to tall and muscular, and with just one heartcard, she was physically more powerful than most of Lord Harborth's guards that had two soulcards.

"If you can do that again," Ambraz whispered to him. "you could create an immensely powerful army with more people who have a Firesteel Elemental body-altering card."

Irwin grinned at Brecca as he crossed the sandy training ground, waving at Greldo, Nisziz, Klatzi, and Fuchsi sitting to the side, eating something that smelled nice and spicy.

Yeah, and it might mean I'd be creating more people who feel like siblings to me while they aren't really, Irwin thought.

No, he wasn't planning on making anyone like this again if he could help it. There were probably other ways to create powerful people that wouldn't upset his own mental balance this much.

Until you have no other choice, a tiny part of him whispered before Irwin could squish it.

"Brecca, how is your practice going?" Irwin asked as Brecca reached him and grabbed his arm, trying to pull him toward the others.

He wondered what his young self would have thought if he'd seen a close to seven-foot black metal girl pull a pale copper giant forward. Or when he'd heard that he was going to be the giant. Probably scoffed in disbelief.

"So, are we leaving?" Greldo asked, looking at him wearily.

Irwin saw his friend had bags below his eyes, and he kept yawning in between bites. He thudded down on the ground beside him, while Brecca returned to her spot next to Fuchsia and Klatzi.

"Not yet," he said. "We are going to wait for Lord Harborth to find us a ship."

Greldo groaned, biting down on a tough, nut-like fruit, and crunching it with a cracking snap.

"I can't take talking to those nobles much longer! They keep trying to figure out where we are from and asking for favors; most of those are for you to reforge cards for them or create heartcards," Greldo muttered, glaring at another of the nut-like fruits. "It's like they don't understand that if the Guidar comes here, it's going to hurt them as much as the commoners!"

Irwin frowned. He'd thought the conversations had been going pretty well, especially after talking with Lord Harborth.

"Are they all like this?" he asked, wondering if he needed to go and talk with them himself, perhaps becoming a bit angry.

Greldo sighed, leaning back against Coal, who was snoring softly behind him.

"No. Most have begun preparing, either by contacting the main branches of families or guilds, but there's a few… and they just keep coming back!"

"It is normal," Nisziz said, though Irwin could see the slight smirk as she looked at Greldo. "There will always be some nobles and rich people who only search for ways to improve their own position. You have been doing very well, actually. Perhaps I should suggest to Blademother Tiscian that you could become the mediator between Igniz and your homeworld when the time comes."

Klatzi, Fuchsia, and Brecca let out a collective giggle while Greldo let out a pained groan.

"Not in a million years," he said. "After everything is done, I'm going to get a ship and sail across the Portal Gallery, and if I ever have to deal with annoying nobles ever again, it will be too soon."

"Will you now? And what will Dahlia think of that?" Nisziz asked, her grin becoming predatory.

"She will come along," Greldo said, looking up with a happy gleam in his eyes. "She said she would before we left… though man, I wish I could see her now. I miss her."

Irwin blinked, and his own thoughts moved to Scintilla and his children, then to his mother and brother and all the other people back home.

"Yeah," he rumbled, sharing a sad look with Greldo.

"Ugh! Stop being so depressing," Brecca shouted, pushing herself up. "Rodd, help me practice! I want to try that swirling motion you showed me a few days ago, but nobody can remain standing to practice it properly!"

"That's because you weigh three tons," Klatzi said, shaking her head miserably. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to remain standing if someone who weighs ten times as much as you pulls you around?"

"Not yet," Brecca said as she ran to the center of the training field. "Come on, Rodd! Show me!"

Irwin couldn't stop himself from bursting out laughing, and he got up, walking to the girl that every part of him demanded he accept as his sister.

Brecca laughed as an enormous club appeared in her hand. It was angular at the top, with patterns and engravings that were hard to see in the dark, dull stone. The length and width of one of Irwin's legs, Brecca put the tip on the ground, causing a dull thud, showcasing how heavy it had to be.

"Ready?" she asked as soon as Irwin stood before her.

"Hey, don't start fighting just like that," Ambraz shouted, flying from Irwin's shoulder toward Greldo and landing on Coal's head. The hound's ears merely twitched, giving no other reaction to the Ganvil's presence.

"I'm ready," Irwin said.

He'd barely finished when Brecca jumped forward, spinning the club around in a rough pattern. As it moved to the ground, its tip grew, and she was carried up while it shrank as she landed. She repeated it again in a flash before the club rushed toward Irwin's head.

She got faster, Irwin thought, wondering what Crithan would say if he saw someone else using the techniques he'd taught Irwin.

As the bat zipped to his head, he contemplated just hitting it. Then he saw Brecca's excited look, and he sighed, using his kinetic energy to move slightly and grab the tip as it swung by.

"Yes!" Brecca shouted as the club became even bigger.

Irwin felt his momentum being carried sideways by the club, though he knew he could easily stop it if he wanted to. Instead, he let himself be swung sideways, hurling a few feet through the air before landing on his feet.

Brecca landed beside him, raising her hands in the air and whooping.

"I knew I could do it," she shouted. "Can we try again?"

Irwin laughed and nodded.

They continued practicing for the rest of the day, with even Greldo joining in. Irwin quickly found that even if he could see where he was heading through his soulforce senses, training against someone who could move as fast as Greldo was incredibly difficult. He also quickly found out Greldo's weaknesses, something he should have realized during their fight against Lasther and the others.

As Klatzi was practicing against Fuchsi, he sat down beside his friend.

"We need to get you a way to do more damage," he whispered.

Greldo snorted. "Do you really think there are more like you running around here?"

"I'm not saying you're not doing great," Irwin said, shuddering as he recalled being wrapped in shadowy tendrils. It was a good thing he could teleport out of those. "I've been thinking… perhaps you should get a sword for your remaining cardslot."

Greldo blinked, raising one of his shortswords. They were well-made but showed the signs of wear and tear gained over many battles.

"Won't that cause issues when you create my next heartcard? Mine can't have as many things as yours…"

Irwin grinned. "What would you say to a diamond heartcard then?"

He burst out laughing at his friend's gaping mouth.