Irwin's Journey - The Cardsmith

Guildmaster Mei Joulihn stared quietly at the towering smith beside her. She had expected many things, but a story about some demonic species called Guidar, who were the ones responsible for everything that was happening, from the storm, the atrocities that had been done to the smiths under her care, and the garbled, unclear message she'd gotten from an old friend on Dimarintisa…

It was clear from his calm eyes and the pure flames flickering across his rather gorgeous hair that he, at least, believed what he'd told her. But should she?

It explains some things she had to admit to herself. But in all her hundreds of years, she'd never heard anything about Guidar.

Seeing the young cardsmith's eyes narrow, she slowly took her drink, leaning back to use it to give herself more time to think.

"What I have told you is the truth," he said, his incredibly deep voice causing a soft resonance with a few items standing nearby, causing them to rattle.

Mei's mind flitted away from her control, something that had started happening over the last hundred years.

She recalled her first time seeing Fiz'rin. Unlike the brutish, unrefined Loydin, they were gentle and exuded a sort of physical strength. The wonder and awe and… curiosity it had brought her much younger self was something she still carried with her. Luckily, after all these years, she was far more in control. Still, seeing the muscular giant that looked like some relative of her own species made her old curiosity and wonder resurface again, as it had the last few weeks. Ever since…

An image flashed through her mind of the last batch of cardsmiths that had found them, saved and brought by a Yuurindi of all people, and returned her to the here and now. It took all her years of effort not to have the still-bubbling anger show on her face. They had told stories of being put into some rune-machine that had been pure agony, and many had spoken about one thing… Irwin: A Smith, the monster called Lasther, wanted for reasons they didn't know.

The same smith she'd been keeping an eye on ever since he'd been categorized as a Fiz'rin hybrid during his stay on Granvox.

The same smith was now sitting in front of her, frowning as she had yet to say anything after his long story.

"Do you mind if I ask a few questions?" she asked, realizing she'd let her mind drift for too long for the much younger beings around her to understand.

The smith's eyes narrowed, but he nodded. It took her a moment to realize she'd slipped out of her normal, carefree persona and let some of her more calculating side bleed through.

Nothing to do be done, she thought, focusing on Irwin.

"Your friend Rindiri did arrive here, and she brought many smiths with her," she said, casually dropping the answer to one of the questions he'd asked during his story. "All of them told stories about the horrible things that were done to them. While this happened, this Lasther person you told me about asked some of them questions about you… where you were and where your homeworld was."

She saw the young smith's eyes blaze with a silvery fire, and for a moment, the enormous, raging fire she could feel burning within him rippled free, causing an enormous pressure to descend on the surrounding area. Caught off guard, she barely managed to ignite her own soulforce, using it to curtail the pressure, redirecting it to her before it could cause harm to those around them.

"Cardsmith Irwin," she snapped before she could clamp down on her anger. "Keep control of yourself before you hurt someone!"

Seeing his eyes widen from either her reaction or her own pressure, Mei scolded herself. Ever since those smiths had been brought back, her mood had been horrible.

She took a deep breath, about to apologize, when she saw the anger in the silver eyes drain away.

"Sorry," he rumbled, looking at the table in front of them for a moment, visibly steeling himself before looking back up. His eyes were stormy but in control as he sighed. "As I said, Lasther was searching for cardsmiths to find something."

Mei held back a snort. Although Irwin hadn't lied, it was clear that he knew more about what was happening. She blinked as she realized she was starting to believe him…

It makes too much sense, she thought.

It explained the completely foreign ship they were still dissecting, trying to understand both some of the unknown materials and the unfamiliar runes. It explained the coordination of the attacks on the Smiths Guild, not just here but across all branches.

She still vividly recalled the warning that had arrived years ago about attacks on cardsmiths across all outer branches. With it, there had been orders to send the most promising young smiths to the central worlds so they could be protected.

Even more so, it explained that just a few years later, a foreign force had attacked entire branches.

She felt her annoyance grow again.

Even though she was a Guildleader, as one from such a distant, small branch, she knew little more than the rumors circulating.

The single message from the central guild only told her that the rumors barely scratched the surface of just how bad things had become. The rumors spoke of attacks on the branches as far from Langost as possible, but in reality, it was so much worse. Unknown forces had started attacking nearly all of the outer branches, quickly overwhelming the small local garrisons, if those branches even had any, taking thousands of portal worlds and shattering their soulcrystals.

A few other messages from the Tweelak branch's Guildmaster had shown her that he had been surprised that the Langost branch hadn't been attacked yet. He'd explained that all of the other nearby branches had been attacked and overwhelmed within weeks. Her initial theory had been that the storm had blocked them just in time, and ever since, she'd been trying to contact all the major factions of the Langost branch to create a single, unified front. Even now, after two years, she'd only gained commitment from a few families and merchant guilds, those that hadn't pulled all of their resources away from the Langost branch to secure the main-branch connection corridors.

And he knows something more, she thought, staring at the young smith. What could it be, and why wasn't he willing to tell her? It had to be something troublesome or bad, and he likely didn't trust her because he'd been more than willing to share the rest.

Should she let it slide and wait for a few days…?

He said he was going to leave after his warning, she recalled, having overheard him shouting at Mazzareth.

Another thing she couldn't understand. With how dangerous it was, why would he risk leaving the safety of Suderfuix and the Main Guild house? That he left Dismarintsia, she understood, especially after all that had happened.

She examined him. He had arrived with a tiny ship, expensive but far too small to hold the soulforce to power any true barrier. Perhaps holding his friend's ship for a few more days would be enough incentive to make him stay? No… his ship was too small to move through the storm safely for long trips. He must have a large enough ship nearby and was unwilling to bring it here. And with the power she'd felt from him just now, she knew he could just bring them to that ship within his soulscape.

As her mind continued sprinting ahead, she slowly realized that unless she wanted to try and keep him here by force, she needed to somehow figure out what was going on in another way. Recalling his anger when she'd spoken about the captured ships, another idea slowly grew.

--

Irwin grabbed another few bites to eat, occasionally looking up at the guild master. She'd gone quiet after he'd told her about the Guidar, Lasther, and the reason and source of the attacks. Now, she seemed to be deep in thought, only occasionally asking him a question before seemingly losing herself again in thought. He had no idea if she believed him, but the way her eyes blazed on occasion and the pressure that bubbled up from deep within told him she was conflicted.

And she's not the only one, he thought, as he took another bite of the Burning Earth Mushrooms.

He'd known things had been bad, had seen many of them, but hearing about the smiths that had been tortured to find him… him, Irwin Roddington, had caused an outburst of anger that had nearly overwhelmed him. If the guild master hadn't somehow suppressed his roiling soulforce, he feared he might have knocked out everyone around him.

As he took another bite, he couldn't stop the anger from growing again, though it was tightly under his control this time. For a moment, he'd worried it was the same as when he still had the cursed card, but he'd quickly found it wasn't. For one, he'd regained his composure almost immediately, but beyond that, it hadn't been the all-consuming fury he'd had back then—just… anger. The problem was that with his new soulcard, his soulforce had grown so much that the pressure he could exert was enough to cause trouble.

I'll have to thank Gloom for asking me to constantly practice, he thought, feeling his mood lighten a bit at that. It had been supposed to be training for the Nyzir, but he'd learned a great deal about controlling his own soulforce through it. Enough that he'd been able to regain control almost immediately.

"Irwin, earlier, you said you were going to leave again soon…"

Irwin pushed his thoughts away, looking up at the guild master, who seemed to have finally come out of her introspection. The carefree demeanor that she'd shown on their way there, which had cracked a few times during his story, was now completely gone, and she was looking at him with clear, sharp eyes, exuding a commanding presence.

"Yes," Irwin said, giving her a nod. "I'll need to find some cards; then, I'll go to Rindiri and leave."

"To the place Cardsmith Dahlia is at?"

Irwin frowned, wondering what she was getting at. He'd made it very clear he wouldn't tell her anything more.

"Yes," he said.

"The new orders from the main branch say that nobody below diamond-rank is allowed to leave without the permission of the guild master, being me in this case," she said.

"I see," Irwin said. "Which means…?"

"Just now, you proved that you are rather powerful, and seeing as you have managed to stay out of the hands of those who were hunting smiths, I will assume you are more than capable of defending yourself," she said, leaning forward. "However, I would like you to do something if I am to give you my blessing to leave."

Irwin stared at her, noticing a faint glimmer in her eyes. What was she up to?

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"Which is?" he asked.

"Your last known test was years ago, and it showed you at ruby rank. I would like you to do the proper testing so I can grade you. This will also give me time to contact Dimarintsia to verify what you have told me."

Irwin hummed, trying hard to prevent a smirk from growing on his face. He was about to ask her how long that would take when a soft laugh echoed through his voice.

"For a moment there, I thought I was still dreaming," Ambraz said. "But I'm very happy that I woke up when I did. I wouldn't have wanted to miss this for the world!"

"One moment," Irwin said.

He leaned back and ignored the guild master's surprised look. He moved more of his awareness to his otherself, and his giantself grinned as he looked at Ambraz flapping out of the alcove he'd been sleeping in for weeks. His anvil-like body was twice the size it had been, and his wings had become twice as large as Irwin's hands.

"You grew!"

"Course I did, kid," Ambraz said, landing on the table in front of him. "It's one of the minor enhancements I took. Can't have just you grow, right? It'd look ridiculous otherwise!"

Irwin snorted, examining his friend closely. The scar was still there, though more muted and still the same size. It made it look small compared to before, though, as it still nicked through the edge of his working surface; it gave Ambraz a slightly more rugged feel.

"So… how did it go?" he asked.

Ambraz grinned, and Irwin felt him manipulate the soulforce of his soulscape with his own. The similarity between their soulforces was so strong that Irwin knew that, except for them, most people would likely be unable to separate them, and he wondered if it would eventually be identical. Then he saw what was happening before him as more and more soulforce congregated.

Irwin rose from his seat, shoving the chair away. It clattered on the ground, causing a rumble through the building, but he didn't notice. His entire focus was on the card before him, more and more of his dual self pulling within his giant body, leaving his other body with just enough to function properly.

A fuzzy card was forming in front of him, one he recognized instantly. It was his second handcard in its final form before it was used to create his heartcard. Tempered eyes of Blasting, ruby-rank, and a hundred percent.

For a moment, he thought it would crystallize as he sensed the soulforce ripple in anticipation. Then Ambraz grunted, and the card fizzled, the soulforce rippling away and quickly losing the near-tangible form it had.

"Bah, almost thought I had it," Ambraz grunted. "Well, no matter. We can make a few later."

"What… how…." Irwin shouted, turning to Ambraz, barely believing what he'd seen.

"I told you I would increase my soulforce sensitivity," Ambraz said. "And before you ask, no, even if we form that card, we can't take it out of your soulscape. It would only be real in here, however-"

"We can practice!" Irwin shouted, feeling elated. "If we can do it here, we can eventually do it outside!"

"Exactly," Ambraz said, almost as much joy in his own voice. "We will initially be limited to the cards that you have or their initial forms, but I bet we can learn to do anything that matches their types."

Irwin let out a thunderous laugh, not even noticing how the soulforce in his soulscape began swirling around in joyful excitement as if to match it.

"Do remember we need to gather the soulforce in the real world before we can practice," Ambraz said. "Unlike in here, we probably can't hold that much soulforce in place without it either exploding or scattering."

Irwin nodded, recalling the tiny nugget of Aurorium he had and knowing it wouldn't be nearly large enough for that. However, the larger piece they had back home would be!

"The Aurorium back home," he said. "We can just fill it up and use that."

"Exactly," Ambraz said, laughing. "But that's for later. Now, how about you quickly fill me in on what happened before we stun that guild master with our amazing skills?"

Irwin laughed again, then quickly told Ambraz what had happened after he'd fallen asleep, including the moment he'd almost lost control over his soulforce pressure.

"We will be working on that later then," Ambraz grunted. "If you did that around non-soulcarded, you might cause some of their handcards to shatter."

Irwin gazed at Ambraz in stunned silence.

"What?"

"Kid, you have two Ammolite soulcards and an Ammolite heartcard that give you a larger soulscape than any six-carded I have heard about… what do you think would happen if you resonate all of that soulforce around people?"

"Dammit…" Irwin muttered. "What if I do that around Scintilla and the kids?"

"Don't worry. As long as I'm awake, I can control it," Ambraz said. "But you will need to practice way more control, which won't be easy, as it is something that others who have half your soulforce have hundreds of years to learn."

Irwin nodded, feeling distracted as he wondered what would happen if he filled his soullake again, causing his current heartcard to increase to a soulcard. Each time that had happened, his heartcard's power had increased a lot… what would that mean for his latest heartcard, which was already incredibly powerful?

"I guess I'll have to learn that before my soullake is full," he muttered.

"Exactly. Now, let's go outside," Ambraz said.

Irwin nodded, realizing the others had been staring at him with slowly growing worry. Splitting himself back equally across his two bodies, he focused on the guild master.

"Sorry about that," he said. "My bonded Ganvil just finished something, and we had to discuss something. He will be joining us now."

As he spoke, he saw a slight distaste flicker across the guild master's face, leaving as fast as it had come.

What was that about?

"Of course, it's an honor to meet one of the Monarch's progeny."

Irwin frowned at the coolness in the guild master's words, but before he could even think of asking about it, Ambraz appeared mid-air. His new size was far more obvious now that he wasn't in Irwin's giant-sized house, and as he landed on Irwin's shoulder, he felt his friend's weight. It wasn't enough to be painful, but it was considerable.

"Guild Master Mei Joulihn," Ambraz said, his deep voice cool.

Irwin glanced at Ambraz in surprise.

"Am'braz, progeny of Brazardian, I am honored to meet you," the guild master said.

Okay, something is definitely going on here, Irwin thought as he frowned.

He glanced at Greldo, seeing just as much confusion on his face.

I'll figure it out soon enough, Irwin thought as he focused back on the guild master.

"You asked me to do a test to check on my current skill level," Irwin said. "How long would that take?"

"We can administer it three days from now, and it would take roughly a day."

That seems a little long, Irwin thought. Then again, he still had to talk with the other powerful factions in the city, find Rindiri, and check if Driseog was here. As he thought about that, he suddenly realized there was an easier way to get those things done, especially if the guild master wanted something of him.

"Very well," he said. "But I will require a bit of help from you in that case."

The guild master, who had smiled at his first words, froze and cocked her head in question.

"I need to find my friend, Rindiri," Irwin said. "And I need to warn the other factions."

The guild master's smile returned. "I can help you with that."

"Also," Irwin said. "Can you find a merchant by the name of Driseog? He belongs to the Greenbark Merchants Guild. It is likely that he is currently in the city."

"I have heard of him," the guild master said as she tapped her lip in thought. "I'll see that I find him."

"Good," Irwin said, smiling at her.

"Shall I bring you to the Guild House then?" the guild master asked. "Every smith that arrives here has free accommodations, and even with as many as we are currently housing, there should be enough space for you and your crew. We would also pass through many places that still have cards, and I'm sure you can find what you are looking for."

Irwin only hesitated for a moment before accepting.

"That sounds good," he said, looking at the table and finding it mostly cleared of food.

"Then let us head out," the guild master said, smiling widely as she waved at the waitress.

--

Over six hours and a dozen card shops later, Irwin and the others walked through the gates into an enormous courtyard.

"Welcome to the Main Guild House of the Langost Branch Smithsguild," the guild master said.

Irwin looked at the sprawling building complex that seemed to slowly ramp up in height like stairs until they reached the trunk of another enormous tree. The Main Guild House was built up, and inside it, it looked like an ant's nest. People were walking everywhere, and it generally reminded him of the Golden Friction Academy on Granvox.

Walking beside the guild master, he noticed many people staring at them as they walked deeper into the compound.

"This is like a small city all by itself," Klatzi exclaimed.

"So it is," the guild master said, laughing gently as she smiled at the Ignitzian. "With tens of thousands of smiths currently living here, it is also busier than it has ever been."

"Did you manage to bring most of the smiths to safety?" Irwin asked as he looked around, wondering if all of the people he saw were smiths. His soulforce vision was overloading, and after a few moments, he turned it off so he wouldn't get a headache.

The guild master looked at him, and he saw her focus on Ambraz before looking at him.

"Sadly, no. Barely ten percent are here," she said, her face filling with sorrow. "Many perished or were captured, and I can only hope that the others managed to reach one of the other safe worlds we created."

So many are here, and it's just ten percent?

"How many smiths are in the Langost branch?" he asked.

"Officially, there were just over five hundred thousand," the guild master said, sighing sadly. "How many are still alive, I cannot say. We have close to fifty-nine thousand here right now."

Irwin's mind boggled as he pictured that many cardsmiths, but when the guild master continued, he was stunned.

"We are one of the three smallest main branches," she said, giving him a wry smile. "If you continue to the central worlds, you will find that there are far more cardsmiths. That said, very few ever manage to even reach topaz rank."

Irwin nodded as he followed her deeper into the building. They crossed many shorter paths with open buildings at the end, and he was stunned to see one filled with young children, barely ten. They were staring intently at an Onyxian who was as wide as he was tall, his hands wreathed in flames. He was striking down onto an anvil above which Irwin saw a card hover, his booming voice carrying out.

"As you see, little ones, the soulforce tints the flames," the man shouted over his thunderous strikes. "For those who can sense it, you may notice that the heat is also different. My goal is to create a gradient of heat, with the hottest part in the middle and colder as it goes further out.

Irwin focused on the card and the flames, turning his soulforce sensitivity up.

The flames were clearly soulforce-created, and they produced a beautiful resonance. As he watched, the teacher continued striking it, sometimes slowing down and pointing at a nearby forge fire and explaining that it was perfectly viable to use those flames as guidance.

Halfway through, Irwin noticed a tiny inconsistency in the resonance, and curiously, he tried to see if he could detect the same in the fire. It took him a few moments, but eventually, he noticed that at the bottom, near the anvil itself, a tiny hair-thin tendril of flame was slightly out of tune. Either the teacher didn't notice or didn't care, as he continued, letting the mistake grow slightly more until he finished the card, Irwin shook his head.

"Ninety-eight percent," he grumbled.

"Very good!"

Irwin blinked as he turned to the side, where the guild master looked at him appreciatively. Behind her, Greldo looked bored out of his mind, though Klatzi curiously looked at the smiths teaching the children.

"You are very sensitive to the flames! I thought I had read that you use soulforce resonance and music to forge… was that wrong?" the guild master asked.

Irwin shook his head as he followed her lead and continued forward.

"No, that is correct," he said.

The guild master's eyes widened slightly, and she hummed but didn't say anything.

After a long walk and many distractions later, they reached a six-story building with a larger-than-average entrance.

"This is the building we house all large-sized smiths," the guild master said as she walked inside ahead of them.

It wasn't anything like what Irwin had expected.

The walls inside the building were jagged stone covered in ivy, while bushes covered the furthest wall. What looked more like the inside of an inn, with dozens of tables surrounded by sturdy-looking benches, stood on a carpet of pale yellow grass. The ceiling was so high that even standing on his toes and stretching, Irwin couldn't touch it. An older Viridian man, hair dark green, walked towards them, nodding at the guild master.

"Guildmaster Joulihn, how may I help you?"

"These are my guests. Could you give them three rooms, preferably adjacent?"

The man frowned. "I fear we only have two rooms left."

Irwin stepped forward. "That is fine. Greldo and I can share one."

The man nodded, looking somewhat relieved, his bark skin splitting in a smile.

"I'll have a message sent to your friend, Rindiri," the guild master said. "Now, I need to leave and see if Mazzareth hasn't done anything foolish."

Irwin watched her leave before turning to Greldo.

"Well, that went better than expected," his friend said, grinning. "How about we find something to eat?"