Irwin's Journey - The Cardsmith

"Hairy punk! Clear out those at the left!"

Greldo held back an angry retort toward the Ignitzion group leader. Instead, he rushed to where he was directed, Coal behind him. Five imps sprinted through the volcanic landscape, giggling and laughing insanely as they swung their shortswords.

They are close to insane, Greldo thought as he jumped to the side and triggered his shadow card.

He felt the comforting embrace of the shadows as the world turned dull and black and white, and he moved to stand in the dark area beside Coal. As soon as the hound rammed into the first of the Imps, causing it to be hurtled back under the sound of snapping bones, he rushed along the shadows and appeared beside one of the Imps, slashing his daggers across its throat. The world instantly turned back into colorful focus as bright blood splashed around.

It took him only a few minutes to dispatch the Imps, and as he turned, he saw the Ignitzions had taken care of the main force that had charged them. The two Viridians were standing in the center, weapons raised but unbloodied. They continued backing up until they returned to the long caverns that spiraled through the side of the volcano. Once inside, everyone relaxed.

Failed, Greldo thought as he looked back out at the spot he knew the distant portal was.

"Good job, prettyeyes," Scintilla said as she appeared beside him. Her face was wan, blood seeping from her bandages and a few scratches across her cheek.

"You too," Greldo said. "Are you okay?"

"Don't worry, I'll be fine," she said, not convincing Greldo in the least. The wound on her hand and arm had opened due to the fighting, but they didn't have any more fresh bandages.

"Rest up. We will try again in a few hours," Lasvirish, the Ignitzion party leader, said, glaring at the dark and smooth wall.

"We are never going to force our way through," Greldo said, wondering why she didn't see it. "There's too many of them and not enough of us!"

"And what do you suggest we do then," Lasvirish said as she moved toward him with her bloodied swords to her side and an angry look on her face. "We've only found one exit portal, and if there are any others, they are likely just as heavily guarded! Besides, if we wait too long, we will only grow weaker!"

"Like I said before. Let me search for the Linchpin," Greldo said, ignoring the angry look he got.

Over the last few days, he'd gotten used to the decidedly annoying and angry personality of Lasvirish. He hadn't yet figured out if it was because she felt tricked into coming here or was always like this, but even Scintilla had begun staying away from her.

"You will either draw unwanted attention or-"

"Unwanted attention?" Greldo roared, unable to keep his anger down. The hairs all over his body stood on end, and his eyes flashed a brilliant yellowish gold. He pointed back outside. "How did this not attract attention?"

Lasvirish crossed her arms and raised her head to glare at him. "You better keep calm, you hairy punk. Just because you have some nice eyes-"

"No. He is right," Scintilla said as she stepped beside Greldo. "This unsuccessful attempt to force our way to the portal will draw everything dangerous to us anyway!"

"Be quiet. You haven't even reached your eight-sword yet," Lasvirish snapped as she glared at Scintilla.

"And you shouldn't have yours!" Scintilla shouted back. "You almost led us to our deaths!"

Greldo blinked as he gazed at the normally easygoing and composed Ignitzion.

Lasvirish shut her mouth with a snap, glaring at Scintilla with such intensity that Greldo wondered if she could ignite things with her glare. He noticed that the other Ignitzions behind her were shuffling their feet and looking worriedly. Their reaction annoyed him! Why were they all just listening to Lasvirish? If they hadn't been the ones guarding the Viridians from the constant threats, Greldo wouldn't have bothered listening to Vasvirish her demands. However, ever since they had burst into the shardworld the Imps had been hyper aggressive in their search for them and without the Ignitizions, the others would have been found and taken.

Greldo waited and watched the Ingitzions as a soft muttering came from them. It was obvious they were not agreeing with Lasvirish, who was gritted her teeth as she listened to them.

"Fine," she finally snapped. "Go and see if you can find that Linchpin. But if you encounter a large group of the assassin Imps, make sure not to bring them back to us. We can't handle more than two."

Greldo nodded, shared a nod with the two Viridians, then turned and moved away. Scintilla was following him.

"You need to stay here," Greldo whispered as he reached the exit of the tunnel.

"Are you crazy? I can stay close by and blink to you to help!" Scintilla said.

"You are wounded and tired," Greldo said as he looked at her. "Besides, I am faster if I go on my own."

Scintilla sighed, and Greldo saw her sway as she closed her eyes.

"Fine… but you better come back alive. I don't want to have to explain to Hotstuff how I got his friend killed," Scintilla finally said.

Assuming we find a way back, neither do I, Greldo thought.

He just nodded, turned, and became one with the shadows. Coal returned to his card, something he knew bothered the hound, but there was little he could do about it.

Running through the black and white, shadowy world, Greldo moved from dark area to dark area, ignoring the small clusters of Imps he sometimes encountered.

He'd gone around a few times before and knew where the Linchpin wasn't. What he needed was a top-down view so he could locate potential points of interest.

It took him a few hours to reach beyond the safety of the central volcanic area. Standing atop the edge and looking back down at the area filled with lakes of glowing lava, large outcrops of black stone, some the size of a tiny mountain, he wondered if the volcano would ever explode. If it did, what would happen to the portals? What would happen to this world? The volcano was large enough to house a large city- would the shardworld explode with the volcano?

Half a day later, he was done circling the rim, and he'd noticed two potential spots of interest. A ruin of a castle, with one of the towers still standing. It was too far for him to see if there were any Imps, but he was pretty sure there had to be. The other one was a square, almost boxlike shape in the center of one of the lakes of lava.

After thinking about it for a few moments, he decided to head to the box. Not because he thought that was the right spot, but it was easier to reach, so he could rule it out.

Another half a day later, he stood in the shadow of a massive smooth black ledge, staring at the square thing. It seemed made of the same black material as everything, some sort of molten, then hardened rock. He'd circled around it, and there was a single opening at the end of a narrow stretch of rock that led up to it. Two Imps, larger than the others he'd seen and with skin that he imagined was bright red, stood before it, wings furled on their back and large curved swords resting on the ground.

So…. what are you doing here? Greldo thought. He hesitated for a while, then moved towards the edge of the lava, staying inside the few dark and shadowy areas.

Fine, let's see what's going on there, he thought, heading across the rocky path.

When he reached the final patch of shadow before the door, he inspected the two Imps. Both had stronger features and muscles almost as bloated as those of Irwin and the other smiths. Between those and the wings, he was happy they couldn't see him.

I wonder what they are guarding, he thought as he held his breath and snuck past.

There was no response, nor did he expect one. He'd tested his skill on dozens of types of monsters, and the only ones that seemed able to detect him were the shadow-loving Nyzir.

Bloody glad it's not a Nyzir shardworld, he thought as he recalled his few escapades into those types of worlds. The shadow-loving snake beings still haunted his dreams.

As he moved through the circular opening, he entered a squarish hallway that was so high that he couldn't touch the ceiling even if he stood on his toes.

Odd… this looks very different from the entrance, he thought as he looked around.

The entrance also connected weirdly with the hallway, almost as if-

It's not the real entrance! They forced a way inside, Greldo thought as he continued ahead.

Did that mean this wasn't created by the Imps? It made sense as he had yet to see them do anything but scream, giggle, and fight things they encountered.

With there being no lights, it was easy for him to move through the dark square corridors, and he soon found that he was on a path with no branches. It just kept going forward to a ninety-degree turn before going forward again.

It's slowly winding inward, he thought. This would make for a great spot to hide a linchpin!

He continued around, noting he was also slowly moving down. The temperature increased, and ten minutes later, he saw a glow ahead. A familiar glow.

Feeling his excitement grow, Greldo moved faster, and as he turned the corner, he felt his mouth fall open in surprise. Two portals stood side by side while a few pale imps sat on stools around a rickety table. Papers lay sprawled across, and one of the imps was muttering something to the others.

Greldo looked around, then felt his hairs stand on end. Along the far left wall of the square room stood a row of rusty metal cages. A few Viridians, one Ignitzion, and a handful of humans sat inside. Some were wounded, but most seemed malnourished, staring at the ground or into the distance with vacant looks. Two of them wore familiar-looking aprons, tattered and with dried-up blood.

Those are smiths, Greldo thought, staring at the captives in dismay. Was this what was happening to them? Dragged into portals and then… what? Pushed through another?

So, where do these portals go then?

Not sure what to do, he remained quietly observing the imps. After a while, one of them threw a paper on the table and began speaking in a hissing, pain-to-the-ears voice. Greldo couldn't understand anything they said, but soon a rapid-fire conversation ensued.

It lasted for a few minutes before the first Imp moved to the cages.

"We will remove you from your cages soon," he hissed in a heavily accented voice. "If any of you attempt to cause trouble, we will cut off your feet! You don't need those for your soul thievery!"

There was no response from the prisoners, none seeming to even dare to look up.

Where do those portals lead to? Greldo thought as he inspected both portals. There was a clear difference between them, and he wondered if one of them led back to Scour.

A soft flash came from the left portal, and all of the Imps jumped up, daggers in hand, as they lined up before the portal, ready for battle. Greldo drew his own daggers. Perhaps he was going to get a chance for something?

The portal flashed again, and two Imps burst through, each dragging a struggling and shouting person along. Another Imp flashed in behind them, one arm around a large burly bald man. The Imp screeched something in their high voice, probably help when the man ripped his arms free and hurled the Imp across the room.

"Where did you bring me? You little-" he roared, turning around as he blocked a dagger aimed at his gut and retaliated by swinging his arm down. It rippled as it moved, the fist growing and turning dull gray before slamming the Imp into the ground.

"Ah, shit!" the man roared.

Greldo moved forward, ready to jump in, when two of the pale Imps blurred forward at high speeds. They dashed below the large man's swinging blows, and a moment later, a gasp came as two daggers thudded in his stomach and chest. The man coughed out a wave of blood as he struggled to remain standing, but one of the Imps kicked him, causing him to topple over.

Greldo looked in quiet dismay at the man. Should he have moved immediately?

I can't fight more than one of these things, he thought as he looked at the Imps.

The Imps began shouting at each other while they pulled the two people into cages. Greldo stepped back a bit, trying to calm himself. What should he do? He could try and get the others here, but it was a large distance, and they couldn't move around unseen as he could. So-

The second portal flashed, and he looked up. This time the Imps reacted differently, getting up and standing straight. They sheathed their daggers, and a moment later, a towering Imp stepped inside. Over twice the height of the others, wings like those of the guards sat on his back, while golden rings were attached to his nose and ears.

It looked around before focusing its burning yellow eyes on the man that was still coughing. With an angry snarl, it looked at the Imps that remained quiet. The large Imp grew angrier, and it stepped forward, grabbing one of the pale Imps and shaking it.

This time the Imp replied, and Greldo watched as the large Imp continued berating the smaller one. It lasted for a while before the large Imp shoved the other away. Before Greldo could even think of acting, it stomped on the struggling man and slammed its taloned foot on the bald skull, crushing it to a paste of bone and goo.

Greldo swallowed, remaining motionless. He had to do something. Right? But what… his gaze moved to the table on which the stacks of papers lay. What would be on those? They seemed important, so-

The large Imp stomped to the cages, and Greldo sped to the table. Moving from shadow to shadow, he reached it to find papers covered in tiny red letters or glyphs. He immediately knew he couldn't read them, but that didn't mean nobody could.

He looked up as the large Imp began talking.

"You will come out now and follow me through the portal. If you try anything, I'll eat you."

The prisoners had followed the proceedings fearfully, and Greldo saw them look around, terrified.

"Please, I'll do anything you want, but don't kill me," one of the prisoners said, tears rolling down her face.

"Good. Because as long as you do what we want, you will be useful," the Imp replied as he yanked open the cages.

Greldo quickly grabbed the nearest stack of papers. He knew the chances were big it would be missed, but there was nothing he could do about that. After some thinking, he also took a few of the papers the Imp seemed to have already looked at. Then he backed up back to the corridor while watching helplessly as the smiths were pulled out, and moments later, the room was far more empty.

The pale imps looked at each other and chattered a bit before half of them left through the left portal through which they had come. The others remained and began going through the papers again.

As soon as he saw them move, Greldo turned and ran away.

No reason to risk the Imps realizing papers were missing.

It took him far less time to reach the exit, and as he sprinted past the two guards, he heard no shouting or screaming.

One thing he knew was that the Imps were catching the smiths and moving to another world. Likely to have to reforge cards. The thing was. Why?

I hope someone can read these papers, he thought.

--

A soft whisper filled the smithy as a small group of Viridians followed the moves of the young man with the gleaming skin.

"He's been working for four days straight. Barely any rest," one of them whispered. "How can he still reforge stuff this well?"

"Perhaps the smiths have been lying to us for all these years? I've never heard of one that could reforge so many cards without fail!"

"He did fail a few times-"

"One in ten!"

"Yeah…"

"How many cards did he create?"

"Over forty in two weeks…"

Irwin didn't even notice the conversation, fully focused on the card before him. Striking it, he continued humming the short, staccato song that matched the vibrations. Every strike felt fluid, the impact exactly when he wanted it, and with a final strike, he stopped, even before the chime came that told him he had finished.

Taking a deep breath, he lowered his hammer, the room falling quiet as the card on Ambraz's smooth surface glowed bright yellow, then rapidly changed to a deep, forest green. It continued glowing brighter before dimming again.

"You did it," Ambraz said with a weary sigh. "I… I… never mind."

Irwin managed a weary grin as he picked up the card, which depicted a small tree with roots that seemed to sway around like tendrils.

So, I finally managed to create an over eighty percent emerald card, he thought as he grinned at what he was holding. He knew that it wasn't as good as it could be and that it had been a culmination of his constant forging over the last few days. If he tried another, he wasn't sure he could do it again, but none of that mattered. Technically, if he handed this card in, he would become ranked an Emerald smith.

"You're a bloody monster!"

Irwin looked to the side, where Yogog was sitting with his back to the wall. A makeshift anvil stood beside him, his own hammer and an Amethyst card lying forgotten on it.

"After we return, you should ask Tensor if you can head to one of the larger branch charters! You don't belong in such a backwater place!"

"You almost managed an Emerald rank yesterday," Irwin said back, rolling his shoulders and feeling the tension slowly ease. He knew that when he had to shape his heartcard in the future, one of the things he would definitely slot in would be greater endurance. Even after working all this time, he wasn't all that tired. A bit sleepy perhaps, but if he had to, he could still continue.

"Almost managed an Emerald rank," Yogog said, trying to lower his voice in a mock version of Irwin's. "Yeah… sure. After having been a Topaz rank smith for over five years, that's not all that weird, you know! But you? How long have you been a smith?!"

Irwin grinned as a reply before turning to the group of Viridians quietly looking at him. A pale green-haired man was the only one not looking at him. Instead, his eyes were fixed on the card, a massive smile on his face.

"Here you go," Irwin said as he stepped forward and handed over the card in his hand. "It should have the grappling roots skill or something close to it."

The Viridian reached out, hesitated, then accepted the card. He gazed at it for a moment, then looked up.

"Thank you. I don't know how I can ever repay you!"

Irwin shook his head. It wasn't the first time he'd gotten this reaction, and he now knew that Yogog had been right. As many cards as there were in this world, personalized cards above Topaz were exceedingly hard to come by.

"Please just help to rescue those in the portal," he said, repeating the same words he'd said dozens of times.

"I will! As will we all," the young man stated as he looked back at the others. All of them had cards, and there was nobody left. Everyone that wanted to help had a card, and with a happy sigh, Irwin slumped beside Yogog.

"Think it will be enough?" he asked.

"What? Do you think there is any way this portal can handle sending in over forty carded? Even if only half of them are warriors, Crithann has been training them ever since you started!"

Irwin nodded as he thought about his diminished stack of cards. Although all of the people had brought at least one card, he still ended up using most of the cards he'd gathered to speed up the crafting. Only with Ambraz's help had he been able to do what he did, and now he was left with some seven Topaz and Emerald cards.

"Thanks for the help," he said, nudging Yogog.

The other had taken over reforging the Quartz cards up to Amethyst as well as helping with getting them up to Topaz.

"Bah, don't even get me started. I can't recall having been able to work on this many uncommon cards in such a small time frame. I'm pretty sure I improved more during this week than in the entire of last year!"

Irwin grinned as he reached for a waterskin, took a deep drink, then handed it to Yogog.

"Why don't you just get more cards for practice?" he asked.

Yogog nearly choked, coughing out some water before handing the waterskin back in disgust.

"Remember how normal smiths fail a lot of reforges? You need to reforge at the edge of your ability to improve?" he snapped. "Well, there's a lot of smiths compared to cards! We aren't all blessed with an Anvil of the Gods!"

Yeah… I guess not having Ambraz would have made things a lot more difficult, Irwin thought.

They remained there for a while before heading out and meeting up with Crithann. The towering Viridian seemed both happy and worried when he told them the small army of Emerald carded were going to set out the following day. The final ones had to wrap up bonding with their cards.

Early the next morning, Irwin was back at the towering Heart Tree, this time looking at a large group of Viridians, armed with various carded weapons and armor, as they climbed down.

"Let's hope they survived until now," he said, his excitement and worry increasing.

"The Viridians of the first group are still alive," Crithann said. "Their root-cuttings have not withered."

Irwin nodded, hoping that meant Greldo was still alive too.

The portal flared up as dozens of Viridians entered in rapid succession, while Irwin, Crithannn, and Yogog watched quietly.