Irwin's Journey - The Cardsmith

Irwin stared at the swirling patterns of colors and imagery that hung above Ambraz's shiny surface as he brought down the hammer perfectly in time with the soft tune he was humming. All of his cards vibrated in harmony, forcing the card lying on Ambraz to resonate along. The yellow-bordered card trembled slightly, showing that the resonance was going against its normal predetermined path, but Irwin barely noticed.

For weeks now, he'd been doing nothing but reforging cards and forcing them along different paths. It had taken him two weeks to get a hundred percent topaz card that wasn't the card's default path. Now he had been working almost three weeks on reforging cards up to emerald. He still couldn't get over ninety percent without Ambraz's help, but it had been days since he'd failed.

As he struck again, a minute increase in the card's resonance came, and he knew he was closing in on the end.

"Now," he whispered in between his hum.

"Ready," Ambraz grunted.

Irwin drew a deep breath and then focused on the bright pinpoints or holes in the card. Readying himself, he struck down on the card, and unlike he normally did, he let his hammer rest while he forced his cards to continue the single note they had just held. A deep humming seemed to pass through him while he felt his hammer shake softly. It felt as if something was trying to push the hammer up and away from the card, but he kept it there with little effort.

The cards resonating turned to a high-pitched whine, and the pressure increased. Slowly the whine seemed to interfere with the resonating of his own cards, and Irwin clenched his teeth as he tried to keep everything in balance.

"Three… two-" Ambraz counted down slowly.

Irwin felt his hold on his own cards start to slip when Ambraz reached one.

"One, up up!"

Irwin pulled his hammer up just in time to keep the cards resonating along properly. The pinpricks of light all across the card had dimmed noticeably but were still there.

"Again," Ambraz grunted.

Irwin kept humming, then at the right moment struck the card again, keeping his hammer down as the whine began again, the buildup returning.

This time Ambraz began counting sooner, which was a good thing as Irwin felt his cards slowly pull from his control. On one, he pulled his hammer up, and this time half of the holes were gone, with only two left. He couldn't help a massive grin from spreading across his face.

Finally!

"Don't party just yet," Ambraz snapped. "Once more!"

Irwin grinned as he swung down, leaving his hammer on the surface again. This time the pressure was substantially less, and the whine not as painful, and with little effort, he managed to keep up the low hum until Ambraz told him to pull up.

None of the tiny pricks remained, the card now nothing more than the distorted image covered in a few black smudges of potential.

Irwin let out a laugh, interrupting his humming, but it didn't matter. With perfect control, he finished the final few strikes, stopping when he sensed the card's resonance peak and a clear chime sounded out.

"Finally!" he shouted as he dropped his hammer, which didn't even touch the ground as he unsummoned it unconsciously. He picked up the card, inspecting the final product.

"And?" he asked.

Ambraz was quiet for a moment, then scoffed. "Ninety-one percent…."

Irwin whooped as he clenched the card and grinned at the Anvil.

"I'm ready!" he said before focusing on Ambraz. "Right?"

Ambraz let out a soft laugh. "Kid, did I tell you that you're a monster? Yes… you are ready. To become capable of reforging over ninety percent emerald cards in a year. That has to be some kind of record."

Irwin sighed as he walked to the table in his enclosed smithing area. Putting it down on the stack of 'finished' cards, he nodded.

"Forty cards," he said as he tapped a finger on the table before looking at the stack beside it. "And over thirty left to work with."

"Are you really going to give them all away?" Ambraz asked, sounding annoyed.

Irwin didn't answer, instead pondering about how many cards he would need for his plan.

"Irwin?" Ambraz asked.

"For the tenth time," Irwin muttered as he looked up. "Yes. I'm going to give them to Crithann to divide among the people. We need to get more people powerful, and-"

"Can't you at least keep the emerald ones? What are you even going to trade at the auction?"

Irwin frowned, then shook his head as he patted his pocket. Six cards sat inside.

"These will do. You said they were exceptionally rare, and everyone would want them. Right?"

Ambraz began grumbling before he finally continued.

"Yes, they are. But-"

"Come on! We will probably stay here for over nine years, and I don't want to be stuck in this town for all of that. We need to get rid of those imps and retake the portal," Irwin said.

He thought back to Greldo's weary resignation when they had decided to remain in the town until Yogog and Irwin had reforged cards for as many people there. Even Hotzli had had enough, and had started exploring the surroundings together with some of the other Ignitzions. Worse, as more and more people had joined, they had resorted to Yogog taking a half dozen apprentices while Irwin took on all the reforging he could. After having seen Yogog teach the young Viridians a few times, Irwin was pretty sure he had gotten the better end of that deal.

"Fine… you are right, but I still think you should keep some more cards," Ambraz muttered.

Irwin ignored him as he took the top six cards from the stack.

"So… six cards, right?" he said as he turned to Ambraz, who was still standing in the middle of the room.

"Yes," Ambraz said, and Irwin could hear his interest growing.

After having talked and worked with the Anvil for so many hours each week, he had begun picking up on tiny things. One was that Ambraz turned short, snappy, and disgruntled when he didn't agree but could be easily placated with the promise of a card meal. He also didn't dislike explaining things half as much as he led on but seemed to just enjoy acting annoyed.

Irwin moved to the side of the room and picked up the normal, heavyset smithing hammer. It felt odd in his hands, even after he'd used it for a dozen cards. Still, if he was going to reforge his own card, he wouldn't be able to use it. He'd used his fist when he'd turned it to topaz, but he had found that using a hammer was much easier.

"Alright, let's do this!"

"Right away?" Ambraz asked, sounding surprised. "Don't you want… I don't know, some rest?"

"No," Irwin said. "The previous card will serve as a warming up. Besides, you are going to do most of the heavy lifting this time. Remember?"

"Ugh, don't remind me," Ambraz snorted. "Fine. You still want to focus on being able to change it after it's summoned?"

"Yes," Irwin said. "It will greatly help as I battle, and I don't want to focus on purifying metal."

"Alright, that means you will also limit what you can do during the final two reforgings," Ambraz muttered.

Irwin just nodded. They had discussed this before, and he knew the only reason Ambraz was hesitating was because he felt Irwin should fully focus on smithing.

"Alright! Let's get this done then," Ambraz shouted. "Pull up the card and place it down!"

Irwin grinned as he did as asked, and he looked at his hammer card with a grin. It had less bright stars on it than the previous card, which meant it would be hard to remove them. Less of them meant a higher pressure and a more difficult process of removing them. Ambraz said it was because the Soulforce came out under higher pressure.

Glad he is helping, Irwin thought as he began humming the song Ambraz had taught him over the last few days.

"Good, that was perfect," Ambraz said as he finished. "Now, remember. No matter the pain, keep your cards resonating along with the tune. I'll take care of the rest."

Irwin nodded as he felt a tiny bit of worry grow. It was time to see how much his Smoldering Heart was going to help him deal with the pain.

Forcing his worry down, he took deep breaths to calm himself, and when he felt up to it, gazed at the card, raised his hammer, and slammed it down.

Pain seared through his mind, through his hand, and crawled up his arm. He immediately knew that the pain wasn't at all less than it had been. But as he clamped down on it and focused on his cards, he also knew things were different now. As much as the pain hurt, he barely felt his control slip.

"Good! Keep it up, kid!"

It's not lessened the pain, Irwin thought absently as he waited for Ambraz's signal before striking again. It has increased my tolerance for it.

Three hits later, he couldn't stop a groan from slipping out, but as he continued, a few groans of pain were the worst that happened.

--

Greldo lay on the couch in the downstairs room, staring at the door that led to Irwin's smithy. Pained groans followed thunderous booms while a tight, strained voice hummed a song.

Below the voice, a second hum was slowly increasing in power. It wasn't as powerful as what he'd heard when Irwin and Ambraz had been fixing the heartcard they had found, but it was similar.

"Will he be okay?" Scintilla asked as she paced through the room, looking at the door every few steps.

"You were there when he did it before, right?" Greldo asked, looking at her in surprise.

"Yes. But… well, he said he would do it again, but never did. So I thought- well, I thought he'd learned from it?" Scintilla muttered.

Greldo grinned as she saw her worried look, and he couldn't help but shake his head.

"I wasn't there for it, but I know that wasn't the first time he did that," he said as another pained groan came from the other room.

"What?" Scintilla asked as she turned to him.

"Irwin has another friend, Daubutim, and he told me about the previous time he did this. He did two in a row, screaming at the top of his lungs each time. This is… a notable improvement if you ask me."

Scintilla turned to the door. "Why does he go this far? Is it to prove himself?"

Greldo leaned back and gazed at the ceiling as he pictured Malorin. He didn't think about the town Irwin and he grew up in a lot nor about his own father. His youth had been one of pain, both physical and mental, but he knew it hadn't been like that for Irwin. Although they had both been outcasts at the school, at least his friend had a loving mother and brother. Would he act like this if he had people like that waiting for him?

Probably, he thought. He just had to picture Irwin remaining on Giard, the planet ready to shatter. He'd go out of his way to save his friend.

"He wants to save people in our world," he said.

"Don't your soulcarded take care of that?" Scintilla asked as she looked in wonder.

"We don't have any soulcarded on Giard," Greldo said. "Or any heartcarded."

Scintilla's mouth fell open, then she shook her head.

"No heartcarded? How is that even possible?"

"We are from a farming world," Greldo said. "One that was found some hundred years ago."

"Ah…"

Greldo noticed a pained look across Scintilla's face while she gazed at the ground.

"So, it didn't shatter yet?" she asked.

"Not yet."

"How long…"

"Soon," Greldo said as he absently noticed the pained grunting and the thudding had stopped.

The door was swung open, and Irwin stepped out. Sweat matted his forehead, some having run down his neck and causing his metallic-like hair to have a wet sheen to it. Drops ran down the open side of his vest, across his incredibly muscled physique, and although his face looked weary, his eyes were burning as he looked at them. Greldo noticed a thin shadow was showing on his jaw while the hair beside his ears was growing down.

"We will save them," Irwin said. "I will become a high-rank Smith, and they will help us teleport as many people away to a safe area when we return!"

Greldo grinned as he pushed himself up, gazing at his friend who towered over him.

"Definitely! And what do you mean, will become? You're a high-rank smith already!"

Irwin grabbed his braid and gazed at the yellow-colored topaz rank stone.

"Not yet. I'll need to become an official Emerald-rank smith," he said. "Or perhaps I can become a Ruby rank."

Greldo grinned, his gaze turning to Irwin's right hand. He felt a tiny bit of jealousy at the clarity of the two cards there, but he ignored it.

"So. Did you get another power-up?"

Irwin laughed as he raised his hand. With a flash of his card, a normal-sized hammer appeared. As he looked at it, he frowned, then the hammer began changing. Its head grew wider and thicker while the haft elongated. Within moments, a hammer with a head almost the size of Irwin's chest and a handle so long the tip reached his chin stood before him. Greldo saw the corded muscles on his friend's arms as he tried to lift it, but the hammer barely budged.

"So you can change it without unsummoning it and make it even bigger?" Greldo asked.

Irwin looked up with a grimace. "Yeah, too bad I can't really use it like this."

"Just go into your shiny mode," Scintilla said as she leaned against the nearby wall. None of her previous worry showed as she looked at Irwin with glistening eyes.

"Later," Irwin said as he unsummoned the hammer. "I'm going to take a steam shower, who-"

"Me!" Scintilla shouted as she jumped forward.

Greldo looked at them and shook his head. He didn't like the wet cloud wrapped around him.

"I'll pass, thanks."

After some banter, the other two left, and he leaned back on the couch.

"I wonder when the others will return," he muttered, getting a soft whine of agreement from Coal.

--

Over a month after Irwin had reforged his hammer, he was softly humming a tune. Standing in the forge, he enjoyed the sensation of reforging a card along its predispositioned path. He'd found that working with the cards was more enjoyable than forcing them along a path.

By now, he was able to reforge up to three cards from quartz to topaz each day and a single one to emerald. Every few days, a stack of Amethyst cards would come from Yogog and his apprentices, which would increase his output, but even then he felt drained. As much as he enjoyed reforging, he'd been doing nothing but for months now. Well, if you didn't include the training sessions with Crithann, which were becoming more and more difficult.

A horn began blaring outside.

"One," he muttered as he counted the horn blasts. "Two, three, and anew"

A fourth horn blast interrupted him, and he looked up. The double door was open, leading to the square that had become known as the smith's quarters, although some even called it Irwin's square. People that had been moving about outside had stopped, and he saw worried looks and conversations begin. Then a fifth horn blast came.

"Shit!"

Irwin ran to the door, and he heard a soft whirring behind him. A moment later, Ambraz landed on his shoulder, seeming unbothered by his movements.

Neither spoke as Irwin dashed outside and across the square. He wasn't the only one, as dozens of people were running around. Some were heading home, but many ran ahead and around him toward the westgate.

"Smith, do you know what's going on?"

Irwin looked up to see two Viridians run beside him, both wielding carded weapons, which he knew because he'd made both of them.

"No idea," he said. "But-"

Another horn blast came, and he saw the younger of the two Viridians look around worriedly.

"Are the imps attacking again?"

Irwin didn't respond, but as they reached the main road, he saw a group of hundreds of Viridians congregate at the gate. Coal stood out to the side, and he saw Greldo and Scintilla walk up the staircase to the defense tower.

Running through the street, then passing Coal, he waved at some of the Viridians that called out to him before sprinting up the staircases that lead to the highest point in town. The platform of the top was filled with Viridian guards, and Crithann stood at the furthest edge, talking with Greldo and Scintilla. There was no sight of Yogog, but Irwin was sure he would appear soon enough.

As he moved beside the others, breathing as evenly as he had when forging, he saw a mass of tiny figures move far off in the distance. He couldn't make out any details, but he did see some carts. It would take the long line at least half a day to reach them.

"Those aren't imps," Greldo said from beside him, his keen eyes able to see the details way ahead of the rest of them. "It's mostly Viridians, but I see many others among them. They have wounded with them."

"Those are way too many to come from just a few towns," Crithann said from the side. "Perhaps they are-"

"I see Balarn," Greldo snapped, causing Irwin to look back at the group, trying in vain to see the other smith.

Wait, they are from Cinder Grove? Irwin thought as he shared a worried look with Crithann.

"Let's go and see what they are doing," Crithann said as he turned to the surrounding guards and began giving orders.

Irwin nodded, just staring into the distance. Its a shame Hotzli isn't back yet, he thought. She had gone on a mission to check on the exit portal to the gallery and wouldn't return for another week. Yogog had been annoyed, as she had forced him to promise to stay in the city while she wasn't there.

An hour later, Irwin, Crithann, and a group of over a hundred carded sprinted toward the incoming stream of people. Balarn was in the lead, and as Irwin rushed toward him, he almost stumbled when he saw another familiar smith.

Relinda?

He hadn't seen the female smith from Haudur's charter since he'd met her in one of the mission centers, and he was shocked to see her now. She was the reason for him even being here, and now she was calmly walking beside Balarn?

Why is she here? he thought, staring at her and then at Balarn.

Both were wearing worn-down rags but holding weapons, and he saw a look of deep relief in Balarn's eyes as their eyes met.

Yogog sprinted ahead, and the others followed him as he stopped before Balarn, clasping hands.

"It's great to see you are safe," Balarn said.

"How did you get here? What is going on?" Yogog asked before looking around. "Where's Ignalia?"

Balarn blinked, then shook his head. "I don't know. I haven't seen her since she left with you."

"What? So she didn't save you from Cinder Grove?"

"Save me from- no…" Balarn said as he shared a look with Relinda. "I think we should discuss this after we reach… that?" he pointed behind them at the massive Heart tree. "Do you have room for us?"

"How many people are with you?" Crithann asked.

"I don't know," Balarn said, shaking his head wearily. "Thousands… we saved as many as we could."

"Saved?" Yogog snapped, but Balarn raised his hand to stop him.

"Let's head back. I'll answer all questions, but… we need help with the wounded and food, water, and… rest."

Irwin had been standing to the side, watching it all, trying to make sense of it. As they headed back, the guards spreading out to help the wounded, he moved to walk beside Balarn.

"Are you alright?" he asked, examining the weary-looking smith. He could see the other had lost some weight, and there were calluses and small wounds across his hands that hadn't been there before.

"I am now that we've reached you," Balarn said.

"Why is she here?" Irwin whispered, pretty sure Balarn would know what he meant.

"I'll tell you soon," Balarn said with a sigh. "But there's a good reason."

Irwin nodded, and as he did, another question popped up.

"How did you even find us?"

Balarn grimaced as he looked across his shoulder. "The Viridians said they could sense a new grove in this direction. It was a gamble, and finding you was just a lucky break."

Irwin nodded. He could see that Balarn didn't want to talk anymore, so he continued walking silently, wondering what was happening.

--

Hours later, after the slow-moving mass of refugees had reached the town that was rapidly growing into a city, and people had been spread around to find space for them, Irwin sat in the now familiar room of Crithann.

A dozen people sat around the table, everyone silent as they stared at Balarn, who was deeply drinking from a glass of water. His third.

"Right," he finally said as he put the glass down and looked around. "Sorry for making you wait. I'm sure you are all curious to know what happened."

"It's fine. Just take your time," Yogog grunted, staring at the other.

Irwin saw the worry in the bald, obsidian smith's eyes.

"Almost two months ago, not too long after Irwin and the others left, portals began appearing in the forest around Cinder Grove," Balarn said, taking a deep breath before continuing.

"At first, there was just confusion, but with so many powerful carded, most portals were closed soon after being found. However, as more and more imps began appearing, harassing the tiny towns and the caravans, worry grew. Then the first smith disappeared from within the city…"

Irwin saw Balarn hesitate and look at Relinda, whose eyes narrowed as she gazed at the table.

"That was me," she said with a pained look.