Irwin's Journey - The Cardsmith

"Do you think he will be alright?" Zender whispered, glancing down at Ib, who was staring at the portal from beside the cabin door.

His sister snorted. "How should I know? I don't know what Irwin's cards do, but he looks strong enough, so I guess he should be fine?"

Zender saw her gaze drift to his hand. She snorted again, turned, and disappeared into the cabin.

You're just jealous, Zender thought as a wide grin came to his face. He raised his right hand and looked at the new card slotted into the middle slot. It was much crisper and clearer than the others, which wasn't surprising as it was the only topaz card he had.

The Captain must be really rich if he can just hand out topaz-rank cards, he thought.

Zender looked around, hesitated, then raised his hand, and a long, silvery whip appeared in his hand. He smiled as he stroked the smooth surface of the handle before letting it drop to its full length, the tip nearly touching the deck's surface ten feet below him.

Finally, a good card, he thought as he flicked it around. Although it would take a while, he knew the energy of the card would sustain his body and allow him to live for at least an additional ten years. That meant he could become older than twenty, something he'd never even thought possible

"Don't hurt yourself," a soft shout came from below.

Zender looked down to find Bendi staring up at him. The man's silvery eyes were focused on his whip, and seeing the slight hunger in them, Zender quickly unsummoned it.

"You should learn how to use that," Bendi said as he grinned. "If you want, I can teach you?"

"I'll be fine," Zender said quickly. "Daubutim promised to teach me after the Captain returns.

"If the captain returns," Bendi said as he shrugged and walked towards the cabin door. "But fine, I was just trying to be helpful to a fellow crewman."

Zender watched him leave, then frowned. He had better tell Trinn to keep away from that guy. There was something weird about his behavior, especially after Irwin had given him and Trinn cards.

After a few moments, he turned his focus back to the portal, which was still crackling a dozen feet above the deck.

I really hope the Captain finds portals so I can try out this thing!

---

Irwin looked around the room he was standing in. He was surprised to see it was roughly the same size as the portal room back in Fiverio, but all of the walls were cracked, and rubble from a partially collapsed ceiling lay strewn everywhere. There were hallways on each side of the opposite wall that led away, both empty and without movement.

Although everything was tinted red and orange, Irwin saw that the underlying color of every surface was the same dull gray.

As he calmed down, he noticed a soft howling far in the distance. Focusing on it, he immediately decided that it didn't sound like anything alive but more like wind howling around a building in a storm. For the rest, everything was quiet, motionless, and… safe?

Slowly, his heartbeat went down a bit, and he realized he was holding a massive hammer while his Sweltering and flame skills were both close to triggering and swiping everything around him. He couldn't recall summoning the hammer or readying his skills, and he slowly released his hold on his heartcard's skill.

He kept his hammer in his hand, though, while starting to collect all the kinetic energy he could.

This place looks like an abandoned portal room, he thought as he scanned the ceiling.

There was just more gray beyond the cracked hole, and he guessed something had probably fallen over it. Looking at the hole, then at the portal behind him, he remembered the debris they had found. Was there a tower above him that had crashed into the portal? Perhaps that was why it had been closed?

Wait, how do you even close portals?

There was a soft rustle from his pocket, and a moment later, Ambraz flitted up and landed on his shoulder. Seeing the Anvil made his nerves settle even more, and Irwin nodded at Ambraz.

"This seems promising," the Anvil whispered before he drew in a deep breath. "No lightning storms or lava rain. Even air, and it tastes almost the same as everywhere else. Just very dusty."

Lava rain? Irwin thought as he shuddered. He might not care much for heat, but the idea of standing in a lava rain somehow didn't seem like a great time.

Still, if Ambraz said there was air, it might be about time to stop holding his breath. He hesitated before very carefully exhaling a bit of the air he was holding before sniffing the air around him. Ambraz was right. It was air, just dusty and with a musty, weird smell.

Going to have to figure out if that is toxic or not, he thought as he took a step back towards the portal. Then he exhaled slowly and drew in some more air. Nothing happened, no light-headedness or anything weird.

"Dusty but breathable," he whispered.

"That's what I said," Ambraz retorted. "Let's go and explore! If there's nothing dangerous, this is a great place to do something smithing later on!"

Irwin nodded, but he wasn't interested in just rushing forward. Instead, he began looking around the backside of the room, searching for holes and droppings that might signal small beasts or monsters.

As he moved through the room, he couldn't suppress a grin.

"What are you smiling about?" Ambraz whispered. "There's nothing here… right?"

"There's not," Irwin said as he continued looking around. "I just remembered that I've never actually used the things Bronwyn told me about when he entered portals with the rangers."

"Bronwyn… that's your brother, right?" Ambraz asked.

"Yes," Irwin said absently.

He was looking at a large flat block that stood against one wall. A portion of the ceiling had slammed into it, but he vaguely made out something below the dust on the section that wasn't destroyed. It looked like writing, but he wasn't entirely sure.

Irwin brushed the thick layer of dust and tiny, scattered debris away to reveal orderly rows of square glyphs. The falling debris had destroyed a large portion of the writing, but as he inspected them, Irwin thought they looked oddly familiar. He tried recalling where he'd seen something similar, but he was drawing a blank.

Ambraz let out a startled cry as he lowered himself toward the tablet, causing a torrent of dust to twirl away from him.

"Interesting!" Ambraz said, sounding excited. "These are Terullian glyphs!"

"And those are?" Irwin asked, still not sure where he'd seen them before.

"The Terullians were a warlike, powerful species that used to dominate the area around Dimarintsia. I don't know too much about them, but I'm pretty sure they never got this far… Even Fiverio was created hundreds of years after they disappeared."

"These things look familiar," Irwin muttered.

"Yeah, you might have seen some symbols like these scattered throughout. They did have a sizable empire before they were wiped out, and artifacts of theirs still exist."

"Wiped out?" Irwin asked in surprise.

"Well, they attacked the all-powerful and self-titled Great Portal Faction Alliance," Ambraz said sarcastically. "So somewhere in the main branch, someone sent one of the enforcement garrisons, Hegliron's First if I'm not mistaken, there, and that was the end of that."

Irwin was surprised at the weariness in Ambraz's voice. At the same time, the garrison thing sounded very familiar, and it took him only a moment to recall when he'd heard it before.

"I think Yogog told me about something similar," he muttered. "Didn't something like that happen to the Niox?"

"The Kraniox Caorthanach," Ambraz said, humming. "Right, that was a few hundred years before the Terullians and the Niox really pissed someone off. It was actually Hegliron's Second garrison that was sent there… and the war they had was gruesome, leading to one of the most well-known intentional world shatterings in recent history."

Irwin felt a ton of questions bubble up, like who or what was the Hegliron, and why were their squadrons sent everywhere? However, as he looked around, he knew that right now wasn't the time.

"So, what does this say?" he asked, pointing at the remaining lines of glyphs.

"Kid, you really think I'm like Daubutim, don't you?" Ambraz said as he snorted. "I've got no idea what these runes say. I just recognize them because there are some surviving Terullian back on Granvox."

Irwin sighed, another question rearing its head. He looked around, ready to continue, then found he couldn't get himself to walk away just yet and looked back at the glyphs. This was not some undiscovered world, which meant there was a reason for these Terullian to have been here and for the portal to have been closed.

"Can you write them down like you do with skills?" he asked.

"Always making me work," Ambraz muttered. "Did you even bring a book?"

Irwin riffled through the pockets of his tunic. He had brought most of his things, though he had left a few cards behind with Daubutim. There were two thin booklets, one containing the Galadin music sheets and the song of the Chaos Whale and another that Ambraz had used to show him the information on the cards. He pulled out the second one, a thin book that almost fit on his palm.

Thinking for a bit, he flipped it over and opened it upside down. "Can you add it here?"

"Sure, put it on the tablet for a moment," Ambraz muttered.

Irwin put the book down, and while Ambraz landed on it, he kept an eye on the exits. There was still no sign of anything, and he was slowly wondering if he'd find the exits blocked by more crumbled buildings. It would make sense, though he was curious about what had happened here.

There was a flash of light that illuminated the room, and Irwin froze as he looked around. If there was anything nearby, it would have seen that for sure.

After a few moments of nothing happening, he focused on the book that was rustling softly as Ambraz used his ability. He'd seen the Anvil write things in a book before, but as he watched the lines appear on the page with a speed he knew he'd never be able to copy, he was stunned to see that the missing sections of the stone tablet were added as well.

"Alright, that's it," Ambraz said after a few moments.

Irwin picked up the book, and as he did, a folded piece of paper slid out. Staring at it, he was about to shove it back, thinking it was Scintilla's letter when he stopped. Scintilla's folded letter was inside his music book. He kept it there to make sure it was safe. So what was this?

He hesitated as he looked around the room, then shoved it back and pocketed the book. He'd look at it later.

"Alright, let's go and see what else is in this place," he whispered.

Ambraz flitted up and landed on his shoulder while Irwin quickly went through the rest of the room. When he reached the right-side exit, he was absolutely sure that nobody had been in this portal room for a very long time. Probably not after whatever happened had happened.

Inspecting the corridor that led away, he noticed decorative patterns engraved in the walls, split apart by tears and cracks. The corridor was only a few steps deep before ending in a mass of rubble.

Right, that's no good, Irwin thought as he turned and headed towards the other corridor. It seemed only a few steps deep, but he saw no signs of a collapse. As he closed in, he saw that the corridor bent sharply after only a few feet.

Moving forward, he walked into the hall and froze. His heavy footsteps seemed far too loud in the narrow space. After listening for a few moments, he continued ahead, walking on his toes as best he could. He almost expected a snide comment from Ambraz, but the Anvil silently sat on his shoulder.

Looking around the corner, he saw a longer corridor that seemed to end in a large area. A part of the wall was ruptured, and debris had slid down, covering half of the corridor but leaving enough room for him to move past.

As he reached the debris, he took a few moments to check that the wall wouldn't collapse at any moment, leaving him locked on the other side. Then he climbed over the rocks and debris, flinching and stopping each time a bit of rock or wall slid down and created a racket.

By the time he reached the other side, he was sure that there was either nothing anywhere close to him or it was deaf.

Or it's waiting in an ambush, he thought.

As he walked towards the larger room, he gripped his hammer handle tightly, ready to act. There was a slight breeze coming from somewhere ahead.

So, definitely a way out, he thought.

Taking the final step forward, he saw a massive room filled with square blocks taller than he was and covered with more of the angular glyphs. They stood in a crisscross pattern in the room, making it impossible for him to see further than the next row. Opposite where he entered, he saw another corridor, but it was blocked by another section of the collapsed ceiling. Still, he guessed that it was another way to the portal area, meaning there had been two ways to reach it.

He didn't know why but decided it didn't matter and focused on the square blocks filled with glyphs.

Damn, am I going to have to let Ambraz copy all of this in the book? Irwin thought as he snuck into the room and looked at the nearest square block.

As he snuck through the room, he found that the entire left side had collapsed. Finding no passages leading away, he continued between the blocks.

The room seemed to continue on without end, and the fact that he couldn't see beyond the next row of blocks was slowly starting to annoy him.

Finally, after what felt like tens of minutes but was probably no longer than one or two, he stepped around a row of blocks, expecting to see the next row only to see a massive opening.

Though it had an elaborately carved doorpost with squarish figures and shapes, there was no door, and a cool breeze blew in from the sprawling mountainous visage he saw beyond.

"We're in the mountains!" Ambraz whispered. "That's fantastic. Perhaps we can find rare metals!"

Irwin didn't even bother to answer. The chances of them finding rare metals were very remote and not his reason for being here. He snuck forward, and when he reached the doorway, he saw a small tablet embedded in the wall with a single row of tiny glyphs.

Perhaps a warning? he thought.

He stepped through the entrance onto a small plateau covered with debris and rocks. One part looked almost exactly like the debris they had found in the Portal Gallery. A few dozen feet from where he stood was a low wall that surrounded the plateau.

Beyond it, mountains stretched out as far as he could see. Towering and majestical, with jagged peaks, a few looked like their tops had been snapped off, falling against the sides of their larger neighbors.

A storm seemed to be brewing far to one side, roiling clouds moving around a distant mountain peak and obscuring the otherwise star-filled sky. Far below was a valley with a shimmering surface, dark and with flowing white across it.

An ice-covered lake, Irwin thought as he looked around.

There was no movement anyway, but that didn't mean there wasn't any, and he focused on his Resonating Heat vision.

Masses of burning red specs burst to life across the steep hills and cliffs, moving around.

Irwin held his breath as he saw a dozen of them move around the steep hill below where he stood. Most were too far for him to make out any details, but three were close enough so he could see that they had four legs. He frowned as he saw one of them move across a steep surface as easily as Zender did.

As he stared at them, he thought of something, and feeling his adrenaline shoot up, he turned around to see if none were creeping up from behind. He stopped in surprise as he saw what was behind him. The doorway was part of a massive tower, so high that as he tilted his head back to see the top, he felt a sense of vertigo. Small outcrops, almost like stubby branches of a tree, sat on its sides, some of which had broken off. The main tower was riddled with holes, and it looked like someone had attempted to shatter it to pieces.

High at the top was a beacon of heat radiating outward.

There's something up there. A beacon or fire? Irwin wondered.

He stared at it for a few moments before he began searching for heat signatures around the sides of the mountain that the tower was built into. There was no sign of anything, and he walked to the side of the plateau to get a better view of the side of the tower. The mountain continued on behind it, seeming so high it could touch the clouds, though Irwin knew that it probably only looked like that because of how close he was to it.

Luckily, there was no sign of any of the heat signatures, just the ruddy outlines of the mountain and all its jagged edges, ridges, and boulders. He checked the other side and finally calmed down again.

Okay, so no imminent danger, he decided as he walked back to the front side of the plateau.

"There's definitely something here," he whispered. "There's hundreds of things wandering around the mountain."

"All of them far away, or any nearby?" Ambraz asked.

"There are a few just over there," Irwin said, pointing down the hill. "Maybe a few miles away?

"That's great! Now we just need to see if they show signs of being Addled or not," Ambraz whispered. "If they don't, then it's probably safe to say that there's either no portals beyond this place anywhere nearby."

Irwin gazed at the tiny winged Anvil on his shoulder as if it was crazy.

"And how do you suppose I figure out if they are Addled?" he whispered.

"Don't look at me like that," Ambraz said before snorting. "I know you can't fly."

Before Irwin could respond, Ambraz flitted from his shoulder and shot out across the balcony.

"Get back here, you-" Irwin began, but Ambraz was already gone.

Is he crazy? What if there are flying demons that think he's food? Irwin thought before shaking his head and laughing at his own worry. He'd probably just change into his big shape and splatter them apart.

As he observed Ambraz flying away, he slowly realized something.

Ambraz had no heat signature.

He lost track of the Anvil as he flitted around a boulder, staring stupidly at the last spot he'd seen the Anvil.

Seconds ticked by, and he kept scanning for any sign of Ambraz without avail. Then, there was a bellowing roar from below, and he saw that the nearest heat signatures were rushing along the side of the mountain as if they were chasing something.

By Gelwin's balls, he alerted those things!

Irwin's fingers tightened around the hilt of his hammer as he began searching for Ambraz. There was no sight of him, but the heat signatures began rushing down the mountain as if whatever they were chasing had turned that way.

Irwin worriedly watched them go, and he wasn't sure what to think when he slowed and came to a stop. For a few moments, they move around agitatedly before eventually returning to their previously slow wandering.

What are you doing, Ambraz? Irwin thought.

Slowly, the heat signatures began moving away, and Irwin kept searching for any sign of Ambraz. They hadn't actually caught him, had they?

No, they definitely were still looking for something at the end, he thought.

Something whisked past him, and he jerked away in surprise, swinging with his hammer.

"Don't hit me, fool!"

Irwin blinked as Ambraz whisked out of reach, hovering before him, his lips pressed in a line.

"Are you crazy?" Irwin whispered. "Don't just sneak up on someone!"

Ambraz didn't respond but flitted towards him. "Quick, run back to the portal!" the Anvil hissed as he landed on Irwin's shoulder.

The panic in Ambraz's voice was so starling that Irwin turned, unsummoned his hammer, and was running back through the doorway before he realized it.

"What's going on," he whispered as he weaved between the rune-covered boulders.

"Those things weren't partially Addled. They were completely Addled!" Ambraz hissed. "Those below were just weak things, but the thing on the top is-"

A deafening roar came from somewhere behind and above as the entire room trembled and shook. Rumbling and cracking sounds came from all around while the collapsed side of the room slumped down even further.

"-a really big one," Ambraz squealed.

A moment later, a thunderous explosion came from the chamber behind them as if something had crashed into the ground with enough force to flatten a building.

Debris and dust billowed all around Irwin, and he stoked his internal flame up to a roaring volcano, using all the Kinetic energy he'd gathered to explode forward. He slammed into one of the rune-covered blocks, dashed around it, and propelled himself forward to the next one with as much speed as possible.

His heart skipped a beat as he heard a massive shattering and heavy thudding of something chasing after him, barging through the blocks.

"Don't stop, don't hesitate, don't look back, just get to the portal and jump through," Ambraz shouted as Irwin rushed through the maze of blocks, hating the person who had put them there.

As he dashed around another block and saw the corridor that led back to the portal room, Ambraz flitted into his pocket, wiggling his way down.

"As soon as you're in the portal tunnel, summon your hammer!"

Serious? Irwin thought, feeling his stomach clench.

He caused kinetic energy to explode from below his feet, hurling him across the open area towards the exit and slamming into the wall. As he pushed himself back, a terrifying snarl came from behind him, causing his hair to stand on end.

Irwin's heart sped up as he saw the wall around him become illuminated by a pale light. He leaned sideways, letting whatever Kinetic energy he had explode from his feet, causing him to fly through the short corridor just as something heavy slammed into the wall he'd been standing at. He rammed the wall with his shoulder, absorbed the kinetic energy, put his hands on the wall, and fired it all from his palms. As he shot backward into the room, he unleashed the largest wave of fire in front of him that he could muster.

Something large passed through it, letting out an intense scream of anger and pain that rattled Irwin's ears.

He landed on his back, flipped over, and scrambled up and towards the portal that hung in the middle of the room. As he saw it, Irwin felt a wave of relief as he used the bit of kinetic energy his fall had granted him to explode towards it. Then, the entire room lit up when he heard a crackling sound from behind. His hand stretched out to the portal, and just as he felt something touch his back, he touched the portal, and everything turned white.

A moment later, he was hurtling through the familiar tunnel of energy, a slight tingling sensation in his back.

"Hammer!" Ambraz shouted from his pocket, and Irwin forced his body to flip around as a massive hammer appeared in his hand, flames rippling across the head.

"Ambraz, what was that?" he hissed. "Can it come-!"

A being that looked like it was made of gray rock and red lightning appeared above him, its massive milky white eyes seeming to gaze at nothing and everything at once. Its mouth was like a gash carved in stone, and it opened wide to let out a screech that made Irwin want to cover his ears.