Irwin's Journey - The Cardsmith

Irwin stuffed his book back in what remained of his jerkin. He'd hoped that Daubutim could read it, but in the end, even he couldn't read the Terullian script.

"It actually attacked the teleport canal?" Rindiri asked.

"Yes. The thing wrapped some sort of shadowy tentacles around it and tried to shatter it," Irwin said while holding back a groan. The headache seemed to be dropping to his neck, causing his muscles to tense up, and he rubbed his neck to try and lessen the headache. "Do you know what they are?"

"Most people do," she said, looking at him oddly.

Irwin couldn't bring up the energy to care and just waved at her to continue.

"They have many names, Shatter Omens, Advent of Cataclysm, and some even call them plain evil. Where I'm from, we call them Oculithar, the Worldgaze," Rindiri said.

"Monster works," Bendi muttered from the side.

"True, some call them monsters," Rindiri agreed. "They hover around exit portals near highly unstable worlds, and there are legends of people seeing them while they teleport across farming or mining worlds."

Zender and the girls began whispering excitedly at the other table while Ib was visibly struggling to hold back some questions.

Irwin ignored them. Something about Rindiri's words sounded familiar, but he couldn't think straight due to the headache.

"Anyway, I've never read about one attacking a teleport canal," Rindiri said.

Irwin decided to think about it later and turned.

"Do you know anything about them?"

"No," Daubutim said. "I never read about them."

Irwin was surprised at that, somehow having expected Daubutim to have read about everything. Then he remembered that for Daubutim, only a few weeks had passed compared to his year and more.

"Do we know if they can get through a teleport canal?" he asked, curious why he'd never heard anyone call it that.

"I've never heard about it if they can," Rindiri said.

"Me neither," Bendi said from the other table. "And I'm pretty sure it would have been common knowledge if there was a risk of being eaten while you travel to and from worlds!"

That makes sense, Irwin thought. The throbbing headache seemed to spread behind his eyes, and he decided it was time for him to rest.

"So we agree that we won't try again?" he asked as he looked across the table at Daubutim and Greldo.

The dark blue raven was sitting on Daubutim's shoulder, staring around with its gleaming blue eyes.

"Yes. It's too dangerous," Daubutim said. "The large disturbance the Addled made when you fled might have drawn more of those large ones to the portal area."

Irwin nodded while Greldo sighed.

"There's really no way to close it again?" he asked, looking at Daubutim.

"None that I know of," Daubutim said.

Irwin looked at Rindiri, raising an eyebrow. "Do you know a way?"

Rindiri shook her head, causing her gray and purple hair to flop around. "I only know how to open them. There's barely any reason to ever close one because even those that are overrun are used by merchant groups to train."

"Then there's nothing we can do," Irwin said, rising and looking at the others of his small crew who were watching their meeting.

"You're not going to ask us for our opinion?" Bendi asked before letting out a snort.

"Why would anyone listen to you?" Ib snapped before Irwin could respond. "Rindiri knows way more than you, and you're not even in the chain of command."

"Neither are you," Bendi said, focusing on Irwin. "Captain?"

Irwin raised his eyebrow. "Do you know of a way to close that portal?"

Bendi rolled his eyes and let out a theatrical sigh before he headed to the door. "I would have said so if I did," he said before walking out with a weary sigh.

"Captain, does this mean Mom is the first mate?" Zender asked, sounding excited.

Irwin shrugged. "I don't know what that means, but I expect all of you to do as she says unless I tell you otherwise."

Zender blinked at that and seemed to mull it over before nodding.

"Good, now everyone up. We are leaving before things exit from that portal," Irwin said.

He turned to Daubutim. "Can you go with Rindiri to decide our next course?"

Daubutim nodded, and Irwin watched everyone walk out, leaving just him and Greldo. As soon as they were gone, he groaned and put his hands on his arms. His head was still pounding, his heartcard slowly gathering new energy.

"You look like you need to rest," Greldo said softly.

"Yeah, I do," Irwin said. "I'll go and sleep in a bit. Did anything happen after I left?"

"Besides Daubutim walking around with that raven as if it's the most normal thing?" Greldo said. "No, not really. The kids are still ecstatic over those cards you handed out, and…"

Irwin pushed his weary head up as he heard the sudden uncertainty in his friend's voice.

"What?" he whispered.

Greldo leaned forward while staring at the door.

Now what? He thought, feeling a tiny bit of worry grow, which increased his headache.

"The kids seem to think Bendi is after their cards or something," Greldo whispered. "I kept an ear on them, and from what I heard, he did show a lot of interest in them."

Irwin frowned, wondering what the ex-raider could be up to. He was seriously second-guessing their initial idea of bringing him along. With Rindiri here, Bendi had barely contributed anything, with even Zender and his sisters being more useful. It was a shame that there wasn't any port nearby to leave him at and end their deal.

"Keep listening, and if he tries anything, intervene," he whispered.

"Of course I will. Now go rest before you fall asleep on the table."

Irwin nodded gratefully as he pushed himself up.

"If anything happens, wake me up," he said.

"Only if we can't handle it," Greldo said as he cracked his neck. "We really need to find a nice world soon. Coal is getting more than a little annoyed at being locked away."

"Then go on deck and see if you can detect any portals," Irwin said.

"I will. Now sleep!"

Irwin grinned as he left the galley. A few moments later, he was lying on his bed, the door and his eyes closed.

Why isn't this stupid headache going away? He thought as he rubbed his forehead. He guessed it had something to do with how his heartcard had been overloaded by overuse of his Kinetic energy ability, but he'd not had any lingering pain ever since gaining his greatly increased endurance passive.

I hope it didn't damage my heartcard, Irwin thought.

Somewhat worried, he closed his eyes and focused on his card. The throbbing headache made it difficult to concentrate, and the longer it took, the more worried he became, which wasn't helping his focus either. Finally, after what felt like forever, his vision blurred, and he appeared inside his own soulscape.

His gaze snapped to his soullake, the soulforce still almost reaching the edge just as it had the last time he looked. The card that hovered above it wasn't glistening anymore, but it also didn't look damaged.

Still, it does feel empty, Irwin thought as he gazed at the beautiful card.

Now that he was here, he could better sense that the card felt drained and somehow overstretched. Irwin inspected it for a little while, but there was nothing that gave him the idea something was wrong, and he finally couldn't resist the temptation of sleeping anymore.

He left his soulscape, which was far easier than entering it, and flopped on his side. He didn't even notice when he fell asleep.

--

"Do you think we should wake him up?" Greldo asked as he stared at the distant branch that led away from the wide area of the Portal Gallery they were currently in.

He'd been trying to detect another for hours now, and he was truly sick and tired of it.

What wasn't helping was the constant scraping and cracking noises coming from behind, where Bendi, Render, and Ib were trying to fix as much of the damage that Irwin's landing had done. According to Bendi, it wasn't too bad, though he did warn them not to walk over the damaged area.

"No. There is no sign of anything dangerous, and this is the way we should go," Daubutim replied slowly before he began humming deeply.

Greldo looked up at the noble, the first and probably only one he felt like he could trust. The single, previously piercing blue eye was slightly muddled, but as Daubutim continued humming, he saw the clarity slowly return.

"So you're cured now?" Greldo asked.

The humming faltered, and Daubutim shook his head. "No, this is nothing more than a way to work around the issue," he finally said. "If I force it, it still won't stop my mind from breaking down."

"But if someone starts humming, your dumb version is going to hum along and wake up again?" Greldo asked.

He saw Daubutim's eyebrow rise up, and he quickly raised his hand. "I didn't mean it in a bad way," he said. "But… what do we call that version of you anyway? Shattered mind Daubutim?"

Daubutim snorted, then began laughing. "Shattered mind," he repeated, shaking his head. "My father called me Dull, so I guess that would work."

Greldo's hair rose up, which, in his case, meant he turned far fluffier than normal. "Not happening," he said as he thought about his own father. That one was a brute and a bully, but compared to Daubutim's, he guessed he'd gotten the better deal. Not that he'd ever say that out loud. "Let's just go with Dumbatim," he said without thinking.

He realized what he'd said when Daubutim glared at him, the first time the noble showed any outraged reaction to his jabs. "Or not," he quickly said, waving his head.

"Just call me Daubutim," Daubutim said calmly. "I'll react to that even in my mindless state."

"Fine," Greldo said, turning his focus back to the distant branch. "So, any idea what is that way?"

"No. That branch isn't on any of the maps I have, which is exactly what we need."

Yeah, to find some magical world to hide from some ancient threat that nobody knows but Gelwin, Greldo thought.

"How long do you think he will be out for?" he asked.

"From what I saw, he greatly overused his card," Daubutim said. "I don't think he has ever experienced anything like it, and in hindsight, I should have warned him."

"Why? Can something bad happen?" Greldo asked as he looked up worriedly. He didn't believe that Daubutim would harm Irwin in any way, not after everything he'd seen and heard, but even this guy with his seemingly perfect memory could make mistakes.

"No, he just has to sleep and rest for a while and not exert his card too much. From what I know of heartcards, they are far more resilient than handcards, so as long as he doesn't do anything stupid, he will be fine."

Greldo leaned back on the railing in relief before letting out a soft, nasty laugh. "Nothing stupid, you say? Well, knowing him, we might have to tie him up then."

Daubutim didn't react, and they remained on the deck for a while as the wind grew colder. At some point, the others all left as it grew ever colder.

"I'm going below deck," Daubutim said.

"Alright, keep an eye on Grumpy for me," Greldo said.

Daubutim looked back, and Greldo saw his eye slowly grow dull.

"Bendi," Greldo whispered quickly.

It took a few moments before Daubutim snapped out of it, and when he did, he frowned.

"I need to rest," he said. "I'll try and wait till Irwin wakes."

"Don't bother," Greldo said as he walked away from the railing. "I'll come. You can just go and rest."

As he walked away, he waved at Rindiri. "Just call me if anything happens."

I wonder when we will find another portal, he thought.

--

Monique paced the three steps forward, three steps back through her tiny cabin, wishing it wasn't as freezing above deck. She'd been cooped up in this tiny room for over a week now, and even the idea of going outside to search for portals seemed more fun.

By now, any hope she'd had to catch up to Irwin's ship was gone, and she was pretty sure that if they didn't find something soon, she'd be in big trouble. The rations she'd been getting had nearly halved already, and her stomach was constantly screaming for sustenance. Even her worry about her sister and the rest of her family had been relegated to the back of her mind.

They wouldn't really let me starve, right? she thought. She was a smith. They wouldn't do that, right? They needed her to help reforge their cards or-

A loud shout from above made her stop and stare at the door. Had they finally found something? Maybe Irwin's ship? Perhaps they had turned back!

Someone was running down the staircase, and she hesitated before pulling the door open slightly and looking into the narrow corridor beyond. One of Xi'kroak's crewmen was pulling open the Captain's cabin.

"There's a portal ahead, Captain! An open one that's not on the maps!"

An open portal? Monique almost ran out, barely stopping herself. The chances of there being a portal without anyone there were nearly non-existent. The only times that happened were when something had chased off or killed the explorers that found and opened the portal.

The crewmen stepped back as Xi'kroak appeared, following him up. Monique pulled back a bit.

"Are there any shipwrecks or Addled?" Xi'kroak asked as he ran up the staircase at the end of the corridor.

Monique strained to catch the response, but between the footsteps and cracking wood, she didn't hear what was said. She pulled her door closed and began pacing again.

If someone opened a portal, perhaps they went inside? she thought, feeling a tiny bit of hope grow.

If they could find a livable world out here, that meant she could go inside and find food!

--

Irwin woke slowly, his mouth feeling like some furry creature had crawled in it and died.

Water, he thought as he slowly rose, blinking around.

Most of his headache was gone, but he didn't feel as rested as he'd hoped.

"About time you- Ahk!"

Irwin blinked as he saw Ambraz fly through the room, hit the wall, and slide down. The whisper in his ear had nearly scared him to death, and he only felt a tiny bit of guilt for battering the Anvil across the room. Well, perhaps more than a little…

"Sorry," he whispered as he rose.

Ambraz's tiny wings buzzed as he flew back towards him, his metal lips in a tight line.

"Seriously? You wake up, and the first thing you do is hit me?" Ambraz whispered as he sat down on his shoulder.

"I said I was sorry," Irwin muttered as his gaze fell on a small waterskin lying on the table.

"I forgive you. Now tell me what happened with that Addled! And don't worry about that brat, Brinni. She's asleep."

Irwin sat down on the tiny stool and took a large drink before answering.

"I broke it into pieces then flung it through the … what was that thing called again? … through the teleport canal!"

He took another long drink, emptying out the entire waterskin and putting it down, wishing he had another. Still, he felt his hazy mind clear up.

"Then an Oculithar or Shatter thing came and tried to break through the canal."

Ambraz landed on the table, and Irwin had the feeling he was being stared at.

"What? No response?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You're sure it was a Shatter Omen?" Ambraz asked softly.

"Well, I've never seen one before, but Rindiri said that's what it was," Irwin replied.

His mind slowly began working again and recalled what Ambraz had done to save him from the same fate as the body of the Addled.

"Thank you for saving me back in that tunnel," he whispered. "Why did you go unconscious afterward?"

"You're welcome! Did you think I was going to let you get hurt? Bah! I'm here to make sure that doesn't happen. Who else is going to help me grow into a Worldanvil?" Ambraz said before snickering. "And to answer your question, it's not good for me to use my abilities that close to chaos space."

Irwin grinned, and he tapped a finger against Ambraz's side. "Well, you did great! I'll be relying on you again in the future."

Ambraz's metal lips curved up, and he flitted around before landing on Irwin's shoulder.

"So, I take it we are far away from the portal by now?" Ambraz whispered.

Irwin nodded as he thought about something else. His grin widened as he pulled his cards and books out of his pocket, placing them on the table.

"That Addled had something interesting," he said as he slowly took the red-bordered card from the stack, placing it on the table.

"That's impossible," Ambraz hissed as he shot back to the table, landing beside the card. "Addled don't drop cards, ever! Whatever soulskill they might have had was shattered when they became addled."

"I thought as much, but it was inside its stomach," Irwin said. "Perhaps it swallowed the card?"

"Possible… unlikely, but I guess if you pulled it out of there, it would have to be," Ambraz muttered.

"So, what does it do?" Irwin asked.

Ambraz hummed, then moved atop the book in which he'd added card information before.

"It's an interesting one, and it was halfway to growing to a heartcard when it was crystalized. I don't know what happened while it was inside the Addled, but there's no sign of instability. Right now, it's just a ruby card with a very high level of energy, probably similar to a powerful diamond card," he said while he began glowing brightly.

The edges of the books rustled for a short while. Irwin waited impatiently. As soon as Ambraz stopped glowing and flew off the book, Irwin took it and flipped it open. As he did, a folded paper slid out.

Irwin looked at it stupidly, realizing it was the same one he'd seen when he was in the destroyed portal room.

After hesitating for a moment, he put it on the table and flipped to the last page of the book.

Card: Blood Lightning

Type: Ruby, Mutation

Owner: -

The wielder's blood becomes infused with lightning, making them capable of far beyond normal movements and reactions.

Passive: Increases lightning resistance

Passive: Grants immunity to blood-related diseases

Passive: Increases movement speed and reflexes

Irwin's eyes widened, and he picked up the card. As he did, he frowned as he read through it again. Something about the card made him uneasy. It took him a few moments before he realized what it was. His heartcard was resonating oddly, almost as if it was trying to reject the card he was holding.

Curious, he put it down, and as soon as he did, his heartcard's resonance returned to normal.

"I think my heartcard doesn't like this card," he whispered.

"That's not too strange," Ambraz muttered. "From what I can tell, it is almost incompatible with your card. It deals with speed, blood, and lightning, three pretty major things, while yours deals with metal, endurance, fire, and explosiveness. It's very difficult to combine that many powerful things in one card."

Irwin frowned as he stared at the card. It was definitely powerful; he knew that much.

"So does that mean that when I get my handslots back, I'll be limited in the cards I can use?" he asked.

"Didn't I already tell you that?" Ambraz asked, surprised. "You need to create a harmonious set, or they will start working against each other. But don't worry too much. Your card has a lot of potential cards it can mesh well with."

"Alright… then what do we do with this one?" Irwin asked as he stared at the card.

Ambraz was quiet for a bit before suddenly flitting up and landing on the card.

"Perhaps…" he whispered. "Don't bother me for a while. I need to check something!"

Irwin stared at him for a bit before his gaze drifted to the folded paper he'd put aside. As he folded it open, his eyes widened at the sight of Ambraz's description of his Heartcard. Recalling that day, he read the short message above.

"Damn, kid! You bring me more luck than I would have imagined! I've evolved, so I'll be out for a few days or weeks… don't know really. That Purperion was more powerful than I'd imagined. Anyway, we would have failed. If that little fire elemental hadn't come out when it did, we would have had to start all over again, which would have been a waste because your hammer evolved to Ammolite! Well, I presume that's what it is. I never actually saw another one before. Anyway, I absorbed the Emberion's remains for now, and I think we should fulfill its final request. Odd, that. It actually managed to send me a mental message, an image. We'll discuss it when I wake up."

Irwin ignored the rest as he recalled the tiny Emberion that had helped him at the cost of its own life.

I wonder why it wanted to be left in such a place, he thought, recalling his trip to the Earth Titan.

After a moment of hesitation, he summoned a small flame and burned the message.

Ambraz showed no reaction to any of this. Irwin hummed as he rose up and sat back down on his bed. His mind was still foggy, and he had the feeling that he could sleep if he only closed his eyes.

I'll ask him if he has any idea tomorrow, he thought as he lay down and closed his eyes.

--

"Wake up!"

Irwin shot up from the voice in his ear, looking around as a hammer appeared in his hand. He barely managed to restrain the flame he was about to eject when he saw Ambraz hovering before him with a wide grin on his metal lips.

"What?" he hissed.

Ambraz flew back to his shoulder.

"Hush, the girl is awake."

Irwin groaned as he leaned back, unsummoning his hammer and glaring at the Anvil.

"And?" he whispered.

"And I figured out what we can do with the card," Ambraz replied, sounding incredibly content with himself.

"Which is?" Irwin asked.

"We are going to reforge it sideways," Ambraz said, sounding incredibly excited. "And if we do it right, we should be able to give it the ability to increase the wielder's speed of thought!"

Irwin frowned. "That won't allow me to slot it, though, right?"

"It's not for you, brat! It's for Daubutim," Ambraz hissed. "Although it might not fix all of his issues, I have the strong suspicion that if he slots the card after we are done with it, he should have a whole lot fewer issues!"

Irwin shot up, causing Ambraz to topple from his shoulder with a muted curse.

"It will fix him?" he whispered hopefully.

"It's more like it will probably make his mind so fast that it can just circumvent the issues before they arise," Ambraz whispered after he flew back on his shoulder.

Irwin grinned as he stared at the card on the table. Then his eyes widened.

"So he's going to have perfect memory and the ability to think faster than anyone else?" he whispered.

Ambraz was quiet for a bit, then sighed. "Yeah. He's going to be insufferable."