Irwin's Journey - The Cardsmith

Irwin snuck another look around the edge of the staircase. Columns blocked large portions of the room, but he instantly found what he was searching for. Nearby, close to one of the corridors leading out of the room, a group of figures was trying to hide behind one of the columns.

He pulled back, sneaking up the staircase until he sat next to Daubutim. A dull roar from above showed the fighting was still going on.

"They are hiding near a pillar farther to the right," he whispered.

"The fourth from the staircase?" Daubutim asked.

Irwin blinked in astonishment as he tried to recall. After a second, he shrugged. "I don't recall. I think there were two pillars between them and us."

"Alright, that means we can make a run for the entrance we need to get," Daubutim said.

"They will follow us."

"Yes, I'm counting on it," Daubutim whispered as his eyes glistened with cold certainty. "The corridor will lead to a crossing. We will go to the right and enter the second door on the left."

Irwin just dully stared at him. The other's memory never ceased to amaze him.

"And then?"

"Then we hope they don't find us," Daubutim said. "But just to be sure, we will set up an ambush. Here's what we will do-"

Irwin listened quietly, and when Daubutim was finished, he swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry.

"That's risky."

"We can't go up. We can't stay here," Daubutim said. "We need to leave, and if they follow us, we will have to fight. They are faster than you."

Irwin nodded, clenching his fist, creating a soft squeak and pop. He looked at the back of his hand, at the trio of not yet inter connected cards, then nodded.

"Alright. Let's go."

"Remember, you go first, and don't stop," Daubutim whispered.

Irwin didn't reply but snuck down until he was at the edge. A quick look showed the figures of Big-fat, and the other two-horns were still there. A deafening and pained screech came from above as the Bablibon's reached them.

"You annoying little ant! I'll make your torment longer for that!'

Irwin steeled himself, then jumped forward. He sprinted towards a corridor to the right of the one opposite the staircase. Daubutim had assured him that was the one from which they had entered. He wasn't sure, as the last time they'd been here was weeks ago. He heard the noble boy run behind him, probably holding back from passing him.

"Big-fat! Look, the carded!"

The hissed voice was followed by running footsteps, and Irwin took a quick look to the side. Big-fat and four other Galubs, all with two-horns, came running towards them.

"Get them! We can make them show us the portal!"

Irwin cursed as he saw how fast they ran. He focused on his seemingly leaden feet, trying to force them to move faster.

When he reached the corridor, they sounded incredibly close, and he didn't dare take a look. Straight through, the crossing was twenty feet ahead, and he reached it just as the Galubs entered the corridor.

"They went right," one of them shouted as Irwin slid around the corner, his new weight causing him to thud into the side wall. Feeling his tattered leather jacket rip, he pushed himself forward. The second door was barely thirty feet away, but the Galubs had rounded the corner before he reached it.

Hoping Daubutim knew what he was doing, he yanked open the door and jumped inside. Daubutim followed right behind him, slamming the door shut. They both jumped behind the door, and Irwin focused on his eyes. The room that had seemed dimly lit before became brightly lit in shades of fiery red, orange and yellow.

He had two moments to draw in ragged breathing before the door slammed forward against their held-out palms.

"Get them, but don't kill them!"

Four Galubs rushed into the room, immediately looking around. There was no sight of Big-fat, and Irwin hesitated. Daubutim didn't. He shoved the door closed. His hair on end, Irwin stepped forward right as the two-horns turned. He felt the eye-burp sensation build and let it out. A flare of bright flame burst in front of him, making everything move oddly. Then the room filled with shocked and pained screams.

He kept up the blast for two seconds, leaving him time for another couple of bursts if needed. As he released his hold on his skill, he saw two Galubs roll on the ground, their green skins full of blisters, screaming and clawing at their eyes. The other two had backed up, both with blisters on their torsos and arms but with swords raised, showing they hadn't been taken care of yet. Still, they, too, were blinking rapidly, looking around, blinded.

Hurry, hurry, he thought as he focused on his flame.

It burst alive above his hand, and he jumped at the left-most of the two blinking Galubs. It must have heard something because it slashed out, missing him by mere inches. Sucking in his breath, he jabbed his hand out, using the flame like a short spear, and stabbing it into the Galubs face. It screeched, pulled back, and dropped its sword. The howls intensified, almost making Irwin stumble as the Galub covered its face with its hands and howled in agony.

"Take the door!'

Irwin snapped out of his sense of disgust and spun on his heel to see Daubutim, hands against the door. It opened a bit, and Daubutim shoved it back, but Irwin saw he was struggling. He ran forward and slammed shoulder-first into the door, causing it to slam shut with a bang. A startled and angry roar came from behind it. Finally, something his increased weight would prove useful for!

"Hold it. I'll deal with them," Daubutim snapped.

Irwin pressed his back against the door just as something heavy collided with it. He instantly felt the benefit of his new weight. Though he was forced forward a bit, one shove closed the door. Ahead of him, Daubutim stalked forward, shield and morningstar in hand. With a single measured hit, he brained one of the Galubs before moving to the next.

Two seconds later, three of the Galubs were lying motionlessly on the ground, the last one squinting at Daubutim. Irwin's flame was behind the boy, blinding the Galub.

"Don't kill me! I can tell you things! Helpful things," the two-horn snapped as he backed up.

"Hold your tongue," a roar came from behind the door, and Irwin was shoved a hand length away again as a sharp-nailed hand scratched around. Before he could pull it back, it reached his arm. He panicked as he felt the nails scratch across his skin, then relaxed. It hurt, but the blackened, sharp nails didn't manage to pierce his skin.

This time it cost him more effort to close the door, and he failed to close it completely. A quick look showed a meaty green foot lodged between the door and fingers curled around the edge.

"Please, I will not harm you. Let me live," the Galub shouted as he took one more look at Daubutim and then tossed his sword to the ground.

What?

Irwin blinked. He hadn't expected any Galub to react like this. All that he'd seen so far was that they were always fighting and acting rowdy. The others he'd seen had attacked him on sight. Then again, he hadn't had much contact with the two-horns yet, so perhaps he'd just imagined they were all like the one-horns?

"Ulrop, if you say one more word, I'll-"

Irwin scooched to the side and shoved his flame into the foot between the door. A startled intake of air came, then the foot was yanked back, and a howl of pain came from behind the quickly shut door. Irwin pressed his back against it, lowered his stance, and prepared for a loud slam. None came.

Daubutim was creeping towards the unarmed Galub, but Irwin saw he was hesitating.

"We can use his help," he hissed, not interested in seeing Daubutim slaughter the Galub. If not for anything else, perhaps they could get more information again!

Daubutim stopped, frowning deeply. "These things are demons. They are dangerous, and if they get into our world, they will kill women, children, and everything they see."

"Not true," Ulrop growled as he shook his head. "Only the things that attack us first! We are just trying to get out of these crap-world shards, that's all!"

Irwin blinked as another halfhearted shove came from the door. Then Big-fat's voice came from the other side, laden with spite and hate.

"Ulrop… you traitorous weakling. I told him to kill you after you grew your second horn. He said we needed everyone, and I let it go. I should have just done so myself! You better hope I don't find you again, or I'll rip out your horns and use them to pierce your eyes!"

Irwin blinked at the rage and hatred dripping from Big-fat's voice. Ulrop was glaring at the door. There was a final slam, then the sound of distancing footsteps.

"If he hadn't managed to kill a heartbound, he'd never have gotten his third horn," Ulrop growled. "Ugly piece of Rounderimp dung."

Heartbound? Irwin thought as he shivered at the palpable hate between the two Galubs. He'd heard that term before... but when?

"Whatever we do, we should do it now," he said, unable to recall. "If that bird comes down here…"

"Doomblade won't go down that easily," Ulrop said with a disdained sniff. "Though he can't beat the Bablibon, he might even succeed in scaring it away. He sucked up enough of our people's essence for that, at least."

Irwin felt a soft rustle in his pocket and, without thinking, pressed his hand on it, getting a curious look from Ulrop. He wasn't sure how much the Galubs had seen of the Anvil, but he'd prefer to keep Ambraz out of the picture for as long as possible. What if they knew what he was and wanted to steal him? He didn't need another reason for them to try and get to them. He was glad when Ambraz remained unmoving, hoping the Anvil would stay that way.

"You said you just want to get out, so why have you been killing the carded that come in here?" he asked, partially as a distraction. "We saw Doomblade's collection."

Ulrop grimaced, a horrible sight as a row of curved teeth appeared as his thin lips drew back.

"They come here and hunt us like beasts hoping for our soulcards to drop! What do you expect?" he snapped, his voice raising at the end.

Irwin looked at him, noting the bottled-up pain and anger. His image of the Galubs as evil, vile monsters faded slightly, and he suddenly felt bad. Perhaps they should have tried talking when they first appeared?

"What are soulcards?" he asked. He had an inkling of what he would hear, but he wanted to be sure. He vaguely recalled Ambraz telling him things, using words like quartz-soul.

Ulrop's eyes widened in surprise. "How can you not know? You have three slotted in your hand!" he said as he pointed at Irwin's hand.

Irwin swallowed as he looked at his hand. "What are cards exactly?" he asked. It was something he'd always wanted to know, but he had only ever gotten a roundabout answer.

"They are the crystalized soul-skills of other beings," Ulrop said, staring at him in wonder. "How can you not know this? What kind of world are you from?"

Irwin licked his lips. Based on the things Ulrop had said, he'd suspected the answer. Still. What did that mean? He knew nothing about souls or how there could be skills in them. Whatever it was, did this mean he now had parts of demon souls locked into his hand? He wasn't sure how that made him feel, but it was definitely not a good time to try and worry about it now. Then he thought of something and turned to the young noble.

"Did you know about this?" he asked, unable to keep the accusation out of his voice.

"Of course. It is common knowledge amongst the nobles and probably the sorcerers too," Daubutim said. "It changes nothing."

"Not to you," Ulrop said. He shook his head. "We should leave. Big-fat will be looking for others that made it down here and lay an ambush."

We? Irwin thought. Did that mean Ulrop was planning on going with them?

"You want to come with us?" Daubutim asked, sounding more confused than Irwin felt.

"If you don't kill me, I want to see where the portal is," Ulrop said. "After that, I have to hide, or Big-fat will try to kill me if the Bablibon hasn't eaten him by then."

"Why don't you just leave through the portal?" Irwin muttered before realizing he knew why the Galub didn't.

"We can't! We'd just turn to dust," Ulrop said. "Unless this world-shard's energy harmonizes with the world on the other end, we can't leave!"

"Is that when a surge happens?" Daubutim asked.

Irwin saw he'd lowered his morningstar, the sense of imminent violence gone.

"Yes," Ulrop said, and he sighed as his shoulders lowered. Then he shook his bald, horned head and looked up. "It's one of the reasons we keep the soul-cards from the carded instead of absorbing them. The more we have, the sooner this place harmonizes."

Absorbing them? Irwin thought as he recalled how Ambraz had eaten the cards. Was it the same thing?

"Do you know where this shard-world's Linchpin is?" Daubutim asked, and Irwin blinked at that. Right, he'd forgotten about that!

"Linch-pin?" Ulrop asked, shaking his head in confusion.

"The thing that if you remove it will make this shard-world collapse?"

"The world-shard anchor!" Ulrop whispered as he stepped back. "You can't remove that. All of us will die!'

"If we don't remove the portals, our world will destabilize and shatter," Daubutim stated calmly.

Ulrop stared back at him, and Daubutim slowly raised his morningstar. For a moment, Irwin thought they were going to fight again, then Ulrop deflated.

"I know. That's what happened to our world."

Irwin wondered what Ulrop's world had been like. Did they have trees and snow? Mountains and sea?

"Where is the anchor?" Daubutim asked calmly.

Urlop stared at him and time ticked by slowly as Irwin saw him struggle. It surprised him how easily he could read the Galub's emotional distress. A soft scream came from far away, and he blinked.

What was that? he thought.

"Doomblade should be the anchor, or his soul-skill rather," Ulrop said, interrupting his thought process. "But I'm not sure if this place will disappear even if you kill him. The Bablibon…"

There was a momentary silence in the room, and Irwin wondered how this was even a common portal. Nothing about this world-shard seemed common! How was even a group of full-handed supposed to kill that Bablibon?

But that's the thing, isn't it, he thought. That Bablibon wasn't supposed to be here at all. And a group of six full-handed would have been able to easily kill all of the Galubs. But... did that mean there were more common and uncommon portals with such strong monsters? Wait, Doomblade's sword definitely wasn't a common card. How had he even gotten here?

"How did you come here in the first place?" he asked. "You shouldn't be able to move to this world with anything but common cards."

Ulrop looked around the room sadly, then back to him. "That's not true... There are three ways I know of getting into shard-worlds. If there are no portals to a world, sometimes shard-worlds randomly connect to others. Some things, like Bablibons roam the chaos-space and can enter like that..."

"And the third one," Irwin asked when Ulrop didn't continue.

"If a portal surges, you can enter even if you are stronger," Ulrop said. "Though, it also means you have to fight your way through the surge."

Fight your way through-? Irwin thought as he shook his head. He remembered when they had been in the first rift and how many hounds had been there. Even with his uncommon cards, he couldn't even imagine something like that.

"We need to leave now," Daubutim suddenly said. "We've been here for almost five minutes."

The noble looked at Ulrop, and Irwin could see him hesitate. Daubutim probably didn't know if he should bring the Galub, and apparently, his teaching hadn't covered this. Irwin's thoughts spun rapidly. Then he made a decision. There was no way for them to close this portal now, which left only one way to keep their world a bit safer.

"Ulrop, we are leaving," he said. "I can't tell you where the portal is. I don't know if it can, but it will be horrible if that bird comes to our world."

The Galub's face fell, but he didn't say anything. Irwin looked at Daubutim, who had backed up next to the door, keeping an eye on Ulrop. Neither discussed killing him.

"I'll open the door. If anything moves, I'll Eye Blaze them," Irwin whispered.

Daubutim nodded, and Irwin took a deep breath, focusing on his card. He pulled open the door while jumping back and getting ready. The hallway beyond was empty, and he sighed in relief as he snuck a glance to the left and right—still no sight of Big-fat.

"Let's go," he whispered as he stepped out. "Good luck, Ulrop," he said, meaning it.

There was an angry snort but nothing else. He could understand that. It had to be horrible to wander shard-worlds, trying to survive. Irwin hoped he would never have to experience it.

When Daubutim was outside, he closed the door and they snuck towards the corridor, constantly checking for sounds or movement. They reached it without incidents and quickly moved deeper into the part of the undercity that harbored the portal.

Twenty minutes later, and far from the entrance, they had still not encountered anything.

"I had expected an ambush by now," Daubutim whispered as they stared into the final large room.

It was the first they had come across, and Irwin recalled how they had fought the one-horns that Big-fat had sent.

"You are sure nobody is following us?"

Irwin looked back, staring intently into the corridors they had left. They didn't dare make a light, meaning Daubutim was relying fully on him again. There was nothing there, but he waited for a few minutes before being sure of it.

"I think they didn't want to risk it?" he whispered.

Daubutim didn't respond, but Irwin could see his eyes scanning the darkness, a tiny bit of fear in them.

When they reached the other side of the balcony, Irwin took a final behind, then moved inside.

I hope we'll never return to this stupid city.

When they reached the intersection, Daubutim, who had constantly been looking around even though he couldn't see anything, pulled him back.

"No. This is wrong. Father's books said always to trust your instincts, and mine are telling me we are being followed somehow," the noble boy whispered.

Irwin frowned, poking his own instincts to see why they were calm. Well, calm wasn't the right word. They were oversaturated with fear, panic, and stress and had been like that for days. Perhaps he couldn't sense anything because he was just dull?

"This way," Daubutim whispered, pulling him towards the wrong corridor, his hand on the wall. When he reached the first door, he pulled it open and pulled Irwin inside.

"Let's wait for a few hours," he whispered. "Even if those Galub's can't go through the portal, who knows what that Bablibon can do!"

Irwin frowned but nodded. He hoped Daubutim was wrong.

Minutes turned to hours as they sat there, and Irwin was slowly starting to get annoyed. He wanted to get back out of this perpetually dark world. Even if he could see in it, he wanted to see the sun again. And Greldo! For them, it had been almost two months since they came here, but even for Greldo it would have been two days. Would he be fine? Had he been able to hide? Coal should have helped but-

A soft thudding came from the hallway. Then a scraping noise came as something large moved through the hallway. It stopped, then continued down the hallway. As it passed the door, it wobbled and squeaked as if subjected to incredible pressure, appearing barely able to remain on its hinges. Irwin held his breath as he saw Daubutim stare at the wall beside the door, his head moving as he followed the sound.

Did Big-fat make such loud noises as he walked? He couldn't recall.

"You must think you're smart, don't you?" The Bablibon's voice seemed to echo from everywhere and nowhere. "I know you are here somewhere, silly carded!"