“So, remember what I said. He isn’t as small as he used to be,” Irwin said, looking at his six children while keeping a close eye on Zan. She stood close to Ti, an arm around her sister, while Silv’am was whispering to her.
“He can fly us around!” Mia said, sharing a wide grin with Glow, who nodded so fast his hair was flinging about.
Flux was grinning widely. “We can see how big they get, so we know when we get our own!”
Soot stood beside them, a finger on his ear and his gaze distant as if he was already seeing himself exploring the Portal Gallery and beyond.
“He is still the same… right?” Zan asked, her voice cutting through the excited chatter of her siblings.
Irwin nodded. “Luath is the same as he was, just older. He had a normal childhood… for a Chaos Whale, but it took a long time.”
“Does he remember us?”
Irwin felt a pang at the worry he heard in the question, and he hesitated. A glance to the side showed Scintilla and his mother watching them. He’d spoken with them shortly before deciding to start his list of tasks with the most fun one. Showing Luath to his children.
She was right, he thought, recalling how his mother had warned him that Zan was more attached to Luath than the others and had been worried every day.
“Yes, but not like you remember him,” he said gently. “Little one, Luath wasn’t fully conscious when you played with him. All he really remembers are happy emotions and soulforce resonances.”
Zan’s face fell, and she seemed to shrink in on herself a little.
“So, he won’t know our faces, but recognize our soulforce?” Ti said calmly. “How big is he? The size of our house?” She pointed at the building behind Irwin.
Irwin didn’t need to look to know Luath was bigger.
“He is a bit bigger than Scariander,” he said. “Let's say, half again as big. He also has a surprise for you.”
“Whoa!” Glow exclaimed, nudging Mia with bright eyes. “This is going to be amazing!”
Irwin smirked, but he still waited until Tan nodded slowly.
“So, he will remember me a little?” she whispered.
“If you sing to him like you did when he was small, he will remember that,” Irwin said.
“Okay,” she whispered, visibly steeling herself.
Irwin waited for a moment longer before focusing on where he felt Luath swim together with the small pod of wounded Chaos Whales. They had been lazily floating through his soulscape for almost a day now, and he could sense them healing. It would be weeks before they were strong enough to decide whether to stay here, move to Eluathar, or go to the Gass Giant.
‘Ready, big guy?’ he asked.
‘Yes!’ Luath said, sounding as excited as Glow and Mia had.
Irwin looked up at the steel sky, the shadewalkers he could sense moving around, shadow-filled, and the cloudy sky above New Mallorin.
“I’m bringing him out,” he said, loud enough that he knew they would hear it.
A woman appeared out of midair, long black and red hair barely moving in the wind. Combined with that and her sturdy physique, Irwin knew she was one of the Crathans who had moved to Eluathar.
He focused on Luath, then pulled his summon out of his soulscape and into the open air above his family’s spacious yard.
Luath instantly dominated the sky, his frame so much bigger than most of the buildings that even in the cloudy sky, his shadow darkened part of the city below.
“He’s enormous!” Mia and Flux muttered at the same time.
Irwin nodded as Luath slowly glided down. He’d summoned high enough so they could get a good look, but also to give Luath a moment to check his surroundings.
‘This world is really big,’ Luath said, sounding excited. ‘You are sure I can explore it?’
‘Yes,’ Irwin said. ‘But don’t bring any of the kids. The Rangers haven’t explored even a fraction of it yet, so it's too dangerous for them.’
‘Like with the calves,’ Luath said, adding imagery of himself when he was young and not allowed beyond the safety of the single trees.
‘Exactly,’ Irwin said, turning to his children.
They were all watching with glittering eyes, even Zan, and he hummed.
“So, ready to see him up close?”
“YES!” his children shouted as one as they rushed him, climbing up his body.
Irwin laughed softly, then clicked his tongue, bringing them all along before landing on Luath’s back. Out of the city, the wind that blew across his back caused a constant howling sound. Besides that, the air at this height was cooler, and Irwin quickly used his newest soulcard to control the temperature around them, raising it to a comfortable level for his children. Only one noticed, as five of them instantly dropped down and began walking around wide-eyed.
“It’s like I’m on a city square,” Glow shouted over the wind. “We could play here for days!”
Luath let out a happy hum that vibrated through their feet, making his children laugh.
Irwin grinned as he watched Glow, Mia, Lux, and Soot move to the dorsal fin and begin climbing up.
“You made it warmer,” Ti shouted, moving closer to him and looking at him curiously. “Is this because of your new soulcard?”
“It is,” Irwin said as he sat down so he wasn’t towering over her and Zan, and so they could speak without shouting.
“Can you make it warmer and colder?” Ti asked, while Irwin could almost see the ideas blooming in her mind.
“Yes,” he said, his lips curling up. “Why, do you have an idea?”
“Many,” she said, sitting beside him and leaning against his shoulder. “This means you can take other people along to explore the coldest regions of the Portal Gallery, and you could show Granma Igniz after the war. You can have the Frozir and Ignitzians meet, so they can talk-”
Irwin watched her quietly as she continued to name an increasing list of things he could do. She even named a few that he and Ambraz hadn’t thought of, like finding plants or animals that required a very specific temperature, couldn’t be teleported, and moving them from one place to another.
Zan had nestled herself on his other side and was also listening to Ti while Luath flew towards the distant river. As he reached it, he lowered himself down, likely startling all of the fish and other animals within.
The howling wind became far less, and Irwin rose, beckoning his children over.
“Right, now for the surprise,” he said. “Luath?”
He saw his children look at him, then at their feet in confusion.
“Hello, little Ignitzian calves,” Luath said, his voice like a melodic earthquake that caused the already choppy water around him to slosh. “Irwin told me you all want a Chaos Whale friend in the future, and I think that’s a great idea!”
Irwin grinned, sensing the slight nervousness from his summon.
‘Did I do that right?’ Luath asked. ‘They are calves, right?’
‘Close enough,’ Irwin replied.
“He can talk,” Mia shouted, echoed by Flux and Glow. “That’s great!”
“Luath, how was that Gas Giant?”
“Did you see any monsters?”
“Did you fight any of those tentacled things?”
“Are you stronger than Dad?”
Irwin laughed as his children let loose a seemingly endless barrage of questions, not giving the startled Chaos Whale a chance to respond.
“Calm down,” he shouted, raising his arms to get their attention. “If you want Luath to answer, you need to give him the chance to!”
His children fell quietly immediately, though Mia and Flux seemed to be biting their lips to keep from asking more questions.
“I am not stronger than Irwin,” Luath said, laughing softly. “Only Exarg is, I think. Probably…”
‘Are you stronger than Exarg?’ Luath asked, suddenly sounding incredibly curious.
Irwin was saved from answering as his children began repeating some of their questions, and Luath began answering them.
It took almost an hour before they had asked everything on their minds, and by then, only Zan had remained mostly still. As a moment of quiet happened, she finally piped up.
“Do you remember the song I sang to you?” she asked softly, and before waiting for an answer, her reed-like voice rose as she began singing an old children’s song that Irwin’s mother had taught her and the others.
The others all fell quiet, while Silv’am began humming softly, her own voice blending with Zan’s with practiced ease.
‘I remember her,’ Luath said, resonant images of joy added as he partially moved to the Neamnathair’s own language. ‘She was the slightly sad one!’
Irwin frowned. ‘Sad?’
‘Yes, I remember clearly that when we were about to leave, her song was sad,’ Luath said. ‘Happy and sad at the same time.’
Irwin looked at Zan, who was gently singing with her eyes closed.
He was about to ask Luath something when a deep rumbling hum came from the Chaos Whale below his legs, and a moment later, Luath joined Zan’s song, his deep voice like a bottom layer for her and Silv’am’s high-pitched voices to build upon.
Zan faltered slightly, then continued, her calm face morphing into a massive smile.
Irwin sighed as he leaned back, he and his other children listening to the song.
So far, so good, he thought.
--
“You created how many?” Daubutim asked, sitting opposite Irwin in his working chamber.
Irwin shrugged. He knew that if Daubutim asked him to repeat something, his friend was more than a little surprised.
“As I said, I don’t have an exact number,” he said. “But let's say around two hundred thousand sets.”
“You have them all in your soulscape?” Daubutim asked.
“Yes?” Irwin replied.
“Can you show me?”
Irwin hesitated, then pulled Daubutim into his soulscape, on a shelf that had been specifically created for the new card.
Daubutim appeared in the center, near a table with some cards that had either failed or become different for some reason. Few of those had happened during his crafting sessions, but over the thousands of years, they had still accumulated into a few stacks.
Irwin created an Aura clone that hovered beside his friend, and he looked around the room. Rows and rows of cards lined narrow shelves barely the height of a hand, the walls moving away from the central room, almost like a small library.
“Are they ordered?” Daubutim asked as he walked to the nearest shelf.
“Somewhat. These shelves are six cards per set, and they are all in order…” Irwin said, looking around and realising he probably could have put some more thought into how he stored the results of a thousand years of labor.
Daubutim looked around, then moved to the shelf with the thickest layer of dust, putting his finger on the top one. “You started here?”
Irwin frowned. “Yes,” he said. “There should be six cards for a set, then the next. These are for the guards, so mostly a Crathan card followed by body improvement and weapons. That entire wall is like that, and then that one is with some form of energy attack, ranged. Then the wall that goes that way is filled with the twelve card sets for the smiths.”
“Only twelve card sets for smiths?” Daubutim asked.
“No,” Irwin said, pointing at a path leading away to the other side. “Those are all twelve-card sets for guards.”
“All sets are emerald or ruby?”
“All sets have at least one ruby rank card,” Irwin said.
Daubutim nodded slowly as his eyes began crackling with red lightning. He stepped away, his eyes flitting across the shelf before him, and Irwin watched in stunned silence as his friend began moving through the room, his head swiveling around, his eyes locked on the shelves.
He is counting them…
It took almost an hour for Daubutim to take a deep breath. By now, a slight sheen of sweat matted his forehead, and his eyes glowed just a little less brightly.
“Do you have a paper for me?”
Irwin blinked, then quickly summoned a paper and a pen.
Daubutim took it, moved to the table, and began writing.
“These are the numbers of six card guardsets, these are the numbers of twelve cardsets,” he said as he wrote down numbers. When he finished, he left the paper on the table, clearly for Irwin.
“I already added the new numbers after you handed me those I can use immediately,” he said. “For the rest, please keep these numbers up to date if you hand out cards.”
Irwin grimaced, realizing he would now have to actually count the cards.
“My advice is to hand out entire shelves,” Daubutim said, as he pointed at the one to his side before he continued writing. “I’m also adding the number of cards on each shelf for you, so you can just hand out an entire shelf and check them.”
Irwin let out a sigh of relief, while Daubutim got up and stared at him.
“Can you teach me the way you combine memories?”
“Of course,” Irwin said. “Just tell me when.”
“Now would be best,” Daubutim said. “If what you told me is true, and the titans needed to condense their memories to stop going crazy, I can’t take any risks. Right now, I can recall every moment of my life in complete clarity. I have no idea how big a stress that is on my mind.”
Irwin looked at his old friend, noticing the slight worry.
“I can teach you the same way I was taught,” he said. “It would be best if we put two of our other selves together. You did slot a body double, right?”
“I did,” Daubutim said, before answering the question Irwin had been about to ask. “My memories are the combination of both, similar to how it works for you.”
Irwin frowned, recalling the card he’d given Daubutim.
Shouldn’t it have been like Scintilla’s?
“One of the soulforce haulers is moving a load of resources to Scour tomorrow,” Daubutim said. “Do you want to head there then?”
Irwin hesitated, then nodded. “Yes. If we want to clear out our area of the branch, followed by all of the Langost branch, we need soldiers, cardsmiths, and ships. There’s only a single place we can get the numbers we need.”
Daubutim was quiet for a while, his red lightning-filled eyes throwing up a storm.
“I’ll go with you,” he finally said. “I need to see the details of what we have, and it will give me time to learn what you have to teach. With your new soulcard, I should be fine in the heat if I stay close to you.”
Irwin felt a smile creep to his face. He’d always wanted to show Daubutim around Scour, and this meant he’d not be alone as he had feared.
Not that I’m ever truly alone, he thought, sensing his bond with Ambraz and Luath.
“Let us head back so I can prepare some things,” Daubutim said, drawing his attention back.
Irwin moved both back into his office, and Daubutim immediately got up.
“Do you want to stay here, or are you returning tomorrow?”
“I’ll be back tomorrow,” Irwin said as he moved to the open balcony that showed a clear view of the massive river that flowed past Treanba and into the sea.
“Don’t forget to tell Rindiri where we are going,” Daubutim said. “She might want to return with us.”
“I will. See you tomorrow,” Irwin said as he clicked his tongue and vanished over the soundwaves.
--
“You are going to be away for two months?” Mia asked, frowning as she sat across from him at the table together with the rest of his family. All of them were staring at him with different levels of worry.
“Yes. I need to be there for a few years to train as many cardsmiths as I can, and find as many Crathans willing to move here,” he said.
“Where will they live?” Soot asked, beating the others to their questions.
Irwin looked at his son, a little surprised by the practical question.
“There is an unexplored continent with a large volcanic mountain ridge in the center, which they will get,” he said. “Daubutim has already sent people there to clear an area and start building the base of a new city.”
“What about the adjacent worlds?” Ti asked, this time faster than Mia and some of the others who clearly wanted to ask him why he had to go.
“Daubutim said there is one that would probably be perfect,” Irwin said, smiling at Ti. “But that’s for later, because if I expect them to fight for us, they need to feel at home here first.”
Ti nodded thoughtfully, and this time, Glow was first.
“Why do you have to go?” he asked. “I thought you didn’t want to leave for Scour again? Can’t one of the other cardsmiths go?”
Irwin sighed. He’d expected the question and prepared for it, but he knew they wouldn’t all understand.
“Because I need to teach them something the other smiths don’t know yet,” he said.
Glow frowned, sharing a look with Mia and Flux.
“Are you taking some of the cardsmiths with you?” Ti asked calmly. “Perhaps uncle Trimdir?”
Irwin froze, his eyes widening.
Uncle Trimdir?
He slowly glanced at his mother, who had turned slightly red in the face but showed no other reaction.
I knew they were dating, but is there something I don't know?
Irwin opened his mouth, wanting to ask, before deciding it was best to leave that for after the kids went to bed. Instead, he pondered what Ti had said.
It’s not a bad idea, he thought, thinking about a few of the smiths. He could bring Trimdir, or Endil, and perhaps Dahlia? She was currently back home, only just having arrived, but she might want to come.
He hesitated, then felt his otherself move from Mudball to the body on Granvox. It would take some time to find her and ask, but it would be fine.
“That’s a good idea,” he said, smiling at Ti. “I’ll have to ask them.”
What…?
He focused on his otherself, seeing another Ganvil in his room, waiting for him.
Talk with Brazardian?
His otherself explained it would have to wait a bit, while Irwin heard his mother clear her throat. He quickly split up his two selves further so he wouldn’t get distracted.
“I sent another part of myself out to ask Dahlia,” he said, looking at Ti.
His daughter’s smile widened, and she gave him a quick nod.
“Will you be okay?” Mia asked.
“Of course,” Irwin said, as he leaned back and prepared for a long round of explanation.
--
“She is almost ready,” Irwin said as he stood in Daubutim’s library with his friend and a shorthaired, orange-eyed Crathan who would bring them to Scour. Rindiri stood to the side, flipping through pages of a booklet, muttering to herself as she had from the moment she had appeared.
“Good,” Daubutim said, cracking his neck.
A minute later, Dahlia appeared beside them, looking around before focusing on Irwin.
“My family wasn’t very happy with this,” she said. “Neither was Greldo. It’s a good thing my other body allows both of my selves to work independently.”
Irwin hesitated as he thought about that. “You do know it's going to be awkward when they mix back?”
“Scintilla told me,” Dahlia said. “Where is she?”
“She is going to fill her soullake and become a Crathan when we return,” Irwin said. “So she is with the kids, explaining and preparing them.”
The others fell quiet, and an uncomfortable moment lingered before Daubutim stepped forward.
“Let's get going.”
“Right, Lord Daubutim,” the Crathan said. “Please keep your soulforces as contained as you can.”
Irwin took a deep breath, then pulled himself inward, curling his soulforce up.
It took him longer than he had expected, but eventually he opened his eyes and saw that the others were already gone, and only the Crathan was left looking at him.
He felt a careful pull on himself, and he hesitated for only a moment. If he let his body be moved, that meant he was fully spread out and had no body left on Eluathar. One at Granvox, one on mudball, one in his mindscape as a sort of mental anchor, and one going to Scour.
I’ll be fine. There are dozens of people who can move me back, he thought. Not in the least Daubutim.
He let his last hesitation fade, and he felt himself pulled into another person's soulscape.
It took a minute, then he reappeared in a large chamber that he remembered. Hundreds of people stood around them, most watching him while others were busy with books on tables and shelves.
The main cardsmithing guild in Blackglass, he thought.
A dull moan made him look to the side to find the Crathan that had ported him over kneeling on the ground, a stream of blood flowing from his nose and ears.
“Kanein!?” a panicked voice shouted, as a Crathan woman sprinted forward.
“Fine, I’m fine,” the Crathan called Kanein muttered. “My soulforce is depleted and my soulscape a bit damaged, but I’ll be fine.”
“What happened?” she called out, kneeling beside him.
“Oh, nothing. Just moved the Guildmaster here, and that felt like moving a thousand people at once,” Kanein said, wiping his nose and shakily getting to his feet.
Irwin grimaced. “I’m sorry about that,” he said, only for Kanein to shake his head quickly.
“Don’t be, Guildmaster! It’s an honor to have been of service!”
Irwin shared a look with Daubutim, who stood beside Rindiri, and-
“Hello, Irwin,” Flowrishin said, smiling at him. “Don’t worry about Kanein. He has a very high regeneration card that I made myself. He will be fine.”
Irwin cast a glance at Kanein, who grinned back before he hobbled away.
“That’s good,” he said, turning to Flowrishin. “How are you, Guildmistress?”
“Good, and no longer the Guildmistress,” the ancient Viridian said. “I didn’t expect to see you here again. Will you be staying, or…?”
Irwin walked towards her, noticing dozens of smiths staring at him in open admiration.
“Do you have a place for us to talk?”
“Oh, we do. We kept your room as it was, and had it locked down in case you ever returned,” Flowrishin said as she beckoned him along. “Let’s go there, and you can tell me what has caused you to reconsider and return.”
“That sounds like a good idea,” Irwin said as he walked beside her, feeling a greater joy at seeing her again than he had expected.
--
A week had passed since the legendary Guildmaster had returned, and Lirai sat in the middle of the enormous exhibition hall, looking down at the central area.
“Do you think the rumors are true?” she whispered, clenching her knees in anticipation.
“How should I know?”
Lirai turned to her friend, Sinturkal, one of the few green-eyed Crathans in the academy.
“Because you are the cousin of Chartermaster Lejingi,” she said. “You always know things before we do.”
“Well, not this time,” Sinturkal said. “Let's just wait, it's only a few more-”
“If everyone can quiet down, we can begin,” a deep voice echoed from the central area below.
Lirai whistled as she saw the group of cardsmiths who had gathered on the dais. Besides the enormous shape of the Legendary Guildmaster, there was also the previous Guildmistress Flowrishin, the current Guildmaster Yanbahl, and all of the head teachers of the different parts of the academy.
“You have all heard that Guildmaster Irwin has returned, and I am sure you have all been wondering why the new section of the Academy is being built. Well, if you are all quiet, I will explain what will happen,” Guildmaster Yanbahl shouted, his deep voice like a gong, audible throughout the enormous area.
A moment of quiet reigned before he nodded primly, just like he always did.
“The current status in the Portal Gallery is not going as it should, and Guildmaster Irwin is here to recruit both cardsmiths and warriors. So, for the next two years, he will be teaching a group of up to three hundred cardsmiths who are willing to move with him to Eluathar. Those who choose to join will be taught both the forging of cardseeds and a hidden technique that will only be taught to those in the seventh years and above, starting six years from now.”
A deafening chatter erupted from the thousands of cardsmiths in the stands. Most were Crathan, but one in ten were Oxarites, Viridians, or Ignitzian, and all seemed equally excited.
“Quiet. Quiet!”
It took a few minutes for the racket to die down, and when it did, Yanbahl frowned.
“If you are interested, a registry option will be available at the start of your next class tomorrow, but understand that when the three hundred slots are full, there will be no new chances. Your teachers will answer any questions tomorrow. Now, you have five minutes to talk, then Guildmaster Irwin will give a short demonstration!”
Lirai leaned back, turning to Sinturkal. Her eyes were wide, her breath short, and she could only think of one thing.
“I wanna go,” she whispered.
“Are you crazy? It means you might never come back,” Sinturkal said. “Besides, how good can he really be? Most of what we know are old stories, and we have both had classes from Flowrishin. She is supposedly way older than Irwin.”
Lirai just shook her head, ignoring her friend as she stared down at the black sands of the open area. The towering figure of Guildmaster Irwin was moving forward.
I wonder if we will get to see his legendary Ganvil, she thought.