-A day earlier, as one part of Irwin talks with Trimdir-
Irwin shot across the soundwaves towards the enormous gas giant in the distance. Behind him, Mudball grew smaller, but he didn’t pay much attention to it. Part of his focus was on his otherself and the things happening on Eluathar.
He was still watching his otherself talk with Trimdir, the shock of hearing his mother was pregnant rippling through his shared being.
A brother or sister, he thought, as he reached the border of the gas giant.
He pushed his thoughts away, leaving them to his otherself while he stopped moving across the soundwaves. As he began falling towards the gaseous depths, he reached out to his summon.
‘I’m here. Are you ready?’
‘Yes!’ Luath replied, stepping out of Irwin’s soulscape.
The Chaos Whale’s enormous bulk didn’t even shudder when Irwin slammed into him, though there was a muffled grunt that echoed out of Luath.
“Sorry. You alright?”
“Yes, but you should really not become much heavier,” Luath replied, flying forward.
Irwin frowned as he looked around, using his soulforce senses to find Exarg, other Chaos Whales, and the Crathans. Instead, all he found was the empty and still horizon of Mouxirvin and a small flock of Fowlies.
Where are they? he thought, trying to probe within the chaos swirling soulforce of the gas giant’s depths and failing.
“I had expected Exarg here already,” he muttered, staring down into the gaseous depths and frowning. He sent a pulse of soulforce down, wondering if Exarg had forgotten. A lot of time would have passed, but still…
“If they aren’t here yet, it also means they will have been there much longer,” Luath said, weaving around a dense tendril of gas that had rippled up from below. “Will that cause a problem for you?”
Irwin thought for a moment before answering. “I don’t know. What we need are a lot of cardsmiths, so as long as the three hundred or others are able to move to Eluathar, it's fine, but… even with the weakening of the time dilation, time on Mouxirvin moves so fast. If they aren’t here, every few minutes is the same as years.”
Luath didn’t respond, and the two of them floated around for ten more minutes with Irwin prodding and shouting down to get Exarg’s attention. It didn’t work, and Irwin slowly began to realize what he had to do. Sensing his otherself still talking with Trimdir, distracted, he wondered if that part of him even noticed what was happening.
Not if we do this fast enough, he thought, focusing on Luath.
“It looks like we are going to have to go get them, or at least figure out what happened. Ready to go back?”
“Yes! The others are stable, but it will be good for them to be there,” his summon said, reminding Irwin again of the wounded pod of Chaos Whales still floating in his soulscape. It was a testament to how stable it had become that he didn’t even really notice them anymore.
“Well, let's see what happened then,” Irwin said.
Luath reacted by angling down, and within moments, they dove into the upper layer of the gas giant. The trip was just as annoying as it always was, with Irwin barely able to see anything and the constant and deafening roaring around him enough to give him a headache.
I wonder how they are doing, he thought.
He wasn’t really worried that something bad had happened, not with Exarg there, but that they weren’t there, and that Exarg hadn’t reacted meant that, at a minimum, something was wrong.
As the thunderous storm around them intensified, he tried to distract himself by wondering just how much time would have passed for the three hundred and their family. He knew the time dilation must have slowed greatly, as the same was true for all other worlds, but with how much time dilation there had been on Mouxirvin, it should still be flowing rapidly. At a minimum, thousands of years, but perhaps tens of thousands of years, would have passed.
He could already sense how his other selves' memories were almost frozen in time, while the little movement they still had was slowing rapidly.
It took them what felt like hours to finally break through the stormy clouds and out into the open, and by then the memories from his otherself only showed the most minute flickers of movement.
‘Back home!’ Luath shouted, unable to keep the joy from his voice. ‘I hope Min, Jubl, and Sarha are still alive.’
Irwin felt a tiny bit of sadness as he realized that Luath had missed his friends that much, while knowing they might not even be alive anymore. If they were, they would have lived immensely long lives and be among the oldest of the Chaos Whales.
His sadness was short-lived, replaced by stunned awe as he saw what they were rushing down towards.
A sprawling city of connected trees, with beautiful crystalline walkways and channels of silvery liquid large enough to let Chaos Whales swim through. Arched bridges connected areas, while the foot and lower parts of the trees were barely recognizable as such. Covered in small balconies, windows, and narrow passageways that circled down, whole areas were carved out like the tree cities on Scour.
As they barrelled down, Irwin saw people and young Chaos Whales floating everywhere, far more than the few thousand he had brought here.
A weary wave of soulforce suddenly rippled out from below, closer to a yawn than anything else. With it came a surprised and confused voice.
Irwin…? What time is it?
Exarg’s voice rumbled around Irwin’s head, sounding happy but also thoroughly confused.
Did he just wake up? Irwin thought, wondering if that was what had happened.
There was an immediate response to it, as larger Chaos Whales, most of which had been hidden between the silvery surface, shot up. At the same time, a ripple of excitement moved across the city like a wave of its own, and Irwin saw a few ships that had been moving between a few of the towering trees, redirecting upward.
“Exarg, did something happen? We were waiting up there!”
There was no immediate response, and Irwin almost wondered if Exarg had fallen asleep when the voice returned.
I fear… young one, that I might have overslept. The time dilation is weakening so much faster than I expected. After the Crathans arrived, I decided to take a short nap, but…
The Titan Sliver’s voice faded, but not before Irwin heard the slight shame in it.
“It’s okay,” he said, hoping it was. “How much time passed here?”
As he asked the question, he watched the city below and grimaced. A city like that would need a long time to reach the sense of living that this one had.
Hard to be sure, but I am sure the young ones will be able to tell you. Now, I need to wake up completely and make my way back up. As soon as I am there, I will help you bring out those who want to.
Irwin grimaced at those words.
Great. So now it's possible that all of this was for nothing?
He sighed as he pondered going down when he felt a pulse of aura move up from below. It nudged him for a moment, then a soulforce ripple occurred a few hundred feet beside him. A giant Chaos Whale appeared with a familiar Ignitzian on top.
“Irwin! I wondered how long it would take before you came to see where we were,” Lejingi shouted as the Chaos Whale she was riding moved closer to Luath.
A rumbling song erupted from it, so fast that Irwin only picked up parts about being curious.
Luath replied slightly slower.
“I am Luath, yes. What do you mean? Who has been sleeping for me for ages? What does that even mean?”
Irwin blinked in surprise.
“How about we find a quiet place to talk?” Lejingi shouted. “I’m sure the others will start appearing soon, and the Council of Smiths will want to speak to you.”
Irwin stared at her, then at the city, and sighed.
I hate time dilation.
“Alright,” he said. “Where do we go?”
“If I recall correctly, you had this movement skill that allowed you to bring someone along, right?”
Irwin sighed as he heard the uncertainty in her voice.
Definitely more than a few thousand years, he thought.
“Luath, I am going to talk with Lejingi.”
“It’s fine,” Luath rumbled. “I need to find out what this one means with She Who Sleeps.”
Irwin frowned, then a name popped into his head.
“Let him find out. Please,” Lejingi shouted, interrupting his thought process.
Irwin hesitated, then clicked his tongue, shooting across the soundwaves and reappearing beside Lejingi. From this close, he saw she had changed slightly. Her soulforce signature showed she had five soulcards, while her hands were filled with six handcards. With her first soulcard being at ruby-rank, that meant she was now filled out with only her handcards potentially being switched around. Beyond that, her flaming hair had turned darker, slightly more soot flowing around it.
Irwin stared at the soot, knowing it meant she’d reached the later stages of an Ignitzian’s life. With her number of soulcards letting her live for a very long time, Irwin knew just how much time must have passed here.
“Don’t worry,” Lejingi said, smiling as she walked to the side of the Chaos Whale and pointed at the city. “Do you see that small balcony on the furthest side of the city from here? The one with the small crystalline vines wrapped around the pillars, and the two squares side by side?”
Irwin looked at where she was pointing, but it still took him a few moments to find the indicated balcony.
“Found it,” he said, noticing the fastest of the ships would likely reach them in a few minutes.
“Okay, can you get us there?”
“You can’t teleport us like you just did?” Irwin asked, curious.
“No, that’s Hoojing’s ability,” she said, smiling at the Chaos Whale. “He needs to go with Luath.”
Irwin put his hand on her shoulder and clicked his tongue, wondering just what had happened.
-
Ten minutes, Irwin and Lejingi sat in a small restaurant at a table with a clear view of the silvery sea, a spectrum of colors illuminating the back wall where a glowing crystal sat in a faceted bowl of translucent black crystal. Lejingi had talked with another Ignitzian, one of her many offspring, for exactly ten seconds to get the entire restaurant cleared. Not that a lot of people had been there, and now the door was closed, and they were the only two inside.
He didn’t change at all, she thought, trying to recall what he had looked like all those years ago. Well, to him, only a few days passed.
“Exarg fell asleep, and we couldn’t wake him,” she said as she examined him closely. “Without him awake, the storms around Mouxirvin are too strong for anyone to pass through, and none of our teleporters were able to get beyond it either. The first few years after that, a lot of people were still trying to find a way to reach you and the others, but as more time passed, the city grew, well…”
“How many years are we talking?” Irwin asked, his face unreadable.
Lejingi hesitated as part of her thought about the many years that had passed.
“The city was built close to twenty-seven thousand years ago,” she said, seeing his eyes widen in shock. “Most of the people who live now only know you from the stories the Chaos Whales share. Well, those and the stories of the three hundred.”
Or what is left of them.
“The three hundred? The cardsmiths are still alive?” Irwin asked, and she finally saw an emotion - relief.
“Yes, and not just that, they are probably being awoken now and should be ready to leave soon,” she said.
“What? How? If that many years… wait. What do you mean by " awoken”
“When it became clear Exarg wouldn’t wake soon, many of the three hundred began using the memory compression techniques, but after enough years, even that wasn’t as useful. So, we worked together to create a new cardseed, one that-”
She fell quiet as she saw his mouth fall open, eyes wide.
“You worked together to create a cardseed? How?” he muttered. “No. Nevermind. Please continue, I’ll ask questions later.”
Lejingi could fully understand his surprise, as it had taken a thousand years to even figure out how to work together on creating a cardseed. Even now, it was one of the most complex things she knew how to do, and it failed so many times that it had only been tried again twice as far as she knew.
“The cardseed we made allowed us to create a card that was reforgeable into one that allows someone to be put into a timeless sleep. Their body doesn’t age, and they can easily be reawakened, which-”
A pulse of soulforce interrupted her as a group of twelve people appeared a few tables away. The group looked at her and Irwin, and looks of relief passed over their faces.
“Finally,” one of them, an older Crathan man, shouted, raising his hands. “Do you have any idea how long I waited?”
“Oh, shut up, you old fool,” a younger man snapped, slapping his shoulder. “It’s your own fault for letting yourself be awoken every few years. You could have just remained aslumber.”
“What, and be like you? Not knowing anyone alive, having to find out your entire family line died ten thousand years ago, and that the only reason you are still even there is that I took the time to move you into my own personal chambers!” the older man said, as the two stared at each other angrily.
One of the Crathans bowed at Irwin, eyes wide with curiosity, before vanishing, while the nine non-bickering people walked towards Irwin.
I wonder if he even recognizes them, Lejingi thought.
Her worry was wiped away as Irwin got up and began greeting the smiths one at a time, only having to ask one who they were. Halfway through, another group appeared, then another, and within half an hour, a group of nearly a hundred smiths had arrived.
Lirai and Sinturkal were among the last ones, and eventually, as everyone had settled down and Irwin returned to his spot at her table, her nephew and his heartbond joined them.
“So… are more coming?” Irwin asked, staring at her.
Lejingi shook her head. “No. It's a miracle this many survived. The others either didn’t want to wait and lived their lives, died during a conflict, or-”
“Conflict? I wouldn’t call the Depth Wars a conflict,” Sinturkal interrupted her.
Lejingi frowned at her nephew, then turned to Irwin, whose eyes had narrowed, a dangerous pressure emanating from him. She recognized it from long ago, as one of the few things she’d never forgotten over the years was seeing Teacher Irwin become angry.
“None of the Chaos Whales were involved,” she said quickly. “Although Driftah is the largest city, there are many others as people spread out. As happens when lots of people exist, differences of opinion grow.”
“How are the Chaos Whales doing?” Irwin asked.
Fine, Exarg rumbled, his voice suddenly echoing around them. If these little titans had done anything to harm them, I would have awoken…
“Good,” Irwin said, looking at the table and seemingly distracted by something.
Silence fell over the previously chattering room, and Lejingi sighed.
I’m so glad he is back.
“How long were you awake?”
She looked up to see Irwin look at her.
“For a few hundred years initially, then I woke every hundred years to spend a few months to a few years with my family,” she said. “But I did compress many memories together as Exarg taught us.”
“How many Crathans now live here?”
A few million, Exarg rumbled. They multiply faster than Titans, but still much slower than most species I know.
“A few million?” Irwin whispered, looking around the room before focusing on her again. “How many cardsmiths?”
“Thousands,” Lejingi said, already knowing what he was going to ask. “And yes, many will be interested in leaving this world. Both cardsmiths, warriors, and regular people. As safe as it is, the legends that have spread about Eluathar and the Portal Gallery have created a lingering desire to see these worlds. It’s just…”
Irwin cocked his head. “Just what?”
“If I remember well, there weren’t that many Crathan’s on Eluathar until you brought those from Scour, right?” she asked carefully.
“Not that many, perhaps a few thousand.”
Even less than I feared, she thought.
“Well, tens of thousands of years is a long time, and the Crathan’s here have become very different from those on Scour… What we are speaking now is called the Old Tongue, and most don’t speak it. They also have their own customs, which might not match those on Eluathar.”
Irwin leaned back and stared at her for a while. “So, you are telling me that I shouldn’t bring too many? Or none at all?”
“I would bring only cardsmiths, because those speak the Old Tongue, and have those mix with the people from Scour,” she said. “After a few decades or centuries, you could bring more.”
Irwin stared at her for a while, then sighed.
“Do you remember what the state of the Portal Gallery is?”
“There was a war with something called the Guidar?” she said slowly, faintly recalling the old times of long ago.
“That war to us is not even fully started yet,” Irwin said. “We probably won’t have centuries. Still, I had only expected about three hundred cardsmiths and their family. From what you say, I’ll likely be able to find more cardsmiths willing to join?”
“Oh, definitely,” Lirai said, leaning forward. “The only problem is that no matter what we tried, the ideas about what is beyond Mouxirvin that spread are somewhat different from reality. For one, most people will know you as the Giant, and they will probably be a bit disillusioned at your actual size.”
Irwin cocked his head, and Lejingi saw his lips quirk up for a moment before settling.
“That is not a problem,” he said. “What else?”
“Well, they believe the world of Eluathar is some magical place with a myriad of colors that don’t exist here, water that is blue and green and golden, and with enormous numbers of animals, in it, and- … Why are you laughing?”
Did I forget this much? Is it really like that? Lejingi thought, feeling her desire to see Irwin’s world grow. She’d almost lost it, as she had her desire to see the world where the Ignitzians came from.
She wasn’t the only one, as many of the smiths had gotten up and moved towards them, questions on their faces.
“Is there really a burning fire in the sky instead of the glowing storm?”
“Does everyone get free cards like in the myths?”
“Can you really create a card above diamond-ranked?”
Lejingi saw Irwin’s mouth open and close to answer before the ancient smith leaned back, waiting for the questions to stop.
This is going to be interesting…
-
Luath felt odd after the teleport. He’d been moved around before, but usually by Irwin. This was the first time a teleporter had directly used their skill on him, and he found that he disliked it immensely.
“You are a lot bigger than I had imagined,” Hoojing sang at him, the younger Chaos Whale nudging him curiously. “Can you sing to me about what the world beyond looks like? I really want to see it!”
Luath almost began right away, fully understanding the desire of anyone to want to explore and look. He only stopped because of what they were here for. Here, being an area far from the city, with only a single enormous crystalline and metallic tree before them. Its roots curved up and out of the silver sea, and he felt something below it.
“Yes, but first I want to know who She Who Sleeps is supposed to be,” he said as he began flying forward and down. “I take it that's who I sense down there?”
“Yes! Oh, it's really odd to talk with someone who has never seen her, you know. She’s a legend! Has more titles than anyone else-” the young Chaos Whale sang, before singing a few short bursts of beautiful music that Luath knew he could roughly translate to, “The glutton and the sleeper.”
Hoojing flew beside him, speeding up.
“I can’t believe I’ll be here to see her wake. I wonder what she is like!”
Luath frowned as he reached the silvery sea and crashed into it without stopping.
The glutton? Why does that seem familiar, he thought as he used his soulforce senses to swim along the enormous root system towards where he could detect an entrance into the tangled mess.
The sounds as they dove deeper seemed to tickle along his skin, and when they reached the entrance, he was surprised at how much he’d missed being within the thick silvery goop.
I wonder if Irwin can move some of this into his soulscape, he pondered.
His thoughts faded as he sensed the Chaos Whale ahead of them. There was something odd about the silvery sea, and he found out what as he swam forward, and suddenly the liquid became as translucent as water. A dull yellowish light came from runes carved into the roots, illuminating another Chaos Whale that hovered quietly a few yards away.
She was large, almost as long as he was, but not as bulky. She also had scars across her left side, one nicking a rather fetching flipper. He also knew her.
“That’s Sarha!” he sang, the now translucent liquid vibrating from the force of his voice. He swam closer and inspected his old childhood friend. She’d aged, but not that much, and as he closed in, the nearby runes began flickering. A pulse flowed from them, over him, and then across Sarha. Her shape shivered, the first movement so far.
“She’s really waking up… I never knew there were soulforce draining runes here,” Hoojing sang from behind him.
Luath didn’t respond, instead watching Sarha slowly begin moving, her eyes flickering open. He had expected that he’d never see any of his friends again, not with how powerful the time dilation still was. Now, it seemed he might have been too hasty.
Better even, with the time dilation weakening, that meant-
“Hungryyyy…”
Luath let out a thrumming song of laughter and joy as he heard Sarha’s familiar voice. Her eyes locked on his, and she blinked.
“Luath, you are back!”
“Yes, and you are still alive,” Luath sang back, moving closer and rubbing his side against hers. A tiny arc of reddish golden lightning rippled between them before vanishing into the surrounding runes. Those dimmed rapidly, and from the edges he saw the silvery dullness of the liquid return.
“I was bored and alone,” Sarha sang softly, her stomach rumbling and causing his to mirror it. “The more time passed, the more I pondered about where you were going, and what you were doing, and I decided to sleep until you returned. Food, and tell me what you have seen. Sing to me of the other worlds!”
Luath let out a wordless song of joy as he pushed her slightly before swimming to the entrance. He faintly noticed that Hoojing had left.
“Yes, but first! Tell me what happened to Min and the others?”
Sarha let out a thrum of sadness filled with imagery of loss.
“She woke me shortly before her life ended, long ago,” she sang as they swam into the silvery sea. “It is only you and me…”
Luath didn’t react, feeling a wave of sadness.
‘Are you okay?’
‘I will be,’ he quickly sent to Irwin, using more imagery than he usually did and glad his friend would understand. ‘Sarha is alive, but not the others.’
‘I am happy and sad,’ Irwin sang back with images instead of words, and for a moment, Luath let his own song mix with his friend’s. Then he sent a quick goodbye and focused on Sarha.
“Fine, let's find soulforce to eat,t and I will sing to you of Eluathar,” he said, wishing now that he’d had more time to explore the beautiful blue and green world.
-
Irwin cracked his neck as he watched the group of cardsmith grow from a hundred to over a thousand.
I think we just gained more cardsmiths than we need, he thought, glancing at Lejingi.
The now old Ignitzian was talking with a few of her family members, all Ignitzians like her. From what he had been able to gather, as one of only a handful of Ignitzians that had come here, she was now the matriarch of a massive family. Four of those were going to return with her, all thousands of years old… technically. Just like she had, they had mostly spent the largest parts of their lives asleep.
I still can’t believe the complexity of that card, he thought, turning his gaze to the older Crathan who stood to the side.
Taller than he was, and twice as massive, the man had been mostly quiet. According to Lejingi, he had always been an odd one, but also one of the best smiths they currently had. He had shown his soulcard to Irwin, though reluctantly and for only a moment, before moving away from the group. Not that it mattered much to Irwin. The complexity of the card has been stunning, and parts of it were clearly of types he had no experience with. Even if he’d gotten it in his hands, he didn’t think he could recreate it.
‘I am returning,’ Luath said, his voice a mix of sad melancholy and joyful exuberance. ‘Sarha wants to ask if you can bring her into your soulscape.’
Irwin hesitated only a second before sending a chant of agreement. ‘She is welcome, but she does know it means she will not be able to leave for the Portal Gallery?’
‘She knows, but she wants to see the other real worlds, like Eluathar with me!’
Irwin laughed as he heard the absolute joy of his friend and summon.
‘Then bring her, we are leaving soon!’ he said.
As he looked back up, he saw Lejingi look at him curiously.
“Good news?”
“Yes,” Irwin said, as he looked at the large number of Crathan smiths and realized nearly all of it had been good news.
Very good news!