“It is fine. I can wait,” Tang rumbled softly.
Irwin didn’t respond, but looked back at the smaller Giant.
The man had been sitting quietly in front of the building Irwin had made for him, staring out across the mountains. Not too far from Irwin’s own smithy, it was far from all of the cardsmiths that were still in Irwin’s soulscape. Unlike the previous time Irwin had stood here, the place looked peaceful. Something about Tang’s presence seemed to exude a calmness that belied the fact that he was slowly dying.
“There’s a risk that if we wait for me to become better, something happens to me,” Irwin said softly. “We are heading out to Igniz now. If you want I-”
“I’ll stay here,” Tang said, interrupting him with a curt shake of his head. “Go do what you must. If I change my mind about waiting, I’ll let you know. You are sure there are no issues if we do it in a few months?”
“I am sure,” Ambraz replied from Irwin’s shoulder. “We could probably wait for nine or ten years, but definitely two or three.”
It won’t take that long, Irwin thought, but he kept quiet. It had surprised him greatly when Tang had said he’d wait for a while.
“Then I can wait,” Tang said. “Go do what you have to do with those shadow cards.”
Irwin nodded, staring at the Fiz’rin, sensing his horribly mangled soulforce signature, and hesitated.
“Does it hurt?” he finally asked, realizing he should have done so sooner.
“Not a lot,” Tang replied. “I’ve lived through far worse, for far longer. Don’t worry about that. Now, you said there were a lot of Crathan cardsmiths here that needed to learn about what it’s like out there?”
“Yes,” Irwin answered, curious.
“Could you bring me there? I’m curious to see what a new species looks like,” Tang rumbled. “I can also tell them a lot about what the worlds of the Portal Gallery look like.”
Irwin hesitated for only a moment before nodding.
“I can do that, but after I bring you there, I will be busy, so I won’t be able to return you here for a while.”
“That is fine,” Tang said as he got up and looked around. “Perhaps I’ll walk.”
Ambraz let out a sharp laugh, while Irwin shook his head.
“Not sure you should try that,” he said, glancing at the towering mountains next to them, some peaks stretching towards the dark, golden- or orange-edged clouds that floated around above.
Tang just smiled, and Irwin realized the other wouldn’t change his mind.
I guess it will be good for him to be in a place where he won’t just accidentally destroy things, he decided.
Irwin stretched his soulforce senses to a distant part of the Aura Hills. There, he felt the dense soulforce resonances of the Crathans as they moved about the small city he had made for them. A large group was near the central building, likely asking Scintila or Brecka questions and still preparing to move to Eluathar. Brecka had been explaining what to expect for a few days now, and Scintilla had joined her almost immediately after she moved into Irwin’s soulscape.
I wonder how she’s doing, Irwin pondered, as he thought about his heartbond.
He summoned one of his aura clones, which moved to stand beside Tang, then he moved both of them to the small city with a tiny flex of his will.
They appeared beside the central building, a dark one made of the stone from the nearby mountains. It was the central building of a city that clearly looked a lot like Blackglass, something Irwin had done because it was easier to recreate something he’d already seen. The fact that the style resembled what the Crathans on the gas giant had used had also helped, as it made it easier for them.
Irwin was about to say something when an explosion from inside the building caused the ground to tremble. A moment later, there was an outburst of laughter from inside the building, followed by Brecka’s voice.
“Good job! Now, you two are up!”
Irwin stared at the building before letting out a weary sigh.
Of course she is sparring, he thought, glancing at Tang.
“Let’s go and see what she is up to,” he said.
--
Irwin felt his auraclone tell Tang about the city, surprised for a moment by how minor the soulforce tension was from having it out while both of his other selves were also active.
I wonder what will happen when I reach worlcarded, he pondered.
Would he be able to have dozens of minor parts of himself roaming around?
Deciding he would likely find out eventually, he turned to Dahlia. The other smith was watching him intently, leaning forward as soon as he moved again.
“Tang is fine with waiting,” Irwin said as he felt Ambraz return to his shoulder.
“Good!” Juul'rish said, her voice like a bell. “Then let’s go and reforge. We have been trying for ages, and I want to see if you can do better.”
Irwin blinked at the challenge in those words, and he felt Ambraz bristle through their connection.
“Of course, we can do better,” the other Ganvil snapped before Irwin could stop him.
“I’ll try,” he said instead, shaking his head. “But if there’s no heat, metal, or anything overlapping in any of its potential side reforges, it's not certain I can have it retain both shadowstep and-”
“Oh, come on,” Ambraz interrupted him. “Each time you say that, you do something that makes no sense. I’m sure you can do this!”
Irwin snorted as he glanced at his bonded Ganvil. “You said that it’s very rare for a handcard to have both a movement and a control typing. Besides, I still think it’s better to just make two, one for each typing.”
“Perhaps that’s true,” Ambraz said. “But I still want to see if you can do it.”
“So do we,” Dahlia said, getting up and almost pushing him to the empty area, while Ambraz flew there and changed into his working shape mid-air, slamming into the ground with a loud thud.
Irwin didn’t resist, somewhat curious himself. Accepting one of the cards from Dahlia, he put it on Ambraz’s back and hummed softly as he focused on the card.
“Let’s try a sideways reforge to something with heat first,” he said as he summoned his hammer and brought it down in a single, smooth motion.
Twenty minutes later, he hummed thoughtfully as he examined the amethyst card. A single sideways reforge had done little but show him something he’d already noticed. Cards based on a new cardseed were highly pure in their typing. There wasn’t even a tiny indication of it having anything but shadow, movement, and body improvement, and it was the latter type he’d had to actually focus on. The result? One sideways reforge, and one to the next rank, which resulted in a simple amethyst card with both shadowstep and a tiny amount of shadow control.
“A single try…” Juul’rish whispered, sounding incredibly annoyed. “How is this even fair?”
Ambraz didn’t react, still giggling profusely.
Dahlia was ignoring both Ganvils, standing beside him and examining the card.
“If we reforge this up, it will be heavily skewed towards body improvement,” she said thoughtfully.
Irwin shrugged. “As I said, I think it's best to take two cards, one for shadow control, the other for shadow movement. The one you showed me would give someone far greater control over shadows. This one, even if we make it diamond rank, wouldn’t give more than a regular level of control.”
“I know,” Dahlia said as she took the card from him, holding it up as if for closer examination. “However, this proves something I had wondered about before. Cardseeds differ from naturally grown cards. A regular card has so many typings mixed together with the main ones that you can change it into many different things. Your soulforce senses are sharper than mine. Did you sense any other typings it might have?”
“None that I could find, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any,” Irwin said, agreeing with Dahlia’s assessment as it matched his own. “So, why again did you want this card?”
“It's not that I wanted this specific card,” she said, handing the card back to Irwin, who took it with a raised eyebrow. “I wanted to know if it was possible. After my first failure, I feared cardseed cards were even more limited than what we just talked about. It’s good to see that this isn’t the case.”
Irwin just nodded, sensing another request coming.
“Can you reforge this up as high as you can see if you can find a way to have it gain either soulforce or soulscape improvements?”
Ah, right, Irwin thought, recalling their previous chats and his own ponderings on how to get Greldo towards a potential worldcarded status.
“You want to see if we can increase either of the two based on someone’s shadow abilities.”
“Yes,” Dahlia agreed. “Like you suggested some time ago, if this-” she waved her hands around. “-shadow realm of Greldo can be linked to his soulscape, it could prove a great improvement.”
Irwin put the card back on Ambraz’s back and, for the next few hours, began reforging it up and sideways.
--
“So, that’s a no,” Dahlia said as she examined the diamond card.
“There just wasn’t anything to latch on to,” Irwin said as he sat on the stool, drinking from a large mug of water. “It doesn’t mean there’s no way, but I couldn’t find one.”
He hummed as he rubbed his chin, an idea playing through his mind.
“But I think there’s another thing we should try,” he said, causing Dahlia to lower the card and look back at him. “Those three hundred I brought to the gas giant managed to create a cardseed by working together with dozens of cardsmiths. The resulting thing they made was able to put someone into a sort of timeless sleep, where their bodies didn’t age.”
“They made a cardseed together? As in, by mixing their soulforces?” Dahlia said, putting the card down, eyes widening. “You want to make a cardseed that combines parts of your soulforce and mine!”
“Exactly,” Irwin said. “However, before you get too excited, it took them many years, and they failed innumerable times.”
“Yes, but they were using more than just two cards,” Dahlia said, waving that away. “Besides, we both have Ganvils, so-”
“So do they,” Ambraz said, turning to them amidst his conversation with Juul’rish. “I left thousands of rank zeros there, and those are all bonded now.”
“Thousands?” Juuli’rish exclaimed, flying forward. “What are you trying to do? Create your own subspecies?”
“Of course not,” Ambraz grunted, and Irwin ignored their ensuing argument.
“Still, I think we should try,” he said, preparing to get up, only to be interrupted by a voice.
“Not now, though,” Greldo said as he appeared beside the table, looking rushed. “We have arrived at Igniz, and they aren’t doing as well as the Ganvils were.”
“What is wrong?” Irwin asked as he walked towards his friend.
“It’s best I just show you,” Greldo said, and Irwin felt his friend try to pull him into the shadowrealm.
--
Tiscian Smokeblade ground her teeth as she watched another two of her ships begin their deadly descent to the ground far below. She wished she could help, but there was nothing she could do. Her soulforce was so drained she was having trouble remaining on her feet as it was, and all she would be able to do was watch them shatter, killing all of her people that couldn’t get out.
“Blademother Tiscian, the Blademothers on the eastern front are requesting reinforcement.”
Tiscian glanced at the Blademaiden, face scratched by some attack. Her face was calm, her eyes showed no fear, but Tiscian knew that deep down, the young woman was likely terrified.
Tiscian scanned the remains of her fifteen ships. At one point, her family had a fleet of thirty-two, led by the Smokeblade Warship. Now only fourteen remained, and her warship was riddled with holes, the sail partially ripped, and the soulforce buffer, a rare luxury in their branch, had been filled and released so many times that it was cracking at the seams.
“Tell them we have nothing left to send,” she replied as she glared at the ships with the white and red sails that were pressuring them harder than ever.
“How long till the soulforce battery is filled?” she shouted across her shoulder.
“Ten minutes, Blademother!”
Ten minutes… we will lose another four ships before then, she thought as she looked around. She knew they would win, as they had in the previous three attacks. But at what cost, and for how much longer?
Two minutes passed, then three, and the same Blademaiden returned.
“Blademother Tiscian, the eastern front is falling back to the harbor. They are unable to hold them back, and the Bladematriarch’s ship is signaling all combined fleets to fall back with them so we don’t leave holes.
That fool, Tiscian thought as she thought about the new Bladematriarch. How could she risk herself going here, who knew who would replace her if she died?
She glared at the ships of the Guidar forces, wishing they didn’t have to fall back. If they did, they likely wouldn’t be able to actually kill those of the enemy who would inadvertently flee after their loss. That meant they would return with stronger forces. Again.
“Fall back and keep the line,” she ordered.
Immediately, signals were sent to her remaining ships. They were halfway gone when a deafening screech rattled her ears. A familiar, horrid one that they had all heard before.
“Not now,” she thought as she scanned around to find a dark tentacled mass wrapped around one of the enemy ships. Had this been any other place, she would have been more than happy. Now she knew what was going to happen.
“Signal for everyone to spread out and raise their shields,” she ordered, before muttering to herself. “And let’s hope they chase those Guidar-bound purple-blooded bastards.”
--
Irwin appeared, hovering in the shadow realm in the portal gallery, and his eyes were immediately drawn to an enormous battle ensuing in the distance. What had to be close to two hundred ships were in the middle of a chaotic battle, energy bouncing off shields and barriers only to strike other ships nearby, while amidst the chaos, three Shadow Oculithar kept appearing and disappearing, snatching people from decks if the ships had no barriers, or from mid air.
Why are they not just working together to kill those oculithar first? Irwin thought as he felt the calm he’d been experiencing for the last few weeks fade.
Then he saw one of the Ignizian vessels take a sharp turn, bank along a Chained vessel, and blast energy across its already shimmering shield. They dropped, and almost immediately, one of the Shadow Oculithar appeared almost on top of it, wrapping its tentacles around the hull.
They are using them to kill the chained, he thought, somewhat stunned.
He quickly saw it wasn’t a one-sided thing either. A ship filled with Ignizians was wrapped by suddenly appearing shadowy tentacles moments after three chained vessels ganged up on it, shattering its shielding. Tiny soulforce signatures were whisking out as he watched.
Without hesitation, Irwin forced himself out of the shadowrealm, and immediately the previously muted sounds of explosions, screams, and shouts assaulted his ears.
‘There’s a battle with Shadow Oculithar,’ Irwin sent to Luath.
The response was an explosive song, filled with promises of violence, completely at odds with his summons’ usual calm demeanor. Irwin blinked, and it took him a moment to filter what it meant.
‘Yes, you can fight,’ he said as he clicked his tongue and shot towards the battle. ‘Just make sure you jump in and out of my soulscape if those chained start attacking you. They sometimes have cards that can hypnotize Chaos Whales.’
Luath didn’t even respond, and instead, a Chaos Whale suddenly appeared in midair.
Irwin clicked his tongue, landing on Luath’s back, which gave him a better chance to look at the battle.
“Oh, I can get used to this,” Greldo said as he appeared beside Irwin. “I should have known you would want to fight right away. What’s the plan?”
Irwin stared at the ships in the distance, which, although spread out, were close enough for him to engulf them all with his aura.
“I’m going to unchain them, but this will mean they won’t be able to defend themselves well,” he said. “I need you to talk to the Ignizians and explain what is happening so they don’t keep killing the chained if they stop fighting. Luath, can you take care of those Oculithar?”
Instead of an answer, Luath let out a trumpeting sound that drowned out all other noise for a few moments and caused a lull in the battle as he increased his speed towards the nearest Shadow Oculithar.
“Good answer,” Greldo said, grinning widely. “I’ll head for the Ignitzian. You'd better get started!”
Greldo stepped into the shadowrealm, and Irwin sensed him rush away as he focused on the distant battle. He could see multiple ships disengaging and heading towards him, all Chained. Technically, he could reach a larger area if he used his giantself, but he knew it wasn’t really needed with a battle of this size.
‘I’m going to try and lock down the entire battle,’ he sent to Luath while taking a deep breath.
A happy and battle-hungry response resonated through his feet, and Irwin focused on his aura.
Normally, he held it back, kept it almost wrapped up inside his soulscape so it wouldn’t harm others. Now he expanded it outward, boosting it as much as he could with his soulforce. It almost felt like a rolling wave of sensations hit him all at once as the aura engulfed first the edge, then more of the battle. The reaction was instant, as all those on ships with broken shields and weaker than a soulcarded froze in their tracks. Shields that still stood flared up brightly, as if being heavily pressured.
Irwin tried to focus on the Chained ships, but he instantly knew he wouldn’t be able to make that distinction. Sensing that he could shatter many of the weaker shields outright, he looked at the three Shadow Oculithar. One was still wrapped around a ship, seemingly busy, but the other two had moved into the shadowrealm and were now heading towards him and Luath.
‘Two incoming,’ he sang to his friend.
‘I can sense them,’ Luath replied as he angled towards one of the two.
The red, lava-like stripes across his side began to pulse slowly, while Irwin felt a rapid vibration through the soles of his feet. Before he could ask what would happen, Luath opened his mouth and a beam of energy, a mix of red, gray, and black, erupted from it, striking where Irwin sensed the Oculithar move through the shadowrealm.
That won’t… !
His mind almost went blank as he saw the Shadow Oculithar appear, hurling sideways and missing two tentacles.
“Die!” Luath sang, his voice an elongated bellow that deepened as he increased his speed with another skill Irwin didn’t know he had.
The Shadow Oculithar had no time to react as Luath slammed into him, his massive mouth open as he ripped off two tentacles while knocking the Oculithar hundreds of feet away.
Irwin barely managed to keep his footing, trying to understand what had just happened.
“The Ignitzians are ready!” Greldo’s shout made him look up to see his friend drop from the shadow towards his back before vanishing and reappearing a bit higher. “I think you should deal with those chained now, I’ll take the third Shadow Oculithar!”
Irwin felt his body angle sideways as Luath dove back to maul the Oculithar, which seemed too stunned to react, either by the Chaos Whale’s still ongoing cry for death.
He used the sound waves to move to his summon’s dorsal fin, grabbed a hold, and focused on his still present aura.
Crack, he thought, as he forced all his soulforce to resonate with his aura, causing a localized shiver to run through the portal branch. Dozens of shields whisked out, but many more remained, having too much energy left.
‘I’m going to shatter some shields,’ Irwin sent to Luath before he shot across the soundwaves towards the two intertwined fleets. Most of the combat had died down, and he saw that those ships with working shields were rapidly trying to disengage.
He reappeared halfway and looked around to find two larger ships beginning to fly away.
Not happening.
He clicked his tongue as he shot after them.
--
“Blademother, the Chaos Whale took care of another Oculithar,” a barely audible voice managed to escape from Tiscian’s commander.
Tiscian looked up at her friend and distant relative, holding the steering wheel in a death grip. The pressure that was blanketing everything was making it nearly impossible for her to move, meaning anyone weaker was almost completely unable to move. Only those of her ships with intact sails were fine, and those had moved in between them and the remaining enemies.
Not that many of those remained.
“How many red and white sails remain?” she asked.
“Four… three now,” her commander croaked.
Three left, the others all taken out as if it's nothing, Tiscian thought.
Barely a minute later, the enormous pressure vanished, and she held back a sigh of relief, something most around her didn’t manage.
“No ships remaining, Blademother… the Chaos Whale is gone, taking what remained of the last Oculithar with it.”
Which leaves us with questions, Tiscian thought as she stepped away, letting the commander retake her place.
“Signal every damaged ship to return to the harbor, while the others are to search for survivors among the wreckage,” she ordered, walking towards the railing to stare at what remained of the other fleets.
She had barely finished her count when a rapid intake of air made her look up. The blurred warrior that had cracked the shields like she did a hardened Puari shell was racing towards her ship, vanishing and reappearing every few yards.
“Stay your hands,” she called out just as the figure vanished in front of her, and she heard a thud behind her. She spun around, seeing a towering man with arms as big as some of her more slender granddaughters and eyes that burned like the insides of a volcano. A man she knew, who had slept in her house and taken one of her daughters as his heatbond. A man whom she had helped escape Igniz many years ago, just before the seventh Bladematriarch war had begun.
“Hello, Tiscian.”
“Irwin Roddington,” Tiscian said as she stared at the man, sensing the immense pressure that he was radiating, both in soulforce and from his soulflame, which radiated a heat that almost took her breath away.
None of that really mattered to her, though. Only one thing really did.
“How are my daughter and grandchildren?” she asked.