Captain Drinmal kept his arms crossed as he stared over the railing, still trying to get to grips with all that had happened. For over a year, the damnable chains had forced them to relentlessly attack that tiny harbor, only to be pushed back time and again, to be bound to wait for more ships.
Then, just as he had felt their attack might get through, the plans of the two admirals seemed to be succeeding; someone had shown up who divided all logic. Someone who had suppressed everyone’s abilities not blocked by the shields and who had then moved them all here.
Wherever here is, he thought, looking at the barrier a few miles away. All around them, the pale desert stretched out as far as he could see, with the only oddity a distant volcano, only recognizable as such from the constant dark and yellow plumes moving up from its tip.
“Captain Drinmal?”
Drinmal looked back to see his scout had gotten up from his seated position, dust clinging to his clothes and floating back into his pale orange and yellow hair.
“So, where are we?” Drinmal asked.
“The initial guess was correct,” his new lookout said. “We are inside a soulscape.”
Drinmal held back a snort at how ridiculous that was, instead merely frowning.
“You are absolutely sure?”
“Yes, captain. The barrier is a soulscape barrier, not a Portal Gallery one, and I can’t sense the other side. Furthermore, my dust sense tells me the desert goes on for at least a hundred miles… that’s all I can tell.”
“Any sign of those filthy Girdaim?” Drinmal asked, feeling his skin crawl as he recalled how they had tried to leave the rest of them to die at the end of the battle, then just flew away as soon as they appeared here.
“None, captain. Based on their speed, they are far out of range of my senses and probably trying to detect a side branch, not yet knowing we are in a soulscape.”
I don’t blame them, Drinmal thought.
“And that distant volcano?” he asked.
“It's way further than I had expected,” the lookout said. “Hard to be sure, but a hundred miles at a minimum.”
Drinmal held the lookout's gaze for a moment, struggling and failing to remember the man’s name.
“Very well. Return to your own ship and continue actively scanning,” he ordered.
The lookout bowed his head deeply before turning and rushing away.
That’s going to take some getting used to, Drinmal thought, as he looked around the rest of his ship.
It was greatly damaged, but he was lucky. Those fiery demon women had somehow figured out which ships held their leaders and sent ashwalkers and shadewalkers to assassinate them. Right at the moment that monstrous Chaos Whale had appeared, they had made use of the confusion and managed to kill both admirals and the other three senior captains.
Which left him with something he wasn’t sure he should be grateful about.
A twitch from his chains, causing them to tighten even more, made Drinmal sigh. He had to figure out a way to get information to the Guidar about his situation, or his chains were going to start causing constant pain. Like all Accenti, he was able to handle it better than the other chained species, but even he wasn’t willing to endure that kind of constant torture.
He was still pondering on the best course of action when a shiver ran through the soulforce all around him. At the same time, a powerful song began emanating from everywhere at once.
Drinmal wanted to shout a warning, use his defensive skill to ward himself, and look around, only to find he was unable to do anything. Instead, he felt a tremor run through his chains as if something was gripping them. The tremor, soft and weak at first, rapidly intensified into a shaking and cracking as he felt the soulforce within his soulscape begin to reach out toward the soulforce resonance ripping into the chains.
They are cracking…
Drinmal felt a soft shiver of anticipation as he sensed the first skill he had ever absorbed flow around and mingle with the foreign soulforce resonance. The skill had come from a card he’d found during his first years sailing the Soulforce Gallery, found within the corpse of a dead Chaos Whale, and it had been the reason for his ability to resist the chains more than anyone he knew. He’d hidden it and its ability, and even rejected a promotion to become the admiral of his family’s fleet, to not draw attention to himself.
Now he felt a powerful sense of kinship between the soulforce resonance of his own skill and the foreign one.
The cracking increased rapidly, and with a tearing sound, as if a metal coat had been too heavy and restrictive, the chains simply shattered. Everything had lasted for only a few moments, and Drinmal stumbled forward, looking around as he regained control over himself.
All of his crew stood frozen mid-motion, and, to his utter disbelief, he sensed the same soulforce wrapped around them.
What…? What happened? he thought, trying to understand what had happened and how powerful the soulforce must be for him to sense it.
“That was interesting,” a deep, slightly odd voice rumbled.
Drinmal spun around, seeing nothing, then realized there was a shadow over the side of the deck. He looked up and gasped while jumping back and wrapping his shield around himself. A giant, copper-skinned man with eyes like furnaces hung horizontally above him.
“No need to worry, I am still unchaining the others, and it will take a bit longer. I’m more curious what just happened. You have a skill that somehow resonated with my soulforce, multiplying the speed at which I could break the chain. Can you tell me a bit about it?”
Drinmal opened his mouth, then closed it again as he looked around, seeing that nobody else was moving. His lips were dry as parchment, and his heart was beating rapidly. The mere pressure of the man hovering above him was enough to make him recall the time he’d been bound when one of the strongest Guidar he’d ever seen just violated his soulscape in a way that still gave him nightmares.
“Ah, sorry, you must be a bit surprised by what is happening,” the man rumbled, smiling ruefully. “So, I moved all of you into my soulscape so I can break the chains the Guidar placed on you. I’m afraid I’ll have to keep you here for a while, because the Ignitzians are probably not going to be very happy to have you around.”
“I… who are you?” Drinmal asked.
“Ah, right. I’m Irwin, though you can call me Cardsmith if you want to.”
Drinmal’s mind jolted as he recalled the list of people to look out for that he had not supposed to see yet memorized. It had been years ago, back when his family's fleet, together with a few others, had been sent to this distant backwater main branch. The Guidar who had been in control, Slaudi, who had died a year or so ago, had been somewhat careless with what he told people or where he left his notes. At the top of the list had been someone called Cardsmith Irwin.
No wonder they want him dead, he thought, feeling his worry and fear fade as the realization of who he was looking at settled in. This was one of those resisting the Guidar, one of those whom the Guidar worried about enough that they had added him to the kill-on-sight lists.
But not dangerous enough for them to send a true fleet for, he reminded himself.
“I am Captain Drinmal, currently the leader of what remains of this combined fleet,” Drinmal said, trying to raise himself up into a non-crouched and worried position. “Thank you for unchaining us… but why?”
“Why did I unchain you? Because we are resisting the Guidar and need more warriors,” the cardsmith said, looking at him closely. “Every chain I unchain is a warrior less for the Guidar and another on our side.”
Drinmal held back a sad laugh, though something on his face must have shown.
“You don’t agree with something I said?”
Drinmal felt his blood drain from his face as he shook his head.
“That is not it,” he said quickly, his mind recalling the moments where he’d been to Stellagh Harbor, the largest of the eastern harbors and the one where most fleets heading towards the war passed through.
“But… Do you have any idea how many fleets the Guidar have? They are measured in ranks, with a rank-one fleet being the smallest. The combined fleet here-” he waved his hand around. “-doesn’t even qualify for that rank. We would need three times as many ships and at least one battleship. A rank two fleet has ten times as many ships and three or more battleships. The largest fleets I know they send are rank five, which have tens of thousands of ships and which blot the sky.”
As he spoke, Drinmal relived the sense of horror he’d felt when seeing the rank five fleet just before it had set out for what he was told was one of the largest branches on the opposite side, a dozen years' travel from where he was now.
It took him a few moments to regain himself, realizing the shattering of his chains was influencing him a lot.
Mother would not be happy if she saw me losing control like this, he thought, focusing on the cardsmith.
“I see. So you have a lot of knowledge about how large those fleets are and where they went?” the cardsmith asked, leaning forward a little.
“More than I should,” Drinmal said honestly. “If they ever send a rank three fleet here, I haven’t seen enough resistance across all the harbors combined to even put a dent in that.”
“And what about when I attack?”
Drinmal stared at the giant, about to shake his head, when the man continued.
“The pressure you felt was but a bit of what I am capable of. I could increase it a thousandfold if need be…”
Drinmal almost called the giant a liar, then quickly held back.
“It might help, but they will have overlapping shields far more powerful than those we had,” he said slowly. “I don’t want to sound disbelieving, but I wonder if you can actually break those.”
“We will have to find out when they show up,” the cardsmith said. “For now, you seem less surprised about the size of my soulscape than I would have expected.”
Drinmal barked a laugh, then sighed. “I have always enjoyed learning about my people’s old legends and gathered stories. There are those dealing with Accenti with soulscapes large enough to house cities. That helps, but to tell you the truth, I’m mostly stunned, and I think my mind has yet to catch up to all that has happened.”
“I can imagine,” the giant cardsmith said. “I’ll be waiting till the rest wakes up to explain what happened, and after that, I will leave you to talk things over.”
“Thank you,” Drinmal said. “I do have a question… You said you won’t let us out here, but will you eventually let us out? Even if we don’t want to fight?”
“I won’t keep you here against your will if that is what you mean,” the cardsmith said without hesitation. “However, if you decide not to fight, I’m going to have to move you somewhere to be sure none of those aboard your fleet get into contact with the Guidar. Also, I’m going to have to ask you to talk with someone else and answer his questions. I presume that is alright?”
“It is fine,” Drinmal said, wondering who that person could be while already planning on what he might do.
I know they scouted many sides of this part of the Portal Gallery, but the opposite end of this backwater branch… it might have some world portals that are less unstable. Perhaps I can stabilize it, and we can leave, and-
“You seem distracted?”
Drinmal looked up, realizing his mind was in flux, part of him thinking about how to take the six ships of his family fleet that remained and fleeing, while another part was still stunned by having been unchained.
He looked at the giant cardsmith, hesitated, then decided that if the other wanted to do him harm, there wasn’t anything he could do either way.
“After I answer your questions, would you allow me to take my family’s ships and leave for the other side of this branch, away from the Guidar?” he asked slowly.
“You wish to flee?”
There was no malice or annoyance in the voice, but somehow Drinmal felt slightly offended. He shoved the feeling down and nodded.
“I wouldn’t stop you, and I can even help you move towards there and save you a year of travel… But I am curious. You aren’t the first I have unchained that instantly decided to flee. Is it out of fear of the Guidar?”
Damn right it is, Drinmal thought, holding his mouth until he calmed again.
“Yes,” he finally said, looking around quickly and noticing no change with the others yet.
“Our people have been enslaved by them for over a thousand years, but some species have been enslaved for longer than the history of their own species seems to recall. None have ever broken free or escaped, and legend says that those who tried were wiped out. Some species have been enslaved for so long that they truly believe that the Guidar are the all-powerful beings they claim to be. Those see being bound as a high honor. We Accenti and some others have yet to fall that deep, and I don’t ever want to reach that level. I don’t believe anyone can truly win against the Guidar, so the only thing we can do is flee through-”
Drinmal snapped his mouth shut, but he knew it was too late.
Damn it…
“Through worldportals,” the giant cardsmith said, stunning Drinmal for only a moment.
Why are you surprised he knows about those? Look at how powerful he is…
“Yes,” he said slowly.
“Because those are locked to the Guidar, but you can move through them?”
Drinmal hesitated only a moment, then shrugged. It wasn’t like it was a true secret, and he was sure the Guidar had long since learned of it. There were, after all, families that had vanished overnight, hundreds of Accenti and their ships gone.
“Yes,” he said. “There are ways to stabilize the portals enough for non-guidar to pass through safely.”
“Stabilize? How?” a new voice interjected, curious.
Drinmal looked to the side to find a Ganvil floating there. He wasn’t all that surprised, as he’d found that many of the cardsmiths here had those.
“What do you know of world portals?” he asked softly, not sure how to speak to the flying anvil so unlike anything that existed in his part of the Portal Gallery.
“That they lead to other Portal Webs, and that those we have are somehow blocked by Yilda,” the cardsmith said.
By Yilda? So they also believe that nonsense the Girdaim believe? Drinmal thought, again, holding his thoughts to himself
“They aren’t blocked but greatly destabilized by a resonance that has spread throughout the ambient soulforce,” he said. “My people know more of the portals than most, and have managed to research a few.”
“You mean Accenti? Interesting, I have spoken with many before, but never heard of this,” the cardsmith said.
“Those of my people who came here first were from the lesser families,” Drinmal said, not at all surprised. “To go through one of the world portals, you have to do a few things. One, you can’t have any Guidar nearby, so being as far away from them, preferably like we are now, is best. Secondly, you need to learn the specific soulforce resonance patterns to stabilize the world portal.”
“Interesting. And how do you do that?” the Ganvil rumbled, flying closer.
“By analyzing what is there and finding the deficiencies,” Drinmal said with a shrug. “It’s hard to explain, and it takes years. That’s why I would want to go as far as I can, find a world portal and eventually bring my people through it.”
“You do know that it's possible that you arrive in a worse Portal Web, right?” the cardsmith asked.
“If we can be free, it's a bet we are willing to make,” Drinmal said, annoyed that even a person as powerful as this cardsmith didn’t immediately realize this. “
“I see, well, the others are about to wake up, so let's continue this conversation later.”
Drinmal felt relieved about that, as he very much wanted to take some time to get used to the odd sense of being disconnected and free he was feeling.
“Yes, and again, thank you for not killing us and unchaining us instead,” he said, bowing his head.
- Two days later, Igniz -
“You are slow, but please try not to kill me on each hit?”
“I’m not! I’m barely putting any power behind those swings!”
“You keep saying that,” Tiscian shouted as she was slammed to her knees when blocking an overhand strike from Scintilla, who grinned wickedly. “But why don’t I believe you?”
Irwin sighed as he leaned against the wall of the Smokeblade Estate, watching the two constantly arguing mid-spar.
They had been back on Igniz for almost two days now, and their plan to go down to Smelter had been postponed twice already.
The first time was right at the start, when Tiscian had coaxed Scintilla out of his Soulscape, and the two had spent most of the evening and the following day talking. Although talking wasn’t really the right word for some of it. Arguing very loudly came closer to the truth.
The second time had been when Tiscian had shown up at his door with Scintilla in tow, and the ‘simple ’ request to see their embers. That was a couple of hours ago, with most of it spent by his otherself talking with Scintilla’s otherself, his mother, and after that, a whole bunch of other people who all wanted to talk with Tiscian and request to visit friends and family.
Which was only a part of what he’d been doing while Scintilla rebonded with her mother.
He focused on the fleet of ships that hung on a far edge of his soulscape, near the seemingly endless sands of his newest soulcard. The ships had all moved together, using chains and ropes to create a sort of flotilla of ships.
It had taken the Accenti, who made up the bulk of the unchained, only a day to prepare what had been the largest festivities he’d ever had in his soulscape. With drink and food, which he’d later learned had been stored in the soulscapes of some of the strongest of them, they had even gone as far as to chant his name, much to his dismay. He understood they were happy, but it had made him feel more than a little awkward, and he was glad he could tune out most of what was happening in his soulscape if he wanted to.
Right now, they were either asleep or talking, while Drinmal and a few other captains were discussing on the deck of the largest of the ships that had survived.
Seeing they were doing fine, he focused on another distant part of his soulscape, still in the desert, but bordering the mountains. Three ships hung there, locked in place by his will and unable to continue on with their journey. He could sense the horrible dissonance that came from the several dozen beings on each ship. Few, compared to the other chained, but too many for his taste, because from what he’d seen and heard, they were all of the Faithful, the main faction among the Girdaim. They held their hosts as mentally retarded slaves, and believed things about Yilda, the latter of which was the only reason he hadn’t either ejected them or killed them outright.
Not right now, he finally decided as he sensed his otherself moving people into his soulscape.
Pulling his mind back, he continued watching Scintilla and Tiscian spar. The two were moving at incredible speeds, using their very similar movement abilities to blur around each other. Still, it was clear that Scintilla wasn’t using the same style, nor was she using the style Irwin knew she had used as an Ignitzion. She was using more force and putting power behind her blows that most Ignitzions couldn’t duplicate.
‘They are ready,’ Ambraz said, sounding excited.
Irwin nodded as he sensed the new group of people in his soulscape. His mother, Scintilla’s other body, and all of his children were sitting inside the lounging area of the regular-sized lounging area of the top shelf in his giant smithy, while Zender and his bond, Ihrana, together with a group of blademaidens, stood outside, chatting excitedly. Hind and Helm stood a little bit away,
I still don’t understand what she is so afraid of, Irwin thought as he spread his soulforce senses, trying to detect anything that might be dangerous. All he found were a few hundred residents of the estate, thousands of Ignitzians in the surrounding villages, and a whole lot of fire elementals - some of which sensed his soulforce and prodded back curiously.
Nothing there, he thought, shaking his head as he walked towards the two shouting and blade-slashing women.
“They are ready,” he shouted, getting their instant attention.
Tiscian stepped back, eyes gleaming, while Scintilla unsummoned her blue and fiery sword, Leafbrand.
“It will take a few more days until any of those you asked for show up,” Tiscian said, as she rebonded her hair and began donning a simple but well-made black and red leather jacket.
“You are sure they can’t be out here?” Irwin asked.
Tiscian instantly shook her head. “The chances are far too big. If anyone figures out that you can do, they will decide that whatever you did outside was either a fluke or something you can’t do easily, and try to capture you.
Irwin snorted as he looked around. “There’s nobody anywhere near here.”
Tiscian stared at him for a moment, then rolled her eyes in a way he’d not seen her do before, but that reminded him of Scintilla.
“I don’t even want to know why you seem so positively sure about that, but it's not that anyone is here. It’s that some people are able to see and hear from miles away. They could be hanging in a cloud over there-” she pointed far in the distance. “Or even further, and you wouldn’t know.”
Irwin frowned, scanning the cloud with his soulforce, and all the others for good measure, finding nothing. He pondered discussing it, then decided against it. It wasn’t like it mattered. He could just bring everyone into his soulscape, and it would definitely be safer.
“Fine, let's go,” he said, causing Tiscian’s eyes to widen with anticipation.