“What would this mean?” Tiscian asked. “I would sense where they are… constantly?”
Irwin shook his head, while Ambraz let out a soft laugh.
“We don’t know yet. Right now, the passive gives a faint indication of where they are,” he said. “It also has an active ability that would let you pinpoint one. However, I still have to reforge it to make it the best fit for you. So, I could try and add something-”
“An off toggle,” Tiscian said before he could finish. “I could slot it, though I think there’s someone better for it, but whoever of us ends up with the card will want an off toggle.”
Irwin leaned back, rubbing his chin and realizing he needed to shave as the scraping sound of someone softly using a steel brush on a pan echoed through the room.
“Told you,” Scintilla whispered.
Irwin shot her a glance before humming.
“I can try to move most of it to the active ability, and focus as little as I can on the passive, but I’m not sure it would be possible to remove each part of the passive element,” he said slowly.
Tiscian nodded, raising her hands as she stared at the filled slots.
“There’s also the issue of my soulscape not having filled up yet. At my current rate, it will take me another ten years to gather the cards to fill it,” Tiscian said, looking serious. “I’ve been trying to speed that up, but… Why are you two laughing?”
“Let’s just say that the kid can help you with that,” Ambraz rumbled.
Irwin wiped the smile from his face as best he could as he focused on Tiscian and one of the things she’d said.
“You said there’s someone better to slot it?” he asked.
Tiscian didn’t respond, looking at them quietly. “Before we talk about that, why exactly did you laugh? I understand you have a lot of cards, being a cardsmith, but to fill my soullake I need rather specific cards. Those who deal with smoke, ash, and fire. The generic fire-and-heat ones only give very little, though. It’s why I usually give the better ones to family.”
Irwin didn’t immediately respond, and Scintilla just crossed her arms and stayed quiet. Before this conversation, she’d warned him not to tell Tiscian. According to her, Tiscian would not be able to keep the secret if Igniz's safety depended on it, and there were too many risks in it spreading. The Guidar already had their chained hunting them, but that seemed a side-note. What if they realized the Chaos Whales were a potential weapon against their enemies? Or worse, they found a way to use the same technique for their own people.
We can always tell her later, Irwin decided.
“Let’s just say there’s a way for me to fill your soullake when you are within my soulscape.”
Tiscian’s eyes narrowed, but she just nodded.
“I see. And can you do this for everyone all the time?” she asked, a glint appearing in her eyes.
“No,” Irwin said quickly, realizing she was trying to find out if he could empower a whole lot of Ignitzians. “There’s a limit.”
“A shame,” Tiscian said slowly. “But I guess that makes sense. What about-”
“Heatmother, stop it,” Scintilla said as she leaned forward. “There are things that we can’t tell you, at least, not for now, and before you ask. No. It’s not a trust issue. If we didn’t trust you, we wouldn’t even be here.”
Tiscian looked at her daughter for a few moments before smiling slightly.
“I understand, heatdaughter, but you have seen how dangerous things are out there. Although the Bladematriarchs have finally agreed to send a fleet-”
When did that happen? Irwin thought, wondering how she even knew. She’d been in his soulscape for over a day now.
“-and Irwin took care of the current Chained, it’s only a question of time until the next appears on our doorstep,” Tiscian continued. ”Igniz is very close to where they managed to break into the Langost branch. So, if there is a way for us to get stronger faster…”
“I will help a few of you fill their soullake before I leave,” Irwin said, seeing Tiscian look back and visibly struggle to hold back her questions.
“No more than ten,” he said, causing the older Ignizian to nod.
She stared at him, then at Scintilla, before relaxing.
“Thank you,” she said. “I take it this is not something that you are willing to teach others to do? Is it something specific to cardsmiths?”
Irwin smiled. It didn’t surprise him that she was fishing to get more information, and part of him wanted to tell her how it worked, but he wanted it to be a secret from the greater Portal Gallery for as long as possible. If it spread out, it wouldn’t help anyone either. Whoever could try would need to find Chaos Whales and somehow befriend them. That, however, wouldn’t prevent people from trying and potentially hunting Chaos Whales.
“You said you think there’s someone better suited for the communications card?” he asked, ignoring her questions.
Tiscian hesitated, clearly having more questions before shaking her head as if thinking better of it.
“Yes,” she said. “Although I have a lot of Blademaidens that are either my own or those of my daughters, they are in the hundreds only.”
Only, Irwin thought, holding back a grin.
“Worse, most are either here or on one or two other worlds,” Tiscian continued. “There is, however, someone in our family that is older and has more-”
“Oh no…” Scintilla whispered.
Tiscian ignored her as she continued. “- embers than anyone since. She is the one who saved our family from downfall, and she lived and fought through all of the Bladematriarch Wars of the last thousand years. She would be a good choice before I knew you can help someone gain another soulcard, but if we can do that… well, it means she will live a great deal longer than she will now.”
Irwin saw Scintilla start to fidget, looking nervous.
“And who is she?” he asked.
“My grandmother, and the only nine-bladed Blademother in our family,” Scintilla said with a grimace. “Flagrian Smokeblade.”
Irwin looked at her, raising an eyebrow.
“I don’t recall you mentioning her,” he said.
Tiscian barked a laugh. “Because, like me and all the others, Scintilla endured her grandmother’s training. This wasn’t fun to say, to say the least. That old piece of burned coal has a mean streak if she thinks she’s finally found someone to replace herself with.”
“Tiscian, are you sure…?” Scintilla muttered. “If she gets another soulcard, she will live for hundreds more years.”
“She also has more familial connections than anyone else I know,” Tiscian said. “Well, from those with whom we aren’t in a feud. Better yet, nearly all of my mother’s Heatsisters left Igniz to get away from here and spread our family across dozens of worlds. That’s without even taking into account the Wanderers or those that joined a mercenary or scouting guild.”
“Will she want to slot it?” Irwin asked.
“She will,” Tiscian said, smiling wearily. “She’s complained that she should have kept most of the cards to herself, instead of wasting them on fools that can’t even brandish a twig.”
“And are we sure we want to have another old rustbucket in such a position?” Ambraz snapped. “She sounds a whole lot like some of those annoying old fogeys on Granvox.”
“Yes, but there’s only one of these cards, and we want to use it to get information from across the Portal Gallery,” Tiscian said. “She is our best option. We just have to make her promise to behave in exchange for another soulcard.”
“And you believe she will?” Irwin asked while Ambraz muttered something impolite.
“Oh, she will,” Scintilla said. “Flagrian prides herself on telling the truth. The issue is, you have to make sure you fully understand what her idea of the truth is, or she will just twist and turn to bend around it like a plume of smoke.”
“It’s not that bad,” Tiscian said. “She has just left herself a single goal in life, and that is to train another of our family to become a Blademaster and reach the rank she has. Anything that doesn’t deal with that? Well, she tends to care little about it.”
“If you think it's the best choice,” Irwin said slowly, glad he wouldn’t have to deal with her beyond reforging a card and filling her soullake.
“It is,” Tiscian said. “If you could move me back to my estate, I’ll send a message to her.”
“She’s not there?” Irwin asked.
“Oh no, she lives in one of the older places we own, the place she grew up in. It’s on another continent, beyond the Hielia Ocean,” Tiscian said, as she got up. “Can you bring me back to the Embers so I can say goodbye for now?”
Irwin didn’t bother asking what that even was, but grimaced.
“We aren’t actually there anymore,” he said, causing her to look at him in confusion. “We went to Smelter…”
“Okay, I’ll make my way back from there,” she said with a nod. “I’ll also check if the others have arrived. When will you be returning?”
“Two days,” Scintilla said. “Hind and Helm want to see some people, and we need to head into the depths.”
“The depths?” Tiscian asked, curiously.
“Irwin wants to find some more animals for his soulscape.”
“With a Soulscape this big, I guess that makes sense,” Tiscian said. “I’ll make sure to find you one of those Ashbisons.”
“Thanks,” Irwin said as he moved Tiscian back to the room with his mother, Scintilla’s otherself, Trimdir, and the Embers.
“Do you want to stay here or…?” Irwin asked.
“Out please, so we can find more food and herbs,” Scintilla said, rubbing her hands. “I want to have everything I need before Flagrian shows up so I can hide out in your soulscape.”
Irwin felt a slight worry grow at that.
“Are you sure it's a good idea to have her slot the card? We only have a few, and making more requires templates.”
“Oh, she will do fine,” Scintilla said. “She’s just really serious. Remember how Tiscian was when you first met her? Well, she learned that from Flagrian. When I was there, the others and I wondered if it's the opposite of the second puberty.”
Irwin blinked, recalling full well the instances of puberty the Ignitzians went through, but not sure he understood what she meant.
“The opposite?”
“Yes. All those older Ignitzians become serious, but the really old ones, like Flagrian, make Tiscian and the others look mild. So, maybe at some point they got a reverse puberty that makes them like this,” Scintilla said, smirking. “I do know it's one of the things I’ve noticed that is different since-” she waved at herself.
“What? The way you feel?” Irwin asked.
“No, how erratic my emotions can get,” she said. “I thought it was mostly over after puberty left me, but ever since both my bodies became Crathan, I’ve noticed that my mind is more stable. I guess it makes sense, as that’s how I feel. Stable.”
“So, you think this might be what happens eventually to all Ignitzians?” Irwin asked.
“Well, it makes sense, right?” Scintilla said. “At some point, the older Ignitzians stop being interested in procreating. For instance, Heatmother hasn’t had a new heatbond for dozens of years. Flagrian hasn’t had one for as long as I know, and even Tiscian says she doesn’t remember the last one.”
Another reason to be happy she became a Crathan, Irwin thought, hoping this wouldn’t happen to her now.
A bit of his worry must have shown, because Scintilla leaned close to give him a quick kiss.
“No worries, Hotstuff, you aren’t getting rid of me that easily! Now, let's go and scour Smelter for food.”
Irwin was about to agree when he cocked his head.
“What?”
“Ti just asked if she can see Smelter with us, and now all of the kids are jumping around.”
He and Scintilla shared a look, and she finally shrugged.
“If you move both of me out of here, between the three of us, we should be fine? You take Mia, Glow, and Flux, I’ll take the others.”
Right, hand me the bussy three, Irwin thought, but he held back from commenting as he imagined showing his kids around Smelter.
“I’ll send one of my Aura Clones with you,” he said.
They discussed for a few more minutes before moving into the room.
“Is that safe?” Esmee asked, looking at her grandchildren worriedly.
“It is fine,” Tiscian answered. “Of all the places on Igniz, Smelter is probably the calmest. Besides, it is likely the only place where the boys can move around without causing trouble.”
“Trouble? Us?” Soot asked, still rubbing his hands at the prospect of seeing another world.
“Not because of something you do,” Tiscian said, looking at the boy and clearly knowing he was trying to be funny and ignoring it. “The younger blademaidens there, those in their first or second puberty, would likely go completely crazy.”
“Ugh, yeah, no thanks,” Soot said, while Mia and Zan giggled. Ti just rolled her eyes, while Glow and Flux seemed completely uninterested.
“Be careful,” Trimdir rumbled as he stared at the children.
“We will be, Uncle Trimdir,” Ti said, quickly followed by less believable responses.
Irwin held back a grin as he saw Mia, Flux, and Glow move closer together, starting to whisper excitedly.
“Right, let's go then,” he said. “Also, if any of you do something foolish like not listening to us, I’ll move you back here. Understand?”
“Yes!” an almost surprised shout came from three of his children.
“Good,” he said.
--
“It’s amazing,” Glow whispered as he followed his two siblings through the streets. “So different.”
“Everything is really tall compared to back home,” Mia agreed as she pointed at a door entrance that they probably couldn’t even touch if all three of them stood on each other's shoulders.
They walked out of the wide street and onto another square, this time one with shop fronts on one side, and an open terrace bordering the big river on the other.
“So much pyroflux,” Flux whispered, looking at the liquid that had been the source of his name.
It’s so weird that they can’t remember anything, Glow thought as he followed the others towards the edge.
Just staring at it brought back the memories he usually kept buried, of how he’d been locked away, slowly drained.
He shivered and focused on the here and now. That had been long ago, and he would never have to go through it again. Still, it was only the heavy thud of his father's footsteps behind him that gave him the courage to move to the edge and look down into the depths of the Pyroflux. Dark red and orange mingled in the bottom, while dark valleys showed where the river’s bank was cracked and leaking down into the depths.
The shiver came again, and he quickly looked up, scanning the other side of the river where another terrace sat. More of the giant Fiz’rin moved around, so similar to Crathan’s that he had a hard time seeing the difference.
As soon as I’m grown up, I’ll ask dad for a Crathan card, he thought.
He knew the others felt the same, but for different reasons, and he also knew they might change their minds. Not him, though. He remembered hearing his mother and Grandma Esmee talk about the changes. They hadn’t realized he was able to hear them from his spot near the door, where he was practicing.
If she feels more stable, that should help me, too, he thought.
He knew he could talk with the others about it, or with dad or heatmother, but he also knew they had so many more important things to do. Besides, what was the best they could do? Hug him and tell him it would be fine?
No, he would learn to live with it, become stronger. So strong that he didn’t have to fear the monsters in the depths.
Perhaps when I get as strong as Dad, I can go down there and free the others, he thought.
He knew there had to be others. Even with the Ignitzians now actively trying to keep the earth titans down and away from the places embers were, it would never be perfect. Some of the embers would wander off and become trapped.
“Are you okay?”
Glow looked up to see his father had crouched down beside him while Flux and Mia had actually jumped into the Pyroflux, now swimming around excitedly.
“I am. Just thinking about things,” he said, scrambling for an excuse not to have to jump into the pyroflux. “Do you think there are any cardsmiths here?”
“In Smelter?” Irwin asked, humming quietly. Glow felt his father’s soulforce sweep out, far beyond what he could sense. Probably across the entire city.
“No. There weren’t any the last time either.”
Glow frowned. “Why not? It’s not that hard, is it?”
His father laughed, rustling his hair.
“It is a lot harder than you give it credit for, but if you mean that there should be Fiz’rin who can learn it, then you are right. The problem isn’t that they can’t learn, but they need two things. A teacher, and cards.”
“So, couldn’t they find a teacher?” Glow asked, slowly forgetting his fear.
“They could, and some have tried,” Irwin said. “There might even be Fiz’rin cardsmiths somewhere. The problem is, they also need to want to come back here. This is a calm and quiet place, but there are barely any cards to be found. That means that those who become cardsmiths will remain near the worlds where they can get the cardsmiths. Also, very few cardsmiths are left on the Langost branch after the Cardsmith Abductions. Most were moved to safer worlds, and it's possible they were moved even further away when the war started.”
“Can’t you find someone who can learn it and bring them home with us? That way, they can learn cardsmithing and… the other thing and bring it back?” Glow asked.
His father’s smile deepened, and he nodded.
“That is not a bad idea. We need to spread the cardsmiths out more so the entire branch can become stronger. Let me see if I can find some,” he said.
Glow felt his father’s soulforce spread out again, but much more powerful this time and for a longer time.
After a minute, his father hummed thoughtfully.
“There are a few that were able to detect my prodding, which means they are sensitive enough. Probably. It’s hard to say, but perhaps we should have some fun before we leave. I’ll ask Helm and Lava if they can organize a little event. Those who are interested and sensitive enough to complete it can come with us and learn card smithing. Good job, Glow!”
Glow felt a wide grin spread on his face while the other two came out of the Pyroflux, dripping wet and quickly gathering their tunics.
“Dad, why were you looking around?” Mia asked as she joined them, swishing her hair and causing drips of steam pyroflux to spray everywhere.
“How about we find a place to eat, and I’ll tell you about Glow’s idea.”
Glow grinned as the other two stared at him in surprise, and a moment later, the three walked back to the city.
--
They are similar but not the same, Ti thought, staring at a group of three young Fiz’rin playing nearby.
Roughly the same size, though with less variety than the Crathans she had seen, and with nearly all having the same type of metallic hair that was a dark copper or gold. Combined with their deep copper skin and volcanic eyes, they were slightly darker than the Crathans, whose skin seemed closer to coal and who had hair ranging from an almost silvery purple to a red so dark that it was nearly black.
I wonder if this is because there are multiple Crathan subtypes, she pondered, glancing around the street as she followed the others. Could they interbreed?
She knew the question was odd for someone her age, but ever since she’d been talking with Daubutim, she’d realized it was fine being a little odd. Her heatmother and father didn’t mind, nor did her brothers and sisters… so why should she?
“Heatmother,” he asked, as she sped up a bit and walked beside Scintilla.
“What’s wrong, little flame?”
Ti ignored the name, even though she would have preferred another.
“Are you and Dad going to create shadow portals between here and home?”
Scintilla stared at her for a moment before answering.
“That is a good question, and one we haven’t thought of yet. We might, but perhaps only after the war.”
“I think it might be good to do so sooner but to connect it to our new home,” Ti said, knowing her heatmother would know she meant the as-of-yet to be found and freed world Daubutim had told her about. “It would be good for the people here, and for those back home. We need to find, improve, and increase quickly, and the best way, from what I could learn from Daubutim’s books, is to mix different elements. This probably also works for people.”
She could see her mother ponder it, and she was more than happy to see that she actually contemplated it. The stories she had heard from Daubutim and Zender, and a few others, about how it could be, made her more than a little appreciative of the family she had gotten in life.
“I’ll talk about it with your father,” Scintilla finally said. “It might not be a bad idea, because this is a more neutral place than above ground. Besides, that way we can better control who moves around.”
“Control?” Ti asked, cocking her head. “You think bad people will move here or from here?”
“It’s not impossible, Ember. Not every Ignitzian is a good person,” Scintilla said with a weary sigh. “As much as I wish it were different, there are problematic people everywhere.”
Ti nodded as she drifted back, lost in thought. She knew it was right, and she could recall the time on Mudball when the bad mercenaries had abducted Glow. She knew Glow still had bad dreams over it sometimes, as she heard him rustle at night, sometimes even going out and finding their grandmother in the kitchen, who seemed to rarely sleep.
There should be a way to make it so only good people move through the shadow portals, she thought, before frowning. But what does it mean for someone to be good? What is good and bad?
She hummed one of her father’s favorite songs as she followed the others, part of her watching and observing while most of her was deep in thought.
--
Irwin yawned as he walked through Smelter. Scintilla was hanging from his arm, as tired as he was, while their children had returned to his soulscape.
“They had a lot of fun,” he said as he heard a soft song in the distance.
“So did I, but I’m going to need to sleep soon,” Scintilla said. “Also, how did Soot get in that room?”
“I don’t know. One moment he was sitting and eating with us, the next he was there and playing with those two Fiz’rin kids. I’m sure he moved there, I just didn’t notice.”
Scintilla yawned, then shivered.
“Can you move me into your soulscape?” she asked.
Irwin nodded, then hesitated. He knew he was tired now, but if he waited a bit, he would recover, and if he slept now, he’d just wake in an hour or so.
“I think I’m going to head down into the depths,” he said. “I want to find some interesting creatures to make a soulforce construct of, and perhaps find a big deposit of Pyroflux.”
Scintilla grinned, then yawned and grunted in annoyance.
“You do know you can just bring some Pyroflux, right?” she said. “There is plenty. I was just joking with you when I said you might drain it.”
Irwin looked at her stupidly.
“There’s an entire ocean on the other side of the world that separates two of the continents, and the underground seas are all connected to it. You could drown your entire soulscape in it without causing an issue.”
“Ugh,” Irwin muttered as he shook his head, staring at the river.
“Don’t get it from here, though,” Scintilla said quickly. “There’s a chance that if you drain it too fast, you could run the nearby reservoirs dry. Just go to one of those underground seas? The one we met might work?”
“Alright,” Irwin said as he hugged her before moving her into his soulscape. She appeared in the same room as her other body, and Irwin sensed her moving there to curl up.
“She had you there, brat,” Ambraz said, his metallic lips curled up widely.
Irwin sniffed before looking around. He was standing on the side of a two-story building, halfway through a street to a major crossing.
“I’m going to use the soundwaves to move around,” he said. “You wanna-”
Ambraz stepped into his soulscape, repairing in his smithy above a table filled with cards he still had to work through.
“It’s fine, kid. I’m going to check what we should do for Daubutim’s card. I’ve got some ideas!”
“Okay, I’ll let you know if I find anything interesting,” Irwin said.
“What, like some three-headed bird? No thanks. Have fun, and let me know when you are done and we are heading back to the Portal Gallery.”
Irwin took a final look around, then clicked his tongue and shot up in the air. He reappeared a mile away from the city, high in the air, and as he fell down, he spread his soulforce around, quickly locating the direction he would have to take. He might not know the path, but he could find it easily enough.
Half an hour of zipping down narrow crevices, dead-end tunnels, and a mazelike canyon later, Irwin reappeared on the side of a pale sandy beach. High above him, a sharp white light came from a forest of crystals that covered every inch of the top cave ceiling. In front of him, he couldn’t even see the end of the cavern system, but he could sense it. It was a hundred miles or more out, separated from him by a vast sea of Pyroflux.
Just looking at it made him excited, and Irwin couldn’t wait to see what he could do with it.
Right, let's go and prepare some places for it, he thought as he focused on his soulscape, leaving just enough of himself in his body to act in case something happened.
A moment later, he hung high in the sky above his soulscape, looking down at the massive lands below. By now, four of the seven parts were no longer empty wastelands, and with the thousands of condensed years of creating trees and bushes done, the foothills of the mountains, of his first soulcard region, looked like a dense forest that wrapped around a part of his soullake sea. Where it bordered it, the trees had expanded into the previously sparse Music Note forest and even across the flowing Aura Hills, around the edges, and across the foothills of the giant volcano of his fourth Soulcard.
Best to make some rivers and do it like on Igniz, feed them into the underground seas, he thought before taking a deep breath and focusing on his soulscape. He had made many changes to it over the years, the largest while with Exarg when he was working on the soulforce constructs of his forests. Not that he’d done most, as like the fishes and birds, they spread by themselves. The issues were just that Volcano Trees and Ash Trees were famous for being slow-growing.
Now, however, he was going to make far bigger changes.
Sensing the depths of his soulscape, he began to shove spaces apart, creating vast underground crevices. He could make them hollow and round, but that would cost far more time and energy. Instead, he just pushed and pulled on the existing structure, causing things to collapse or shove aside. It took surprisingly little time till he had compressed and moved around areas. He realized, belatedly, that he’d almost instinctively stayed away from the vast reservoirs of Ancestral Copperion.
He moved his giant self into one of the enormous chambers, realizing something else.
“Right, it’s dark in here,” he muttered, his voice almost seeming to vanish into the darkness as if it was being sucked away. He could still see some faint light in the distance, but it came from so far away that even his eyes weren’t able to help him.
“Well, I guess we are going to have to steal some more good ideas from Igniz!”
He remained where he was as his smaller body turned to glance at the giant pale crystals in the ceiling above.
I wonder how many I would need, and how I’m going to attach them to the ceiling, he thought, before he cocked his head. Wait, why don’t I just put them in the ground?