Author note: Very early notice, but I'll be away in the first few weeks of August to my in laws. I do this every year, and like every year - I'll try and do some writing, seeing as I am always up first, but no promises. I'll remind you all again when we are closer to that date.
Irwin hummed the final tunes in line with the sounds of the half a dozen Soulstrum Guitars his Aura Clones were playing, while he landed the final hit. Dismissing his hammer, he didn't even have to examine the diamond-ranked fire card that lay on Ambraz's back to know the result.
"It's an improvement," he said, staring at the card. "The separation of sounds makes it easier to determine each individual part and find flaws."
"That's great! So, no issues with it becoming too complicated, as we worried about?" Ambraz replied, changing into his small shape and flying to Irwin's shoulder.
"No, thought it was a good thing not to do it where there was fire," Irwin said. "I can hear the sound even from here. It's probably a great option for pure fire-type cardsmiths, but although it's fun, I am glad when it's gone again. There's just no way to turn it off."
"Well, you won't have to wait too long. Tomorrow? Or do you want to try again now that you can separate the sounds better?"
"No need. My soulforce resonance senses didn't change much, so it's just the crafting that is easier. When the result is already here, there's no change. Tomorrow morning, we make it," Irwin said, as he felt his excitement grow.
He had never gone as long without handcards as he had after his fifth soulcard, but he also had never moved through the six cards and into a heartcard as fast as he would now.
Then, a few days to get used to it, change it into a soulcard, and it's time for the last one, he thought, feeling his excitement grow even more.
"So, what do we do if the heartcard's resonance isn't exactly as we planned?" Ambraz grunted. "Shatter it and try again, or see if we can make a change to the other six cards?"
Irwin's excitement crashed back down to earth, knowing that was technically a possibility.
"It depends on what has changed in the complete resonance," he said. "Let's just hope our planning was good enough that it won't be needed."
"Planning only counts until the battle starts," Ambraz said with a smile, quoting Daubutim.
Irwin sighed, nodding softly. "I hope the growth part works as we planned it."
"It will," Ambraz said. "We managed to add it to heartcards before, and we have plenty of evidence that it can still make the heartcard into an ammolite after it is forged. Besides, there's no other way. The resonance won't be as we need it if we let the card become ammolite rank on its own. In the worst case, you don't get a full set of ammolite soulcards. It's not really an issue. Your soulscape will be plenty big already, and in the end, like with soulcards, all you need is one card at ammolite."
"That's assuming the heartcard reforging works like we think it does," Irwin said.
"Well, it's not like we have someone to test it out for us," Ambraz said, his metal lips curling up.
"No. That would have been nice, wouldn't it?" Irwin said, grinning.
Deciding he was done experimenting with the new cards, he walked to the door, where he sensed six very curious children waiting.
The rest of the day passed in a blur, with Zan not leaving his side as if she feared he'd make his heartcard while she wasn't looking. When she finally had to go to bed, she repeatedly asked Scintilla to keep an eye on him so that he wouldn't create his Heartcard until she woke.
"Six heartcards," Scintilla whispered, as she lay against his side. "From what I know, there haven't been any Ignitzians that had that many in a very long time. I wonder if there's even any alive in our branch."
"Two," Irwin said, as he recalled what Daubutim had told him. "Well, it's unclear if they are still here. There are two Viridians who supposedly reached their sixth heartcard in the last thousand years. There's a possibility that either or both are dead or no longer here. There can also be others that we just don't know about."
"Daubutim… I wonder how that clone of his is doing in the Library," Scintilla said. "Lysbeth told me that he still hasn't heard or sensed anything of that part of him. How is that even possible? It should be able to reach his soulscape, right?"
"Not necessarily," Irwin replied, staring at the ceiling. "According to Brazardian, there are plenty of ways to block someone's soulscape resonance, and according to him, the Library has multiple of them. He even went there, long ago, with his first bonded Cardsmith."
"Oh, that reminds me," Scintilla said pushing herself up and putting two elbows on his chest, staring at him. "When is he planning the next competition?"
Irwin sighed. "Ambraz says it will be in a few months. Let's hope he finally finds a cardsmith to bond to so he can stay on Eluathar instead of in your soulscape."
Irwin's mind drifted to all the people in his soulscape. He'd told them they would be moved out tomorrow, and most had chosen to return to Eluathar for a day. That meant that, somewhere in the following morning, his Soulscape would be empty again, perhaps for one of the last few times.
Let's hope the city doesn't get destroyed when the heartcard becomes a soulcard in a few weeks, he thought, recalling just how violent that storm would be.
"Sleep well," Scintilla said, leaning in to give him a kiss.
"You too," Irwin said.
A few minutes later, her breathing slowed, and he closed his eyes, hoping he'd fall asleep as fast.
He didn't.
--
Irwin scanned his soulscape and found only Luath and the millions of Soulforce Constructs. Most of the people in his soulscape were spread across Eluathar, either meeting up with family or wandering one of the major cities, while Sarha and Mikili were examining a lake near New Mallorin. Luath had already verified that it was perfectly safe a day earlier.
"They are all out," he said, looking around the crowded courtyard.
Beyond his family, a handful of others had gathered. Trimdir stood beside his mother, while Endil and Dahlia stood with Flowrishin.
"Now, remember what I told you all. Stay still, don't worry, and if things get dangerous, remain within the barriers that Hou'dor and the others are keeping up," Irwin continued.
"The others?" Silv'am exclaimed in clear mock annoyance. "How are we, the others?"
"Because he is the eldest here, now be quiet," Ambraz growled from the center of the courtyard.
Irwin smiled at Scintilla before walking towards his bonded Ganvil. He had scanned his handcards a dozen times already, but did so again just to be sure he hadn't missed anything. When he was done, he summoned his hammer. A quick look up showed a barrier had appeared around the heart of the courtyard, and although he could see lips moving, no sound reached him.
Thanks, Hou'dor, he thought, before putting his hand on Ambraz.
"Ready?"
"Kid, I was born ready," Ambraz grunted.
Irwin laughed, then focused on his hand. His entire self was within his single body now, and knowing it was time, he took a deep breath and began humming to prepare. It was the song he and Ambraz had created over the course of many years that would, when blended with his existing soulcards and the one still to come, allow him all the parts he needed for his worldcard.
A dozen Aura Clones appeared all around him, the sound of their Soulstrum Guitars joining his humming, and a moment later, Luath appeared, also adding his voice.
Irwin let it continue for a few minutes until he knew they were ready and stopped humming. Luath and his Aura Clones fell silent, and Irwin summoned his cards above his hand before striking Ambraz's back. The soulforce resonance echoed out, and he began singing.
--
"Do you think everything will be alright?" Zan asked, pressing herself closer to Scintilla.
"Of course it will be," her Heatmother said, smiling down at her before looking back to where Irwin was singing, eyes like burning furnaces as they locked onto the roiling soulforce that hung above Ambraz. "He has made many heartcards before, and has done even more difficult things."
"Besides, the card isn't ammolite, like the others he made," Ti said, causing Zan to frown.
"I know that, but this card has no room for error," she said, recalling the many hours she'd heard her father practice the same song over and over again. "All of his other cards, he was allowed to change things on the fly. He can't do that now."
"It will be fine," Scintilla whispered, giving her a hug.
Zan didn't respond, keeping her eyes locked on where her father was striking Ambraz in perfect timing as she listened to the slightly muted song that she had heard many times before.
He will be fine, she thought, clenching her hands.
--
"Keep it up, kid!"
Irwin didn't respond, but struck again, feeling his heart thud in his throat. They had only been at it for a few minutes, and he'd already had two close calls where something in the process of pulling the tiny parts he needed out of the six cards drifting before him had gone slightly different from what he'd expected.
As he almost mechanically sang along with the Soulstrum Guitars and Luath, he knew one thing for sure. He far preferred creating cards that didn't require him to remain within such a rigid pre-made resonance pattern. The tiny part of him that somehow managed to worry about this also wondered how people like Dahlia could live with having to plan every single card they made in advance.
All thoughts vanished when he reached the first truly difficult part, right when the cards fully split apart.
Thousands upon thousands of tiny resonance patterns swirled around in front of him, and he had to force himself to ignore the many interesting combinations he saw. Had he not been so locked down, he knew he'd have let his instincts guide him and likely lost himself in the flow as he loved doing. Not this time. He had no room for error and quickly distinguished the parts of the cards that he required, as he continued singing and forcing them into the order he needed them to be in.
Time slowed to a crawl as he continued, and only the song told him how far he was.
Every note needed concentration, and when he finally reached the halfway point, he knew that without his otherself added, he would have already failed. He felt stretched to the limit, even his Aura Clones a mental cost he could barely hold.
A few moments after hitting the halfway point, Irwin struck down, knowing the hardest part would start now.
The split apart cards, that hung like clouds of soulforce resonances around the forming heartcard, shivered, then began moving outwards. That which had kept them shaped into a single thing was no longer strong enough, and as the song rose to a crescendo, Irwin worked feverishly to keep up.
Everything was fine until a single high note was slightly off.
"No! That-"
Irwin blocked Ambraz's sudden panic before it could cause him to make another mistake as he slowed his next hit, letting the song linger, another dangerous thing. It continued in slow motion, but he already sensed the tiny inconsistencies in the heartcard forming before him. It would still be easily completed, and a great addition to what he had, but the difference in the finished song would cause a massive issue later on. One he knew he might not be able to solve quickly, if at all.
I need to do something, Irwin thought, struggling as he saw slowly compounding changes. What should he do? And how? No, he knew how. He saw it instantly. A tiny little extra melody was all he needed, something to offset the error. All he had to do was summon another Aura Clone… which, if he did that, would cause far greater issues. He didn't have focus left to split off, and if this continued-
A soft, high-pitched voice wove into the song, and although the soulforce resonance was ignoring it, Irwin recognized it immediately. It was the tiny song he would need to offset the mistake. He also recognized the origin, and he felt a tiny seed of pride before shoving it down and striking again. He allowed his soulforce to encompass the single voice to join the song, and a slight change rippled through a part of the heartcard.
Both his tiny mistake and the solutions were like drops of water in an ocean, but as Irwin continued, he knew the song's conclusion would have been off without the second drop.
"Kid, don't let this distract you! Focus. Focus!"
Irwin pushed his thoughts back down and slowly sped up the song to what it should be as he struck again.
A few minutes later, the tiny flaw was fixed, and the voice lingered for a moment before vanishing.
Irwin continued ahead, fully focused as time dragged on.
What felt like hours passed until he finally reached the end, and unlike nearly every time before, he felt more relieved than ecstatic. Striking the final hit, he stared at the heartcard that had formed in front of him. The image on it depicted what looked like lava pools with concentric ripples.
"Sleep…" Luath sang, vanishing into his soulscape, into the enormous Caldera that had become his home.
"He's right, that was… far more difficult than I had expected," Ambraz muttered, while Irwin felt a sense of intense weariness from his friend. "I am almost completely overloaded on purified soulforce again. Sleep first, then I have to see if Juul'rish wants to make some more rank zeros."
Irwin cocked his head, distracted from looking at his sixth heartcard by that remark, only for Ambraz to shrink and vanish into his soulscape, reappearing above the table with the booklet. A flash later, he flew to the shelf he liked the most and immediately fell into a slumber.
If Ganvils weren't what they are, that would have sounded odd.
Irwin smiled as the heartcard sank into his chest, though it was more of a visual representation. The card was already there, and he could sense it hovering above his soulscape. There was pressure from it to draw from the overabundance of soulforce, but he held it back. He needed a while to get used to the card before he could let it become a soulcard. Not in the least because he needed it to grow to ammolite rank.
Besides, there's something important to do, he thought, turning around to where everyone was watching him.
The barrier was still there, but a single person was within it with him, bouncing up and down with a wide smile. Well, a single person with a tiny silver Ganvil on her shoulder that had a smile so wide the tips reached almost to the corners of her anvil-side.
"Zan," Irwin said as he walked towards his daughter.
She let out a happy squeal and sprinted towards him, jumping into his arms.
"You succeeded!" she exclaimed, putting her face in his neck before pulling back out and climbing across his shoulder to the other one.
"Not without help," Irwin said as he grabbed her and held her infront of him. "You did great. How did you know the part you had to sing to fix my mistake?"
"Not a mistake," Zan exclaimed, crossing her arms and pouting. "It's because that third card shattered much faster than it should, and part of it tried to escape that you still needed."
Irwin blinked, trying to recall exactly what had happened, only for that part of the song to be a bit of a cluttered mess in his mind.
I'll have to ask Ambraz about that, he thought. If it was true, which he didn't doubt at all, he would have to take it into account for his next heartcard.
"You might be right," he said, causing Zan to huff, before smiling again.
"What does the card do? Can I see!? Did you really not keep the castle part?"
Irwin laughed, then hesitated. Nobody but he and Ambraz knew the details of his final cards, only the parts that he used to make them. His hesitation lasted for only a moment, then he nodded.
"I will show you and Silv'am, but the two of you have to keep it a secret from everyone. Right?" he said, looking at her seriously.
"We will," Silv'am piped.
"Even Ti?" Zan asked with a frown.
"Yes. It is not a good idea to share your heartcards, even with those you love. If someone somehow gets captured by the Guidar, they could learn it and come up with a way to counter your abilities perfectly."
"Even yours?"
"Even mine," Irwin said as he smiled. "Now, let's talk to the others, and we will look at the card together in a while."
Zan's smile widened, and she hugged him again. "My reward for helping!"
"Yes," Irwin said, though a part of him knew there was another reason. Of all the cardsmiths he knew, the only one who seemed capable of doing what he did, and perhaps even more, was his daughter, and learning what the song had created would be of incredible value to her in the future.
She will likely have to make her own in the future, he thought, knowing that to have the greatest chance to become a Freeroaming Worldcarded, creating your own heartcards was best.
He walked towards the barrier, which dropped as they approached, letting the sounds of the wind, the chatter of the city, and the happy voices of his family and friends inside.
His children ran towards him first.
"Dad!"
"Are you alright?"
"Did you succeed?"
"Did Zan really save your card?"
Irwin laughed and nodded.
"I am fine, the heartcard is perfect, and without Zan I might have had to shatter it and try again, which would have been even more difficult," he said.
"Irwin."
Irwin looked up to see Trimdir, Dahlia, Endil, and Flowrishin walk towards him. All four were frowning, though Endil's eyes gleamed brightly.
"What is wrong?"
"Nothing," Trimdir grunted, while Dahlia rolled her eyes.
"We were just reminded again of the vast gulf we have to cross to get where you are," Flowrishin said, before looking at Zan. "Though perhaps I should say, where the two of you are. We almost stopped her when she began screaming that you needed help, and if not for the Ganvils, we might have. However, Hou'dor, Juul'rish, You'gyn, and Klei'am all overruled us. They said that the trajectory of your song had changed, which was why you had slowed down and looked so worried. When Zan hummed only a few lines, Hou'dor instantly pulled her through the barrier. I take it, from your smiling face, that they were right?"
"They were," Irwin said, looking at the Ganvils hovering in the air, focusing on Hou'dor. "Thank you. You made the right call."
"Hey, I was there too!" Silv'am squealed, flying up and around the older Ganvils. "I was the first to agree!"
"Then, thank you," Irwin said, while Zan beckoned to Silv'am to return, hushing her.
"What even happened?" Trimdir asked. "Endil said there was a change in the song right before you stopped, though he couldn't exactly pinpoint what or how. The rest of us couldn't even get that far…"
Which makes sense, because only Endil is a music-style cardsmith, Irwin thought, nodding at Endil.
He was about to answer, then stopped and smiled at Zan. "Why don't you tell them?"
Zan's smile widened, and she nodded. "One of the cards split faster than the others, causing Dad to have to pull the part he needed in faster than he had probably planned, and he missed a high note."
Dahlia laughed, while Trimdir just stared at her.
"One note?" Flowrishin asked, somewhat incredulous. "Success or failure is this tight?"
Irwin shrugged. "If I had known how to make a worldcard before, I would have been able to create a much more robust baseline. As it is, I have to work around some… let's call them mistakes that I made in the past."
"Glad I don't have to try it," Trimdir said with a shake of his head.
Flowrishin nodded along with him, but Irwin saw Dahlia and Endil share a look.
"Now, let's all go inside," he said. "I want to examine the changes the card made."
The others agreed, while Scintilla walked forward, giving him a hug and a kiss.
An hour later, while everyone was still eating and having fun, Irwin pulled Zan into his soulscape and to the desk where the booklet still lay, unopened. Irwin summoned an Aura Clone next to her, moving a step closer.
"You didn't look at it yet, right?" Zan asked, hopping from one leg to the other.
"I did not," Irwin said with a smile.
Though I have a good idea what to expect, he thought.
The changes he had found in his soulscape matched exactly with what he and Ambraz had predicted, which meant he expected the card to be in line with their predicted explanation.
"I can't wait!" Zan shouted, while Silv'am flew circles around her head.
Irwin reached down and opened the booklet, reading his sixth heartcard.
--
Card: Pyrothermal Cadence
Type: Sound, Pyroflux, Fire, Regeneration, Soulforce, Heartcard, Diamond, Forged by Irwin Roddington
Owner: Irwin Roddington
An explosive card that allows the wielder to summon vast Pyroflux geysers surrounded by clouds of humming Pyroflux. Fire that surrounds the geysers will resonate in a cadence that greatly stabilizes the surrounding soulforce. The size of the Pyroflux geysers depends on the wielder's soulforce and the surrounding rock, stone, and heat. Geysers created within the wielder's soulscape increase the soulscape size based on the resulting Pyroflux.
Passive: Massively increased fire resistance.
Passive: Greatly increased Soulscape size [Pyroflux]
Passive: Greatly increased regeneration and soulforce regeneration based on ambient heat
Passive: Greatly increased ability to separate sounds
Active: Create a Pyroflux Geyser
Active: Control Pyroflux Steam
[Unique] Passive: Soundwaves generate kinetic energy within the wielder's body
--
"It's not ammolite?" Zan asked, looking up worriedly. "Where is the growth type?"
"Not yet. It will become one before it turns into a soulcard," Irwin said. "Probably in a week or two. And the growth type never appears on heartcards or soulcards, but it still has it."
Zan nodded, seemingly dismissing any worries just like that. Then her eyes widened as she spun around. "You created a Pyroflux sea, didn't you?"
Irwin smiled. "Perhaps."
"Even more than what you already had?" Zan asked, already turning around as she ran for a staircase that would lead down into the regular-sized part of the smithy.
Irwin followed after her, while Silv'am hovered above the booklet for a bit before moving to his shoulder.
"It says you can control the steam, but not the geyser. Was that by design, or was it because there was no other way?"
"Trying to add control over that caused large issues with the complete resonance," Irwin said. "It might be possible that during the creation of the worldcard something changes, but without having gone through that, I can't be sure."
"Silv'am! Look at this!"
Silv'am shot from Irwin's shoulder, down the stairs to where Irwin could sense Zan standing in the exit. As he joined them, he looked at the enormous river that now snaked away from the previous, smaller lake he'd made with the Pyroflux he'd taken from Igniz. A distant rumbling and hissing came from somewhere in the mountains, while plumes of golden mist snaked up, adding to the clouds already there. For as long as he could remember, they had been red, orange, and yellow - mostly made up of gases from the volcanoes. Now the clouds had become golden swaths with red highlights.
"Where is Luath?" Zan asked, eyes wide. "I want to look around!"
Irwin laughed as he queried Luath, who was swimming through the depths with the other two Chaos Whales as they explored the increased soulscape.
"He is playing," he said as he moved himself and Zan up. "But we can explore."
He shot up and away, Zan letting out an excited scream, and a moment later, they were hundreds of feet above the smithy, zipping away. Where he already had a few Pyroflux rivers before, now small pools and ditches ran everywhere, while a swamp-like area of Pyroflux covered the area where the foothills of the mountain reached the Aura Hills. In the nearby mountains, an enormous cloud of Pyroflux vapor originating from one of the valleys had risen and flowed around multiple mountain tops. The valley itself was covered in a thick mist, but Irwin could sense the Pyroflux bursting out from the ground, up from a dense ball of soulforce that was constantly drawing in the thick ambient soulforce.
I can probably put down a few more, Irwin thought, as he sensed how little impact the Geyser had on the ambient soulforce.
He decided to do that later, and continued up and towards the outer regions of his soulscape, which were much farther out than they had been the day before.
"How much did it grow?" Silv'am shouted.
"I don't know exactly," Irwin said, as he looked at where he knew the barrier was. "But it's not done growing yet."
They continued forward until a sparkling golden sea appeared in the distance. The closer they got, the more it was evident that the edges were lighter than the areas further out.
"You did what you said," Zan shouted happily. "It's like an enormous island surrounded by a pyroflux sea."
"Yes," Irwin said as he stopped high in the air, above a beach of desert sand that he'd moved there from his fifth soulcard's region. "It is going to be even more interesting when this heartcard becomes a soulcard, because I am expecting one of the empty areas to be turned into another sea, or a giant lake."
"It will take so long till the fishies spread out and fill it," Zan said, hugging him as she looked around.
You would be surprised, Irwin thought, as he sensed the Soulforce Construct below. They had already started expanding outward, with the largest of the fish and the giant wyrms moving into the depths.
"You need more Chaos Whales," Zan said, smiling widely. "Perhaps you should ask Luath and Sarha to make babies!"
Irwin's eyebrows shot up, but Zan was just innocently laughing as she stared at the water below.
I'd better not ask them like that, he decided.
"Are there any new places to swim?" Zan asked, looking at him. "Can we get the others?"
Irwin smiled as he turned around, heading back to the now distant mountains.
"Many places," he said, as his real body began chatting with Scintilla. "I'll get the others ready, and we can bring some food and swim."
Listening to his daughters' happy squeals, he headed back to the smithy.
A few weeks, hopefully, then make it a soulcard, and the others can return, he thought. But for now, it's time to relax a bit.