Author note: SORRY... It's already close to 6000 words, and the part after will be at minimum another 1000, so this was just the best spot to cut it. > Runs while covering his head<
"That's it, do you sense it?" Irwin asked, focusing on the sudden spike in his resonance.
"A bit hard to miss," Ambraz grunted, hovering beside him. "I also found the cause."
"What? You did?"
"Yes. It's caused by the pyroflux movements. Every so often, your soulforce resonance seems to circle around, and at the moment it passes your first card's mountain chain, the pyroflux moves. It reminds me of the ebb and flow of the sea on Eluathar."
Irwin spread his senses to feel the pyroflux flowing through the depths of his soulscape. Currently, it was surging back down, and he cocked his head. He'd noticed the flowing before, but never really thought anything of it.
"But it's easy," Ambraz said. "It is going to slow down in a day or two, and at which point you will have plenty of time to turn your heartcard into a soulcard."
Irwin nodded as he felt his otherself start to move out with the clear intention of going to the Volcano Academy to share this with Trimdir and some of the others.
"Good, then one more day," he said, keeping an eye on the soulforce resonance alongside the ambient soulforce resonance.
The two of them hovered beside his heartcard quietly as puffy golden clouds drifted around and above them. A flock of soulforce-constructed birds flew in the distance, letting out high-pitched whistles that together formed a simple song.
"Braz'am- Ugh, still not feeling happy calling him that," Ambraz grunted before continuing. "Braz'am and Glow have been doing very well. They managed to sideways reforge a few dozen cards that Glow couldn't before, and he's learning a lot. It is also clear that Braz'am is different from the others."
"Different, how?" Irwin asked. He'd been keeping an eye on his son for the last two days, and had noticed the same as Ambraz had. Well, all but the part where Braz'am seemed different.
"He is growing slightly faster than most Progeny," Ambraz said. "He will likely become rank one in a few days, perhaps a week. Only Silv'am grew faster out of the rank-zeros that we have observed over the centuries. I asked Hou'dor, and he says that it matches what he remembers from some other Progeny. Some are faster."
Irwin hummed before focusing on Ambraz. "What about you?"
"What about me?" Ambraz grunted, making Irwin think back to when Brazardian had been here last. Somehow, remembering that made him feel slightly sad, as he knew he'd very likely never be able to speak with him again.
Ambraz probably sensed it, but he continued with a snort.
"I was locked by Gelwin, remember? Beardy face got me before I could bond, so there is no way of knowing how fast I would have grown until I found you. And after that? Well, the amount of purified soulforce you could generate would have caused any Ganvil to rush through the ranks. There's no way of knowing how much of that is my own ability, though I am going to say, probably half."
Irwin laughed at the smug feeling he felt through their bond, which matched the smug tone in Ambraz's voice as he spoke.
"I'm going to check the completed song a final time," Ambraz said as he zipped away.
Irwin hesitated before lying back in the air, arms behind his head, and his soulforce senses spread out.
"I'll remain here and keep an eye on things," he said, knowing full well he could have done the same from anywhere else in his soulscape.
"Sure. Just make sure to warn the others you are finishing up tomorrow."
Irwin nodded, sensing his otherself reaching the Volcano Academy and immediately being swarmed by young cardsmiths asking questions.
I guess it might be a while till I get back to do that, he thought.
--
"I wonder if we will get our Ganvils soon," Flux muttered as he and Mia sprinted through the city, back to their house. Normally, Glow would be with them, but ever since he'd returned with Braz'am, he had been focused far more on his cardsmithing.
"I'm sure we will if we ask Dad, but let's wait till tomorrow?" Mia said as the two dashed around the edge of a building, nearly slamming into two men carrying what looked like a large bench or crate.
"Hey, careful!"
"Sorry," Flux shouted back, but not even looking back.
They continued till they reached the square bordering their family's estate, one of the larger ones in the city due to how the buildings surrounding the square now all belonged to someone they knew. Soot stood leaning against one of them, and as soon as their eyes met, he vanished, only to reappear a few feet from them.
"You two are cutting it close! We should be back by midday, which is like in five minutes?" Soot said, falling in line with them as they walked towards the gate leading to the courtyard gate.
"We found a juvenile Bullfrog and helped the Rangers by killing it," Mia said. "It was a bit heavy to carry back."
"A Bullfrog this close to the city?" Soot asked, whistling.
It wasn't that close, Flux thought, keeping that to himself.
He glanced at his younger brother, wondering when they had all started doing different things. Not that long ago, they had been playing together most of the time. Now, Soot was almost always practicing with either Greldo or at the Shadewalkers Guild. Zan and now Glow were focusing on their Cardsmithing, while Ti had always been doing her own thing.
I guess it makes sense, he thought as the three of them walked through the door and into the courtyard. We are getting older… with a bit of luck, we should all get our next growth spurt soon.
Thinking about their upcoming growth spurt made him both highly excited and slightly sad. Right now, they all looked like ten- to twelve-year-olds, but they wouldn't all have their growth spurt at the same time. He knew from what Flagrian had told him that he and Mia would be the first, probably followed by Glow soon after, and then they would look like fifteen- or sixteen-year-olds while the others would need a while longer.
His eyes drifted across the courtyard as he walked, and he saw his father sit near his favorite tree, the others surrounding him. Even Greldo and Bronwyn were there, though he didn't see Daubutim.
Well, it's not like Dad will make his worldcard right now, Flux thought as he moved beside Glow, glancing at the dark and slightly dull gray Ganvil on his shoulder.
"Hey," he whispered, sitting down.
"You two went back along the river again?" Glow asked.
"Yes," Mia said, sitting down on his other side. "Even found another Bullfrog!"
"Right, now that we are all here," Irwin said, causing Mia to turn to him with a slightly guilty look. "It is time to start. From what I have found out, it is highly unlikely that anything but what I am planning will happen, but this is based on soulskills, not soulcards. On the off chance that something does happen, Greldo will move me somewhere safe. So, if he and I suddenly vanish, don't worry, alright?"
Flux felt his worry grow immediately, and a quick glance at Mia showed she was frowning, hands clamped around her knees.
His father continued speaking quickly, but Flux barely heard him, his mind conjuring up things that might happen. For some reason, he was having a bad feeling about what would happen, though he couldn't figure out why. Only when he moved to the courtyard, where the Ganvils were preparing to create a barrier, did he snap back to reality. He got up and ran to his father, who cocked an eyebrow before hugging him tightly.
"Be careful," Flux whispered, only feeling his father hugging him back tightly.
"Don't worry. It will be fine."
Flux nodded while he sensed his siblings arrive for their own hugs. A moment later, Heatmother pulled them away.
"Now, come on," she said, hands on her hips. "You have seen your father get multiple soulcards by now. This will be fine. If you have to, save your worry for when he makes his worldcard."
Flux nodded, trying to hold back the bad feeling he was having as he moved back to the edge of the courtyard, where his grandmother stood with Trimdir.
"Don't worry, little ones," she said, smiling as she gave him and Mia a quick hug.
Flux didn't say anything, just focused on the courtyard as the barrier appeared. In the center, his father sat down, crossing his legs and closing his eyes. For a few moments, nothing happened, then Flux felt the ambient soulforce begin to surge as it usually did when someone filled their heartcard and created a soulcard.
"Here he goes," Greldo said from the side, arms slowly unfolding as if he was ready to move at a moment's notice.
The soulforce continued surging and swirling for long minutes, when it slowed.
Flux felt his grandmother squeeze his shoulder. "See? Everything is fine."
A shock ran through the ambient soulforce, and the barrier flared up brightly at the same time. Irwin, sitting in the middle, seemed to be yanked to his feet, his body arched back and his eyes open as they stared into the sky.
Flux felt his heart skip a beat right as Greldo vanished from beside him. A moment later, the most powerful shadewalker they knew appeared beside Irwin, and then the two of them vanished.
"What happened?" Zan asked, her eyes wide, tears glittering within. "The soulforce howled just now! Did you hear it? It hurt…"
The barrier vanished as the adults all began talking at the same time, while Flux felt his grandmother's hand squeeze his shoulder again. Looking up, he saw her eyes wide as she stared at the spot his father had been in moments before.
"It will be fine," Flux whispered, putting his arms around her, while staring at where his Heatmother stood, arms spread out and a look of murder in her eyes.
It will be fine…
--
Irwin closed his eyes as he stepped into his soulscape.
"About time," Ambraz said, flying around his head. "Those two really cut it close."
Irwin just grinned as he focused on his heartcard. He could sense the constant pressure of it wanting to connect to the massive body of liquid soulforce below, and with a final check of his ambient soulforce, he let it.
Like with his previous card, only a few months prior, the soulforce sea below began slowly spinning. Soon, a funnel reached up towards the heartcard, while all around, the soulforce began swirling as a storm built.
Irwin hovered beside his heartcard, focused on the ambient soulforce, not sure what he should even do if something happened. When the funnel tip connected to the heartcard, the storm quickly grew in line with the soulforce being drained from below.
Minutes passed quickly, but besides the raging storm, Irwin sensed nothing that could cause an issue.
As the heartcard exploded, his focus was fully on the ambient soulforce, and he felt immediately when the new soulcard formed and joined the other six. The raging storm rapidly faded, while he sensed the last of his soulscape's sections start to change.
"So far so good," Ambraz grunted, landing on his shoulder. "The soulforce is exactly as we had pictured it."
Irwin nodded, hovering above his soulforce sea, his emotions a complex mess. Part of him felt somehow saddened that he'd never see another heartcard hover above his soulforce sea again, while another part was incredibly excited to see what had changed.
"So, the section is finishing up now," he said, flying rapidly towards it.
He got only halfway there when a tremor ran through his soulscape, followed by a howl that seemed to originate from the center of the sea.
"Luath?! What-"
Irwin let out a scream as he felt himself crushed together. He didn't even sense how his otherself was slammed into him, nor did he notice the two bodies that suddenly appeared beside him.
All he knew was the sense of everything being compressed, and an intense pain as it happened.
"Kid!? What… what is… UGH! No, don't you dare… push me…"
A tiny shiver ran through Irwin, and for a moment the pain faded as he felt Ambraz being shoved out of his soulscape. Then the crushing sensation continued. Still, the moment gave him just enough time to regain some of his clarity, and he pushed back against the crushing and the pain.
What… is going on?
The thought seemed to echo in his mind, as a sense of being flooded him. He felt all of his soulscape at the same time and instantly felt something was wrong. Things were inside that shouldn't be there. Items, objects, and matter that didn't belong. Things that felt off.
Before he realized what he was doing, Irwin sensed himself eject some of the pyroflux outside.
No! What if you are still in the city?
The worry lasted for only a moment before he realized he wasn't expelling it into reality. Instead, he faintly sensed plumes of pyroflux ejecting beyond the barrier that surrounded his soulscape. As more and more of the pyroflux that didn't actually belong to his soulscape was expelled, he felt the pressure rapidly release, only for a sense of horror to overcome him as parts of Soulscape City were flooded outward.
The cards?!
As the pressure and pain faded, but the sense of being compressed continued to grow, Irwin felt himself able to actually act again. His mind was fuzzy, and everything seemed chaotic, but he knew what he had to do. He reached out to the smithy that had been his haven for hundreds of years. It was filled with cards and items that he'd gathered over the ages, and he could already sense that whatever was happening was starting to push against parts of it. He needed them, not just for himself, but for his children and people.
If these get pushed out… Wait? Why is there no reaction to the Ancestral Copperion?
He stretched his senses, quickly finding the massive amount of Ancestral Copperion, only to feel it resonate. As soon as he sensed the resonance, he felt a shiver run through him as he heard and felt the start of the worldsong inside his ambient soulforce.
It's filled with my soulforce and resonating with it, he knew, trying to keep his focus. Sensing more matter being ejected, the compression continuing, and the resonance song growing stronger, he tried to grab a section of the Ancestral Copperion. It felt like an uphill struggle, but he managed to move a large section through his soulscape. As he did, he sensed the crystals that he'd moved from Igniz into the same region resonate happily, and he quickly grabbed a large chunk, moving it with the Ancestral Copperion.
It took him longer than he should have to bring it to his smithy, and as soon as it got there, he surrounded the crystal with the Ancestral Copperion while shoving all of the cards and items he'd collected inside.
He'd barely finished when a dull thrum rippled out from the center of his soulforce sea.
This better stay and not drift off, he thought, shoving the Ancestral Copperion-surrounded crystal out. It moved through his soulscape with a speed far above what the other movements had allowed as he felt his soulscape almost squeeze the foreign matter wrapped inside the two layers.
Slower, Irwin thought, as he forced the large object to slow at the last bit, before plopping out. To his surprise, he could still control the Ancestral Copperron, though he felt his soulforce leak out rapidly. He made it stop moving, holding it in place, when he felt the pain vanish as the last of the foreign matter was ejected from his soulscape.
A sudden silence fell across it, and as it did, he shivered as his entire being seemed to be compressed into something the size of a nut with a final jolt. Immediately after, the ambient soulforce hummed, and seven soulcards appeared around him. It was only at this time that he realized he wasn't inside a body… instead, like the very first time he'd been in his soulscape, he was nothing but a spark of soulforce hovering in the middle of the air. He had no sense of touch, smell, or even sound.
The song he heard was his own being resonating with the song and amplifying it.
It was also a song that was wrong. He sensed it immediately. Parts within it didn't belong. They caused the melody to make no sense, while the rhythm was off.
A sense of desire suddenly wrapped around him from seven areas, and the soulcards exploded apart around him. Immediately, the song turned disjointed, and a sense of imbalance grew rapidly. It felt like a soulcard that was unstable, but one made up of so much more than a single soulcard.
Like cardsmithing… Irwin thought, as he instinctively stretched himself outward, searching for a way to interact with the chunks of the soulcards that were drifting around him. He recognized the parts he would need, sensed the song, and was immensely happy that he'd practiced and memorized the song as much as he had.
He also felt three shapes drifting nearby, two massive ones and one smaller.
My bodies?
Scanning them, they felt odd to him, like things made of different types of materials. The Firesteel especially seemed to resonate strongly with parts of the drifting soulcards, and it almost felt like he could split the bodies apart if he wanted to.
He felt a shiver of worry as he realized something. If these bodies were here, it meant they were no longer in the places they had been! It was highly unlikely they would return if he managed to finish, which meant he would have to return the long way. Worse… there were three here, so where was his fourth?
He scanned the bodies quickly, recognizing each and feeling a wave of relief. The body on Eluathar was not here, and as he realized this, he noticed something else. Not all of him was here. A tiny part seemed missing, and as he noticed this, he also felt a tendril of soulforce snake away from his soulscape. He'd never sensed it before, but as he focused on it, he saw a fleeting image of Greldo, standing above his body, sword raised and a snarl on his face while thousands of shadow clones of him and Coal seemed to be fighting something.
What? Greldo!?
Irwin wanted to focus on the image, but it vanished, and he felt the tendril of soulforce shiver from his attempt to interact with it. He quickly backed away, then looked around. Whatever was happening outside, he had to finish something first.
Reaching out to the chunks of soulcard, he felt a slight sadness as he noticed his very first one, now spread apart into bits, while the entirety of his soulscape was shivering softly.
Right, let's start with the start, Irwin thought, pulling the first and most important chunk towards him, only to feel it be sluggish and uneven. He tried again, but again it felt like he was doing something he wasn't used to, like forging with his left hand instead of his right.
I need my body, Irwin thought, focusing on the three that drifted nearby. His first instinct was to choose the small one, but as he moved his souflorce spark towards it, he felt the body shudder. Before he could back up, it exploded into a shower of soulforce.
Irwin stared at it, sensing the soulforce slowly drifting away, moving towards the segments of one of the soulcards. He glared at the other two bodies. If he wanted to do this properly, he needed a body. He just knew it. Taking a mental breath, he carefully reached out towards one of the giant bodies. It shivered softly as he closed in, but as he slowly reached it, it didn't explode. Instead, as he reached the edge, he felt his spark yanked into his body.
The next moment, he was hovering in mid-air, a deafening roar of off-key music all around him, while a hot dry wind blew his hair back.
Staring at his hand, then around, he took a deep breath, then pushed his worries away. He had practiced for this for decades, and even if nothing of what was happening now was as he'd planned it, he didn't have a choice.
He turned to the chunk he'd tried to move before and, raising his hand, moved it nearby with ease. Staring at it, he felt the tremors of the parts of the song he needed, knowing his initial reaction was right. It was like soulcard reforging, which meant he was going to need something.
He stretched out and pulled a massive chunk of Ancestral Copperion towards him. The mere motion caused the dissonance in the song to shift into something worse, and he barely got it before him.
Staring at the blob of liquid metal, he knew that moving something more towards him might cause whatever was happening to fail right there and then.
Which meant he had a problem. He needed the Ancestral Copperion to be a solid anvil, but pure Ancestral Copperion was only ever liquid. He would need to blend it with some other metal.
Stretching his senses to the metals in the ground, he knew that if he tried pulling it up, he would cause the worldcard that he had to form to fail, and probably meant he would die in the process.
Though I wonder if the part of me with Greldo would survive, he thought.
Knowing he needed another metal, his gaze slowly drifted to his other giant body, partially made of Firesteel.
"Right, I guess I don't need it right now," he said, his voice oddly soothing amidst the constant screaming music.
He pulled his other giant body closer, sensing the Firesteel within it. Hesitating only a moment, he tried to pull it out, and instantly his body was split into streams of soulforce of different types that surrounded a clump of Firesteel that began disintegrating at the edges.
Irwin quickly shoved it into the blob of Ancestral Copperion before willing it to begin mixing.
It needed barely any incentive as the soulforce seemed to almost turn into a haze of dust that spread through the Ancestral Copperion, rapidly hardening it.
Irwin quickly forced his will around it, ignoring the dissonance for a moment as he shaped it into a giant anvil that resembled Ambraz. He barely managed it in time before the Ancestral Copperion hardened.
Finally finished, he felt the edges of his soulscape resonate oddly, as if it wasn't sure if it wanted to compress inward or expand outward. Knowing he had to hurry, he looked around at the chunks of soulcard before pulling the part he needed first towards him. Placing it on the anvil, he raised his hand, preparing the song and hesitating for a moment.
Whatever happens, I need to make sure to return with this information, he thought as he saw an image of his children in his mind. He had to make sure they would know what to do if they ever attempted this.
"But I'll succeed," he said before closing his eyes for a moment and focusing on the disjointed song.
As soon as it reached where it should begin, he slammed his hand down on the chunk of soulforce, hoping he could use parts of the worldcard as they finished, because things would be far easier with his soulstrum guitar and Aura Clones.
The soulcard chunk erupted into song, the sound washing away all others and causing the soulforce around him to resonate with it, expanding like a massive ripple in a pond. To his surprise, it vanished and sank into his chest, while the song seemed to teeter for a moment. He quickly pulled the next part from the hundreds, perhaps thousands, around him towards him, but he instinctively knew something was missing… a glue to bind it all.
Irwin took a deep breath, then hummed part of the song he knew would resonate below the rest, before striking down on the next part of what he hoped would become his worldcard.
A second ripple exploded out from him as the chunk sank into his chest, humming like another instrument beside the first. This time he was prepared, and he reached for the third chunk, while humming and striking. As he did, he began pulling the next chunks he would need towards him.
The first part will be easy, just the groundwork, he thought as he felt the different chunks like copies of the same instrument, humming almost the same, but just not quite. Understanding what was happening, he changed his own hum into a wordless song as he began preparing for what would be a very, very long day.
Time flowed by as explosive ripples spread from him, changing the ambient soulforce of his soulscape while he worked through the easiest part of the complex song.
At some point, when he reached his seventieth soulcard chunk, he sensed the soulforce resonance within him increase in complexity as a feedback loop seemed to cause multiple additional resonances. At the same time, he felt something solidify inside of him, and a sense of familiarity came with it, born from among the song that now oozed through him.
Irwin raised his hand, and a hammer appeared in it. It wasn't exactly the same as the one he'd had for as long as he recalled, but as he held it, it felt right. Exactly as it should be, while at the same time he knew he could do more with it… Shape it into other things. Gauntlets and a shield.
The first set, he knew, as he brought his hammer down, knowing he couldn't stop now. He immediately felt how much easier it was to manipulate the soulforce.
He continued, and when he hit chunk a hundred and forty, the complexity increased again, while he felt another sense of familiarity grow within him. With it, visual ripples, waves, and clouds of soulforce appeared around him, and he only now realized he'd not been able to see them, only sense them. With the waves came a complex hum, and for a moment he worried it would interfere with his work. The worry lasted for only a moment as his ability to sense the resonance increased with it.
Still, as much as it helped, by the time he hit chunk two hundred and ten, the complexity had grown beyond anything he'd ever done.
For a moment, he looked at the cards still around him, knowing he wasn't even halfway. Stretching for the new familiarity, he hoped it would be his ability to summon Aura Clones, as it was something that would help him immensely. Sadly, it wasn't, and instead he felt something… odd.
No! Focus, he told himself, ripping away his desire to check what had just been added.
He continued, but as he approached the next cutoff point, two hundred and eighty, it became increasingly difficult to keep the flow of the previous song steady. By now, the chunks he added didn't all sound or feel like the same instruments as those beside them, and each one seemed to increase the complexity. Worse, those who remained behind had begun producing a dissonant resonance that reminded him of Brecka's card before he fixed it.
Two hundred seventy-nine, Irwin thought, his mind focused solely on plodding on, barely able to enjoy the increasingly beautiful song that echoed around him.
Pulling the next chunk to him, he almost hesitated.
Please be the Aura Clones, he thought, before continuing to sing and focus on the existing chunks and the song. It took him what felt like forever to keep it stable enough to strike the next chunk and add it.
As soon as it did, a shiver ran through his being, while the resonance song of the chunks remaining grew even more dissonant.
Over half, Irwin thought, reaching for the familiar feeling.
For a moment, he feared he was doomed, as he sensed a combination of soulforce and aura, then a small version of himself appeared beside him. Unlike his previous aura clones, it was far more realistic and seemed made of a combination of Firesteel, heat, soulforce, and aura. A faint connection sat beside it, but unlike the one he had before, it felt… different, like it was its own mind.
Irwin stared at it for the fraction of a second he had, then he pulled the next chunk to him.
He focused on the existing song, feeling it struggle to escape his grasp, when a beautiful, deep voice joined his, a moment later followed by the familiar sounds of his soulstrum guitar. Immediately, the pressure on him was reduced, and Irwin had enough mental space to look at the… Aura Clone? No… that didn't seem to be right.
I'll figure it out later, he decided, noticing the close look at him with eyes that gleamed with their own intelligence.
Irwin hesitated, then triggered the ability he felt more, creating another eleven clones, ending with twelve that immediately joined him in singing while playing on a Soulstrum Guitar of their own summon.
Immediately, the pressure dropped greatly, and Irwin continued slowly working through the soulcard chunks, now with time to actually sense what he was doing. The song he was creating seemed to be flowing out from within himself, and the more parts added to it, the more pressure he felt within his mind.
When he moved past four hundred and forty, moving into the final stretch, the song had become all-encompassing, and with it he sensed the entirety of his soulscape once again. Although the complexity was greatly increased again, he'd summoned another twelve Firesteel Clones, as he'd decided to call them now, another problem had cropped up. He felt like it was ready to explode at any moment. At the same time, the soulcard chunks that were still hovering around, which were at least a quarter of the original number, were themselves resonating dangerously. He'd already pulled in those he still needed, keeping them close, but the stronger and more complete the song became, the more dangerous the soulforce jittering from those he wasn't going to use became.
Perhaps I can shove them out? He thought.
He tried that, only to realize he could barely even touch or handle those that remained. Keeping an eye on them, he continued.
Each chunk he finished brought the completed song closer, and as he finished the seventh-to-last, a pulse ran through his mind, and he almost fell unconscious.
Shaking his head to clear it, Irwin heard a high-pitched crackling next to him.
What?
He looked up to find that one of the chunks was sparking with tiny bolts of blue soulforce lightning.
Dammit!
Irwin instinctively summoned another dozen clones in between the crackling chunk and the six he needed to finish, moving himself in between just as the crackling chunk exploded. Blue lightning soulforce rippled out, engulfing the other unstable remainder chunks that held the parts of his soulcards he wouldn't need. In a chain reaction, another exploded, another exploded, and Irwin turned, spreading his arms while summoning more clones.
The crackling booms lasted for only a few moments, but when they stopped, Irwin was left staring at the six chunks in horror.
Five were fine, but one of them, the single last he'd need, was showing signs of instability with little blue lightning flickering around the edges. Between that and the time he'd been doing nothing since the previous chunk, issues were compounding.
Irwin moved without hesitation, pulling the next chunk towards him while wordlessly instructing all the clones to assist. Instantly, dozens of voices joined those already playing, while Soulstrum Guitars followed suit. Irwin waited only a minute till he sensed a moment that felt right and struck down. Despite the little time he'd given himself, the chunk exploded in the exact window the song required. Instantly, another resonance added to the song while the soulforace sank into his chest. He, however, didn't wait, but grabbed the next and forced his focus to continue.
Over the next five minutes, he took more risks than in the many hours before, but each time he glanced at the single last chunk, the sparks had increased. When he finally reached it and pulled it close, two struck his palm, and the sensation of almost going unconscious came again, stronger this time. At the same time, he felt the pressure inside increase.
What is going to happen when I finish this?
Getting no answer and not able to wait, he struck as soon as a moment arrived, jaw clenched and hoping that nothing would go wrong. Perhaps something was listening, but besides a small jolt of blue lightning, the card shattered in perfect tandem with the song before sinking into his chest.
Irwin let out a weary sigh as he pulled in the final chunk. He stared at it, the first one he took the time to, and he wondered which soulcard it was a part of. From what he sensed, it, like many before it, dealt with heat and fire. Many of the others had been like that. It made sense that it was the one that would finish the song.
Sensing his waiting causing the worldcard song to cause a slight dissonance, he waited for another few moments till the combined effort of his own singing and that of the clones stabilized it all to the point where he could add it.
Either I don't hit it, and I'll probably die, or I do hit it… he thought.
The realization of just how high the stakes were suddenly made him shiver. He steeled himself, then struck down on the last chunk.
With a final shattering explosion, it turned into soulforce that sank into his chest.
The pressure from inside his mind exploded outward, and for a final moment, he wondered if things were really ending like that. Then everything turned black.