Irwin's Journey 469: One way to say hello

Irwin hummed as he walked into the Smiths Guild. Except for the main entrance, most of the area behind it had been changed from what he remembered. Not that it had been set in stone yet when he left, but he had expected at least the main entrance to remain the same.

Instead, the doorless pathway led them into a sprawling chamber dominated by six enormous counters. Each had a colored symbol in the front, with cloth streamers hanging from the high ceiling in case someone couldn't see them. Something that wasn't hard to believe, as the three leftmost counters were crowded with people. Oxarites and Viridians were around in equal numbers, but there were also more than a few Accenti and Parealion wandering about. Three corridors led away from the central room, with a steady stream of people moving through them.

Quartz to Diamond, Irwin thought as he watched the counters, before glancing up at something that stood behind: a large statue of a Ganvil, lips slightly quirked as if laughing at a joke.

'Looks like Frisyuustis is still around,' he said, sensing Ambraz's slight annoyance.

'Course he is. That rustbucked would probably survive the shattering of Scour,' Ambraz sniffed.

Irwin held back a grin as he tried to decide where to go. Brecka was staring at the things around him with wide-eyed wonder, while Nimlarel seemed lost in her own world.

A couple of Oxarites moved past them and looked at her with interest, one going so far as to nudge his friend and whisper something. The other wanted to respond when his eyes landed on Irwin, and he blinked stupidly before looking away and pulling his friend with him.

Irwin smirked and looked away. It seemed Nimlarel was going to have an interesting time at the very least.

"Let's go and see if we can figure out where Flowrishin is," he said.

"Should we just walk inside?" Brecka asked, looking at the central corridor.

"And get lost?" Irwin said. "No, there's barely anyone waiting at the ruby and diamond desk, so let's just go and ask those people."

--

"I'm telling you," Seimin hissed. "He looks exactly like the statue!"

The other two looked at him, then barked a laugh.

"Get smelted, Seim!"

"Oh, you don't believe me? Follow along, scrapfaces, I'll show you!"

Seimen turned and stomped away, while his two friends let out a weary sigh before following after him.

"Come on, Seim… we were supposed to go and see the topaz-ranked match!"

--

Irwin stopped behind an old, bent, and brittle-looking Parealion man, the only one in line. He glanced at Irwin before focusing back at the counter, seeming almost bored.

'Interesting,' Ambraz grunted. 'That old geezer has a diamond-rank soulcard. It's not great, but it should be at least ninety percent. I wonder who made it!'

Irwin examined the man, noticing the pressure from his soulcard. There was no way he could find out who had made it, but from what he could see, hundreds of years had passed since they left. Perhaps more. So there could be hundreds of diamond-rank smiths now, though he doubted it.

Humming thoughtfully, he looked at the counter. Unlike the other counters, this one only had two people behind it, making it look even bigger. Two Viridians were talking with a large Oxarite woman, who was talking angrily. It took Irwin a few moments to realize what was wrong with the picture.

'They have sound-blocking runes!'

'Why are you so surprised?' Ambraz asked. 'They already had the basics of runes, and those are among the easiest.'

Irwin frowned, trying to recall if he'd seen anyone with runes yesterday and feeling his mind stumble over the oddities. For him, it had been yesterday… and on Scour, entire family generations could have risen and fallen.

The two Viridians seemed to have finished and beckoned over the small bird-man, who hobbled forward.

Irwin waited till he was in the bubble before turning to Nimlarel. She was still looking around with vacant eyes, and he reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. She blinked, her eyes focusing on his.

"Don't worry. There are definitely more alive than you remember," he said.

"I…" she shook her head and took a deep breath. "I know, but it's just so much. We were supposed to be gone for a year, ten at most. And now, how long have we been gone?"

"I don't know," Irwin said, squeezing her shoulder. "But we will find out."

Nimlarel managed a slight smile, and Irwin glanced at Brecka before focusing back on the counter.

It took only a couple of minutes before the Parealion man hobbled away, towards the central pathway.

"It looks like everyone heads there," Brecka whispered to him. "I only saw a few return the way we came, and those looked rather unhappy."

Irwin nodded, but before he could respond, a soft, smooth voice echoed around them.

"If you are together, you may give us your request now."

Irwin looked up to see the two Viridian women look at him expectantly.

"Right, let's see what this is all about," Irwin said as he walked forward. 

A few feet from the desk, he sensed the soulforce inside the runes that were embedded in the ground. The constant chatter from the enormous room faded to a whisper. One of the Viridian clerks or helpers, he wasn't sure exactly which, had moved to the side, glancing at something behind the bar while the other beckoned Irwin.

"Welcome to the Smiths Guild. I am Guild Clerk Glievia. You are standing at the diamond-rank commission desk. Even the most basic of commissions or reforge requests will be in excess of two thousand shards. If you are here by mistake-" she looked at him as she rattled off a set of lines she must have spoken thousands of times. "-please leave now before you are fined."

Irwin raised his eyebrow as an idea came to him. He could just forcefully find Flowrishin, or even just start shouting or playing his soulstrum guitar, but that would draw a lot of attention. Without knowing the current state of the world, that might not be the best step.

"What would it cost to have Cardsmith Flowrishin reforge a card for me?" he asked.

"..." 

Both Viridians had turned to stare at him, the one at the side seemingly forgetting whatever she was doing.

"I… I don't think that is possible," Clerk Glievia said slowly. 

"Are you sure? What if I pay with diamond-rank cards?" Irwin asked, raising an eyebrow.

He instantly knew that was the wrong line, because both clerks glared at him. Glievia took a deep breath, while the other turned and continued doing what she'd been doing before.

"I fear we are going to have to call the guards now," Glievia said, sounding annoyed. 

Irwin raised his eyebrows, genuinely surprised. "Why? Are diamond-rank cards not good enough?"

Glievia frowned, then seemed to decide she was better than whatever stupid joke this was.

"If you must know. Yes, diamond cards would be suitable compensation, but seeing as nobody… has ever…" 

She stopped talking as she stared at the cards Irwin had pulled into his hand, all diamond-ranked. He could have pulled in more, but he wasn't trying to cause a war.

"These are all either metal or fire cards," Irwin said calmly, putting them on the polished wooden surface of the table. 

Glievia followed each one with wide-eyed disbelief, while the other clerk was frozen halfway behind the table.

"Do you think you could see if Hea- Cardsmith Flowrishin is able to help me with something? I'm willing to pay for her time."

Glievia swallowed, then turned to the other clerk.  "Go get one of the diamond-rank smiths here. Hurry!"

The other clerk seemed to jolt out of it, and she sprinted into the wide corridor that moved around the large statue of Frisyuustis.

"Dear… customer? Please wait here. This is a bit… more than… Well, someone will be here very soon to help you," Glievia said, writing her hands and causing a sound of wood scraping across wood.

Irwin nodded, wondering if he shouldn't have just moved across the soundwaves until he found her.

She could be anywhere, and who knows what kind of runes they created, he told himself.

Barely a minute later, a black plume of smoke burst out of the ground beyond the desk, and a short, stocky Oxarite appeared. His eyes were completely black, making it hard to see what he was looking at, and Irwin sensed he had at least two soulcards.

"So, what's going on?" he grunted, looking around, almost annoyed as if he'd been woken from a nap.

Then his gaze landed on the cards, and his bushy metal eyebrows shot up. 

"I thought she was joking," he muttered, before seemingly forcing himself to look up from the cards.

"So, you are the one who is asking to pay with diamond cards for a diamond reforging commission?" he asked, eyes gleaming.

"No," Irwin said. "I'm the one who is asking for Flowrishin specifically."

The man blinked, then shook his head. "Sorry, the Guildmaster isn't available for commissions. I would know, I've heard her shout out some of those Grove Elders enough times by now. Besides, she's currently still busy with the Ghulnithair, so I don't think she has time for much of anything."

Ghulnithair, Irwin thought, suddenly recalling Preg and his deal. He had wanted to find the fire elemental after he'd returned, but now? How much time had really passed? Were they still alright? 

The sudden memory, combined with what the smith had just said, removed most of his good mood with a single fell swoop. 

Well, at least I tried, he thought, exhaling explosively.

"I guess I'll have to draw her attention another way then," he muttered, turning around and walking to the empty area before the table. "Ambraz?"

He ignored the rustle of confusion from behind him, likely because he'd left the diamond cards on the table.

'It's been so long,' Ambraz shouted as he pushed against Irwin's soulscape and almost plopped out.

Irwin managed a smile as he felt the joy radiate from his friend, as he flew a circle around his head. He felt the drain on his soulscape, but it was nothing compared to the soulcrippling drain it had been before. As it was, he could keep it up for at least a few days, and better, he could already feel that his regeneration was strong enough to refill it after. 

Heartcards really are so much better than handcards, he thought as he walked out of the dampening runes, causing the constant chatter to return.

Ambraz dropped to the ground before him, and Irwin heard some rustling in the distance. With a shrug, he summoned a ruby-rank card to his hand, a fire one that he knew would mix near perfectly with his own cards. Sending a message worked best if the message didn't explode halfway.

'Go for it, I've got the song,' Ambraz said, sounding more than a little happy. 

Just before he brought his hammer down, Irwin heard Brecka say something rather final, and then the boom of his hammer on the anvil caused the card to appear above it.

"That crazy fool! He's going to waste that ruby card!"

Irwin felt the corners of his lips tug up at the shouted complaints of the stocky smith. Then he ignored him as he began humming along with Ambraz's song, while his soulstrum guitar began faintly leaking out.

It might have only been a day for me, but let's see if you remember me, Irwin thought as he focused fully on the reforge.

--

Glievia stood in frozen silence as she watched the towering Oxarite with the odd complexion. His eyes were gleaming pools of silvery fire and liquid metal as he stared at the card with absolute focus. 

"This is… insane,"  Cardsmith Mundren hissed.

Glievia didn't know how to respond and merely shook her head, unwilling to keep her eyes from the incredible spectacle. She'd seen plenty of cardsmiths working, both as they worked on commissions and as they practiced, but only a few of those were from ruby to diamond. 

Those that she had seen had felt strained, harsh, and more than half failed. Those who hadn't had left the smiths in question teetering on their feet.

None of that was happening now.

The towering cardsmith struck in a soft, uneven beat along with the song he was singing, while the unfamiliar yet beautiful music seemed to be becoming louder by the moment.

"Insane," Mundren muttered again. 

Glievia risked a quick glance at the rest of the room and saw that everyone had moved into a large circle around the smith, staring at him in quiet awe and wonder. More and more people, including other cardsmiths, were joining the group.

A group of a dozen Smiths Guild guards stood to the side, looking uncertain about what to do.

They better not interrupt him, or I fear the other cardsmiths will lynch them, Glievia thought, noticing the looks of rapture on some of the cardsmiths' faces.

Time flowed by far too quickly, and when the cardsmith's song began fading and he slammed down the final strike, she wished it would continue. 

A swirling cloud of light rippled across the Ganvil's smooth back, and amidst an almost reverent silence, the ruby-red border faded away to leave behind a brilliant diamond that flickered in the light.

"Well, that's a useful one."

The smith's soft mutter echoed through the hallway like a shout, and Glievia wished she knew what the card did. Sadly, she would probably never learn as the man pocketed the card before looking around. His eyes seemed to search for something and found it at the back of the group.

Guildmaster Flowrishin?!

Glievia couldn't wait to see what would happen now, 

--

Irwin felt a wave of relief as he saw Flowrishin stare at him from the back of the group. She had barely changed compared to the last time he'd seen her, perhaps a little older, but not nearly as old as she had been before he'd made her second soulcard.

"Tutor…?" 

"Hello, Headteacher," Irwin said. "Or should I call you Guildmaster now?"

A rush of whispers came from all around, but Irwin ignored them as he beckoned Brecka and Nimlarel.

"Think we can have a chat somewhere private?" he asked, noticing she was looking at him with a mix of resignation and worry.

Okay, something definitely happened, he thought.

"That might be best," she said, gesturing at the guards who nodded and began dispersing the crowd.

Irwin walked beside him, noticing a change in Flowrishin's soulcards. She used to have only one, then he made her second, and now she has a third. 

'Her third card's not all that great,' Ambraz muttered, apparently having noticed the same thing.

'Yeah… that's not the only trouble,' Irwin said, walking after Flowrishin, who seemed lost in thought.

Nimlarel was looking at her constantly, clearly wanting to ask something but not daring to. 

Walking through the enormous Smith's Guild felt odd as most was unfamiliar, with a few bits of architecture still the same. He only recognized more when they reached the large oval staircase that wound around a pillar all the way to the section that he had made for himself and his friends. 

Two sets of guards stood at the foot of the stairs, examining them curiously but not saying anything as they passed.

A short walk through far more familiar settings later, Irwin walked into the large library, which was completely empty. Flowrishin walked to a nearby table and sat down, or slumped was probably the better word.

"I wish I could say I'm entirely glad to see you again," she muttered. "But I should have known you would return after what happened half a year ago."

Irwin frowned, sitting down opposite here. "I'm afraid I don't know what you are talking about," he said. "We were in the Portal Gallery for less than six hours before returning… how much time ago was that for you?"

"Six hours…?" Flowrishin muttered, staring at him in disbelief. "It has been almost a hundred and eighty years since I last saw you…"

Irwin let out a long, weary sigh. "So, the time dilation went haywire?"

"I don't know," Flowrishin said, shaking her head. "After you left, things were calm and stable for a long time, but as the years passed and you didn't return, other parties began trying to lay claim to the Smith's Guild. Then we had the war, and… well, things were calm for the last fifty years."

Irwin leaned back, holding back his questions for now.

Flowrishin looked at him, smiling wearily. "I am glad to see you, Tutor, but I fear your arrival is again the harbinger of trouble. Half a year ago, seven Burrows overflowed all at the same time. Luckily, we have far more soulcarded than we had before, and all of them were stopped, however, not without a great number of sacrifices."

"Half a year," Irwin repeated, his mind spinning. "Perhaps when I entered the exit portal again?"

"Perhaps, but that would make the time dilation what…?"

"Thirty years per hour, roughly," a calm voice came from the staircase.

Irwin looked up to see a middle-aged Onyxian walk towards them, staring at him curiously. Something about him seemed familiar, but Irwin couldn't put his finger on it.

"You don't remember me, teacher?" the man asked, smiling widely. "Well, I guess I wasn't this big yet. I'm Rorin Orevein. I was in your class."

"Rorin," Irwin exclaimed, recalling the young Oxarite boy who had been at the top of his class, always striving to be the best and earn the extra reforging time.

"The others and I spread your way of teaching after you… didn't return," Rorin said, his smile flickering momentarily. 

"Rorin, are you sure about those calculations?" Flowrishin asked.

"Yes, Guildmaster. If Tutor Irwin was gone for about six hours, that makes it thirty years per hour that he was gone, or half a year per minute."

Irwin sat down, watching the familiar man sit down, and finally recognized a fragment of the boy he recalled. Then his mind switched to what he'd said. 

Thirty years per hour?

The time dilation he was talking about was insane. One to two hundred and fifty thousand? More? 

'Calm down, kid. There's no way we could have prevented this,' Ambraz grunted. 'You needed your next heartcard, so we had to leave. Besides, the time dilation definitely isn't that strong now. Check through your other body.'

Irwin focused on his other body, to find the door was partially open and moving ever so slightly. 

'It's moving,' he hissed, slowly starting to count as he watched Soot push the door further open. 'Twenty to one? Less? What is going on…?'

"Tutor?"

Irwin blinked, realizing he'd zoned out with both his selves, something that rarely happened. He quickly split himself back apart, absently noting that his Aura clones had stirred. Where they the reason? He'd have to check later, he decided, as he let one part of himself discuss what was happening with Ambraz and the other focus on Flowrishin and the others. 

"You said the Burrows burst half a year ago," he said slowly. "I just verified that the current time dilation is way weaker than it was even when I was here first."

"What?! How did you verify that?" Rorin asked, his bushy blue eyebrows shooting up.

"I have the ability to observe another location which is not on Scour," Irwin said. "I look at the movements there and make an estimate. Currently, it seems to flow at twenty to one or less… which is far weaker than it should be."

"It's your presence," Flowrishin said, making them all turn to her.

The Headteacher and now Guildmaster stared quietly at Irwin before letting out a weary sigh.

"It's the only thing I can imagine," she said. "Your soulforce is immense, so much so that I can sense it even like this, and it's stable, and-"

-- Irwin's Soulscape --

"Resonating!" Ambraz's shout almost made Irwin sit upright.

"What?" he asked.

"What Flowrishin said is right, it's because of you!"

Irwin frowned, crossing his arms. "Explain?"

"I will, don't worry about that," Ambraz grumbled. "Your soulforce is strong, yes, probably as strong or stronger than Frisyuustis, but your resonance? It is far stronger. Your cards harmonize far more than the abilities a Ganvil has, even a worldanvil. Now, with your Aura? I think your resonance and Aura pressure are pushing and destabilizing those portals below the ground."

Irwin blinked, then shook his head as he recalled how he'd tried to decide the time dilation over the last few weeks. "Shouldn't the time dilation be more stable in that case? Portals destabilize a world and slow its time dilation down to Portal Gallery normal, right? Instead of fluctuating between what, two hundred and four hundred?"

"You weren't as strong as you were before," Ambraz said. "Your Aura pressure? It's…"

Ambraz fell quiet, humming thoughtfully before continuing. "I wonder what would happen if you unleashed all of it. No, better not. We are here to use the time dilation, and if you somehow disturb it even more… No, wait… That doesn't make sense. Or does it?"

Irwin leaned back, watching Ambraz zip around the room, mumbling and muttering to himself.

Does that mean I could influence time dilation? But Ambraz is right, that makes no sense. More soulforce means a higher time dilation, while portals destabilize and weaken it.

Irwin grunted, feeling a headache form.

Ambraz thudded back on the table, his lips tight.

"Kid… you need to try the following. Keep looking at your other body and pull as much of your soulforce back into your soulscape as you can. Try to minimize what you are outputting on Scour, including your resonance. See if the time dilation visibly changes."

Irwin frowned. It made some sort of sense. If his presence was impacting the time dilation somehow, this should show some of that. It was a big if, though.

"Just! Make sure to do it slowly," Ambraz continued. "I don't know exactly what will happen."

"Right. Pull back my soulforce, dampen my soulscape's resonance, but do it slowly and controlled," Irwin muttered.

He took a deep breath, focused on the body of Eluathar, and began pulling his soulforce into his soulscape. He didn't have a lot out in the first place, and as it flowed into his soulscape, he didn't see any effect.

Let's try resonance, he thought.

He focused on his soulscape and soulcards, all of whom were contentedly humming along and prevented the resonance from leaving beyond his soulscape. It was harder than he'd expected, mostly because he had far more soulforce than last time he'd tried it.

Sooth, who had been wobbling on the chair agonizingly slowly, seemed to freeze on the spot. At the same time, a painful pressure surrounded him - his soulscape, squeezing from all sides.

"More resonance!" Ambraz roared, but Irwin was already on it. He let his soulcard sing so loudly that his soulscape resonated with a burst, while he let it flow out of his soulscape as unhindered as he could. With a minor tremor, the pressure eased away. 

"A bit less," Ambraz said, his voice thin.

Irwin just nodded as he lowered the resonance of his soulscape and soulcards until it was slightly below what they had been earlier. It was what he thought of as his default resonance, a sort of background sound that was always present. A look at Soot showed he was moving agonizingly slow again, probably slower than one in twenty, more like one in forty.

"So… what just happened?" Irwin whispered, suddenly realizing that his otherself was explaining to the others that nothing was wrong, and that the resonance they had sensed was just him checking something.

Yeah… nothing happened, he thought with a shudder.

"I… think I have an idea what's going on," Ambraz said, sounding worried. "Those portals below Scour? They have destabilized this world so far that the only reason it's still intact is because of Frisyuustis and Urdwel, that Viridian elder. The problem is, the instability is all below the ground, and the stability is all above. Your soulforce pressure and resonance? They are so strong that I... I think you are somehow causing the high concentration of soulforce around those portals to compress. Or perhaps you are pushing it back out of the portals. Whatever it is, time dilation, as far as we know, is a combination of a stable world and a high soulforce… amount… O….”

Irwin felt a wave of surprise, worry, and realisation set in with his bond, and a moment later, Ambraz let out a shaky breath.

"A high amount of soulforce… like what might be in an insanely large amount of Ancestral Coperion," Ambraz whispered. "What if there's far more Ancestral Coperion deeper in this world? That would explain the original time dilation."

"But shouldn't the time dilation have slowed after I left?" Irwin asked. "I mean, I took a lot with me."

"A lot for our standards," Ambraz muttered. "But compared to what you would need to change the time dilation of this world? That's nothing. No, that could have happened because of closing portals, those Insectoid Burrows you killed, or even just moving through the exit portal and creating some sort of feedback loop.  Does it matter? Right now, if you pull out too much resonance, you are going to push Scour's time dilation to normal, and we have no idea what that might cause. Explosions? If you put out nothing, you will be locked in here with that time dilation, and it will drain your soulscape dry within instants."

Irwin put his head in his hands and groaned. "Okay, so what now? Is there even a way to fix this?"

"Fix it? I don't know, but we need to start stabilizing this world's core, and for that, those Portals need to go," Ambraz grunted. 

--

Irwin stared at the table while Nimlarel was quietly talking with Flowrishin. Rorin and Brecka were watching him, one worried, the other curious. Not a surprise, as first he'd suddenly started creating massive amounts of soulforce resonance, and the next moment he'd started zoning out. 

"Alright," he said as he looked up, drawing everyone's attention. "Before I left, I asked you to find out what is going on below the ground, and with those portals. I need you to tell me everything you know… also, did you say Rinbus is still alive?"