Irwin's Journey 434: In transit memories

Irwin hurled through the corridor, keeping an eye on both the exit and the primordial chaos beyond. With every passing minute, he was starting to feel better that he hadn't seen any Oculithar outside yet. Part of him had worried that he would step into a fractured exit portal corridor if that were even possible.

As he fell to the distant exit, knowing he still had hours to go, his mind drifted back to the last few months, and he couldn't help but smile.

He'd always known that Zannia would be the most likely to follow in his footsteps as a smith, but it had been beautiful to witness. Not just how fast her crafting ability increased but also seeing how her bond with Silv'am had grown in record time. Ambraz and the other older Ganvils had been left stunned. 

It had started with her reforging a card with Silv'am, and as Irwin recalled that moment, he softly hummed the beautiful song the two had crafted. Simple? Yes. But perfect in its simplicity. 

-- A few months earlier --

"Why can't we watch?"

"I'll be quiet, I promise!"

Irwin sighed as he looked at his children, then he shook his head. 

"Everyone, be quiet, and I'll explain."

Soot nodded, his mouth snapping shut, while Mia, Glow, and Flux looked slightly guilty. Ti didn't even notice, watching the door to their home's smithy.

"Like the rest of you, Zan has been practicing for years," Irwin said calmly. "And like the rest of you, she hasn't been able to reforge only very basic cards. Part of this is because your soulforce is still unstable."

"It's also why we can't get our next cards, right?" Soot asked quickly.

"Exactly," Irwin said, nodding at his son. "Now, with Silv'am, Zan will not need that much soulforce stability. Ganvil's can pick up the slack, as it were. When Ambraz and I bonded, I was already much older, and although my soulforce was weak, it was mostly stable. Even then, Ambraz had to help a lot at the start."

He saw his five children nod. They had heard parts of this before but never in the context of what was happening now.

"Due to this, Zan and Silv'am can't have any distractions. No other soulforce resonances or whispers of awe," he said. "That is why you will need to wait here."

"But why can you go with her?" Glow asked curiously.

"I'm able to pull in my soulforce resonance with the help of Ambraz," Irwin said. "Also, whatever resonance does appear is still very closely tied to that of Zan. If need be, I might even be able to help her slightly."

"I want to start!" 

Irwin turned to the smithy, where he saw Zan beside a dark silver Ganvil, large enough to smith against.

"Alright, your father has explained enough," Scintilla said, stepping forward. "Everyone, quietly wait!"

Irwin smiled at his heat bond and walked into the smithy, closing the door behind him. His own fuzzy excitement was buried below a layer of professional curiosity. Zan was by far the most naturally soulforce-sensitive person he'd ever met, even more so than he had been. He wondered what she would be able to do now that she had her own Ganvil bond.

"Now," he said, walking to his daughter and lowering himself to his heels so he didn't tower above her as much as normal. "I'm going to give you a very simple card that will have some overlap with your own. Just do the same you always do."

Zan was bobbing her head up and down, her eyes wide with excitement.

"Do you think I'll be able to create a card for Libel soon?" she asked, her voice filled with youthful hope.

Irwin grinned as he thought about his young niece. She was closing in on five and loved spending time with Zan and the others, even though she was half their size.

"Perhaps when she is old enough to hold one, yes," he said, knowing there might be a big possibility that she could. If Zan grew as fast as he had with Ambraz, she would be able to easily do that in seven years, which would be the earliest Libel could safely slot her first card.

Zan smiled as she put a hand on Silv'am.

"Silv'am, are you ready?"

"I am!" Silv'am piped, her voice as excited as Zan's was.

Irwin plucked a card from his soulscape and handed it to his daughter. He was impressed when she visibly pushed down her excitement to inspect the card as her soulforce gently wrapped around it. At the same time, he felt Silv'am move her own soulforce and gently nudge Zan's. 

Seeing them both already lost in the process, Irwin rose and stepped back in a single fluid and quiet motion before moving to the door and sitting with his back against it.

'They are already bonding,' Ambraz almost whispered in his soulscape.

Irwin had no idea how Ambraz could tell, but he didn't doubt his friend one bit. Instead, he watched quietly as Zan and Silv'am began whispering as they created a song.

Hearing their excitement, he felt an immense contentment. At least his daughter would be able to learn and live in peace and comfort as she learned smithing. 

--

"Alright, I'm ready," Zan whispered, feeling like she was bubbling over. She could barely keep her excitement out of her soulforce resonance.

"Do you want to start, or should I?" Silv'am asked.

Zan almost reached out to stroke the smooth, silvery surface again but held back. She had to focus! Dad was looking, and this would be important! Their first cardreforge!"

Dad always starts, she recalled.

"I'll start," she said, her excitement enough to push away her usual wariness of being the first to do anything.

"Alright, I'm ready," Silv'am said.

Zan took a deep breath, then realized she'd not yet picked a hammer.

She felt her cheeks turn redder than usual as she quickly ran to her nearby anvil, a small, battered one that her Dad had made for her years ago. Looking at it, she felt a tiny twitch of sadness that she'd probably never use it again. She had stood near it for so many hours, purifying metal or play-acting with her siblings. 

She pushed away the lingering feelings, deciding she'd tell Silv'am about them later and how she'd played that the anvil was a real Ganvil. Instead, she grabbed her small hammer and ran back to Silv'am.

"We should ask Irwin and Ambraz to make us a hammer card for your second card," Silv'am said. "It will make it much easier to resonate with the handcards if you start the resonance with the embodiment of one of your own cards."

My next card! 

Zan felt another bit of excitement grow at that, knowing she wasn't too far from Heatmother's stringent demands. Only a few more months, then she'd reach her first blade, the easiest to reach.

Pushing even more thoughts aside, she wondered if her Dad got this distracted before reforging. She'd noticed it before and knew that as soon as she started, it would go away.

She raised the hammer, focused on the song she and Silv'am had agreed on, and struck down.

As soon as the hammer hit the card and the image appeared, she felt the difference.

Where she usually had to constantly focus on her handcard, forcing it to resonate while making tiny changes as the card's resonance rebelled against the direction, now it seemed almost cooperative. 

Here we go, she thought, her excitement almost exploding.

She sang the first few notes, feeling her handcard resonate along. Four notes in, a hazy, slightly deeper hum joined her, and she almost squealed in delight as her voice and Silv'am's hum almost synchronized.

Focus, focus! 

She waited for the exact right moment when the constantly moving soulforce resonance of the card reached the right point before striking again. The slightly explosive ripple of soulforce flowed over the card, and she instantly knew she'd been a tiny bit off. Normally, that meant she was off to a bad start, but this time, she felt Silv'am do something, and the card's resonance flowed as it should, as stable as it would have been had she struck at the perfect moment and point.

As she continued to the next part of the song, she felt all other thoughts fade to the background as they always did, replaced by joy. 

She struck again and slowly lost herself in the song.

--

She looks so happy, Irwin thought.

He watched his daughter strike the card, her eyes gleaming and glittering, her face a massive smile. Her shoulder-length hair had ignited, causing tiny embers to drift around her head like a hazy aura.

Every strike was slightly off, though he knew that to both Silv'am and Zannia, they would feel perfect or very close to. 

I wonder how much I'm still off, he pondered. 

Could he become even more sensitive and sense the exact moment even better? Was that why not every card he made ended up a hundred percent perfect? Even those that, by their nature, couldn't be reforged beyond a certain rank sometimes didn't reach a hundred percent by the end, and he'd always wondered if it was still a lack of skill or something inherent in the cards themselves. Perhaps it was a lack of type overlap?

He watched Zan continue to reforge the card, and as she struck the final hit, he rose to his feet, watching her build excitement.

'It's a hundred percent,' Ambraz said, sounding slightly awed. 'She's just as much of a monster as you were when you found me.'

Irwin didn't respond but quietly waited as Zan picked up the card and inspected it. Her eyes widened, and with a whoop, she jumped in the air, her hammer seemingly forgotten as it flung from her hand to land a few feet away against an anvil.

"It's perfect!" she shouted before stunning Irwin as she wrapped her arms around Silv'am, hugging the Ganvil. "We did it, we did it! Our first reforge was this good!"

Irwin held back his congratulations, letting the two have their moment.

"Of course," Silv'am said, her voice holding a tiny bit of the smugness that Irwin was used to from Ambraz. She didn't sound as aggressively sure of herself, but the simple statement told Irwin all he had to know. Like nearly every Ganvil he'd met so far, Silv'am either had a certain level of hubris or loved boasting.

At least it's not as much as Ambraz and some of his siblings, he thought.

"Dad, I did it!"

Irwin grinned as Zannia rushed towards him, holding the card and waving it around.

"Look! It's a hundred percent! Silv'am helped so much; I could sense how she smoothed out my mistakes!"

"You two did great," Irwin said, taking the card and scanning it. Amethyst ranked now; he wondered if she could bring it to Topaz, but that might be a step too far. Zannia's soulforce probably had to stabilize fully, or Silv'am would have to use far too much soulforce on it. Thinking about that, he focused on Silv'am and sensed how weak she felt. Realising she was only rank zero, he took one of the useless cards from his soulscape and handed it to his daughter.

"Again?" she asked, eyes wide, surprised.

"No, Zan. It takes a young Ganvil a lot of souflorce to help you, so this one is for Silv'am."

"To eat?!" 

"Yes!" Silv'am exclaimed, sounding famished.

Zan didn't even wait but turned and ran to Silv'am, who had opened her mouth. Zan carefully tossed the card inside and took a step back as the lips slammed shut. A moment later, there was a sound of crunching followed by a soft explosion.

Within seconds, Irwin sensed Sil'am's soulforce refill to the level it had been before.

'How high could she help Zan reforge a card?' he asked Ambraz.

'Rank zero can go no further. At rank one, she can reforge Amethyst to Topaz, but it depends on what she chooses, really, how much more she can do. If she does what I did, she can do Topaz at rank one and anything after that. She would just need enough cards to eat…. Talking about cards, I could do with a snack!'

Irwin rolled his eyes, watching the tiny nook near the ceiling where Ambraz sat. He took another card from his stack of useless ones and tossed it up. Ambraz moved like a blur, zipping down, growing a few hand lengths, and snatching the card out of the air like a birth of prey.

"Dad, can we come in!?"

Irwinj glanced at Zan, who was chatting happily with Silv'am, discussing moments during the reforging process. He hummed, then turned and opened the door, seeing his other children pile atop each other in front of it, eyes wide.

"Alright, you can go in," he said, smiling. 

Glow, Mia, and Flux shot past him instantly while Ti moved in slowly, shaking her head.

"Did they do well?" she asked, looking at him.

"They did great," Irwin said. "Zan is one of the most promising cardsmiths I have ever seen."

Ti smiled and nodded, speeding up slightly as she went inside. It was clear she was trying hard not to run after the others, but part of her wanted nothing more.

Irwin watched the others crowd around Zan, asking excited questions. He didn't see any jealousy among them, though he knew it would be only a matter of time before at least two of his children would start asking Ambraz if they, too, could get a bonded Ganvil friend.

'Do you think you can make two more progeny? Ti and Glow are almost as talented as Zan, even if they aren't as sensitive,' he asked Ambraz.

'Yes, but it's going to take a bit. I'm going to use my remaining purified soulforce to create an Aurorium Progeny first,' Ambraz said. 'It's best not to make that one with any of your children in mind, as I can't say what the result will be.'

Before Irwin could continue their conversation, Scintilla leaned closer.

"Itirilla and Gallowil have shown a great interest in smithing," she whispered. "If it's possible, it might be a good idea for them to bond with Ganvils?"

Irwin nodded. "I know. I'll talk with them afterward, but for now, that will have to wait."

Scintilla pulled herself up to him and kissed his neck. "The others will probably feel slightly left out, but the others have been eyeing Zender and Sting…"

"I'll talk with them," Irwin said. "But bonding with another being isn't something to take lightly."

Scintilla kissed him again, and Irwin hugged her back, enjoying being with his family.

--

Irwin jolted out of his daydreams as he saw the end of the corridor rapidly close in. He didn't feel any issue, yes, though if that was because that would only happen when he exited, he didn't know.

Alright, now, let's see what happens….

He summoned his Volcano Titan's Gauntlets, followed by a hammer.

A moment later, he touched the end, and the world around him flashed and darkened before he stepped forward and onto a sandy ground. All around him, scattered ruins poked out from a seemingly endless desert while a familiar sun burned down on him.

A painful throb was followed by another as he felt his connection to his soulscape change, and Irwin thudded on his hands and knees. He was shaking and shivering, feeling his current self and the body he incorporated start to become unstable. At the same time, the thoughts and sensations of his otherself seemed to freeze, stopping halfway where they had been, and a painful tension, like something stretched to the limit, grew.

With a shattering jolt, the connection to his Gauntlets and Hammer faded, and they vanished. Immediately, the building tension became less horrible. A sense of drifting away made Irwin shudder again, and for a moment, he feared he was going to die. Then his connection to his otherself snapped back into focus, and he realized it was now inside his soulscape.

The horrifying stretching slowed before stopping at a point where he was stretched across a vast distance. He sensed the same experience from his otherself, though his soulscape seemed stable enough.

'Kid, are you alright?'

'Yes, I just reached Scour,' Irwin said, pushing himself to his feet. 'The exit portal area is gone, and I'm standing amidst ruins that look like nobody has been here for… a very long time.'

'Alright, I was dragged into your soulscape just now, and my sense of the outside is incredibly odd. It's like everyone is standing still. Your soulscape is also slowly bleeding away soulforce while nothing is returning.'

Irwin felt his otherself examine his soulscape, and he frowned. His soulscape was enormous and filled to the brim with soulforce, but a tiny trickle was leaking away. It wasn't in any form or shape an immediate problem, but it told him one thing. He was under a time constraint.

'What would happen if we reforge some cards?' he asked.

'You are going to have to try and see what happens,' Ambraz said. 'What are you going to do now?'

Irwin looked around, frowning. 'I'm going to see which of my abilities I can use and look around. Then I'll head back out to talk with Greldo. You should be able to return out at that point… wait, can you come here?'

Irwin felt Ambraz do something, and a moment later, the drain on his soulscape increased exponentially. A soft cracking sound resonated through his entire being, and for a moment, Irwin's heart stopped, and his mind froze.

Then it stopped as Ambraz groaned from within his soulscape.

'No, no. That's not a good idea. I almost shattered myself just now, and you lost close to ten percent of your total soulforce in a single rush.'

Irwin shivered as he took a deep breath.

'Alright, I'll go and look around, then return,' he muttered.

He took a step forward, turning around to see the exit portal hover behind him, completely in the open. The ground below was highly worn, with deep scratches, and it was clear that opening it had caused sand to be blown away from it, creating a small clearing. However, the sand was already rapidly returning to where it had seemingly been for a long time, blown in by the constant, softly howling wind.

There was no sign of any people or habitation, and he walked a few steps away before focusing on his soulcards. He had never sensed any distance between them,  but now he clearly felt they were inside his soulcape, not within his body. Or better yet, they were part of his soulscape, as was his own mind. 

If I shatter here, it will be annoying, but I'll only gain pain and lose time, he thought.

He reached out to his soulcards and very gently tried to pull on them, beginning with his first and original soulcard. Soulforce flowed out of his soulscape as a flame appeared above his hand. With a frown, he let it fizzle and focused on his soundwave motion. He used the sound of the wind and rode the sound waves for a few dozen feet. As he reappeared, he felt that more soulforce had drained away.

So, I can use them, but it's more expensive, he thought.

He frowned and moved a large distance.

Returning to the sandy desert, he felt the drain hadn't been much stronger. It was as if there was a cost associated with using it, no matter how much he used it.

Experimenting with his other cards, he was glad to see he could still use his gauntlets and hammer, but it just cost a far larger amount of soulforce. When he was done, he'd lost another percentage of soulforce, showing he could, when needed, do a lot without instant worry. 

The experimenting had left him with an idea of what was happening.

'I think it's because this split body is a handcard,' he said. 'I think the cost is higher because it's not really a part of my soulscape. It feels like my soulscape is somehow holding the card, and the constant drain is the result.'

'Could be… so have you found anything there yet?'

Irwin looked around, but besides the constant sand brushing against his skin, there was nothing anywhere. He clicked his tongue and shot up a few hundred feet in the air. As he reappeared and began falling, he spun around, trying to get a good idea of what was around him.

The desert stretched out for a great distance, but not without end. In one direction, he saw a sprawling treeline, those on the side dwarfed by the incrementally bigger ones behind it. It reminded him of a distant sea that sprawled without a visible end.

Well, the trees are doing fine, Irwin thought, checking the other sides. 

Besides the runes and the forrest, there was nothing but sand and dunes as far as the eye could see. There was no sign of any movement but sand and wind.

Irwin frowned. Should he go and check the forrest or ignore it for now? He hesitated, then clicked his tongue and returned to the portal. The sand had already reached the bottom and was flowing inside, seemingly intent on exploring what was behind.

I wonder what would happen if one of those Wyrms moved inside, Irwin thought.

He took another look around before stepping into the portal.

'I'm heading back.'

'Alright, let's hope things go fine when you return.'

Irwin sighed and watched the distant end of the corridor. He was in for another long wait.

What felt like hours, but could have been days later, he struck the end of the corridor and stepped out. He immediately fell down, which was what he'd expected. A clack of the town later, he stood on the deck of the Nocturna, Greldo already heading his way.

"How long did you stay?" Greldo asked.

"A few minutes," Irwin said. "But it took a long time to move through the corridor. Why?"

Greldo's frown deepened. "You were gone for about half a day."

Irwin thought back to the time he'd been moving through the corridor and slowly nodded.

"That would make sense," he said. "It felt like a long time in the corridor, and I'm not sure how the time dilation works. Maybe it starts to slowly increase as we approach the end?"

"We need to be sure about that," Dahlia said as she joined them. "We were pretty worried."

The way she said it told him that it was probably Greldo that had been freaking out, and he grinned at his friend.

"You know I'm able to take care of myself, right?"

"Yes, well…" Greldo muttered. "I think you should go back inside, then remain there for a few days before returning. What if the time dilation is broken?"

"Is something like that even possible?" Irwin asked, trying to recall what he knew about it while his otherself began asking Ambraz.

"I have no idea," Dahlia said. "What did you find? What did the people on the other side say?"

Irwin sighed, not surprised by the question.

"There were no people there. The other side is all ruins, but when I went up a bit, I could already see the forrest. It grew a lot from where it started when we were there."

"Great… so what does that mean?" Greldo muttered. "Did it happen decades ago here, and times what… three thousand? That means it was tens of thousands of years ago to them. They might not even remember there is a portal gallery!"

Irwin listened to Greldo list all the worries he'd had while traveling back through the corridor, and he could only shrug.

"I don't know, but for now, I'll return and do as you say."

"Did you have any issues with your soulscape?" Dahlia asked.

Irwin grimaced and quickly explained what had happened. As he did, he checked his soulscape and felt it regenerate. It would be refilled soon enough. As he was focused on that, he felt his otherself leaving his soulscape to tell Scintilla what had happened and have her relay it to Daubutim. The regeneration of his soulscape instantly tripled, then increased even more.

Interesting. So my soulforce regeneration is faster if both my bodies are outside? Or just if they are in different places?

Not sure what to think of it yet, he turned to Greldo.

"My other body is talking with Scintilla, and that will take a bit. Let's go and eat. I'll leave after."