Irwin's Journey 527: Easier or harder?

“What are those things even doing?”

Irwin frowned as he sensed another speck of whatever was within the Guidar Chains sink to the bottom of his soulscape. It was the last one, and he had all of the others accounted for. He watched it as it moved around, keeping a massive barrier around it just in case.

“The only way to find out is by letting it stay there,” Ambraz said, letting out a grunted laugh. “And I seriously suggest you don’t. There were only a few that tried to hide, but they aren’t sentient. So it has to be some sort of predetermined set of actions.”

Irwin hesitated for only a moment, then shook his head. It wasn’t worth the risk. For all he knew, they were trying to infect his mindscape with something. Besides, Luath was flying behind him, showing far too much interest in the other parts that were inside the barriers.

‘No, you can’t eat it,’ he said, feeling a shiver at the mere thought.

A sad hum echoed from the tiny Chaos Whale, and Irwin reached out, caressing its back.

‘Why don’t you go and play with the others?’ he asked, sensing where the small pod of Chaos Whales was playing in part of the immense volcano of his third soulcard.

A happy hum came in response, and Irwin moved Luath back towards the others. The Chaos Whale calf sent him a few happy thoughts before it began singing with the others.

“Now, let’s see what we can learn from you,” Irwin muttered.

He focused on the tiny tendril hovering deep in his soulscape. He had no idea what it was doing, and he wasn’t willing to wait and see.

With a tiny flex of his will, he created a barrier around the final of the gaseous tendrils that had burst from the destroyed chains. Pulling it up and towards him, he looked at the rest arrayed before him. His first instinct had been to destroy everything, and he still felt like that, but if he wanted to create a card to do what he was doing, he would need to know exactly what that was. He knew he was counter-resonating and using the overwhelming pressure from his own soulcards to break apart whatever the chains were made of, but there had to be something more. He didn’t believe he was the only one strong enough to try and succeed.

He focused his senses on the array of tiny barriers before him, sensing the strain. Holding a single big barrier was easy. Holding over two hundred? Far more difficult. The problem was that he knew that they would merge into a single, bigger form if he didn’t. Last time, he’d simply destroyed it, but if he wanted to learn more, it would be better to keep them as weak as possible.

Besides, if some break free, Ambraz will take care of them.

As if hearing him think, Ambraz hummed thoughtfully. “Let me try something.”

Irwin felt and saw one of the Ganvil’s barriers wrap around one of his, and he let his own dissipate as Ambraz pulled it towards them. The thing inside looked like a strand of steam, flickering about, trying to find the exit.

Irwin sensed the barrier begin to resonate, not unlike what he did when he broke the chains with his soulcard’s resonance. The steam didn’t react, even when Ambraz increased the resonance to a level that caused the barrier to ripple explosively.

“Okay, so the steam doesn’t react to resonance,” Ambraz said, thoughtfully.

The barrier stopped rippling, and Irwin felt it begin to compress, as he always did when he wanted to destroy the thing hidden within the chains. It continued until the gaseous substance was squeezed into a small, almost solid ball.

“This is the critical point,” Ambraz said. “Any more and it will disintegrate.”

Irwin had no idea what he was trying to do and quietly waited, keeping the other barriers up.

“What if I resonate now?” Ambraz muttered, and the barrier began resonating again.

A high-pitched shriek rippled out from the solid-compressed gas as it began rippling with the barrier. It lasted a full second before it cracked apart. The next moment, Irwin stared at a churning mass of primordial soulforce.

“That’s a lot of soulforce,” he said, leaning forward. “It didn't turn into the grayish stuff.”

Curious and slightly confused, Irwin moved another barrier closer and began compressing it with overwhelming force. A few moments were all it took for the gas to explode into the same grayish soulforce-like energy he’d seen each time. It resembled soulforce, but as he watched it just… dissipated. Vanishing as if it just turned to nothing. Another moment later, the barrier was empty, and he felt nothing from within.

“So… Why did squeezing it to a certain point cause it to disintegrate?” he asked, looking at the barrier before squeezing it into a dot just to be sure. Nothing happened, and the barrier shrank until it vanished.

“Good question,” Ambraz said, staring at the soulforce. “Try and squeeze that.”

Irwin remade a barrier around Ambraz’s, which vanished as soon as his appeared, then began squeezing. The soulforce reacted normally at first, but as he reached a tenth of its size, a ripple seemed to come from it. Then, like with the previous attempt, the soulforce churned, turning into a grayish form before dissipating. What remained was a small amount of primordial soulforce, so thin that Irwin almost missed it.

“Did you sense that?” Ambraz asked, sounding equal parts worried and excited.

Irwin shook his head, and Ambraz quickly created another barrier, filled with the chaotic soulforce.

“This is chaotic soulforce,” Ambraz said, and from his voice Irwin knew he was going to explain something. He had a good idea what, as he’d learned some of this over the years, but decided not to interrupt the Ganvil.

“Soulforce has different states. The best is purified, and it’s what Ganvils use to grow. Then there’s normal, or ordered soulforce. That’s the stuff in your soulscape. It’s complex, and there’s probably an infinite number of versions of it.”

Ambraz hummed. “Well, perhaps not infinite, but something close to it. Either way, the ambient soulforce within the Portal Gallery, as little as there is, is chaotic. That’s not really one state, but more of a flux. It can be between some form of ordered and primordial chaos.”

“Like what is beyond my soulscape,” Irwin said, pointing at the barrier high above his soulscape, beyond which clouds of soulforce rippled.

“Exactly. The chaotic soulforce outside of the Portal Gallery is also like that, but then much closer to primordial. Many people use the names interchangeably, but that’s just because we can’t really use either. Well, not until you came around. That said, the Chaos Whales can harness both, but they prefer the more ordered versions. It’s why they always move within the Portal Gallery to absorb it there.”

Irwin nodded along, already knowing this but wondering what Ambraz was getting at.

“Now, when we make a cardseed, what we really do is create a very pure, single core of order from primordial soulforce. Or, well, as close to it as we can make. This-” and Ambraz mentally pointed at the barrier with the soulforce that had been the grayish-steam. “-is like that. It’s primordial soulforce, resonated in a specific way to behave like some form of chaotic soulforce. But it’s not the same. Not the same as any chaotic soulforce I have ever seen. You know why?”

Irwin shook his head, holding back a grin as he felt how excited Ambraz was. At the same time, he wondered what he had missed that had triggered Ambraz. Even now, the soulforce in the barrier felt like regular, chaotic soulforce to him, not unlike what was beyond the Portal Gallery Barrier.

“Because those Guidar, they aren’t from here. Remember what Preg told us? The Guidar, they aren’t from our Portal Gallery. What did she call it? Portal Webs? They are from another one, and I think that gray stuff is how they form the primordial soulforce into something that we would call Chaotic Soulforce. If that’s true, the grayish steam-stuff? It’s probably a form of ordered soulforce made by one of them, and the chains are nothing but soulforce constructs. Of course! Why didn’t I see it sooner? Those chains, they are like what Umbral taught you!”

Irwin stared at the grayish steam, recalling the chains.

“Say that’s true,” he said, feeling already that he was believing his bonded Ganvil. “Do you think they made it like I make the soulforce constructs, or more like how a carded uses their skills to create summons?”

“I don’t know,” Ambraz said, sounding excited. “But if it feels more like those constructs, especially with how we break them.”

Irwin stared at the remaining barriers, while sensing the first of the Accenti begin to wake.

“Do we need this stuff for anything?”

Ambraz was quiet, then shook his head. “No, but I do wonder how it's able to reshape into another form by itself. Remember when it managed to shoot out into the space beyond your soulforce and created that mirror portal? That means that even in its current chaotic form, it's got some order to it. I wonder how they did that.”

Irwin hesitated for only a moment before crushing the barriers into a single big one, which he began rapidly compressing. Even though the grayish steam resisted more strongly now that there was more, it was still far easier than holding up the large number of small barriers. A few moments later, with a scream, the steam vanished, leaving behind a faint amount of primordial soulforce.

“What should we do with this?” Irwin asked, shrinking the barrier and looking at the primordial soulforce.

Ambraz answered, but he didn’t hear it as a sudden realization hit him like it so often did when things dealt with reforging and soulforce.

It’s like the stuff we use for cardseeds, he thought, his mind almost stalling. When he created a cardseed, he was compressing the soulforce he had into as pure a form as he could get while resonating. The tiny dot he was resonating? It was primordial soulforce resonating purely in a single way. It was more complex than that, but it was the essence, he knew it. There had been no way to find out before, because he couldn’t just compress his own soulforce to get primordial soulforce. But the soulforce used to create those chains? He could somehow compress that and create primordial soulforce.

He almost shouted, focusing on the primordial soulforce. It was inside his soulscape, and he could manipulate it! It wasn’t exactly the same, because if it was, he wouldn’t have been able to manipulate it.

He shot down to the ground, his mind abuzz, and he summoned his hammer, then stopped. Ambraz was still on his shoulder, and the Ganvil had been talking to him.

“Ambraz, we need to try something,” he said, staring at his bond.

“Fine, but can you please tell me what has you so excited? The last time you were like this was just before you shattered and then reforged a heartcard for the first time!”

“It’s primordial soulforce! And I can manipulate it!” Irwin said, waving at the thin, nearly invisible amount within the barrier. “It’s what we try and make for cardseeds!”

Ambraz seemed stunned, then a wave of excitement grew from him, and he shot to the ground, reforming into his giant, working shape while shouting, “Don’t use all of it.”

Irwin nodded, staring at the primordial soulforce. If he compared it to the core of any of his cardseeds, it felt like there was perhaps five or six times as much as that. A fifth? Yes, that would do. Besides, if he made a mistake, he would have enough to try again. He split up the barrier, moving a fifth to hover before Ambraz. Then he focused on the rest and knew he had to keep it safe. It might be as valuable as a template card. He moved it down into the depths of his soulscape, locking the barrier in such a way that it remained there just like those he’d used to contain the more dangerous of the failed heartcards from the earth titans.

Done, he focused on the small amount of primordial soulforce. Unlike purified soulforce, which had barely any chaos, this was like the purest form of chaos. He couldn’t feel any patterns in it, but somehow that made it just as pure as purified soulforce, just in another way.

“Purified soulforce has no possibility for change, just to sustain and grow,” Ambraz said. “This? It is the only choice. It is like it's the basis of anything or everything.”

Irwin nodded, but didn’t act yet. Normally, he would be at the maximum of his abilities, creating a single perfect resonance for a new cardseed with little time to think. Now, he had what… the step just before that? How was he even going to start?

Decide a direction first, he decided.

He examined his current soulcards and eventually decided on his second, specifically the part that allowed him to summon his soulstrum guitar. It was a utility summon with a specific resonance that allowed it to become an instrument. It took a short while to determine the specific part of the resonance that dealt with that part.

Taking a deep breath, he began humming a simple tune, quickly finding that he couldn’t reach the height he needed. Summoning an Aura clone, it began playing his soulstrum guitar, which felt appropriate.

“Let’s try,”  Irwin whispered, before striking down on Ambraz and forcing the barrier to resonate with the song. The primordial soulforce jolted as if struck, and the barrier began shaking.

“Softer!” Ambraz shouted, while Irwin felt the Ganvil dampen the resonance in the barrier.

Seeing the primordial soulforce slowly calm, Irwin took a deep breath and shrank his hammer. Turning the hum almost into a whisper, he tried again, and this time the primordial soulforce reacted better. A streak of order resonated through the chaos, quickly overtaken by the chaos.

“Soft, but fast,” Ambraz whispered.

Irwin nodded, striking again, even softer. Before the resonance could stop, he hit again, taking up one of the rhythms of the song his Aura clone was playing. Every hit propagated the resonance through the barrier and into the underlying primordial soulforce, and slowly a pattern began to emerge at its core.

It’s far more finesse than even the regular way, Irwin thought, feeling his focus stretched to the extreme.

At some point, he struck a tiny bit too fast, and instantly the pattern dissolved back into chaos.

“It’s like standing on the tip of a sword in a storm,” he grunted, starting again.

Time lost its meaning as it did many times when he was working, his hammer tapping down with barely any strength, his hum like a distant rumble, and the soulstrum guitar like a soft wind.

At some point, Irwin felt the song crystallize within the center of the barrier. As if a fire was ignited within a dry forest, the primordial soulforce exploded into a cloud of chaotic soulforce. Instantly, the pressure on the crystallized seed and the barrier doubled, tripled, then increased more. Irwin felt his soulforce drain as he kept the barrier at the spot it was up, but he barely noticed. All he saw was the tiny cardseed in the center resonating louder and louder until-

A deep gong echoed throughout Irwin’s soulscape as the barrier rippled and the chaotic soulforce burst out. For a moment, he thought he had failed, then he saw and felt a tiny and perfect cardseed hover before him. He quickly wrapped it in a barrier before slumping on the ground, causing a tremor to rock through the world.

“That was… not easier than the other way,” he croaked.

His voice sounded like he’d been screaming, and he summoned a bottle of water into his hand. Draining it, he saw Ambraz in his smaller form circle the barrier-wrapped cardseed.

“It’s amazing,” the Ganvil said. “The options are far less restrictive than what we usually get. I wouldn’t say we can make any music summon card with it, but the restrictions are far less than with any other cardseeds.”

Irwin focused on his last creation, sensing that Ambraz was right. It felt as if the card had retained some of the freedom that the primordial chaos had.

“So, is it better?” he asked, unable to determine it himself.

“Not better. " As I said, it just has more options,” Ambraz said. “I think if we want a very specific goal, using the other way is likely better. I couldn’t say for sure if we will get exactly what we expect if we use this to create a card. But I want to try.”

Irwin was about to agree when the memories of his otherselves floated into his mind. Besides that, now that he was paying attention, he saw Daubutim stand on the library shelf to the side, looking at him and waving his hands.

“Not right now, though,” he said. “Daubutim wants to talk to me, and Dahlia is waiting to be moved back here. Greldo is also trying to get my attention, and I think we have stopped moving.”

Ambraz let out a weary sigh. “Fine. I’ll just see what I can figure out.”

Irwin nodded, staring at the cardseed before sighing. He had hoped it would have been far easier, so he could hand some of the primordial soulforce to Dahlia and the others to work with. Instead, it felt like he’d found an even more difficult way. More sophisticated, yes, and perhaps with more potential. But not easy.

A soft hum of curiosity from behind made him turn up to see Luath, the larger Chaos Whale calves, and Seglassinder, hover in the air. Their eyes were locked onto the cardseed, and Luath hummed again.

‘It’s a cardseed,’ Irwin said, adding a mental image of what that meant.

He rolled his eyes at Luath’s response.

‘No. You can’t eat this either,’ he sent back, smiling. ‘I’ll be reforging it into a card soon.’

Luath let out a happy croon at that, which was taken up by the others. They remained there for a while before turning around and floating off, humming happily.

“I didn’t even sense them approaching,” Irwin said.

“They arrived halfway through and were curiously quiet,” Ambraz said, sounding uninterested as he hovered around the barrier. “Now, go and do the other things so we can get back to important stuff!”

Irwin barked a laugh, then lay down on the ground and moved into the body still with Greldo. At the same time, he sent an Aura clone to Daubutim, while his otherself split back off to focus on the body on Eluathar.

--

“How likely is it that the Guidar can create Soulforce Constructs Chains that can bind someone like Irwin?” Daubutim asked.

“Possible, but improbable,” Ambraz said, sounding skeptical. “They were able to bind the Shaidin, but from what we found, Irwin’s soulforce is far more stable than theirs was.”

Daubutim nodded, leaning back in his chair. “Still, it’s good to know that you can use some of the resources they used to create the Chains. I do wonder how they made them. Do they have a way to harness the Primordial Soulforce, or is the way they use the soulforce what causes this?”

“Until we capture a Guidar, there’s no way to find out,” Irwin said, slightly absentminded. “Let's go and deal with the Chained, because Greldo has found another exit portal.”

“What rank?” Ambraz exclaimed, excited.

“Only a rank two,” Irwin said, cocking his head as he felt Luath and the other whales fly through the forest of music trees. They had been doing so for a while, but were slowing down now, circling one of the large but empty ones. After a few moments, they began humming and singing like a deep-voiced choir.

Are they trying to sing to the tree so it remembers it?

“Irwin?”

Irwin blinked, realizing he’d zoned out and Daubutim was now staring at him.

“Are you all right? You have been far more distracted than usual,” Daubutim asked softly. “Do you need to rest?”

Irwin wanted to say no, then hesitated. He was tired, and not just a little. Although he had massive stamina and endurance, he had also been up and about for almost a week. The short semi-sleep from the day before was already forgotten after unchaining, and the work on the cardseed after had drained what mental stamina that had gained, plus more.

He rubbed his face, then sighed. “Yes, I need sleep.”

“Then let's go to Greldo, and I would suggest you let all of your different minds rest except for the one with us,” Daubutim said, pushing himself up.

“What about the chained?” Irwin asked.

“Can you move them all into that large empty town?”

Irwin knew what he meant, the one the others had lived in before he’d moved them to Mudball.

“I can.”

“Do that, and we will talk to them for a bit. After that, they will probably need time to deal with what has happened. Are they all awake?”

Irwin focused on the prison rows and saw that nearly all of them were.

“Most of them.”

“Good,” let's do this quickly.

Irwin focused, and a moment later, he and Daubutim stood on the small central square while hundreds of Accenti suddenly stood before them. Some were blinking and covering their eyes, while others huddled together, weapons appearing everywhere.

“Please calm down,” Daubutim shouted, his voice resonating with commanding presence.

Irwin crossed his arms, deciding to let his friend take over. He’d just move anyone who was stupid enough to do something aggressive back into a cell. Though as he stared down at the small people that were less than half his size, he didn’t expect any to act. Even those with weapons looked wary to say the least.

Luckily, nothing like that was needed.

“You unchained us?!”

The shout silenced all others, and Irwin saw one of the two captains of the battleships step forward, pointing at him.

“I felt it! You…” she fell quiet, her voice trembling.

“Captain Baksi, we can talk about this later,” Daubutim said, causing the woman to look at him, eyes wide.

“For now, you should find a house and rest. There is food in the tavern, though I would suggest having one of your cooks take over so it doesn’t all go to waste.”

Baksi and the other Accenti behind her just stared at Daubutim, seemingly unable to fully comprehend what was going on.

“We will return in a day to talk, but for now, rest and recover,” Daubutim said, stepping back to Irwin.

I had expected this to take longer, Irwin thought, recalling how he had planned to explain things. Still, stifling a yawn, he moved his body back to the smithy while he pushed Daubutim back into the realworld beside Greldo. Moving more of himself into his regular body, he appeared beside the others.

“As I said,” Greldo said, not seeming to notice. “We are at least two days at my travel speed from the Mudball portal. I jumped through the shadowrealm when I felt it was safe, so any regular ship would need months to reach us.”

“Good,” Daubutim said. “That means we need to check what kind of world is behind it, and-”

Irwin let them talk, focusing on his otherself on Eluathar. He needed to do one final thing before that part of him could go to sleep again, hopefully for a bit longer. Flexing his soulforce abilities, he pulled Dahlia into his soulscape before moving her onto the deck beside him.

Daubutim fell quiet midsentence as Dahlia appeared.

“You are back,” Greldo shouted, his eyes glittering.

Irwin took a step back as Dahlia almost ran forward. As calm and collected as she usually was, she’d long since become more open around Greldo, and as they hugged, he turned and walked away to give them some privacy. Daubutim followed him, his eyes rippling with lightning.

“As soon as we open the portal and find the world safe, you should rest until you are back to normal.”

Irwin nodded, feeling how his otherself and Scintilla’s main self had just retired to bed.

“After we check it’s safe, I’ll go and rest on Mudball,” he said, cracking his neck as he began forcing himself to focus on the spot a few hundred feet away where the weak resonance of a closed portal hovered.

Let’s hope it's a safe world, he thought, holding back another yawn.