Irwin's Journey 523: Silence disturbed

Mozarath didn’t react as Jieldinis stared at him, holding his gaze. It took him barely any effort to project the mindlessness he’d had for such a long time.

“Head to the second experimental facility and bring what remains of the Chaos Whale heart,” she said, “The cooks at the lower floor are expecting you.”

Oh, trying to see if you can prod me again? Mozarath thought, instantly bowing.

“Yes, Jieldinis,” he said, showing nothing but joy at being allowed to serve her.

He saw a frown pass Jieldinis's face just as he turned and rushed off in what to others must look like mindless obedience.

It’s almost worth the risk, seeing her confused like this, he thought.

As he exited the room and made his way toward one of Jieldinis's horror rooms, he recalled the reason.

A short hour before, as he stood beside her, watching her punish a younger Guidar for making a mistake that had cost her one of her better test subjects, he’d shivered. It had been beyond his control, and the reason made him incredibly excited. Another of the Shaidin had been unchained, and he’d felt a sliver more of his normalcy return.

He held back his excitement until he reached the badly lit, pale-walled room that was his destination. Cooling runes lined the walls, floor, and ceiling, causing the temperature to drop to one that would kill lesser beings. Long corridors led away from the main room, meat hooks attached to the walls, nearly all occupied with carcasses or parts of them.

As he closed the door, he walked further, wanting a moment to check his soulscape. The Chaos Whale meat he was sent to get was almost on the other side of the area, in the experimentation room. A soft thudding became audible as he got closer. When he reached the room, the thudding had become so heavy that it caused very slight tremors in the floor.

It still thuds, Mozarath thought.

Walking into the room, light-runes triggered, bathing the place in a bright white light. A massive heart, three feet across, hung on one side of the room. It was attached to silvery tendrils that chained it to the wall. The thudding came from it, as it seemed to strain against its bonds. Although not the only thing here, it was the most noticeable. It also wasn’t what he was here for. Mozarath stared at the heart for only a moment before moving to the far wall. He was almost there when he sensed a presence sneak into the room behind him. He didn’t react, but moved to a hunk of meat as large as his leg, removing it from the hook.

So, she noticed enough to be wary, he thought, knowing there was only one being in the harbor that could follow him and get this close without his knowledge. I guess I’ll need to wait longer to get some time to myself.

Turning around with the slab of meat, he pretended not to notice the tiny discrepancy in the ambient soulforce. Instead, he walked back out of the room with a dull look on his face.

Half an hour later, he returned to the room Jieldinis had been in, the meat delivered to the cooks. Jieldinis sat on her chair, observing him with sharp eyes.

“Mozarath, have you returned to normal?” she asked, her voice emotionless and still like a pond.

“Yes, Jieldinis,” Mozarath said, his eyes as dull as ever. It was an odd thing to agree, but it had been what he’d said every time in the past. Back then, he knew that his muddled mind had been unable to comprehend the question. Now he did, but he had no other choice.

“I see,” she said, eyes narrowing.

It was quiet for a while, but Mozarath just stayed where he stood. Finally, after a few minutes, Jieldinis's eyes flickered with anger, and she sniffed.

“Go and clean the cardsmith's prison,” she snapped.

Ah, she is angry again, Mozarath said, just nodding.

“Yes, Jieldinis.”

He turned and walked off as fast as he always did.

I will have to be far more careful for the next few weeks to months, he decided.

--

It was quiet in the room as Jieldinis glared at the door. For a moment, she had hoped she’d seen correctly, that there had been something different about Mozarath. But he showed no reaction at being told to do demeaning labor. Something she knew the old Mozarath would have despised.

She glared at the wall for a few minutes before getting up and rushing to her own room. Opulent to the extreme, an enormous bed stood to one side, a beautiful Guidar chained to the front, eyes closed. She watched her latest distraction as he slept, knowing she would need to return him in a few weeks. With his memories altered, obviously.

She put a hand on her stomach, feeling the aftereffects of her unsuccessful reproduction.

Better than I had hoped, but not fully compatible, she thought, moving to the massive desk on the other side of her room. Her final attempt, likely, would just have to wait till later.

She picked up the top paper. A quick glance showed it was one of the messages that had been lying there for a while now, having arrived from beyond the time-dilation bubble around her harbor.

‘Honorable Jieldinis. Our latest tests show the disturbing trend persists. All but the weakest time dilation worlds have now reached largely baseline Portal Gallery speeds. Only those above ten are still anywhere near useful. The issue has grown into the outer branches of our future territories. More worrisome, the issue seems to be speeding up. At the current speed, we expect the time dilation to have hit neutral across the current empire. Please advise us on how you want us to proceed. L.D’

Jieldinis tapped her finger on the table, glaring at the paper.

This is getting ridiculous. Yilda’s ridiculous curse was bad before, and now this? Worse, it’s spreading like wildfire, and we still have no idea why, she thought.

She worked through a few of the other papers before having enough of it and staring at the bed.

Fine, let’s see if the last time’s the charm, she thought, a smile tugging up her corners that would have made most of the people who knew her run in fear.

--

“It’s soooo cute,” Zan whispered, hugging Luath.

“It’s my turn,” Ti said, seemingly ready to pull Zan away if she didn’t finally release her prize.

“Not yet,” Zan said, sounding almost ready to cry. “I want to-”

“No. You said that ten minutes ago,” Ti said, crossing her arms. “Now I get to hug Luath.”

Irwin leaned back, turning his attention from Zab and Ti to the other four of his children, who stood to the side, breathing raggedly.

“I won,” Sooth said, a grin on his face.

“You cheated!” Glow said, looking ready to bite.

“No, I didn’t,” Sooth said. “You three were just not paying enough attention to your surroundings. You should have done what Niszis taught us! Spatial awareness.”

“You snuck around the back, waited for Glow to down me, and just as he dodged Mia, you tripped him, causing him to slam into her,” Flux said calmly, though his eyes gleamed. “Exactly how do you expect someone to use Niszis's teachings to save them in that situation?”

“Eyes in the back of your head?” Sooth said, humming happily. “No matter. I’m after Ti!”

The other three shared an uneasy look before sighing. “Fine. We go with the current order, or fight for who is next?” Flux asked.

“I’m done for today,” Glow muttered. “Me, then Mia, and you last?”

Flux grimaced, then cocked his head as if he thought of something, and finally nodded with a grin.

I think he just realized that if he is last, it’s easy to hug Luath longer, Irwin thought, smiling at his children’s antics.

Humming softly, he stared at his left hand. A week had passed since Zeit had left, and besides having many discussions with Daubutim and the others, he had been able to slot his next two cards. They weren’t bound into a fullhand, but he could sense they were mostly settled.

I’ll have to bind them tonight, he thought, feeling a tiny twinge knowing how much it would hurt. Still, compared to everything he’d gone through, the pain of creating a full hand had dropped significantly on his worst pains list.

Besides, it would be worth it. Both new cards were useful already, but after he slotted them?

He grinned as he focused on his second card, Incandescent Regeneration, and felt his body heat increase. Instantly, multiple things happened at the same time. His firecard began resonating, almost as if it wanted to rush out and blanket the area. At the same time, he felt a massive buildup of kinetic energy, far more than he’d had before, causing the ground below him to crackle from even a slight movement. He knew it was a combination of his flame and the heat, something he’d not expected before slotting it. But the last effect was the most notable, as heat began radiating from him, infusing the area within fifty feet of him almost immediately, before expanding outward. As the heat around him increased, his own body heat increased even more, causing his kinetic energy to build, and his flame to burst up from his arms and hair, crackling in the air around him.

“I agree with Heatmom, this is even better than a steam bath,” Flux said.

Irwin looked up to see Flux stand beside him, while Zan and the others were watching Ti hug Luath. Although he couldn’t use his second handcard everywhere on Eluathar, his family had become great fans of it over the last few days. According to Scintilla, it made her feel like she had just woken up from a deep sleep, feeling warm and fuzzy. He hadn’t really had a chance to use the regeneration part yet, but he knew his other self would get that chance soon enough. Too many people were moving about Mudball, and eventually, one of them would run into something dangerous.

“Dad, how are things going on Mudball? Are you sure we can’t go and visit?” Flux asked, smiling happily within the area of the heat he was projecting.

Irwin already knew the answer, but he still went over the memories of his otherself, which had returned to Mudball. It wasn’t something he usually did actively, but due to the number of things that were happening on multiple fronts, he had found that he had no other option.

The most annoying thing was that he had a constant request for cards- mostly heat-resistant ones. He’d been playing with the idea of sharing some of the Crathan cards he had left, as it was his largest supply. The thing was that Daubutim had been hesitant, because it meant spreading knowledge of their advantages. It increased the chance that the Guidar armies would find out just what they were capable of, even before any direct confrontation.

“I’m afraid it’s still not a good idea,” he said, looking at his son. “A lot of the people there are really tense and excitable.”

Flux let out a sad sigh. “Such a shame. I wanted to see how I hold up against a Scaledmonkey.”

“You will be able to return in time,” Irwin said, wondering when that would be and knowing his son was likely pondering the same thing.

Flux didn’t seem happy, but nodded as he watched his siblings.

“Are you going to slot another three cards soon?” he asked. “For your next heartcard?”

“Yes,” Irwin said, pulling in his heat as he saw his skin begin to glow a deep orange. He’d yet to find a maximum upper limit to what he could do, if there even was one, but so far, his body heat just seemed to continue increasing continuously.

“Are you slotting more Chaos Whales?” Flux whispered excitedly.

“No,” Irwin said,

He focused on the small pod of Chaos Whales that was flying through his soulscape. Real Chaos Whales, though he still wasn’t sure what the difference between a summoned being and a non-summoned was. He knew they would die if their summoner died, but beyond that, they seemed fine.

Currently, the group was exploring the volcanic mountains of his first soulcard, not interested in the constant curiosity of the six Ignitzian children.

“Why not?”

“Because when I make my soulcard, that would mean all but one of them will vanish,” Irwin said with a sad smile. “Or at least, that’s the largest chance. From what we could find, very few summons can become what they call a flock or a swarm, and those are all either birds or insect-like beings. Worse, those are never sentient.”

“Oh… what about your next set of cards?” Flux asked, prodding.

“Before then, I’ll need to talk to the Titan Sliver,” Irwin said.

Flux perked up at that, and Irwin knew why. He didn’t talk about that part a lot, not in the least because he only knew a little.

“When?” his son asked excitedly, just as Ti and Glow switched places.

“First three more cards, then a heartcard,” Irwin said. “After that-”

He froze as the things his otherself was experiencing moved into his mind.

That… that's not good, Irwin thought, feeling all joy fade.

“Kids, everyone needs to go out now,” he said as he rose to his feet, trying to keep his calm.

He ignored their sudden complaints, pushing them back into the kitchen where they had been before. His mother and Scintilla looked up from the table, and he raised his hand.

“Trouble on Mudball. I need full focus,” he said, sitting down at the table. “Can you get Dahlia?”

He closed his eyes before he heard the response, focusing his full attention on his otherself.

-- Mudball --

“-seventeen scouting vessels,” Greldo explained, staring at Irwin. “I only caught a glimpse of the fleet beyond it, but it was massive. The scouts are likely going to stumble across the Exit Portal within an hour.”

Dammit, Irwin thought as he tried and failed to get a full grip on the situation.

“And what was that about Shadow Oculithar?” he asked as he got up, his full attention on Greldo.

“There are hundreds attacking that fleet,” Greldo said. “Worse, there were a few bigger ones, and they could sense me.”

“Bigger? How much bigger?” Irwin asked, his worry growing. “And how are they even surviving?”

“Not as big as the normal ones yet,” Greldo said quickly, looking relieved. “About ten times bigger than those we fought a few weeks ago. And many of their ships fly in formation, while their shields overlap.”

Irwin swallowed as he realized what that meant. If they could overlap their shields, that meant they could block a far stronger attack than he and the others had calculated for.

His first idea was to rush out, go as big as he could, and attack them. Then reality settled.

He could probably fight the smaller Shadow Oculithar, no matter how many there were, especially with Greldo backing him up, but those bigger ones? He had no idea what those could do. Worse, a fleet of that many ships with overlapping shields? What if they could also overlap attacks?

Or synchronize them, he thought.

Then another worrisome thought came, and he sat back down with a thud.

What if they can charge soulforce attacks like with Satidas? he thought, thinking about the spear-card with the charge attack that he had made long ago when the first Oculithar attacked Eluathar. If any Accenti had absorbed any skills like that? He shuddered.

“Why are they even here?” he muttered just as he felt Ambraz jump into his soulscape from Eluathar, jumping back out to land on his shoulder a moment later.

He split back into two selves, finding Dahlia had arrived, looking worried, and he quickly shared what Greldo had told him.

“Dahlia asks what we are planning,” Irwin said.

“Which is a great question,” Greldo grunted, looking at him expectantly.

Irwin sighed as he leaned back and began thinking about their options. It took him only a few moments to realize there were only a few.

“Either we go outside, close the portal, then draw the fleet away, or we bring everyone inside my soulscape and see what happens when they find it. They would have to come inside here, and we can always leave for Eluathar if we have to. Or a combination of either. Where’s Gloom?”

“Outside, keeping an eye on that fleet,” Greldo said, looking annoyed. “You are sure we can’t just… destroy that fleet?”

Irwin shook his head. “Even if we could fight all of the Shadow Oculithar, I’m more worried about those Chained. If I could mass unchain them, that might work, but fighting them all? We have no idea what their abilities are, and there are so many. We also don’t know what those bigger Shadow Oculithar can do.”

“Mass unchain them… that would be amazing,” Greldo grunted. “It would solve so much. Can’t we just, I don’t know, have some of the Chaos Whales sing at them?”

“Won’t work,” Irwin said. “That only seems to work for the Shaidin. My way only works on a few, and still only really well within my soulscape. Besides, those more powerful ones will have stronger chains. Who knows what would happen if I did manage to unchain them all at the same time?”

Still, as he spoke, Irwin knew it would be the best way to deal with the entire mess. If he could come up with a way to unchain them-

A card?

“A card!” Ambraz snapped at the same time.

“What card?” Greldo asked.

“If we can make a card, or better yet, a cardseed that allows other people to unchain the Chained,” Irwin said, already thinking about how that would have to work.

“Is that even possible?”

“A cardseed? Not until we know if there’s even a card that could do that, then we would need to see if we have the right types, or find a smith that does,” Irwin said.

“It should be possible,” Ambraz said. “Though how exactly, I don’t know. Maybe Brazardian and those other old rustbuckets know more…?”

“Well, seeing as that takes a long time and is uncertain, it's time to decide what to do,” Greldo said. “Coal just told me the first scouts are reaching the mountains around the exit portal soon.”

Irwin hesitated, then made up his mind. “The safest thing. We bring everyone into my soulscape and wait it out. If they close the Exit Portal, I can break it open again, and if they do come through, it's easier to fight them. I can’t leave, though. Not now.”

“We wouldn’t want to leave our only source of template cards anyway,” Greldo agreed.

Irwin felt his otherself get up and tell the others he had to see Daubutim.

“I’ll ask Daubutim for advice, but for now, we need to move,” he said.

He walked out of the house, spreading his soulforce senses. Thousands of people were in the surrounding area, while he could feel more in the area around Hammerblade Town.

“Let’s go and warn Koudi,” he said, walking towards where he sensed the healer.

A few minutes later, they had filled her in, and the older woman looked as troubled as they felt.

“There’s no way to fight them off?” she asked, before shaking her head. “No, never mind. With that many…”

Irwin shrugged, then cocked his head.

“Wait, my otherself just reached Daubutim-” he said, before falling quiet.

“That’s fast,” Greldo muttered, but Irwin ignored him as he listened to Daubutim rapidly come up with a plan.

“Right…” he said, looking at Greldo with some worry. “Daubutim is suggesting we go outside, and use the Nocturna to draw them away. He is going to head to Eluathar’s Harbor and prepare the fleet. If those Shadow Oculithar manage to damage their fleet, we attack.”

“Attack? They have way more ships,” Greldo said, eyes wide.

“Exactly. Daubutim says that we should try to distract while I go inside and pull ships into my soulscape, where I can lock down the crew. It will allow us to unchain them, giving us both ships and crew…”

Greldo’s mouth opened, then closed again. Finally, he bit his lower lip for a moment.

“Coal is telling me that their fleet is in disarray. It’s not that they are losing from the Shadow Oculithar, but they are definitely not happy either,” he said.

Irwin quickly relayed that to Daubutim while he sensed both his otherself and Daubutim being teleported to the Exit Portal.

“Daubutim is going to prepare the fleet, and he is going to bring all of the Shade Walkers and the guards,” he said, feeling his mood shift to one of anticipation.

“This feels risky,” Greldo grunted.

“Daubutim says we aren’t to engage but go to the Exit Portal immediately,” Irwin said. “How long till the scouts reach it?”

“Minutes,” Greldo said. “They just ran into a few of the smaller Shadow Oculithar. Without the time dilation here, they would have been there already.”

“Get us to the exit portal,” Irwin said, looking at Koudi. “Prepare everyone for an emergency exit. I’m going to leave my giant bodies here, just in case.”

“I thought you couldn’t have more than two bodies out?” the healer asked, looking worried.

“I can as long as the time dilation isn’t too strong,” Irwin said. “Besides, I’m going to leave my other body in the harbor as a guiding point.”

He glanced at Greldo, who grabbed his arm.

“Good lu-”

Koudi’s voice was cut off as they shot into the shadowrealm.

And here I was, having such a calm few days, Irwin thought, wondering what the next few hours would bring.