Irwin's Journey 483: Give?!

Zan slammed her hammer into the card, singing softly while Silv'am hummed a counter tune. She sensed that the card's resonance was almost complete, and as she struck it again, she let her song end in a high crescendo. 

The cards hovered and their amethyst border rippled, changing into the pale yellow of a topaz-ranked card.

Zan felt her elation soar as she picked up the card and hugged Silv'am. They had done it! Turning around, she saw her dad look at them both with a stunned look of awe.

"You reforged it sideways and up to Topaz," Irwin said, his eyes sparkling with joy. "That's amazing!"

Zan got up and rushed to him, sensing Silv'am change behind her, and flew after her. 

"We really wanted to tell you before, but we needed to practice a few more times so we were sure it would work," she said, easing into his hug. "I wanted to wait for next time, when Uncle Ambraz was with you, but-"

"No, it's fine like this," Silv'am piped, her voice melodic as if she were singing. "Just tell him what we did, and that will give him a few months to think on it. Also, tell him he needs to bring my sibling!"

Zan could feel a small earthquake go through her father as he laughed softly, the sound like distant boulders rolling down a hill.

"I will! Now, tell me how you managed this. From what I had heard from Trimdir, you should only be able to either, not both?"

"It's a surprise for Uncle Trimdir too," Zan whispered. "So don't tell gramma, okay?"

"I won't. Now, tell me how it felt?"

Zan smiled as she began explaining the sensation and how she'd been hiding her progress for a while now. The pure joy and pride she saw in her father's silvery eyes made her wish he could stay, but she wouldn't tell him that. Mia and Glow had been clear. None of them should mention it, because Dad was having enough trouble with being away, not for them to make it worse. 

Sadly, the time she had with him passed by in a blur, as it did every time. As he carried her back out of their family's smithy, she hummed softly.

"How many Ganvils is Uncle Ambraz making?"

"I don't know, little flame. One or two, probably. I left him a lot of my soulforce in the Ancestral Coperion, but he only has a bit over a year."

Zan frowned, then nodded. "A merchant's year, right?" she asked, trying to recall what heatmom had explained to her.

"Exactly, a merchant's year."

A whoop came from ahead, interrupting the other questions she had, and Zan looked up to see the others run towards them. Flux, Mia, and Glow were in the lead, as they always were, while Soot ran after them with a slight grin as if he had done something he shouldn't have. A good while behind them, Ti, or Itirilla as she insisted they call her now, was following them at a more leisurely pace, as always, far calmer than the others. She loved her sister for who she was, always helping her and others, and managing to keep the others from doing too many silly things. Sadly, she also knew that, because of how she was, she didn't tell Dad everything. 

"Dad," she whispered, putting her mouth near his ear. "Before you go, you should ask Ti how her project is going. She and Glow have been practicing cardsmithing on their own."

Her father hummed, the depth causing her entire body to resonate pleasantly.

"Thanks for letting me know," he whispered back, his voice remarkably soft for someone who usually spoke like a house coming down.

Zan let out a slight sigh, looking at her sister, who was still heading towards them. Her sister's eyes narrowed, locking onto her.

Sorry, Ti, I know you said not to tell him, Zan said, quickly hiding her face into her dad's neck. 

--

Irwin watched four of his children dash away, heading towards the kitchen. Zan was slightly behind the others, though Soot didn't seem to be running last as fast as he had before, glancing over his shoulder twice.

Irwin held back a smile as he turned to the two of his children still standing outside the smithy with him.

Glow, technically both the half-brother of the others and more like him than the others, was almost bouncing on his feet. Ti stood beside him, her arms crossed and still seeming peeved that Zan had told him about their little secret, not that he had any idea what it was. 

"Alright," he said, lowering himself on his heels. "What have you two been up to?"

Glow's mouth opened, then closed as he glanced at Ti.

"I wanted to tell you in a few months, when you can stay longer and have more time and no headache," Ti said softly, frowning.

Irwin could see the slight worry on his most serious' child's face, and snorted. He reached out and ruffled her long, smoking hair, the tiny flames harmlessly licking his fingers. 

"How about you let the adults worry about the difficult things for at least another few years," he said. "You can come and solve things when you are at least half my size. Alright?"

Ti crossed her arms, an adorable pout on her face as she sniffed. 

"I could get a card to increase my size," she said, seemingly half serious.

"You could," Irwin said. "And I could bring out my giant body."

"That's cheating!"

Irwin couldn't stop a deep rumbling laugh from bubbling up, and he drew his daughter in a close hug.

"Now, why don't you tell me what's going on?" he said after a few seconds as he put her back beside Glow, who was grinning widely.

"Fine," she muttered. "Soot and I have been trying to work on those cardseeds."

Irwin's mouth fell open as he stared at the two children before him, both just reaching his waist and looking like they were no older than nine or ten. Although he knew that out of his children, other than Zan, they were the most gifted at cardsmithing, even Zan hadn't even tried her hand at creating a cardseed. Not just that, of all the cardsmiths on Eluathar and even Scour, none had come further than Trimdir, Endil, and Dahia, who were all probably closing in on becoming ruby-ranked smiths. And none of those had been able to create a full, stable cardseed yet, though Endil was close.

"We didn't succeed," Ti said quickly, seeming to see his stunned reaction.

"I see," Irwin said slowly. "And what have you been trying?"

Glow's gaze flitted to the entrance of the family smithy behind them, and Irwin did a quick calculation while checking his headache. 

I can stay two more hours, he decided, both his selves focusing on his soulcards and letting them resonate just a little. It meant the time dilation on Scour became less sped up, but it also meant the pressure on his soulscape weakened, leaving him with more time here. Not that Scour's time dilation was that slow, a quick check on his body there showed the days still flying by. 

"Alright, why don't you two show me?" he said, stepping aside so they could walk past him into the smithy.

"But you have to head back," Ti said worriedly. "Your headache, and-"

Irwin tapped her on the forehead with his finger, raising an eyebrow.

"You are not yet an adult," he said. "Right?"

Ti rubbed the spot, frowning. "Right."

"Good, then let me worry about that, and you go inside and show me what you two have been practicing. Also, next time just tell me."

Glow's grin widened, and he pulled Ti's arm, yanking the smaller girl with him as he rushed into the smithy.

Irwin followed them, both amused, happy his children were happy, and highly curious. Of all of them, Ti was the smartest, especially when it came to learning new things.

A few minutes later, he was standing inside the smithy, watching Tin and Glow stand before the same anvil. 

They hadn't told him what they would do, but after some whispered conversation, they had just started.

Now, Glow had his hands spread above the anvil, a tiny mass of soulforce between them. Like nearly everyone but Irwin, he couldn't move it even a little, which was apparently exactly what they were going forward. He was singing softly, his voice lacking the special quality Irwin knew his own and Zan's had, but still smooth and clear. Ti, in the meantime, was waiting beside him, humming along and filling the spots Glow was leaving in the song. She was holding a hammer, and her own soulforce slowly seeped into it.

He leaned forward as she readied herself, already understanding what they were planning, and, stunned, he hadn't thought of it himself. 

Because their cards are nearly identical, and there is such overlap in their soulforce, they can work together perfectly, he thought, watching with bated breath as Tin struck on the tiny mass of soulforce. 

Their song and resonance were focused on the parts of their own handcards that overlapped, but he instantly knew they wouldn't succeed. Besides not having the barrier required to prevent the ambient soulforce from interfering, they lacked the soulforce and the power required. Yet, none of that could change one thing. Each strike on the tiny bundle of soulforce shaped it, ever so slightly, removing parts of the soulforce resonance that didn't match, and leaving an ever smaller chunk.

If I can make multiple Crathan Smiths, each bonded to a Ganvil, and all with a single soulcard that matches, they can create a barrier, and use this trick, he thought, feeling a rush as he imagined it. 

It would allow a group of three, perhaps four, smiths to work together to create cardseeds. They would only be able to create those that matched their soulcard, but even then, it meant there would be more cardseeds for him to work with to create Crathan cards!

In front of him, his children were breathing harshly, their tiny chunk of soulforce purified beyond what he had ever believed two mere handcarded smiths could accomplish. With a final sputter, Ti's resonance failed to line up, and the soulforce held between Glow's hands exploded outward like two handfuls of water that had been dropped on the ground.

"Aw," Glow exclaimed, rising up, still breathing hard. "We got a bit further again."

"Still not nearly as close as we need to be," Ti said, putting the hammer down.

"You did amazing," Irwin rumbled.

Both children jumped, almost as if they had forgotten he was there, and as they looked up, he saw their eyes widen.

"How close were we?" Ti asked.

Irwin hesitated, then decided lying would not help his children. "You did better than I had thought possible, but were barely at one percent."

Ti frowned, while Glow let out a weary groan. 

"We are never going to make it."

"That's not true," Irwin said immediately as he walked over and sat down beside them. He pulled them onto his knees, ruffling their hair. "If you can do this much with only two handcards, without a Ganvil to help you, and while you aren't even a topaz-ranked smith yet, you will do incredibly well if you continue practicing. Better yet, I hadn't realized just how powerful two smiths with similar cards, working together, would be. Now that I know, I will explain and teach the Crathans."

As he spoke, he saw his children's sadness and annoyance dissipate, though Ti still seemed troubled.

"Listen," he said, smiling at his daughter. "This will allow others to make the cards required to change more Yuurindi into Crathans, which means I can bring more of them to Scour. More smiths means more smiths trying to learn to make cardseeds, more smiths to create powerful cards for the warriors of Eluathar. You did a good thing."

Ti nodded slowly, then sighed almost miserably. "I know, but we wanted to find a way that would help you create a clone-card," she said. "If we can have one, we could send a clone with you, or perhaps others could do what you do, and you could stay here longer."

Irwin stared at his two children, Glow's joy gone again, and Ti looking at her hands. He felt a twitch of pain, not the first one. He wanted to tell them things would be fine, that he would be back soon, but he knew it wasn't necessarily true. He wanted to tell them to just let him worry about it and play, but he knew that at least Ti wouldn't, that much was clear. 

Then why not let them help, he told himself. He thought for a second, then nodded to himself.

"Then continue practicing," he said, putting his finger under Ti's chin and lifting her head till she looked at him. "You are smart, and you both have more skill than I had realized. Tell Zan what you are doing, and the others. Have them help. There is no limit to how many smiths can help each other. Also, Silv'am can help too."

Ti's eyes widened while Glow's began gleaming like tiny suns. 

"Let me show you how far I am," Irwin said as he put them down and rose from his seated position. "Perhaps it will help you think of something."

He stretched out his hand, letting his hammer appear in it. At the same time, he let his soulcards resonate slowly, causing the time dilation on Scour to move closer to that on Eluathar. He would need the soulforce. Then he moved to the main smithing spot, the one he usually used. There was an old anvil in the corner, one he rarely used, and he grabbed it, effortlessly putting the massive thing on the spot Ambraz usually held. 

"Without Ambraz here, I won't have the barrier," he said, as he focused on the parts of his soulcards that gave him his multiple bodies. "But as you are working without one, this might help you understand why we need a barrier in the first place."

He took a deep breath, then pulled soulforce from his soulscape, placing it above the worn anvil. Without Ambraz's barrier and help, he let his otherself focus on holding it in place. At the same time, he split off an aura-clone, which summoned his Soulstrum guitar. Although it was weak compared to either of his full selves, it didn't need power for what he had in mind. It flowed some soulforce into the instrument, causing the snares to glow softly, then strummed a single one of them, creating a low, humming sound. 

"A single noise to focus on," he said softly, fully focused on the soulforce above the anvil. "It needs to match the resonance of the core part of what you are trying to create. It won't be perfect, but it works like an anchor."

He struck down on the soulforce, his hammer moving through it as if it were useless before slamming into the anvil. He imbued the soundwave with more soulforce, allowing it to blow away parts of the soulforce of the cloud, not unlike his children had. 

"Remove that which you don't need," he said softly, as his other self fed more soulforce into the area. "But make sure you keep enough raw soulforce there."

He struck twice more, sensing he was at the point where he needed to do the next step.

"The cardseed is a single pure soulforce note, one among an innumerable number. Perhaps infinite. One that you need to slowly separate from the others. One way is by reducing the resonance it belongs to into its core parts."

Striking again, he began humming. A single, low hum that was part of what caused his body to be split by his most recent heartcard. The single snare of his soulstrum guitar was tuned down slightly, and his otherself began humming as it held the mass of soulforce together.

With each strike, more of the soulforce he had gathered was snipped away, like a gardener pruning a bush. Very slowly, the amount of soulforce that resonated like he was anticipating the cardseed should increase, and Irwin constantly changed the pitch and tone of his hum by tiny fractions. 

As he struck again, he slowly fell into the flow he was now used to, one that made everything almost move by itself. He barely realized when he created his second aura-soul, its soft hum adding to his other three. Nor did he notice when his soulcards slowly resonated, rapidly weakening the time dilation on Scour. Only the soulforce, the resonance, the hu,m, and the note mattered. 

At some point, the constant pressure of the ambient soulforce began causing tiny instabilities as it interfered with what he was doing. He forced more of his soulforce out of his soulscape, instinctively wrapping it around the tiny growing seedling, which was now glowing like a miniature sun within the cloud. A tiny part of him knew that it wasn't a replacement for the barrier that Ambraz usually created, but most of him barely registered this. 

Time flowed until over ninety percent of the soulforce in the barrier was resonating in a single frequency. It was close to one he'd tried weeks ago, just off by such a small fraction that barely anyone would have even known it wasn't the same. But Irwin sensed the difference, and as he felt the instability from the ambient soulforce increase, the pressure from the seedling building up and rapidly heading to instability, he knew it was the correct tone. 

Knowing he would only increase the instability, his otherself raised a hand and summoned his Tablatures, immediately triggering its soulforce resonance recording effect. It barely caught two seconds of the resonance before the act of summoning it triggered a rapid destabilization. 

Irwin snapped awake, staring at the fist-sized brilliant ball of soulforce that was rapidly pulsing. His mind moved a million miles a second as he realized Ti and Glow were nearby, and Ambraz wasn't here to block the explosion that was about to happen. Without another choice, he stepped forward and slammed his hands around the tiny ball, summoning his gauntlets as he did. Sensing the enormous power between his hands, he knew it wouldn't be enough. His euphoria of having learned the exact resonance tone he needed switched to absolute horror, and he did the only thing he could think of in the moment.

He pulled the entire mass of soulforce into his soulscape.

A ripping sensation came as it seemed to tear itself inside, and Irwin moved his self into his other giant body, both of them appearing on opposite sides of the tiny sun. With both of his selves fully focused, he created a barrier around the soulforce, compressing it inward as much as he could. He had no idea what would happen if the unstable mass of soulforce would explode in here, without Ambraz to contain it.

A thin barrier of shimmering gold squeezed the cloud of soulforce inward, the pressure rapidly increasing. 

Too much inside, one of him thought, and without completely knowing how, he created a few tiny holes within the barrier, allowing soulforce to scream out like superheated steam. Two holes became four, became eight, then the pressure stopped building as he squeezed tighter.

Time lost its meaning as he struggled against the ball of soulforce, until his barrier wrapped tightly around it. None of the cloud of soulforce remained, and Irwin was about to remove the tiny holes when he saw tiny inconsistencies flow out of the seedling. The tone increased in volume, going from a whisper to a shout, to a deafening roar until a single pulse flowed outward, and the tiny sun flashed and turned into a square. 

The pressure vanished, and Irwin barely stopped himself from crushing what he'd just created.

Letting the barrier vanish, he let the card, tiny compared to his massive size, float towards his hand. Staring at it, he sensed the tiny note within it, pure and perfect. The card showed an image of a tiny fist with two outlines, one left and one right.

"A card…" Irwin muttered in disbelief.

Both of his selves bowed forward to examine it when he heard something. Someone cried his name.

One of his selves shot out of his soulscape and into the body on Eluathar.

"Dad! Are you alright? Dad!"

Irwin raised his hand up, sensing two tiny forms shaking him. "I'm fine, I'm fine. Let me get up?"

He pushed himself up on his elbows to see Ti and Glow back up a bit, faces pale and looking terrified. 

"Are you alright?" Glow whispered, his voice cracking up.

"I'm fine," Irwin said again. "Sorry for scaring you."

The sound of something slamming into the door was followed by it being shoved open, as Scintilla appeared in a burst of flame.

"What's wrong?" she shouted, her sword in her hand as she looked around, seemingly ready to fight.

Irwin grunted as he got to his feet, picking up both Ti and Glow and holding them close.

"Well, I was showing these two how far I was with creating a cardseed," he said, a smile growing on his face. He summoned the new card from his soulscape, causing it to appear in his hand. "And it seemed I accidentally found a new way to create one."

"You succeeded?" Ti asked in awe, her fingers moving to the card, stopping a few inches away.

"It seems like it," Irwin said, grinning at Scintilla, who was finally calming down. "Though I'm afraid I'll have to leave in a few minutes."

"What? Why?" Scintilla asked. "I thought you had another hour or so."

"That was before I let Scour's time dilation slip," Irwin said, as he looked through his otherself at his body on Scour. Ambraz was there, hovering above it, moving only a bit faster than he should, while Rindiri was pacing through the room, seemingly worried.

"I'll get the others," Glow said as he struggled to get free.

Irwin quickly put him down, and Glow rushed away. He hesitated, then started walking to the exit. He wasn't lying when he said he had to leave in a few minutes. He could sense his headache growing, even though the time-dilation was only a few steps.

"Is everything alright?"  Ti asked, as Scintilla moved beside them, following him out and across the courtyard, towards their house.

"More than," Irwin said as he put the card back in his soulscape for his otherself to investigate. "Did you learn anything from what I did?"

Ti blinked, then nodded so hard her hair slapped Irwin in the face.

"Yes!" she said, causing Irwin to look at her curiously. "You are really good at smithing," she continued, a smirk on her face that Irwin knew mirrored one Scintilla used many times.

"Well, that's good to know," Irwin said as he heard the shouting and running from outside. "I'll be sure to let Ambraz know."

A moment later, he was rushed by his children.

"If you made a body-clone card, can I have one?" Soot shouted as he climbed up Irwin's leg, waist, and to his shoulder. 

"Me too," Flux and Mia shouted at the same time. 

"As soon as I can make more, I'll get you one," Irwin said, meaning every word. If his children had multiple bodies, it meant they were far less prone to having something bad happen to them. "But I think it will be a while till I can make many more. I first need to see if I can reproduce what I did."

"And we will help," Glow said, looking proud.

Irwin hid a grimace. "Yes, but you aren't going to do what I did, alright? Silv'am isn't strong enough to contain such an explosion."

"There's no way you are going to do anything like that," Scintilla said as they entered the house.

Irwin grinned as he gave them all quick hugs.

"Be good, and I'll see what I can do," he said, smiling at Soot.

His son's grin turned almost predatory, and he wondered what the boy was even planning to do. Knowing he had no time to find out now, he gave Scintilla a short but intense kiss before walking into his bedroom.

A minute later, his body was lying on the bed, and he moved from his Soulscape into the body on Scour. As soon as he arrived, he slowed the resonance of his soulcards until they were at the minimum possible. 

"He's back," Ambraz said. "Kid, what happened? It felt like you were trying to blow up your soulscape, and I couldn't get in, not even with my projection!"

Irwin opened his eyes, leaning on his shoulders. Rindiri was looking at him, though he saw the worry fading from her face. He did sense a lot of anxiety, Ambraz, though, mixed with something else… worry? No. Something else.

"I'll explain later," he said. "But everything is fine. Did anything bad happen here?"

"Everything is fine," Ambraz said, just a little too fast.

Irwin saw Rindiri glance at Ambraz, an eyebrow raised and a lip quirked in a slight laugh.

"I see," he said slowly. "Fine?"

Ambraz grunted, landing on his stomach with a thud. 

"Fine, most everything is fine," he said. "I managed to create the rank-zeros."

Irwin saw Rindiri's smile widen.

"I get the feeling that's not all," Irwin said, putting Ambraz on his shoulder as he rose from the bed, cracking his neck.

"Well, I might have also created my second progeny…"

"From purperion?" Irwin asked, becoming a bit more curious now.

"Yes," Ambraz grunted. "He's called… Pur'am."

"Original," Irwin said, raising his eyebrow.

"His own choice," Ambraz said.

A loud shout came from outside, followed by cursing. Irwin frowned, spreading his soulforce just in time to sense a tiny spec shoot through a nearby hallway, evade Rinbus, and shoot into the narrow passageways meant for Ganvils. Something about it felt… odd, the resonance seeming different from any Irwin had felt before, but before he could even ask, a dark purple Ganvil shot into the room.

"Dad, I found another one, but they won't let me have it!" the Ganvil shouted, zipping forward, before stopping in the mudroom. "Hey… is your Smith awake? Irwin, right? Irwin! Do you have any growth cards? Can I see them?"

Irwin felt his mouth fall open as the purple anvil flitted around him, while he felt something pushing against the barrier of his soulscape, trying to get in.

"Come on, let me in! I'll only look, trust me!"

Irwin slowly turned to Ambraz, whose lips were pursed.

"What exactly is going on?" he asked.