Irwin's Journey 459: Leakage

Flowrishin's eyes widened.

"You are sure?"

Irwin raised his eyebrow. The Headteacher rarely asked things like that, which meant she showed just how shocked she was.

"I am a hundred percent sure," he said. "Someone killed her and somehow forcefully drew out part of her soulcard and soulforce to create a handcard."

Flowrishin didn't respond immediately as her gaze drifted to the map, eyes unfocused. It took a while before she sighed, shook her head, and looked at him with worry.

"I think you need to talk with the Empress and Hilbarin about this."

"You know something," Irwin said.

The Headteacher nodded slowly, her gaze still on the map. 

"I know part of something, and it's not a good thing. It was a rumor, something only talked about by people who dislike the Empire's Seven… At least that's what I thought. Now I'm no longer sure. But if it's right, you need to go and talk to people in the capital. The issue is, Vaidara isn't here, and as fast as you are, it would take you close to a week to reach the capital."

"What is going on?" Irwin asked. "I need some more information than this.

"I know. By now, you have met six of the seven, right?" she asked.

Irwin cocked his head, thinking quickly. It seemed right. He'd met Zou, Vaidara, Findekon, Seldarine, Hilbarin, and Rustbeard, roughly in that order. The only one he hadn't met was the youngest of the bunch, someone called-

"Minerella Silverspring is the only one you haven't met yet," the Headteacher said softly. "She became one of the seven close to thirty years ago, and the circumstances were odd to say the least. Those Derlin cards? Well, we knew about them, but not by that name. Instead, we called them special cards or dangerous cards. Special because they give things that nothing else does, and dangerous because not everything they give is always safe."

Irwin frowned, but he sensed Ambraz's slight agreement at her remark.

'What is she talking about?'

Derlin cards are… always a great thing, but they have powerful effects, as you know. That means, you could ask for something that doesn't exactly end up the way you expected it,' Ambraz said. 'There are stories about people asking for things like soulcards, that blow up because they get one but don't have a soulscape powerful enough to hold it.'

Why haven't I ever heard of this? Irwin thought, as he focused on Flowrishin.

"What is going on?" he asked, unable to keep his voice from growing slightly sharp.

"I'll explain, but remember, I don't know any of this for sure. It's based on rumors and things starting to line up," Flowrisin said slowly, her gnarly old skin wrinkling.  "Mineralla came out of nowhere, and although it was never proven, it is likely she gained her soulcard from a Derlin card. Now, there have been rumors over the years that although she's not very powerful in combat, if she gets the killing blow, the chances of, say, an insectoid Queen dropping a good card, increase. The details aren't very clear because the Steel Council and the Empress have tried to keep the details of the Seven to themselves. Besides, there aren't even legends of this, so… we didn't really believe it."

Irwin leaned back, feeling his skin crawl.

"Does she have a bladed weapon?" he asked slowly.

"She does."

'Kid, if she has a soulcard that allows her to do this, we need to see it,' Ambraz said, sounding equal measures scared and intrigued. 

Irwin didn't need to ask why. He had never even heard of a card that did this, which meant it was either a super rare type, or, perhaps more likely, a card of the soulforce or soulscape type. Either case, he had to hear it and see it, perhaps record it. 

He nodded, and this time it was he who stared at the map, frowning. 

"Why would she kill others of the Seven, though?" he asked as he tried to recall all he knew about Mineralla. "Did they not have a good bond?"

"I don't know," the Headteacher said. "But the Empress might. Also, if it is Minerella, there is a chance she will try to get to the others."

Irwin rose to his feet, staring at the map, but he barely saw it as his mind began spinning as it sometimes did.

"When was the first time this happened?" he asked softly.

"Over thirty years ago, I don't know exactly," Flowrishin said. "If you need the exact time-"

"No. When did Mineralla get her card?"

"About that time," Flowrishin said.

Irwin hummed. "How many soulcards does she have?"

"One soulcard and six handcards," Flowrishin said slowly. "She has been requesting a heartcard for years now, but there's just no time."

Irwin hummed again, thoughtfully. "One more question. Do we know how many similar cases there are?"

"Not exactly. At least six that we were told about, but there could easily be more.

'Kid, what are you thinking?"

Irwin began pacing—something about all of these things was making his mind spin. There was a pattern here. But what?

If we assume she is the one behind this, and has been doing this for years, he pondered. Is she suddenly acting differently? Or is it because Zou was locked up, and so she finally had her chance?

It was one of the reasons, but there was another one that had him worried. The only other thing that had changed that was in any way adjacent to this. He had started creating more heartcarded.

'She was with the same lord as Hilbarin, right?' he asked Ambraz.

'Yes… kid, what are you thinking about?'

'I'm wondering if she did this because Zou couldn't protect herself within that cell, or because… or because there is suddenly an influx of heartcarded.'

Ambraz didn't respond as Irwin walked to the window and stared outside, worry growing. If the latter was the case, that meant other people could become targets.

'We need to warn the rest,' he said, before turning to Flowrishin. "How strong is Minerella?"

"That's the issue," Flowrishin said. "She is supposedly the weakest of the Seven. From all I have heard, she is only there because she is a soulcarded and is willing."

Irwin looked back, looked at the card, then out of the window, and finally back at Flowrishin.

"We need to start warning others," he said. "If I were able to kill other soulcarded to steal their cards, I would make sure of one thing. That people underestimate me. I'm heading home to tell Brecka and the others. After that, I'm going to the capital."

"I'll take over your classes," Flowrishin said with a weary sigh.

"No need. I'll be back late tomorrow," Irwin replied, causing Flowrishin to look surprised.

Irwin didn't bother explaining as he flicked his fingers and sped across the sound waves, back towards the Audumn Estate and Brecka.

'You think she is ready?' Ambraz asked.

'She was ready a week ago,' Irwin replied.

He stepped out of the soundwaves in the small courtyard where Nimlarel Orebrinder, once called The Failure, was chatting with Brecka and some of the Ignizians, laughing and looking happy with her hood down. The horror of her first soulcard was blended with six cards that somehow made it seem like controlled chaos. 

The five of them looked up as soon as he appeared, and as he focused on Nimlarel, he saw her eyes start to gleam.

"It's time to get your next heartcard read," Irwin said. "And I'm going to have to ask you to use it right after."

--

Brecka paced across the hallway, glaring at shadows.

"There's nobody around," Rinbus said.

"I know."

"You look like you expect someone to jump at us…"

"I know."

Brecka saw Rinbus roll his eyes and lean against the wall while the beautiful song of her brother's craft echoed through the area.

Someone might, she thought to herself, as she glanced at the end of the hallway. 

She felt angry and worried after what Irwin had told her. Although he wasn't willing to say who he thought was responsible for killing Zou, she didn't have to know. Someone had managed to kill a soulcarded inside a prison that was supposed to prevent soulforce from being used.

"You have to make sure nobody jumps him from the shadows," she said, staring at Rinbus.

The Accenti's squarish, silverish pupils narrowed. 

"Irwin can see me or any shadewalker approach faster than I can," he said slowly.

"Yes, but he doesn't have eyes in his back," Brecka muttered, thinking about what she'd heard about how Zou had been killed.

There was no talking for a while as they both listened to the increased speed of the song of reforging being played in the next room. Even Brecka could sense the pull of the soulforce, something she wasn't all that good at, but which had happened more and more. She knew it probably meant Irwin was getting better, but she also secretly hoped it meant she would become slightly more sensitive.

"I'll make sure nobody reaches his back," Rinbus said, making her look back up.

He was looking at the door, his gaze sharp.

"Good," she said, unable to hold back from smiling.

--

'It cost almost a tenth of your soulforce,' Ambraz said thoughtfully. 'Surprisingly far more than I had expected.'

Irwin didn't react, sitting with his back against one of the Anvils as he watched Nimlarel. She was lying on the ground, her body vibrating as the new heartcard changed her.

The entire reforging had gone smoothly, even if he had to use more of his own soulforce than he'd have liked. Luckily, one of the things he'd learned over the last year was how to use only part of it, and in this case, he'd managed to pull out mostly the soulforce that he had, which was one of the different soulforce or soulscape types. That meant that there wouldn't be any odd changes to her, something that could have happened even if she wasn't in his soulscape while he reforged her heartcard.

It's a shame I couldn't add more of my soulscape stability to her heartcard, Irwin thought.

His mind drifted off, and as he had over the last few days, he watched his body back on Eluathar. Two of his sons, Soot and Flux, sat at his bedside, their faces animated as if they were locked mid-speech. They seemed to be telling him something they had been doing, and Irwin wished he could figure out what. Still, even without that, he loved the fact they were there, and would be for months more.

I'll clear out that Deslote Stretch as fast as I can, rebuild the Smiths Guild, create a strong defense of people that are on my side, and then go outside, he promised himself.

It wasn't the first time he'd done so, but like the other times, it made his annoyance fade, and he slowly waited for Nimlarel to wake again.

--

"I'll be back in a day, unless something happens," Irwin said, as he watched Brecka and Nilish.

Rinbus was standing beside him, while Nimlarel was still looking up in the air, her eyes now silvery, gleaming with joy. The scars had thinned even more, now no more than lines, and she'd actually taken off her jacket in favor of a sleeveless top. Irwin didn't need to be a genius on these things to know just how big of a deal it was for her. 

Besides the silvery eyes, the biggest difference to Nimlarel was the shadowy aura that now hung around her eyes. Each time she moved, it seemed to struggle to catch up, trailing slightly behind and sometimes obscuring her silvery eyes, but always returning around them. It was the shadow typing of her new heartcard that seemed largely focused on her vision.

"Ready?"

Nimlarel looked back, smiling so massively it probably hurt.

"Yes!"

Irwin grinned back before turning to Blademother Nilish. "Make sure to remember what I said. None of the heartcarded move around alone, and if you can, remain here."

"Don't worry, Tutor. We will not let you down!"

Irwin gave her a quick nod before turning to Brecka. "Same to you."

"Brother, you told us ten times already!"

Irwin grinned at his not-a-sister sister and nodded. "Yes, and I'll tell you another ten times if I think you aren't listening."

"I am listening, but you have to be careful, too! There's no saying what is happening in that capital."

Irwin's smile faded, and he put a hand on her shoulder, squeezing slightly. 

"I will be fine. Don't worry." 

She nodded reluctantly.

Irwin held her gaze for a moment longer before moving to Nimlarel and Rinbus.

"Get us to Teinnoran," he said.

Nimlarel's grin turned into a tight smile as she focused. The shadowy aura around her eyes exploded outward, and a swirl of shadows bloomed all around them. In one second, it grew into a large area that wrapped around them.

Irwin felt the soulforce all around them seemingly stretch, connect to another place, and then there was a jarring ripple that left him slightly dizzy as they were displaced from one location to the next.

--

"How was it?" 

The cold question, almost a bark, came from a tall Oxarite with light blue hair that dropped along his angular face. Two silver eyes almost burned as they stared at the short, delicate-looking woman before him. Her long blue hair was tied in a tight ponytail that flowed down her back, across the hood she'd been wearing until moments before.

"Not as good as it could have been. She thought I was there to free her, but she almost got me, so I needed to make it less clean than I wanted. Most of her soulforce leaked out," she said in a soft, silky smooth voice. "But it's fine. One more and I'll have filled my soullake again. Are those three old smiths ready when I am?"

"No. Sedri died while you were away, and the other two are unable to accomplish it on their own. Unless you are willing to take less quality?"

The small woman glanced up, her silvery eyes narrowing.

"I thought not," the man said, a tiny smirk pulling the corner of his dark, puplish blue lip up.

"Is there any way you can get that Tutor to do it?" the small woman asked, as she removed a black cloak, looking in distaste at the splatters of blood.

"No. I had hoped Selderine could somehow convince him, but she has failed."

"Such a shame… Well, I guess that means she's only good for one thing more," the woman said, looking up again. "Right?"

The man's eyes turned ice-cold. "Not yet. If we can't get you two tree soulcarded, we might need her."

"You have another plan?" the woman asked, a slight surprise creeping into her tone.

"I have many plans," the man said as he rose from behind his desk. "But all will take time. So, until further notice, no more killing."

"Why not? The Tutor is creating heartcarded as if it's easy. Each one brings me close to three soulcarded, and I might be able to-"

"No. I spoke with Rustbeard before he left. He might be old, but he's a crafty old ore vein, and what he told me matched with the rest I have heard. Even with three soulcards, you won't be able to handle him."

The woman removed the tie from her hair, letting the glinting metallic strings swish around her face.

"You shouldn't have let him leave," she muttered.

"If I had forced him to stay, I would have had to show my hand. I am not ready," the man said as he walked behind her, slowly putting his hands on her shoulders, starting to caress them.

"I can't wait till we are done with all the hiding," the woman said as she closed her eyes and smiled.

"We have plenty of time, and if we rush things, we will fail," the man said, pulling her into a loose embrace. 

"So, you want me to continue until I have four soulcards?" she asked, turning around in his embrace and kissing his neck.

"Yes," the man said, his grin turning almost hungry. "On that note, did she drop a card?"

"Almost forgot," the woman said, putting her hand in her cloak and returning it with a squarish rectangle. "It doesn't look like much, but at least it is ruby rank again."

The man accepted it, and his eyes gleamed green as he examined the card. Then he sighed, tossing it offhandedly on his desk, among some paper stacks. 

"It's better than Bluefire's piece of crap, but it's still not what I need."

The woman kissed his neck for a few moments before sighing.

"You never did tell me what you need?"

The man didn't answer, cutting off any more questions by pressing their lips together.

--

Irwin blinked as bright red and yellow light flooded through the cracks in the shadows. 

A woosh of hot air blasted away the remainders, and he blinked as he looked around a completely new setting. Buildings were built across the side of what looked like an active volcano. The buildings were made of the smooth, glossy black rock he'd seen on many lava worlds now, but the style was different. Instead of being square, many buildings were slightly rounded, connecting together to create large sections of almost interwoven buildings. The dark red roofs looked to be made of sheets of stone, many with pale, almost golden tendrils running through them like marbling.

"I brought us to the top of the southernmost castle," Nimlarel said, standing beside him. She was panting slightly, but still smiling as wide as before, waving around the forty-foot tower they stood on. A border of sharp stone circled them, and Irwin didn't see a single way down.

"A defense tower," Rinbus said from a few steps away, looking around as if nothing had happened. "Shadewalkers and others with proper movement skills use them, while the lack of entrances makes it so nobody can sneak in through here."

Irwin nodded, seeing a few dozen similar towers.

"I did it…" Nimlarel said, sounding almost surprised.

"Yes, you did! How do you feel?" Irwin asked, turning his attention from the city to the young teleporter. He scanned her soulforce and was glad to see it was only slightly rough. Although her first soulcard, the one that actually did most of the teleporting, was resonating horridly, the new heartcard was creating an almost perfect counter resonance, strengthening the good parts and weakening the bad parts while adding a sort of baseline to the entire combined song. It wasn't perfect yet, but it was manageable.

"I feel fantastic! I could bring us back right away if we had to," Nimlarel said, almost bouncing up and down.

"No need," Irwin said quickly. 

As much as the new heartcard was an improvement, it was still merely balancing out a soulcard. A weak, poorly made, horrible soulcard, but a soulcard even then. Even when her second soulcard was done, it would not be able to completely fix the imbalance of the first one.

'She needs far more soulforce stability in her next heartcard,' he said, turning away from the incredibly happy young Oxarite woman.

'For that her soullake needs to be filled, and I don't think she has the cards for that, so she will need help. If that help needs to come from us, it will have to wait. Besides, unless your next heartcard lets us do more, like bring a few young Chaos Whales to help provide the raw soulforce, where will we get… the… Ah! We could use the Ancestral Coperion to flood her! If you can actually use your own soulscape again, that is.'

Irwin hummed as he looked around the immense city, trying to suppress his excitement. He really couldn't wait for his next heartcard to be done, not in the least because he wanted to work without being held down. 

Later, he told himself, looking around the capital city of the entire Oxarite Empire. 

It was a vast, sprawling city that wove across the dark mountainsides. From what he could see, they stood on one of the higher towers, on a central, smaller mountain within what looked like a valley of hills surrounded by immense volcanoes. The entire city was surrounded by an enormous glossy black wall with beautiful golden patterns, while in the distance, a large bed of lava hugged the wall. Why it was within the walls, Irwin didn't know, but ridges of orangy rock that turned black as it rose higher crisscrossed parts of it. 

"Alright, so let's go and find-"

Irwin stopped talking as he sensed dozens of soulforce signatures rush towards them from all sides. A moment later, shadewalkers decked out in black armor and hoods stepped out of the shadows.

"Magnetizion Shadowguards," Irwin said as he looked around.

One of the guards walked forward, while the others remained where they stood.

"The Tutor? Why are you here? Why are you with The Failure?"

Irwin snorted, though to his surprise, Nimlarel barely reacted.

"I need to talk with Hilbarin Deadslate and the Empress," he said. "And Nimlarel helped me by teleporting me here."

"I see… The Empress and her guests are busy, but we can bring you to the waiting room until-"

Irwin sighed. "Someone killed Zou in prison. There's reason to believe whoever did it is targeting heartcarded, of which currently a few are here. We need to-"

Half of the men vanished into the shadows before he could vanish, and he sensed their soulforce signatures zipping down and away. The cloaked Magnetizion Shadowguard before him removed his cloak, revealing a cold, middle-aged, frowning face.

"They will warn them. Please follow me."

Irwin hesitated, wondering if he should just ignore him. He pulsed his soulforce senses, finding more heartcarded than he expected. Still, he instantly knew who he was looking for. A group of three sat together in a building in the center of the city, while a few others were dotted around. The Empress and Hilbarin's soulforce signature was with one other, probably Vaidara.

He sighed and stepped beside Nimlarel and stared at Rinbus.

"Find out what is going on here and then find me," he said.

The Magnetizion Shadowguards must have realized he wasn't going to do what they said and jumped forward. Irwin just clicked his tongue and dragged Nimlarel along with him as he raced across the sound waves.

He reached the building where he sensed Hilbarin before the shadewalkers were even a quarter of the way, even passing those that had left earlier. A moment later, he flashed through the unfamiliar hallways, through cracks and keyholes, before reaching a spacious room with four people in it. 

Stepping out of the sound waves, he saw Hilbarin jump up, his hands spread out defensively, only to stop as he recognized Irwin. His eyes widened, while there was a surprised mutter from Vaidara.

"Tutor, what-"

"Your guards are going to arrive in a moment, and they are probably not too happy with me ignoring them," Irwin said. "However, I don't have time to waste."

The Empress rose from her seat and crossed her arms as she stared at the door. 

A moment later, it was swung open as a handful of guards rushed in.

"Empress, are you alright?" one shouted as they spun around before focusing on Irwin.

"I am fine. Now, go back outside and tell the others to guard the area but not to enter. There is no reason to fret," the Empress said.

Unlike the Magnetizion Shadowguards, the Oxarite guards nodded and left without as much as a word.

The door had barely closed as Irwin sensed the first wave of shadwalkers appear.

"Here are your other guards," he said, rolling his eyes.

Figures jumped out of the shadows, circling him immediately.

"Don't resist," one of them hissed. "You will come with us, or-"

"Enough," the Empress said, her voice more commanding than Irwin had heard from her. "Stop being foolish. Now, leave us!"

The Magnetizion Shadowguards hesitated, but seemed ready to leave when the second wave, including their leader, appeared.

Irwin quietly waited as the Empress told them they had done a good job, but they weren't needed. He was slightly more surprised when she added that the Tutor was allowed to come and go as he pleased, and that they were to leave him alone.

When the Magnetizion Shadowguard finally left, Irwin saw Hilbarin grinning at him.

"So, did you decide to help me out already?" the future Emperor asked. 

"I wish," Irwin said. "But I have some bad news."