Irwin's Journey 425: Bloody heartcard

"So, do you understand?" Irwin asked, standing beside Jolnir.

"I do," the healer said, his eyes darting to the giant smithy building as they had for the last five minutes. "Sira…"

"Don't worry," Irwin said. "I've got part of me in there, and when she finishes and wakes, I'll tell her to wait inside."

Jolnir took a deep, shaky breath, then turned away from the house.

"Alright. I'm ready."

Irwin stared at the young healer, suppressing a smile. He was happy to see that the two siblings cared so much for each other that the young man did not even mention the small Chaos Whale swimming around behind Irwin. 

"Now, let me quickly explain what will happen," Irwin said. "I'll be trying to blend your heartcard with a part of my own, the part that allows me control over steam."

Dense steam drifted up from the ground like in a swamp, swirling around Irwin's legs before dissipating.

"And I'll be able to do something similar to blood," Jolnir said, his eyes big.

"Exactly. Now, I'll be getting some help from  Rachias," Irwin said, waving at the Chaos Whale.

Rachias was circling his giantself's head. The two were humming softly, Irwin leading and the young Chaos Whale following along. It was a rough version of what they would be using soon, based on Jolnir's cards. 

"Ready?" Irwin asked.

Jolnir nodded but took another moment before he managed to pull his gaze from Rachias. He turned to Irwin, asking the question Irwin had expected earlier.

"How can you have a Chaos Whale in your soulscape? I thought most people could barely have someone else there…"

Irwin smiled. "Let's just say that being a Smith bonded to a Ganvil has its advantages."

Ambraz laughed, landing on the ground beside them and morphing into his working space.

"Don't let him fool you, kid. Irwin's just not normal! Now, let's get started. As funny as all this is, even he can't keep that Chaos Whale in here indefinitely."

Not yet, Irwin thought, but he merely nodded.

"Let's get started," he said as he summoned his hammer, beckoning Jolnir.

The healer walked forward, staring at Ambraz and carefully putting his head down. He didn't ask what to do, and Irwin patiently waited. Minutes passed by, then Jolnir's six cards appeared above his hand. The first three were stable, but his newest three flickered dangerously before vanishing again.

"I'm sorry, I-"

"Don't worry. It's a tall order visualizing them like this in such a short time," Irwin said. "Just stay calm and try again."

Jolnir nodded and continued.

In the end, it took him another ten minutes before he managed, which Irwin knew was much better than the young healer seemed to think. 

"Now, just keep your hand there," Irwin said, using his power over his mindscape to make sure Jolnir would do just that. 

As patient as he seemed, by now, he was very much ready to start. Rachias's presence was already a gentle strain on his soulscape, and he didn't want that to interfere with the forging. 

He struck down on Ambraz, and the resonance from his hammer, Ambraz, and the soulforce rippled outward, wrapping around the two combined sets of cards. 

A sense of almost electric anticipation began pulsing through the soulforce that filled his soulscape. 

Startled, Irwin tried to determine where it came from, but there was no origin or source he could detect. The only thing different was Rachias's presence, the Chaos Whale's soulforce resonating with a palpable eagerness.

A side effect of Rachias? Irwin thought.

He felt the gentle strain from the cards he was holding grow, and he knew it was time. Whatever was happening didn't feel like a problem, just… different. 

He took a deep breath and hummed the first notes of the song while his giantself summoned his soulstrum guitar.

--

Sira woke with a start, expecting, yet not finding the horrifying pain that had made her shirt sweat-soaked. For a few moments, she felt the fear of it returning threaten to swallow her, but then it faded as something else drew her attention.

Part of her instantly felt the changes that had happened. The three new cards, now bound together, made her feel her blood, almost like she did her hands. It felt as if she could control it effortlessly, moving it away or to an area. The deep thudding of her heart was like a hand relentlessly squeezing something that caused it to move around. Instinctively, she knew that if she wanted to, she could slow it down or speed it up.

All of this, however, was in the back of her mind.

Instead, she listened to the beautiful, slightly muted song that seemed to surround her. A duet of a deep baritone and an impossible deep bass, joined by a deep hum and the rhythmic pounding of a hammer on an anvil. 

Sira opened her eyes, expecting to see Cardsmith Irwin and her brother, who were still hard at work. Instead, she found the smithy almost empty and still. A few feet away sat the giant version of Cardsmith Irwin, hands on his knees, eyes empty, and face slack.

She pushed herself up, looking around.

Did they move outside so as not to wake me? she thought before scolding herself for being too full of herself. Why would they do that?

She slowly rose to her feet, swaying as her head rose a bit higher than she had expected. She'd grown taller, though how much she didn't know. Had Jolnir grown? She didn't recall, and her lips curled up as she wondered how he'd react if she were now as tall as he was. When they were younger, he'd always teased her about her smaller stature. 

She slowly moved to Irwin's Giantself, and before she reached it, his eyes cleared up slightly.

"Stay… here. Window…" he rumbled, sounding incredibly strained. 

As soon as the last sound left his lips, his eyes returned to their glassy, empty state.

"I will," Sira said, just in case.  

She looked around but didn't see any windows. Then, her gaze drifted to the ridiculously sized staircase that led up. Perhaps it was up there? Was she even allowed to go there?

He said window, she told herself, already walking to the staircase.

The more she woke, the more she began to worry for Jolnir. What if something had gone wrong? Did it really take this long to create a heartcard? She tried to recall what she'd learned from her mother and the teachers but couldn't remember.

The steps of the staircase came up to her stomach, and as she looked at the first one, she was glad she had her cards. Five years ago, when she'd still been too young and cardless, this would have been a pretty tough climb. Now she took two quick steps and hopped on the step, then the next.

The way she moved made her think about the Daggerious Rabbits around New Degonda's hills. She'd loved staring at them from the walls, watching them race and hope through the hills.

I wonder if we will be back in time for Burrow War Day, she thought.

She reached the top, slightly out of breath, but as she saw the giant room with a bed on one side, she grimaced. Was she supposed to-

Windows!

Her worries fled as she ran to the crystal-covered window on the far side of the room. It had shutters on the inside, which were partially open. As she reached it, she looked up at the sill with a frown. Everything was so high! She jumped, grabbed the ledge, and pulled herself up. Halfway there, she caught sight of what was happening outside and froze, one leg still dangling down.

A storm of light, mist, and fog swirled around outside, obscuring parts of the world. Everything had gone dark, almost like it was about to turn nighttime, but there were a few things clearly visible. 

Cardsmith Irwin's giant self, hovering high in the air with the odd instrument he could summon. Almost unbelievably, a small Chaos Whale was circling him. Both were singing, though the Chaos Whale's voice was a deep hum. They glowed like a dim red sunset.

Below them, much brighter stood the smith's regular-sized version, his hammer raised, singing the higher part of the odd duet. Before him hung a small  Jolnir stood to the side, eyes wide, mouth gaping. 

"A Chaos Whale?" Sira whispered, clambering atop the windowsill and sitting down, staring outside. 

Nobody answered as she leaned against the side of the windowsill, staring outside.

"So beautiful," she thought as she watched Cardmsith Irwin's seemingly effortless swings.

--

Keep it under control, Irwin thought, struggling to keep the resonance in line. 

The constant pressure on his soulscape and soulforce was mounting, and he knew he had to hurry. If his soulscape turned even slightly unstable, it would ruin the card and all his and Ambraz's efforts.

Rachias's deep hum changed slightly, following along with him and Ambraz as they made minute changes to the song.

Come on….

Like something that was forced into it, he felt the nascent heartcard's resonance reluctantly change, and he quickly struck again. The resonance jolted, trying to swirl into another direction, and he struggled again to keep it in check, making changes to how his soulcards resonated.

The heartcard in front of him was like a glowing beacon, sucking in far more soulforce than it should. A deep resonance was appearing between it and the sweltering part of his own soulcard, and Irwin forced it to stay away. If he allowed it to get too close, he'd have another Brecka- someone who felt like family but wasn't.

A dozen hits later, he felt a massive sense of relief as the heartcard finally settled. 

Irwin sensed the constant, incessant desire to move sideways, towards the sweltering part of his own soulcard disappear. Instead, the nascent heartcards own soulforce song, a unique blend of the six cards, a large dose of Irwin's steam-type soulforce, and something else, seemed to find a balance.

Precarious at first, as Irwin struck again, it solidified.

Finally, Irwin thought, as he struck again, the soulforce song now like a stable, beautiful song.

As he felt his own tension leave, he felt the same from Ambraz, though Rachias seemed unbothered and unaffected, as he had from the start. 

The Chaos Whale continued humming along happily, content in following his lead. 

So much power, Irwin thought, feeling again the sense of awe he had hours before when he'd started.

The enormous well of soulforce that even such a young Chaos Whale held was staggering. Although they couldn't seem to harness it like he could his soulcards, as soon as they started singing, it flowed outward, suffusing everything and everyone nearby in a tidal wave. It was sad he couldn't use all of it to fill other people's soullakes, as just a single smithing would have been enough to fill dozens of normal-sized soullakes. 

As he struck again, Rachias's soulforce flooded within the barrier Ambraz was holding around the nascent heartcard. It swirled around, mixing with his own, the pressure rapidly building until Ambraz let a large amount out in the form of high-pressure steam plumes. To Irwin, they glowed with soulforce, and a part of him was aware of the thin, liquified soulforce rain that was constantly falling across his soulscape. Instead of flowing into his soullake, every drop seemed to do something to his soulscape.

He had no time to check what, but he knew he would have to as soon as he finished.

With the card finally stable, though unfinished, he continued the process of fleshing it out.

When he finally struck the last hit, the heartcard was a beautiful, crystal-clear image in front of him. It depicted a sky filled with clouds of blood, with drops falling from it like tiny jewels.

It was powerful. It was beautiful. It was a big problem.

Irwin stepped back as he felt the final bit of the card's song finish, and the top of the barrier was opened. The remaining soulforce within shot out like a plume from a volcano, swirling around and obscuring everything from sight momentarily.

As it dispersed, Irwin watched the card slowly sink into Jolnir's chest.

The young man had enough time to let out a startled oh before his eyes rolled back, and he slumped onto the ground.

"Well… that didn't go as planned," Irwin muttered.

"Kid…?"

Irwin looked at Ambraz, hearing the annoyed undertone.

"Remember when I said you always do things that surprise me?"

Irwin snorted. "This was as much you as me!"

“I… that… Whatever," Ambraz shouted. "After we do the next one, I'm going to be busy with something for a few days."

Irwin blinked, focusing on Ambraz, feeling a whirling storm of emotions within his bonded friend. Joy, fear, and hope raged within the Ganvil.

"Are you going to…" Irwin began, his words trailing off.

"Yes, but I'll need Juul'rish and Hou'dor," Ambraz said. "After we finish, ask Greldo to bring Dahlia and Trimdir, alright?"

"I will," Irwin said as he knelt beside Jolnir. 

The young man's body was changing, growing slightly, his slender arms turning slightly toned, his skin turning ruddy as if he'd been in the sun too long. Small changes compared to his face. He'd been handsome enough to start, but as Irwin watched, it became almost perfectly symmetrical. His cheekbones turned slightly higher and sharper while the brown of his curly hair turned deeper, gaining a blood-red hue. 

"Well, I guess that makes sense," Irwin muttered. 

He pondered bringing the young healer into the smithy and starting with his sister, but he knew he could do with a rest. So, he sat down and watched the healer as he changed from a young, gangly youth into a beautiful young man. 

The changes took only a few minutes, but it took close to an hour before Jolnir's eyes fluttered open.

"I…" he said, blinking and turning to look at Irwin. His eyes widened as he stared at Irwin.

"You alright?" Irwin asked.

"I can almost see the blood flowing through your body," Jolnir whispered. "It glows… really bright."

"You will learn to control it," Irwin said. "Don't worry, it will become easier."

"You can see it too?" Jolnir asked, sounding confused.

"Not blood, but soulforce," Irwin said. "If you can't work it out yourself, I'll help. But before that, we need to talk."

The serious tone seemed to jolt the young healer out of it, and his bright silver eyes widened with worry.

"Did something go wrong?"

Irwin shrugged. "Depends on how you define wrong. I'm afraid you didn't get a ruby-rank card."

Jolnir shook his head immediately. "That's okay. It's fine! I didn't need one, and I can only imagine how hard-"

Irwin let him rattle on for a few moments before raising his hand.

"You are misunderstanding," Irwin said. "Your card became Diamond rank."

Jolnir's eyes widened in shock, and his mouth opened and closed slowly before he managed a strangled "What?"

"I'm sorry," Irwin said, unable to hold back a grin at the idea of a cardsmith apologizing for making a card too good. "Right at the start, I underestimated the amount of soulforce, and before I could stop it, the card started becoming unbalanced. There was only one thing I could do to keep it, and that was make it Diamond."

He sighed internally as he realized it had been even closer than that. The amount of soulforce had still been far too much, being closer to an Ammolite rank card. If Ambraz hadn't managed to help contain it, he would have been forced to reforge it to that rank, which he would have failed. The final card just didn't have enough overlap with his own, and without Ambraz's help, he would have likely even failed just at Diamond.

"So… what does that mean for me?" Jolnir asked, staring at his hands. "How will I ever fill my soullake?"

"Well, about that," Irwin said. "Did you go into your soulscape yet?"

Jolnir froze, and a moment later, his gaze turned slack as he slumped back to the ground. Irwin shot forward, barely catching before he would faceplant into the ground.

"Dammit, I need to explain to them that doing that will cause them to lose control over their physical body," Irwin muttered, putting Jolnir on his back.

A minute later, the young healer's eyes snapped open, and he shot upright.

"HOW?!" he shouted, looking around in joyful confusion.

"It's because of the Chaos Whale," Irwin said. "How full was it?"

"Over half!" Jolnir shouted as he pushed himself upright. "Also, it's much bigger than I heard! Not like this-" he waved around. "But they said in school that most soulscapes are only a few hundred feet across?"

"That's with a Quartz rank heartcard," Irwin said. "A strong diamond one will be a mile, sometimes two."

"They… really?" Jolnir asked, sounding somewhat stupified. Then, slowly, a grin spread on his face.

"How bit did it become?" Irwin asked curiously. 

"I don't know for sure, but bigger than a few miles," Jolnir said, his grin now splitting his face and his worry about filling his soullake seemingly forgotten. "Is that because of what you did?"

Very likely, Irwin thought as he pondered it. He recalled how large his own soulcard had been initially, and that had been with an Ammolite soulcard. It had already been spacious back then and only became more so as he continued getting new cards. Had this somehow bled over into Jolnir's soulscape?

But why didn't that happen with- No! I only created Brecka's heartcard in here, and my third soulcard wasn't done yet. Is that the difference?

"What does it look like, your soulscape?" Irwin asked.

"There's a dome around it, and outside looks a bit like when the storm was still raging," Jolnir said. "The land is rocky and red, while theirs a faint ruddy mist hovering around the edges. The soullake is right in the center, and the soulforce is also slightly red."

Irwin hummed. He wondered what it would look like after Jolnir had finished his heartcard. 

"Ambraz, can you show me his heartcard?" Irwin asked.

"Sure," Ambraz muttered. "Jolnir, put your hand on my back for a moment and try to focus on your heartcard. Irwin, your book."

Jolnir moved immediately, seeming as curious as Irwin, who pulled his book to him and put it on Ambraz's back. A flash and a few page flips later, he and Jolnir were staring at the newest addition in the booklet.

Card: Fuilsceith Mist

Type: Heartcard, Diamond, Blood, Mutated, Forged by Irwin Roddington

Owner: Jolnir De Merina

The blood of the owner of this card has been changed, giving it an ancient quality. They will be able to manipulate blood, both their own and that of weaker beings, using it to heal ailments. They can move, manipulate it, and purge it from foreign entities. Their control has reached such heights that no one at an equal or lower rank can manipulate their blood in any way. 

Passive: Greatly increases regeneration

Passive: Increased agility and constitution

Passive: Immunity to blood-based attacks

Passive: Increased soulscape size based on blood [Mutation]

Active: Manipulate blood within range [soulforce]

Active: Use their own blood, giving it healing properties [soulforce]

Irwin shook his head in disbelief, his gaze lingering on the increased soulscape part. He didn't have to ask Ambraz to figure out what was responsible for that part.

So, will this happen for all cards I make within my soulscape going forward? Something of the Amnathair will seep in?

"It does so much," Jolnir whispered. "I thought… It thought people lost things when they got a heartcard?"

"They do, and so did you," Ambraz said. "You just don't notice it because you didn't get a chance to use the new three cards. Still, having a diamond card means you can get up to six active or passive abilities. If you had had an emerald one, it would have been four. Remember?"

"Right," Jolnir said, grinning widely. It lasted for only a second before turning worried. "I… what about my sister?" he whispered.

Irwin grinned as he turned to look at the smithy. A pale face was looking back from the top-floor window.

"Well, let's find out," he said.

"Don't you need to rest?" Jolnir asked.

"No, it's fine," Irwin said. "Besides, it's best to do it now."

"Irwin, are you sure?"

Irwin glanced at Ambraz, surprised his friend wasn't sensing what he was.

"The overflowing soulforce is raining down on my soulscape," he said. "It seems to be doing something, and one of the positive side effects is that it's turning more stable."

"What?"

Ambraz moved faster than Irwin had seen in a while, turning small and shooting up and away in a single bolt of metallic gleam.

"Or we can wait a bit," Irwin muttered, sensing Ambraz zip towards his soullake.

He turned to Jolnir with a sigh. "Got and get your sister for me. Then, stay where she was, behind that window. "

"Yes, Cardsmith Irwin," Jolnir said, turning around and quickly walking back to the smithy.

Irwin sighed as she sensed Ambraz's exuberance. He glanced at his giantself, who was playing and humming with Rachias. Something he'd stroke the Chaos Whale, causing hard-to-understand images and emotions to buzz around his shared mind.

Let's hope he doesn't take too long, Irwin thought.

--

Irwin let out a weary sigh as he lowered his hammer, watching the second heartcard of the day settle. It was very similar to Jolnir's, though instead of a misty cloud, it showed a bloody rain splattering on the ground. 

He watched the card sink into Sira's chest and moved just in time to catch her. As he put her down, he saw similar changes as had happened to Jolnir occur to her. The most apparent change was that her hair became farm deeper red instead of dark brown with a red hue.

"Is that soulforce rain still falling?" Ambraz asked, turning into his small form.

"Yes," Irwin said as he scanned his soulscape and sensed the thin rain slowly turning the dry, hot ground into mud. The surrounding temperature had started going up rapidly, and it was costing him a lot of effort to keep the area around his smithy low enough so it wouldn't bother the young healers.

I should bring Scintilla in here soon, he thought, knowing how much she enjoyed the steamy heat.

"Kid, I'm going outside. Can you use that split body to come along and help me find Greldo? I need to get Hou'dor and Juul'rish here as fast as I can. My purified soulforce is overflowing."

Irwin turned to his friend. "I thought you could create more Ganvils by yourself?"

"Yes, I could," Ambraz said. "But that would limit how many I can make to a handful. We need far more than that, so I need help to shape the purified soulforce. It will mean they won't be progenies, but it's best I don't try that yet anyway."

"How many can you make?" Irwin asked, curious. 

"Not sure. Probably a hundred or more," Ambraz said.

Irwin whistled, then hesitated as he thought of something.

"Ambraz?"

"What now?"

"Can you make one Progeny?" Irwin asked.

"I… probably, but it will mean twenty or thirty less regular Ganvils. Why?"

"Zan is one of the most promising cardsmiths we will get, even though she is still too young. If she binds to a Ganvil now…"

Ambraz sighed, and Irwin felt a slight hilarity from his friend. "Yeah, I actually talked about that with her. She said she wants a 'girl' Ganvil. You are right… but I'll need to use the little Silversteel or Whispersteel we have left."

"It's fine," Irwin said. "Use what you need."

"You do know the other brats are probably going to be jealous, right?"

Irwin's grin widened. "Well, perhaps they will practice more from now on. I'm sure you will be able to create more in the near future?"

"I… will, but it would still take a few dozen reforges like today. Also, I can't keep doing that all the time as it's a strain on my body."

Irwin nodded as he looked at the smithy. Jolnir was sitting behind the window, staring at his sister with a mixture of joy and worry.

"Well, go and get started. Tell Jolnir to get here. I'll take them outside and find Greldo," Irwin said. "I take it you don't need my help?"

"No," Ambraz said. "But don't be surprised if your soulscape's soulforce dips a bit. We will probably augment the purified soulforce a little."

"That's fine," Irwin said, waving the concern away. 

He turned to Sira and gently lifted her. She was surprisingly heavy.

Wonder if it's because of the blood, he pondered.