Irwin's Journey 417: Bonded through fire

Irwin looked at the two Yuurindi, one he'd known for almost as long as he could remember. He could see and sense that Rindiri was out of sorts. Her square pupils were constantly dilating as she looked at his desk, obviously seeing nothing.

He could understand that.

After Undiri's news, he hadn't known what to say. So he'd just guided them to his desk, pulled up two chairs for them to sit, then sat down himself. 

That was a minute ago.

"I thought you had a year left," Irwin finally said.

"That's what we had believed," Undiri said. "However, that was before we realized my condition wasn't the only problem. Since I last spoke with you, Dinehr's condition has declined rapidly. His soulscape is slowly shattering under the pressure of holding both our soulforces together."

Irwin put his hands on his knees, squeezing softly as he thought about the last conversation he'd had with Undiri. The one where she had explained what would likely happen to her people and how those who remained behind would need to change. That was what a week ago?

No, almost a month, he corrected himself. 

He took a deep breath, realizing just how fast time was rushing by with how much he had to do. 

"If you are going to die, why isn't he here with you?" he asked.

Undiri looked at him, and a moment of something profoundly painful played through her mind.

"He is forgetting his own ability," she whispered slowly. "I can feel it… slipping.  If it does, and we are close together…"

She shook her head, staring at her wrinkled hand.

"Dinehr's soulcard is very powerful. The closer we are together, the stronger the effect. If he loses control, the feedback loop will cause everyone nearby to be hurt. I might be able to live a few weeks or days longer, but… his mind. I can't do this to him. He keeps waking up, realizing he is forgetting things, and the moments are getting worse. It is hurting him… Last week, he woke up and looked at me-"

Undiri's voice cracked, and her shoulders slumped, making her look even older than she already was.

"For a moment, he didn't recognize me. When he snapped back awake, he looked… afraid, terrified, horrified. I can't let this go on."

Irwin was staring at the ancient woman from the corner of his eye, seeing that Rindiri was doing the same.

"I might be able to stabilize it slightly," he offered halfheartedly, knowing the best he could do was perhaps soothe it. He'd tried the previous time, but Dinehr's soulscape and soulforce were too strained. They felt like an old shirt, worn and thin, each remaining thread appearing ready to snap at any moment, only the combined structure somehow, miraculously holding it all together. 

"No," Undiri said, shaking her head as she looked up. "We are far enough now that I can feel his ability slowly fading. What remains won't last more than an hour at best. Even if I were to return now, it would be useless. It is time for me to die."

Irwin took a deep breath, but before he could speak, Rindiri did.

"What will happen to him?" she whispered.

"Dinehr will fall asleep for a while as his card tries to stabilize his own mind. Repair some of the damage done. He might die, but I believe he will not. He has a final thing to do. It is why our youngest descendants are with him. Their presence will soot him, ground him."

"Final thing to do?" Irwin asked.

Undiri looked at her hands. "No longer keeping my soulforce resonance stable, he will be able to use his cards to share his knowledge with our youngest generation. It is something only he can do, something his card was truly meant to do."

"And it will kill him," Rindiri whispered.

"That stubborn man will not want to live without me," Undiri muttered, her anger spiking again. "He could probably live another few years without me burdening him. But I know him better than he does himself. He will spread himself as thin as he can, share what he remembers, before following me into the eternal sleep."

Irwin shared a look with Rindiri. His navigator and friend looked confused and brittle.

"Now, enough about me and Dinehr," Undiri snapped. "The Yuurindi have been and will be a burden to you for a long time yet. I have created some contingencies that should help when their times of blood and trouble end, but… till then? Take my card, if you can. I hope it will atleast be a small recompense for all the trouble."

Irwin was quiet again, letting Undiri's words bounce through his mind. What would it be like to be with someone for so many years, decades, centuries, and then be unable to see them during their last moments? He tried to imagine himself and Scintilla in a similar situation and failed. Merely the thought of having lived that long…

"What kind of contingencies?" Ambraz's deep voice suddenly rumbled from the side.

Undiri's eyes widened, and Irwin guessed she'd not even noticed the Ganvil. She quickly pulled herself together, however, and sighed.

"Those of my descendants who will leave will take with them a story about what happened. They will tell it and have their descendants tell it to keep it alive. It will tell of the Galadin, Irwin, and Rindiri. Based on what I know of the previous Geneculling, it should lay the foundation for the future."

"Interesting. Did you add anything about Ganvils?" Ambraz asked, humming thoughtfully.

"No. The more I add, the more likely it is that it will not survive," Undiri said. 

"Of course not," Ambraz muttered.

Irwin rolled his eyes before he sensed something odd… something he'd never felt before. He turned his full attention to Undiri. Even without focusing, he could sense her soulforce resonance deteriorating rapidly. It felt like a song where the instruments slowly began playing out of tune, the beat just a moment too late, the melody suddenly faster, then slower than it should be. 

"Ah… it slipped," Undiri whispered, her shoulders slumping more. "I guess I was too optimistic again."

Irwin shot up his feet before he fully knew what he was doing. 

"Ambraz, get ready," he said, rushing to Undiri.

The ancient woman's face was turning paler, and he felt her soulforce resonance weaken. Rindiri had rushed to them, now looking at Undiri wide-eyed.

"It was nice to have met you two," Undiri whispered, her pale purple eyes slowly turning a milky white. "Now, get the card. Make sure my final moments mean something."

Irwin swallowed, then gently put his hands on her shoulders. Ambraz landed beside him, changing to his larger size. Irwin gently put one of Undiri's hands on his flat surface. He felt the Ganvil's soulforce resonance almost immediately start to stabilize her, but he also knew it wouldn't be enough.

"Rindiri, give us some space," he said, glancing at the other Yuurindi. "I have not done this before, and any soulforce resonance might interfere."

Rindiri looked at him, then Undiri, whose eyes were now flat white, her breathing shallow.

"Elder Undiri, I'll never forget you," she whispered, her eyes widening. 

“Child… do as I suggested… final…” Undiri croaked.

Irwin had no idea what she meant, but he saw tears flow from Rindiri's eyes, and she nodded.

"I will," she said, her voice cracking. 

"Leave…" Undiri whispered a tiny smile on her lips.

Rindiri wiped her eyes and glanced at Irwin before turning and rushing out of the room, closing the door behind her.

"...hurry…"

Irwin took a deep breath. 

"Don't worry. It will be fine," he whispered, hoping he wasn't lying.

A barrier flashed to life around him, Ambraz and Undiri.

"This should keep everything inside," Ambraz said. "Prepare like I explained."

Irwin pushed away all his emotions, forcing them down. There was no time for them. Not now. 

He removed all inhibitions on his soulforce sensitivity as he focused on the dying woman. Her two soulcards were cracking, and as they did, large amounts of soulforce began leaking away. Part of him was stunned at how much there was, the other part focused on the task at hand. First, he had to keep the different soulforce signatures apart and isolate the one that was the card they needed. 

The resonance of the communications card was easy to recognize, as he'd failed to copy it many times, and he began using his own soulforce resonance to push away the other parts. He felt Ambraz doing something to allow it to leave the barrier, but before he could finish that, there was a final, gurgling breath.

It took all of Irwin's willpower to keep his focus on the raging soulforce. Even with that, he was almost overwhelmed as the soulcards shattered, spewing forth torrents of soulforce. 

Undiri had only had two soulcards, which, for her poor genetic makeup, had already been incredible, and Irwin was grateful for it. If she'd had even a single one more, he'd probably have failed. As it was, he struggled to contain the raging soulforce long enough for Ambraz to shrink the barrier until only that which they had to work with remained.

As soon as the other souflorce was excluded, Irwin let out a relieved sigh. They weren't done yet, but atleast the first step had succeeded.

How would something like this ever crystallize by itself, he thought, glaring at the unruly, surging mass of soulforce that seemed intent on breaking free and spreading out into the ambient soulforce?

"Dammit, kid, all six of the original cards dealt with genetics," Ambraz growled. "There's way too much here for a single handcard!"

Irwin tried to remain calm as he inspected the soulforce. It was a single maelstrom with a resonant song that seemed tethered on the brink of exploding.

A single tiny core in the middle burned bright, the only thing holding it together.

The soulcard's seed! 

Irwin almost forgot what he was trying to accomplish as he saw the complex, condensed structure. Unlike the seed of a handcard, it wasn't a single tone, but a combination of a few, all so intertwined it was impossible to determine where one started and the other ended. To his senses, it felt like multiple instruments playing a single note at the same time, somehow creating something new.

"Kid! We need to determine which parts we need and create a card! This thing is going to explode otherwise!"

Irwin nodded absently as he stared at the tiny bead in the center. The resonance was multifaceted, like the same thing, but slightly different—a step to the side, an inch forward, a smidgen down.

The parts of the original handcards that the smith took to create the heartcard!

Irwin raised his hand, and his hammer appeared instantly.

There's too much for a single card, but… perhaps…

Going purely on instinct, as he had been doing increasingly more since his final soulcard was completed, Irwin struck Ambraz's back. The sound reverberated through the air, but that was nothing compared to the shiver that ran through the soulforce. At the same time, his giantself plucked a single string of his soulstrum guitar.  The pure metallic clang and the single high-pitched squeal matched two of the multifaceted sounds of the soulforce seed.

It was as if he was pulling them slightly apart. Not enough to separate them -something Irwin felt would be impossible without destroying them- but enough to cause the surrounding song to change and become more spacious. Parts of the resonance, of clouds of colorful soulforce, seemed to clump together slightly.

"What… Do that again!"

Irwin didn't need the warning, but instead, he took a deep breath, struck again, and played the note. At the same time, he let out a deep, single, resonating hum.

Three of the six tones flowed slightly freer, more apart. 

"Again!"

Irwin did as asked, and this time Ambraz's own voice joined his, causing four of the five tones to flow freer. By now, the soulforce resonance was changing slightly. The harshness, the sense of it exploding soon, was fading.

We need a fifth sound, Irwin knew, frowning as he tried to come up with a way-

"Hum with that big body and project it outside," Ambraz said, interrupting him.

Irwin blinked, the idea so odd he'd never considered it. Why should he? He always had half of himself outside…

Still, could he do that? He could let the resonance of his soulstrum guitar flow outside, even the sound. So why not?

He brought his hammer down, and this time, while he struck and hummed, his giantself played the note and hummed another tone. It was easier than he'd imagined, and as the sound and resonance filtered outside, he suddenly understood something he should have long ago. 

He could speak to people from within his soulscape! 

The sound typing? It didn't just allow him to move across soundwaves, hear the ambient soulforce, and interpret soulforce as sound. It also gave him a limited ability to use his own soulforce to create sound.

I can probably use this with my Steam ability!

The sudden realization came like a bell, sharp and clear, but it only remained at the front of his mind for a split second. Then, the way the shattering soulcards combined seeding tones distanced themselves slightly from each other and pulled his complete attention back to what he was doing.

"Again!" Ambraz shouted.

Irwin did as asked, sensing, seeing, and hearing the soulforce held within the barrier differentiate slightly. Just enough to make it clear what was what.

"Again."

"Again."

Ambraz kept requesting more until Irwin lost his sense of time. 

When there finally wasn't another request, the soulforce had gone from a roiling, chaotic mess to one being guided by an unseen force, moving in six distinct streams.

"Alright, take the highest one and try to reforge a card around it," Ambraz hissed, his voice sounding strained. "I can't help. It's taking all I can to keep these six distinct."

Irwin didn't hesitate. He struck again, but this time, instead of playing, singing, and striking the different tones, he only focused on a single one. The stream of soulforce resonance, high and clear, came into focus, and he began slowly forging a card around it. He instantly knew it wouldn't have all he needed as it was only a sixth of a song. But he understood the gist of it, and slowly, he began weaving in new resonances into a section of the barrier that Ambraz had clearly set aside from it. As he pulled the ambient soulforce inside it, he slowly began padding it with his own soulforce. 

There was no sense of resonance between his soulcards and what he was doing, telling him that whatever it was had no type of overlap with him, and so he used what he knew best.

Fire.

The fire-typed soulforce flowed around, resonance changing as he filled in the blanks, creating something new based on the existing card.

He had no idea how long it took, but at some point, a card had formed above Ambraz. The image showed a small flying ember of flame with two bright white dots that made her think of eyes.

Irwin didn't bother trying to understand what it might be but continued until he felt the card start to settle. As it did, Ambraz let out a groan of effort, and the card was ejected from the barrier, the initial blurry shape crystalizing as ambient soulforce settled around it. Then it ticked on the ground beside Ambraz, flipped over, and remained lying there.

"Kid… I can… hold it… for two… more. Decide… carefully…”

Ambraz's voice came out in bursts, and Irwin shivered at the intense sense of stress he felt through their bond.

Alright, this wasn't the one, he knew, glancing at the card. It did have something to do with offspring, but it wasn't the core of the cards.

Focusing on the seeds, all six remaining but surrounded by the broken-up soulforce of only five pieces, he frowned. There was no way to find out what it was yet.

After a moment's hesitation and feeling the tension from Ambraz increase, he picked the next one based on its being the next in order of height of the note.

Let's hope it's this one, he thought, focusing on the piece of the song and filling it out.

--

Rindiri stood with her back against the door of Irwin's room. She'd been standing there for a long time, hours atleast, and the tears had long since stopped. Part of that was because she'd not truly known Undiri that well, and her sadness had been mostly because, with the elderly Yuurindi, she felt vividly that some part of her ancient people's original selves had been lost. 

Dinehr might still live, she told herself, but she didn't feel much relief at that. As much as she liked the old man, she'd had more of a connection with Undiri.

I hope he succeeds, she thought, focusing on the people in front of her.

Nearly all of the headsmiths were there, with only a few missing. 

Trimdir was excitedly whispering with Dahlia and Montain while the three Viridian smiths Irwin, and she had saved long ago were staring at the wall as if they could see through it. Rindiri didn't know. Perhaps they could. 

The beautiful song coming from the room was the third different one already, and it had been continuing for a while. The first had been high and clear, like a summer spring or the start of something. The second had been slightly lower but still happy. This one was deep and almost warm, reminding her of a quiet moment long ago when she'd been surrounded by her children, nearly all still infants and Ib was the only one old enough to speak. Their hearth fire had been burning softly, a luxury she hadn't had many days after, and she'd been hopeful for the future. 

I guess I was right back then, she thought.

The song behind her faded, and this time, there wasn't a new one to replace it. Instead, a roar of joy caused the door to shake, and a few of the loose things on the walls began to sway and clang.

"Well, I guess we don't have to ask if he succeeded," Trimdir grunted as he walked to the door.

Rindiri hesitated, then turned at the door and knocked.

"Captain?"

"Rindiri? I- come in!"

Rindiri quickly pulled open the door, not sure if she was more excited or more worried. She wanted to find out what the card had been and how it worked, but there was also going to Undiri's still form.

The door creaked as it opened, something she was sure it hadn't before, and a wave of stifling heat caused her to take a step back. Her lips dried instantly, and she heard a gasp from behind. Trimdir pushed past her, stepping into the room.

Rindiri took a shallow breath and then followed after him, trying to ignore the temperature that felt like that of an oven. Ambraz stood in the center, where he had been, and the cindering heat was coming from his dimly glowing shape.

Irwin was sitting on his haunches beside the Ganvil, his hands on the ground, smiling dully. His eyelids were heavy as if he were almost falling asleep.

"Irwin, are you alright?" Trimdir asked, rushing forward.

"I'm fine, fine. Just… incredibly tired," Irwin grunted. "Drained. It took every scrap of my soulforce to do what we did."

Rindiri walked forward, noticing the shape of Undiri lying on the floor a few feet from Irwin. Her hands had been put on her chest, and her face looked calm, as if she were sleeping. The wrinkles had smoothed out slightly, and she looked slightly younger… as if she were going to wake up. Sadly, a stench coming from the dead woman told Rindiri all she needed to know. She'd seen many dead people in her time, including many of her own species, and she wasn't surprised. Still, she quickly moved forward, picking up the Undiri. 

She's so light, she thought.

"Captain, I'll take her home if that's alright?" she asked.

"Of course," Irwin said, his smile fading as he looked at Undiri's body. "Clarish should be downstairs…"

Rindiri nodded, then began walking away.

"She won't be forgotten," Irwin said softly.

Rindiri didn't stop but nodded.

"I know."

--

Irwin sighed as he turned away from the door, where many of the head smiths were standing.

"So, you succeeded?" Trimdiri asked, his voice curious.

"Oh… that I did," Irwin said, his grin widening. 

He opened his hand, showing three cards lying there. He looked at the top image, and for a moment, it reminded him of a faint, fiery shape with long, thin hair and small orbs attached to the ends. Then he saw it for what it was. A central figure surrounded by thin lines that connected it to dozens of other, tiny flaming figures.

"Three?" Trimdir asked, confused.

"We didn't know which part of her soulcard we needed," Irwin said. "So we had to somehow take it apart as best we could and recreate something from the original one."

"You… split apart a soulcard?" Trimdir whispered.

"Well, not exactly," Irwin said, rubbing his head. "It's more like we kept it spread out so we could take the resonating soulforce and try to recreate it in a new form. They aren't the same as they were, not even close. But… well, this one will be a great base to create more of these."

Irwin turned to Ambraz, frowning as he felt the warmth from his friend.

"Ambraz, think you can?"

"Sure, sure," the Ganvil grunted wearily.

Irwin grinned, and a few moments later, he picked up the booklet, looking at the card. 

Card: Undiri's Fiery Connection

Type: Fire, Quartz, Forged by Irwin Roddington

Owner: -

The wielder of this card will sense the general direction of the heat of anything that can be counted as their offspring. They can focus on one to get a clearer direction. [Ten-mile radius]

Passive: Sense offspring 

Active:  Locate offspring 

Irwin's eyes widened, and he swallowed.

"Did you change the name?" he whispered.

"No, but it makes sense. I sense her resonance in the card," Ambraz grunted.

Irwin scanned the card and felt what Ambraz meant. A lingering resonance that reminded him faintly of Undiri. He also faintly felt the different directions the card could go in—distance, of course, but also a path that would lead to communications. 

He shared a look with Trimdir before they both looked back at the card.

"This will change… a lot of things," Trimdir whispered.