Irwin walked deeper into the caverns, moving through the narrow passages. To his surprise, as well as Crithann and Scintilla could see in the dark, he was still able to see even farther. So, as he had when he'd been with Daubutim long ago, he was the one in the lead.
Ten minutes after they had entered, he saw movement ahead. Blurry movements as things seemed to pass the end of the wide, rocky tunnel they were moving through.
"Irwin?" Scintilla asked, standing beside him.
"I think we are there. There's movement up ahead," Irwin said as he continued moving ahead.
As he reached the end of the corridor, he saw it led up to a spacious chamber where a mass of Imps were moving inside. Before he could decide if he should run inside with his flame on, Crithann pushed him aside and walked forward.
"Follow me," the towering Viridian grunted as he stepped into the cavern.
Irwin shared a quick look with Scintilla, then followed him.
Crithann moved inside a few steps, then stopped, letting out a surprised hiss. Irwin stepped around him to get a clear view.
An emerald-rank portal hovered at the far wall, but there was no sight of Balarn or Relinda. Instead, Imps were rushing into the Portal one after the other while a much larger Imp stood to the side. Towering over the others, with wings on its back and golden rings attached to its nose and ears, it was glaring at the Imps moving into the Portal.
That's like the one Greldo told us about! Irwin thought as he searched for Balarn again.
Even on a second inspection, there was no sight of him.
"They must have brought Balarn through the portal or somewhere else," he muttered, his worry for the other smith growing.
Either the winged Imp heard him, or it felt him watching because it turned and looked at Irwin. Its eyes widened, a burning red flaring up around them.
"The prey comes to me!" the Imp shouted, its words mangled by a horrible accent.
The surrounding Imps, at least a hundred, turned around, and a cacophony of giggling and screeching erupted.
"Grab the smith and bring him through the portal!" the winged Imp roared. "I'll deal with the leafed one!"
Irwin saw the winged Imp smile wickedly, and he snarled back.
As the horde of Imps rushed toward them, Crithann rose to his full height, a look of hate etched on his face as he glared at the winged Imp.
"We need to catch that one," Irwin hissed.
Although they were under attack, he wasn't all that afraid of the imps. What he feared was not catching the winged Imp. It was obviously one of the leaders and they had to know more. If he summoned his flame to deal with the Imps, the winged Imp would jump back into the Portal.
"Alright, I'll tie him up," Crithann snapped as he walked forward, straight at the Imps.
Great, Irwin thought.
That meant he had to deal with all of the others, which meant either his flame or his steam. Which created a problem. What if the winged Imp escaped Crithann's grasp and fled through the Portal when he saw the steam? Perhaps the Imps have had the time or even the ability to explain to the big Imp what he was capable of? Watching the crazed rush that would reach them within a few seconds, he didn't believe it one bit.
No. There was only one quick way to solve all of it, but he'd need help for that. He turned to Scintilla, who was glaring at the incoming Imps, her sword in her hand.
"Move us all the way behind them, next to the portal," he whispered.
Scintilla turned to him, her eyes wide. By now, the Imps were almost on them.
"Hurry!" Irwin hissed as he triggered his Sweltering Heart. Immediately, thin tendrils of steam began appearing.
A look of understanding appeared in Scintilla's eyes. In a fluid movement, she sheathed her sword, grabbed his arm, and the world changed into a red blur of fire. It lasted only a moment, and then he stumbled forward, the Portal a few steps away.
Irwin spun around, ignoring both the slight sickness in his stomach and Scintilla's groans. On the far side of the cave, the Imps swarmed around Crithann, ignoring him as they looked around in surprise. Irwin pulled on his Sweltering Heart card as much as he could as he saw Crithann close in on the winged Imp.
Rumbling came from the ground below, and familiar roots burst up. The winged Imp laughed as he jumped back, spreading his wings and blurring to the side. The ceiling was too low for it to fly properly, but as Irwin saw it dash sideways, he shivered at the speed. At the same time, the Imp was looking around, apparently having noticed that he and Scintilla had vanished.
Hurry, hurry, Irwin thought as he pulled the steam closer around him. As it touched the Portal, he sensed the powerful energy contained inside it wreaking havoc on the steam. With some effort, he tried to keep it away from the Portal.
"Over there! At the Portal! Stop them!"
Irwin watched as the horde of Imps turned almost as one, their crazed eyes on him.
Behind them, the winged Imp kept shooting around, seemingly easily dodging the roots.
Yeah, too bad for you, but you're too late, he thought as the steam swirled around him, the Portal and a rapidly growing section around him. The walls and ground were glistening, and the vision became less.
As the Imps rushed him again, he saw them hesitate, fear warring with the crazed maliciousness in their eyes. When the first ones reached the steam, they had stopped running.
"What are you doing? Get them!' the winged Imp roared.
Good, he doesn't know, Irwin thought with a grin. Taking a deep breath of hot air, he focused on moving a part of the steam through the room to block the other exit while ignoring the Imps.
A minute later, the steam had circled around the room, leaving only a small pocket of clear air in the center. The Imps had begun backing up, and no matter the screams of the winged Imp, they refused to go inside.
Crithann was inside the cleared-out portion, using the cramped space to his advantage. By now, the winged Imp was screeching in fury, dodging and swirling around the roots. Although it had been willing to send the other Imps inside the steam, it must have realized that might be dangerous as it seemed unwilling to enter it himself. Finally, it seemed to lose its calm.
"Enough!" it roared, and Irwin could barely see it streak towards him and Scintilla. The angry gleam showed it was planning to grab him and probably rush through the Portal.
"Get ready to move us away," Irwin whispered as he summoned his hammer in his hand.
"Ready," Scintilla replied as she stepped closer. He felt her hand on his arm just as the winged Imp shot into the steam. As soon as it did, he got a rough view of it, and although he couldn't see the details, he noticed immediately as it slowed. A strangled gasp came, and a moment later, the Imp collided with the ground, skidding forward.
Moments of grunts of effort and anger passed, the sounds slowly coming closer until they finally stopped.
Irwin sensed the Imp slump to the ground in the steam, unmoving.
"It's down," he shouted. "Crithann, can you get out of there?"
"Don't worry about me." Crithann rumbled. "Just fill the room."
Irwin nodded as he released some of his control, and the steam rippled inward amidst panicked cries.
As he heard the screams, Irwin felt a pang of guilt. Then he recalled what Greldo had told him, and he gritted his teeth, keeping the steam up. At the same time, he moved to the downed-winged Imp. They had to move it out of here, or it would suffocate. Before he reached it, he sensed Crithann's lumbering form walk towards them, and a moment later, the towering Viridian appeared in the steam.
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Crithann grabbed the winged Imp and began dragging him back to the entrance.
Long minutes later, they were sitting in the cavern, the winged Imp tied up in roots and the steam slowly dissipating out of the room. Irwin took a single look in the room and instantly wished he hadn't. He felt his stomach heave at the piles of corpses. As he turned away, Scintilla moved beside him.
"There was no other choice," she whispered. "If we had let them go, they would have just harmed other people. They were so close to turning into Addled that they were beyond saving. Now, any harm they didn't do is because of you."
Irwin sighed.
She is right, but why do I still feel so bad, he thought.
He remained standing for a few minutes until the slight guilt withdrew.
"I wonder if they brought Balarn through the portal," he said.
"Probably," Crithan said.
"Then we need to send people inside and look for them," Irwin said.
I really wish I could just enter that place myself, he thought. Between his flame and his steam, he'd be able to take care of the Imps and hopefully save Balarn and Relinda.
Crithann, who was looking at the inside of the room, didn't seem at all bothered by the nearly two hundred dead bodies.
"I'll escort a large group back here later today," Crithann said. "I think with as little information as we have on what is going on, we are going to have to keep using your tactic and send in an army. For now, I'll close the cave. We need to head back and find out what this one can tell us. The chances of another, or more, coming out to check on where they are is too big to risk questioning him here."
Irwin nodded and watched as Crithann moved to the entrance and held his hand forward. A massive hammer of root and stone grew from the ground in the center of the tunnel, rapidly expanding more and more until it completely blocked the entrance.
As Irwin watched it happen, he cocked his head as he wondered if he could do the same with his hammer. He knew he could make it much larger since his evolution, but he'd not really experimented with the maximum size yet.
The trip back was uneventful, though Irwin felt himself thinking back to the bodies in the room occasionally. He wondered why, as his steam had killed far more Imps, directly or indirectly, only hours before during the war. Perhaps it was because this was solely on him?
The winged Imp remained unconscious, and halfway back, Irwin began to worry. It had been in the scalding air for a long time. What if it remained unconscious?
When they approached the city, they saw Viridians dragging large amounts of Imp bodies away, dumping them in holes on the distant hill. There was no sight of any battles remaining, though many Viridian warriors remained on the walls and the lookout tower.
As he walked to the entrance, Irwin looked at the bound-up Imp.
If he wakes, I wonder what he will tell us.
After leaving the Imp tied up with a dozen guards in Crithann's basement, Irwin and Scintilla returned to the smithy, where they shared what they had known with Greldo and Yogog.
For the rest of the day, they stayed there, resting.
Late during the day, a Viridian came to tell them that Crithann had awoken the Imp and made him share some information. Based on that, he would be heading to the Portal immediately with a large group to search for Barlarn, Relinda, and anyone else. He requested for them to meet him at the city entrance.
Irwin and the others rushed through the town, noticing that it was quiet compared to the last few weeks. When they reached the gate, Crithann was there with a group of sixty Viridians and five Ignitzions.
"We don't have much time," he rumbled before any of them could even say anything. "Greldo, Scintilla, I need you to join the others."
Irwin grimaced as he looked at his friends, then at the group behind Crithann. He wanted to say that they were too tired to go now, but he could see from Crithann's demeanor that something was wrong.
"What did the Imp tell you?" he asked.
"The portal is something he called a temporary portal," Crithann said. "It will only remain there for a few more days, and it leads to a large shardworld that the Imps use as a hub. It has multiple portals, all leading to different worlds, and they gather captives there before sending them to someone or something he called Tezrionian.
"What?" Ambraz said.
Irwin jolted, having forgotten that the tiny Anvil was still perched on his shoulder. He'd shown zero reaction even during the battle early in the morning, so what did Tezrionian mean?
"What are Tezrionian?" he asked, noticing the others were looking at the Anvil with as much interest.
"A myth to scare people with," Ambraz snapped. "They don't exist!"
Irwin frowned. "Well, that Imp seemed to think differently. What do those myths say?"
"A whole bunch of mumbo jumbo," Ambraz said as he snorted. "Mostly that they are as powerful as soulcarded but don't have cards, and that they eat carded people to become stronger."
Irwin blinked, then frowned.
"It doesn't matter who they are bringing them to," Crithann rumbled. "According to the Imp, they will be taken away later today, so we need to act now. He says there are hundreds of Viridian captives there!"
There was a moment of quiet, and then Greldo sniffed.
"How do we know the Imp wasn't just lying?"
Crithann looked back, and although Irwin wasn't the target, even he shivered from the cold smile that crept up the normally emotionless bark face of Crithann.
"He spoke the truth."
"Right… gotcha," Greldo muttered as he took a small step back.
Another question came to Irwin, and he swallowed as he asked it.
"If it's such a big place, will this even be enough?" he whispered.
Crithann nodded. "Yes. According to what he said, there are mostly regular Imps, a few dozen pale Imps, and one more winged Imp."
Irwin frowned. "And what can those winged Imps do? This one only flew around."
Crithann shrugged. "He says the other one mainly uses brute strength."
"Sounds like the one I saw before," Greldo said.
"We have to go now," Crithann said. "We can't risk being too late!"
Irwin turned to Greldo, and for the third time, he wished he could just go into the portals with his friend.
"We will be fine," Greldo grunted.
Irwin frowned. He wanted to disagree, but what could he say? Everyone was tired, well, except for him. Even Scintilla's burst of energy had faded when they returned, and she was rubbing her eyes, barely awake.
He took a deep breath, then exhaled explosively.
"Just be bloody careful," he said.
"We will be. It's not the first time, remember?" Greldo said, but Irwin could see how forced his friend's grin was.
Yeah. That's the problem, Irwin thought as he watched Greldo walk away.
"I'll take good care of him," Scintilla said as she smiled at him.
"Make sure you take care of yourself, too," Irwin snapped.
Scintilla blinked, then gave him a wide smile before turning and following the rest out of the gate.
As he watched them leave, Irwin gritted his teeth.
I need to figure out a way to help them, he thought. If his friends were going to keep doing dangerous things, they needed as much power as they could.
Which means it's time to help them reforge their cards and get new ones, he thought as he turned around and stomped back to the forge.
--
The next three days passed by with such grueling slowness that Irwin barely managed to get through them. Yogog hadn't been much better, holing himself up in his own part of the smithy and working with his apprentices.
Halfway through the second day, Crithann came to see him. The winged Imp had died during another round of interrogation, but this time, there had been differences in what he'd said. Neither of those two bits of news had done anything to make Irwin feel any better.
As the third day slowly came to a close, Irwin was glaring at the card lying on the table. The only thing he'd been able to do was reforge as it was the only thing that seemed able to take his mind off things.
"Dammit, you little brat! Stop glaring at me!" Ambraz snapped.
Irwin blinked, startled awake from his worry and annoyance.
"What?"
"I know you're worried about your friends, but you do realize this isn't helping, right? They went in there with plenty of firepower!"
Irwin sniffed at that, then took a deep and shuddering breath.
"I know. But it's just so horribly annoying! I came here to get stronger and not feel like I was being pressured for time! Now look what-"
The warning horn sounded, and Irwin was moving before it stopped. He sprinted through the door, hearing a surprised yelp from Ambraz. The Anvil managed to catch up before he reached the watchtower, and as he sprinted up, he heard him grumble angrily.
Irwin didn't care.
As he reached the top, he saw a few familiar guards standing on the edge, talking rapidly.
"Are they back?" Irwin asked as he moved beside them, staring in the distance.
"Smith Irwin. I'm sorry… but…" a guard began, and Irwin grimaced. It took him only a moment to see a small group heading their way, and he instantly recognized them as Ignitzions.
"It's fine," he said, nodding at the guards. He almost headed back, then decided to stay and see who they were.
When he could finally make out faces, he was glad he had.
"Ignalia and the others!"
"Finally. Let's hope they have information on Cinder Grove."
Irwin was startled when he saw that Crithann was standing beside him. He'd not heard him arrive.
I really need to get a grip, he thought.
"Let's go see what happened," he said.
Crithann followed him down without a reply, and it only took them a short while to reach the incoming Ignitzions. As they approached, Ignalia raised her hand in greeting. Her face was hollowed out, and her hair matted. None of the others behind her looked any better.
"Ignalia, how are things at Cinder Grove? Did you reach it?" Irwin asked as he approached the swordswoman.
"We did," she said as she stopped before them. "It's worse than here. The Imps have three Emerald and a Ruby-rank portal hidden deep in the forests, and there are so many of them that a lot of the forces of Cinder Grove are pinned down in the city's walls. They can't leave or risk the city falling. Only Gebladir and his guards have been going out, and we met them in the forests outside."
A ruby rank portal? Irwin thought as he blinked in surprise. Would that one lead to the same world the Winged Imp had spoken about?
"You met Gebladir!" Crithann rumbled as he stepped forward. "How was he?"
"Tired," Ignalia said with a shake of her head. "Let's head back. There's much to discuss. It's best if Yogog, Hotzli, and the others hear this."
Irwin sighed as he began walking back to town.
"Hotzli isn't here. She's scouting the exit to the gallery," he said.
"What? She was supposed to stay with Yogog," Ignalia snapped. The anger in her eyes told Irwin exactly how tired she must be. Usually, she was much better at keeping control over herself.
"Yogog is fine. She made him promise to remain in the city," Irwin said. He decided that he'd better not tell her about the battles they had a few days ago. He'd be more than happy to leave that to Yogog.
"Fine. Get Greldo, Scintilla, and some of the others then," she muttered. "And we should prepare the group of people able to enter into Emerald portals."
Irwin blinked, then couldn't help but lick his lips nervously, barely noticing he did.
"Why?" he asked.
"Because Gebladir sent scouts inside those portals, and they discovered that all of the higher-rank portals are connected to some odd world! The problem is, there is an entire army of Imps inside there, so to close it, we are going to need to… what? Why are you looking like that?"
Irwin gritted his teeth, barely able to stop from shouting in anger.
"Greldo and the others went into an Emerald portal," he said. "That was three days ago."
He ignored the surprised yelp as he stomped onward.
This means I'm going to have to find that Ruby Portal!