A week flew by in relative quiet, with Irwin spending most of the time practicing with Greldo. Most of it was teleporting with ever more accuracy around the room, while some dealt with his own card and learning how to control his kinetic energy.
The only noticeable event was a four-day delay at the dock of a small, nondescript planet. They had to wait for a group of passengers who were eventually escorted on the ship by a group of armed guards.
Irwin wasn't there to see it, but Monique had been more than willing to share what happened in detail. Apparently, they were some unfamiliar species that was smaller than average, with green hair, silver eyes, and pale skin.
Due to this, two weeks after they had left, they still hadn't arrived at Fiverio, and Irwin was lying on the couch, watching Greldo teleport throughout the room. If his friend didn't have to carry anyone, he was insanely fast, popping up anywhere a shadow was within the blink of an eye. Coal, however, was no slower, and they were playing a rather dangerous game of tag, where Greldo would try and stay out of Coal's reach, and the hound would win if it could nip him.
"OUCH!"
Irwin couldn't stop laughing as he saw Coal nip Greldo in his backside.
"Yeah, yeah. You just laugh," Greldo muttered, rubbing his left butt cheek while tossing Coal a nasty look.
"Come on, you asked him to do it," Irwin said as he began snapping his fingers. Each time he did, a minuscule amount of heat was taken from his heartcard to augment the kinetic energy that began collecting in his hand. When he'd done it four times, he focused on the kinetic skill and snapped them again, releasing the energy.
The sound of two pieces of metal colliding rippled through the room, and Coal and Greldo jumped before glaring at him.
"What? You aren't the only one that needs practice," Irwin said.
"Bah. Why don't you just go and practice reading those bloody scribbly papers," Greldo muttered.
Irwin grimaced as he was reminded of the papers he'd been gifted by Crithann. "It's useless. Without Ambraz, it's not something I can learn."
Greldo grinned, seeming ready to speak, when a drowsy voice interrupted him.
"What do I hear? Is someone finally realizing my profound value?"
Irwin sat upright, smiling widely.
"Ambraz, you woke up," he shouted, opening his shirt pocket.
Ambraz flew out, whizzing through the air before landing on the low table beside the couch.
"Well, if you keep making such a racket, what do you expect?"
Irwin didn't respond, dumbly staring at the tiny anvil. A small purple flame adorned the area that also had his mouth. It was roughly where one of his eyes might have been if he had any.
"What are you looking at me like that for?" Ambraz asked.
"You've got a tattoo?" Greldo exclaimed as he sat down beside Irwin, jabbing a finger at the tiny anvil.
Ambraz's lips pressed into a tight line, and he began shivering slightly. Slowly, the purple flame began fading, first turning faint, then finally disappearing entirely.
"Alright… let's pretend neither of you saw that, and whatever you do, never mention it," he muttered.
Irwin nodded, pretty sure it had something to do with his rank-up, but Greldo leaned forward.
"Oh? And what's in it for me if I do that?" he asked.
"What about I'll not wake you up by sitting on you in my largest form?" Ambraz snorted.
Irwin watched Greldo's eyes begin to gleam, and he knew his friend wouldn't just back down.
"Nah… how about you promise to keep an eye out for cards I need to fill up my heartcard?" Greldo said. "And perhaps use some of those ludicrous amounts of soulshards you are going to collect to buy them?"
Irwin grinned, but he kept his mouth shut.
"Seriously… you brats keep making me work too hard," Ambraz said, letting out a low and undignified whine. "FINE! I'll keep an eye out, and if I see something useful, I'll get it for you. But not too much!"
Irwin held back a laugh, pretty sure that Ambraz was this quick to agree because he knew Irwin would have done it anyway.
Greldo leaned back beside Irwin, a satisfied look on his face.
"Now, what did you wake me up for?" Ambraz asked.
Irwin hesitated, then got up and walked towards his room. "I'll show you," he said.
A few moments later, he returned with a stack of papers bound in string, which he placed on the table. As he removed the bindings and unfolded the top one, yellowed with tiny tears and damages, Ambraz hovered before him.
"Galadin sheet music," Ambraz hissed. "Where did you get this?"
Irwin looked at the old-looking papers, surprised by Ambraz's reactions. "Crithann gave them to me. He said these were partial bits and pieces that his family had gathered over the millennia. None were that useful because they were only parts of songs, but because of how I work, he thought I might have some use for them. These are copies."
Ambraz landed on the paper, and it took a while before he spoke up again.
"This isn't a single part of a song. It's more like tiny snippets of songs, the first few lines, a beat, or a melody. Show me the rest," he said, moving from the paper to give Irwin space.
Irwin began spreading the papers out across the table, and Ambraz hovered around, humming to himself.
"Alright, put this one first, then this, then this-"
Ambraz began landing on different papers, and Irwin started rearranging them. Finally, the one he'd had on top was moved to the back, together with some others. He didn't see exactly why, but he began seeing some sort of pattern in those that were arranged first.
"Alright… I need some time and paper. Greldo, can you go and get a booklet from somewhere? Make sure it's normal paper, not something that has card-skill-enhanced abilities."
Greldo let out a weary sigh. "Sure. Make me work," he said as he got up and walked away in mock weary resignation.
Ambraz didn't seem to notice or care, and he continued fiddling with the pages, sometimes asking Irwin to replace two pages. When Greldo returned, carrying three thin books, each bound in leather, he was humming a tune that reminded Irwin of the one he'd learned for Crithann.
"Alright! Put the book down above this page," Ambraz said as he landed on the first page.
Greldo snorted. "What, you don't even want to know what I had to do to get the-"
"No. Put it down," Ambraz said, sounding distracted.
Irwin held back a laugh as Greldo sighed and put the book down.
His laughter quickly died down as Ambraz began glowing. A dim purple light shone from him, and the book rustled. Ambraz hovered from page to page, the light shining while the book kept rustling. When he finished, Irwin noticed that the text on the pages was becoming faded, the yellow paper turning nearly orange.
"What did you do?" he asked as he picked up the book and opened it. Rows of musical notes were arranged on the page, and as he leafed through it, he realized they weren't in the same order as before. Although he wouldn't put his hand in freezing water for it, he thought he recognized parts of different pages now put below each other.
"I took the parts that belong together and arranged them properly," Ambraz said as if he'd read his mind. "Then I made sure the original pages would be destroyed so nobody else could just get them."
"Why?" Greldo asked, mirroring what Irwin was wondering about himself.
"Because if they somehow spread, someone might figure out how you got them and Crithann would get into some trouble," Ambraz said. "Or did he say you could share these?"
Irwin sighed. "No. He said I had to be careful."
"Exactly," Ambraz said as he landed on Irwin's shoulder. "Now, there's a bit of space below each page. I'm going to explain the sheet music, and you can add your own notes below."
Irwin couldn't hold back a grimace as he realized he was going to have to practice and learn.
"Well…. Good luck and all that? I'll go and see if Balarn and the others are up to something fun," Greldo said as he rose.
Irwin looked up to see his friend grin at him, and he snorted. "Sure. See if you can bring me some food and drink when you return," he muttered.
Greldo walked away, waving over his shoulder. "Sure, sure. I'll play some more fetch! Have fun learning about squiggly lines!"
Irwin watched him leave, then focused on the book's first page.
I hope this isn't going to be as difficult as it looks, he thought.
--
Two days and a massive headache later, Irwin was staring at the pages with blurry eyes. His fingers were cramped from writing with a pencil, something he hadn't done since Ambraz had taught him writing back in Trimdir's smithy. Still, he felt a massive sense of accomplishment.
"Alright, so this goes like-" he muttered before humming a tune.
"Correct," Ambraz said, sounding impressed. "You really do learn fast!"
If you say so, Irwin thought, thinking about the two days of nonstop learning he'd just done simply to learn how to read and interpret a few lines.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
"Now, go and sleep. The ship should arrive tomorrow, and it's not going to be useful for you to be red-eyed and tired. Who knows what the situation back there is like."
Irwin took a final look at the page before stuffing the booklet in his vest pocket.
He rose, flexing his fingers. A sense of relief came as his great endurance slowly removed the soreness from his fingers while his headache began diminishing at a speed he knew others would need hours for. He should have taken more breaks in between; that way he'd not even have had a headache in the first place!
"So, how long would it take me to learn this?" he asked as he walked towards the door. With some luck, Greldo and the others were in the mess, eating.
"Where are you going?"
"Eat?" Irwin said, slightly confused. Ambraz knew he needed to eat, and his stomach was telling him he hadn't had anything in a while.
"Well… you might wanna wait till morning when everything is open," Ambraz said.
Irwin blinked, and as he opened the door, he saw the general cabin lights were gone. Everything was tinted red, yellow, and orange, and a slight wavy line came from Coal as the hound looked up from his position in front of Greldo's door.
"Oh…" Irwin said lamely.
Trying to ignore his rumbling stomach, he closed the door, looked around for some food without finding any, and finally lay on his bed.
"Great," he muttered.
Ambraz landed on his chest, letting out a low laugh. "Now you know how I felt when I couldn't get any cards to eat!"
Irwin sighed, staring at the ceiling.
"What is going to happen when we arrive?" he asked, absently rubbing against his stubbled chin.
"Well, you are going to have a party because you are an Emerald rank smith, and then you must decide how to save your family. I'd say go and talk with someone who owns land, buy as much as possible, then see how many serfs you can have and get your family out. As an Emerald smith, you might be able to get an entire town somewhere."
Irwin was surprised at how well thought out Ambraz's plan was.
"Still no new ideas on how we can save Giard?" he asked.
Ambraz was quiet for a bit before he answered. "Listen, kid. Remember that there is a chance it shattered in the four weeks or more that we were gone. Don't be to surprised if we are too late..."
Irwin didn't reply, because he knew the other was right. He'd thought about it many nights while in his smithy and had somewhat learned to deal with the idea.
"Let's hope Daubutim managed to come up with something," he said before closing his eyes.
When he finally managed to fall asleep, his dreams were restless nightmares about his mother and brother running for their life while the ground around them erupted.
--
Daubutim stood in the massive central hallway, looking at the staircase.
"You are sure they will arrive today?" Gawarn asked, shuffling beside him.
"Yes," Daubutim said, crossing his arms.
"Okay, because we have been standing here for hours."
"Two hours, twenty-four minutes, and ten seconds," Daubutim said, ignoring the other's stunned glance.
"Haha. Real funny," Gawarn said before turning to Lamia. "You wanna go and find something to eat?"
"Let's wait till they are here," Lamia said, smiling at Gawarn.
Daubutim didn't need to look to see the infatuated look of the smith as he swooned over Lamia. Ever since she had been freed of whatever Uxin'tar had done to her, Gawarn had been hanging around her to ensure she was okay. Even Daubutim, who knew he wasn't good with these things, could see something was blooming there.
Not that he cared. It might be better if Lamia remained here. Even though she was working hard at getting more cards -a bit too hard from what he had seen- her cards were too weak to help with where they had to go. Even his would need work! Unless she managed to find three powerful battle cards, she'd be nothing but a liability with what he had to do.
There was a soft gong, followed by the crackling of lightning.
"The exit portal activated," Gawarn said, sounding excited.
"Yes. Now let's go up before Irwin walks in here with the wrong ranking plate," Daubutim said as he walked forward.
The guards below the stairs looked at him, nodded, and let them pass.
"I wonder how much they changed," Lamia said behind him. "They are now two years older?"
"Two years, three months, and a few days," Daubutim said without looking back.
He didn't know Irwin and Greldo's exact age, but he guessed they would be close to twenty now. That meant they were older than him now, though only by a year.
As they reached the portal room, a mass of people was walking towards them, but Daubutim instantly saw Irwin and the others. Irwin's black, red-tinted hair wrapped around his shoulders made him stick out from the masses. Only the guards around the exit portal didn't look small in comparison.
He scanned the crowd, and he almost stopped as he came across a group of four green-haired humanoids with pale, sharp faces and silver eyes. They were staring at Irwin and the others and surrounded by a group of a dozen guards who were still busy resummoning carded armor and weapons. He continued looking around, scanning them a second, quick time on the pass back before staring at Irwin.
They are being watched.
"Brother!"
Gawarn's booming voice rippled through the relatively quiet chamber, causing the over a hundred people that were moving towards them to stare at him.
So much for being quiet, Daubutim thought, noticing the group of green-haired people that seemed interested in Irwin turning their attention on Gawarn and him.
Still, there was a benefit to Gawarn's loudness. Irwin was now looking at him, and as they locked eyes, Irwin's eyes widened in recognition and joy. He said something to the others and walked towards them.
As they came closer, Daubutim noticed his friend had changed. Although he'd never been very childish, now there was nothing child-like remaining. Instead, a young man with burning silver eyes, a dark stubble, and a stoic look walked toward them.
Daubutim made a slight head gesture to the side before moving out of the way of the masses. The others followed him to the wall.
It's good to see that he became a heartcarded, he thought. Any little bit would help.
--
"Lamia is back!"
Irwin nodded, feeling more than a little relieved. Still, as he saw her follow Daubutim, walking beside Gawarn, he had the feeling something wasn't as it had been. Her eyes seemed deeper, and the joking, slightly flirty look she usually had was nowhere to be seen.
Balarn increased his pace and reached the others before him.
"Brother," he shouted, hugging Gawarn who was grinning widely, a look of absolute relief on his face.
"I was starting to get a bit worried! You were supposed to return a few days ago," Gawarn said, striking his brother's back.
"We had to wait for some more people at one of the stops," Balarn said.
Irwin sniffed, looking back at the group of green-haired, silver-eyed people. As he did, he saw them look back before quickly turning away. A moment later, they followed the mass of other visitors down the stairs and out of view.
Wondering what that was about, he turned to Daubutim, who was looking at him. His eyes were as dull as always, but he ignored that. Instead, he noticed he was now a hand-length taller than his friend.
"It's good to see you again, Daubutim," he said. "How have things been here?"
"Good, but before we do anything, I need you to remove your Emerald ranking plate,' Daubutim said softly.
What? Irwin looked at him in surprise, which grew as he was handed a Topaz ranking plate that reminded him of his old one.
"Replace it with this, and make sure you don't show the Emerald one again."
Irwin knew Duaubtim would never ask him to do this without a good reason. Without hesitation, he pulled his unbraided hair back, removing the simple cord that held his new ranking plate and stuffing the plate in his pocket. Then he took the topaz plate and gave it a quick look before wrapping it in the cord and tying it around his hair.
"I'll explain later," Daubutim said.
Irwin noticed he was looking around, and he did the same. They were the last still in the chamber, only the guards still standing there.
"What about them?" Irwin whispered.
"I'll make sure they don't say anything," Balarn said as he stepped up, nodding at Daubutim before turning to Irwin. "I just heard that Tensor is gone. Can you lend me a few thousand soulshards?"
Wondering what was wrong, Irwin calmly pulled out his bag and handed a large shard to Balarn. It was worth five thousand soulshards, and he hoped that whatever was going on was worth it. That one shard could have let him bring back and feed a lot of people here.
They waited quietly as Balarn walked to the guards and began talking.
"So, you are a heartcarded now. Did you reforge all your cards yourself?" Lamia asked.
Irwin looked up to see her examine him. She was smiling, but even then he saw such a profound sadness in her eyes that had never been there before, not even when the attacks on Degonda had cost the lives of some of her family.
"Most of them," he said. "But I had help."
Lamia smiled as she came closer and inspected his arm. "You went full strength and… metal?"
"That and fire," Irwin said as he raised his hand and let a few flames leak around his hand. He decided there was little use in explaining all he could do.
"A real smith," she said. "I barely recognize the young, small, and scrawny kid that came to Trimdir's looking for refuge from the cold!"
"Hey, I wasn't that small," Irwin said, smiling back.
"You were shorter and weaker than I was," Lamia said with a derisive snort. "Arms as thick as fingers!"
Irwin burst out laughing, but before he could say anything, Balarn returned.
"That should take care of these guys," he said, handing Irwin something.
Accepting it, Irwin realized it was a tiny bag with a few shards in it. Combined, they were barely more than half of the large one, but he hadn't really expected anything.
"They were willing to split the large soulshard," Balarn said, gazing at him meaningfully.
Right, and took the rest with the promise to not speak about anything they might have seen, Irwin thought.
"What about all of those people that were on the ship with us?" he asked.
"Nothing we can do about that now," Balarn said. "But these guards are notorious chattermouths, so this will at least buy us some time to find out exactly why you must hide your rank."
"Tensor's orders," Gawarn said with a shrug.
"Explain later. Let's get out of here and head back to the charter first," Balarn said.
Irwin followed him, noticing that Lamia and Gawarn remained side by side, whispering to each other.
Nobody stopped them as they walked down and through The Central Registry, and when they walked through the doors, Irwin stopped, taking in a deep breath.
The city that sprawled around them was larger and wider than he remembered. The wind that blew throughout it was also colder than he'd prefer, not that it was any problem. He'd have little trouble even if it was much, much colder. Still, from the trees in the parks, he could see winter was coming to this part of Fiverion.
I wonder how large this world actually is, he thought. Perhaps he could find a smaller city and buy a large area?
He saw the others were moving ahead, and he quickly followed them, constantly looking around.
The last time he'd been here, he had barely any experience with anything but his own world. Now, after having been on Scour for over two years, he realized just how dense and busy the world was. He recognized familiar areas in the distance, and as he followed the others down the stairs and into the city, he was surprised at how hectic it was. Only during the height of the Auction had there been this many people in Cinder Grove.
As they reached the Smiths district, he saw guards walking everywhere, and when they reached the street that led inside the district, their path was blocked by a group of guards.
Although it took only a few moments for Gawarn and Balarn to get them through, it still told him enough. Smiths were still disappearing.
The Smiths district was quiet, and when they reached Tensor's smithy, Irwin was surprised as he felt a slight bit of nostalgia. Seeing the towering doors, he recalled the first time he'd come here. He had been barely able to reforge a card and hadn't even had his Quartz ranking plate yet.
When they entered the smithy, dozens of smiths waited for them in the open courtyard. They were all chatting, but when the door opened, Irwin saw them all focus on their group. Ichela was standing in front of them, and she looked relieved when Balarn walked up to her.
"By Yilda, it's good to see you again," she muttered as she clasped hands with Balarn.
Irwin felt a shock run through his system. It had been ages since he'd last heard that name. Not since he'd left Scour! He looked around, noting a frown on Greldo's face, while Daubutim just looked as stoic and dull as ever. He wasn't sure if that meant he'd heard the term outside their world before or just wasn't shocked by it.
I'll need to ask him about this as soon as I can, Irwin thought.
"It's good to see you too," Balarn said before looking around and addressing the other smiths.
"I've heard that Tensor is off-world for something important, but I'll be here to make sure you all don't get bored," he shouted.
There was a quiet mutter while many smiths looked at him with as much relief as Ichela.
"Now. Me and the others need to settle in after our long journey and get caught up! I know some of you want to talk pleasantries, and there will be time for that later," Balarn continued. "For now, continue with the work you still have. I'll be reviewing everything tomorrow and make changes if they are required."
Irwin was massively impressed at how, in stride, Balarn took everything. There was no hint that he was worried about suddenly being in charge of Tensor's charter.
Many of the smiths muttered greetings, some walking forward to clap hands with Balarn before heading back to the forge areas.
"Come, there's lots we need to talk about," Ichela said as she looked at Balarn before glancing at Irwin. "You can come along while Gawarn gets the others situated. We have rooms ready for you all."
Irwin hesitated. He would have preferred talking with Daubutim first. Still, he guessed this wouldn't take too long.
"Has my family been informed?"
Ichela froze, then turned to Nimdal, a look of deep sorrow in her eyes.
“Nimdal, I am so sorry. Things have been hectic here and… no, no excuses. I am so sorry for your loss."
"It's fine," Nimdal said, his voice cool and his face as passive as it had been ever since his brother had died. "My family?"
"They have been informed, and I'm sure they will send someone to come pick you up soon. From what I was told, they would be heading back to the world of your grandfather as soon as you returned."
Nimdal finally showed a reaction at that, a surprised frown. Still, he just nodded. "Alright, I'll go and pack up our things."
Ichela smiled sadly as he walked away before turning to Balarn and Irwin.
"Let's go."
Balarn gave his brother a one-armed hug before following her.
Irwin turned to Greldo. "I'll be back soon. Can you get Daubutim up to speed?"
"Sure thing."
Irwin nodded before following Balarn.
Great. Let's see what's been going on here then, he thought.