Irwin stumbled down the stairs, every inch of his body in pain. Which day was this? The third? Or the fourth?

He couldn't remember. The days had turned into a blur of hallways, training dummies, and tables laden with food. All he remembered was that he could now raise that bloody staff for longer and hit the stupid dummy more times before he was forced to jog around the room.

"Are you okay?"

He looked up at Greldo, who looked barely any better than he felt.

"Dinner," Irwin croaked, forcing a grin on his face.

Greldo somehow managed to laugh, shaking his head before grimacing and rubbing his neck.

"You are trying to eat them into submission, aren't you?" he asked. "I think you grew another inch."

Irwin tried to straighten himself up, felt something pull in his lower back, and decided seeing if Greldo was right wasn't worth the effort.

An indeterminable number of hallways later, they were sitting back at a table.

Irwin smiled at the double portion in front of him. The only benefit so far was that they had finally stopped wondering if he tossed the food out somewhere and just gave him as much as he could carry, which wasn't that much, sadly.

Glancing at his thin arm, he sighed. Where was all this food going?

Ten minutes and most of his food later, the others of their party arrived and slumped down. They had barely seen each other the last few days. Only during food and in their room. Not that the latter helped much. Every one of them was so dead tired they slept the moment they touched the bed.

"I heard rumors that things are going worse outside," Olban muttered around a mouthful of bread and meat. "The rest periods have been shortened again, and the groups that arrive get only one day before they are sent back out."

There was a soft crying sound, but Irwin didn't even look up. Twintin seemed to be crying most of the time now.

"Come, Twintin, it's going to be fine," Rachel whispered, hugging the smaller girl.

"Some of the other groups have been let into the other training portals," Olban said, ignoring the girls as he looked at Greldo.

He didn't seem to like any of them a lot, but Irwin had noticed that he disliked Greldo the least, for whatever reason.

"From what I've heard, we will go in three days."

Irwin shivered.

"Any idea which room?" Greldo asked.

"The swamp..." Olban said, staring at his plate.

"No!" Rachel whispered.

Irwin sighed and focused on the bits of food he had left before getting up for another plate. He was almost full, but he knew that if he got up and moved a bit, he'd be able to fit in another half a plate, and if he didn't, he'd be hungry in bed.

The rest of the night started as it had the previous days, with him lighting the fire and the others falling asleep two seconds later.

Irwin was about to close his eyes when there was a knock on the door. He hoped for a moment that Daubutim would open the door, but nobody reacted, and when the knock came again, louder, he slipped out of bed, put his coat back on, and ran to the door.

A guard stood before it, looking as weary as Irwin felt.

"Irwin?"

"Yes..."

"Lady Yrinta requires your presence," the guard said, stepping away. "Let's go."

Irwin sighed, then stumbled forward. Forcing his way up the stairs and through the hallways cost whatever energy he had gotten from dinner, and he barely remembered how he arrived in front of a dark wooden door.

"I'll wait here to bring you back," the guard said, covering his face with a yawn.

Irwin nodded, stared at the door, then knocked.

"Enter."

I hope this won't take too long, Irwin thought as he pushed open the door and stepped into a well-lit room. Bookshelves lined the walls, maps of regions he didn't recognize plastered on others, and Lady Yrinta stood before one.

"Irwin? Good. I've heard you're having some trouble with the training."

Irwin grimaced, not sure how to react. He'd expected Mouldir to have kicked him and Greldo out days ago, but they were still there, so it was probably too much to hope that Lady Yrinta would do that now.

"I've not had my cards for a long time," he said, knowing she knew that just as well as he did.

"I know, and I'm sorry you are being forced so hard," she said, turning a weak smile at him. "Sadly, things are going worse than ever, and with what you've shown in portal eighteen, I can't send you to the slower class."

"I understand," Irwin said, unable to keep the disappointment from his voice.

"Not that anyone is going to be in the slower class much longer," Lady Yrinta muttered. Then she looked at him, and Irwin was shocked by how tired she looked compared to the last time he'd seen her. Her eyes were heavily lidded, dark bags below them.

"The sorcerers I sent inside portal eighteen managed to find the way you used to finish it, finally, so you are officially a training portal closer now," she said.

Didn't getting a card mean that already? Irwin thought, but he kept quiet.

Lady Yrinta gazed at a spot behind him, falling silent.

Seconds ticked by, and Irwin almost wondered if she'd fallen asleep standing and, if she had, if she could teach him how to do that. He'd tried twice and crumpled down each time. Suddenly, he realized she'd been talking to him, and he blinked, looking up.

"Back? Good. It's fine; we are all tired," Lady Yrinta said before frowning and shaking her head. "Except for Mouldir. That man is a monster. Not enough of one, sadly. Now, I'll let you go back to bed, but first, the reason you came here. See it as part of your reward. Though it's more of a warning, I guess."

Irwin licked his lips, feeling his heartbeat rise. What reward was a warning?

"You will only have three more days of training. After that, your group will get a half day of rest before being brought to your first real portal."

Irwin stared at her stupidly. Olban had said things had changed, but this bad? He wasn’t even sure he'd heard her right.

"What?" he muttered, but Lady Yrinta softly continued.

"The best I could manage was to have you moved to a region with weaker common portals. Due to that, most will have Imps, so with a little luck..." she looked at him, glancing at his cards. "If you can use your card to rapidly close Imp portals, that would already be a great help."

"I thought we had two weeks left?" Irwin whispered, barely realizing who he was asking a question of.

Lady Yrinta looked at him, then smiled sadly.

"Yes... that was before the number of portals increased again. It's become so bad that the Capital has begun forcefully conscripting anyone not already doing so to close portals. It's why you will see more girls here if you manage to return," she added, staring at him meaningfully.

Irwin frowned, and it took his weary, overstimulated mind a moment to figure out what that meant. Girls usually remained in the towns to ensure a new generation was born, as much as his mother had cursed that. The exceptions were either the very best or those deemed useless. There had only been one girl sent from Malorin, Clarish Uldrot, and she had been taken to the uncommon tower straight away, likely to be gifted a healing card or some powerful control card.

"The king removed the rule last year, but it hasn't really been widely noticed where you are from," Lady Yrinta said absently. "Beldorin tried to resist, and a day later, the lord was killed and a puppet planted in his place."

Irwin barely believed he heard. The Capital was a faint, unknown thing they never spoke about back in Malorin, and killing lords? He swallowed as he watched Lady Yrinta, who seemed to have forgotten him, staring at the map as she spoke softly.

"If we don't manage to stop the tide of portals, it won't matter... nothing will matter..." she whispered.

Irwin felt his skin crawl, and the forlornness Yrinta had spoken with made him shiver.

What will happen to Mother and Bronwyn? he thought.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

A sudden worry about portals appearing around Malorin made him clench his fists, ignoring the muscle pain. What if his mother had to help close portals? She had no combat cards!

His toe-less feet rustled on the stone ground, and Lady Yrinta looked up with a start.

"Ah, you are still here! Sorry, I've had no sleep in days."

"Go, head back to your room," she said as she waved at the door. "I've done what I could for you based on the reward your clearing warranted."

Irwin walked towards it, his feet heavy like lead and not just from how tired he was.

"If I don't see you again, good luck," Lady Yrinta said. "Remember this. Don't die closing one portal. Leave if you have to and try again," Yrinta said.

Irwin nodded and quickly walked out of the door, closing it behind him. The guard stood to the side, head against the wall, eyes opening blearily.

"Wu.. what? You ready?" the man asked, yawning.

"Yes," Irwin said.

The trip back was possibly even more quiet, with both of them yawning and seemingly lost in thoughts. When Irwin reached his room, the guard just waved and left.

Irwin gazed at the door, his mind dull.

"Kid, go into the other room. We need to talk!"

Irwin jolted as the soft whisper came from his pocket. It took him two seconds to realize he'd had no time to speak with Ambraz for the last few days. Forcing his weariness down, he moved to the other room and slipped inside, closing the door behind him. It still reeked of smoke and burned stone, and the fireplace looked like someone had tried burning it.

"Finally," Ambraz said as he struggled out of Irwin's pocket. "Do you know how it feels like to be cooped up inside someone's dusty old jacket all day?"

Irwin yawned and looked at the Anvil without actually seeing him. Lady Yrinta's final words kept flowing through his head. He had never worried too much about the portals, at least no more than that he wished Bronwyn would be safe. The horrible time in Training Portal Eighteen had made him fear them even more, but he'd never thought that things were as bad as this.

Something rustled in his face, and he automatically dodged back.

"Don't ignore me," Ambraz hissed. "You can sleep soon."

"What did you want to talk about?" Irwin whispered.

"A warning- seeing as you already had one, another won't hurt," Ambraz said. "If you can get away from this tower, you should do so! There's something weird with some of these sorcerers, and although I can't pinpoint what, it's not good. So, try to hold back the next few days so you don't look like a corpse when it's time to leave. You don't want that Mouldir to decide to keep you back here."

"What do you mean, something weird?" Irwin asked.

"Brat, I just told you, I can't pinpoint it. All I know is that their cards, the way they feel? It's off. I know of a few things that could cause it, and none of them are good. Heed my warning. Get out of here, and don't come back."

Irwin licked his dry lips, then nodded. "Alright, let me know if there's something wrong."

"And how do you suppose I do that?" Ambraz muttered as he lowered himself back into Irwin's pocket.

"I don't know... can't you make some movement?" Irwin asked as he walked to the door. A soft vibration came from his pocket.

"That will do," Irwin said, yawning again. "I've got to go sleep, or tomorrow will be worse."

Irwin snuck out of the room, glad there was nobody waiting for him, then into his own. He'd half expected Greldo to be awake, but all he found was an empty fireplace where the fire had gone out, a cold room and his snoring teammates.

His body hurt as he climbed under the blankets, and he didn't even remember putting his head down.

–

"Three days..." Greldo cursed as he walked beside Irwin.

They were far behind the others, and neither of them was able to really keep up, which gave them their only moment to talk without being overheard.

"We should warn the others," Greldo whispered.

Irwin let out a groan of relief when they reached the top of the final staircase. He very much felt the lack of sleep, and he knew that he was going to feel it even more when he raised the staff for the first time.

"Tonight," he said, agreeing.

"Three days," Greldo said again, gritting his teeth. "We aren't going to be able to really learn anything useful in that time."

Irwin didn't bother responding, as it was obvious. He had only been hitting a dummy to get some stamina... the only thing he had learned had been from looking at some of the youths who seemed to know how to use it.

Shouts and thudding came from the distant hallway, showing they were probably the last to arrive, again.

This is going to be a pain, Irwin thought, flinging his arms around to start warming them up.

He was right. The rest of the day passed grudgingly slow, and even with him trying to hold back as much as possible, he could barely lift his fork during dinner. It didn't stop him from eating two full meals and a bit, stunning even Daubutim.

"Shouldn't you be growing really fast or getting fat?" Olban said as they walked towards their door. "You eat more than all of us combined, except for our silent noble."

Irwin didn't respond but pulled open the door. The others rushed in, heading straight for bed.

"Before you sleep, I need to tell you all something," Irwin said.

All eyes focused on him, though Olban seemed ready to complain.

"Lady Yrinta called me to her room yesterday," Irwin said.

"The guard," Daubutim said, his dull eyes lighting up for a fraction of a second.

So he was awake! Irwin thought.

"What did she want?" Olban said, leaning forward on the edge of his bed. "Don't tell me she is into scrawny, smelly, badly dressed hobos?"

Irwin held back a desire to throw his shoe at Olban and instead focused on Daubutim and the girls.

"She told me that we are going to be sent to a town, two days from now," he said. "The portals are starting to overflow, and the Capital has begun conscripting anyone with cards."

There was a moment of silence, then Rachel rose and shook her head.

"That's not a funny joke!"

Irwin just looked at her, and slowly, her eyes turned wide with horror. From beside her, Twintin grabbed her hand.

"Are they still sending us into the swamp?" Rachel asked after a few moments.

"I don't know," Irwin said. "She didn't tell me. But... I don't think so."

Rachel nodded, and Irwin saw the slight relief on her face.

"No extra cards either?" Olban asked hopefully.

Irwin shrugged.

"Well, if we only have three days left to live, I'm going to sleep," Olban said, kicking off his boots and hiding below the blankets.

"Should we warn the others?" Rachel asked, staring between Irwin and Greldo.

"The nobles?" Greldo snorted. "If they even want to listen to us, what use will it do? They might even welcome the challenge."

Irwin agreed but waited to see what Daubutim would see. To his surprise, the noble was staring at the wall with dull eyes, seemingly lost in his own world.

He, Greldo, and Rachel spoke for a while longer before heading to bed.

As he lay on his back, every muscle in his body hurting, Irwin thought about his Mother and Bronwyn. Maybe he should try and flee when he had a chance.

If only I knew where Malorin was from here, he thought.

It took longer than usual to fall asleep, but even the stress and panic couldn't keep it away for long.

The next day went the same as the previous, with the sole exception that Eldwan came to him and demonstrated a few ways to use the staff correctly. He even corrected Irwin for half an hour before walking away with a distant look.

When they arrived on the last day, Mouldir and Lady Yrinta were standing in the center of the room, and none of the other sorcerers were there.

"Alright, you brats, listen up," Mouldir shouted. "You've been doing really well. So well, actually, that I'll be taking you to get your uncommon cards! For those wondering about the best groups? Thats them," he said, pointing at a group consisting of burly nobles.

There was a stunned silence before the room exploded in a cacophony of shouts. There were some complaints, but most of those were drowned out in the cheering of the nobles.

Irwin grimaced as he watched the nobles, wondering if they would feel like cheering in a few moments. His own hands had begun shaking, and it wasn't from muscle pain this time.

Mouldir let them shout for a bit before raising his hand.

"Enough! Now, against my better judgment," he said, glancing at Lady Yrinta and shaking his head as if he still couldn't believe it. "I'll be giving you all the rest of the day off to rest."

There was another, more muted cheer, mostly because Mouldir was looking at them with raised eyebrows.

"Don't be too happy... The only reason I agreed is that tomorrow morning, you will all be teleported to the towns and cities that have active common portals. And there are a lot of those."

The cheers seemed to be swallowed by a monstrous force, and the next moment, it was so quiet in the training room that you could have heard a pin drop.

"Now, Lady Yrinta here will give you a few lessons on real portals. Good luck, and I hope to see you all again," Mouldir said before pointing at the 'lucky' group. "You lot follow me!"

Irwin watched as Mouldir walked away, followed by the group. When they vanished around the corner, he turned to Lady Yrinta.

"I understand you all have a lot of questions," Lady Yrinta said. "If you all listen quietly, I'll explain what is happening."

Every person in the room stared at her, listening as she began telling them about the increased number of portals.

Irwin let her words wash over him, hearing nothing new. If there was anything, she seemed more optimistic than when she'd told him what was happening.

Perhaps she was too tired back then? Irwin thought, hoping she'd just made it sound far worse.

When Lady Yrinta finished, there was a hush before one of the nobles stepped forward. Young, lanky, and with piercing blue eyes below bushy dark eyebrows, he looked almost like an adult.

"Lady Yrinta, can we be sent to our own cities?" he asked.

Irwin saw a lot of the nobles nodding.

"I fear not," Lady Yrinta said, raising her hand to stop their complaints. "Most of you are from cities with many guards and rangers, and they can still hold out—the towns we are sending you to have no such luxury."

Another noble stepped forward.

"Lady Yrinta, we all know this! Of course! But why should we go there and risk our lives for people we don't know if our own cities are in danger?"

Irwin zoned out as Lady Yrinta responded in a similar fashion as to the first question.

It lasted for over ten minutes before Yrinta exploded.

"Enough! I have heard your petty complaints, and there's nothing I can do! You all know that if we let the portals continue to grow stronger, we will eventually be overrun, just like the rest of the world! We are the only place in all of Giard that is still free. Now, head back to your rooms. Rest, eat, and prepare for tomorrow!"

Irwin felt someone tug his sleeve, and he looked up to see Greldo beckon him to the exit. The others were already walking there, and Irwin quickly followed them as fast as his aching body could.

They reached their room without any issue and stood in the center, looking at each other.

"So... now what?" Olban muttered, scratching his cheek, breaking a zit without seeming to care.

"I don't know what you are going to do," Greldo said as he stretched his arms. "But I'm going to sleep, then eat, and finally sleep again. Maybe a miracle will happen, and the portals will disappear by the time I wake up."

Irwin grinned and walked to his bed, agreeing with his friend wholeheartedly.

"It's too bad we didn't get to earn another card," Olban muttered.

I wonder what they are going to do with all the cards they have stored here, Irwin thought, staring up at the stone ceiling. Wouldn't it be better if they gave everyone more cards?

Wondering about that, he lay in his bed until he fell asleep.