Irwin barely noticed the stench coming from him and the dangling bodies; all his attention focused on Daubutim.

His friend had slid the ruby card in and was now sitting there with his eye closed, his hands jerking and vibrating occasionally.

"I wonder what it will do with him," Irwin whispered softly.

"It's going to allow him to circumvent whatever is bogging his mind down," Ambraz whispered. "But it might take him some getting used to."

Irwin hummed every few moments, looking around and happy to see nothing had been drawn by the stench of the blood and gore.

A soft sigh came from Daubutim, and Irwin's gaze returned to his friend.

"Thank you…" Daubutim said softly as he opened his eye. The cold blue was gone, changed to a pale amber color with tiny bolts of intensely red lightning zipping across it.

A massive grin appeared on Daubutim's face as he rose and looked around.

"I can… think!" he said, raising his hand and moving it around with a speed that surprised Irwin. "Ambraz is right, though. It will take a while before I can fully control everything, especially the mental aspects."

Before Irwin could ask what he meant, Daubutim lowered himself and moved a dozen steps to the side so fast Irwin sucked in his breath. It wasn't anywhere near Greldo's shadow stepping in speed or Scintilla's semi-teleport, but it was fast enough that Irwin wondered if he could move that fast, even if he used his kinetic energy.

Still, as he saw Daubutim look around with a happy grin, his eye red with crackling light, he felt an intense urge to try.

"The physical aspects are going to be a joy to incorporate into my sword-wielding," Daubutim said as he waved his hand around faster than it should be able to move.

Irwin nodded, taking a look around and seeing a large gnarled tree roughly two hundred feet away.

"Ambraz, keep an eye on the portal! Daubutim, show me how fast you are," he said, pointing at the tree.

Without waiting for either to respond, he turned and blasted away, leaving an indent and dirt scattered about. A surprised shout came from behind him, followed by a crackling sound. A moment later, Daubutim ran past him, his legs moving far faster than Irwin knew they had been able to an hour before.

"Lightning is faster than a hammer," Daubutim shouted as he began running ahead.

Instead of feeling annoyed at being overtaken, Irwin felt his joy grow at his friends' grown ability.

Still, he wasn't just going to let him win!

Using the thudding of his own feet, landing on the ground, and revolving his flame, Irwin continued to generate more Kinetic energy. With each bound, his speed increased, and within ten steps, he was hurtling forward at a nearly uncontrollable pace, having caught up to Daubutim's speed and slowly catching up.

It was too late, though, as the tree was closing in rapidly.

Should have put a more distant point, he thought as he realized he wasn't going to make it.

A few moments later, Daubutim blurred past the tree, followed by Irwin, who saw his friend come to a sliding halt before moving to the side. Digging his own heels into the ground, Irwin felt the soft soil, grass, and moss split apart as he ground forward. It took him a while to lose his momentum, and he was curious to see that his kinetic energy increased rapidly from the process.

If I ever have to flee or run somewhere, I can use the stopping before corners to accelerate after, he thought.

When he finally slowed down enough to come to a slow running halt, he turned and jogged back to Daubutim, who was waiting for him, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"How long can you keep that up?" Daubutim asked.

Irwin took a quick look at his remaining energy, then shrugged.

"Very long," he said. "A few hours at the least."

Daubutim nodded, then his face turned slightly slack, followed by a look of surprise before ending on joy.

"Greldo is still the fastest due to his teleport, and for any wide-area scouting, we should send him," Daubutim said, his voice turning calm and analytical. "Beyond that, it would depend on the distance and situation. Short range and high maneuverability is me, then mid-range would be you."

Irwin opened his mouth to ask what he was on about when Daubutim looked ahead and continued.

"Beyond that, the way our abilities combine means that I can come up with some very efficient combat strategies. With you in the lead, taking the brunt of the damage and potentially wiping out hordes of demons weak to fire or being suffocated, I can take out any dangerous range or control enemies. Greldo can take care of any that try and either stay far back, other teleporters, or airborne foes," Daubutim said, his voice increasing in speed to the point that Irwin was staring at him with his mouth wide open.

Daubutim nodded and crossed one arm across his chest while thoughtfully rubbing his chin with his free hand. The lightning in his eye was crackling softly, and Irwin could almost see him start coming up with tactics.

"How does it feel?" Irwin asked as they walked back. "Is the problem solved or…

"Not solved," Daubutim said. "It's as if my mind is too fast for the issue to arise. If I think for a long, consecutive time, it might still happen, but right now, I'm thinking in short bursts," he continued, talking so fast Irwin was having trouble making out the words.

"I'm happy for you," he said with a grin. "But you might want to learn how to control how fast you talk, or nobody will be able to keep up."

Daubutim cocked his head, then nodded.

When they returned to the portal, Ambraz flew towards them. "Interesting! I hadn't thought you would start talking faster," he said.

Daubutim didn't respond, staring at the Anvil briefly before stepping forward and bowing. "Thank you for coming up with a way to help me. I will never forget it," he said, holding the bow for a few seconds.

"W- what?" Ambraz stuttered before clearing a throat he didn't have. "Right… Right! Yes, I'm glad you see how great my help is," he said boisterously.

Ambraz muttered something in the language Irwin had heard him speak before and rushed to his shoulder.

"Irwin, thank you too for all the effort," Daubutim said.

Irwin was glad Daubutim didn't bow to him, and he grinned. "No problem. Now, how about we use your new card for the thing we came here for? Do we bring everyone here and risk it being too close to Fiverio, or do we keep searching?"

He already had made up his own opinion a while ago, but he knew that was based on the fact that he wanted to get his family away from Giard as fast as possible. If Daubutim had a good reason for not choosing this world, he was willing to listen.

Daubutim's face slowly returned to his usual stoic calm as he crossed his arms and frowned. As he did so, his eye began flickering around, almost as if he was looking at some speedy insect, while the red lighting intensified until his eye looked like a red mass of energy.

It must be great to be able to finally use his reasoning skills, Irwin thought.

"Yes, I think we should," Daubutim finally said, and Irwin saw his lips crawl up again.

"Damn right," Ambraz hissed.

Irwin was slightly surprised but, at the same time, happy.

"I was hoping you'd say that, but… why?"

"Many reasons," Daubutim said. "For one, as Ambraz said, history has proven that the alternatives haven't worked. We could opt to find a spot far away and hide, but eventually, they are more than likely to find us again. That means we need to try something else. Gelwin provided me with many books on the Galadin empire, some I presume were written by himself, and from them, it is apparent that they had already become an empire in decline long before they were being hunted. From what I have found, they also had no allies anymore, while their council was in disarray. This all being as it may, bringing everyone over here doesn't prevent us from continuing to search for a better spot to hide."

As Daubutim continued talking, his voice slowly picked up speed again, but every so often, he would halt and restart at his normal speed.

"I agree with all of that," Irwin said slowly.

The idea of seeing his mother again sooner rather than later made him incredibly excited, and as he thought about how Bronwyn would feel when he told him about heartcarded and that he could reforge cards, he grinned widely.

I wonder if they will even recognize me, he suddenly thought. He worried for only a moment before deciding he'd cross that bridge when he got there. Besides, there were more imminent things to worry about, and with Daubutim finally able to use not just his knowledge but also his mind, it was time to start working on those.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

As they continued toward the portal, he thought about the things that had bothered him over the last few weeks. "Do you think what's happening now, with the missing smiths, the Galub and Nyzir raiders, and the portals appearing on Giard, is all connected?"

Daubutim froze, and the lightning in his eye became a momentarily swirling storm.

Irwin waited, absently looking at his dirty arm, recalling he still needed to clean himself up.

He didn't have to wait long before Daubutim answered.

"I… don't know. I don't know what Giard's time dilation is compared to the one on the Portal Gallery and Fiverion. If we can learn that, and if Gelwin can tell us when exactly the portals started appearing in our world and what date that is in Portal Gallery time, I can determine what happened simultaneously in this region," Daubutim said as his eye slowly returned to its new amber hue. "However, you could be right. It's odd how the same demons appeared on Giard and then on Scour, those being the Imps and now the others in this region of the Portal Galery. Still… it could just be two things happening or one being a consequence of the other. Father would-"

Daubutim's mouth shut closed with a snap.

Irwin looked up to see his friend's face had turned slack, almost like when he would have one of his episodes. He hesitated for a moment, wondering if he should say something, then decided to wait. Daubutim would need to come to grips with his father, and if the man was still alive, he'd perhaps meet him in the future.

So, we are going to bring everyone here then, Irwin thought as he stared around at the sparse forest.

Between the boars, some of whom now hung from a nearby tree, and their sprinting, the area looked heavily mangled, but even that couldn't hide the serenity of the surroundings. Everything reminded him of the few days in the summer before things got blistering hot and when food finally came flowing back in Malorin when people had been happy, and the world had a semblance of what he guessed should have been normalcy.

We will need to make a town here, eventually a city, he thought with a frown. Would he be here for that, though? They would need to find portals to adjacent worlds and perhaps deal with natives. What was he thinking? Who knew if there weren't natives in this world?

Crossing his arms, he stared at the portal, then around. How would those react if they were here to the people from Giard appearing in mass and all the others?

We will just have to find a way to make it work, he thought. When Greldo gets back, he's going to need to do some more scouting.

He looked at Daubutim, noticing that his friend's eye was swirling with lightning, showing he was thinking.

A crackling from the portal made Irwin turn towards it. Zender stumbled out, his foot snagging the root and falling on his knees.

"Zender? What are you doing here?" Irwin asked.

The boy looked up, going pale and wide-eyed as he noticed the gore covering Irwin. "Ca- Captain, are you alright? No, wait! There's a ship approaching! Greldo told me to come get you!"

Irwin hissed, the slowly growing tranquility washed away by a surge of adrenaline.

"I'm going to-"

"Go! I'll stay here. If it's too dangerous, send everyone through," Daubutim said as he began looking around. "I'll see if I can figure out some way to create a defense."

Irwin nodded and jumped into the portal.

--

Daubutim watched calmly as Irwin left before turning to Zender. The boy had been looking around with wide-eyed awe, then stared back, his face going slack.

"Daubutim… what is wrong with your eye?"

"A new card," Daubutim said, waving at the boars on the tree, deciding just to insinuate he'd got them from those. "Now, tell me exactly what you saw."

"It was a ship I think I've seen before! It reminds me of one of the ships that arrived at Sesnanser when you and the Captain arrived," Zender said, sounding excited. "Greldo said there were Da'xi onboard, so it might be survivors from what happened there! Do you think my other brothers and sisters could be on board?"

"I don't know, but we will find out soon enough," Daubutim said calmly, looking around. "I need you to climb in that tree all the way up and keep an eye on our surroundings. If you see anything, shout."

Zender looked at the tree, a gleeful smile appearing as he ran forward. "You can count on me!"

Resilient, Daubutim thought before summoning his massive sword. A series of spikes, so if everyone has to flee here, we can just put them in front of the portal, he thought coldly. He knew it was his father's tactic for guarding gates, but he ignored the bubbling rage that knowledge brought. A good idea was a good idea, no matter who came up with it.

As he ran to the nearest tree, he noticed his balance was off, and the way his sword wouldn't work at this speed.

Branches, spears, then some quick practice in case we get into a battle, he thought.

"Daubutim, there's a weird bird up here looking at me!"

Daubutim spun around, looking at the high branches where Zender was clinging. The green bird hadn't moved, but its eyes were open as it stared with -Daubutim hoped- curiosity at Zender. He focused on his other card, and Twyl appeared on his shoulder.

'Stay with the boy and warn me if that bird does anything,' he ordered. 'If it closes in, attack it.'

Twyl sent a cool confirmation back as it launched itself from his shoulder toward Zender. Daubutim waited, ready to act if needed, but the green bird didn't respond and merely remained watching. Twyl landed on Zender's shoulder, and the boy stroked its beak, looking slightly relieved.

"Twyl will stay with you," Daubutim said. "I need to make some spears."

"Okay," Zender shouted back, only slightly shaky.

Good, Daubutim thought. The boy could become a strong warrior if he had this mentality, and with the card Irwin had given him, he'd live to at least thirty. I need to take some time to come up with a way to help him get stronger and perhaps older, he thought as he sliced down at a branch, his massive sword easily cut it.

He continued till seven minutes and three seconds had passed before moving the branches to the portal and beginning to sharpen their points. Four done, the portal crackled again, and Daubutim rose, tossing the spear to the side and raising his sword calmly.

Ib stumbled outside, but when her foot snagged the root, which he would leave until everything was saved, she managed to keep her balance somehow.

Must be her card, he thought.

Ib looked up and took a step back as she saw his sword.

"It's me!" she shouted, holding her arms up and looking around with quickly widening eyes. "Woah… this place is incredible!"

"Ib, focus. What is going on at the ship?" Daubutim said.

"What? Oh! One of the ships that managed to escape from Sesnanser somehow found us! Greldo said there's even some girlfriend of Irwin on it, and he seemed to know the Captain, some Da'xi captain."

Irwin's girlfriend? Daubutim thought, shelving that as less important.

"Was it Xi'balak or Xi'kroak?" Daubutim asked.

"Xi'kroak," Ib said, walking to the nearest tree and gently touching it. "It's cold and slightly wet," she said, sounding surprised.

"Ib, is everything alright? Did Irwin say anything?"

"Oh, right! He said not to worry and that he was going to send Greldo back in a bit so you could come to the ship, and… Ah! Those are why the Captain was so bloody and smelly? Are they edible?"

Daubutim watched Ib rush to the dangling bodies of the boars. He decided that he was going to ask Rindiri a few things about what exactly constituted perfect genes because his current observations seemed to indicate that Zender was far more useful than his supposedly genetically superior sister.

Perhaps gene-quality is only determined by potential age, he thought.

He glanced at the half-finished piles of spears, and for a moment, he reveled in how fast his mind was flickering through the ideas. The dullness was still there, but he stopped thinking and focused on something simple each time he felt it rise in an attempt to overwhelm him. The speed at which he both sensed it and evaded it, even with as little practice as he had, told him that there would come a time that he'd likely not even notice it anymore.

"Ib, come here and help me sharpen these," he said, walking back to the to-be spears.

--

Irwin ignored Monique's pleading looks on the other ship and instead focused on Xi'kroak. He could barely believe Greldo had been right when he'd said Xi'kroak was onboard and wasn't sure if he should be happy or worried. Xi'kroak had been both helpful and kind in their dealings, but that had been when they were on his ship as passengers. Now, there was a rank-six portal behind them.

"They have noticed the portal and its rank," Greldo whispered next to him. "They seem excited."

I don't blame them, Irwin thought.

"Greetings, captain Xi'kroak," he shouted, raising his hand in greeting. "How did you manage to find us?"

"Leader Irwin… or should I call you Captain Irwin now?" Xi'kroak responded, his faceplates clattering loud enough for Irwin to hear it twenty feet away.

"Captain Irwin will do," Irwin said. Rindiri and the others were already calling him that, and he decided that if he had to have a title, it'd be best to have just one.

Until I can show I'm a smith again, he thought.

"Captain Irwin, congratulations on gaining such a beautiful vessel," Xi'kroak said. "What is it named?"

"The Sonata," Irwin said, wondering if Xi'kroak was refusing to answer his question on purpose. He knew it had to be a card that had allowed them to follow, but he wanted to know if whatever skill was used had tracked one of them or something else.

"A good name," Xi'kroak said.

"Thank you," Irwin said, deciding to try again. "It surprises me to see you here! How did you manage to track us?"

Xi'kroak's faceplates chattered again, and he put a hand on the railing. "One of my crewmen has a card that allows him to trace ship sails."

Irwin nodded slowly. That made sense and was both a relief and an annoyance. As a cardsmith, he knew very well that cards like this would not be singular, and this meant he'd have to deal with similar issues in the future.

"Not to be too forward," Xi'kroak shouted.

The Da'xi captain raised his hand and touched one of his cheek plates in a gesture Irwin hadn't seen before. Still, he prepared himself for the question he knew was coming.

"How did you learn about the location of an unopened rank six portal?"

He thinks we knew beforehand? Irwin thought in surprise. He was about to shout they hadn't known when Greldo prodded his foot.

Irwin glanced at his friend before focusing back on Xi'kroak while Greldo leaned forward, whispering softly. "Monique looks like she just swallowed something disgusting. I'd say she's got something to do with this.

Xi'kroak showed no reaction to Greldo whispering at him, and Irwin felt momentarily at a loss. He had no idea what was happening, what Monique was doing on that ship, or how she'd even gotten here.

What does it matter? I couldn't answer his question, and if I told him we didn't know, that might cause other trouble, he decided.

"I'll have to keep that answer a secret," Irwin finally shouted as he crossed his arms over his chest. "At least for now. However, I will say that Giard's Rangers claim this portal and the worlds beyond it in combination with a few other parties."

There was a sudden angry whisper on the other ship while Xi'kroak's faceplates closed so far that only his eyes and a tiny slit over his mouth were free.

Irwin focused on his skills, readying his hammer and deciding that he would throw a burning hammer at the ship if they showed any hostility. As much as he hoped they could talk this out somehow, there was too much at stake.

"Captain Irwin, you are still very unfamiliar with my people," Xi'kroak shouted, his voice cold. "So I will forgive this implied insult. However, please be aware that my people would never think of trying to claim something that is not ours to claim. I think it would be best if we had a private chat before mistakes are made."

"Careful. Some of them have carded weapons and abilities ready," Greldo whispered.

Irwin needed only a second to make up his mind. He wasn't going to board Xi'kroak's ship, no matter what the Da'xi said. His words had seemed heartfelt, but who was to say what they thought was theirs to claim?

"You are right," he shouted. "Please be welcome aboard The Sonata!"

Xi'kroak nodded before turning to his shiphelm. "Get us a bit closer," he shouted.

Irwin waited, outward as calm as he could be but inward, still somewhat afraid of an ambush. By now, he knew how special the portal was, and as much as he wanted to trust Xi'kroak, how well did he really know the Da'xi? A few moments later, the ship was ten feet away, and Xi'kroak stood up on the railing before leaping forward with apparent ease, landing on the deck not too far from Irwin.

Before Irwin could walk to greet him, another figure floated across the short distance. A slender Da'xi with smaller faceplates, she hovered beside Xi'kroak protectively.

"Captain Irwin, meet my mate, La'suna," Xi'kroak said as he walked forward.

This close, Irwin saw that his plates were still more closed than he was used to. It seemed he wasn't the only one afraid of an ambush. Realizing that somehow made him feel much better, and he managed a reasonably natural smile as he stepped forward.

"A pleasure to meet you," he said, copying something he'd heard Daubutim say. "Shall we go to my cabin?"

"That might be for the best," Xi'kroak said.