"Die!"

Irwin jerked his head back while kinetic energy exploded from his feet to propel him out of the massive energy blast as Doomblade's namesake slammed into the ground, leaving behind ripples.

Stumbling back, he increased the size of his hammer to regain his balance. Fire was raging all around him, keeping at bay the mass of roaring Galubs. A quick look showed none dared approach the searing heat he was projecting outward.

Too bad Doomblade doesn't care, Irwin thought as he focused back on the hardest fight he'd had in a long time.

The five-horned Galub glared at him, seeming unaffected by the bruises covering his face. A pale blue barrier sat all around him with a whitish aura a few feet beyond it. Irwin's flames were unable to pierce the barrier, while Irwin had found out what the aura did.

He took a step to the side, shrinking his hammer before quickly circling towards Doomblade.

Twenty counts between his big attacks, he thought as he watched the sword very faintly pulse as Doomblade ripped it from the ground it had been stuck into.

"You won't survive," the Galub snarled.

Irwin didn't bother reacting. Doomblade had been snarling obscenities and threats all during the fight, and he'd found they were nothing but attempts at distracting him.

No. What he needed to do was find a gap in the insane defense.

Taking a deep breath, he readied himself, then dashed forward, exploding with kinetic speed and swinging his hammer around. Doomblade's sword whipped up with speed nothing that large should be capable of, and Irwin shrunk his hammer to evade the block before enlarging it. Doomblade's eyes widened, but he nearly folded back on himself, the hammer swooshing through the air above him.

How can he move like that, Irwin thought as he stepped forward and kicked the Galub.

Doomblade's sword almost snaked back around between his foot and the Galub's body, and Irwin gritted his teeth as he kicked the blade. It didn't budge in the slightest, while Irwin felt a dull pain from his heel. He shrank his hammer, spun around, enlarging it to its max, and walked through Crithann's hammer stances.

As fast as his hammer flitted through the air, Doomblade was always just in time to block it, while none of Irwin's flames managed to move through the barrier.

He's using that bloody aura to detect my movements, Irwin thought as he counted to fifteen and took a big jump back. The massive sword was pulsing with a bright blue light, and he barely managed to hurl his hammer forward as Doomblade brought it down toward him. The sword elongated as it descended, a blueish version of itself slashing into Irwin's hammer.

Irwin felt more of his energy drain away in a large woosh, but at the same time, his kinetic energy increased, and he jumped forward, swatting his hammer at Doomblade. Like the previous times, right after his big attack, Doomblade wasn't able to react in time and was swatted sideways, skidding across the ground. Even then, he scrambled up, wiped his cheek, and glared at Irwin. A moment later, his eyes darted to the tower behind them.

Why does he keep looking at the tower? Irwin thought as he ran forward, moving into another set of Crithan's moves, loud clanking sounds filling the fire-engulphed area.

"You won't win! Just surrender, and at least you won't die," Doomblade roared.

"Growing low on soulforce?" Irwin snapped back, striking down with a twohanded downward hit that slammed into the massive sword, which didn't move an inch.

A terrified scream almost made him look away from his enemy.

“Doomblade, the Frozir are-”

The scream ended in a wet gurgle while Doomblade looked to the side. The massive five-horned Galub let out a roar of anger. "You pathetic blue-hairs! You are going to pay for this betrayal!"

Irwin had no idea what was going on, but whatever it was, Doomblade didn't like it, which meant it was a good thing for him. He was about to attack when a blur moved from the building behind Doomblade. He recognized it and dispelled his flame with a nasty grin. Doomblade's eyes widened, and with a bone-bending move, he somehow brought his sword behind him faster than Irwin could blink, blocking Greldo's daggers from slicing through his spine.

"The shadowstalker!" Doomblade roared, slicing forward.

Greldo jumped back, easily dodging the hit. His entire frame was covered in thick fur. He grinned at Irwin as he began circling Doomblade.

"Let's kill this thing!"

Irwin didn't need to be told twice, and he ran forward. Within moments, Doomblade was covered in thin slices, his massive blade swirling around, barely able to block Irwin's bone-shattering blows but failing against most of Greldo's deadly slices.

"Help me, you weaklings!" Doomblade screamed, panic in his voice as he began backing up towards the tower, only for Irwin to block his path.

Doomblade glared at him, his breathing ragged, blood streaming from innumerable cuts. He looked around rapidly, eyes widening. Then he took a deep breath and cursed.

"Fine. I surrender!"

Irwin blinked as Doomblade carefully lowered his blade, his eyes darting from between Irwin and Greldo.

"You what?" Irwin asked.

"Don't look so surprised! You let Ulrop live instead of killing him," Doomblade snapped. "He was just a stupid two-horn!"

It took Irwin a few moments to remember Ulrop, the Galub that Daubutim and he had met back in the portal where they had first found Doomblade and the Bablibon. The last time he'd thought about the missing Galub was when Daubutim had told him that Gelwin had been more than a little curious about him.

What does he mean that we let Ulrop go? he thought, more than a little confused.

Noticing Doomblade's increased worry, he knew he'd have to ask about that later. First, he needed to decide what to do about the proposed surrender. He shared a quick look with Greldo, and his friend frowned and then shrugged, gesturing with his blade that he was ready in case it was needed. Irwin stared at Doomblade, then took a careful step forward.

"Unsummon your sword," he said.

Doomblade looked at him, eyes narrow. Irwin thought he was going to reject the command, but then the Galub snorted. The annoying blade, that had blocked so many hits that Irwin had lost count, vanished. Doomblade crossed his arms and sniffed. As he did, Irwin noticed a trickle of blood slowly leaking from his nose while the Galub swayed on his feet.

Was he already this wounded, or did unsummoning his sword do something? Irwin wondered.

"He's not trustworthy," an icy voice snapped from the side.

Slightly surprised, Irwin took a quick glance to see five blue-haired Frozir women move towards him, daggers out and glaring at Doomblade. Coal was prowling behind them, his fur covered in blood. Somehow, Irwin wasn't even that surprised to see the Frozir. Between the shouted warning, the fighting around him, which he only now realized had stopped, and everything else, he could just sigh at their appearance.

I guess that's why Doomblade surrendered, he decided.

"We should just kill him and be done with it!' one of the Frozir said, glaring at the Galub.

"Shut up. Without me, you will never see your eggs again," Doomblade snapped.

Eggs?

Irwin noticed Greldo seemed unsurprised.

A quick look around showed bodies littering the edge of the burned-out area, lying in pools of blood. The angular shapes of a few cards lay in between them. He was going to have to pick those up in a moment!

"What is going on?" Irwin asked, slowly lowering his hammer.

"It seems like we have found Elder Gum'dil'ran a few new allies," Greldo said. Coal walked up beside him, the hound's silver eyes never leaving Doomblade. "This one has their eggs hostage back through that portal."

The five Frozir were encircling Doomblade, who had put his hands beside his body, looking around worriedly. Irwin wasn't sure if he should stop them, and Doomblade seemed to realize that.

"If you let them kill me, you won't find out where the other smiths are," he said quickly.

Again, someone threatening us with withholding information, Irwin thought as he scowled at Doomblade. This was starting to get old. Still, he really wanted to know, and it wasn't like they could still deal with the Galub afterward.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

He took a deep breath, trying to dispel his anger and tension before turning to the Frozir. "Let him be for now," he said, wondering if they would even do as he said.

The Frozir kept looking at Doomblade, faces cold but eyes burning with a desire to charge. The tension began increasing, and Irwin saw the Galub's fingers clench to fists.

"Senira, can you get those nullifier bracelets?" Greldo suddenly said.

The Frozir jolted, then all looked at one of their own, though to Irwin, they all looked nearly the same: long blue hair, blue eyes, and pale white skin. Perhaps the one they were all looking at was smaller, but he wouldn't bet his life on it.

The Frozir, who was the center of attention, looked at Greldo.

"We need the information he has," Greldo said. "It will help keep everyone safe."

The Frozir female frowned, nodded, turned, and ran back to the tower without a word.

Everybody silently waited until she returned, carrying five bracelets, which she tossed to Doomblade.

"Put those on," Irwin said as he stared at Doomblade.

Doomblade looked at the bracelets in distaste but didn't complain as he snapped one around each of his wrists. Almost immediately, the Frozir seemed to relax, taking some steps back.

"So, now what?" Irwin asked, looking at his friend.

"Now we need to lock this guy up on the ship, preferably in chains, and have a look at the world beyond the portal."

Irwin blinked as he thought about their ship and looked around until he found the Sonata. It was hovering near the edge of the town, and there was no sign of any Galub ships.

"Things could have gone worse," he muttered, looking at the nearly a dozen undamaged ships on the docks of the tower behind them.

"I'll go and tell Rindiri to close up," Greldo said.

Irwin nodded, thinking quickly. "Alright, tell Clarish to teleport back and warn Daubutim and the others about what has happened."

Greldo nodded, looking at Doomblade. "You going to be alright here?"

Irwin quickly looked around, noting Frozir hovering near the Galub, seeming ready to attack if he made any wrong move. "I'll be fine."

Greldo nodded and vanished while Coal walked beside Irwin.

"Thanks," Irwin said, smiling and patting the hound's shoulder.

He was about to ask Doomblade who was ordering the capture of the smiths when one of the Frozir spoke up.

"Are you the leader?"

It took Irwin a moment to recognize her as Senira, the one who had gotten the bracelets.

"I'm the captain of that ship," he replied absently.

He scanned the surrounding bodies, drawn by the cards littered about. He saw five already, which meant there had to be more around.

Why did so many cards drop, he thought. From what he recalled, soulskilled barely dropped cards on the Portal Galery.

"Collect the cards and give them to Captain Irwin," Senira ordered.

Two of the Frozir moved right away while Doomblade let out a disgusted snort.

Irwin ignored the Galub and looked at Senira, both surprised and grateful.

"Can you tell me why my people are cooperating with sou- … your people?" Senira asked.

Irwin was pretty sure she had been about to say soulstealers but decided to let that slide. They would have to work that out in the future. Well, Daubutim would have to. He wasn't planning on helping with the interspecies politics unless it concerned the Ignitzions.

Or those metal elementals.

"How much did Greldo tell you?" he asked.

"Just that you were working together with one of our people's elders," she said.

And that was enough for you to help? Irwin thought, slightly confused.

"They came to our world amidst chaos," he said. "Portals had started appearing to Imp, Galub, Nyzir, and Frozir shardworlds, and my people were in trouble. At some point, we came into conflict with a group of Frozir that had begun building a city of ice near one of our own, and… well, one thing led to another?"

Senira blinked and looked at him, evidently wanting him to continue.

Irwin tried to recall the details, wishing Daubutim had been here. Very slowly, he began talking as he remembered bits and pieces. He spoke about how they had fought the Frozir initially, how one of the female Frozir had died, and how they had gotten to talking when the Frozir had been fighting the Galubs from the portal. When he finished, The Sonata was docking on the lowest of the empty wooden docks of the tower.

"You are sure he isn't just lying?" one of the Frozir asked, her eyes narrow as she looked at Senira.

Senira shook her head. "I'm as surprised as you are," she said, her eyes still drilling into Irwin's.

He had the feeling she was trying to read his mind.

"Alright, let's head to the ship," he said as he saw Greldo waving from the prow. He walked to Doomblade and placed a hand on the Galub's shoulder, guiding him forward.

A while later, they were standing on the deck of The Sonata, a group of worried-looking rangers standing around Doomblade. Although the Frozir was also garnering some confused and surprised glances, most of the rangers had worked with the Frozir before, and Irwin didn't notice much if any, hostility.

Greldo reappeared on the deck, his face drawn and weary, shoulders slumped. Irwin quickly walked to his friend, who had gone to warn the other ships.

"Xi'kroak and the others are almost here," Greldo said, rubbing his eyes. "What do we do?"

Irwin looked at his friend, then at the Frozir, and finally at the town around them.

"We wait here, keep the tower clear of any Galubs still hiding in the remnants of that ruin, and rest. When the others arrive, we can decide on what to do."

"Rest seems like a great idea," Greldo said as he cracked his neck before walking towards the door leading into the ship's innards. "I'll go and do that now. Wake me when something happens."

Watching his friend move into the cabin, Irwin turned to Senira, who had walked towards him. The rest of the Frozir stood at the ship's side, observing what was happening.

"When will you help us regain our eggs?" Senira asked.

"I don't know," Irwin said honestly. "Greldo needs to rest, and he is the best at moving around without being seen. Are you worried the Galubs will harm your eggs?"

Senira nodded, crossing her arms. "They have them locked near a volcano, and I fear if Doomblade doesn't return soon, they might dispose of them."

Irwin nodded, then walked to Doomblade. The rangers were muting amongst themselves, some watching curiously what he was doing.

"Alright, start talking," Irwin said, staring at Doomblade. "Who is after the abduction of the smiths? What's inside that portal, and where are those eggs?"

Doomblade's thick eyebrows rose, and he shook his head. "I'm not answering any questions unless I get some guarantees that I'll be allowed to leave after I answer your questions."

"I don't think you have much say in that," Irwin snapped. "The only reason you are still alive is because you know things. If you don't tell us those, what use are you?"

There was a sudden hushed silence, and the Galub froze, mouth slowly opening in surprise. Then he let out a snorted laugh, shaking his head hard enough for his horns to make swishing sounds.

"So you're one of those types," he said, grinning dangerously. "Fine, let me explain something to you. Your threats might have worked if I'd still been a four-horn, but when I joined the upper echelons of my kind, tactical warfare and mind games of many generations became mine to wield! You need my information, and that's not even including the eggs of these blue-haired fools."

Irwin glared back, wishing he could just tell the Galub he was wrong. The problem was, he wasn't. He hesitated, wondering if he should wait for Daubutim and what his friend would have done when an idea came to him. He hummed as he thought about it, then looked at the Galub.

Let's see if this works, he thought, his anger fading as fast as it had come.

"You might be right, but I need to know how trustworthy you are then," he said slowly. "Tell us how we can get those eggs back safely. If that works out, I'll make a deal with you for the rest of the information."

Doomblade looked back at him, eyes glinting. Then he turned to Senira. "Your eggs are in the guard tower beside the lava pit… you might want to hurry. Tringular is becoming more and more unstable."

Senira hissed, then turned to Irwin. "He's not lying," she said, turning to the tower entrance behind the rickety wooden dock.

"How long till it shatters?" Irwin asked.

"Days," Doomblade said with a shrug. "Why do you think I'm here and not there?"

"Are there more five-horns there?"

Doomblade blinked in surprise before he started laughing. "Of course not! Do you know how hard it is for us to grow our fourth horn?"

Irwin stared at him, recalling the other five-horn they had encountered.

"Why are you so much stronger than the other five-horn I encountered?"

Doomblade's laughter turned to a cough before he glared at Irwin. "You're the one who killed Razorcloud?"

Irwin didn't answer, unsure if that had been the name of the other five-horn, though the name did correspond with the ability.

"A five-horn, this high with the ability to slice anything that came near him?" Doomblade snapped, holding his hand slightly lower than he was.

"He was on some ship that attacked us," Irwin said.

Doomblade's fist cracked as he glared at Irwin, who was starting to become worried the Galub would try and attack even without the ability to wield his sword.

"He was your friend?" he asked.

"Razorcloud was my nestmate," Doomblade snapped, taking a few deep breaths, his eyes blazing with a desire to fight. "He had only just gained his fifth horn, and his skill was with agility and a cutting aura. How did you kill him?"

Irwin shrugged. "I grabbed him and squeezed him," he said, not feeling at all bad about what he'd done. These Galubs killed whoever they saw fit. They shouldn't be surprised if someone killed them in response.

Doomblade didn't look like he believed, but with a few more deep breaths, the Galub seemed to regain his usual angry calm. "My skills deal with defense barriers and strength," he said. "Besides, I've had my horn for much longer."

So no five-horns, Irwin thought as he scratched through his beard, ignoring the metallic screeching sound it made.

"I heard something about Imps in a volcano?" he asked.

Doomblade glared at him a bit longer before answering. "I told you, the world is so unstable it might shatter any day. All of my one-horns, two-horns, and all of the Imps became Addled."

"So?" Irwin asked, wondering what that had to do with a volcano.

"We tossed them into the nearest volcano, but half of those blasted imps survived," Doomblade said.

"How many?" Irwin asked.

"I don't know," Doomblade growled, seeming done answering questions. "Thousands?"

Irwin blinked, then nodded at the guards and rangers as he turned and walked away. Senira followed him as he headed to Rindiri, who had been carefully observing everything.

"Are imps a problem?" Senira asked, staring at him.

"What?" No," Irwin said absently as he gazed at the entrance to the tower behind which the portal would be.

If I can kill all those Imps, I can probably fill up my soullake, he thought. The only problem was that he had no idea how safe the entrance to that portal would be. Even if there were only four-horns, who knew what defenses they could have ready? Then again, the chances of finding a lot of cards would go up as well.

Time passed as he tried to come up with a way that didn't involve him going through and hoping it would be fine. He snapped out of it when there was a flash of light.

He turned around, afraid that something was attacking them, only to find that Clarish had returned. He'd hoped and half expected Daubutim to be there, but to his surprise, there was someone he'd not expected.

Elder Gum'dil'ran looked around with wide eyes until he saw the female Frozir, then almost ran forward. Only after the tall Frozir was gone did Irwin realize Lord Bron and Satiya stood behind him. Lord Bron was looking around with wide-eyed curiosity until he saw Irwin. Then he grinned and walked towards Irwin, Satiya following him, though she constantly glanced at Elder Gum'dil'ran and the other frozir, who were whispering excitedly.

"I presume you didn't expect me here?" the gnarly old Lord asked as his gaze moved to Doomblade. His eyes widened before he looked back at Irwin.

Irwin wearily shook his head, unsure how to respond.

"Well, when I heard you had found Frozir females, captured a five-horned Galub with knowledge about what was going on, and found another portal, it was either me or Daubutim," Lord Bron said before grinning wickedly. "And right now, I'm way more expendable than our red-eyed friend!"

Irwin wasn't sure if he should laugh at that, but he was very happy to see Lord Bron.

"So, you are here to help me figure out what to do?" Irwin asked.

Lord Bron barked a laugh as he turned to the Galub. "Yes, that, and figure out what this Galub knows."

Irwin sorted his thoughts and then began bringing Lord Bron up to speed.