Irwin groaned as he woke up.

Seriously… this has got to stop, he thought as he felt a dull throbbing pain in his head that seemed to originate from his soulscape. His lips were dry, and his stomach so empty it felt like he would need to finish an entire charbull to not feel hungry.

How many times was he going to wake up after being knocked out by something?

Well, I guess we made it unless the inside of a chaosspace monster feels like a soft bed.

Taking a deep breath, he forced his eyes open. He was looking at a familiar wooden ceiling, and it took him a few moments before he remembered where he knew it from.

I'm home!

He was about to move when a soft voice whispered beside him.

"Kid. Don't make too much noise unless you want shouting people in your room!"

Something about it was odd, but Irwin ignored that in favor of turning his head sideways to find Ambraz on the pillow.

"You've been out cold for two weeks, so if you make a peep, your mom and the others are going to burst in, shouting questions," Ambraz said.

This time, Irwin realized what was weird. Ambraz's words had been said straight into his mind.

How, he thought, frowning confused.

"Why do you look like you just swallowed a burning coal? Ah, right! Listen, come meet me in your soulscape!"

Irwin felt something settle in his soulscape, and he knew it was Ambraz who had returned fully there. Curious, he stepped into his soulscape.

A soft breeze blew around him, and he looked around in wonder. The steam clouds around the peak of the mountain had spread puffy clouds throughout his soulscape. The breeze was causing them to drift around slowly.

Ambraz hovered before him, a wide grin on his metallic lips.

"You know, you really need to stop falling unconscious!"

Irwin snorted. "Says you! So, how were you talking to me before?"

Ambraz laughed. "I'm in your soulscape! How do you think?"

"Ah… so if you talk in here, I hear it?" Irwin asked, guessing that made sense.

"Yes, and because I'm me and awesome, I can project my voice in here while remaining outside," Ambraz said, sounding smug.

Irwin laughed while he thought about the things that had happened.

"How come that giant thing couldn't break through the barrier?" he asked. "It felt… incredibly powerful."

"Oh, it is," Ambraz said. "If you're implying you stopped it, let me help you out of that dream. What you did was pull the power from the world, which incidentally caused it to shatter before the portal corridor closed."

Irwin grimaced as he thought of all of the things that might still have been alive in that world. He knew it would have shattered even without his interference, but even then…

"How come you didn't fall unconscious the second time?" he asked, changing the subject.

"I was caught by surprise the first time," Ambraz said. "Unless you get a whole lot more powerful, the chance of you knocking me out again is low."

Irwin hummed. "So what happened?"

"The portal exploded, and everyone headed back to the homeportal," Ambraz said, flying around.

Irwin followed him, surprised at how fun it was to rush along the mountain's rugged side.

"After we arrived, you were brought back to New Malorin, and people fussed over you all the time, even though I told them you were fine!"

"Mom must have been worried," Irwin said with a sad sigh.

"Yeah, and then they tried to take all the cards, and I had to sit on them," Ambraz snorted.

"They what? Who?" Irwin asked, somewhat surprised.

"Lord Bron and Daubutim, they found other people who can examine the cards, and they wanted all of them except for the plant ones," Ambraz snapped angrily. "They left those with the request that you reforge them. It took me threatening them to eat them all before they let me pick a hundred for us."

"A hundred?" Irwin asked in surprise, ignoring the other parts. He didn't believe that Daubutim or Lord Bron had needed any threatening at all.

"What? Do you have any idea what you are going to need to do to pick your next cards?" Ambraz shouted as he spun around the mountain's tip before diving back down.

"We also have twenty really bad utility cards to forge Daubutim's heartcard, though we probably don't need that many or any at all with how large your soulscape is."

Irwin continued flying after Ambraz with a sudden desire to check out the cards and find his next handcard.

"Did anything else happen?" he asked. "What about the ships and the trees?"

"No idea! After they got the cards, Daubutim and Lord Bron were apparently too busy to return and tell me everything," Ambraz snorted. "Daubutim returned every few days with carded healers who all told him the same thing I did. He is physically fine but seems to be in some resting sleep."

Irwin laughed at Ambraz's attempt to imitate a soft, high-pitched voice.

"Then I think it's time to leave, so everyone stops worrying," he said.

"Probably a good thing," Ambraz said as he stopped and landed on the mountain. "But we need to talk a bit more soon. Especially about getting more Ganvils here."

Ambraz turned translucent, and Irwin sighed and took one more look around before returning to his body.

As soon as he did, his headache returned with a vengeance, while his stomach rumbled loudly. Taking a deep breath, he slowly got up.

He didn't think he made a lot of noise, but there was a shout from below.

"He's awake!"

Irwin stood beside the bed, finding out he only had underwear on. With people storming up the stairs, he only had a second to grab pants that hung from a chair and stuff his legs in it before the door slammed open. It was his mother who burst in first, eyes wide, face pale and frightened.

"Irwin, are you alright?" she shouted, causing his headache to throb more intensely.

"Yes, but I have a massive headache, so please, please keep your voice down," Irwin said as he looked around for a shirt. A fat stack of cards lay on the table, and next to it was a new shirt. Clean and pale yellow, it looked well made, and he quickly put it on while his stomach growled again. Looking up, he saw his mother wipe away tears, a look of intense relief on her face. Greldo, Bronwyn, and Carla were crowding in the door opening, all looking relieved and happy.

"Your eyes…" his mother said, closing in and gently pulling him closer. "They are… different."

Irwin grinned, realizing he still hadn't even seen them himself.

"Yeah, it's because I got my first soulcard," he said.

"I told them already," Greldo said. "Sorry to steal your thunder."

Irwin grinned at his friend, noting a tiny bit of worry in the other's eyes.

"Don't worry! Also, I'm very hungry and thirsty! I feel like I haven't eaten in weeks!"

Another loud rumble punctuated his words.

There was a moment of stunned silence before Bronwyn and Greldo burst out laughing.

It took a short while to get everyone down and at the kitchen table, and then Irwin was gobbling up every nut on a bowl that stood there, followed by everything and anything his mother put before him. Initially, everyone had just been talking and asking him questions, but as time progressed, everyone began falling quiet.

"I… we might not have enough food," Carla whispered.

"I'll be right back," Bronwyn said as he got up and rushed out of the door.

By the time Irwin had finished every morsel of food in the house, his mother was looking worried again. Just then, Bronwyn came running back while carrying a massive package. He didn't bother explaining, but as he dropped it on the table, Irwin smelled more food. A moment later, his plate was being filled with a large slice of meat.

"Thanks," he said before digging in.

He had no idea why he still felt hungry or why his stomach wasn't exploding, but he finished nearly half of the meat before he slowed down. When he finally felt his hunger dwindle, he let out a happy sigh.

"You ate enough for twenty or more people," his mother muttered, shaking her head. "How?"

Irwin had no idea, but he could garner a guess. "I think it's because my body is like that of some sort of a firesteel elemental. Perhaps I can store it somehow?"

"Well, I hope we don't have to feed too many of those in the future," his mother muttered as she sat down. "Now. What happened?"

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Irwin looked over to see everyone stare at him curiously. Carla was holding Drum, who had grown again, and pulling on her hair while gurgling and letting out the occasional shout.

"You told them about that thing?" he asked Greldo.

"Yeah, the Oculithar. Rindiri told me some more about them, and I shared it here," Greldo said. "But they are right. What did you do to keep that massive thing from killing us?"

Irwin quickly shared what Ambraz had told him, but all that did was create more confusion. Surprisingly, the question that made everyone blink came from Carla.

"So you can play your soulscape like an instrument?" she asked, eyes wide. "What kind of sound does it make?"

Irwin hesitated, then very gently caused a simple humming vibration from his soulscape.

"Can you hear that?" he asked.

"Definitely," Greldo grunted while Bronwyn nodded.

"Can you please make it a bit less loud?" Ambraz asked from the small alcove he was sitting in.

Irwin did that, but a single look around showed that only Greldo and Bronwyn seemed able to hear it.

"Come on! It's because they don't have soulforce yet," Ambraz said. "You don't actually hear it with your ears."

Carla looked sad, and Irwin smiled at her. "Sorry. I'm sure we can get you enough cards to gain a heartcard soon."

"No, not until the people that actually do useful things get one," Carla said, shaking her head. "There are too many crafters, farmers, and rangers that don't even have a fullhand yet!"

Irwin nodded, and she smiled reassuringly. He was about to talk about something else when an idea popped into his head. He only hesitated for a moment before deciding it wasn't such a crazy idea.

"Ambraz, can you come here for a second and turn in your working form?" he said as he got up. "I'll be right back!"

There was a surprised shout from behind, but he ignored it as he quickly rushed up the stairs, which creaked dangerously from his weight. A warning shout from his mother made him slow down, but even then, he hurried as he grabbed the stack of cards before going back down.

Ambraz was beside the table while Irwin was rifling through the stack of cards. He was surprised to find that many cards were only quartz rank.

"Ambraz, anything here I can just reforge up from quartz?"

"You wanna go reforge now?" Ambraz said, while the rest just looked confused and interested.

"Just to let Carla hear the song," Irwin said.

"Oh, you don't have to-"

"I'd like to see i-"

Bronwyn and Carla shared a grin as they both talked, then stopped at the same time.

"I never got to see him reforge a card, just those on people's hands," Bronwyn said, looking at Irwin. "But can you really just do it here? Don't you need a smithy?"

Irwin smiled as he continued leafing through the cards. "No, I'll just do a simple one, so it won't take too long."

"That one," Ambraz said.

Irwin stopped flipping through the cards and looked at an amethyst card that depicted a simple hammer.

"This?" he asked as he raised the card in surprise. "It's a smith's hammer?"

"Yes, there are two more! Just reforge it along the path it wants, and we can give it to some of your apprentices!"

Apprentices? Irwin thought.

"Irwin, you are not going to break my kitchen, are you?" his mother said, raising an eyebrow as she looked at him intently.

"No, nothing like that," Irwin said as he put the card on Ambraz's surface and summoned his hammer.

"Alright, so to me, all of the cards resonate," he said as he softly tapped the card, causing an image of a small hammer to appear.

From his many reforgings, he could immediately feel the card was some form of metal and body improvement type, probably strength. The card was resonating softly, and he immediately knew the direction in which it wanted to go.

"Do you hear it?" he asked as he looked at the others.

Greldo nodded, but the rest just looked confused.

Irwin nodded, then took a deep breath and struck the card again. As he did, he used his own soulcard to increase the resonance of the card, and the sound increased from soft to loud.

"I can hear something!" Carla whispered excitedly. "It's very soft, but it's like someone is humming a song! It's beautiful!"

Irwin grinned, and focusing on the card, he reforged it as slowly as he could, lingering on each moment as long as he dared. When he finished, the purple border of the amethyst card had changed to a clear yellow.

"Just like that?" his mother asked, coming forward and staring at the card. "It's really a rare card now?"

Irwin nodded as he handed her the card.

"It looked so easy," she said with a frown.

"That's because Irwin is very good at it," Ambraz said, sounding very smug. "He had a great teacher!'

Multiple, and not just you, Irwin thought, but he kept that to himself.

The others began asking questions, and for at least half an hour, he explained some of how the reforging worked.

"Did you find any instrument cards?" Carla asked when everyone had quieted down.

Irwin shrugged, turning to Ambraz.

"There were a few, but Daubutim took those," Ambraz said.

"You want one?" Irwin asked, looking at her.

She shook her head, but it didn't take a genius to see she did.

"I'll talk to Daubutim when I see him," Irwin said with a smile. Then rose and looked around. "I'm going to have a chat with Endil, then see if I can find Clarish."

"But you only just got back," his mother said, getting up and looking at him worriedly.

"Don't worry, I won't leave yet," Irwin said. "I'll be reforging cards and teaching Endil for a while."

"Thank Gelwin," she said, walking towards him and tugging his shirt. "You had better stay here for a long time!"

Irwin smiled sadly, but he didn't say what he was thinking.

"I'll be back for dinner tonight," he said.

"Dinner? After…" his mother's words trailed off, and she sighed. "Fine. I'll start making more food!"

As annoyed as she sounded, Irwin saw the smile as she turned and strode towards the kitchen, pulling up her sleeves.

"I'll come with you for a bit," Greldo said as he got up while Bronwyn followed suit.

As they walked out of the house, Ambraz landed on Irwin's shoulder. "Damn, Kid. Your beard is long enough to put one of those ranking symbols in now."

Irwin snorted as he pulled on his beard, the hair sounding like metal wire scratching against metal.

They walked through the town, and as they did, Irwin realized that far more buildings were nearing completion.

"How…?" he asked.

"There were over twenty earth and ground shape cards," Bronwyn said as he waved at two people busy atop a roof. "I managed to persuade Daubutim to leave five here because of the prospective mine."

Irwin perked up. "Right! How is the road coming along?"

"A narrow path is done, enough for a small cart, and we are still widening it now," Bronwyn said.

They reached the crafter's square, and Irwin noticed even more differences there. Nearly every building now had wooden doors and shutters, with the square made up of a patterned stone. The crafters' buildings were open, and he noticed that the woodworker had a dozen young people working for him now, all using metal saws. A central dais seemed ready for some ornament, and the roads leading away looked like smooth cobblestone.

"I'll see you tonight," Bronwyn said as he walked away. "It'd be great if you could check if any of those cards deal with plant growing! We really need more of those."

Irwin nodded as he watched his brother stride away. Then he turned to Greldo, noticing his friend's smile had slipped.

"Are you sure you are okay?"

"Yes," Irwin said, cocking his head. "Why?"

"Do you… remember anything that happened?"

Irwin thought back to when he was in the corridor. Ambraz had shouted at him to resonate with the pattern of the world they never got the name of, and then… his headache returned like an axe in his brain, and he groaned, raising a hand.

Greldo jumped forward, grabbing his arm and shoulder. "Are you-"

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Irwin said, taking a few breaths.

Faint memories of pain and streaming lingered in the back of his mind, and he quickly ignored them, afraid they might come forward.

"It was horrible," Greldo muttered, staring through him. "I couldn't help. My shadow ability just didn't work! I tried, but…"

"It's fine," Irwin said, forcing a grin on his face. "It's not your fault."

Greldo nodded glumly. "Well, I think we should leave shattering worlds alone from now on."

"Yeah, that might be for the best," Irwin agreed. "So… what are you going to do now?"

"I'll go and find Clarish for you, then perhaps do some hunting. Coal has been complaining that he hasn't gotten to do anything the last few weeks."

"Did you…"

Irwin wasn't sure what to say, and Greldo just burst out laughing.

"Remain nearby my best friend to make sure nothing could come and kill him? Why yes, I did! Why? Are you going to complain?"

Irwin grinned though he felt himself grow warm. "Nah. Just go and hunt. Your best friend is going to be very hungry tonight!"

Greldo laughed, then walked away. "Don't do anything stupid!"

"That's my line!"

He waited till Greldo disappeared before turning to the smithy. The door had opened, and Endil was looking at him with a wide grin. He was wearing a proper smithing apron already scorched from use, while his hands and lower arms were dark and grimy.

"I'm back," Irwin said as he walked forward. The smell of the smithy of molten metal, charcoal, and soot seemed to unwind a knot in his stomach he hadn't noticed before.

"I'm glad you are alright," Endil said before his eyes narrowed worriedly. "You are, right? Alright, I mean?"

"Yes, I'm fine now," Irwin said as he followed the other into the smithy.

Much had changed in the weeks he'd been gone, with a massive stone table covering the far right of the smithy and a few smaller wooden ones on the left. Metal objects, pans, pots, knives, and dozens of unfinished things lay everywhere. The forge had been expanded, going from a single size to a triple one with tongs standing against the bottom wall and enormous bellows on each side.

Irwin stood still, staring around in shocked wonder.

"How…?"

"Trimdir came while you were unconscious," Endil said, smiling so wide it must have hurt. "He and the others said that we deserved a well-equipped forge."

Irwin stared around, noting that the door to the shop area had opened. A teenager with curious brown eyes, a strong jawline, and short curly hair stood there, looking inside. As soon as Irwin looked at him, he smiled and waved.

"Hi, I'm Carlif!"

"He's my wife's brother," Endil said as he came forward. "He's been manning the storefront for the last week."

Irwin held out his hand, and as he shook Carlif's hand, he noticed the other look at him in some sort of awe.

"You really are big!" Carlif said excitedly. "They warned me, but-"

Endil flicked him on his cheek, causing Carlif to yelp. "Carlif, I told you not to say everything that comes to you! It works for customers, but that's not how you speak to Smith Irwin! This is his smithy, remember?"

"Sorry, Endil! I won't do it again!"

Irwin blinked, looking from an annoyed-looking Endil to a very much not remorseful-looking Carlif.

"Smith Irwin, it's really great to meet you!" Carlif said, grinning. "Do you think you could reforge one of my cards up to Diamond?"

Irwin gawked at the excited teenager, not sure how to even respond. He was saved when Endil shoved him towards the door.

"Enough, you annoying brat! Get to the shop and make sure it's dust-free!"

"Sure, Brother Endil!" Carlif shouted as he ran away with a wide grin.

Endil groaned as he looked at Irwin. "Sorry about that. I guarantee that he is very good with customers. It's just that he doesn't know when to quit."

"It's fine," Irwin said as they heard Carlif whistling happily from the other room.

"So, is there any metal left?" he asked.

"Nothing useful," Endil said, sounding annoyed. "I've asked for someone to be sent there to bring some back, but the first cart is only expected in a few days."

Irwin hummed. "Well, then, I guess we are going to have to just do something else."

As he spoke, he removed the massive stack of cards from his pocket and walked to one of the emptier tables.

"Let's begin by sorting these!"

--

Hours later, Irwin was smiling as he removed an Emerald rank card from Ambraz's back. It was one of the few that dealt with growing plants, and the final one, he had to get to that rank.

There's nothing like smithing, he thought happily.

"I hope I can do it that easily one day," Endil said, stepping forward and carefully picking up the card.

"As soon as we get you a young Ganvil to bond, things will be great," Ambraz said.

Endil smiled, looking at Irwin, who just shrugged.

"Ganvils have an incredible ability to sense the cards and their songs," Irwin said. "Without Ambraz, I wouldn't have been able to get this far, and even now, there are many things I couldn't do without his help."

Endil nodded, thoughtfully eyeing the card. "Could you do an emerald rank card?" he asked.

Irwin hummed, then shrugged. "Yes, but not as fast or good as this. I can do nearly perfect Quartz, Amethyst, and Topaz, but beyond that? Emerald is really difficult in comparison."

"And beyond that?" Endil asked.

"I might be able to do a Ruby," Irwin said hesitantly. "But I would start failing."

Endil nodded. "But with Ambraz's help?"

"I can do it," Irwin said with a definite nod.

"Now, it's time to head out! You go, I'll clean up," he said. "But be here early tomorrow. You need to practice more."

"Are you sure?" Endil asked worriedly. "We can't waste any."

"There are still a few nearly useless ones," Irwin said.

Endil hummed, then shook his head. "You said that before, but… is it really like that? If we forge a card sideways and up, wouldn't any card eventually be useful in one way or another?"

Irwin couldn't help but agree with him, but he wasn't surprised when Ambraz let out a soft laugh.

"Kid, you aren't wrong, but teaching more smiths is just more important than some cards!" the Anvil said.

With a bright flash, he returned to his small form, quickly flying to Irwin's shoulder.

"Right, I'll be back tomorrow then," Endil said as he began wiping away the worst of the soot.

A short while later, he waved and left, leaving Irwin alone in the smithy.

"So… what did you want to talk about?" Ambraz asked. "You know we can just talk like this?"

Irwin nodded as he walked to the wooden table they had cleared out to sort the cards. He sat down on the extra sturdy stool and looked over the many thin stacks.

"Yes, but I want you to tell me what these cards do," he said, raising his left hand. "I think it's about time I started looking for my first new cards!"