"A flying, talking Anvil," Rachel whispered. "You... have a summon? Why didn't you tell us?!"

Irwin didn’t respond but ran to Greldo. His friend was breathing in short, ragged bursts, his head red while pearls of sweat ran down his face.

“Does someone have water left?” he asked worriedly. He grabbed his own flask, but one check showed he must have drained it. He couldn’t recall when, but the few drops barely wet Greldo’s lips.

"Irwin!" Rachel shouted.

Irwin looked up. "Why do you think? If they had known, what do you think would have happened? Now, does anyone have water left?!" he shouted, looking around.

Daubutim sadly shook his head while Twintin was still staring at Ambraz in disbelief.

Rachel gritted her teeth, seeming ready to explode.

"Wha... what is all the co..motion about?"

Irwin looked at Greldo, feeling a tremendous relief as he saw his friend's eyes open. For a moment, they were foggy, then they focused on Ambraz and turned sharp.

"You okay? Get me up," Greldo muttered, holding out a hand to be helped up.

Irwin looked at Greldo, surprised, then very happy about his reaction. There was no 'what's that and why didn't you tell me'—just honest worry.

"I'm fine," he said, helping Greldo up.

"Did you know? Is it uncommon, and is that that why-"

"My card is not uncommon," Irwin said, cutting Rachel off. "Now, let's focus on getting out of here, alright?"

"So, did you come up with an idea then?" Greldo asked.

Daubutim inched closer, a tiny flicker of curiosity in his dull eyes.

Irwin shrugged. "Well, Ambraz told me a bit about what is going on," he said.

"This portal world is going to turn into an uncommon one soon. Ambraz said that it's likely that those hounds will surge out. If that happens, we might have a moment to flee out."

"That means those monsters will go out of the portal and into the world," Daubutim said, sounding suddenly very clear. "I can't allow that to happen if there is something I can do to stop it. My father would not approve!"

"There's nothing the five of us can do to stop this!" Rachel hissed, still glaring at Irwin. "Summons that can talk are rare! Did that summon tell you anything?"

Daubutim stared at her, and his eyes clouded as if he were confused by her outburst.

"Anything else?" Greldo asked, seeming intent on ignoring Rachel.

Irwin hesitated, then decided it didn't really matter now. "We could try to reach the portal after it gets dark and hope my flame keeps those plants away."

"Any idea how long till it's night?" Greldo asked.

"No," Irwin said, looking at Ambraz. "Ambraz?"

"Probably fourteen to fifteen hours," the Anvil said.

There was a shocked silence, and Irwin saw Greldo flinch. His previous stoicism melted, replaced by a look of fear.

"We can't survive that long..." Irwin muttered, suddenly incredibly aware of just how dry his lips were, and that was without all the sweating the others were doing. He looked at Greldo's parched lips.

"You, flying Anvil! How do we get out of here?" Rachel snapped as she walked towards Irwin, glaring at Ambraz.

"You could sacrifice someone to draw the attention of those hounds so the others can get away," Ambraz retorted. "You would probably do nicely!"

Rachel growled, and Irwin took a step back, afraid she was going to summon her shield to smack Ambraz with.

"Twintin's card can summon water," Daubutim said.

Irwin turned to Twintin, suddenly recalling what she'd told them what seemed like months ago.

Right, water drop or something!

"How much water can you make?" he asked, looking at Twintin hopefully.

Rachel had also turned to the smaller girl. "Twintin?"

Twintin took a step back, shaking her head. "Two or three drops per hour," she whispered.

"I could do something about that," Ambraz said with a snort.

Irwin grimaced, wishing the Anvil would keep quiet.

"What do you mean?" Rachel asked.

"There's a way to reforge one common card to uncommon," Ambraz said, humming softly.

"You can do that?" Twintin's shout surprised everyone, but only for a moment. Then, they all focused on Ambraz.

Don't tell them this! If someone tells the outside world, I'll be hunted! Irwin thought, feeling his heart thud in his throat.

"Only because this world is changing into an uncommon," Ambraz said. "There's so much energy here that it can be moved into a common card, but only one that's very weak."

If Irwin hadn't known about the things Ambraz could do, he would have believed him. But he did.

He is making it so they don't think he can do it, he thought, feeling a slight bit of relief. His worry wasn't completely gone, though. Even this much would cause trouble if it was brought outside, just not as much as the truth.

There was a stunned silence around him, and then Twintin jumped forward. "You can make cards better?" she squealed.

"Yes, but there's only energy here for one," Ambraz said. "Seeing as you need water..."

Rachel's face turned ugly for a moment; then, she turned to Twintin with a forced smile. "That's great!"

Twintin was standing there, dazed, then looked up smiling radiantly. "I'll not be useless anymore!" she shouted before jumping and hugging Rachel.

"Incredible," Greldo muttered as they were watching the two. "Why didn't you tell me your first card was a summon?" he asked. Although he tried to hide it, Irwin noticed the tiny bit of hurt in his voice.

"There was too big of a chance to be overheard," he said.

It wasn't completely true, and from Greldo's frown, he understood the other realized this as well.

"The more people know, the bigger the chance the sorcerers would find out and take him from me…" Irwin added lamely. He still thought he was right for not telling anyone, but he also hoped Greldo wouldn't hold it against him. Too much.

"There's no time for this," Rachel said, suddenly pushing Twintin away and focusing on Ambraz. "How do you upgrade her card?"

"She is going to have to show me her card first," Ambraz said.

"What? How?" Twintin asked while the others looked equally confused.

"Right. You probably don't know either, so close your eyes and focus on your card. Imagine ejecting it from your hand and holding it.

Twintin closed her eyes, a crease appearing between her brows. After a few seconds, she shuddered, and her eyes snapped open. "It's not working!"

"It takes time and practice," Ambraz said. "All of you try! If she can't learn, we might have to go with another plan!"

Irwin looked around to see everyone, even Daubutim, with their eyes closed.

Seconds ticked by slowly. Just as Irwin's worry grew again, a flash of light came from Daubutim as a dull, common card hovered above his hand. A simple club decorated the front.

Irwin quickly scanned it for any odd wavy lines, but there was nothing out of the ordinary.

"Oh, another fast one," Ambraz said. "Such an interesting card! Highly unusual. This is part weapon, part crafting card!" Ambraz muttered from above Daubutim's card. "How odd… to find two cards that are on the cusp of a rank-up in this place."

Ambraz frowned, then backed up.

"However, as interesting as it is, the best I could do is turn it into a full weapon card. If you had a second elemental card, I might have been able to merge them, and that would be interesting, but nothing would get you past a few hundred hounds."

Daubutim stared at the Anvil for a while before summoning his club and looking at the door.

A lot of moaning, and ten minutes later, another burst of light, someone else had succeeded.

Irwin looked up. He had thought it would be Greldo, but Twintin looked up with a wide grin as her card hovered above her hand. It was a simple one, with a single drop of water on it. There were no curly lines, but Irwin didn't need those to know what it was. There were a few people in Malorin who had the water drop card, and although it had its uses, at best it could create a few handfuls of water from the air. Worse. Usually, they had multiple water drops on the image, and the fewer there were, the worse the card was.

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"Ah, yes!” Ambraz crooned as he rushed closer, hovering above the card.

Twintin stared at him, her face a mixture of awe, fear, and hope.

"Oh… oh my, now this is definitely one that we could use," Ambraz said as his lips curled up. "It is the weakest water element card I've seen, meaning it would benefit greatly from a reforging, taking it up to uncommon, and a rather strong one at that!"

As he spoke, Twintin's twinkling eyes had gone, and with an open mouth, she was looking at Ambraz with deep hope and desire.

"But, but," she whispered. "It's just Waterdrop… and I can only-" her face turned ugly, her shoulders going up as she shivered.

"Yes, yes," Ambraz said patiently. "Only able to create three or four drops of water?"

Twintin froze, then nodded slowly.

"Well," Ambraz said as he looked around. Rachel was cursing in anger, opened her eyes, and shook her head. "I can't do it," she said.

"Neither can I," Greldo said, sounding more sad than angry.

"Don't be alarmed. It can take a few days sometimes," Ambraz said. "These three are just very fast."

"Wait? Did you do this already? Why?" Rachel asked suspiciously.

"Enough!" Irwin snapped back. A sudden wave of anger made him glare back at her. "Stop trying to come up with some reason that this is my fault!"

Rachel seemed to shrivel up, taking a step back. "Sorry," she muttered, looking at the ground. "I… I just…"

"Never mind," Irwin said as he looked at Ambraz. "What do you need to do to reforge that card?"

"Me? A lot, and all beyond your current knowledge. You, however, are going to have to hit the card," Ambraz said.

Irwin stared at him stupidly. "I what?”

"Kid, how do you think this would work? It would be best if you had a hammer, but without it, your fist will do. You just have to hit the card each time I tell you to."

Irwin swallowed and saw Twintin look at him worriedly.

"What happens if I don't hit it when you tell me to?" he asked.

"Then her card might become flawed, so let's just not do that, alright?"

Irwin shivered, then nodded. "Anything else?"

"No. The energy in this shardworld is ridiculously abundant."

A dull rumble followed his words as if to punctuate what he said while interrupting Greldo, who had seemed ready to ask a question.

Twintin let out a startled scream, jumping next to Rachel and grabbing her hand.

"Well, that proves it. It is growing to be uncommon, and it's happening even faster than I thought," Ambraz said, sounding happier than Irwin felt as he sensed a dull shaking through his feet.

"Alright, show me your card again," Ambraz said as he whisked toward Twintin.

The girl was staring at the door and didn't seem to hear him.

"Twintin!" Irwin snapped, causing her to jerk and look up with wide eyes. "Your card, quick!"

She nodded and closed her eyes.

"Are you sure her card is the best?" Irwin asked Ambraz, wondering if it wouldn't be best to increase his flame. If it became much stronger, he could probably burn the plants!

No, it's not common, he told himself, finding that even now, he still had a hard time believing it. He quickly focused back on Ambraz, who had been answering him.

"Yes. At uncommon, she should be able to summon her body weight in water and manipulate both it and the water in simple organisms," Ambraz said.

"She can do more than just summon water?" Rachel asked, seeming stunned.

"What? Of course..." Ambraz muttered.

"How do you know all this?" Rachel asked, shaking her head.

"As an Anvil summon, I got some simple knowledge," Ambraz said.

Irwin could almost hear the distaste in his voice, and he hoped the others wouldn't realize he was lying. Scrambling for a way to change the subject, he thought about what Ambraz had said.

Simple organisms?

"Like plants?" he thought out loud, his eyebrows shooting up as he remembered teacher Rhym explaining that roughly eighty percent of their bodies were made of water.

"Yes. Like plants," Ambraz said. "Now, how about we stop with these questions, and you get your card back out?"

Twintin nodded, quickly sitting down and closing her eyes. A few minutes later, as the rumbling from outside continued to increase, shaking the building so hard that dust fell from the ceiling, a burst of light filled the small area as Twintin's card appeared above her outstretched palm.

"Alright, the growing will be finished as soon as the rumbling stops," Ambraz said. "That means there's a big chance for more dangerous things to appear. We need to do this now. It might feel a bit weird, but you don't have to worry, alright?"

"Will it hurt?" Twintin asked, leaning closer to Rachel, who put a protective arm around her shoulders.

"No," Ambraz said. "It might sting a little, that's all."

Twintin didn't seem relieved, and when the rumbling caused a crack to appear in the wall to the side, she turned pale.

"It will be fine," Irwin said as he gave her his best, winning smile. "After this, you will be the first uncommon-carded in our group, and you won't have to go into another common portal ever again!"

Twintin nodded hesitantly.

"Let’s begin," Ambraz said, and with a flash, a one-meter-high Anvil appeared where the small flying one had been. "Put your hand on top and relax."

"By Gelwin's beard, that's big," Greldo whispered.

Irwin didn't respond, but he noticed the side-eye Rachel was giving him.

Twintin began crying silently but still moved forward, putting her hand on the flat surface.

"Make sure she doesn't remove her hand," Ambraz said. "Kid, get over here and get ready to hit the card."

Irwin felt his heart skip a beat at the coolness in the Anvil's voice. He looked at Rachel and Greldo, then stepped forward next to Twintin. Twintin was crying loudly now, and Rachel hugged her while Greldo and Daubutim held her arm in place.

"Don't let go," Ambraz said. "No matter what. Now, Irwin, I'll say hit, and you hit. Don't stop, don't hesitate, just hit!"

Irwin nodded, raising his hand above Twintin's card.

"Three, two, one, hit!" Ambraz snapped.

Irwin brought his fist down, feeling the bottom sting painfully as it slammed into the card and the Anvil beneath.

A dull thud came from the Anvil as if a massive hammer had struck it.

He felt an odd tingling in the back of his mind and a tiny shiver from his own card, but he barely noticed as Twintin jerked. She almost ripped free from Daubutim and Greldo's hold. Her eyes widened, and her mouth opened in a startled, soundless cry.

"Hit!"

Irwin closed his mouth and struck again. He sensed the same odd shiver from his card, but he had no time to focus on it.

Twintin screamed. She tried to pull her arm back with such force that the others had to struggle to hold her.

"Keep her still," Ambraz roared. "Hit!"

Irwin brought his fist down, his heart beating in a frenzy as he looked at Twintin, eyes wide and rabid.

Please be done fast, he thought as Ambraz roared for him to hit again.

He did, and Twintin screamed.

–

"You said it wouldn't hurt," Irwin said shakily as he looked at Twintin, curled up in a ball on the ground. His hand was hurting, but he barely cared. Compared to what Twintin had gone through, it didn't count.

She'd fallen unconscious directly after the reforging had completed, and Rachel sat next to her, stroking her hair. The other girl threw hateful glances at both Ambraz and Irwin.

"Well, it doesn't hurt that much," Ambraz said. "I keep forgetting you are barely more than children and from a world where they don't teach you much."

"What kind of teaching could help someone with this?" Irwin hissed.

A shudder came from Twintin, and she stretched her arms in a sudden jerk, looking around with wide eyes. Snot covered her face, and her eyes were haunted.

"It's over," Rachel whispered. "You have an uncommon card now!"

Irwin knew she was trying to cheer Twintin up, but he wondered if it would work.

"It hurt so much," Twintin cried as she hugged Rachel. "It felt like my hand was stuck between a door, and someone kept closing it."

A deep rumble shook the building, followed by an angry howl from outside.

Irwin looked up and jumped to the door. The hounds that had been walking around outside were glaring at something outside of his view.

"Something is making them anxious," Greldo said as he moved next to Irwin. He was pale and breathing quick and shallow. "I hope she snaps out of it fast."

Irwin looked at Twintin and nodded. Her haunted screams played through his mind for a moment, and he had to forcefully shove them away into the deepest recesses of his mind. As much as he wanted to give her time to deal with it, they would die if she didn't use her card. Taking a deep sigh, he stepped forward, and Rachel glared at him.

"Let her recover for five minutes," she snapped.

Irwin licked his lips. Five minutes seemed reasonable… but… was it wise? They had no idea what might happen in five minutes. He took a deep breath.

"Twintin, you need to start practicing with your uncommon card," he said loudly.

The girl shuddered and pulled back from Rachel, who was staring daggers at him.

"I don't think-"

Greldo stepped forward, but Irwin shook his head as he spoke. "I know it hurts and that you are scared. But if we don't get out of here, we will all die. Please look at your card and see if you can connect with it!"

He didn't know if that was actually necessary, but he hoped that if Twintin saw her card it might help her.

Twintin hesitated, and Rachel bent forward, opening her mouth when a faint, purplish light illuminated the room. A card with a dull purple border and a few dozen raindrops hovered over her hand. Even from this distance, Irwin could sense the presence of the card, and for a moment, he wanted to try and use his Eyes of Blaze.

It only works on unbound cards, he reminded himself.

His plan seemed to work, at least partially, as Twintin wiped her face and stared at her own card in awe.

"It's beautiful," she whispered.

"Yes," Irwin said. "It is! Why don't you try it?"

Twintin didn't respond, and Irwin was about to ask again when she slowly got up, and her face turned to one of focus. The card vanished as she cupped her hand, and a moment later, water dribbled from her hand, slow at first but quickly increasing. It was soaked up by the dusty floor like a sponge, and she raised it, sniffing it.

"It smells so nice," she whispered before taking a sip.

Irwin couldn't help but swallow as he looked at the crystal-clear water. He could somehow see or feel that it was slightly colder than the ambient room temperature, and the idea of drinking it seemed heavenly. The water kept dripping out, and Irwin stepped forward, pulling out his waterskin as he suddenly realized what was happening.

"Don't let it go to waste," he said. "Quick, fill our waterskins if you can!"

Twintin looked at him, then his hand, and suddenly, a bright smile blossomed as she nodded and took the waterskin, tilting her hand above it. A clear stream of water poured from it, continuing for half a minute. When the waterskin was full, Irwin handed it to Greldo while grabbing his friend's waterskin for Twintin to fill.

"Interesting. There’s more water than there should be," Ambraz said.

The water stopped instantly as Twintin looked up at him, pale and startled.

"You hurt me," she whispered, shivering as she stepped away from the Anvil.

"Well, yes. But I also gave you an uncommon card," Ambraz snapped, sounding annoyed.

"Ambraz said you could drain the water from the plants," Irwin quickly interjected. If Twintin suddenly went back to being afraid and worried, they would be in more danger.

Twintin turned to him, eyes wide as she looked at her hand.

"I can do that?" she whispered, turning to look at her card. After a few moments, her eyes widened. "I can!"

With a suddenly angry expression, she turned to the small patch of plants on the other side of the room. Her card hand glowed a deep blue, and a second later, the plant she was looking at began gleaming with water that dripped to the ground. Within seconds, it began shriveling, and the vibrant green turned brown. It rapidly extended out along the root, and moments later, the nearby plants began turning brown, their edges curling up.

"Incredible," Greldo said as he moved beside Irwin. "With this, we can probably reach the portal after the hounds leave!"

Irwin's shoulders sagged in relief. Between his flame and Twintin's water card, they would have a chance!

"Now that we stand a chance, we should try to find the Linchpin and close the portal!" a dull voice rumbled from behind them.

Irwin and Greldo turned to look at Daubutim, who was looking out of the entrance.