Irwin followed the others, keeping an eye on Greldo. His friend seemed rattled by their travel through the portal, and after crossing half of the dock, he nudged him.
"I thought we were going to be on a ship," Irwin said, hoping to distract Greldo.
Greldo blinked, then looked at him and gave him a grateful smile. "Yeah… me too. Can you believe it? Those things are flying! Do you think it's a card or something else?"
Irwin saw his friend barely hidden tension and worry and wondered what he had seen during his travel through the portal. It had to have been something horrible. He suddenly recalled when he'd gone through a normal portal long ago, and he'd seen… something in a flash of a second.
Seeing Greldo's hollowed look return, he quickly painted a grin on his face. "Don't know, but if it is, I want one."
"It's soulwood," Yogog said as he turned around and began walking face backward. "There are worlds where every living thing is some form of a plant, and there are Trade Federations that specialize in finding either shard-worlds or farm worlds like that. Tools, ships, and wagons made of that stuff are special, to say the least!"
Irwin blinked in surprise as he gazed at the ship. So the wood was what was floating?
Yogog barked a laugh and spun back around, answering a question from the female smith.
Irwin saw that Greldo was gazing up at the ships in wonder, and seeing his friend slightly better, he did the same thing.
Chains of thick black metal hung from the prow, locking the ships to beams while thick bridges connected them to the dock. People were moving around, walking from and to ships in lines, some carrying massive chests. Most seemed normal but mixed in with many beings that reminded Irwin of demons, though he didn't see any of the ones he'd encountered before. The most impressive ones resembled the guards that had stood around the portal when they entered. Wearing an odd, bone-white mask with slits for eyes and with a single massive horn on their forehead, these, however, were bare-chested, two heads taller than even he was, and incredibly muscular.
Irwin felt someone grasp his arm and pull him around slowly until he was looking at Yogog, who had a forced-smile on his face.
"Don't look at them too long," he whispered. "If they think you are challenging them, they are going to come over, and we don't want that."
Irwin swallowed as he saw the slight fear in Yogog's eyes and nodded. He kept an eye on the horned things until they were further away, walking towards the final ship that was on the leftmost dock.
"What are they?" he whispered.
"Kraniox Caorthanach," Yogog said as he frowned. "But most people either call them Niox or Horned Monster if they think there's none present. They are incredibly aggressive. Their world was shattered a bit over a thousand years ago, but they had three disturbingly powerful soul-carded warriors. Due to this, three large continents managed to gain a form of stability. They then found the portal to the hub world, went through, destroyed half of the hub-world, then found the portal to the Portal Gallery."
As he spoke, the others had fallen back, and now six people, three smiths and three guards, were listening to Yogog.
"What happened then?" the female smith asked, her eyes sparkling.
"What always happens if trouble arrives in the Portal Gallery," Yogog said as he looked around, seemingly content with the attention.
"One of the enforcement garrisons, Hegliron's Second, in this case, arrived and drove them back into the hub world. Still, even they didn't dare follow them, and eventually, an agreement was made, and the Nioxes joined the Great Portal Faction Alliance."
Yogog stopped talking as he grinned ahead. "Well, story time's over! We can talk more tonight at dinner, but for now… let's go and see that we get boarded!"
Irwin and the others turned to the massive ship in front of them.
It's like a small town, Irwin thought as he gaped at the ship. This close, he finally understood that the boarding plank was wide enough for a wagon to ride over and the towering masts like the tallest trees he'd seen in Gloomforest back home.
Tensor walked towards a group of bare feet men and women with loose garments that were chatting to a one-eyed man with burning red hair.
"Captain. I am Tensor, leader of the Smith's Charter on Excelsior Five," Tensor said stiffly.
Irwin frowned.
"That's the official name for Fiverio," Yogog whispered as he leaned close to them.
The group of barefooted people focused on Tensor, then let out a peal of laughter before running across the boarding plank and vanishing in the massive hubbub on the ship. The one-eyed man moved a few steps closer, smiling widely. He raised his hand, and Irwin saw his silvery eyes flash while a card outlining on his hand burned for a moment.
A burning red sphere appeared before him, and he raised the eyebrow above his good eye.
Tensor took a tiny plate from his pocket and tossed it in the sphere, which flashed brightly.
The man, who Irwin guessed had to be the captain, clapped his hands, causing the red sphere to vanish.
"Smith Tensor! Good to see you finally made it! You're a bit late, but luckily we had some trouble with some missing cargo," the man said with a weird, oily accent as he made an elaborate bow which caused his red hair to flash up and down like a whip.
"All of the other passengers have already arrived, so I'll be seeing your smiths to their quarters. It came to my attention that Lord Tomeron Gwinwron paid handsomely for you to have two cabins!"
Tensor nodded, then turned to the others. Irwin saw his eyes dart to Balarn, who gave a barely perceptible nod before the lead smith turned to them.
"Good luck on your trip, and make sure to get back alive," Tensor said as he glanced at Irwin. "Balarn is in charge until you return, and I'll be here when you do."
Then he walked away while the captain clapped his hands again.
"Right then, dear smiths! Let's get you all situated! My name is Geuldrim, and I command this beautiful vessel!"
Balarn turned and beckoned the others.
Irwin followed along, and as he did, Greldo stepped beside him.
"Balarn and Yogog don't have guards," he whispered.
Irwin just nodded. He'd noticed the same thing.
Geuldrim led them onto the deck, and as he stepped down, Irwin noticed that the ship was swaying ever so gently. People stood all around, most with bags and luggage, but they all moved aside as Geuldrim walked past them.
As he passed two girls that looked no younger than fourteen, he heard them whisper to an elderly man beside them.
"-fair that they get rooms. We were here way sooner."
"Young miss, I have told you, simply being on the ship is stretching your father's resources. There is nothing we can do," the old man said. When he noticed Irwin watching them, a quick meek smile crossed his face, and he nodded.
So, how expensive is a room here then? Irwin thought as he followed the others across the several hundred feet of the deck that separated them from the tall hind area. A large double door, more fitting in an inn than on a ship, led them into a lavish hallway. A red staircase to the left led down, and another similar to the right led up. Two of the barefooted women stood chatting in the otherwise empty room.
"Girls, bring these smiths to rooms three-o-eight and three-o-nine," Geuldrim said as he smiled at them.
"Now! If you'll excuse me, the last bit of cargo should be here soon, and after that, we will be on our way!"
"Our thanks, Captain Geuldrim," Balarn said.
Geuldrim smiled, made a lavish bow, then spun around and left back outside, closing the doors behind him.
A short while and seven flights of stairs down, the two crewwomen led them to two rooms with the numbers three hundred and eight and three hundred and nine on them. They wordlessly gave Balarn two keys, smiled, and left.
"Alright," Balarn said as he looked at the others. "Yogog, Irwin, and I will take this room, and before you go screaming foul, we are expecting two more people to arrive at the next stop."
Their guards, I bet, Irwin thought as he nodded, wondering why he was the one going with Balarn.
"It's fine, Balarn," the female smith said with a big grin. "I hadn't expected you to split it up between men and women anyway!"
There was a round of laughs as Balarn pulled his beard as he watched her.
"You have a point, Monyque. We might have to think about that for the next time. Ichela and a few of our other sisters are going to have joined our topaz ranks by then," he said.
"As long as we all return alive," Yogog said with a happy smile.
The laughter turned to silence instantly as everyone except for Balarn looked at him wide-eyed.
"Yogog…" Balarn muttered. "Tact. Remember?"
"What! These kids need to know it's going to be dangerous in there!"
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
"Tensor spoke with them and warned them already," Balarn said admonishingly.
He did? Irwin thought as he shared a slightly worried look with Greldo.
That had to be why they were going to be joining Balarn.
"Now, let's just go inside and rest. We will eat in the mess later, but for now, there's not much we can do," Balarn said as he grinned and shrugged. "I suggest you enjoy these few days of doing nothing!"
A short while later, Irwin and Greldo were sitting on the bottom half of two bunk beds in a room that was smaller than he would have liked. Even the room they had back in Tensor's smithy had more space, and it smelled dusty and musky. A quick check showed that Ambraz was still asleep or pretending to be.
Yogog was sprawled across one of the bottom beds opposite them, while Balarn said on the final one, leaving the four top ones empty.
Just eight beds… how would we have done this if we hadn't gotten a second room? Irwin thought. The beds were barely large enough for him, so two to a bunk would have been impossible.
"Now, as happy as I am that you managed to become topaz ranked and are joining us, we still have some things to discuss. Normally Tensor would have gone over this with you, but, well," Balarn grinned. "You were busy before."
Irwin shrugged helplessly. He knew Tensor had wanted to talk to him about many things, but he just didn't have the time.
"Don't worry! Luckily we have a bit of time before we reach the Scour portal. Let's start with the following. Do you have any idea what we are going to do on Scour?"
"Not really… Tensor said we had to do something to receive rewards for our charter?" Irwin said slowly.
Yogog let out a burst of laughter. "Yeah, we are definitely going to do things! No laying about."
"Do you know anything about the training worlds of the smithing guild?" Balarn asked.
Irwin shrugged helplessly. "Just that they have a very high time dilation?"
Balarn sighed. "Alright, let's start at the basics then."
He looked at his hands, clenching and unclenching them, and Irwin had the feeling he was sorting his thoughts. After a bit, Balarn nodded and began talking slowly.
"Scour is a ruby rank training world, which means the time dilation is anywhere between one to two thousand and one to three thousand. It fluctuates a little because it's pretty far from the main Portal Gallery path, but this is also why it is so high. Like most of the training worlds that the Smith's guild has secured, its core is highly unstable. There are many volcanic areas and large areas that are inhospitable. Fire, earth, and metal elemental beings populate those areas, and those near the fringes are small and harmless. However, if you go deeper into those areas, then you will encounter more dangerous things, most of which are highly territorial."
Irwin frowned.
"Yes?" Balarn said. "If you have questions, ask them."
"Why do we use Scour as a training world if it's this dangerous? Just because of the time dilation?"
Yogog laughed and answered before Balarn could.
"The heat of the volcanoes and the fire and metal cards we can get from those elementals, of course!" he said. "Not to mention the large amounts of rare metals that are hidden away inside its mountains."
"Yogog, do you want to take over?" Balarn asked as he turned to the burly smith lying on the bed.
"Ah, come on, don't be like that! Fine, I'll be quiet," Yogog replied, putting his hands behind his back and closing his eyes.
Balarn waited, then turned to Irwin, who saw the humorous glint in the black-bearded man's face.
"As I was going to say, there are metals to be found there that are as strong or stronger than heart-carded summoned weapons and armor. However, melting them requires intense heat, which is where the volcanoes come in. Besides this, as you should know, smiths require specific cards if we want to progress to working with heartcards, either to form them or to augment them. "
"Augment?" Irwin blurted as he leaned forward. "I thought you couldn't change a heartcard?" He tried to recall if he had heard something about it, but he was drawing a blank.
Yogog grunted but kept quiet.
Balarn grinned. "While it's true that you can't add other cards to the heartcard, as long as a heartcard isn't solidified in a soulcard, it can be tweaked."
"Soulcards…" Greldo whispered. "I've heard there are only a few soulcarded on Fiverio?"
"Six to be precise," Balarn said as he nodded. "But let's not get into that now. You are both still handcarded, and you haven't even finished right hand yet," he added as he gestured at Greldo. "You had better focus on those things before even thinking about soulcards."
Irwin looked at his friend and saw his own barely contained curiosity mirrored in the other's eyes. They were definitely going to be asking Balarn about this after he was done explaining!
"So, what are we supposed to do there?" Irwin asked. "Find metals?"
Balarn gave him a half smile before nodding. "That and cards, as well as reforge cards for the Urdwellan family who own that entire world."
"One family owns a world?" Greldo snapped. "How?"
"It's not that unusual," Balarn responded. "The Urdwellan family has twelve soulcarded amongst their ranks, making them one of the more formidable powers in this region, almost on par with The Grwinwron Trade Federation. Each time they gain a new soulcarded they send out a new expeditionary force to one of the fringe arms of the Portal Gallery to search for new farming worlds, training worlds, and shards. That soulcarded powerhouse then becomes the one in control of the world."
Irwin leaned back, staring at the smith, somewhat stunned.
"Can any soulcarded find and take a world?" he asked.
Yogog began laughing and seemed unable to hold himself back this time.
"That'd be fantastic, wouldn't it!"
Balarn snorted. "Not unless you are incredibly lucky and find one without any intelligent indigenous people. That barely ever happens... And even then, there might be dangerous monsters. No, only those who are part of one the great families, guilds, or trading organizations are able to take over a world."
"Like the smith's guild?" Greldo asked.
"Yes. Our smith's guild has worlds. Technically, Scour could be seen as one because the Urdwellan soulcarded on Scour is also a Ruby Rank smith who is getting close to Diamond. That's why we are allowed to send people there," Balarn said, raising his hand when Greldo wanted to ask something more.
"Let me finish this. After that, I'll answer all the questions I can!"
Greldo nodded, and Balarn was about to continue when a shock ran through the room. A moment later, there was another. Then they felt the room tilt slightly.
"And we are off," Yogog said.
"Alright, let's head up before we continue," Balarn said as he got up, steadying himself with his hands. "You will want to see this!"
Irwin and Greldo followed him out while Yogog remained where he was. After a quick knock on the door, they gathered the others and headed back up.
The deck was still filled with people, but there were enough spots near the ship rail, and soon Irwin was leaning against it, staring out in wonder at the massive jungle they sprawled out for as far as he could see.
"What you are seeing is the Portal Gallery world," Balarn said as he looked ahead.
The ship continued rising, and soon Irwin couldn't make out the individual trees.
"What's that," Greldo hissed as he pointed in the distance.
Irwin looked up to see a pitch-black, star-filled band in the distance.
"That is the edge of the Gallery World," Balarn said. "Nobody knows exactly how the Gallery World was made, and scholars have been trying to find out for thousands of years. What we do know is that it's a seemingly infinitely-branching stretch of stone covered with vegetation that hangs somewhere in space. Nobody knows exactly where because none of the star patterns have ever been observed from another world, but we can travel across it and find portals to different worlds. We are currently on a pretty narrow side branch, which is why you can see the edge so clearly. If you are on the main branch, we couldn't go high enough to see the edge unless we were much closer."
Looking down, Irwin tried to imagine what this was. It vaguely reminded him of some of the shardworlds, and he wondered if it was something like that.
"How big is it?" Greldo asked.
"Nobody knows," Balarn said. "Explorers have been traveling it for as long as is recorded, and nobody has ever found an end to the main trunk, or even the largest offshoots."
"It's incredible," Irwin said as he looked down at the stretch of jungle, noticing no towns or villages anywhere."
"Don't people live here?" he asked.
"No. That'd be way too dangerous," Balarn said. "You can't see them from up here, but there are a lot of dangerous things in that jungle. That's why most of the portals are heavily guarded."
"What kind of dangerous things?"
"The Addled mostly," Balarn said with a shrug.
"The what?"
Balarn looked at Irwin, then sighed. "If a world shatters, something happens to the inhabitants that manage to survive. Over time they become more aggressive, fighting amongst each other. Unless they manage to find a new world where they can live, they eventually snap and become vicious beasts, attacking anything in sight. We call those The Addled, although there are less pretty things some call them."
So even if people in our world would survive the shattering, they are doomed? Irwin thought, feeling his wonder at the jungle beyond, lessening rapidly.
"And if they find another world?" Irwin asked.
"Being Addled is incurable. But if they manage to find another world before then, they will return to normal," Balarn said.
Irwin leaned forward.
We have to find a way to save them, he thought as he stared at the darkness beyond, not really seeing anything.
He spent the rest of the day listening to Balarn talk about Scour and what they would be required to do.
In the evening, they had a quick dinner, after which they returned to their rooms and continued learning about different types of dangerous beasts and monsters they could find.
This continued for three days, but without having to reforge cards or worry about other things constantly, Irwin gradually calmed down. The only thing bothering him was how long the entire trip was taking. Each day was a possibility of their planet shattering.
Then, early in the fourth day, Yogog entered the room with a shout.
"We're finally here! Get your stuff!"
A short while later, Irwin stood beside Greldo behind the others staring at a massive black tree that stuck out of the jungle. Houses were built in the top branches, as was a small dock. Compared to Fiverio's massive entry port, it was much smaller, but as Irwin saw it, he couldn't hold back a grin.
When we are inside there, I'll finally have time to breathe!
--
Daubutim gazed at the thick steel door, hearing the heavy footsteps approach it.
"Think they will finally let us out?" Indoutor grunted. "It's been a day since we answered their questions!"
Daubutim didn't respond, quietly waiting as the door swung open. A tall silver-eyed guard stepped in.
"Daubutim and Indoutor, serfs of Smith Irwin. You are allowed to leave," the man said as he stepped aside.
"Finally," Indoutor hissed as he got up and stomped to the door.
Daubutim followed him out, glancing at the guard looking down at him. He was still somewhat unused to seeing so many people his size or larger.
As they walked through the corridor, he glanced into each cell, seeing a few people inside, most of the types he'd never seen before.
If they came through, some should be here, he thought as he kept flicking his head side to side.
They were halfway through to the exit when he saw two figures slumped against the wall in a cell. Something about them seemed familiar, and as he focused on their faces, his mind instantly provided him with their names.
Tanya and Twintin? he quickly looked the other way as he remembered them. One had been the sorcerers that led them to their first portal, back in Wignut, while the last time he had seen Twintin, she had been a young girl, running away because she thought Irwin had done her harm.
It took him some effort to keep moving and looking around. A few cells beyond, he saw another familiar face, one of the sorcerers that he'd seen in the sorcerer's camp when he and Irwin had dropped off the little girl.
How did all of them come here? he wondered. More importantly, what were they going to do with them?
When they reached the end, he turned, looking at the guard.
"What?" the guard asked, staring at him, slightly hostile.
"Have more people arrived through farming-world three-five-eight's portal?" he asked.
"That's none of your business," the guard said before he suddenly fell quiet, staring intently at Daubutim. "You… are you from that world?"
No, Daubutim wanted to say, but his jaw seemed locked. He felt his mind struggle to speak the truth. Gritting his teeth, he tried to force his mind to answer that they weren't, but even stronger this time, something inside him rebelled.
"We were the first and didn't cause any problems," Indoutor said. "Excuse my cousin. He has been through a rough time."
The guard looked at Daubutim for a few moments, then nodded slowly.
"The first… I heard about those," he grunted before nodding. "Yes, more of your world came through, but don't get any crazy ideas. Unless a citizen or noble comes to take them in, they are going to be sent on the next ship to one of the mining worlds. Now, move. There's someone from the Smiths guild waiting for you in the Central Hall."
Daubutim nodded and quickly headed out, Indoutor beside him.
"What was that about?" his cousin hissed. "Are you trying to get us into even more trouble?"
Daubutim shook his head. He had no idea what was going on, but ever since they had reached this world, he was having more trouble with himself. Indoutor kept glaring at him, and he decided it didn't matter.
"I saw people I know in those cells. A few sorcerers and a young woman that was in the same group as Irwin and I were in back in the sorcerer's tower."
Indoutor's eyes narrowed. "Well, too bad. You heard him. There's nothing we can do to save your little friend. They will have to learn how to... dig, I suppose? Dunno what they will do in that mining world."
Daubutim frowned but didn't say anything as he followed Indoutour out into the massive central hallway. His cousin was right, even if it pained him.