Irwin's Journey 266: Unexpected growth (Patreon)

Irwin let out a weary sigh as he lowered his hammer. The table beside was covered in loose papers with music sheets. With his Tablatures of Soul and Song card having a limit of twelve songs that it could store,  a few of which he had filled with things from Granvox, he'd copied the attempts on paper so they could see what was causing the issues.

If I don't have to create another card like this, I wouldn't mind, Irwin thought.

Still, it had paid off.

Before him, on Ambraz, lay the final, fifth card for Hind. It had taken him longer than he'd expected. Three full days to get the final one, mostly because Ambraz had tuned them to accommodate the changes he expected.

"Kid, don't look so relieved! That was very good practice," Ambraz said. "Now, go and see Hind! I'm curious to see what will happen!"

Irwin felt his own curiosity grow, and he wondered if things would go as they hoped. The longer he and Ambraz had thought about it, the more they wondered if, with six cards fully focused on someone's soulforce and soulscape, it wouldn't do more than just stabilize it. As far as Ambraz knew, it wasn't something he'd heard been done before, especially not with three of the cards being topaz, one being emerald, and the final actually being ruby. It was, for all intents and purposes, an experiment very few could or would be willing to attempt.

Perhaps, depending on what it does, I might do something similar for my third card, Irwin thought, not for the first time.

He grabbed the card, then his vest from the chair, pulling it over his head.

Ambraz landed on his shoulder as he left the cabin, wondering if an active body transformation -like the one Vera had- then combined with only cards to couple it to his soulscape wouldn't be a great option.

"How far along is Ethereal Strings?" he asked.

As his main-self said that, his soulscape self, as he had begun thinking of the other half of him, continued playing on the soulstrum guitar. He had begun doing so nearly nonstop, his main -self practicing with the cards and still purifying the Gneisian ore and his soulscape-self playing on the soulstrum guitar.

Well, that and-

Irwin focused on the soundwaves that were moving all around him and, without much effort, picked the ones leading through the corridor and bounced up the ladder. Focusing on his Sonic Shift, he vanished from his spot, and with a fraction of intense speed, he reappeared atop the ladder, causing Zender to leap back.

"Kid, you're going to cause someone to have a heart attack," Ambraz said with a laugh.

"It's okay, captain," Zender said with a laugh. "We are getting used to it, and at least you aren't slamming into walls anymore!"

Irwin grinned evilly as he put his hand on Zender's shoulder. "Good, so does that mean you want to try moving along with me again?"

Zender shook his head, his silvery skin paling ever so slightly. "No, no- I, I have to go! Boohm needs me in the kitchen."

Irwin laughed as Zender rushed down the ladder.

"Just joking," he shouted after the young Yuurindi.

"You say that now, but he was sick for a day," Ambraz said, sounding more amused than reproachful. "If you plan to use it on others, you might want to focus on it more when we create your heartcard."

Irwin sighed, knowing there wouldn't be space. Even with his second heartcard becoming Ammolite, they would only have seven spots for active and passive effects, and they would need every single one of them.

He walked out of the cabin and onto the spacious deck, immediately spotting Hind. She stood with Greldo at the stern, chatting softly. As soon as Irwin walked towards them, Greldo said something, and they turned to watch him approach. As he did, he grinned at Greldo, who rolled his eyes. Greldo and Hind had been chatting a lot since they set out, and although there was nothing else, Irwin thoroughly enjoyed implicating there was.

Behind them, the constant stream of ships continued, and from what Greldo told him, it would continue for a long time as even his insanely sharp eyes couldn't see an end to it yet. What had changed was the large number of damaged vessels among them, especially the merchant ones.

"Finally finished?" Greldo asked as he reached them.

Irwin forced a grin as the horribly out-of-tune sound of Hind's soulcard caused his hair to stand on end. 

"Finally, you brat?" Ambraz snapped in mock anger. "Do you have any idea how few cardsmiths could have done what we did?"

Irwin noticed Hind staring at him wide-eyed.

"I have," he said, patting his vest pocket. "Hind, you ready to-"

"Yes!" she shouted, her voice like a metallic gong.

Irwin wasn't surprised by the desire in her eyes, but he didn't give the cards straight away. 

"You have to understand that there is a small possibility that it won't help," he said. "It might hurt."

"It doesn't matter," Hind said, straightening up to nearly his size and staring him in the eye. 

Her pale copper skin gleamed, and although she wasn't as muscular or heavyset as he was, her squarish physique made Greldo look slim. Irwin absently wondered if anyone looked at them if they thought they were siblings. Technically, she looked more like him now than Bronwyn did.

"Alright, let's head inside," Irwin said.

"Good luck," Greldo said from behind them.

They headed to the large galley and sat down at the center table, where Irwin spread five cards out in front of him. 

"Alright, each one of these will augment your soulshape or soullake in one form or another," he said before pushing one card forward. 

Ambraz landed on the card before Hind could take it. 

"Okay, listen up. As soon as you slot it, don't wait but slot the next," the Ganvil said. "The slotting process will make your soulscape more malleable, and hopefully, each time you slot a card, it will compound. That means you will need to create your full-hands as fast as you can while you are here. Irwin will use his abilities to keep your resonance from ripping the cards appart."

Irwin saw Hind hesitate slightly. "Won't that cause the handcards to integrate poorly and make it more difficult to form into a heartcard?" 

"Definitely," Ambraz snorted. "Which is perfect, because the Kid needs a challenge to improve. Making your heartcard as difficult as it can be will probably get him there or close."

Irwin knew that was a slight exaggeration, as even with that, he'd still need a week or two to get there. And that was only if he managed to succeed in making Hind's heartcard.

"I will do it," Hind said, her jaw set and her eyes gleaming with determination. If there is even a tiny possibility that I can fix myself and not be a total failure, honor Father's legacy, I will take it!"

Ambraz hummed contently as he flew away while Irwin wondered about what Hind had said. He hadn't had time to speak with her a lot, but Greldo had told him that her father had gone to try and find a piece of metal called Ancestral Coperion in the hopes of saving her. The mythical metal, which was supposedly hidden deep below the ground, near the mantle of Igniz, was said to heal any ailment a Fiz'rin could have. Sadly, he had never returned and was presumed dead and lost to the depths.

Taking a deep breath, he summoned his soulstrum guitar, creating thin but powerful strings of soulforce on it. He made them taut enough that as he began thrumming them softly, the sound was high like the tweets of a bird. It took him only a moment to get it in tune with the song as Hind's soulcard should have been. His soulscape-self was as focused as he was, humming along now it didn't have the soulstrum guitar in hand.

I need to continue practicing the piano, his smaller self-thought, while his main-self fully agreed.

"Ready," Irwin said, nodding at Hind.

She stared at the topaz-ranked card for a moment before placing it against the second slot of her next hand.

"Remember, focus on the soulscape aspects of each card when you combine them!" Ambraz said.

"I will," Hind said as the card sank into her hand.

For a moment, nothing happened, then she gasped, and her hands clenched around the edge of the table, causing the reinforced wood to groan. 

Irwin sensed her soulcards horrible song change and straightened out just ever so slightly. At the same time, it became a bit stronger. He played the song, the resonance that he knew should be there, feeling his own soulcard and soulforce resonate powerfully and nudging the fluctuating resonance of Hind's soulcard. For a moment, he felt her resist, and then Hind let her control slip enough. Although only minutely, Irwin forced the resonance along, helping her integrate the new handcard in more ways than one, shortening the time from what would have been hours or days to minutes.

As Irwin's main-self was fully engrossed, his soulscape-self had slightly more freedom, and as the sounds, senses, and ripples of soulforce began resonating slightly more in tune, he noticed something.

The ambient soulforce is resonating, he thought as he gazed at the thin ambient soulforce faintly resonating and fluctuating in the melodie of the soulstrum guitar.

"Good, now the next one!" Ambraz snapped.

Hind's hand trembled as she took the following card, an emerald one that would serve as the backbone of her first fullhand. She placed it there, and this time, her eyes widened, filled with pain.

Irwin's main-self continued playing, knowing of but ignoring everything, leaving that to his soulscape self.

This time, it took longer, and although the resulting song was even less gruesome,  Hind was breathing rapidly, her nostrils flaring while thin plumes of smoke leaked out along them.

“Now, combine it!” Ambraz said.

Hind didn't respond, but the swirling soulforce that came from her hand jolted up, and her breathing became laborious.

Why do these things always hurt, Irwin thought, not even knowing which part of him did so.

By now, most of all of his attention was focused on forcing the soulforce to continue as it should, curtailing the explosive peaks as the cards integrated, and Hind's soulcard tried to latch on to a semblance of normalcy.

Minutes passed, the song rebelling every few moments, but finally, a flash came, and lines crawled across her left hand, combining the cardslots and their images in a beautiful pattern.

"Alright, the next card," Ambraz shouted.

Irwin gritted his teeth as he saw Hind's trembling hand take the final topaz card. After that, there would be one more emerald and then the sole ruby one they had made. It would be the cornerstone of the heardcard, and it was called  Everbending Veil, which would allow someone's soulscape walls to stretch and bend slightly. 

As the fourth card was slotted, a grinding sound came from Hind as her jaw clenched and unclenched as if she was chewing rocks. By now, her eyes were rolling around windy in their sockets, almost like metallic marbles.

Immidiately Hind's existing, broken soulcard seemed to rebel- trying to pull the card's resonance into itself, something Irwin had never seen before. The tune stuttered, and he could sense his minute control slipping.

Instinctively, he switched the song he was playing on his soulstrum guitar, playing the majorly out-of-tune song Hind's soulcard had been resonating with moments before. He had to keep it from going too fast, or the result could be disastrous. At the same time, his soulscape-self began singing, and for the first time since he'd gotten it, Irwin fully realized the potential of having a Dual Soul. With his main-self using his soulstrum guitar and all his handcards to create one resonance for Hind's soulcard, his soulscape-self took control of his own soulcard and resonated it to force Hind's handcards to follow suit.

A dull throbbing headache popped up, but he ignored it as he did the strain and stress on his own cards. Some small part of him could feel his soulstrum guitar pulsing and growing.

He barely heard it when Ambraz shouted at Hind to slot the fifth card, but when the sixth was slotted, he knew, as did everyone on the deck.

A pulse of soulforce exploded out from Hind as her soulcard struggled to grab the lifeline laid out for it. Irwin forced more and more power into his Soulstrum snares, no longer caring how loud the song became. By now, it was only partially out of tune, and the resonance soulforce was humming and vibrating in a way that, if he had the time for it, he would have known everyone in the vicinity would be able to hear. His Ethereal Strings card was rapidly draining his soulforce, and his headache was increasing as he felt it start to stretch and groan under his hands.

Accompanied by all of this, there was a roar of pain, but he had no idea who it came from him or Hind. Slowly, he felt his control slip as Hind's soulcard bucked and heaved like a charbull.

"Kid, hold it!"

Irwin heard Ambraz's voice roar in his soulscape, and he felt an influx of soulforce.

Time seemed to stretch out into infinity as all he knew was the song, his fingers flickering across the snares with as much skill as his few months of practice could muster.

For a long time, there was a precarious balance, then finally, Hind's soulcard relaxed, the song now just slightly out of tune.

The resonating soulforce, both his, Hind's, and the ambient, stilled, the deafening chaos petering off in an almost anti-climatic finish. Irwin felt his soulscape-self immediately go unconscious, drained and tired but also far stronger than it had been before. Even without checking, he knew it was at least twice as strong, now at probably twenty-two percent, the short time of incredible pressure, causing a growth far larger than the many weeks before. His main-self had grown less, but that hardly mattered as it was closing in back to the hundred percent it had been before. But as happy as he was with that growth, it was nothing compared to the thrumming power he sensed from his third card. 

Ethereal Strings, his soulstrum guitar, felt as powerful as he recalled his hammer to have been, and he knew it was closer to the final rank than he had ever imagined it would be. A single little push would nudge it over, and he didn't think it would take longer than a few days- a week at most.

“That… hurt….”

Irwin blinked, looking at Hind, who lay sprawled across the table. Deep gauges had been dug in the previously pristine wood, but Irwin barely noticed, his entire focus on Hind. Her face was pale and thick, gleaming copper blood slowly dribbling down from her lips, eyes, and ears, but none of that seemed to matter to her. She was smiling, her eyes gleaming with joy.

"Even if it is never fixed, I'll be able to live a long time now," she said, her voice showing no hoarseness from the screaming.

"Just wait till we make your heartcard," Ambraz grunted where he sat on the table. His wings were draped across his form, and his lips were drawn in a grimace. "But not now, alright? Now I need to-"

His words halted as a purple gleam rippled across his surface, followed by thin lines that curved around him in beautiful patterns. A purple rune resembling a crown with four spikes appeared above his mouth, flashing with a blinding light before vanishing. 

"-now I need to rest," Ambraz groaned, and, with what seemed a massive effort, he flew in the air and landed on Irwin's shoulder, where he promptly vanished.

"Is he going to be alright?" Hind asked worriedly.

Irwin didn't immediately respond as he grew slightly worried. The last time Ambraz had ranked up, he'd gone to sleep for a long time, weeks if he recalled. If that happened again?

He noticed Hind's worried look and forced a smile. He leaned back in the chair that didn't even creek under his massive weight.

"Sure, he might be obnoxiously proud of himself for a while," he said. "But he will be fine."

"More than fine," a deep voice said as Hou'dor flew into the galley.

He was followed by You'gyn and the three Ganvils of the smiths. Only the other three rank fives weren't there.

"That's insane! He went from rank three to rank four in such a short time?" You'gyn snapped, landing on the table. 

"It's not that special, right? All the other Ganvils from his generation are already rank four," Juul'rish, the silvery Ganvil, said in her feminine voice.

"He was only barely rank three when I met him half a year ago," You'gyn snapped. "Do you have any idea of the amount of purified soulforce that would require?"

"Am'braz has always been a fast learner," Hou'dor said, turning to Irwin, grinning widely. "With a good smith by his side, it is only natural."

"Natural? What, to condense five to twenty years of growth in a bit over a year?" You'gyn snapped before flying around agitatedly. "I can't wait for us to arrive."

As he chattered, the other smiths arrived, all of them looking slightly pale.

"By the Titan's Curse, what was that sound?" Seleen asked, staring at Irwin. Her gaze moved to the soulstrum guitar still in his arms, and she cursed in a gravelly language that sounded too coarse to be real.

"I'm really starting to wonder if I shouldn't have tried my hand at the musical style," Montain muttered.

"You and what miracle?" Seleen snapped.

"Enough," Esther stopped them before they could argue. "Why don't the two of you go and practice? The Captain looks like he could do with some rest."

Irwin looked at her gratefully, glad she'd said so and prevented him from having to silence them. Loudly.

"Ah, come on," Seleen whined. "I want to ask him what he was doing and why every bit of soulforce was resonating like crazy! If those four stoic Ganvils hadn't put up that shield, every ship in a thousand miles would have noticed!"

Irwin flinched, deciding that he'd have to thank Hou'dor and the others for that.

"Stoic?" the aforementioned Ganvil muttered.

"Out," Esther snapped, pointing at the door.

Grumbling softly, Seleen moved out while Montain followed her with a hurt look as if he was wondering what he'd done to be lumped in with her. Their Ganvils seemed fine with ignoring them, now silently perched in some of the nooks and holds, looking quietly.

"Sorry about that, Captain," Esther said, sighing and shaking her head. "They take after mother and seem born with endless enthusiasm."

"Thanks," Irwin said. "I'm going to need to talk with Hind a bit, and-"

He looked up to see that Hind was lying across the table, sleeping like a babe with a content smile on her face. A massive, gleaming metallic near seven feet tall babe.

"..."

"I'll get her to her room," Irwin said as he pushed himself up. 

His headache was slowly retreating as his stores of soulforce refilled.

"I am curious about something, though," Esther said hesitantly. "Perhaps in a few days, you could share a bit about how you managed to create two alternating resonances?"

Irwin nodded as he grabbed Hind, easily putting her massive weight across his shoulder.

"Sure, we can talk about it over dinner tomorrow," he said. "But for now, I need to rest."

As he walked, he thought about something and looked back. "Hou'dor, could you join us for a moment?"

"Of course, captain," the Ganvil said. 

He returned to his small shape and flew after Irwin, who made his way, first to Hind's room to drop her off and then to his own. As he lay on the couch, Hou'dor returned to his large form in the center of the forging area, which was about the only place he'd fit.

"The last time Ambraz increased his rank, he was unconscious for a long time," he said. "Do you have any idea how long Ambraz will be slumbering this time?"

"Ah, don't worry about that," Hou'dor said. "With me and the others here, we can wake him up in a day. He is just out of purified energy. On its own, it would definitely take a while to refill, but it's fine- we can share some of ours."

Irwin let out a relieved sigh. "That's good. Then I'm going to rest now."

"No worries, we will protect everyone while you sleep," Hou'dor said with a deep rumbled laughter.

He flashed into his small shape and headed out of the room. Irwin debated for a moment whether to remain on the couch and sleep there, then forced himself up, closed the door, and dropped onto his bed. 

He was asleep before his head touched down.

--

Irwin woke twice the next morning, first in his mindscape, with his smaller self and a few moments later with his main-self.

He felt great; both of him did. More importantly, a single glance at his Ethereal Strings told him he'd underestimated its growth. He leaned back in his bed and grinned. If he made Hind's heartcard, he'd definitely push his soulstrum guitar to Ammolite.

I'll need to get Ambraz awake as fast as I can, he thought as he pushed himself up.

He couldn't wait to share what he'd learn back home, and they have to start searching for growth-type cards. Either that, or he had to figure out how to add the type. 

As his minds pondered the future, the one in his soulscape looked at the soullake and froze. By now, he knew the size and dimension of everything in his mindscape by heart, and he instantly saw that it had grown, and not just a little. 

At least as much as I have grown, he knew instinctively as he prodded both of his selves.

He stared at the soullake and frowned. This didn't make sense… his soullake was only a representation of his first card's ability, and except for very special cards or means -like the Chaos Whales- it was very hard to increase its size. More so, the increases would usually be small, in the few percentile range. 

The card said it would increase my soulforce, Irwin thought as he looked around.

That meant the soulforce that was held inside his soulscape. Didn't it? He did a quick check and quickly found that, yes, his soulscape's soulforce had increased with a similar amount. He really wanted Ambraz to wake up now.

As part of him contemplated what had happened, he forced himself to shave and wash up before heading out to search for Hind. 

It ended up being a short search as her joyful voice echoed from the galley.

"-amazing! I slept without any nightmares or pain, and I even dreamt of home!"

"You do know that's pretty normal for most people?" Greldo replied.

Irwin walked into the galley to find Hind, Greldo, and Zender there while Boohm was humming to himself over a hot stove.

"Captain!" Hind said as she pushed herself up, towering over the table. "It's incredible! I tried entering my soulscape, and I actually managed it for a few moments! It didn't even hurt that much!"

"Good, but you might want to be careful until we finish making your heartcard," Irwin said as he sat down. He could sense the melody from her soulcard, still slightly off but no longer so bad that it scared him away.

"Now, how about you tell me how the cards are holding up?"

Hind raised both her hands, the lines from the previous day barely visible now, as were the cards. Even then, the last card on her right hand stood out as being far clearer and with tighter lines.

"They are amazing! My soulforce is actually useable now, and after I drained it, it was restored within half an hour!"

Though he'd expected an increase, even Irwin was surprised at that. For people who had lower than ruby rank soulcards, especially those who didn't deal with soulforce restoration of any kind, full restoration of the spent soulforce could take hours or even up to a day or more.

After listening to Hind talk excitedly about her soulcard and the heartcards, Irwin left for the deck and took a shift at the helm. As he did, his soulshape-self continued practicing with the soulstrum guitar. As it did, he noticed something interesting. Although both of him were individually thinking minds with their own soulforce, they were both still him, and that seemed to mean neither of them got bored. As long as one of him was doing something different, the other could easily do the same repetitive thing without issue.

So, the day passed easily. Part of him looked at the ships passing by and guided The Concerto, while the other part played the soulstrum guitar. Even then, both of his minds sometimes meandered off, musing about why his soullake had increased in size.

At the end of his shift, as soon as Earila took over, he headed to Hou'dor.

"Can you wake Ambraz?" he asked.

"Sure, bring him out," Hou'dor said as he changed to his flying shape, flying towards the leftmost rank five Ganvil.

Irwin focused on Ambraz's presence in his soulscape and, as gently as he could, ejected him. Ambraz appeared on his shoulder, immediately sliding down, and Irwin quickly caught him.

He became heavier, he thought as he walked towards Hou'dor, who was softly discussing something with the other Ganvil.

"Alright, just place him on my back, then on Nim'dor's, and that should do it."

"Sure, sure. Let's help the one that barely needs any help grow even faster," the other Ganvil said.

Though his words were blunt, Irwin heard the good-natured banter in them. It didn't surprise him as Nim'dor was from the same batch as Hou'dor, and they all seemed calm and stable.

He did as asked, curious to see what would happen.

A rush of soulforce, a pure transparent crystalline white, rushed out of Hou'dor's shape and into Ambraz. It lasted for almost a minute, and when it was done, Hou'dor yawned mightily.

"Showoff," Nim'dor said. "Alright, put him on me; I'll do the final bit. After that, just wait, and he should wake up by tomorrow."

Irwin did as asked and watched as the same thing happened again. He didn't see or hear any difference to the clear soulforce, which made sense. If it was purified, it would all look the same, wouldn't it? He knew from the classes that purified soulforce actually just meant soulforce of high density without any typings.

When the glow faded, he picked Ambraz up and slid him in his pocket.

"Alright, I'm going to take a nap," Hou'dor said. "The rest will keep an eye out!'

"Sure, sure, you lazy lump," a voice came from one of the other Ganvils. 

There was a round of laughter, and Irwin decided he liked the Ganvil's that had been sent with Ambraz. Again not something that surprised him as Ambraz had apparently picked them himself.

He spent the rest of the day practicing his Galadin music, using his Tablatures of Soul and Song to record what he did and find the tiny flaws. During dinner, he shared some of what he'd done during the reforging and how his split soul card worked with Esther while the other smiths -Dahlia included- listened with great interested.

When it was finally time, he was almost too excited to sleep. 

When he wakes up, I'll ask him about my soullake size, and then we can reforge Hind's heartcard, he thought.

Content that he was closing in on his next heartcard, he sang and played himself to sleep.