Irwin swept all the cards on the table that had been dealt with his next heartcard together. Well, the cards that he and Ambraz had planned could potentially become his heartcard. When he was done, he put all the cards he didn't specifically need for anything on one side, away from the cards for his kids.

"Alright, so… we got a few things to do and plenty of time," he said, humming. "As soon as your wound heals up, we will do the Earth Titan heartcard."

"Sure, sure. That shouldn't be too long," Ambraz grunted, flying around restlessly. "I hope!"

Irwin watched him quietly, already knowing what was coming. He was proved right as Ambraz flitted back to the table and landed in front of him.

"Scratch!"

Irwin grinned and reached out, putting his fingers on the metal that surrounded Ambraz's wound. The heat radiating from Ambraz was so intense that it would burn the skin of anyone without his ability to withstand fire. That, however, wasn't the curious part. With a little focus, he very gently resonated his soulforce and 'scratched' the incredibly densely packed soulforce that had started building around the edge of the wound.

Ambraz let out a sound that reminded Irwin of the wild cats that had roamed the streets of Malorin at night.

I wonder if anyone brought those or if they are all dead…

As he continued soul-resonance scratching, his mind drifted back to his old world. He didn't think of Giard a lot anymore, at least, no more than the occasional flashback. To him and many of his people, it had been a harsh place, and many of his memories were of hunger, pain, and fighting.

"Kid… you alright?"

Irwin blinked, realizing he'd been zoning out. He'd been recalling his last time on Giard when they had managed to bring as many people as they could away.

"Do you think it's shattered by now?" he asked before adding. "Giard, I mean."

"Yes," Ambraz said after a short moment. "It will have shattered anywhere between days and months after we left."

"I wonder how many people were still on it when it happened," Irwin said, letting out a sigh.

It was one of the few thoughts that returned to him every so often, but he usually didn't dwell on it. Now, with too much time on his hands and no ability to reforge cards, he'd found his mind drifting off more.

Over two weeks had passed since he and Greldo had returned to the gas giant so Ambraz could heal. It would be their last time here, as when they returned, it would be time to leave. By then, a week or more would have passed since the Deadpact Mercenary attack, and even with the powerful time dilation between it and the rest of the Portal Gallery, it was starting to get dangerous.

Still, it also meant they would be here for more weeks, perhaps months…

"You will probably never find out," Ambraz said. "But if you want, after everything is done, we can see what is happening on Fiverio. However unlikely, if any made it out, they would have to be there."

"Or inside the worldshards, slowly turning into addled," Irwin said.

Shaking his head to clear it of the depressing thoughts, he withdrew his hand, ignoring Ambraz's outcry. Instead, he moved back to his lounge area, which he had expanded to allow for more of Ambraz's creations. His otherself lay on one of the couches, and Irwin nodded at himself, getting a nod back.

The only difference between them was their clothing, as the self lying on the couch was wearing leather pants and a gray, sleeveless shirt, while the one walking had a long-sleeved, white shirt.

It was odd, looking at himself like that. Although both of his selves were able to act independently, they had the exact same memory. As they looked at each other, it was like staring in some odd mirror where his mirror image was wearing something else, and the background was different.

Lying down made it both easier and worse, as both streams of senses from his selves now resembled each other. On the one hand, it almost felt like all of him was in one spot. On the other hand, each of his selves thought that, giving a sort of mental echo in his memory.

As one, they both sat up and raised their hands, summoning a soulstrum guitar in their hands. Like with his hammer, he had eventually found that it wasn't that hard to summon any of his summonables twice as long as he didn't try to get one at maximum strength.

Irwin didn't bother talking to himself. He'd tried that initially out of curiosity and boredom and quickly found that it was much easier just to think.

With a thought, his gray-shirted self began playing a very simple melody. After a few moments, his white-shirted self joined in, and for the next few hours, they played the same song over and over again, singing with one voice when needed. It was an adaptation of one of the Galadin songs, augmented with a few bits he'd learned from listening to Chaos Whales and adapted by him and Ambraz.

As he played, he watched the interaction of the song's resonance with the soulforce in his soulscape. Although it was technically all his own soulforce, he could have moved it around if he'd wanted to, but in this case, he didn't. Instead, he tried to manipulate it with the song's resonance. He kept making tiny, minute changes to the song and the resonance, trying to find the perfect balance that would cause the soulforce to coalesce.

He had tried explaining it to Scintilla one time, saying that it felt a bit like putting his hands under a blanket that had liquid poured on it and then trying to use his fingers to manipulate it to all move into the same depression, but then infinitely harder.

She'd laughed and, for the next while, tried to do just that. Irwin pushed away the happy thoughts, focusing on the task at hand.

After what felt like half a day, a small ball of soulforce was hovering before him. It was so thin he could still see through it, and if he'd wanted to, he could have condensed it more by simply willing it. Trying for a bit longer, he finally stopped with an annoyed grunt.

The patch of soulforce before him evaporated within moments, leaving only such a slightly enhanced concentration behind that he knew most cardsmiths wouldn't even be able to detect it.

"Don't look that annoyed," Ambraz snapped. "You are making more progress now than during the last year!"

"At this speed of progress, it's going to cost me years to get it merely as compact as what I can do with my will," Irwin said, raising his hand and pulling his soulforce to his hand.

Within moments, it was compressed into a tiny ball that seemed almost solid. As he compressed it harder and harder, he tried to force it to crystallize, knowing full well it wouldn't work. He'd attempted the same thing dozens of times after he'd gained his second soulcard and hundreds of times before that, when he'd decided he wanted to create cards from ambient soulforce.

The soulforce continued to compress until it was shimmering and seemed more solid than anything else. Then it just stopped, and he knew that it wouldn't go any further. It was as if he'd reached the maximum amount of soulforce that he could squeeze into the tiny space, and there wasn't any room for more.

Holding it there for a few moments, he released it with a grunt.

"Yes, very impressive," Ambraz said, landing on the table and inching closer, his wounded side pointed at Irwin.

Catching the hint, Irwin reached out and began scratching the slowly healing wound.

"Like I've told you before, pulling in your own soulforce to its maximum density is something most people are never able to do," Ambraz said, letting out a contented sigh. "For someone with two soulcards, it's also highly unusual, but then again, your soulscape is probably already larger than that of most fleshies. That, and your incredibly high sensitivity, gives you the power and control to do it."

Irwin snorted. "Thanks for trying to make me feel better," he said. "But at this speed, it would take Yilda knows how many years to get to the same density by controlling the soulforce with a song."

"At this speed, it will take you close to a hundred years," Ambraz agreed. "Which is why I just said: you are improving faster now than in the last year. If you keep this up, it might just be a few years to reach the same density."

Irwin frowned as he pictured practicing for most of the day for a year. He loved playing his soulstrum guitar, but that idea just made him grimace.

Then again, we could just stay here for a few years, he thought, knowing the time dilation would make it so only a few hours more would go by for his family.

He shivered at the thought. Even if he could get Greldo on board, what would staying here do to him? He'd have to miss his family, and the only thing he could do would be training.

"Seeing as you look like you're about to burst a vein," Ambraz said, snorting softly. "I wasn't suggesting staying here for that entire time. I know you, kid. If you tried that, your progress would halt within a month. What I'm trying to say is that your idea might have a chance. Especially if you combine it… with the… Aurorium!! Kid!"

Irwin blinked at Ambraz's outburst, and he almost dodged back as the suddenly hyper-excited Ganvil flew towards him.

"What?" he asked.

"Aurorium! If we can get it to this gas giant and just leave it here when we return, it will have absorbed a ridiculous amount of ambient soulforce!"

Irwin blinked, feeling his own interest grow until he remembered something.

"That's great, but the only Aurorium we have is back on Eluathar," he said.

"I know, but with how many of those things we have already come across, it's bound to happen again," Ambraz said. "All we need to do is get some, then return here and… perhaps put it on a ship or something? Anyway, it would give you the condensed soulforce needed to experiment with creating a heartcard. Even if it takes years or decades for you to compress soulforce yourself, at least this way, you could figure out if it's even worthwhile to pursue."

Irwin leaned back, humming thoughtfully. Ambraz was right, but he didn't feel there was any use in being highly enthusiastic now. Even if they found a dead Oculithar after leaving here, they had more important things to take care of first.

"Alright, fine, I might have overreacted a bit," Ambraz grunted, landing back on the table. "But this place really is like a soulshard-mine. Livable moons, one with Draighneán Neamha, and a gas giant that has a time dilation that is practically a year to an hour!"

"It is," Irwin agreed, and an idea he'd had before popped into his mind. "Is there a way to create a path between here and Eluathar?"

"Teleportation, you mean?" Ambraz asked, humming thoughtfully. "Well, there aren't many permanent teleporters in the Langost branch. I've heard rumors that they are more common in the older branches like the Tweelak Branch beside us, but the requirements are so stringent."

"Which are?" Irwin asked.

"According to Brazardian, you need two people with four soulcards each, both of whom are teleportation specialists on each side," Ambraz said thoughtfully. "They also need at least one teleportation card that allows them to create physical portals. And even then, it's not a true permanent thing, as it would cost a ridiculous amount of soulforce."

Irwin thought back to the incredible lack of true teleportation cards everywhere he looked. Even Brazardian hadn't been able to give him any, and those he did find were the shadowrealm kind, which were more of speed travels and had highly limited ranges.

Thinking about that reminded him of something to do with Greldo's card, and with a hum, one of his selves moved back into the real world.

He reappeared on the ship, the harsh benches still a pain to lie on. Pushing himself up, he saw Greldo lie against Coal, whose massive bulk completely filled the back three rows of chairs. The hound seemed perfectly fine, lying across the edges.

"Hey, done playing that song?" Greldo said, his eyes opening as he blinked around blearily.

Irwin grinned. "Did you fall asleep again? I thought you said you were out here keeping watch."

"Nah, I was trying to get out from under that bloody song," Greldo said, rubbing his face and stretching. "I don't understand how you can listen to the same song so many times. It's just so boring!"

"It's practice," Irwin said before focusing on his friend. "I have a question, though. You and Coal have the ability to teleport through shadows, right?"

"What? Of course we do," Greldo said, frowning in confusion. "You know this already…"

"I do, but why don't you use it a lot anymore?" Irwin asked, an idea playing through his mind.

"It takes way too much soulforce, and the distance is too limited," Greldo said. "It's good on worlds, but I couldn't even bring myself a tenth of the distance from here back to town. Worse, I'd probably be so drained I'd need to rest for days."

Irwin nodded as he stared at his friend's hands, then at his brightly burning eyes.

"How far are you from filling your soullake?"

Greldo's eyes glistened as a grin spread across his face. "I was wondering when you would notice."

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"What do you mean?" Irwin asked, examining his friend closely.

"Well…. You weren't the only one who got something from all the singing with the whales," Greldo said with a grin. "Remember how Earila and the others had their soulforce stabilized, and some people gained some soulforce?"

"I remember," Irwin said. "If we could have created another barrier here, to keep in the resonance, I would have brought her to stabilize her more. But we need Nim'ron on The Concerto."

"I know, but it also had an interesting consequence for us," Greldo said. "My soullake is close to filling. I'd say a few dozen cards or a few days of singing would get me there."

Irwin blinked, then leaned back. "Dahlia?" he asked.

"The same," Greldo said with a grin. "Though we did notice that when we were both outside of your soulscape, it halved the speed at which we gained soulforce."

Irwin looked down into the swirling clouds of the gas giant, wondering where the Chaos Whales were. They weren't anywhere close to the spot they had been before, mostly because they both didn't want to draw the attention of the Titanic card. Who knew what it would do if it saw them again… or what would have happened down below? To it and the Chaos Whales, thousands of years would have gone by…

Irwin shuddered as he pictured that, wondering what that would be like or how old Chaos Whales could be.

"Why did you want to know about my shadow teleporting?" Greldo asked.

Irwin looked at his friend, and now he was the one grinning.

"Well, I was wondering what you would say about getting another upgrade with your next heartcard," he said. "What if I get you a set of cards that will increase your teleportation ability? Perhaps add the ability to bring larger things with you?"

Greldo leaned forward, his eyes widening. "Like ships?"

Irwin hummed and nodded. "We are going to need to get our hands on more shadow cards to figure out what we can do, because although they aren't that rare, the ones we would need would be harder to find. Still, I have some ideas for getting you a ship in the shadowrealm. "

Greldo began nodding with glinting eyes, then stopped and sighed. "I'd planned to get cards that give me control of shadows… We kind of keep getting into trouble, and I want to be able to fight better. Double down on my strengths and all that?"

Irwin nodded as he called up what he knew about cards from the shadow type. Most were deemed useless because they were so easily countered with light, and only shadowwalking was seen as a proper path forward.

"There are cards that allow you to stretch shadows," he said thoughtfully. "But those would probably be more utility. Then there are the ones that allow you to use soulforce and shadows to create tendrils that allow you to grapple and strike or trip. Though from what I know, those are rare and hard to reforge- though why that is, I couldn't find."

Greldo crossed his arms, humming thoughtfully. "You are thinking about teleporting long distances?"

Irwin nodded. "I'm wondering if we can get some sort of shadow teleportation going between you and some of the other shadowwalkers. Ambraz said that creating long-distance teleportation requires a bunch of teleportation soulcards and two people, one in each place."

Irwin continued to explain what he'd heard and his idea, and after a while, Greldo began nodding.

"I see where you are going, but I have a better idea."

Irwin raised an eyebrow, looking at his friend curiously.

"Well, another idea, anyway," Greldo said quickly. "The teleporter is nice and all, but that would be better for later. What if you get me cards that would allow me to manipulate a shadow and travel faster? Perhaps I can create a ship or bring one with us into the shadowrealm… I'm fast now, but what if I were ten times as fast, or a hundred? All I'd need is the ability to bring others."

"That's… not a bad idea," Irwin muttered. "If you were faster in the shadows, perhaps it would also help with combat. Let's go and talk with Ambraz."

Greldo nodded and turned to Coal.

Irwin knew there was a silent conversation happening, and a moment later, Greldo reached out.

"You do realize we'd have to get the cards first, right?" Greldo said. "Neither of us has any shadow cards left… at least none that would be useful for this."

"We'll figure that out when we get to Dismarintsia," Irwin said.

--

In the end, it took close to three months for Ambraz to heal, as the process slowed down more and more as the wound closed up. When it finally knitted closed, it left a long, jagged scar, which Ambraz seemed incredibly happy with.

Irwin used the time to practice drawing in the soulforce, both within and outside his soulscape, and agreed with Ambraz's assessment. From a thin mist, heavily see-through, he managed to pull so much soulforce together that it looked more like a dense mist or steam. That said, both he and Greldo were incredibly relieved that they could leave. After their first stint here with Dahlia, they had only been back for a few days before leaving again.

So, when Irwin saw the familiar forest appear below him, closing in rapidly, he would have let out a whoop of joy if he weren't in the shadowrealm.

As his feet dropped into the soft, dry dirt of an open area, Irwin took a deep breath.

"Okay, I really don't wanna do that again anytime soon," he said.

"Definitely," Greldo said as Coal appeared beside him, letting out a soft whine.

"Bah! You brats should be grateful," Ambraz snorted. "Very few people ever get the opportunity to experience such a powerful time dilation! Besides, look at how much progress you made!"

"What progress?" Greldo muttered as they began walking to the tiny walled hamlet just visible between the trees.

"What progress?!" Ambraz grunted. "You finally know exactly what kind of card you want after this, and you are going to finish this heartcard soon. How's that not progress?"

"Didn't you tell us it would be hard, if not impossible, to create the card I described?" Greldo asked dryly.

"As if that has ever stopped Irwin," Ambraz said. "All you need is some really powerful shadow card, which I'm sure you will be able to find when the next thing attacks us."

"Your trust in us is fantastic," Greldo retorted.

Irwin grinned as he listened to them banter. Over the last few months, the three of them had spent a lot of time together, and he found that he'd reconnected with Greldo. The odd thing was that he'd not even noticed they had slowly been growing distant until that had happened, and he'd made a mental note to try and prevent it from happening again.

After another reunion in which Irwin heard that in the few days that he and Greldo had been gone, Soot had managed to sneak out and fight a small group of Skitrat on his own before managing to flee from a Scaledmonkey, Irwin called everyone in the town together.

They assembled in the central training room, and Irwin saw that Boohm was surrounded by three Ignizians who kept fussing over him- to the burly Onyxian's increasing annoyance.

"Damn you, woman! I can walk on my own!"

A chattering laughter came from the surrounding Blademaidens, and Boohm turned around, his blinded eyes glaring across their heads.

"Don't make me come and find you! I can hear you, you know," he shouted, his voice louder than usual.

"Alright, before this gets out of hand, it's time to talk," Irwin shouted, allowing his voice to bellow out enough to drown out the chatter and Boohm.

Within a few moments, all of the Blademaidens had fallen quiet, as had Boohm. Irwin took a quick look around. Zender stood close to Ihrana, but there was no sign of Hind, Helm, or Earila. Scintilla and his kids stood with the others, Soot still casting worried glances at Nisziz.

"You should all know by now that we can't stay here," Irwin said, looking around. "As good as this place is for hiding, now that the Deadpact Mercenaries have found us once, it's almost certain they will find us again. Besides this, they likely managed to track us because of Greldo and me."

Irwin expected some reaction, but everyone kept quiet, staring at him. Most of what had happened had been shared by now, but not exactly what they would do. At least, not with most people. He shared a quick look with Klatzi and Nisziz.

"That means that we are going to be splitting up. Except for me, Greldo, Hind, Nisziz, and Klatzi, the rest of you are going to head to Eluathar," he said.

This time, there was a hissing conversation while he heard Zan start crying softly. He quickly looked at his daughter and saw her being convinced by Scintilla and Ti.

"Shouldn't you be bringing more firepower?" Mouzin asked, stepping forward.

Her eyes had become a blazing silver now that she'd gotten a heartcard, one that Irwin knew was as powerful as that of Greldo, Daubutim, and a few others he did. The base was the Earth Titan card he'd recrafted, and it changed more than just her eyes. Towering over her sisters, her skin looked like a sleek, ruddy stone; her features chiseled. The only thing that had stayed mostly the same was her flaming hair. The soulforce resonance coming from her was more powerful than that of anyone present except for Irwin, Greldo, and Scintilla.

"The journey is too long for me to bring more people into my soulscape," Irwin said. "Besides, you are going to be needed to defend the others and keep up the barriers."

Mouzin stared at him for a few moments before sighing.

"You planning on leaving me already?" Boohm grunted from the side.

"You have plenty of help," Mouzin snapped, waving at two of her Bladesisters who flanked him.

"Never enough," Boohm muttered, his lips curling up in a way that made Irwin shake his head.

The Blademaidens just laughed, though Irwin did notice Mouzin's eyebrows lowering.

I wonder if her mentality changed as much as her body, he thought before clearing his throat and drawing the attention back to himself.

"I wish there was another way, but it's going to have to be like this," he said. "You have until tomorrow. Boohm has something special planned for us, so we will eat together before leaving."

"Are we ever coming back here?"

Irwin blinked, then looked at Mia, who looked at the house beside him. The house they had lived in for the last few years.

"I don't know," Irwin said. "But we are going to try. There are too many good things about this place, from the moon to the time dilation and the location."

"Not to mention those jellies," Greldo said with a laugh.

"And those," Irwin agreed, holding his daughter's gaze. "If we can, we will return. But it might not be until after things have calmed down."

Mia nodded, and Irwin could see the rest of his children glance around with similar looks of loss.

I guess this is about as much their home as any place, Irwin thought.

"Now, everyone get ready," Irwin said.

He waited for the others to scatter before turning to Greldo and Dahlia.

"One more day and then back on the road," he said.

"Yeah, great. First, we get to hang out doing nothing near a gas giant for months, then for another bloody long trip through the Portal Gallery," Greldo said, shaking his head and turning to Dahlia. "Let's go and see what you wanna bring."

Dahlia stared at him quietly, her eyes narrowing. "I would like to bring you, but that's not an option. So let's just go enjoy our final hours."

She turned and stomped away, leaving Irwin surprised as he'd rarely seen her angry.

Greldo laughed softly.

"Don't worry about her," he said. "She's just being dramatic. See you tomorrow."

Irwin watched Greldo run after Dahlia, then turned to his house. Scintilla and his children stood waiting, and he sighed.

"It's the safest bet, kid," Ambraz whispered close to his ear. "Either you leave, and they likely get home safely for you to find them later, or…"

"I know," Irwin muttered before putting on his best smile and walking to his family.

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