Irwin woke slowly, his head throbbing. It took a while to recall what had happened and a while longer to realize he was lying on something soft yet sturdy. Something familiar. He grunted and pushed himself up on an elbow, looking around.

He blinked as he saw the familiar main room in his soulscape's house. It was quiet but not empty as Nisziz and Klatzi sat at the nearby table. Both were lying on the table, resting with their heads on their arms and snoring softly. Though it was hard to see, with her head on the table,

Why am I here? Irwin thought. He focused on his otherself and sensed it still asleep, moving rapidly to the shadowrealm. He held back on waking it, deciding that if something bad was happening, he'd have noticed by now.

Lying back down, he began to analyze the situation- try to determine the damage that had been done.

His soulscape felt ragged and, like the first time he'd forcefully shut off that bloody titan card's active ability, was causing his head to throb painfully. That said, it wasn't as bad as the first time. If that should worry him, he didn't know yet.

"Ambraz," he croaked as he looked up to where he sensed his friend.

There was a soft grunt, followed by a groan.

"Ughhh… let me sleep a bit longer," the Ganvil muttered, his voice slurring.

Irwin nodded, and Ambraz either noticed or didn't even bother to check, as there wasn't any reaction.

So… we've gotta figure out how to deal with you, Irwin thought as he glanced at his left hand.

No matter what, he couldn't wait any longer. As soon as he was back to normal, he and Ambraz had to check what would happen when he slotted another card beside it. What worried him was the way the lines that wrapped around his first socket then extended to the one beside it.

He remained on his back, staring at the ceiling for a long time, even drifting to sleep a few times. When he woke the final time, the headache was slightly better, and he could sense his other self waking up.

He pushed himself up from the couch and stretched, his headache pounding.

"Captain!"

Irwin looked up to see Nisziz raise her head from the table, her eyes a pale gold with flickering red flames around the irises.

"So it worked," Irwin said, looking at her. "How are you feeling?"

Nisziz grimaced. "I've never felt as much pain as that," she said. "Made having the time I had my card reforged seems like a good time."

"I am sorry about that," Irwin said as he cracked his neck and walked to the table.

"Don't be," Nisziz said, shaking her head before grimacing as she put it in her hands. "A headache is a small price to pay for what I got.

Irwin sat across from her and looked at the third person at the table. Klatzi was still sleeping, her mouth partially open, breathing softly.

"She was awake, trying to take care of us while Ambraz was working on your soulscape," Nisziz said.

"How bad was it?" Irwin asked.

"When that soulforce flooded my soulscape, it felt like it started expanding forcefully," Niszis said with a weary sigh. "You barely managed to stop it in time, though I wonder how long it will be until the barrier is back to normal."

"How much bigger did it become?" Irwin asked curiously.

"Three times as big as it was," Nisziz said. "Also… well, I guess you might want to take a look outside."

Irwin frowned, staring at the door, then rubbed his head. He'd prefer to remain sitting for a bit, but he let out a weary sigh as he rose to his feet and headed for the door. Nisziz remained where she was.

Irwin pushed the door open, and the first thing he noticed was how much higher up the top side of the barrier was. The puffy yellow clouds swirled and flowed by far above, and Irwin shot up in the air. Halfway up, he slowed down and looked at the clear, dark barriers in the distance. Cracks and fissures covered them, with the fog that had covered everything before coalescing around the jagged edges. He could see them close up slowly. He could feel that his soulscape had grown, though exactly how much he didn't know.

As he rotated around, he turned to his soullake and froze.

"It grew," he muttered.

The banks of his lake had turned even more jagged than before. A few forty-foot-deep gulleys led away from the edge, while even from up here, he could see just how much larger the lake was.

"It grew about fifteen percent," Ambraz shouted, flying up from below.

Irwin kept staring at his soullake as Ambraz landed on his shoulder. "What happened?" he asked.

"That stupid card drew most of what remained of the heartcard's soulforce into itself," Ambraz said, sounding annoyed. "I'm starting to agree with you… that thing almost looks conscious."

"Nisziz said you did something while I was unconscious?"

Ambraz sighed. "Yeah, I used most of my stored purified soulforce to keep your barriers intact. It's been a long while since I've been this empty."

"Is that going to cause a problem?" Irwin asked worriedly.

"What? No… It's fine. Ever since you started reforging with those Chaos Whales, I was getting way too much," Ambraz said. "I'd been thinking about spawning a Ganvil."

Ambraz almost twisted his neck as he stared at Ambraz in disbelief.

"What? Didn't you need to rank up to five for that?"

"Oh, don't look so surprised," Ambraz grunted. "Do you have any idea how much purified soulforce I've been gaining from all that reforging you did with the Chaos Whales? Not to mention that nearly solidified chunk a few days ago."

"So, you are close to rank five?"

"I was," Ambraz said. "Now I'm about halfway there."

Irwin watched the Ganvil quietly. Ambraz had told him how long it would normally take for a Ganvil to reach rank five and how he'd expected to reach it in a few years. That had been less than a year ago…

"You said you had too much purified soulforce? I thought there wasn't a limit to that?" he asked.

"There isn't, but I'm starting to realize something. I think I might be reaching a point where I'm growing too fast," Ambraz said thoughtfully. "I don't know if any other Ganvil has ever had this problem, but it feels like I'm not getting the time to integrate my new abilities. I'll need another few months at a minimum to work through my gains from rank four. If I were to become rank five now? I guess I'm too talented even for my own good."

Irwin snorted, then frowned.

"Wait, does that mean you were already at the point of ranking up?"

"Yes. After I ate that chunk of soulforce," Ambraz said. "I'd already become worried before, so I was holding it off with force- not a pain-free thing, I can tell you."

Irwin looked at Ambraz for a few more moments before turning to stare at his soulscape. Something about the things his friend had told him started clicking together, and he hummed.

"Is that why you are going to learn how to create new Ganvils at rank five?" he asked. "To have an easy way to prevent yourself from growing too fast?"

"Yes. That, and because Zan, Glow, and Ti need a bonded Ganvil when we return," Ambraz said. "And if I can create those for them, they will have another advantage in the future."

"..."

"Don't look so surprised, brat," Ambraz snorted. "You must have noticed how high their aptitudes are, especially Zan. If they can bind to a Ganvil that starts with a resonance scheme that is based on mine, their bond will grow stronger faster than any other bond they could make."

Irwin thought about his children, picturing Zan with a Ganvil, and he nodded. If she had a bonded Ganvil, especially a powerful one, it meant she'd have another layer of protection. Then he thought about something else.

"Didn't I hear you talk with her about bonding with a Ganvil on Eluathar?" he said.

"Hah, no way. I told her not to bond with just any Ganvil there. I also warned Scintilla to keep the other Ganvils away for atleast a few years. Those kids don't need a bond just yet, and it's better for them to learn more smithing from Trimdir and the others before then. That will give us time to return."

They continued discussing the future of the three of his children who were likely to become Cardsmiths, until Irwin's other self woke up.

"I'm going to check on Nisziz," Irwin said as he floated back down, his dual focus returning.

--

Irwin watched the enormous storms billowing around them from within the safety of the shadowrealm and hummed thoughtfully.

Almost two days had passed since he had woken back up, and Greldo had continued shooting forward at a speed that dwarfed what he'd done before. At first, Irwin thought it was because he couldn't find any partial portal gallery remnants, but they had since passed a dozen, and Greldo had simply ignored them.

With no ability to talk with his friend, all he could do was wait. The barriers around his soulscape were healing up rapidly, far faster than they had the first time. An investigation of his soullake and its edges and banks had shown that whatever had caused the edges to crumble and become uneven caused no problem, and after a while, Irwin realized he even preferred it over the clean, smooth edges he'd once had. It felt more natural.

He focused on his otherself and found that he was within the forest of songs together with Ambraz, while Nisziz and Klatzi were working on their sword forms. Irwin hummed as he focused on Klatzi, then thought about the Chaos Whale cards he had. Two of them would be something he could reforge to become a good fit for her and increase both her power and her trouble with cold. One would focus on her existing heat and give her the ability to generate far more of it inside her body, allowing her to power through most cold areas as long as they weren't completely devoid of ambient soulforce. The other one was far different. It was some form of armor or utility summon, depending on what would happen during reforging, and Ambraz said it would give some sort of barrier abilities.

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As he thought about the future, Greldo's forward motion changed.

Irwin's interest peaked as he looked around, then forward. They were now heading towards a large section of the still intact portal gallery that gleamed in the thunderous storms that surrounded them. About three hundred feet long, fifty high, and wide, it hung like a beacon in the black maelstrom of clouds and chaotic soulforce. A thick rocky foundation was the only physical thing within, and as they flew through the barrier, Irwin saw that the wreckage of a ship lay on the bottom.

Greldo pulled toward it before finally coming to a stop on the side of the wreckage. The ship had split apart into two main pieces, and the masts snapped, causing the sail to cover large parts of it like a burial shroud.

Seven small, familiar red figures stumbled across the deck, what remained of their clothing and armor ripped and dirty. Their eyes had turned milky white, and a nasty goo dribbled from their mouths.

Addled Galubs, Irwin thought, looking at the two and three-horns.

After a moment, Greldo floated forward to the back part of the ship, where a figure lay slumped across the helm. Unlike the others, this one was clearly dead. It had a gaping wound where its nose and eyes should have been, and one of its arms had been ripped off, only remaining near the rest of the body because it was wedged in the steering wheel. With four horns, one of which had snapped halfway, it was likely the captain.

Greldo moved away from the helm and quickly moved through the ship's open bowels, where they found a few more dead Galubs, most with deep cuts showing they had died from combat.

After they had gone through the entire ship wreckage, Greldo took them further away, to the edge of the area, and a moment later, the sound of the storm boomed around them as Irwin was ejected from the shadowrealm. Greldo appeared beside him, immediately followed by Coal and a dozen of the hound's shadow clones.

Irwin stared at his friend, feeling a weary resignation as he saw that he was almost a head taller than he had been before, towering over Greldo. He wanted to slap the card but instead shrugged as he saw Greldo stare up at him.

"How are you feeling?" Irwin asked, looking at his friend.

"Great," Greldo said, before yawning. "A bit weary, but that new card really makes things very easy."

A piercing scream came from the ship, and Irwin saw tiny figures plummet to the ground from the deck before scrambling up and sprinting their way. Coal's shadow clones vanished and, a moment later, reappeared in front of the incoming Addled, intercepting them with apparent ease.

Irwin and Greldo watched as the Addled were ripped apart and pulled to the edges of the portal gallery fragment before being hurled into the barrier. The already crackling barrier, illuminated by a constant barrage of lightning from the storm outside, flickered every time one of the Addled touched its surface to be incinerated.

"So, what happened with your soulscape?" Greldo asked, stifling another yawn. "Seeing as you are even bigger than usual, you didn't manage to fix it completely?"

Irwin kept looking at the battle while he recounted what had happened.

"What do you want to do now?" Greldo asked.

"I'm going to reforge a card for Klatzi. After that, slot a card in my own hand and see what that does," Irwin said as he watched Coal's shadow clones run around the wreckage, disposing of any remaining Addled.

"Well, if you don't mind pulling me into your soulscape so I can sleep, that'd be great," Greldo said.

Irwin grinned as he saw his friend yawn again.

"The wreckage is clear?"

Greldo held up a hand, head cocked. There was a distant roar, and a moment later, three shadow clones pulled a larger Addled to the edge and ripped off his limbs before hurling everything at the barrier.

"Now it is," Greldo said as he lowered his hand.

Irwin nodded as he pulled Greldo into his soulscape.

As he wandered towards the wreckage, his otherself had a quick conversation with Klatzi.

-- Irwin's Soulscape --

"The fire one," Klatzi said as she looked at Irwin, eyes blazing. "Although having a barrier armor is great, I'd rather have more heat."

Irwin nodded, not very surprised.

"Alright, I'll bring you outside as soon as I've found a spot I can heat up," he said.

Klatzi seemed to hesitate, her gaze drifting to Nisziz. Then she nodded, visibly steeling herself.

"It won't be as bad as with Nisziz," Irwin said. "This will just become a regular handcard."

"It's fine," Klatzi said before hesitating. "If you have any other fire or teleport cards, I don't mind slotting them all. I can always get a sword for my second heartcard."

Irwin nodded, knowing he did, in fact, have a few cards that might work.

"I'll see what I can do," he said as he headed back to his house.

-- Real-world, a few hours later --

Irwin stepped away from Ambraz, staring at the shimmering red-bordered card that was slowly sinking into Klatzi's hand. The Ignitzian was shaking, her body rigid until the card was gone. Then she slumped to the ground as if someone had cut the wires holding her up.

"That went fine," Ambraz said as he turned into his small form.

"Hundred percent," Irwin agreed as he walked to Klatzi and pulled her into his soulscape.

As soon as she was gone, he relaxed his hold on his flame and steam and looked around.

The cargo hold around him was a mess of debris and badly plugged holes, moist dripping down and pooling into the cracks and crevices. A musky, dank smell hovered around everything, and Irwin sniffed in disgust.

"What are you going to slot?" Ambraz asked.

Irwin sighed, summoning a card to his hand. It was a ruby card called Sound Ball that wasn't his first pick, but if he ended up unable to unslot it, or if it was destroyed somehow, it wouldn't be a disaster either. The card would grant him the ability to shoot a condensed ball of sound at a distant target.

"Useful, but not great," Ambraz muttered. "Kid, what if you can't unslot it?"

Irwin looked at his left hand. He knew what Ambraz said was a possibility, as he had no idea what the lines extending partially around the second cardslot would do, but he had the feeling it was something different.

"We will see," he said. "If it remains, we can always remove most of it when we create the heartcard."

Ambraz snorted but didn't disagree.

Irwin held the card above the middle cardslot of his left hand. Putting the edge against the slot, nothing happened, and he frowned.

"Perhaps-"

The cardslot burst alight with a pale glow, and the card snapped out of his fingers, sinking halfway into his hand. Irwin felt the cursed card start to resonate rapidly, forcing the resonance on the other card to shake. With a loud crack, the card was shoved out of his hand, while the resonance from the cursed card held a sense of disgust.

Irwin barely had time to react as a crack appeared in the center of the card.

"Ambraz!" he shouted, grabbing the card and hurling it to the Ganvil.

Ambraz snapped it out of the air and barely closed his teeth in time to hold in the rumbling explosion.

"Ugh, sound cards taste bad," Ambraz rumbled as a thin stream of gray smoke leaked from the corner of his mouth.

"Well, that answers that," Irwin said, glaring at the cursed card. He was glad he hadn't used the last remaining Chaos Whale that would increase the control he had over a card. If that had exploded…

"Did you feel that last bit?" he asked as he replayed the events in his mind.

"If you mean that it tried to resonate much stronger than adjacent cards should do," Ambraz said. "Then yes."

Irwin nodded, staring at the card. He wasn't willing to give up just yet, and after a moment of thinking, he pulled out a second card. At the same time, his otherself summoned his tablatures so they could record the cursed card's resonance.

"Get ready for another one," Irwin said as he put the second card, a useless topaz body improvement, one that granted agility and the ability to juggle. It was also so far from the resonance he'd just heard that even without recalling the exact resonance, he was sure it didn't match this one.

He held the card above his second cardslot, and the same thing happened. After a moment of nothing, the card was yanked into his hand, and the cursed card began resonating. Irwin paid more attention this time, noticing an odd timbre to the resonance. He was also surprised to sense his soulcard resonate very faintly, especially his first one, seemingly wanting to interject. However, before it could get anywhere near that point, the cursed card rejected the other card. It was shoved back out, perhaps even more forcefully than the first one, and Irwin tossed it to Ambraz.

Ignoring the dulled explosion, Irwin summoned his tablatures, opened it on the correct page, and looked at the resonance. After a few moments, Ambraz joined him, hovering above the book and letting out a thoughtful hum.

"You see that part where your first soulcard tried to flatten out the resonance issue?"

Irwin nodded, putting his finger on the line. A soft song began playing, and he listened to it, noting the barely perceivable hum in the background. It was trying to join with the topaz card, but there was nothing to resonate with, and a moment later, the resonance from the cursed card grew into a crescendo of rage as it rejected the card beside it.

Irwin replayed it a few more times, and slowly, an idea began forming.

"Alright, let's see what happens then," he said, raising his hand and summoning three cards to his hand.

"So… what did you decide on?" Ambraz asked, flying around him a few times before landing on the ground and returning to his large shape.

Irwin spread the cards, looking at the three quartz cards. They were all fire-related, and as Irwin inspected them closely, he saw the similarities between their resonance and the flame part of his first soulcard. It wasn't perfect by any means, but he hoped there would be some part for his soulcard to get a grip and prevent them from being ejected.

The leftmost card showed a pair of fingers rubbing together, the middle a series of tiny, fiery sparks, and the final one a burning leaf. As he examined the card with the rubbing fingers, he thought back to a similar card he'd once had that increased his core temperature if he rubbed his hands.

So long ago, he thought, picturing the time he'd been in Degonda with Trimdir and Daubutim. As he recalled those times, he wondered how Lamia was doing. She was one of the many people he'd met over the years that he had barely seen or talked to after returning.

When I return, I hope I can stay for many years, he thought, looking around the wet, ruined wooden walls around him.

"We are going to reforge these up to ruby," he said. "And as we do it, we are going to try to make them resonate with my first soulcard. We'll start with the worst one and see what happens if we slot it, because I'm not sure it would work straight away. Then, depending on what happened, we will try another one."

"Oh, that's not a bad idea," Ambraz said. "Let's hope that connection doesn't continue around to the third cardslot, though, as that would mean your next heartcard would have two semi-useful cards in them."

"We will see soon enough," Irwin said as he pocketed two of the three cards and placed his fingers on the anvil.

"What are you going to make?" Ambraz asked curiously.

"We will start with this one," Irwin said, raising the burning leaf. "We are going to try to remove the nature and tree parts and focus on the fire."

"That's going to mean a lot of forcing along paths it doesn't want to go," Ambraz said. "But it doesn't have to be the best there is. Fine, let's see what we can do!"

Irwin put the card on Ambraz.

--

An hour later, Irwin looked at a ruby-rank card with an image of a burning tree on it. No matter how hard he'd tried, he had been unable to remove the tree part completely. The result was a card called Lesser Everburning Oak, which would allow him to grow a forest of burning trees if he wanted to spend the heat and time on it.

"I almost hope this will fail," he muttered.

"It's not that bad," Ambraz said. "It's actually a very rare card that would cause many Viridians to jump at a chance to get it. Make sure you keep the recording of how we made it."

"I will," Irwin said as he held the card above his left hand. If he managed to slot, he would get the tree-type, which he'd probably need to incorporate into his next heartcard. It would be the last type he could use without creating a massive imbalance. He hesitated, then shrugged. If it succeeded, it wouldn't be too bad, and if it failed, he'd hopefully learn something useful.

The cardslot reacted slowly again. Then, the card was yanked inside. Right away, Irwin sensed the difference. His first soulcard almost jumped forward, resonating with the card Irwin had slotted, while there was an almost stunned silence from the cursed card.

Guess I'll be making fire trees, Irwin thought as he sensed the card slowly sliding further in.

He'd barely finished the thought when a violent resonance came from the cursed titan card. It slammed into the slowly sinking card, halting its movement while a massive tug of war began. Irwin sensed his soulcard pull on the Everburning Oak, trying to help him slot it, while the cursed card pushed from the other side.

For a minute, his soulcard seemed to be winning. Then it began losing ground, the Everburning Oak card having too few overlapping points for it to exercise its massive strength.

With a slight crack, the card was finally ejected. Irwin was about to toss it to Ambraz when he noticed it wasn't resonating oddly. Instead, the card seemed unperturbed by what had happened. After holding it up for a few minutes, he sent it into his soulscape just in case it did end up blowing up.

"Alright, this will work," Ambraz said, echoing his own thoughts. "We just need a card that has a bit more overlap, and your soulcard will be able to slot it. Besides, the resistance of the cursed card didn't seem as bad as the first time."

Irwin nodded as he pulled out his tablatures again.

The two of them listened and looked at the slotting for a while, then Irwin unsummoned his tablatures and took the other two quartz flame cards from his pocket. He looked at them, then put the one with the tiny sparks away, keeping the one with the fingers out.

"This is our best bet. It's got kinetic energy and fire types," he said. "If we create a card that focuses on both flames and friction, it will have double the overlap with my first soulcard."

Ambraz hummed thoughtfully while Irwin inspected the card a bit longer. When he found the song and direction he wanted to try, he put the card on Ambraz and summoned his hammer.

Let's hope this works, he thought.

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