Greldo glared at the unconscious girl.

"Can Ambraz see if the Guidar is still inside her?" he asked, his eyes turning conflicted.

Irwin was about to ask when Ambraz showed just how much attention he was paying.

'If he's fully in her soulscape, he will be, and… Irwin? I can sense you hate the idea of hurting a kid, but do you have any idea what she is going through with that monster in her soulscape- controlling her?'

Irwin grimaced, staring at the little girl, the image of his daughters overlaying her. He shook his head.

I don't even know her! he told himself, trying to shove the image of Mia away, only for Boohm's blind face to pop up and overlap the girl's similarly colored, bald head.

"This is…" he growled, shaking his head again.

'It's that bloody card, kid. Ignore it as best you can," Ambraz snapped.

"If we don't kill her, we need to leave and take her along," Greldo hissed. "No matter what we do with her, we can't say here. More will show up, and I can already sense ripples in the shadowrealm. I know a quiet place."

"I know," Irwin said, struggling with the influx of emotions. He tried pushing it off to his otherself as he had on previous occasions of intense anger and fear, but it failed.

He bent over and grabbed the groaning Onyxian girl.

"We are teleporting," Greldo hissed, staring at something behind Irwin.

Irwin's eyes widened as he remembered the last few times that had happened and what it had done to his stomach. Then, the world turned black.

A moment later, he stumbled forward, his stomach roiling. He clenched his teeth, managing to hold in his food as he drew in deep breaths of dusty, stale air. Looking around, he saw they were in a stone room, which was probably at the bottom of the mountains.

"Sorry, I had no other choice. There were dozens of shadewalkers closing in. At least now, I'm sure nobody will be able to follow us," Greldo grunted, sitting on his hands and knees. "I had really hoped it would be better with my new card, but I guess-"

He groaned and coughed wetly before quickly getting up and starting to pace. Irwin expected him to throw up, but apparently, the added power of his new card helped enough to offset moving three people.

"It's fine," Irwin said as he looked at the quiet form of the Onyxian.

Ambraz appeared beside them, looking around.

"Good, there's nothing around for miles but stone and ruins," he said. "We need to get to work right away, before that Guidar manages to give away our position."

"How are we even going to do this?" Irwin asked as he held up the Onyxian. "We need her to bring out her card…"

"That would only be needed if we intended to save any of her existing cards," Ambraz said. "Which we aren't. Either we kill the girl, or we shatter her cards, resetting her soulscape."

Irwin swallowed as he looked at the girl, sensing his roiling emotions warring within him. Now that it had happened a few times, he sensed the slight resonance from his cursed titan card.

Enough!

He pulsed his soulcards, slamming the resonance into the card. With a disgruntled vibration, the card let off, and his emotions were dampened to something manageable.

"Well…." Ambraz grunted. "I guess that gives us a good idea of what Emotive subtype that thing has."

"Emotion amplification," Irwin said, glaring at the card.

"Don't worry, kid. It's not that bad. You just need to find a better way to control your emotions for the foreseeable future," Ambraz said before he landed on the ground in his large shape. "Put her hands on my back."

Irwin did as asked, dangling the Onyxian's arms across Ambraz. Staring at the small shape, made smaller due to his own statue, he sighed. Although he didn't know her and had no idea what kind of person she was, the idea of having to shatter her cards made him highly uncomfortable.

"There's no other way?" he asked.

"Killing her," Ambraz said wearily. "After someone invaded your soulscape, it's over."

"I'm going into the shadows and make sure there's nobody around here," Greldo said. "My head's throbbing too hard to stand whatever you are about to do."

Irwin watched him vanish before turning to Ambraz.

"How do you want to do this?"

"Simple. Take one of those useless cards and prepare it. After shattering her cards, we will take that one and whatever energy remains and use it to create a new base for her. It will probably cause her to feel pretty bad for a while, but she should be able to answer our questions, and you can even bring her into your soulscape without having to worry about that Guidar."

"How can you be sure?" Irwin asked.

"The only way to leave a soulforce marker is if there's a soulscape to leave it on. She only has one heartcard, and as soon as we shatter it, her soulscape will shatter with it. As she doesn't have a soulcard, she will most likely survive as long as we don't let all of the soulforce leak out of her."

Irwin stared at the Onyxian girl, wondering what her story was. How had she been marked by the Guidar, and why was she even in the first place? Onyxians, especially young ones, rarely left their homeworlds… Had she been left behind somehow?

"Alright," he said, scanning through his cards.

He could take a useless one like Ambraz said, but he immediately knew he wouldn't. Although he had no idea who she was, he could already sense the titan card acting upon his emotions. So, with a sigh, he picked a Topaz card, the same rank as her current heartcard, that would allow her to form a large axe from stone while giving a good amount of strength and constitution.

"Let's start," he said, holding the card in one hand.

---

Breccia huddled in the center of her soulscape's small soullake, her pale little white shape shuddering. Barely fifty feet across, there was only a hand-length of soulforce inside. It represented the tiny bit of progress she had made over the last few years, ever since she'd had to fend for herself.

Pain rippled through her, and she involuntarily looked up at the monstrous entity that was surging around the borders. Eyes so pale they seemed white glared back at her while purplish energy floated around the figure's shape, seeming to congregate around the tips of its horns.

"Come out of there!" the being that still faintly resembled the leader of the Holy Shadow Inn ordered.

Breccia didn't move and turned her gaze back to the ground. She wished she had her hands to cover her ears, but she had neither.

"You will come out eventually," Lasther growled. "Don't think those two will let you live! Your only choice is to-"

Breccia mentally shook her head as she felt the pain from her soulscape. Just the mere presence of the demon -for she recognized it for what it was- was slowly killing her. All that said, going out of the soullake, the only place it somehow didn't seem to want to go, would be the last thing she would do.

A dangerous growl came, and she didn't have to look as the purple mist that Lasther had used to break through her soulscape's barrier rippled out, filling it and putting pressure on all of it. The pain increased rapidly, and Breccia knew she'd be crying if she had the eyes for it. Instead, all she could do was howl softly. She felt her soulscape break and crack, and deep down, she knew that even if she stepped out now, it was all over. Whatever the demon was doing, it would leave her broken and unable to ever improve again. The barrier around her soulscape was turning dimmer, giving her a clear view of the primal chaos space beyond.

Father said there are demons out there, she thought, as she searched for the scary things he'd told her long ago.

A stray thought passed through her mind- perhaps she should just end herself? Put an end to the misery. Even if her soulscape hadn't been ripped apart, with Lasther being a demon, the only place where she could have perhaps grown and survived till the storm was gone had vanished.

"Stupid mortal, I-"

A deafening crack resounded through the soulscape, ending whatever Lasther had wanted to shout at her.

Breccia looked around as she felt another pain supplant the one from Laster. Her entire soulscape began shuddering, the already broken barriers rippling as if pelted by an invisible hailstorm, while the soulforce around her began floating up.

"Come out now, or you will be dead!" Lasther roared. "They are… how… HOW IS THIS-"

From one moment to the next, Lasther was gone. Her soulscape was gone. Even her pale soulscape shape was gone. The only thing that remained was pain- a blinding, all-consuming pain. Her mind felt like it was shattering, and memories constantly appeared and disappeared, some seeming to crack and shatter. Each time they did, she felt a little less herself. A memory of when the ship had left, leaving her and the other two Onyxians alone on Dismartinsia, cracked but drifted off, while one where she saw the other two taken in by the merchant with the green eyes shattered. She felt it fade from her mind until all that remained was the knowledge that it had been there.

The memories continued faster and faster, a few shattering, the others teetering on the edge.

Then one of her most treasured memories, that of her mother and the final time she'd seen her, appeared.

Breccia panicked. She grabbed onto it, ignoring the pain and the other memories. She held it, unwilling to let it go, pulling it closer and closer. There was resistance, but she fought- all other memories she could lose, but not this one!

There was a painful tearing, then a popping sensation, and the flood of memories stopped.

Breccia blinked. Everything was black… black and quiet. The pain was still there but distant, muted. The memory of her mother was like a tiny, burning seed inside her mind, protected by her, but at the same time, somehow protecting her from… what? She didn't know.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Is this dying? she thought.

There was no answer, but after a few moments, she began hearing a faint song.

It was beautiful and unlike anything she'd ever heard. Like a harmonious whine, and it slowly got closer and closer. Was she moving, or was something coming towards her? Her father had told her that long ago, her people had believed that after they died, they would return to the heavenly mountain to exist peacefully and in harmony with the eternal rock till the end of times. Was that what she was hearing?

As the music became louder, she saw faint glimmers of soulforce start to appear around her. Tiny ripples and pulses that seemed to move in tandem with the music. Then a deep voice came, singing in a language she didn't know but which sounded like boulders rolling down a hill, sometimes cracking against larger ones and shattering. It sounded beautiful and energetic, yet soothing.

I guess Father was right, she thought, ignoring the pain, which should probably stop soon.

There wasn't pain in death, right?

She barely had the thought when the pain began increasing again. It wasn't the same as when Lasther had been forceful in taking over her soulscape, but more like sore muscles from overtraining.

What is happening?

A burst of light came from all around her, and the music went from distant and beautiful to a roaring melody that seemed intent on shattering rock. As her vision returned, Breccia saw she was hovering within another world- a towering mountain range with a central volcano dominated the landscape while yellow clouds surged around as if agitated. For two seconds, she thought she had reached the heavenly mountain. Then she saw the distant soulscape barriers, and she realized she had arms and hands!

Where am I? She thought, turning to look at the origin of the sound.

The Fiz'rin she was told to find and follow was hovering in mid-air, a beautiful instrument in his arms. Snares of molten metal were resonating as he played them, his hands and fingers moving faster than she could follow. A cloud of… familiar soulforce hovered around him, held together by a thin barrier that seemed powered by the much more abundant golden red mist that seemed to cover everything.

Within the familiar soulforce, a small card hung- glowing and pulsing. She sensed it was trying to absorb the soulforce, but something was keeping it back. No, not something… she was!

As if a blanket was pulled from her head, Breccia felt her connection to the soulforce, and at the same time, the pain seemed to suffuse every part of her. That was her soulforce, and she instinctively knew that if it were to leak away, she'd die with it!

"...me!"

She shook her head. What was that? A voice? It had been faint, nearly drowned by the song.

"Hea-.... e!"

Someone was shouting at her? She looked around and finally saw it. A small Ignitzian woman stood beside the massive lake, screaming up at her.

"What…?" she muttered, her voice lost in the thunderous song.

The Ignitzian was beckoning her, and not sure how she flowed down. The further she moved from the soulforce, the greater a sense of danger became, and she stopped when she could see the Igntizian start waving at her.

"Can you hear me?!"

The voice was like a whisper in a storm, but Breccia nodded.

"Irwin is trying to save you, but you need to move into your soulforce! It's all that remains, and if you don't hurry, your mind will shatter with your soulscape!"

Who is Irwin? What is happening? What do you mean, shatter? Where am I?!

More questions flooded Brecca's mind, but she could see the panic in the Ignitzian's eyes.

"Hurry!" he Ignitzian shouted, her voice a tiny whisper in the storm.

What does it matter, Brecca thought as she turned and floated back into the sky and rushed toward the figure hanging above the gigantic soullake. It was partially filled, and she absently thought that she could have filled her own tiny puddle a dozen times over with only the part that was already there.

Reaching the barrier, she hesitated and looked up. Irwin, or whatever the Fiz'rin's name was, looked at her and nodded vigorously. Something in his eye, a softness, kindness, made Brecca feel safe in her choice, and she moved through the barrier.

Immediately, the muted pain flared up as she seemed to connect to her soulforce. She didn't know how she knew, but she sensed that barely half remained. At the same time, she sensed fractions of it constantly drifting away, turning chaotic and fading from her perception.

As horrible as all that was, her attention was on something else entirely.

The card.

It flickered and hummed as it tried to resonate with her soulforce, seemingly influenced by the music around her and something she couldn't see- a thudding that made it resonate deeply.

It wasn't her heartcard, nor any of the cards that she'd had before. It wasn't a shadewalker card either, but something else entirely. It gave her a familiar, solid feeling, something that reminded her of home- before they had to leave. Stable, like the Ligagranite boulders that surrounded her old house-

I want it...

The mere thought seemed enough, as her soulforce seemed to freeze before turning inward, congregating around the card.

Harmony! Starting at the soulforce closest around the card, a harmonious resonance began rippling outward, and she felt herself hum along with it. As she stared at the card, feeling herself bound to it, she sensed fractions of other things being added, things removed. It was mesmerizing how the song moved, and the card followed.

I wonder if this is real card smithing, Brecka thought as she felt the pain fade.

She closed her eyes and enjoyed the sense of being connected to something.

--

Irwin wanted to roar as his skill was stretched to the limit. One of his selves was focused on keeping the card whole, while the other held the soul of Brecka from shattering, wrapping her within his soulscape in a way he'd never known possible.

The girl's soulforce was finally filling the card instead of being broken down by his own, and he removed another card, throwing it into the maelstrom of soulforce that surged around Ambraz. The card shattered into tiny parts, some of which he drew in with the song, others he let flow away. The Ganvil's voice was a constant, helping him keep the soulforce from ripping from his control and the card from shattering.

He had long since stopped wondering what they were doing, but ever since the memories of the girl had played through his mind's eye, showing him the horrible time she'd had, showing him parts of her history and her lost family- having him feel what she had felt, he'd stopped caring what he needed to do.

Instead, he focused on the burgeoning heartcard that was thrumming above Ambraz's shape, a mirror of it hovering within his soulshape. He knew that what he was doing limited what it could become, limited to the parts of himself he knew best, and so he tried to focus it on the resonance that seemed to harmonize with Brecka's fondest memory.

As he brought his hammer down again, the timing exactly right, the resonance of the card and his song pulled in some of the parts of the other card, and the heartcard formed more.

He barely knew what he was making, only that it would be high rank and, from the beauty of the song, something close to as perfect as he'd ever made. Something that was unlike anything he had done… That was if he could keep up.

Every hit, every strum, every tone he sang seemed to touch the limits of his abilities- and it felt as if he was walking on a narrow ledge surrounded by a constant storm trying to push him on either side.

Irwin had no time to think, and all he could do was act while using the things he'd learned over the years.

Time flew by, and he felt stretched thinner and thinner until he finally felt the heartcard begin to finish. As soon as it did, he wrapped it and the soul, or mind, or whatever it was of Brecka before moving it back into her own body. He wasn't sure how he did it or any of the things he had done over the last hour, but there was one worrisome possibility.

Brecka's new heartcard glowed brightly as the part that had been in his soulscape flowed into it. For a moment, Irwin thought he saw a tiny figure inside it, then the card burned as the soulforce that raged around it was pulled inside.

He struck again as he continued to sing and play, the resonating song of his soulcards more complicated than ever as he held the creation of the hearcard and the surging soulforce at bay.

'Last… hit, make it… count.'

Ambraz's growled voice was strained and tired, which wasn't a wonder as he was also singing.

Irwin focused on the card, sensing the final bit of unevenness in the song- like a final frayed edge on a beautiful robe or a missing note in a song.

With absolute focus, Irwin hammered down, and as his song and resonance stopped, the new song of the heartcard moved on its own as it sank into Brecka's slumped form.

'Sleep,' Ambraz grunted, and his lips vanished, leaving only a massive, five-foot-high anvil standing on the ground.

Irwin swayed, quickly putting his hand on the wall to prevent himself from falling. His soulforce was spent, his soulscape raw, and if it weren't for his powerful body, he'd have gone unconscious. As it was, he felt as if he'd reforged twenty diamond rank cards in a row without stopping.

A distant explosion made him blink, and he looked up. Three unmoving and cloaked shapes lay crumbled around him while three of Coal's shadow clones stood at the ready.

"What-" he began, his voice cracking and giving him a coughing fit.

As he swayed on his feet, Greldo appeared beside him. His armor was ripped apart all over, and long, bloody streaks covered parts of him. Still, he was grinning, and his eyes gleamed.

"Remind me next time that if you need a quiet place, I'll bring you to another part of the Portal Gallery next time, alright?"

"Are you alright? What happened?" Irwin asked, his voice already much better.

"Oh, not much. Just twenty-four…. Yes, yes, sorry. Twenty-seven shadewalkers that came looking for us," Greldo said, cracking his neck. "Not to worry, I am happy to report that between Coal and me, I don't think there's any single shadewalker in this city that can stand up to me."

Irwin nodded as he looked at the wounds covering his friend's face.

"These? Well, I had to drop out of the shadows a few times after they realized that I could tear them to shreds inside," Greldo grinned. "They didn't like that and lay an ambush."

"No sign of the Guidar?" Irwin asked.

"I… wouldn't say that," Greldo said, his smile fading. "I don't know what you did, but there was a rather loud scream of pain and rage that I presume every single person in this city heard. It did help me locate the Holy Shadow Inn… not that that's going to be very useful…"

"Explain?" Irwin asked as he summoned a large container of water from his soulscape and began rapidly draining it in.

"I think Lasther exploded or something because a part of the Old District went boom."

"Do you think he's dead?" Irwin asked, wondering where the Old Discrit was.

"No chance," Greldo said. "With our luck, you just pissed him off."

"Yeah," Irwin said as he recalled the few broken memories he'd seen from Brecka's short time with the Guidar.

Feeling his anger flare up, he directed it into his steam ability, creating a condensed cloud in the container before rapidly filling it with water. As soon as he was done, he drained the hot water before putting the container back in his soulscape. It had barely managed to stop his anger, and as he glanced at the unconscious Onyxian, he gritted his teeth.

"He isn't the only one angry," he said.

"So… what exactly did you do?" Greldo asked, stepping up beside him.

"I don't know exactly what happened," Irwin said. "But as soon as I began breaking her heartcard, I felt her mind unraveling. Lasther had been doing something to her, trying to take over her soulscape, and I wasn't sure what to do. Then…" Irwin sighed as he slowly told Greldo about Brecka's memories, explaining that they had been like moving images with feelings and sensations included.

"Right… so that explains why you are looking at her as if you've known her for a long time," Greldo said.

Irwin looked at his friend in surprise, and Greldo just shrugged.

"I guess," Irwin said. "How long can we stay here…?"

Greldo looked up and around. "There were a few dozen shadewalkers hanging out in the corridors, but after what I did, it seems they decided it wasn't worth it to come close. That said, I'm starting to worry the bigger fish might start showing up."

"The heads of the merchant guilds and nobles?"

"Yeah…"

Irwin sighed as he pictured the nice Inn they had stayed in for all but a few hours.

"Let's go and see if we can find the Greenbark Shop," he said. "You okay with getting us there?"

"Sure," Greldo said, before pointing at the Onyxian. "What do we do with the girl?"

"Brecka," Irwin said as he walked forward and put his hand on her shoulder.

Her heartcard was odd, and he knew he would have to talk about it with Ambraz as soon as he woke up. Just not right now. There was one thing he knew, though: there was a resonance between her heartcard and his cards… and not just his soulcards. There was a slight sense of approval from the cursed titan card, which had him worried. Still, all of it told him one thing- something he'd already known before checking. There was no sign of the Guidar's soultrace. He'd sensed it when it was pushed out, and he was pretty sure he would sense it again now- the slight dissonant background whimper.

"She'll be fine," he muttered, pulling her and Ambraz into his soulscape.

His otherself took her from there, and he sensed how she was put into one of the beds while Niszis remained nearby for when she woke up.

"So, I take it she is coming with us then?"

Irwin moved beside his friend, who looked resigned.

"Yes. Now, let's get out of here. Do we have to teleport again?"

Greldo's grimace told him all he needed to know, and Irwin hoped having to carry only one person would make the trip less vomit-inducing.

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