Irwin grinned as he looked at the card, which was silvery-bordered and had a crisp image that seemed to depict a large, empty area within a mass of swirling shadows. The area didn't seem to have any predefined shape, and Irwin felt like the area kept changing, even though he knew that was just an illusion.

"A ninety-five percent diamond card," Ambraz muttered. "Ten years… you managed to reach it in only ten years."

Irwin's cheeks started hurting as his grin became even wider. "What? I was already a diamond rank smith."

"You… you…" Ambraz let out a weary grunt. "Yes, and now you are already halfway to becoming a rank-two diamond smith."

"I couldn't have done it without you," Irwin said, recalling just how difficult the final reforge had been. Without Ambraz controlling part of it, he would have only barely succeeded, and the card would have become a mere eighty percent. Now, it was close to perfect, making it easier to create the eventual heartcard.

"Are you two done boosting each other's egos? How about you show me what the fuss is about?"

Irwin turned around, noticing Greldo staring at him with gleaming eyes.

"What? You didn't think I'd stay asleep if you two made such a ruckus?" his friend said, pushing himself up. "I take it you took the books?"

Irwin nodded while he pulled his own notebook from his soulscape, slightly stunned at how tiny it felt, and placed it on Ambraz.

"You found them in the Holy Shadow Inn?" he asked.

Greldo walked up beside him, glaring up and rubbing his neck.

"You need to shrink more. This is going to give me cramps."

"Don't worry," Irwin said, quickly checking on his Gentril's Body Control card, and sensing that it was still actively shrinking him. With his soulscape almost refilled again, he pushed more soulforce into it to increase the pace.

"I'm still shrinking. It's just going to take a while," he said.

"And how long is a while exactly?" Greldo asked, and Irwin finally noticed the barely contained worry beneath the snarky surface.

He carefully put a hand on his friend's shoulder.

"I should be back to seven feet in a few months," he said.

"And that's permanent?" Greldo asked.

Irwin shook his head. He was about to explain when he decided it wasn't a bad time to test the card's second ability.

Taking a few steps back, he stopped the shrinking process. For a short moment, he hesitated, worried that using the toggle ability might not work as he thought it would, and he'd be back to being full-sized.

If that happens, it's best to learn before I spend weeks shrinking, he thought.

He triggered the toggle ability, and the world seemed to shrink. Vertigo took hold of him, and he swayed on his feet, almost toppling down.

"Gelwin's nuts…" Greldo hissed.

Irwin rubbed his head as his vertigo faded.

"Right, I'm going to need to practice this a bit," he muttered.

Deciding he'd prefer getting it over with, he triggered the ability again, and as the world shrank, his vertigo increased.

"Ugh," he grunted, one hand on his stomach as he felt his stomach complain. "Definitely practice, but not today.

"That's pretty useful," Greldo said, walking closer. "What happens if you do that in a small room? Could you break out, or will you just squish yourself?"

Irwin blinked, wondering about that.

"No idea," he finally said.

Greldo's eyes glittered, and Irwin knew he was planning some crazy tests.

"Let's look at the card first," Irwin said as he quickly took the booklet from Ambraz.

Flipping it to the last page, he lowered it so Greldo could read it.

Card: Shadow Space

Type: Diamond, Shadow, Forged by Irwin Roddington

Owner: -

The owner of this card gains a personal space within the shadowrealm

Passive: Greatly increased shadowrealm capacity

Passive: Increased affinity with the shadowrealm

Active: Move things from and into personal space [requires shadows]

"Diamond… so that means you are done practicing now?" Greldo asked, looking up wide-eyed.

Ambraz burst out laughing, and Irwin sighed.

"No, but I'm getting there," he said. "Now, what do you-"

Greldo reached out, and a tendril of shadow snatched the card, delivering it into his hand.

"Think?" he said, smiling evilly. "I think this is the perfect payment for having me search those stupid ruins on my own while you were having fun down here. Also-" he put the card above his hand, then raised an eyebrow. "Or was this card meant for someone else?"

Irwin rolled his eyes and waved him on. "Slot that thing already and see how much it allows you to bring. Perhaps then you will stop whining about not being able to bring a ship into the shadowrealm."

"Whining?" Greldo said in mock dismay. "I never whine!"

Then he slid the card in, and Irwin watched curiously as the card sank into his hand.

Greldo remained quiet for a few minutes, and Irwin knew he was trying to sense his new card. It would probably take a while, as Greldo had the normal amount of soulforce sensitivity, unlike him.

His thought proved correct as Greldo sat down, arms crossed, seemingly in deep focus.

I'm going to have to tell him about Fuchsia, Irwin thought, as he sensed the girl asleep in another of the rooms Ambraz had added to his house. As his otherself focused on the house, now with nine bedrooms, he smirked. Perhaps he should dub it an Inn from now on? Irwin's Inn had a nice ring to it, and from what he could sense from the weight of the four people inside, it wouldn't matter much if he brought another ten or twenty.

Perhaps even more, he thought, as he tried to gauge the strength of his soulscape and its ability to bring other people. From what he could sense, his growth spike and recent card additions hadn't just added a little bit or even as much as the size increase told him they should. Instead, it felt more like a multiplier, as if his size increase had added something extra to his soulscape.

As he tried to discover what, time passed slowly.

He was snapped out of it as Greldo jumped up with a happy whoop.

"What?" Irwin asked, looking at Greldo, who was running around excitedly.

"This is fantastic," Greldo shouted, running up to Irwin. "Let's try this!"

Irwin blinked as he felt Greldo try to pull him into the shadowrealm, though there seemed to be something different about it. He didn't resist, and a moment later, he was standing in a large, empty, shadowy building. The walls were like a dark fog, and he could see the world beyond it, but it seemed far and surreal.

What stunned him even more was that he could see himself. Raising an arm, he saw a trailing smoke drift after it, and he could faintly see through his arm.

"This is amazing," Greldo shouted from beside him, his entire body seemingly made up of shadowy fog, only his eyes a brilliant red and sharp like rubies.

Unlike what the large open area would suggest, there was no echo, but Greldo's voice seemed to be muted.

"We can talk?" Irwin asked, looking around, somewhat surprised. The area made him think of a soulscape, but it was different.

I wonder if we can focus his soulcard on this one and turn it into a shadowscape, he wondered.

"Not just that," Greldo said as he looked around, his eyebrows narrowing as he seemed to focus on something. The room around them began reshaping, and Irwin was stunned as he saw dark, foggy walls appear, together with a staircase that led to a rapidly forming roof. Within a few minutes, the entire room had changed into a familiar corridor, with doors that led into small rooms and a staircase that led up.

"Is this the Sonata?" Irwin asked, looking around in surprise. It was like he was standing in a dream-like, shadowy version of his first ship.

Greldo grunted as he ran up the staircase.

Irwin followed him, and as he stood on the deck, he saw that he was definitely standing on a shadowy version of the Sonata while the world around them was visible through a shadowy barrier.

As he heard his friend groan with effort, the ship began moving forward, the world around them flickering by as they raced across the ruins that dotted the mountain. After a few minutes, they circled back, and Irwin stumbled as he was ejected from the ship and out of the shadowrealm. He grabbed a ruined pillar, which cracked as he gripped it too tightly.

Greldo appeared a moment later, sitting on the ground and rubbing his head.

"Okay, I definitely need to get my heartcard," he grunted. "I couldn't hold that together for a moment longer."

"What about bringing something inside?" Irwin asked, deciding that if they had to travel through the shadowrealm again, having a shadowy ship definitely beat being dragged around like some formless cloud.

"I'll try later," Greldo said, rubbing his head. "I need a break first."

"Can't you move the room around without turning it into a ship?"

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"The ship isn't the problem," Greldo muttered. "It's moving the room while anyone is in it that takes effort. I can't imagine how hard it would have been if I didn't have Subtle Control."

Irwin saw him glance at the middle of his three cards, but something worried him.

"Does that mean the room stays here if we leave?" he asked, wondering if he'd somehow bodged the card.

"No, definitely not. It will follow me, but if someone is inside, it takes a lot of soulforce to move it," Greldo grunted. "I can anchor it somewhere, but I get the feeling that moving it over a great distance means ejecting anyone inside."

"And other things?" Irwin asked.

"Not sure. I'll try when I don't feel like you're pounding my head," Greldo said, grimacing.

Perhaps I should get him one of those size-changing cards, Irwin thought.

That would give him a large boost in soulforce, at least while he was big.

"I'm sure we can come up with something for your next cards," he said. "But as you have some time on your hands, there's something else you need to know."

Irwin told Greldo about what had happened with Fuchsia, and halfway through the conversation, Greldo seemed to forget about his headache, his face one of weary resignation.

"We are sure he is dead?" he asked when Irwin finished.

"Fuchsia definitely thinks so, but it doesn't hurt to check," Irwin said. "Perhaps Elder Sigora can help with that."

"Yeah," Greldo said, before sighing sadly. "What a sad bunch we are, aren't we?"

Irwin looked at his friend in confusion.

"No fathers among us all," Greldo said, moving to sit with his back against a ruined wall, closing his eyes. "Can you pull me into your soulscape? I need some rest."

Irwin reached out and pulled his friend inside his soulscape, moving him to the empty bedroom he usually used. Then he stared into the distance, barely seeing the distant Portal Gallery barrier or the storm still raging behind it.

The words of his friend played through his mind, and as he did, his mind drifted to his own children. As he pictured their faces, happy and running around the tiny moon that they had grown up on, his hands clenched shut. He couldn't let the same happen to them. Even if not for himself, he had to become strong enough to at least survive so they had a father.

He needed strength, not just for himself, but for his family and friends. Strength to survive. Strength to make others stronger.

Strength…

He raised his hand, and the thin stack of size-altering cards they had gained appeared. He calmly flipped through until he found the one that would increase his soul resonance based on his physical size.

Looking at the card, he felt something in his mind settle—almost like a massive stone that had been out of balance and swaying atop a weak foundation.

"Kid… are you sure?"

Irwin knew he didn't have to tell Ambraz what he was thinking. Their connection would have told him enough. Ambraz was just making sure…

"That body double card? It would be great," he said softly. "But it will weaken my next card instead of strengthening it. Perhaps even stop me from getting what I need to create cards from ambient soulforce, or at least delay it for a long time. This…" he looked at the emerald card that showed a stone-like elemental, glimmering with silvery sparks while ripples surrounded it. "This will make me stronger. It will combine with my current cards in a way few others would."

"And it might mean that you will become as big as you were before, or bigger yet, while losing the ability to shrink," Ambraz said.

Irwin nodded as he stared at the card, his mind growing clear. He'd already decided what he would do.

"Let's reforge it up to diamond," he said.

Ambraz thudded down in his working form while Irwin calmly put the card on his back.

"Will you slot it and make your next heartcard right away?" Ambraz asked quietly.

"No," Irwin said. "I'll continue shrinking until I get to eight feet. Then I'll make my next heartcard."

"Because you think the toggle might remain while the shrinking doesn't…"

Irwin nodded as he summoned his hammer and tapped the card to determine the initial resonance.

--

Elder Sigora watched Roark happily eat the meal Cedhra had given him. Everything in The Root Cellar was too small, making it look like he was sitting at a child's table, his knees above the table. Roark didn't seem bothered, but Sigora saw how gingerly he moved, how carefully he swallowed. She'd sped up his healing, but it was clear his body was flagging, and a mere few weeks wouldn't be enough.

It is time to leave, she thought.

There was little sadness at the thought. She'd been preparing for this moment for many years, decades even. The fact that Roark had even said it himself and had stopped struggling against what they both knew had to happen helped.

"Aunty Sigora, do you think they will come? It's been almost four weeks…"

Sigora looked up at Meira, the young woman sitting down beside her, and using two hands to hand her a steaming cup of tea. She'd not told her nieces, or Roark for that matter, that Domnir had shown up three weeks ago to ask her about Scander and also told her it would take a while before they came again due to Rodd's size problem.

"They will come," she said, smiling at her niece.

As if to prove her right, she sensed a tremor from her vines on the top floor as something moved through the shadowrealm nearby. She was about to tell Meira to get Sedhra when more vines began signaling a movement, and within half a minute, all her plants were signaling that something was moving toward her—something massive.

She must have shown something on her face as Meira shuddered.

"Aunty, is everything alright?"

Two people appeared in the soulforce, right in front of the door. One of them was like a beacon of light in the darkness, exuding more soulforce than she'd sensed from any single person before.

"It is fine," she said as she rose from her seat. "They just arrived."

She walked through the hallway, glad that, unlike the furniture, at least the ceiling was high enough. She heard Meira call her sister, and a moment later, the two young women ran after her as she stepped to the door.

Roark was still in the small diner, though she knew he was keeping an eye out. Not that it would matter. He was barely able to walk, let alone fight. Luckily, she very much doubted that would be required.

Pulling open the door, she calmly looked at the two figures standing in the alleyway before the door. One was covered in the largest Whisper Steel armor she'd ever seen and easily nine feet tall, more than a head taller than her. Any Viridian would know he wasn't an Elder because no Elder could still walk around at that size. They would have long since moved to a Hearttree for the last journey of their life.

Next to the nine-foot giant stood a man who would likely be tall in every other situation. However, he barely reached the other's upper arm.

Rodd and Domnir. She knew Rodd's real name, but decided it was best to keep thinking of him as Rodd for now. It wouldn't do to accidentally misspeak and cause the Smiths trouble. What Domnir's real name was, she didn't know, but very likely it wasn't that.

A glance showed her that Rodd had filled out his handcards while Domnir only had a single slot left. They must have found cards in Captain Hardy's collection that they liked.

"Elder Sigora," the giant rumbled.

"Rodd," she said, smiling at him. "I see you have shrunk a bit?"

"Yes. Sadly, it will take months before I can return to a size that will allow me to enter the average building."

Sigora laughed softly, remembering her time when she wandered the cities of the smaller races a few hundred years ago.

"I am glad you showed up, but I hope it isn't because there's more trouble," she said. "I don't think I'm ready for another fight."

"No," Rodd said. "I'd like to talk somewhere a bit more private. Do you mind if we go inside?"

Sigora looked at him, then at the door. Perhaps if he ducked, he might fit, but she wondered if his frame would even fit through the door.

"Don't worry," Domnir said. "I'll move him inside."

"Then, by all means," Sigora said. "I'll see you inside."

A few minutes later, she was sitting in her chair, Domnir in front of her, while Rodd was sitting on the ground to prevent his head from touching the ceiling.

"And they said I was too big," Roark said, laughing loudly.

"I'd prefer being a bit shorter," Irwin said, his deep voice causing some loose glassware to rattle on the shelves.

"Don't we all," Sigora said, smiling as she took a sip of her tea to find it had gone cold.

She frowned at it and was about to ask Meira or Sedhra for a hot refill when a tiny flame flickered around Rodd's finger. It looped forward like a crackling fire before looping around her mug. A few seconds later, steam rose from the tea, and the fire vanished as if it had never been there.

"Thank you," she said, using a vine to wrap around the mug to prevent her flesh from burning off.

"You're welcome."

"So, I take it you are done smithing for now?" she asked, sipping her now scalding and slightly stronger tea. She couldn't see the smith's face, but she was pretty sure the way he moved showed he was surprised.

"I could hear you working, as could most powerful people in the city," she said with a smile. "Don't worry. I warned them to leave you alone, though I promised you would amuse them by saying hello. If you don't feel like it, you can just ignore them."

There was a moment of quiet before Rodd hummed thoughtfully. "Was Haborth Serin Ungaryt one of those?"

"Haborth? He was, and the first and most adamant, for that matter," Sigora said. "I presume you heard of his troubles and the card he is willing to trade?"

"Something about one of his children having slotted a cursed card? He is trading a second-life card for anything that can help?"

"His grandson and the only direct family he has left, but for the rest, you are correct," Elder Sigora said.

"What happened to his family?" Domnir asked.

"Nobody knows for sure," Sigora said as she remembered the odd occurrences a few decades ago. Haborth had nearly broken down as much of two districts as Rodd and Lasther had, and after that, he'd done little more.

"Please tell us everything you know about him," Domnir said.

Sigora nodded, and for the next while, she told him what she knew about the recluse, who was the nominal leader of the city.

--

Irwin felt like groaning as he listened to a history of politics and other nonsense that Greldo and Sigora talked about. It was hard to keep his new, much sharper senses muted, but he had to.

He almost wished he could just fight something, hammer swinging, instead of having to deal with nobles. Not that he didn't feel sad for the man he'd not met yet, for having lost all his family. He could fully understand doing everything in his power to prevent losing the last one.

It was a good thing that Greldo had already found out a lot about the politics of the nobles in the last few weeks and that they had a plan. Getting a nod from Greldo, he hummed.

"Elder Sigora, when we came here, we brought a few people along who have some experience with nobles and politics. Do you mind if I bring two Ignitzians out?"

The old Viridian looked at him, realization slowly setting in as she seemed to puzzle out what he meant.

"From your soulscape," she said.

He nodded.

"Of course, they are welcome as long as they behave."

Irwin was glad the helmet hid his grin, and he quickly warned Nisziz and Klatzi. The two were almost jumping at the chance of finally leaving his soulscape, and he felt slightly bad about having kept them in there for such a long time. Although they had never complained, he could understand that having no other people around or nothing to do but training would get horribly boring.

I need to think about getting some plants and creatures in there, he thought, wondering if that would even work.

Nisziz and Klatzi appeared, and both visibly shuddered, pulling their leather-padded jackets closer.

Nisziz quickly turned to Elder Sigora and bowed deeply, one hand on her forehead, the other on her chest. Klatzi copied her move. Then they turned to Roark, who was rubbing his chin with a small smile.

"The Fire greets the Tree. We are humbled to be allowed in your home, Elder Sigora, Elder Roark," Nisziz said.

Irwin was stunned, quickly sharing a confused look with Greldo.

"Ahhh, now I see why the Smith said you have experience," Elder Sigora mused. "You are most civil, little Fires. Though this is not my home, you are welcome nonetheless."

The two Ignitzians turned back to her, but held their pose for another few seconds before rising.

I'll have to ask Nisziz what that was all about, Irwin thought. He'd been around plenty of Ignitzians and Viridans, and he'd never seen anything like it. Perhaps it was because Sigora was an Elder?

"Our Leader has shared what you said about the local nobles and Haborth Serin Ungaryt," Nisziz said. "Can I ask a few more questions?"

"Of course, young flame. Of course."

Before Irwin knew what was going on, Nisziz and Elder Sigora were talking another round of politics and who was who, with Greldo occasionally chipping in. Although he did his best to memorize what he could, Irwin wished he could just continue reforging.

As they spoke, he slowly drifted off, thinking about the next heartcard he would form in a few months. Automatically, he thought of his newest card, and for a short moment, he released his hold on it. Immediately, he sensed the minute soulforce resonances of everyone and everything around him so much clearer than ever before. His senses spread out further and further to the people in the streets and houses around the one he was in, then to the ones around those, and further. With a jerk, he cut off the sense, muting it to just a bit more than his usual sense.

This is going to take a lot of practice, he thought, as he thought about the new card with the odd name that not even Ambraz had known what to make of.

Card: Solcruthaithe Attuned

Type: soulforce, Diamond, Reforged by Irwin Roddington

Owner: Irwin Roddington

The wielder of this card gains a few of the abilities of the Solcruthaithe, a species of crystalline stone elementals that are known to draw soulforce to grow in size for as long as they live, the largest becoming like planetary moons.

Passive: Increased resistance to energy attacks

Passive: Massively increased soulforce sensitivity

Passive: Soulforce sensitivity and control increase to match your physical and soulscape size

A soulforce typing, he thought. Ambraz was right. He did keep running into the weirdest cards.

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