Irwin quietly stared out through the barrier of the small section of the portal gallery. The storm was still raging beyond, and if he hadn't been told it was going to slow down, he'd never have guessed it from the dark clouds and masses of swirling, chaotic soulforce.

The Nocturna hovered behind him, a foot above the ground. Only Gloom and Coal were on board. The girls were in his soulscape, enjoying the larger space than both the ship and their temporary pitstop could grant.

I'll have to bring them out in a bit, Irwin thought as he glanced at where Ambraz stood beside him.

"So, you are sure?"

Irwin looked at Greldo, who was standing on his other side. As tall as his friend was, the top of Greldo's head barely reached his shoulder.

"I'm eight two," Irwin said, glancing ahead. "I wish I could get to under seven and a half feet, but that would take years; we just don't have time."

"You could let me and the rest go to Suiderfuix while you stay on the ship," Greldo said thoughtfully. "After we find Rindiri and alert the Smith's guild, we would need a year to return home. That would give you a lot of time…"

Irwin hesitated again, something that had happened ever more as the day came closer. Then he shook his head.

"We have no idea what we will come across in Suiderfuix," he said. "I don't believe there's another Guidar there, but can we really be sure? What if we need to fight again? I need all the strength I can get."

Greldo held his gaze before nodding.

"Well, it's not too bad," he muttered. "Perhaps you can get Scintilla a growth card so she can match up with you?"

Irwin blinked, feeling slightly stunned that he hadn't thought about that. His mouth opened, then closed, as he realized that at his current size, he could live fine in most worlds. The biggest worry he'd had was being with Scintilla, but Greldo was right. If he couldn't shrink, perhaps he could make her a card that increased her size? Even if it was only by a foot, it'd be fine, and he knew he could make a card like that. He had enough leftover size-altering cards that dealt with increasing size!

"You're brilliant," Irwin said, feeling his remaining worry fade.

"I know," Greldo said, laughing softly. "You bringing the girls back out?"

"Yes. After last time, I don't think it's wise for them to stay in my soulscape," Irwin said as his otherself began talking with Nisziz and the others.

A few minutes later, everyone was out of his soulscape and gathered around him. Brecca towered over the others, her eyes wide and glittering.

"Good luck!" she said, looking as if she wanted to hug him.

Irwin grinned back, giving her a thumbs-up.

They had had some careful talks over the last few weeks, talking about her and what her life had been, and he was slowly starting to feel more comfortable with his odd older-brother-like feelings for her. She'd had far fewer issues with that, saying she'd almost called him brother multiple times and would probably start doing that as he felt okay with it.

Not sure I'll ever feel okay with that.

As soon as he thought that, he knew that it wasn't completely true. His mind might always find it odd, but his heart seemed fine with it. Still, he decided it was something that would just have to grow more naturally than the forced way it had been shoved on both of them for now.

Definitely not going to reforge someone's heartcard within my soulscape again until I can prevent this, he thought, not for the first time.

"Good luck, Irwin," Nisziz said. "I'm sure you will be fine."

Irwin smiled, accepting all their well-wishes and wondering how often Cardsmiths were worried over before they were to reforge their newest heartcard. Probably a lot more than had happened to him until now.

When the others eventually returned to the ship, Irwin turned his focus on Ambraz.

"You ready?" he asked.

"I've been ready for a while as you were gathering your courage," Ambraz snorted. "Really, for someone who's gone through what you have, it's impressive how worried you are about potentially remaining slightly above average in height."

Irwin barked a laugh at that understatement before he summoned his hammer.

"Let's see if that cursed titan card doesn't act up," he said.

He closed his eyes for a moment, pushing any potential lingering worries away. There was no more room for hesitation now. Reforging a heartcard was hard in any situation, and with the wildcard factor of a cursed card, who knew what was going to happen?

Irwin felt his mind calm down faster than he'd expected. Part of it was due to Greldo's idea, but most of it was because he'd been waiting long enough.

"I'm ready," he said.

"Alright, Kid, let's start," Ambraz said, almost vibrating with excitement.

Irwin focused on his six cards, noticing the slight increase in resonance from his cursed titan card.

I'm not going to let you control me any longer, Irwin thought as he brought all six cards above his hand.

It was easy, so easy, and Irwin could barely recall the effort he'd needed for his first cards. Back then, he'd needed to focus on them, draw them out, and not lose the resonance between them. Now, he merely grasped them and pulled them out, aligning their resonance with as much ease as reforging a mere quartz handcard.

Six shimmering forms of cards, the first the clearest, appeared above Ambraz.

Irwin didn't bother examining them. Instead, he struck down on Ambraz and let the resonance of the strike ripple through the handcards, imbalancing them and preparing them to become something new, something else.

A wave of soulforce drained from his soulscape, rushing into the area before him. It was far more than he'd sensed when he'd created his first or second heartcard, and he instinctively knew it was the presence of the titan card causing it. He held back from hitting again, listening to the deafening, ragged combination of the six cards. Two sets of three were joined slightly, while all six had a tiny cohesion themselves, but still…

Irwin recalled his first heartcard and how it had seemed like all six cards were as one. How weak his soulforce senses had been that he'd only noticed that top layer of the resonance. As he quietly observed the cards, rippling and destabilizing under the influx of soulforce, he realized something else. Creating a heartcard meant shattering all handcards, and what he did when shattering and rebuilding a heartcard was almost the same.

I wonder if I could do this with multiple soulcards, he thought.

After another moment, he pushed his curiosity away. Although his current soulforce was large enough to allow him some time, unlike the first time, when he'd needed both the Purperion and Ambraz's help, it wasn't a good thing to waste anymore. Besides, unlike in other situations, where he would take most if not all of the strongest handcards, he couldn't do that. The strongest heartcard was cursed, and he would need to create a new base. Something he'd not yet done for his own heartcards.

Taking a deep breath, he began humming, slowly picking out the resonances of the cards he would need. From his soulscape, the beautiful sound of his soulstrum guitar joined him, and a moment later, Ambraz's deep voice.

As he decided on the initial shape, he struck down his hammer with a sense of calm.

--

Greldo's hands were starting to cramp around the wood as he kept a worried eye on Irwin.

He'd tried to act reassuring, but now that his friend had begun, he couldn't stop feeling worried. What if the cursed card interfered, and Irwin blew himself up? What if he grew back to the ridiculous size he'd been during the battle with Lasther and lost the ability to shrink?

As his friend kept hammering, his and Ambraz's voices mingled together in a beautiful song, the sharp and energetic, almost electric sounds of Irwin's Soulstrum guitar rippling out. The song had begun reasonably calm, but now, ten minutes later, it felt more like a battle song.

"Is this how all cardsmiths are?"

Greldo didn't bother looking at Gloom, who stood beside him. Still, he sensed the Nyzir's trembling and heard his ragged breathing. He wondered how strong the Nyzir's soulforce senses were.

His weren't that strong, but the amount of soulforce rippling around Irwin was so enormous that even he could sense it. Not that he'd have doubted what was happening, as he felt his cards resonate with what was happening.

"No," he muttered. "I don't know about the central branches, but I've never seen one like him."

"Is this how it was when he reforged-"

Gloom's voice was blown away as the glowing and spinning heartcards above Ambraz seemed to shatter into a ball of light. The soulforce pressure they had felt before doubled, then tripled. It felt like something was clamping around Greldo's soulscape, compressing it.

Swaying on his feet, he heard Gloom thud onto the deck while there were worried and startled cries from the girls.

Dammit, now what? he thought, watching Irwin's hammer shake and slow on the next hit.

Another thud came from behind, and he ground his teeth, turning to see that Fuchsia had fallen on the ground. Klatzi sat on her knees, head in her hands, while Nisziz was swaying. Only Brecca still seemed fine, though a frown was covering her face.

Irwin's hammer struck down again, and with the boom, the pressure increased again.

Greldo jumped forward as he saw Nisziz crumple and Klatzi slump forward. Even Brecca had raised her hand to her head, a worried and pained frown on her face.

Greldo reached Nisziz and Klatzi and yanked them into his personal shadow space before doing the same with Fuchsia. It wasn't as safe as his soulscape, but unlike Irwin, he wasn't able to just bring people in there without issues. Especially not if his own soulscape was under such heavy pressure.

"I'm fine," Brecca shouted, backing up.

Greldo hesitated, then nodded as he backed up to the railing. Gloom lay there, and he looked at the Nyzir. He still wasn't sure what to think of him, but if he left him there, he'd likely die…

Dammit.

He put his foot on the Nyzir and pulled him into his personal shadow space before jumping in after him.

Keep an eye on Brecca, he told Coal before he focused back on Irwin.

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

The pressure within the shadowrealm was still noticeable but far less than it had been before. That said, the others were all still unconscious.

I hope this is because of the cursed card, he thought. Otherwise, he's going to have to find a very distant, unpopulated place for when he does any future heartcards.

--

Irwin groaned as he brought his hammer down, trying to keep both the hammering, his singing and playing, and the resonance of his soulcards in line with each other. The Titan card was struggling against his hold, constantly trying to impose its own essence onto the base of the card Irwin was trying to make.

To him, it felt like he was struggling with a four-armed monster; every time he grabbed one of the arms, another moved around, trying to rip free.

Stop it, he thought, wishing he could clamp down on the card and rip the cursed part out of it. Sadly, he knew he couldn't. It would rip apart everything, and what he had to do was compensate for it with the right parts.

The problem was that the Titan card was trying to hold on to the other parts as a whole.

Irwin pulled again, but it felt like he was separating salt from water with a fork. Worse, as more and more soulforce drained into the seemingly bottomless pit that was to be his next heartcard, he was actually starting to worry if he had enough.

Sensing the Titan card's resonance changing again, he followed along, trying to clamp down on it and forcing it in the direction he needed it to go, only for it to revert to the previous resonance at the drop of a hat.

You little piece of-

Irwin held back a roar of anger, knowing it would only make things worse. Focusing on the Titan card, he tried to separate it from the others, only to fail just as miserably. It had integrated so much that the jumble of card pieces looked to all belong to a single one already, but a mismatched, horrible amalgamation of parts that would never become a coherent thing. Worse, because of the amount of soulforce that was surging around the jumbled mess of card parts, he could barely separate the path forward.

Need to get rid of some of it.

He focused on the broken parts of the other handcards he wouldn't use. Fixating on one, he tried forcing it out, only for the Titan card seemingly holding it in place.

As it did, Irwin sensed the other parts slip free slightly. Grabbing the nearest and trying to shove it out, the Titan card turned its resonance on it, trying to hold it there. It succeeded, but as it did, Irwin had an idea.

Although it caused a splitting headache, he had his otherself split its focus on the Soulstrum guitar and push one of the parts he didn't need away. As it did, he focused on another part.

The Titan card resonance tried to compensate, holding both in, but this time, it failed, and Irwin shoved a tiny sliver of his second handcard away- a part that he didn't need.

As soon as it was gone, he felt a tiny bit less pressure on himself.

Get rid of all the rest, then focus on this cursed thing, he thought.

Trying to ignore the growing headache from both his selves, he split-shoved another part of one of the cards out, then another.

With each part that was pushed out, the stress he was feeling on his soulscape dropped, which was a good thing as he was bleeding soulforce at an absurd rate.

When he finally pushed out over half of the parts, he felt the Titan card's resonance start to become unstable. Taking the moment, he focused both parts of himself on splitting it apart.

As his hammer struck the card, a shiver ran through the chaotic resonance that should have become his heartcard. It began screeching around in a way he'd never sensed before, and he felt the Titan card try to hold itself and all of it together.

I don't know why you are doing this, but I've had enough!

Irwin struck down again as his combined resonance ripped the Titan card into pieces. As soon as the resistance shattered, one part of him grabbed the cursed essence, then resonated it and the three parts it should be combined with.

The song of the storm of card parts seemed to let out a screeching howl, but Irwin sensed it was a losing battle. Raising his voice, he began imposing the base of his new heartcard's song on the parts.

With a shuddering jitter, the Titan card seemed to almost grab for the offered pieces, and a tiny, ordered beat echoed in the storm of noise.

Irwin held back a sigh of relief as he began pushing out more parts, some even finally drifting out of the song that he was trying to form. As he resonated the other parts in the way he wanted them, drawing them together, a beautiful, ordered resonance began forming in the center of the soulforce.

Not there yet, he knew, as he started the actual process of making his heartcard.

By now, his soulforce was over half drained, and he knew that if he'd not slotted the sixth card he had, he might have had to start feeding Ambraz cards, and not just a few. His current soulforce capacity was far more than a single handcard could compare to, even when shattering.

Minutes ticked by, and with each bit of the card that formed, another piece of the song was completed, the next step became more difficult. The Titan part that was now suffused within the core of the forming heartcard caused it to become incredibly stable much faster than it should, and when Irwin reached the final bit, it was becoming a chore to add the final bits. The song was still a jagged, incomplete mess, but he knew that he couldn't stop. Not yet.

As he struck down, he felt the song start to settle. It was a sensation he'd never felt before, the opposite of destabilizing a card to shatter it. If he let it happen, he'd be left with an unformed, unstable card that would make slotting any future cards near impossible!

Panicking, Irwin grabbed onto the only lifeline he had left: the heavy resonance of the hammer strike. He empowered it with the resonance of his soulcards, using a single sharp note to pierce the setting card, adding another bit of resonance and another piece of the few that remained. It barely flitted in as the card tried setting again, and Irwin struck down as fast as he could.

Another piercing note, and another little bit, and again the card tried to set with even more surety than the previous time.

Six more!

Irwin felt how his other soulcards began empowering his strikes, helping him hit faster and harder and increasing the intensity of the hit. It felt like a race, and just keeping all the resonances in line, including his song and soulstrum guitar sound, seemed impossible.

He struck again, and a section of the melody changed as if it slid into place instead of remaining like nothing but unfinished potential. Pain burst from his head as his otherself seemed ripped apart and rebuilt in a single moment.

Irwin felt his otherself change, sensed that part of him struggling to keep playing the soulstrum guitar, and sensed it… grow and become more.

He didn't understand what was happening, not from either of his perspectives, and he had no time.

Instead, he struck again, the note only barely finding purchase and piercing the nearly smooth surface. The melody jumped up in frequency, and a second part was added, but he had no time to check, striking again.

Within moments, he had struck five of the six times, and with each one, the heartcard changed more than it had during its entire creation. As it did, Irwin felt his body grow hot and tight, his muscles cramping and relaxing. Something was happening, but he had no time to check, rushing to bring his hand back down for the final strike.

He only barely managed, the final note and piece of the song joining the whole before the heartcard gleamed and set- allowing no more change as there was nothing more that needed to be changed.

--

Brecca stared at Irwin, his hammer striking down so fast she could barely keep up, going back for another hit before the deafening sound of impact even reached her. The only reason she was still standing was that she was holding onto the ship's railing. Her soulcards resonated so hard it was painful, but she couldn't keep the crazed grin from her face.

The song had gone from calm to combative to a war of attrition, and then, a few moments before, it had started into a crescendo. The hammer strikes had overpowered all others, creating a beat that kept increasing in speed, seeming to pull the rest of it with it, speeding up more and more.

She could sense the danger behind it, the moment that loomed and shouldn't be yet.

You can do it, brother! You can do it!

She didn't even care that she'd called him brother again. All she cared for was the crescendo to explode in the finale.

The final two strikes almost sounded like a single one, and the explosive power behind it cracked the entire length of the ground of the small portal gallery section. Stone splinters sprang up amidst dust clouds while the section began sliding sideways.

A single moment of silence hung after, and she held her breath at the perfection of it. Then, the beautiful instrument played again. Soft and calm, but with a deep power below it that promised no quarter to any who stood in its way. Irwin's voice joined it, and she could hear his joy.

"You did it!" she shouted.

--

Irwin felt the heartcard slide into his chest before appearing above his soullake. It was more solid than any card he'd ever seen or felt, exuding a sense of completeness that was incredible.

As he sang the final parts of the wordless song, he ignored Brecca's shout, feeling something watching… observing. With a sudden worry, he looked around only to find the source of the sensation beside him. Parts of the soulforce from the Titan card that he'd not needed had somehow remained beside him, forming a faint outlining of a figure. Although it was small, he got the feeling of something of titanic proportions, and as he watched it, he got a sense of approval as the entity did something to his heartcard.

Ambraz let out a sharp curse, and Irwin's worry spiked, only to see the figure vanish with a final wave.

"What happened?" Irwin shouted, his worry growing.

"That bloody titan card shoved a bunch of knowledge into my head," Ambraz growled. "I think I finally understand what a headache feels like. But it's fine, Kid. It's done."

Irwin exhaled, feeling the stress leave his body.

Both of his selves looked around at the same time.

One part watched the destruction he'd wrought on the surrounding ground. Large fissures grew through it while boulders nearby had cracked. A quick look showed that The Nocturne seemed fine, though he only saw Brecca standing on its prow, waving and smiling at him.

He nodded at her before focusing on himself. Glancing at his hand, he saw it had become wider, slightly more muscular than it had already been. The fingers almost seemed a bit too short, but the power within them… he clenched a fist and wondered what would happen if he struck something now. Glancing down at himself, he realized part of the uncomfortable feeling he had was because the whispersteel armor was too big.

His heart skipped a beat as he felt hope, but it settled as he grasped what had happened. Yes, he'd shrunken, but not a lot. Still, he was just under eight feet if he had to guess—a massive improvement over what he'd been mere hours before.

As all this happened, his otherself looked around his soulscape, sensing the enormous changes that had happened. His soulscape had grown many times over the years, but as he stared up at the barrier, at least a mile above him, he shivered. His soulscape had become at least four times as big as it had been before the heartcard, and that wasn't all of it.

Irwin's otherself lowered himself to the ground beside the house, looking down on it curiously. The two-story building's roof only came to his middle, and he knew it hadn't shrunk.

Irwin's complete mind, encompassing all sensations of both of his selves, shivered as he realized what had happened, and he focused on the outside of Ambraz.

"What knowledge?" he asked, already sensing part of what he could do but wanting written confirmation.

"... Ugh. Get that Tablature out," Ambraz muttered.

Irwin rushed to do as he said, wondering why Ambraz asked for his Tablature instead of the normal little paper book.

Immediately after he placed the summoned book on Ambraz's back, it glowed bright, and he picked it back up, flipping to the newest page and freezing. Normally, there was nothing but a card's description there, but this time, there was a small message above.

"You did well, young one, in taking the parts of our being that will survive the future while leaving behind that which is of no more use. After the next great war, come and find that of us which still lingers, the piece you left in the pit of time. It will tell you about the next step, the one lost to time."

Irwin swallowed, re-reading the message again.

"So the Titan card had a sliver of that being in it?" he whispered.

"If that was a sliver, I don't want to know what it was like complete," Ambraz said, his voice shuddering. "It felt like I was speaking to Gynerigon."

Irwin blinked, recalling that Gynerigon was the only known rank eight Ganvil, before remembering how it had felt to talk with Ambraz's progenitor, Brazardion. The pressure from him had been immense…

As he thought about that, his gaze drifted to the card, and his breath caught in his throat.

Card: Essence of the Volcano Titan

Type: Heartcard, Ammolite, Amnathair, Fire, Mutated, Forged by Irwin Roddington

Owner: Irwin Roddington

An amalgamation of beings from eons past, this combination has resulted in a never-before-seen burgeoning heartskill. Bringing together the essences of beings whose power was based on size and condensing it down, the wielder of this card will forever become stronger with size.

~ For every type of skill, one must be the first. Well done, child of Yilda, on creating the first new subspecies soulforce resonance skill. ~

Passive: Greatly increased strength, constitution, and endurance

Passive: Constant growth. The wielder will grow as he ages.

Passive: All physical attributes grow with size.

Passive: Soulscape size and stability grow exponentially with size

Active: Kinetic Energy can generate intense flames

Active: Volcanic earthquake

Active: The wielder's soulclone inhabits a body of its own [Toggle] [Mutated] [Unique]

Irwin swallowed, wanting to inspect each part of the card, but he knew there was only one thing he wanted to see first. He focused on the heartcard, sensing its stability, and triggered one of its abilities.

The world around him flashed, and the next thing he knew, he was standing beside a tiny Ambraz, his head twenty feet above where it had been before, dangerously close to the roof of the portal gallery section roof.

He turned to the ship, which looked almost like a rowboat, and saw Greldo and Brecca look up at him.

"Please tell me you can return to the small size?" Greldo shouted.

Irwin's grin widened as he triggered the ability again. There was a second flash, and the next moment, he stumbled forward, the oddity of having suddenly returned to his previous shape, causing him to experience massive vertigo.

"Finally," he muttered, feeling what remained of his worry about turning into a permanent giant fade.

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