Irwin stared at the card, using his soulforce to power the temporary barrier Zir'dor had wrapped around it.

  "So," Klatzi asked, holding an arm in front of her nose. "Think it's useful?"

  The cloud of superheated steam that Irwin had used to clean her was slowly fading away, leaving her glistening. She looked incredibly comfortable and unwilling to move, perhaps in the hopes that some of the steam would linger a little longer.

  "I'm not sure yet," Irwin said, frowning as he focused on the card-shaped, powerful, and chaotic soulforce resonance. As much as he tried, he just couldn't get a good read on what the card was supposed to do, but he knew one thing. It was so unstable that it would explode soon.

  And here I thought the first one we found got destroyed because it was subjected to the chaotic soulforce beyond the barrier, he thought, recalling how that one had shattered explosively.

  "Ambraz?" he asked, looking to the side.

  "It's disgusting," the Ganvil grunted. "That thing's soulforce resonance is clashing with ours, making me almost sick. If it wasn't the first one we can examine, I would have probably told you to just dispose of it."

  "And you can't get a read on what it does?" Irwin asked.

  "It's unformed and unstable," Ambraz said. "If someone would slot it, they would probably lose a hand. It has no types that I can detect."

  Irwin grunted and turned to Klatzi. "I'll be trying some things that aren't safe for you. Can you go up and tell Rindiri that she doesn't have to worry if there's an explosion?"

  The Ignitzian stared at him in seemingly stunned silence for a moment before smiling. "I wonder if anyone has ever said that on a ship before," she said as she moved away, the trailing tendrils of steam finally breaking up. "I'll tell her."

  "Thanks," Irwin said before hesitatingly adding. "And thanks for getting this thing out of that corpse."

  "Don't mention it," Klatzi said, her face turning pale.

  She left the room, gently closing the door behind her, and Irwin grinned. He was pretty sure she'd meant that literally, and he filed it to tell Scintilla about when he saw her. She'd probably have a laugh, as would his kids.

  The thought of them made his own good mood fade slightly, knowing it would still be months or more before he would see them again.

  "Now then," he said, turning to the card. "Why is this card so unstable while the one Suein got is apparently stable and usable?"

  "It might be because the Oculithar that dropped it was different?" Ambraz answered. "Or we took it too soon or too late… who knows. Does it really matter?"

  Irwin shook his head as he glared at the card. Its presence was actually annoying, as he'd planned to do something else with his time.

  Should I rest first? he thought. He'd planned to, but as he looked at the card, he knew he wasn't going to. His giantself was resting, which meant he should be feeling better soon enough. A tiny part of him, which had been looking forward to some shuteye, complained, but it wasn't enough to sway him.

  "Fine, let's figure out what we can from this piece of junk for a while," he said. "As soon as the rest of me wakes up, we'll have more interesting things to do."

  He could sense Ambraz's curiosity.

  "What do you even want to try? It's going to shatter… as… Oh!"

  "Exactly," Irwin said as he summoned his soulstrum guitar. "Create another barrier around it and get ready. I'm going to try to change the resonance to create some sort of balance. I give it a fifty-fifty chance of shattering instantly."

  "That's generous," Ambraz said as a translucent, slightly fiery barrier appeared around the card.

  Irwin watched it with interest. All barriers Ambraz had created so far were pale, silvery, or white. He quickly realized why this one was different, as it resonated in sync with his own soulforce and, thus, with Ambraz's.

  "Another thing you gained when you reached rank five?" he asked.

  "Yes. I'm still trying to learn all the ins and outs, but I have a lot more control than I ever had," Ambraz said. "If you are going to plan and somehow fix this thing… well, finish might be a better word, I think every little bit of stability should help."

  Irwin nodded in agreement as he unleashed his full soulforce sensitivity, trying to ignore the horrid stink from the card.

  At first, all he saw was the chaos, the horrible clashing resonances, but as he continued looking at the soulforce resonances, he began noticing something. There was a faint pattern within it, spread out, thin and unfinished, but clearly there.

  Focusing on that, he could almost feel the distaste from his heartcard, but at the same time, it was mixed with a sense of familiarity.

  "I'm going to try something," he said, focusing on the faint pattern. "Can you remove Zir'dor's barrier?"

  Ambraz didn't answer, but the barrier vanished. The soulforce trapped within spread out to fill the area between Ambraz's barrier.

  Irwin let a small amount of soulforce leak into his soulstrum guitar, causing thin snares to appear. Then he gently plucked the top one, causing a high sound and soulforce resonance to flow out of it, modulated in such a way as to resonate with the faint pattern. The ambient soulforce began resonating immediately, while Ambraz's soulforce barrier seemed to amplify that slightly.

  The chaotic soulforce of the Oculithar card reacted instantly and violently. It churned and vibrated, seeming ready to rip the card apart.

  Irwin almost stopped right there when he noticed a minuscule strengthening of the pattern within the chaos. As gently as he could, he plucked another string, causing it to hum in tune with the other one, and the reaction was exactly the same - more chaos but also a slight increase in the strength of the pattern.

  "Let's see how this goes," he whispered.

  He closed his eyes, focusing fully on his non-visual senses as his fingers very gently played across the strings, creating a calm, airy melody.

  Time passed, and very slowly, Irwin started feeling his own weariness fade while the jittery pattern within the chaos began to strengthen.

  He had no idea how long it took, but eventually, the pattern went from ready to crack to stable and strong, and as it did, the chaos around it changed.

  Is this what happens with all cards when they are initially formed?

  As the thought played through his mind, he continued playing, examining the card. What was the difference between creating a card in his soulscape and what he was doing now? As his fingers almost automatically moved, the complexity of his song very slowly increased, and he frowned. Was there a difference? He recalled the first attempts he'd made months ago and what he was planning to do soon, and as he felt the pattern grow stronger and more complex, a realization almost exploded in his mind.

  There's no difference…!

  He'd constantly tried to form the card in a single go and had been planning to do something similar in his mindscape… force the soulforce into his desired shape like he would a chunk of ore by hitting it as hard as he could. But soulforce wasn't like an ore, nor was it like an existing card.

  Crystallized soulforce, they called it, he thought, not even realizing that the melody he was playing was slowly changing, becoming more energetic and jubilant as it matched his growing sense of euphoria.

  There are steps before a card, steps to slowly condense a shape within the soulforce, he thought, as an idea began to take shape, almost like the card before him.

  His idea to shatter a card containing the soulforce and use it to create something new could work, but if he'd just gone and tried what he had done in his soulscape with his own soulforce - even after pulling in enough of it together in one place, he knew it would have shattered. No, what he had to do was create order out of chaos.

  Irwin focused back on the card, finally recognizing exactly what he was looking at.

  The pattern that had emerged from the Oculithar was the problem. It was what was responsible for the horrible soulforce stench. Not the chaotic, compressed soulforce. The pattern was slowly changing the soulforce, but it didn't have to.

  That meant if he continued, whatever he got would be useless to him… He shook his otherself awake, and a moment later, his Tablatures began recording everything.

  Irwin strummed his fingers over the guitar, breaking off his song in such a brutal, horrible way that he heard Ambraz groan. A wave of confused horror came through their connection, but Irwin ignored it as he changed the song into the opposite of what had been feeding into the pattern.

  Within mere seconds, the pattern began cracking and breaking- the seemingly sturdy framework a mockery of true stability.

  "Kid…"

  "Keep the soulforce inside," Irwin said as he calmly watched the pattern unravel.

  As it closed in on the critical point, he stopped the snares, watching intently at the pattern's final steps. There was only a tiny flicker left of the stench that had permeated the soulforce, and it was almost as if the chaotic soulforce had burned it away. The pattern shrank down into a small spot, the outlines of the card shaking as whatever held it together was about to die.

  Irwin leaned forward, his full attention on that final bit, that seed of a card. What was the point at which it ended? What was the point at which it began?

  With a final handful of almost floating tendril-like patterns around it, a bright point of soulforce resonance- a single pure tone, held strong as a final moment of defiance in the chaos, then it was gone.

  The shimmering, haggard outlines of the card vanished, only the raw soulforce remaining, swirling within Ambraz's barrier.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "I… hope you learned something from that," Ambraz muttered.

  Irwin barely heard his bonded friend. The final note of resonance echoed through his mind, a mix of what he'd heard, seen, and felt. As it did, there was an echo of sorts from his heartcard. One that wasn't exactly the same, but as he felt it, Irwin didn't hesitate.

  He put his finger on one of the snares of his soulstrum guitar, and, clamping down on the resonance, he flicked it with his finger. The snare's resonance burst out like a crisp chime, almost exactly like the one he'd sensed from his heartcard. Irwin focused more, making some tiny adjustments to the soulforce snare of his soulstrum guitar, then he flicked again.

  Closer, but not right, he thought.

  Three tries later, a bell-like chime rang out through the ambient soulforce, and a joyful, almost wistful echo came from his heartcard.

  Irwin faintly felt Ambraz's growing excitement as he focused his full attention on the churning chaotic soulforce within the barrier. He put his finger on the string and focused on the center of the chaos, and like a sword tip, he jabbed his own soulforce inside, flicking the snare.

  A pinprick appeared within the soulforce, lingering for a moment before vanishing.

  Irwin felt his breath hitch, and he almost shouted for joy. Instead, he flicked again, and this time, he immediately began playing a simple melody. The pinprick of light appeared, and a few cautious tendrils of soulforce stretched out from it before vanishing together with the pinprick.

  Irwin wasn't deterred.

  If time had flowed by without notice before, it now lost its meaning as his entire existence seemed to be wrapped around the barrier of compressed soulforce.

  --

  Ambraz felt like he'd been pulled out of his beautiful metal frame, shaken for a few hours like a wet rag before being stuffed back in upside down and inside out.

  His mind couldn't form coherent thoughts as he watched the boy, the brat, his bond, do something he knew had been the dream of every cardsmith and Ganvil for thousands of years.

  When the tiny pinprick of solidified soulforce burst into existence, he'd almost shouted, then, an hour later, the outlining of a card appeared… and he was left stunned, dumbly watching as the resonance turned from that initial pinprick into a soulforce pattern that grew and grew until it was as big as the Oculithar's initial card.

  Now, four hours later, a card hung within his barrier, and the intense and chaotic soulforce that had surrounded him was vanishing, drained into the card.

  One look told him there were issues with the card, which was closing in on becoming Quartz rank and probably barely eighty percent.

  None of that mattered.

  The card was perfect…

  Half an hour later, the final dregs of soulforce hovered around the card as its border let out a pale light before fading again.

  "It's done…" Ambraz said, his voice a deep whisper.

  Irwin lowered his soulstrum guitar, his eyes gleaming and a massive grin on his face. "That's what we need to do. We need to start from one pure note to determine the initial type and then grow it from there."

  His words jolted Ambraz out of his stupor, and he forcefully drew the little bit of chaotic soulforce away before letting his barrier disappear.

  Irwin's hand flickered forward, and he snatched the card out of midair, but not before Ambraz had seen the image. A jagged hand that looked like it was roughly forged from a coppery metal.

  "Put your book down," Ambraz exclaimed, feeling an intense desire to share what he was seeing.

  Irwin's grin only increased, and Ambraz almost told the brat to keep it down before he broke his face. Then the booklet was put on his back, and Ambraz imprinted the card's details onto the first empty page he came across.

  "Read it!"

  --

  Irwin laughed, both because of the joy he felt for finally creating a card- even if it was after shattering an existing one- and because of Ambraz's obvious excitement.

  He flipped to the final page, reading the card. Most of it was as he'd expected, as he could sense the card wasn't all that great. He'd struggled many times during the creation, as it was far more complicated than reforging a heartcard from six hand cards. That it was eighty-one percent could be seen as a small miracle, but there was one line he'd not expected.

  Card: Lavaforged Hand

  Type: Quartz

  Creator: Irwin Roddington

  Owner: -

  Changes the wielder's hand into one of roughly forged Firesteel, increasing their grip strength, toughness, and resistance against physical and fire-based attacks.

  Passive: Increased grip strength

  Passive: Increased resistance to physical and fire-based attacks

  "Did you add that line?" he asked, staring at the addition of the creator of the card.

  "No!" Ambraz exclaimed before hesitating. "Well, not completely. The card is different, and I can detect your soulforce resonance from it in a way I've never been able to before. It's like a fingerprint or accent?"

  Irwin nodded as he examined the card in his hand. He knew already that it wouldn't be wise for anyone to slot it. Besides being only barely above eighty percent, and thus being something he couldn't reforge to anything great, he had different plans for it.

  "Let's go and see if we can shatter it inside my soulscape and try again," he said, already feeling a massive desire to redo the card.

  "What? Don't use that one. It's your first one! It might be the first one ever," Ambraz almost shouted.

  Irwin stared at the card and slowly shook his head. "No, I don't think we are the first to do this. Perhaps the first one in a very long time, or perhaps just in our area of the Portal Gallery, but there is no way this hasn't been done before."

  "What? Why do you think so?" Ambraz asked, his voice filled with confusion.

  "I can't explain how it's possible," he said. "But as I made that card, it felt like… my heartcard was both relieved and excited. No, not my heartcard. A tiny remnant of that titan. I think some part of it is still there, hiding in my soulscape or heartcard somehow. I could feel it as I was working."

  Irwin felt Ambraz's worry at that, and he snorted.

  "I don't think it's conscious," he said. "Perhaps-"

  "It's a part of your ancestral memories," Ambraz said before letting out a weary sigh. "Well, you might be ready to go again, but I need a moment to recover."

  "Are you alright?" Irwin asked, staring at his friend, suddenly worried. Had part of what he'd done taxed the Ganvil in such a way that he was in trouble?

  "Ugh, don't act all that worried. I'm just mentally drained, that's all. Give me a few hours, and we can try again."

  Irwin felt a slight annoyance at having to wait, then he pushed it down.

  "Alright. I'll go and see how things are going on deck," he said, moving the new card into his soulscape, where it was placed on the library shelf.

  Ambraz followed a moment later.

  'I'll rest here. Also, I don't think I have to tell you that you shouldn't tell anyone what you did?'

  "I won't," Irwin said. Though I can't wait to talk with Trimdir and the others, he thought as he walked out of the room.

  --

  So, she was actually right, Greldo thought.

  He hovered in the corner of a balcony, staring into the opulent, garish room beyond the thin sheets of crystal. Filled with well-made furniture of a beautifully gleaming dark brown wood and with bright blue crystalline highlights, the single-room apartment looked fit for the richest of nobles. Plates of fruit, many of which he'd never seen before, stood on a low table while a familiar blonde-haired man, lying on a couch, was eating from them, reading from a green crystal tablet.

  He seemed to be talking or muttering, but Greldo was so deep in the shadowrealm that he couldn't hear any of it.

  Greldo flowed forward a few inches, for a moment wondering if he couldn't just grab Terlo before he could get away. Then he backed up, and a moment later, he was rushing back to the house where he'd left the teenage girl. She'd been unwilling to tell him her name, which made him wonder what she feared for. She had initially insinuated she was a well-known, important person, meaning that there should be plenty of people who could tell him who she was.

  As he reached the house he'd left her, a few warnings came from Coal. Two people had made it to his clones, apparently believing they had found Terlo.

  'Just let them see your clones and follow them to see who they have found,' he told Coal, curious if anyone else had found Terlo. He had the feeling that the young pickpocket-like kid without a shadowcard might be able to, but who knew?

  As he flitted into the top room of the house, he saw the girl walking around, hands clasped together.

  "It looks like you were right," Greldo said as he stepped out of the shadowrealm.

  The girl jumped almost a foot in the air and sideways, glaring at him with frightened eyes.

  "Sorry," Greldo said, grinning in such a way that it was obvious he didn't really care. "But you were right, so I'll make sure you get your reward. First-"

  "No! I need it now," she exclaimed, her hands clasped around her arms. "You said- "

  "I don't have time to bring you to the smith now, nor do I think he has time to reforge six cards and two heartcards on such short notice," Greldo said calmly, interrupting her tirade. "Besides, if I don't manage to capture this guy, it will all be a waste."

  The girl bit her bottom lip, and Greldo suddenly saw just how young she was. Perhaps thirteen at best. Her behavior had made him think she was closer to sixteen, and he felt a tiny twitch at having scared her as he had.

  "If… I might know a way to keep him there," she muttered. "If I do, and it works, is there a way for me to get something more?"

  Greldo watched her, raising an eyebrow. "You really are looking to get all you can, aren't you?"

  She blushed slightly, but her eyes remained as hard as before.

  "If you can help me capture him, I'll see what I can do," Greldo said. "What exactly would you want?"

  "A lift to another place," she said without waiting. "One that will allow us on-world!"

  Greldo had expected something else, and his surprise must have been evident.

  "My father… he angered a noble on Urlar, and we were sent here. If we want a normal life again, we need to be able to get out of here," she said rapidly, waving her hand around.

  "Shouldn't you have asked for that right away?" Greldo asked curiously.

  "No! That plague is killing everyone without a strong heartcard," she said, shaking her head. "I'd planned to get the cards, then find a way on a merchant vessel."

  Greldo hummed, tapping his chin. "I can't tell you where we will head after this, as that's something the captain decides, sometimes last minute, but I'm sure we could let you tag along on one or two stops."

  The girl's eyes radiated hope, and Greldo sniffed. For as tough as she acted, she was willing to believe him on his word twice. She was lucky she'd met him and not someone bad, or she'd have been taken advantage of immediately.

  "But that's if you can help me. So what did you have in mind?"

  The girl hesitated, then licked her lips. "My father has a rune to keep someone from using his teleportation card… Well, as long as the one using it isn't super powerful."

  Greldo raised his eyebrow at her. Seeing as Terlo was able to follow them, he should be somewhat powerful. That said, there was something he found curious.

  "That doesn't seem like a very normal rune to have… Also, can you give me a name to call you? I don't care if it's real."

  "..."

  The girl looked at him and licked her lips before sighing.

  "Call me Su for now," she muttered, her ears turning red.

  Greldo had no idea what that was about, nor did he care.

  "Alright, Su. Now, I've never even heard of runes that prevent teleporters from using their cards," he said, keeping the fact that he barely knew anything about runes to himself.

  "I…" Su hesitated. "They aren't all that hard to get, but usually, they only work on weak teleporters. My father made this one."

  "Your father can make runes?" Greldo asked, his eyebrows shooting up. They still had barely any knowledge about that, as it was a tightly guarded secret in every place he'd been to.

  Then again… now that I can circumvent most things to block shadewalkers, perhaps I should look into it a bit more, he thought.

  "He used to be able to," Su said, her eyes getting a far-off, sad look. It made her look older, and suddenly, Greldo wondered how old she really was. Did she have a card that was playing with him?

  That will have to wait, he decided.

  "Alright, how are we getting that rune?" he said.

  Su looked at him, seeming to try to read something in his eyes. After a few seconds, she seemed to steel herself.

  "I'll go and get it," she said. "It shouldn't cost more than half an hour."

  Greldo raised his eyebrow. "I could get you there faster if you tell me where it is."

  Su shook her head, her eyes narrowing. "No. Stay here… please."

  Greldo hummed, then shrugged. "You've got half an hour. After that, I'll see if I can find another way."

  Su nodded and stepped into the shadowrealm.

  Greldo watched her leave, sensing her far after she'd left his vision.

  Alright, let's make sure we have a plan B, he thought.

  'Go and follow her,' he told Coal while he jumped into the shadowrealm and blitzed away, heading toward the Bigbelly.

  If those runes are that easy to get, I'm sure Rindiri and Nisziz can find them too…. Just in case.

  Common = Quartz, Uncommon = Amethyst, Rare = Topaz, Very Rare = Emerald, Epic = Ruby, Legendary = Diamond, Mythical = Ammolite