Irwin's Journey 497: Abrupt exit

"Finally."

Irwin grimaced at the outburst. Somehow, the fact that Umbral rarely showed emotions made it worse. Still, his slight shame at that faded rapidly in the face of the soulforce that hovered before him. In the end, it had taken him nearly a year to manage to create it in a timeframe that Umbral said would be fast enough for him to actually be able to create any constructs. 

A year in which his soulseed reforging had grown almost twice as fast, and where he'd been able to make his first, albeit tiny, step to creating one that would allow him to create soulscape-enhancing soulseeds. A year in which portals had started appearing at a greater pace, especially near Blackglass and the other main cities where the Portal Closing Guilds did most of their work. 

A year in which he and Scintilla still hadn't been able to return to Eluathar even once.

"Make another change," Umbral ordered, snapping Irwin out of his reverie.

Irwin looked at the soulforce hovering before him. It mostly resembled a cloud that was shaped into a single, complex form. When he'd first started, it had shivered from the pressure of his will as he forced it into the image of the song. Now it looked almost solid, though he knew it was just an illusion. One mistake and it would implode into nothing but chaotic soulforce. Still, it was as close to a construct as he'd come. According to Umbral, it wasn't one yet, mostly because it wasn't a solid, but it was complex enough for him to start working on the next step. 

One of his aura clones, softly playing a melody on a soulstrum guitar, made a tiny change, and he watched as the soulforce changed to incorporate it. Already knowing what Umbral would want, he waited only a few moments before making another change, then another. He continued for well over a minute, until Umbral called out again.

"Enough. You can release it now."

Irwin took a final look at the soulforce pattern, so much like what he felt the soulforce of a card felt like, yet also so different.

I'm definitely going to show the kids when I return. Especially Zan should start practicing this, he thought. 

"It took longer than I wished," Umbral said, motioning him to sit in front of him on a boulder. "But it's finally time for the next step." As he spoke, he picked up a small rock, inspected it, then threw it at Irwin's aura clone. "What do you sense if you examine that?"

Irwin glanced at the rock, sensing the condensed form of his first soulcard. Since he'd begun learning how to create soulforce constructs, he'd come to understand more about his own soulscape. For one, everything in it that was a solid was made of soulforce, largely from a single one of his soulcards. There were overlapping regions, mostly where his soulscape's regions overlapped, but even those were small. Only his soullake was a true blend of all of the soulforce within his soulscape. 

According to Umbral, it was something that would have spelled doom for any normal soulskilled, but, apparently, for those with cardslots, it was a rather normal occurrence. Still, it was clear to the Shaidin that if two cards were too far apart, the reason a soulscape became unbalanced was because of this overlapping region. That, and the fact that too many different soulforce resonance signatures within one soullake would cause a strong imbalance.

As part of him thought about those things, another part answered Umbral's question.

"It's made up from my first soulcard," he said, looking up at Umbral.

"It is, but do you sense how condensed it is? Do you feel the structure behind it?"

Irwin focused on the stone, trying to ignore Ambraz's growing curiosity. 

His bonded Ganvil had been practicing on his own, using Irwin's soulscape to create patterns, and wasn't all that far off from Irwin's own level. 

"I can feel some of the top-level patterns," Irwin said, probing the rock's surface as he had with others over the course of the last few months. "But if I try and push deeper…"

He frowned as he tried to push further, trying to move through the incredibly compressed patterns and see what was within.

The rock exploded in his hand, but instead of shrapnel, a wave of soulforce rushed out quickly, joining the already dense ambient soulforce of his soulscape.

"That's because you're trying to push into the soulforce construct of the rock," Umbral said, picking up another rock. "Instead, you need to weave around it. It might feel that there's no room, but that's just an illusion. There is room to move, but as good as your senses are, you use them like a blunt instrument. The next step you need to learn is to sense this entire rock. It should hopefully take far less time than the previous step, and after that, we are going to focus on creating your own first construct."

Irwin rolled his eyes, but caught the stone as it was thrown his way. Pulling more of his focus into his aura clone, he tried to gently prod into the construct that had been created when his soulcard had formed. It felt like having to push himself through a door or small fissure that was too small for his body, and even when he moved slowly, he could feel the construct start to destabilize.

He pulled back, tried again from another spot, and eventually shattered the rock. 

Without waiting for Umbral to tell him, Irwin pulled another stone into his hand and tried again.

A day later, he'd shattered hundreds of rocks, causing the ambient soulforce around him to become far denser than the average in his realm.

'Kid, you need to stop thinking of yourself as if you are in the shape you are now,' Ambraz said, speaking up for the first time. 'In here, you are like your soulforce, anamorphic and able to shape into anything. Ever since you first came here, you've been using the shape of your body, but you do know that's not technically needed… right? It's just the easiest. Your physical bodies are as they are, but those are just tools right now. Did you actually forget how you came in here the first time?'

Irwin frowned, staring at his own hand. He fully recalled the first time he'd entered his soulscape, as nothing more than a pale wisp. Bodiless and without a true shape, he'd been floating around the small space. Back then, it had felt like a house without walls and innards. Now it felt like a world, but even though there were many real things in it, his giant body one of them, most of it was nothing but soulforce. His own soulforce, made manifest by the patterns that were his soulcards. 

He took a deep breath and dispelled his aura clone, which was a soulforce construct of itself, made whole by one of his cards. His mind was pulled towards his body, but with little effort, he stopped it. The next moment, he was hovering some distance in the air, his form a tiny version of his body, transparent like his aura clone, but far less real than that. 

Irwin looked around his soulscape without using his real eyes before focusing on himself. He was like a tiny wisp of pure soulforce, and to his surprise, he could sense just how pure it was. Though there were resonances within that corresponded with his soulcards and even his current heartcard, it was like a soft background melody. Most of what he was seemed closer to the pure soulforce Ambraz used. Still unique to himself, and with a distinct signature, but nothing like the powerful resonances of his soulcards or real bodies.

Why haven't I ever used this again, he thought, trying to recall the last time he had. 

It had been shortly before he had grown stronger, and his soulscape had formed his original self into a shape reflecting his body. After that, he'd been so happy about being able to walk around as if it were the real world that he'd never even thought about it again. Truthfully, he'd not even known he could still do what he was currently doing.

'Try again now?'

Irwin focused on a stone far below where he was, and a moment later, one appeared beside him. As soon as he focused on it, he could sense the difference. It wasn't that it was suddenly easy, but where before he had felt like squeezing into something with a rigid body, now it felt like he was malleable. 

It's not real…. he thought, as he felt himself push further than before without destabilizing the rock. He was perhaps a fifth of the way in when he stopped. It's not real!

The epiphany that came with those words caused him to feel a sense of change within himself. Not a physical change, but a change of perspective. He suddenly sensed his own selves, the one within his soulscape and the other on Scour, working on a large metal pot for one of the families, as if they were nothing but patterns of his own mind, created by the soulforce templates that were his soulcards. The patterns were so complicated he could barely understand even a fraction of them, and he instinctively knew he likely never would, but what he did know was that what was in his mind was underlying it all. 

The epiphany lasted for only a few moments, and as it faded, taking the sensation with it, it still left a sense of overwhelming understanding of what he really was. Very slowly, Irwin felt his self flow into his giant body, an enormous, powerful, stable, and unmoving thing. Yet, as it did, he somehow retained the sense of his mind being… more like the ambient soulforce flowing around his soulscape.

'Kid? You okay?'

Irwin blinked as he looked around his soulscape, feeling both more real and less until that faded. 

'I'm fine,' he said, as he pulled another rock towards him, one that was more massive boulder than rock. 

He didn't care. Instead, he focused on the rock and let his soulforce's senses flow into it. It was still not easy. Not spacious, for lack of a better word. But within a few moments, he was encompassing the entire rock, sensing the soulforce construct's pattern, hearing its resonance, and understanding its melody. It was both a singular item and part of something else. Without knowing why, he squeezed it, causing the rock to shatter into three parts. His mind flowed into one of them, the other two dropping to the ground far below. The remaining rock was both the same and different from what it had been. The pattern was largely identical on a fundamental level, but it was different all the same. Putting it between his fingers, Irwin squeezed again, splitting it once more, only to feel the same thing. The fundamental pattern of this rock, that which made up each tiny part of it, was the same, and it was just combined in a large cascading combination pattern.

"So that's how it works," he muttered, recognizing and slowly pulling out the resonance song that made up the core of the song. It was a single tone, specific to this type of rock, simple beyond measure compared to a cardseed, but still with the same conceptual idea.

Irwin pulled some soulforce towards him without really thinking about it, and holding it in one hand and the rock in another, he formed it into the pattern he felt in the rock. It took far more soulforce than he had imagined, a rock the size of his giant thumb pulling in a cloud that surrounded him, completed, but when he finished, the cloud was gone, and on his hand lay another rock. Not identical to the other, but still the same structure.

'Ugh…'

Irwin could sense the slight annoyance from Ambraz, but he ignored it as he created another aura clone and reappeared beside Umbral. The Shaidin opened his eyes, looking at him with a tiny hint of curiosity.

Irwin raised his hand, two head-sized boulders floating above it. Then he pulled soulforce above his other hand, and, as if he'd done so a million times, shaped it into a third rock. Smaller and with other edges, but still the same.

Umbral's eyes widened a fraction. "That's step two… and three," the Shaidin said slowly. "Are you trying to make up for wasting so much time on step one? And if so… how?"

Irwin shrugged, creating another rock. "Just some explanation from Ambraz that helped," he said, truthfully.

"Well, I guess that means we are going to step four, and I hope you can surprise me again," Umbral said, rising to his feet. "Can you bring one of the smallest wyrms here?"

Irwin dropped the stones, spreading his senses throughout his soulscape. Hundreds of wyrms, most smaller than his arm, dug through the depths of his soulscape, some wrapped around one of the clustered ore veins that were being heated by the volcano. He focused on one of the smallest ones and moved it above his hand. A wriggling and struggling white snake-like thing, the length of his arm and as thick as his wrist, appeared. 

Irwin grabbed it behind the neck and near the tip of its tail, before pulling it taut. 

Umbral showed little reaction to it, but moved forward.

"So, I've gone and created the pattern that will be needed to create it," the Shaidin said as he stared at the Wyrm. "I'm going to bring you and it into my soulscape, but please make sure not to let it go before we are done?"

Irwin nodded, and a moment later, he felt the pull from Umbral. They had been within his soulscape many times now, so he wasn't surprised to reappear on the same hillside of dark, red-tipped grass. He was surprised when the Wyrm immediately stopped struggling before trying to curl in on itself. Irwin relaxed slightly, letting it wrap a few coils around his arm while the head was away from his flesh. Even though he was an aura clone, he'd already been bitten a few times, and it still hurt.

The Wyrm didn't show any sign of aggression, however, but instead seemed to try to drain heat from his arm.

"I thought as much," Umbral said, staring at the Wyrm. "These things are mindless and only act according to the simplest of external stimuli. They are rather perfect for practicing this next step, because of how simple the pattern of their construct will be. Now, pay attention."

Irwin did as asked, as he felt Umbral pulled soulforce from the ground below his feet. He didn't see it, but he knew that meant that some of the dirt or grass was likely vanishing, though in such small amounts that he was just unable to see it.

The soulforce continued condensing until there was a globe so large that Irwin knew he couldn't wrap his arms around it anymore. Besides that, it was also far more condensed than anything he had tried except when creating cardseeds. 

Record it, Irwin suddenly thought, as he quickly triggered his tablatures. Umbral didn't react to the item appearing in his hands, simply continuing as he had before.

"When you first attempt to recreate a living soulforce construct, there are a few issues young Shaidin ran into," Umbral said. "The amount of soulforce was one, but for you, that will be no problem. Then there's the ability to sense the target pattern. Long ago, these were considered closely guarded secrets of families, but during our war with the Guidar, my people pooled all they knew together. One of the consequences of this was that we found a set of simple pattern parts that all soulforce constructs have in common. As your teacher, I will take responsibility for showing you multiple patterns, one of which is based on these wyrms."

Irwin watched in awe as he saw and heard the soulforce in front of Umbral shape itself in a complex pattern that was easily on par with an emerald-rank heartcard. That said, he knew it was actually far more difficult because without the soulcard seed to build up from, it was like shaping fog with your hands. Umbral seemed uncaring for this as the soulforce before him formed into a pattern that seemed ready to burst at any moment.

"The final part is a single note that ignites the soulforce construct. It is different for everyone, and finding the one requires knowledge and time. Time I had aplenty over the last year," Umbral said, a flicker of amusement in his eyes.

Irwin heard a single, high-strung ping that reminded him of what a soulforce seed's initial note sounded like. Before he could even ponder that, the entire soulforce construct shivered, then glowed with a single brilliant light. The next moment, a wyrm hung above Umbral's hand, one that was a bit bigger than the one Irwin had brought and seemed less agitated.

"I changed it a little," Umbral said as he examined the Wyrm. "The one I will help you create will be more like the one you are holding, but this one is less aggressive and with less of a need for heat."

As he spoke, he dropped the Wyrm, which jerked mid-air, its head pointed down. It slammed into the ground with a thud, its teeth forward, and a moment later, it was gone, digging through the softer soil of Umbral's world.

Umbral watched it before turning to Irwin. "Now, let's head back into your soulscape." 

"Aren't you afraid it's going to hurt the other creatures?" Irwin asked, looking around at the now far more vibrant world. Birds flew around everywhere, chasing the clouds of insects, while small predators lurked in the high grass. Even the water of Umbral's soullake was filled with life, something that had surprised Irwin greatly the first time he'd noticed.

"No. Due to my changes, they won't grow as large as the ones on Scour," Umbral said. "Besides, they are territorial, so they will keep each other in check and be a good top predator. I didn't have much life in the ground before, one of my weaknesses. Now that I need to start again, I can at least use the benefits of hindsight."

Irwin nodded as he looked around. "There are a lot of insects and birds…. And fish."

"Yes," Umbral said. "A good natural balance, especially in your soulscape, starts with a wide base of small creatures. My biggest luck was that my trees and vegetation survived the chaining. It meant I could reintroduce the insects easily enough. Most of my soulforce is within the vegetation, so until they consume more of that, I'll keep the balance as it is."

"You could just destroy some trees?" Irwin asked.

"I could, but the force that will take will destroy some of the balance. One of the things you will find as more and more of your soulforce becomes embedded into your soulscape's constructs is that this balance is precarious. It is easily destroyed, costing you the great benefits that come with it.

"The ability to hide your presence and an increased strength and control over your aura," Irwin said, recalling what he'd been taught over the last few months.

"Yes," Umbral said, still looking around his soulscape with a tiny gleam of joy in his eyes. "Your aura is incredibly powerful, but it's a-"

"Blunt instrument," Irwin muttered, which gained him a glance from Umbral.

"-blunt instrument," Umbral agreed. "This isn't anything to be ashamed of, but there is far more potential in it. You should be able to use your aura as I do, shape it in a long attack that is much further than it usually is, and will allow you to focus all of it on a single stronger enemy instead of blanketing the area around you. Although I never got that far, there are even Aura Masters who were able to create a soulforce construct within their auras, or move to any spot within it by merely willing it."

'It feels a lot like the abilities cards give,' Ambraz grunted. 'Kid… I think Umbral is right. All of it, cards, soulskills, soulforce constructs, even auras? I think it's all a way to use the underlying soulforce, manipulate it somehow. It's like we aren't strong enough to use it instantly, so there are all these ways to structure it, with cards obviously being one of the better ones."

Obviously, Irwin thought, unable to keep from smirking.

'Don't think I'm just saying that because I'm a ganvil and you're a cardsmith,' Ambraz snorted. 'Think about it? A card is a condensed pattern of soulforce that allows someone who didn't make it to use it. You can give one to someone untrained… What are we learning now? It takes years to fully master, decades even. Just to do what? Teleport across your aura? You have your steam. One proper card, and we could teleport across that. Soulskills? They limit people to a single thing. That's why those Guidar were so easily able to crush most resistance. They somehow steal soulskills and use them to make themselves more versatile. From what we know, they don't need to learn it either!'

Irwin felt his slight hilarity at Ambraz's initial remark die down as his bond continued to talk. After the last remark, he pondered it, his eyes still drifting across the Shaidin's soulscape.

'You're right,' he said after a few minutes. 'But as cardsmiths, we-'

'Need to learn the rest,' Ambraz interrupted him. 'Damn right we do. But I don't think what we are learning now is going to change anything about how we fight our upcoming war. Yes, we should teach the other cardsmiths, but beyond those? I don't see the use.'

Irwin thought about it for a while before turning to Umbral, who had been quietly waiting.

"I'm ready to return," he said.

Umbral didn't respond, but a moment later, they reappeared in Irwin's soulscape. Irwin was still holding the Wyrm, which began thrashing around almost immediately upon returning to a temperature it felt pleasing.

"Now, let's start," Umbral said, sitting back on a rock. "Begin by examining the Wyrm's structure and the underlying patterns of its soulforce. See if you can find that which makes it a Wyrm, like you did with the rock."

Irwin nodded, focusing on the Wyrm. As simple as it was compared to most creatures, it was many times more complex than a simple rock.

I wonder how long this will take, he thought.

Three months later, he had the answer.

--

Irwin tensed as he felt his control over the soulforce before him strain. The sound of a single tone from two soulstrum guitars mixed with his own deep hum resonated all around him, causing the soulforce to remain in its specific pattern. It looked like a long, stretched-out shape, ready for the final step.

Irwin breathed in through his nose before stopping his humming and letting out a single, slightly deeper off-key hum. The tightly condensed mass of soulforce flared up, and a second later, a writhing Wyrm hovered before him. It looked for all intents and purposes like the others that roamed the depths of his soulscape, but it was at the same time completely different. Instead of its previous white color, it was a deep, burning red, while dark smoke trickled from its mouth. 

Irwin stared at it, barely believing he had finally succeeded. Close to one and a half years… that's how long he had needed to go from nothing to a single creature. He'd gained more patterns from Umbral, but this was the only one he'd practiced till perfection. At some point, he'd barely been reforging cards, only working on this, and what had he gotten? A lava-oriented version of a wyrm that would now hold an absolutely minuscule fraction of his soulforce, binding it and making it just a bit more stable.

"You did great," Umbral said as he jumped off the ground and walked to Irwin. 

As emotionless as he was, Irwin knew the man was relieved. He'd been bored out of his mind, and even the three giant wyrms Irwin had moved into his soulscape for him to hunt had only helped him for a short while. Still, Irwin felt himself slightly stunned by the next few words, uttered with absolute certainty.

"It's time for me to leave."

Irwin hesitated for only a moment, then nodded. He glanced at the Wyrm, the culmination of thousands of hours of practice, wishing he had some time to inspect it. Sadly, that would have to wait, and he dropped it in the ground where it promptly dug down. Irwin sensed it vanish into the depths, and after only a few moments of seemingly aimless movements, make a beeline for the nearest real Wyrm. 

I shouldn't call them real, he thought. Thinking back to what Ambraz and he had discussed at length with both Umbral and Scintilla, and some of the others. They had no idea whether all life hadn't originated in a similar manner. It was technically possible to create a soulforce construct from ambient mana on a world… if he took another few thousand years to practice, and was willing to only be able to create a single insect for his efforts. Still, according to Umbral, it was possible, and it was one of his people's most discussed topics among philosophers.

"I'll move you out," he said, while his otherself back on Scour was running into the smithy, warning Scintilla.

Umbral didn't react, but merely waited. A minute later, Irwin pulled on him, moving him out of his soulscape. As he did, he sensed just how much soulforce it took him to move the hard-to-detect Shaidin. It also felt like he was moving something far more stable than anything he had before. Even Ambraz seemed almost… fuzzy in comparison.

-- Scour --

Irwin put down a long spear he'd been working on, watching Umbral appear in the smithy. He wasn't too far from the spot he'd moved into Irwin's soulscape over a year ago, but that was the only comparison. Back then, Umbral had been chained, and when he wasn't hiding, Irwin had sensed the set of off-key chains wrapping his soulscape and entire being into horrible bondage. Now? Irwin could barely sense Umbral, and only the tiny fluctuations in the wind, which held some type of ambient soulforce, allowed him to get the idea that something was even standing there. A trick that wouldn't work unless he was within a few steps from Umbral.

Umbral looked around as Scintilla rushed into the building.

"I would like to stay for a while," Umbral said. "But I will not. It is time for me to head back out, find Terlo, and do as I promised. After that, I will finally be able to do what I've wanted to do for as long as I can recall."

Irwin expected more, but Umbral merely focused on him intently.

"I thank you for unchaining me, and if I manage to capture some of my brethren, I will bring them here. If not, perhaps we will see again during our joint war against the demons."

"Thank you for all that you taught me," Irwin said, wondering if he should say anything more. He'd expected the Shaidin to wish to leave, but this level of rush surprised even him.

"You are welcome. Look at it as part of what I owe you for what you did," Umbral said, nodding at Scintilla. 

"Do you need our help going through the exit portal?" Scintilla asked.

"No. I will be fine," Umbral said, showing a tiny smile. "May your enemies fall like prey, and your pack be safe and strong!"

Before Irwin could say anything more, Umbral vanished. One moment he was there, and the next he was gone, and Irwin felt only a tiny flicker of soulforce somewhere beyond the building.

'I was able to sense him until he was four miles away,' Ambraz grunted, sounding proud. 'But I lost his exact position within a hundred feet of the building.'

Irwin nodded, feeling a slight worry at that. 

'Then let's hope they don't send any more of Umbral's people after us,' he said. 

Scintillla walked up to him, looking around in a mix of worry and resignation.

"Is he…?"

"He's gone," Irwin said. 

Scintilla's shoulders lowered slightly, her posture relaxing. 

"Good… I don't like it one bit how he just stands there, and I can't even sense him," she muttered. 

Irwin couldn't help but agree with her. As much as he appreciated what Umbral had taught him, and how he'd not killed him or tried to, for someone who could usually sense everyone, it was perhaps even more disconcerting than for Scintilla.

Which means I'll need to continue creating more soulforce constructs, he thought, recalling the many pages of resonance songs he'd gotten from Umbral. Most would need to be changed to work for him, but that was fine. He had plenty of time.

"What do you think? Ready to see the kids?" he asked.

Scintilla almost jumped at him, wrapping her arms around his waist.

"About time!"

--

Umbral ran forward as fast as he could, the world around him blurring rapidly. He could use his skill to speed up even more, but he knew that if he did, he'd be far too easy to spot. 

Besides, after having been cooped up in Irwin's soulscape for this long, he could do with stretching his legs.

As the world blurred by, his attention on everything within a large area around him, he still found himself drifting off. 

One and a half years… 

He could still hardly believe it. How could someone who had such difficulty with the first step create such a complex lifeform within one and a half years? It had to be because of the card forging he did, some sort of overlap. Whatever it was, the way he'd handled the final steps had been enough for Umbral to feel a sense of disbelief. 

It was a good thing, though, as it meant he could finally set out. 

I hope Terlo is waiting outside. If he's not, I'll have to find him first, which could easily take hundreds of years.

As he sped up even more, Umbral wondered if and when he'd ever see the unchainer again.