Irwin's Journey 423: Spores of a different kind

Images of the horrors of the plague, the thing they still hadn't managed to find a cure for, played through Irwin's mind.

Did these attackers have something to do with it? 

Why would Daubutim ask otherwise?!

Both Cish and Poldixuz looked genuinely surprised for a moment, then the lizardman's eyes widened before slowly turning themselves to his own chest. His mouth opened and closed, but it took a few moments for words to come out.

"What?" he asked.

'Please calm down,' the one-eyed Girdaim said in his nearly emotionless soft voice. 'Before you make it look like something is happening that is not.'

As he spoke, Cish took a step away, her eyes narrowing. "I don't know anything about a plague," she said quickly.

'I do,' Zeek said. 'Before I explain, could you show me one of those infected?'

Irwin was about to say something when Daubutim took a step forward.

"Did your people cause this plague?" Daubutim asked.

'I can't be sure until I see one of them,' the one-eyed thing said.

Irwin held back a desire to shake the answers out of it then and there.

Daubutim didn't say anything but observed the Girdaim before turning to Greldo and Basil. 

"Can the two of you stay here? More guards will arrive shortly to take over."

Greldo glared at the Girdaim before turning to Daubutim. 

"No problem, just make sure to tell me what happened," Greldo said, sharing a quick look with Irwin.

"Yes, Lord Daubutim," Basil said.

"Alright. You, follow me," Daubutim said, glancing at the reptile man, who still seemed shocked.

What did he feel or hear from that thing that has him this rattled, Irwin thought, wondering if Daubutim was making a mistake in bringing them here.

"Yes… I…” Poldixuz muttered before shivering. "I'll follow you."

Daubutim turned to Doomblade, who had been quietly observing everything. The only thing that showed he didn't agree was the bloodthirsty gleam in his eyes.

"Doomblade, Irwin, follow me, please."

"Sure, sure," Doomblade grunted. "If we aren't going to kill these purple-bleeding fools, there's no sense wasting my time here. Besides, perhaps this soulsucker thing will try and resist!"

Daubutim didn't react but turned and walked to metal-reinforced double doors, quickly followed by Poldixuz.

Irwin thudded after them, his gaze on the back of the lizardman. He didn't get any time to think, however, as a somewhat angry voice grunted from beside him.

"Haven't seen you around since you returned!"

Irwin glanced at the Galub, who was exuding a powerful soulforce. He'd noticed it as soon as he saw the five-horn, and it had surprised him. Doomblade was probably as strong as someone with four soulcards. Not strong enough to worry Irwin but strong enough that he was confused.

The five-horn had been far weaker when they last saw each other. How much stronger could he become? Or was he closing in on his sixth horn?

"It's not there yet," Doomblade said as he grunted and rubbed an empty spot on his head. "I lost far too many one, two, and three-horns to these purple-blooded bastards. It will be many years, so don't worry. With how fast you are growing, I'm sure there's nothing I can do to you."

Irwin felt his focus fully shift to the Galub. It took him a few moments to understand what Doomblade was implying. 

"What do you mean?" he asked, just to be sure.

Doomblade grunted, his gaze turning back to the lizardman, the murderous gleam deepening again.

"Don't act like you don't know," he said in a low growl. "I've been asking to meet you ever since you returned. Wanted to see who is stronger. It's pretty obvious now, especially with how you-" he made a punching gesture, "- destroyed those two ships. Never thought I'd say it, but I'm almost jealous of those silly cardslots of yours."

Irwin looked at the Galub, then back ahead. He had heard the Galub had changed, was less aggressive and more… normal, but he'd never expected it to be this much. 

"You are a lot stronger than you were," he said. 

"Of course I am," Doomblade grunted. "You spread out your soulskill to use all those cards. It gives you a lot of things you can do, flexibility… but it also means your soulskill can't focus on a single thing. It took me a while to figure out why you carded feel both stronger and weaker."

"What do you mean?" Irwin asked curiously.

A part of him was surprised at how easily he was talking with a Galulb, one of the demonic races he had feared when he was young. 

"You soulcarded are too chaotic and lack sensitivity," Doomblade said, shaking his head. "Can you even feel when I do this?"

He moved his hand and drew a symbol in the ambient soulforce using his own soulforce.

"Of course," Irwin said, copying the gesture.

Doomblade's eyes widened. Then he snorted.

"Should have known. Well, how about this? After we finish with these soulsuckers, you will come and finally look me up. I might not be able to win, but I still wanna fight you. In return, I'll tell you a few things me and my four-horns have noticed while being around your people."

Irwin just nodded slowly, but his mind was racing along. Doomblade said he felt both stronger and weaker… chaotic. That made sense. Doomblade's soulskill did only one thing, but his entire soulskill was dedicated to it. Did that mean-

How come I never thought about this?

"Do you have a soulscape?" he asked, glancing at the Galub.

"Later," Doomblade said, grinning wickedly. "If I tell you too much now, you will be less inclined to come and see me later."

Irwin snorted, then focused back ahead. They had reached the exit of the building, and he let his otherself and Ambraz ponder what he'd just thought. As he stepped outside, he wasn't surprised to find dozens of guards and rangers standing there, watching them. Most eyes were on the lizardman Poldixuz or, more likely, the one-eyed purple entity embedded in his chest.  

"Lord Daubutim," one of the guards said as he came jogging over. He was cradling a bandaged arm while he had wood splinters in his cheek that were still bleeding slightly. An annoyed healer ran after him.

"Captain. Report,” Daubutim said.

"I have that status update you asked for! The harbor has been combed twice, and we haven't found any more enemies hiding. We will continue to search."

Daubutim nodded. "And the ships?"

"We've lost twelve of our own, including the Ruby's Revenge, of which we can't even find the remains," the man said, stopping before Daubutim. 

The healer reached his side and began plucking out splinters that were as long as her pinky.

"The Ruby's Revenge is fine," Irwin said as he stepped forward. "I've got it in my soulscape, but it's currently unable to fly. Xi'kroak and his crew are repairing it as fast as they can."

Daubutim merely nodded, no sign of emotion on his face, while a few of the surrounding guards looked at him in awe.

"Good. And the enemy's ships?"

"Five are in good condition, and they are superior to many of those we lost," the captain said. "Three can probably be made to fly again, though we are going to have to replace the sails, which the shipwrights are telling me might become an issue."

"And our own ships? Anything salvageable?"

The captain grimaced and shook his head.

"No, my lord. They were rather thorough in their attacks. The combat was somewhat high up, so everything that lost the ability to fly from there… well, we lost a lot of good people."

Again, Irwin thought as he crossed his arms, looking around at the wounded. Even with all the cards he'd been making, the others still weren't strong enough to even deal with a single enemy fleet. 

He could feel the soulforce resonances of the guards and rangers, sensing that many had one of his cards, but he knew what the problem was. Not every card had the same potential. His own and most of Greldo's and Daubutim's were among the best he had seen, but they were the exceptions. Even if he were to reforge six cards and a heartcard for each guard, they wouldn't become as strong as Irwin and the others were.

Unless I find a way to reforge the cards based on my own, Irwin thought.

At the same time, he wondered what would happen if he refined a set of cards to have only one or two abilities. Could he overcome the lack of potential in most cards by focusing on what was there and stacking the effects to create something powerful?

He mechanically followed Daubutim as his friend began walking forward again, his mind spinning.

Only when they reached the district that had been designated for the plague victims did he snap out of it.

It was at the edge of the harbor, and only those who had soulcards were allowed to come near. Even then, it hadn't been enough. Slowly, people had become infected.

Irwin clenched his fists as he sensed the muted resonances from ahead. 

None would die. He had seen to that, sending enough emerald and ruby-rank cards here to keep people healthy. 

None of the others had spoken during the trip, and as they continued into the gloomy district, Poldixuz began wringing his hands nervously. 

A few wooden walkways later, they approached a square bordering the edge of the towering trees. Below and away, more were growing, though now that the nature carded had left for the world, they were left to grow at a regular speed. 

A pair of guards stood at the gate of a small compound. Small scuff marks on their leather armor showed they had atleast seen some combat, though Irwin wondered how. Their resonance showed they both had a soulcard at rank topaz, meaning they were two of the earliest ones that Trimdir had managed.

Did they teleport in? Or were those more of the enemy shadewalkers? Irwin thought as he saw the dried-up blood.

"Lord Daubutim, Smith Irwin," one of the guards said before looking at Doomblade uncertainly, before adding an uncertain-"Five-horn."

Doomblade grinned but didn't react, and the guard turned to Daubutim.

"Everything is under control, my lord. We had a few enemies try to sneak in through here, but we took care of them," the guard said before turning to Irwin. "Thank you again for your cards, Cardsmith Irwin. Without them, Unbah and I would probably not have heard them coming."

Irwin quickly scanned the handcards the two guards had and vaguely recognized them. It was one of a batch he'd made that gave increased reflexes and heightened hearing, which had an active that temporarily increased both even more. 

"We are going to be inside for a short while," Daubutim said. "Don't let anyone in until we return."

"Yes, my lord."

The guards stepped aside, and they walked into the hallway.

As they walked through the compound, Irwin felt the horrid wrongness of the people further inside become clearer. 

There's more again, Irwin thought, gritting his teeth.

They had done everything to keep the plague from following. They had left all vulnerable people behind, including those who had been infected but had survived with the cards Irwin had given them. And yet, somehow, some of the guards and rangers in the harbor had started getting sick. 

"I can't find any direct overlap between that soulsucker's resonance and the resonance of the plague,' Ambraz said. 'However, there is something… similar."

Irwin quickly spread his senses, ignoring his disgust as he removed all inhibitions he'd placed on them.

The world around him seemed to turn into a screaming match between angry demons who spoke a language he couldn't completely understand. Even the powerful songs of Daubutim and Doomblade were almost drowned out while the ambient soulforce swirled around, agitated.

The disgusting resonance that came from Zeek was slightly muted by a sense of… overlap between the Girdain's soulforce and that of Poldixuz. It was also instantly clear that the Zeek had barely any soulforce of his own. Instead, he was constantly draining the soulforce out of Poldixuz. This soulforce seemed to be changed to his own, which was a horrid mess, though the small overlap showed that the process was having an effect on Zeek's own being. 

If they stay together for long enough, I might not even sense his oddity, he thought absently.

He didn't know if Poldixuz would even live for that long, but it did bring up something interesting. 

The soulstealers could change their own misaligned soulforce resonance, which reminded Irwin of another race. 

The Ganvils. 

Although neither Ambraz nor the other Ganvils had the horrid soulforce resonance he sensed from the Girdaim, and they had far more of their own soulforce, their resonance also changed based on who they bonded with. Although their bond was far more mutual, it did make him curious. What would happen if a Girdaim bonded with someone with cardslots and became a cardsmith? Could the purified soulforce fix what was wrong with them?

The idea shot through his mind so fast that he stopped in shock. Doomblade glanced at him, and he just shrugged as he quickly continued walking.

"Stinks in here," Doomblade grunted.

Nobody answered as they entered a small chamber. Two guards stood on each side of the door while dozens of people sat at tables, talking or playing simple games. The horrid soulforce resonance from the room was enough to make Irwin quickly limit what he could sense.

"Here we are," Daubutim said, turning to Poldixuz and Zeek.

The lizardman was looking around in dismay, his lipless, protruding mouth clamped shut.

'I fear I know what is happening…' Zeek said after a few moments.

Where before his voice had sounded emotionless, there was now a faint sense of hate and disgust in it.

“Zeek… those are…” Poldixuz hissed. 

Before Zeek could answer, the lizardman turned to the side and vomited on the ground. Thick green and black half-digested matter splattered around while Doomblade jumped with an angry bark.

Irwin took a step back, sharing a quick, worried look with Daubutim.

“Zeek… take over…” Podixuz said. "Please."

Irwin felt the soulforce within the lizardman suddenly turn far more out of tune. At the same time, Podixuz shivered twice. Then he straightened up and turned to them. His lizard eyes were completely glazed over.

"My apologies," Podixuz said, his voice emotionless and… off. "This is far worse than I thought, and Podixuz has issues with these he still hasn't overcome. I'll be moving him around for a while, so please don't take offense."

"None taken," Daubutim said. "Explain what is happening."

Irwin watched with slight apprehension as Zeek, now fully controlling Podixuz's body, turned to the room.

The people in it had long since gone quiet, now watching what was happening. Irwin could see the worry and fear, only held back by the fact that they were all either trained rangers or guards.

"I think we should speak elsewhere," Zeek said.

"Follow me," Daubutim said without hesitation, walking back out of the room.

As he passed the guards, he slowed. "Please clean up that mess."

The guards just nodded, sharing a worried look.

Two hallways and a door later, they stood in a much smaller, empty room.

"Now. What is going on?" Daubutim said while Irwin stood beside him. 

Even Doomblade had gone quiet, his eyes narrow as the three of them stared at Zeek.

"I explained how my people propagate," Zeek said slowly. "Well, we are not the only ones who procreate like that."

Irwin saw the single eye focus on him, and for a moment, he sensed a slight increase in the dissonant resonance. 

"To you, that room must have been rather bad?"

Irwin nodded while Doomblade snorted.

"It sounded like a school of screaming Jakliks," he snapped. "I've not heard or sensed something that bad since my world shattered."

"A good analogy," Zeek said. "Because that is one of the ways Oculithar spread."

"What?" Irwin said, feeling his skin crawl.

"Being in that room to me felt like being in a room filled with tiny predators ready to infect me," Zeek said quietly. "Podixuz has it worse, as he can smell them too."

"Wait, the plague is created by tiny Oculithar?" Irwin asked, feeling his skin start to crawl. He had to suppress the need to scratch.

"It is not a plague; it is what happens in some worlds after they shatter. You likely don't know this, but Oculithar tends to stick close to exit portals," Zeek said. "When a world shatters, it is pulled into the primal realm. Shortly after, when all its defenses are gone, the soulforce starts going chaotic. If there are Oculithar nearby, they send a cloud of tiny particles there, like flower pollen or spores. These will burrow into anything that has an unbalanced or unstable soulforce. Which, after a shattering, is nearly everyone."

"Wait, wait, wait," Doomblade said as he stepped forward. "You mean like a dust cloud that appears from the sky? Glows dimly purple?"

"That's what I was sensing! The similarity! It's not with them, but like a really, really weak version of the Oculithar," Ambraz snapped.

Irwin didn't react, focusing on Doomblade.

"You have seen it?" Zeek asked.

Doomblade stomped his foot, and cracks appeared in the wood below while the entire building shivered.

"Tell me what those things do? Do they make you go crazy… different from becoming Addled?" he growled.

"They get very sick," Zeek said slowly. "Like the people in there probably were. From what I could see, you strengthened them, probably gave them stronger cards?"

Irwin nodded, stunned by what he had heard.

"They are now dormant but not dead. If they sense someone weaker, they will move."

"How do we get rid of them?" Daubutim asked.

Irwin wondered how his friend could still sound so calm.

"Either you make the hosts even stronger," Zeek said. "From what I understand of how your soulskills work, you can somehow change those cards into a soulcard? Doing that will probably work."

"How can we be sure there's nothing left in someone?" Doomblade asked, sounding highly worried. "Do I have anything inside?"

"You are clear," Zeek said. "I would have sensed them immediately."

Doomblade spun to Irwin. "I want this one to come with me to the others and check them. I can't have any one or two horns infected!"

"Is there another way to get rid of these spores?" Daubutim asked.

"Technically, they are physical at this stage, so-"

"At this stage?" Irwin snapped, feeling his skin crawl. 

"Yes. From the little we know of Oculithar, they start as tiny spores, grow until they are strong enough, and then infect someone's soulscape," Zeek said. "After that, we don't really know because they usually die if they are anywhere with a stable soulforce."

"So they can't grow to those giant things?" Doomblade asked.

"We have never seen it happen," Zeek said. "But, like I was going to say. If someone has a very powerful blood skill, they can usually find and remove them in this early stage. The problem is that there are very few with skills powerful enough for that. Perhaps with cards, it is different?"

Yes! Yes, it is, Irwin thought, his other self already summoning a stack of blood-type cards.

"How strong are we talking?" he asked. "Like me?"

Zeek shook his head. "No. I think roughly one soulcard like he has should probably do," he said, pointing with Podixuz's arm at Daubutim.

Irwin blinked, and he began nodding as his attention rapidly moved to his other self and the stack of cards.

"Irwin?"

Irwin looked up at Daubutim.

"Are you sure you should do this now?"

Irwin frowned, then looked back at the room, sensing the horrid dissonant resonance. He shuddered as he realized all those people had tiny Oculithar inside them.

"Yes. We shouldn't leave them like this for a moment longer," he said. "Who knows what happens if one of those larger Oculithar shows up? You know some are still roaming ar-"

He stopped midsentence, turning to Zeek.

"Can all Oculithar create these spores?" he asked.

"I don't know. We have only a very few sightings, some hundreds of years old."

"Probably not then," Irwin said, hoping he was right.

Daubutim grunted in agreement. "Should I bring someone from the healers here? One that still has a cardslot-"

"Three," Irwin said. "Bring more than one, and make sure they have three free cardslots. Also, the cards they do have should preferably deal with blood, water, or any other liquid-based healing cards."

Daubutim walked to the door, where a card stood.

"Go to Basil and tell him to send me Jolnir and Sira Deggleton. Hurry."

The guard didn't bother saluting, but he turned and shot away, his figure blurring as he triggered a movement card.

Irwin barely paid attention. 

"Anything else I need to know about them?" he asked absently.

"No," Zeek said, watching him.

Irwin glanced at Doomblade.

"Keep an eye on him."

He didn't wait for a response, knowing Daubutim was here. He moved most of his focus into his other small, still, one-armed body, and as he did that, he froze. 

Wait, I can just…

He triggered his new card and split his mind, causing a slight headache to grow. Still, one part of one of his selves was suddenly both in his soulscape and in the real world. It was nowhere near as nice or effortless as with his soulclone, but as he moved himself to the shelf with the cards and started riffling through, he could also keep an eye on Zeek and Doomblade.

Not for long periods yet, but definitely useful, he thought as he saw Daubutim reappear and start asking Zeek more questions.

He tried listening in for a moment, but his headache increased quickly, and he decided Daubutim should be fine. 

So, he focused on the cards, most with a paper that described what they did - courtesy of Ambraz's hours and hours of work over the last few months.

"It's a shame we can't purify one of these cards," he muttered, staring at a simple quartz card.

Card: Acidic Blood

Type: Quartz

Owner: -

An uncommon card that allows someone's blood to gain a slightly acidic property, making it resistant to certain diseases. Useful for etching purposes. 

Passive: Minor Acidic Blood

"Nope," he muttered as he sensed the most likely paths the card wanted to go in. None would allow control over blood.

He moved to the next, wondering how long it would take.

--

"Alright! These should work," Irwin said as he put another down on the stack of five.

His giantself and Ambraz looked at the stack.

"Not bad," the Ganvil said. "Two control cards, two that can be reforged into a blood-type healing card."

"And the rest to fill it up," Irwin agreed.

"Are they still talking?" Ambraz asked.

Irwin knew the Ganvil could have checked, but he seemed far more interested in their ad hoc crafting session. He glanced through his other eye, seeing Doomblade pacing through the room in annoyance while Daubutim and Zeek were constantly talking.

"Yeah. I think Daub finally found someone who can keep up with his constant questions," Irwin said.

He noticed two people wearing leather armor with a blue highlight standing to the side. A young man and a young woman whom he'd never seen before, the blue showed they were from the healers guild, and their looks showed they were clearly related. With the same curly dark hair and almost gleaming red eyes, they had slightly upturned noses. A quick scan showed they had three cards already bound.

"Good. Let's go and reforge these," Ambraz said.

"One moment," Irwin said as he focused on the part of him that was outside the room. His headache grew quickly, and he felt dizzy.

My soulclones really are a hundred times better, he thought as he stepped towards the two waiting healers.

"You two are here to get blood-typed healing cards?" he asked.

He'd tried to talk quietly, but everyone in the room turned to him.

"Yes, Smith Irwin," the man said, looking slightly nervous. "I am Jolnir, and this is my sister, Sira."

"Good," Irwin said. "I'm going to bring you into my soulcape so I can reforge your cards."

The two shared a worried look and nodded.

"Don't worry," Irwin said, smiling reassuringly before pulling them into his soulscape.

Sensing them arrive, though seemingly shocked at seeing his giantself, he turned to Daubutim.

"This will probably take half a day or more and require my complete attention. Do you need me for anything else?"

"No, I'll take care of the rest."

Irwin nodded, moving to a corner of the room where he sat down, pulling his entire focus back into his split self. As soon as it was undone and he stood on the shelf, he felt a moment of vertigo.

"Okay, that's definitely going to need some practice," he muttered before looking at the two healers. 

"Ready?"