Irwin's Journey 475: Greed

Irwin hovered in the middle of Preg's old cave. He let his senses do a final sweep around, and he sensed Mouli, the enormous fire snake, guarding the entrance. It wasn't really necessary because the chances of anything even entering the Ghulnithair terrain were nearly impossible. Still, he'd decided to do it here for two reasons.

One was the impressive pool of Ancestral Coperion that he'd left mostly intact, and which was going to help with the soulforce he would need in a moment. The second was because there was a small chance that fiddling with Scour's time dilation could cause portals to form. As tiny as that chance was, it couldn't happen in Silverleaf because they weren't able to guard themselves.

'Ready?'

Irwin took a deep breath as he focused on Ambraz. His bond was still hovering beside him, and one of the things he was going to test was how much easier it would be to move him inside if he slowed the time dilation. Or sped it up? 

Irwin frowned, still not sure how to even think about it.

'Yes,' he said, closing his eyes. 

He sensed how his otherself focused on the pool of Ancestral Copperion within his soulscape, and he did the same with the smaller amount hovering beside him. Then, he very slowly let his own soulforce leak out until he was surrounded by a thick cocoon of it. His aura was causing it to be denser than ever before, and he readied himself. 

'Here goes the resonance.'

He slowly removed some of the inhibitions he'd put on his soulcards and soulscape, letting their resonance bloom out and ripple through his soulforce. 

Like the first time, the reactions were instant. Soot, who had been frozen midstep as he walked towards the door, began to speed up until he visibly moved. It wasn't anywhere near as fast as the first time, but he felt the painful squeezing on his soulscape as if Scour itself was trying to squeeze it into oblivion. However, unlike last time, he'd made sure to let his resonance increase slowly. He stopped as soon as he reached the point where it was both painful and causing his soulforce to leak away as if it were squeezed out.

Irwin frowned as he calculated how fast things were moving and how much soulforce was draining constantly. He let the resonance increase a bit more, then a bit more until he reached a point where he knew he could hold it for a week at most. 

By now, the time dilation, by his calculations, had gone to four times Eluathar.

A good thing Eluathar has its own time dilation, or… Irwin began, before blinking as a realisation set in. If I can get a body to another world with a powerful time dilation, I can probably move to it without issue. 

How had he not realised this before? The time dilation difference seemed to be what mattered! 

'This is the best I can do,' he said, deciding to share his epiphany with Ambraz later. 'Ready?'

'Yes! I haven't seen the kids in ages!'

Irwin grinned, fully agreeing with Ambraz's desire. He focused on his bond and friend, drawing him back into his soulscape. The pressure strengthened almost immediately, almost doubling, and he flinched.

"I'm pushing you through," his giantself shouted before Ambraz was even fully there. 

Irwin created an aura clone and used it to move into his body on Eluathar, while pulling and pushing Ambraz with him and onto the bed.

The pressure on his soulscape dropped again, but a fourth of his soulforce seemed to just vanish, leaving him doubly glad that he'd waited till Rinbus and Nimlarel had gathered a large enough amount of Ancestral Coperion. Soulforce was already leaking out of it, rapidly refilling his drained soulscape, while more trickled in from the body hovering within Prez's cave.

Irwin slowly sat up, a splitting headache blossoming as he felt his three minds think at different speeds. His self, still on Scour, eyes closed and trying to do nothing, was still thinking, and its thoughts slammed into him constantly at a speed beyond his own. At the same time, his otherself inside his soulscape was hovering above his soullake, eyes closed, its memories and thoughts arriving at what he guessed was half the speed. Not as bad, but combined, it felt like two people were constantly and incredibly quickly shouting in his head.

"Irwin, you okay?"

Irwin blinked, looking up to see Ambraz hovering next to him, looking worried.

"Yeah… but I'm going to have to get used to the headache," he muttered, pushing himself up.

"No imbalance? Cracks in your soulscape walls?"

"Everything is fine," Irwin flinched as the part of him that was inside his soulscape opened its eyes, and looked around, sending him a wave of sensations. 

As the pain continued to slowly increase, Irwin was glad that he had such a high tolerance for it. Even then, it would be hitting 'reforging your own handcards' levels in a day or two, and probably increase from there. 

"I don't think we can stay here for a week… three days is likely the limit," he said, as the door was shoved open and Soot dashed in.

"You are back! I knew I heard something," his son cried out, rushing forward and barreling into him. "You were gone longer this time! Did something happen?"

Irwin grinned as he hugged the tiny boy to his chest, ruffling his hair.

"Yes, but nothing bad," he said. "I've found a way to tinker with time. Now, let's go and find your mother."

A few hours later, Irwin was sitting with his entire family in the kitchen, his own mother standing in the kitchen, smiling and humming as she cooked. 

"Bronwyn and his family will arrive later today," she said, glancing over her shoulder. "I'm expecting Daubutim and his to arrive tomorrow."

Irwin grinned despite his headache. He hadn't seen either when he was back last time, but now that he had more than a few hours, they weren't going to be denied. 

"Dad, are you going to do any reforging?" Zan exclaimed, prodding his shoulder with her heel. 

She was perched on his left shoulder, while her tiny Ganvil, Silv'am, was sitting on Irwin's right together with Ambraz. The two ganvils were softly chatting, while Irwin felt a wave of pride come from Ambraz. From what he was able to pick up, Silv'am and Zannia had managed to increase their quartz rank reforging to an eighty percent success rate, and they had already successfully reforged two at a hundred percent. Irwin hadn't had time to talk with them about it the previous time, which pained him slightly. It was a good thing he could speed up and slow down the time on Scour now, even if it wasn't without cost. Now he would be back here every few days to a week, at least from their point of view. Better yet, he could return faster as he gained more Ancestral Coperion.

"Irwin?"

Irwin looked up to see Scintilla stare at him, slightly worried. He had told her about the headache, something he probably should have kept to himself in hindsight.

"I'm fine," he said, smiling widely. "I was just thinking about something. How is your training going?"

Scintilla looked at him for a few moments, visibly debating if she believed him, before snorting.

"Much better. I've almost fully integrated in my swordforms, so I'll be ready to fill my soullake in a few weeks, perhaps two months at most," she said.

"Heatmom is amazing," Mia piped from the other side of the table. Flux and Glow were bobbing their heads up and down in agreement. 

"She was able to beat Nisziz in a fight two days ago," Glow said, his eyes flickering with joy. "Leafbrand actually sang with excitement, it was amazing!"

Irwin raised his eyebrow at Scintilla, knowing about the strong rivalry she had with her bladesister. Long ago, Nisziz had been the stronger of the two by far, but since Irwin had made her sentient heartcard, she'd been able to catch up. 

"Nisziz is still annoyed," Scintilla said, her lips curling up in a wide grin. "She actually went to Trimdir and Endil to ask if either could make her a sentient swordcard, or somehow reforge her existing soulcard."

Irwin hummed thoughtfully as Scintilla leaned forward. "You better not do that until after you help me get mine to soulcarded and with my next six cards!"

"I wouldn't dare," Irwin said, his lips tight as he tried to keep his grin to himself.

They continued bantering till the food was ready, after which they had a rowdy family meal. When it was done, Irwin was shoved outside by his mother and Scintilla to play with the kids, which he did all the way till Bronwyn came.

Hours later, when the children were finally in bed, he was sitting in the kitchen, close to Scintilla, while Bronwyn and Carla sat in front of him. Their mother had left for something, leaving the four softly chatting about what Irwin had been doing on Scour.

"So you are going to have multiple Smiths Guilds there eventually?" Bronwyn asked, rubbing his bearded chin. "Do you think it's possible to bring some promising your cardsmiths from here, there, so their training can be sped up?"

Irwin frowned. "Perhaps, but I just can't guarantee their safety."

"I know," Bronwyn said, leaning back. "But remember, Giard. The Portal Gallery is a dangerous place, and if we want to have a safe, long future, we need the power to protect ourselves. Not just from the Guidar. Even after we survive that, other things could harm us. One of the best ways to do that is to have far more knowledgeable cardsmiths."

"I know," Irwin said.

"So, you can bring someone with you?" Bronwyn asked again.

"I can, but not this time," Irwin said. "Unless I leave now-"

Scintilla jabbed her finger in his ribs, cutting him off before glaring at Bronwyn. Irwin smiled at her, knowing he didn't have to explain that he wasn't even planning to leave anywhere until he had no other choice.

"No, no, it's fine if you do it next time," Bronwyn said, raising his hands in a gesture of peace. "How many…?"

Irwin frowned, thinking about how much it had cost him to move Ambraz from Scour to Eluathar.

"If the amount of Ancestral Coperion I gain continued, two or three," Irwin said. 

Bronwyn rubbed his chin, then nodded. "What if I prepare a few smiths who Trimdir thinks would do well there? Then we ask Lisbeth for one of her better shadewalkers. That way, you have some more backup in case trouble hits. Besides, if you help that one get more soulcards…"

Irwin nodded before noticing a slight worry in his brother's eyes. Even though he hadn't seen him in a while, he recognized it immediately.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

Bronwyn watched him quietly before saying words Irwin didn't want to hear. "The Guidar have reached the Langost branch."

"What?" Ambraz snapped, flying down from the location he'd been perched on.

"The Shadow Walkers guild has been going ever further in their scouting, and they came across a ship with refugees from a nearby world. They were being chased by two ships of Chained. The shadewalkers had a truthreader with them, and after validating none of those aboard were dangerous, they split them across their soulscapes and escaped. When they reached a safe area, the survivors told them they had been fleeing from world to world. According to them, they are coming from the northern regions, and most worlds there have already been conquered."

Irwin leaned forward, noticing that neither Scintilla nor Carla was surprised. 

"Since then, we have been sending out scouts with telepoters, further and further," Bronwyn said. "We have seen many more ships with survivors, fleeing, and have directed them to the worlds that are largely unknown."

"How close are they?" Irwin asked, his worry slowly increasing.

"Nowhere near us yet, and they are moving incredibly slowly," Bronwyn said. "If they continue like this, they won't be here for ten years…"

Bronwyn didn't continue, but he didn't have to. Irwin understood the problem fully. Ten years was long for some things, but short if you had to potentially prepare for a superior force that you didn't want to find you.

"We have permanent scouts on the two known corridor entrances that lead to us, and the areas between us and the rest of the Langost branch are still mostly devoid of soulforce. So, even if they reach the borders, the chances of them forging ahead are small. As far as anyone else is concerned, there isn't anything beyond Sesnanser."

Irwin felt his worry fade slightly, only to notice a deep worry flowing from Ambraz. It took him only a few moments to understand why.

"Do we have any news on Granvox?" he asked softly.

Bronwyn glanced at Ambraz, then back at him, and shook his head. 

"The news we have reaches the Dimarintsia River. None of the people we spoke to knew about Granvox or any of the other central Langost worlds."

--

Slaudi remained at the front of his ship, the one currently in the middle of his new fleet. He'd arrived with only seven ships and was leaving with over three hundred, all filled to the brim with chained warriors.

Part of the reason he remained where he was was that he enjoyed watching the fleets of ships. Even after thousands of years, he had yet to lose it, and from all he'd seen from the others, even some no older than him, it was something he should savor for as long as it lasted.

It wasn't the only reason, however. Or even the most important one.

He glanced to the side, where three short, skinny figures stood. They were hooded and wrapped in tight-fitting dark clothes, and were huddled close together as if needing physical contact. Leaning forward, slightly bowed, and with their elbows on the ship's railing, the glow from their red eyes constantly darted around. Slaudi saw one of them smile, beautiful lips curving up to reveal red, slightly transparent, crystalline teeth.

There was nobody within twenty feet of them, and everyone who had to go past them walked as far to the other edge of the ship as they could. Each time they did, one or more of the Shaidin smiled, their eyes glowing dangerously.

Slaudi gritted his teeth. They had been on the return for over half a year, and still, the chained crew members were this afraid of them. Had they not understood by now that the Shaidin were physically unable to harm them? As chained as these weaklings were, it was nothing compared to what bound the Shaidin. 

Well, as long as I'm here, at least they do their job, he thought. He tried to ignore the fact that it meant he'd have to remain here for another good while.

He focused on the front and the complex chaos of narrow passages that led to their goal, the wider corridor soon. As soon as they were there, they could speed up. Still, he wished they could have a group of powerful shadewalkers. It would save so much time if they could rush through the shadows.

Or a mass teleporter, he thought, before shaking his head ruefully.

Who was he kidding? 

He was only a few thousand years old, barely strong enough to contain the twenty thousand chained that his full fleet would number when he returned. Besides, as interested as the Fivefold and the other ancient ones said they were in the Smith Irwin, this Langost branch was a backwater place. All of them, let alone Sjeekling, had dozens of other persons of interest, and even two much more promising branches. Two that weren't anywhere in what these weaklings called the Outer Leafes, or the Fringes. The only reason he'd gotten what he had was because of the potential of an Amnathair running around. 

As if, he thought, as he shook his head. According to his scanners, there had been something odd about it, and the chances of it being a mistake were high. Not that he'd told Sheekling. No, he needed these Shaidin, though not exactly for what they had been sent with him.

They will find their guiding lines aren't as strict as they thought, he thought, humming happily at the prospect of clearing out a few of the more stubborn minor branch-worlds with the near-indestructible beings.

He held back a grin and focused on one of the skills every Guidar had been forced to learn before coming out here. It had cost him one of his utility ones, but over the last few years, he'd come to appreciate the new one.

A pale, translucent overlay crossed his vision, showing him the enormousness of the Guidar-controlled space. He focused on a distant spot on the bottom right, causing it to enlarge rapidly while the area beyond it became partially visible. Although it looked smaller than the previous one, he knew that was all mind games. In reality, it was a massive area, easily a third or more as large as the area his race had conquered. Though how many worlds were within was a mystery even after all these years.

Large swaths of the mapped area were dark, showing they had no information on them. Those were mostly in the center, while other sections around it had sections that were gray and muted. Those were filled in based on the maps they had looted over the decades. How true those were, he didn't know. He'd long learned that most of the other races were too stupid to understand the use of proper information. What he did know was that the slivers of true knowledge that dotted them existed mainly on the map's fringes. 

Those were long lines of colored and detailed corridors that nearly encircled the entire area. Only a few areas in the outermost ring were still unclear, and his eyes drifted to the one far in the south, almost on the tip of the area. 

The langost branch, and his responsibility.

The only clear line came from the north west, and it was where they were traveling now. The areas directly around it, and long stretches north and a small area towards the south, were conquered, but the east was still grayed out, showing he'd yet to even go there. That meant that, besides the area being gray, the one beyond it was also. He zoomed in on the two corridors that led to the Tweelak branch beside it. The branch hadn't fallen yet, mostly because he couldn't assist those who attacked it from the other sides. 

Focusing on the points where the corridors led away from his branch to the Tweelak one, he gritted his teeth. There was no info on it except old stuff, and he'd been unable to get any spies in. All he knew was that large fleets had congregated at the two sole Portal Corridors that led to it. Both were larger than his had been, so he'd left only a token force while sending the rest to slowly conquer the other branches.

Another headache case, as a few hadn't fallen. Especially Granvox had managed to resist everything he'd thrown at it, and he was starting to worry he'd have to go there himself.

No, for long though. 

Let's see how you resist now that I have another fleet, he thought, his smile turning spiteful as he glared at the city with the name Suiderfuix. If he wiped that one out, he could move to Granvox and from there to the other troublesome little worlds that thought they could oppose him. He let himself enjoy the sensation for a few moments before pulling it back, knowing he couldn't use the new fleet yet. 

Not until he found whatever had killed those Oculithar. There were undoubtedly spies of others on his ship, and he couldn't let them know he was doing other things than what he was ordered.

He glanced at the Shaiden. Chances were, even they had other orders. Not that they could resist him if he forced their hand. One of the Shaiden was smiling, he stared at the nearby portal gallery barrier, almost as if he was pondering moving outside. The others were looking around like beings who'd not seen the Portal Gallery before. Or not in tens or even hundreds of thousands of years. Which was likely true.

Even if they were here to report on him, they wouldn't live to return. He focused back on his map and zoomed out to the vast territory that he and the others would need to conquer in the next few millennia. 

A few lonely, winding trails of filled-in, detailed map snaked further inside. Those were the paths of the few fleets that had managed to penetrate the second layer and return to share their maps. They were the reason they even knew more about their enemies' main bastion. 

Slaudi snorted as he looked at the names that covered parts of the partially fleshed-out map. Above it stood a ridiculous name. The Great Portal Faction Alliance.

Great? You are all pathetic, he thought, as he focused on the three circles that divided the map. 

The outer ring, barely ten percent of the entire area, was called many things, one being the Outer Leafes, and it was the weakest and poorest region. Still, he almost salivated at the idea of how much wealth he could attain from merely conquering a fraction of it. The worlds of the Portal Faction were richer than any he had been allowed to take as his own, and his reward would allow him to pick an entire branch to call his own. 

But not this one, that's for sure, he thought, glaring at the Langost branch.

When he was done with it, there would be nothing but farming worlds left. No, he would take one of the branches in the largest ring, the Wandering Verge, a region that spanned an area that merely traveling it would cost dozens of years, let alone fighting their way through it. He didn't bother looking at the central area. They had barely any knowledge about that, except for hearsay, rumors, and stories. Apparently, it was called the Tangled Core, and it had been the last bastion of the Galadins. 

Slaudi stared at it for a moment, wondering just how much wealth would be there. Enough to please him for tens of thousands of years? Hundreds? Longer?

He shivered before quickly hiding his desires. A glance revealed that nobody was paying him any attention. The Shaidin were still zoned out, and the crew was only paying attention to them.

Still, he pushed his desires back, knowing he would need to meditate longer tonight.

Desires. The others had them too, he knew. Some, like Sjeekling, made no secret of their desires. Sjeekling was known to basque in his carnal desires, removing his memories of past pleasure to relive it time and again. But Slaudi knew he wasn't powerful enough for that yet. Others would use it against him, so it paid to keep his desire for wealth hidden. Besides, he was an anomaly. Loving both fleets of ships and wealth even after so many years was unheard of. No, he didn't want to become the guinea pig of one of the ancient ones. Those had no love for anyone that wasn't at least a million years or older, and would treat even him like nothing more than a chained.

Staring at the map, he let his eyes wander the enormous unconquered span of riches for one more before zooming back in. 

Close to four more years to reach Scour, search for signs of that being, and perhaps send one of those Shaidin oneworld, he thought. Then blow up the portal, surround the area with destabilizing runes so it can't be opened, leave a sizable force, and then… then…

He closed the map, pushed himself up, and glared at the Shaiden.

"Enough. We are going back in the main cabin so the crew can work undisturbed," he snapped.

Three pairs of emotionless, red eyes focused on him, but he ignored them. He turned and headed down, knowing they would follow him. They had no choice.

--