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Irwin's Journey 429: Shadow Realm Sliver

"Sure, it's the first time we did it all in a few days," Greldo grunted in agreement. "But its for a good cause!"

Besides, he thought, looking at his left hand, now filled with three cards, beautiful lines moving from one to the other, connecting the entire set. These are going to be really helpful where we are going.

"Now, give me a moment to get used to these," he said, giving Coal a final scratch. 

The massive hound snorted but stepped back and lay ...

Irwin's Journey 428: Silv'am

"Good," Ambraz said as he smiled at his first Progeny.

She didn't start swamping him with questions or seem annoying or entitled, as he knew some Progeny felt right at the start.

She reminds me of Hal…

The reminder of his dead brother made Am'braz think of something else. Something he'd always thought was important and that he knew was something most Proginators didn't do. Something he'd always secretly promised himself he'd change.

"Silv'am," the young Ganv...

Irwin's Journey 427: The first 'Am progeny

He'd been with his friend for decades now, no more apart than short stints. The idea that Greldo would be out alone somehow bothered him. Not that he would really be alone. Dahlia had immediately said that if Greldo were leaving, she'd be leaving with him. Going with her would be Juul'rish and, at a minimum, the one healer.

Irwin had no idea who that would be. Jolnir and Sira were still hard at work, removing all of the Oculithar spores, and likely would continue for a few weeks. Beside...

Irwin's Journey 426: Instant chatterbox

Irwin stood beside Daubutim with his arms crossed as they watched Jolnir and Sira examine one of the infected guards: a young woman with short dark hair and a small, jagged scar on her chin.

"Do you sense that?"

"What do you… oh! Yes! There. It's like dust particles!"

"Yes, let's try and move them."

Jolnir and Sira were talking excitedly, both their hands outstretched.

"Where is Zeek?" Irwin asked softly.

"He's with Doomblade and Basil," Daubutim replied....

Irwin's Journey 425: Bloody heartcard

"So, do you understand?" Irwin asked, standing beside Jolnir.

"I do," the healer said, his eyes darting to the giant smithy building as they had for the last five minutes. "Sira…"

"Don't worry," Irwin said. "I've got part of me in there, and when she finishes and wakes, I'll tell her to wait inside."

Jolnir took a deep, shaky breath, then turned away from the house.

"Alright. I'm ready."

Irwin stared at the young healer, suppressing a smile. He was happy to see...

Irwin's Journey 424: Morphing and changing

Irwin brought his hammer down on the final card, and a few moments later, the yellow border flickered and turned before settling into a verdant green.

"And that's six," Ambraz grunted. "Not bad for cards you have no types in."

Irwin sighed as he took the new card and examined the image. It showed a web of veins, possibly inside a hand, though the outlinings were hard to make out.

"It's pretty good," Ambraz said, his voice absent. "Should give her the ability to manipulate bl...

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.

...

Irwin's Journey 422: Softly spoken

If we get this thing back, we need to have Mikarl take a look, he thought, the image of the man with his slowly healing hands flickering through his mind.

He landed on the deck so hard that the wood below his feet cracked dangerously, and the entire ship seemed to dip a few inches.

"Be welcome on the Bruyinde," the lizard man said, holding both hands before him, palms up. 

Irwin had no idea if it was meant as a greeting or just a sign to show he was unarmed, an...

Irwin's Journey 421: Yilda's Faithfull

Ambraz roared as he slammed into the barrier around the ship, feeling it weaken.

"Break," he growled as he flung himself back, then at the ship's barrier again.

The beings on the ship didn't respond. Standing on the deck, they looked at him through the barrier with an almost tranquil apathy. They were of different species, all but one of which Ambraz had never seen before, but they had two things in common. 

They all wore the same tight-fitting, purple robe with a V-spl...

Irwin's Journey 420: Slice and dice

Basil gazed at the pink-haired woman, trying to determine if she was lying. It didn't look like it. He'd been in plenty of battles, and the combination of weary surrender in her eyes and the fact that she and the other two remaining ships had obviously been left to die told him a lot. There was also something… lost in her eyes, though he could just be misreading that because of her square pupils.

None of that, however, meant he trusted her. Or any of them. Why had some jumped over the...

Irwin's Journey 419: Last command

Irwin hummed happily as he felt the final part of the card come together. Because of Ambraz's warnings, he'd worried initially, afraid it would be something horribly difficult.

It hadn't been.

More the opposite if he had to be true. The resonating song from ruby to diamond had been difficult, of course, but it had almost felt as if the card wanted to move forward. If Irwin had to give it a name, it felt almost as if the card had been done with waiting in some family libra...

Irwin's Journey 418: Incomming

"So you all agree with Irwin's logic?" Lord Bron asked.

Irwin looked around the room, and he saw the four other smiths, Trimdir, Dahlia, Montain, and Esther, deep in thought. The non-smiths that were present, Greldo, Clarish, Lisbeth, and Daubutim, remained quiet.

A week had passed since he and Ambraz had managed to save Undiri's cards, or atleast the one that had been important. The one that would allow them to create a communications card similar to what the ancient Yuurindi had...

Irwin's Journey 417: Bonded through fire

Irwin looked at the two Yuurindi, one he'd known for almost as long as he could remember. He could see and sense that Rindiri was out of sorts. Her square pupils were constantly dilating as she looked at his desk, obviously seeing nothing.

He could understand that.

After Undiri's news, he hadn't known what to say. So he'd just guided them to his desk, pulled up two chairs for them to sit, then sat down himself. 

That was a minute ago.

"I thought you had a year lef...

Irwin's Journey 416: With regrets

Rindiri walked through the small town, smiling at the things she saw.

A dozen of her people stood on the edge of the town, discussing the proper alignment of their three homes so they would fit on the parcel of land they had gotten from the mayor.

Two of her people were chatting happily with three rangers, another, thanking them for taking care of the group of three Flyingrazorteeth that had nestled in a crook of their roof.

And the children.

Seventeen Yuurindi childre...

Irwin's Journey 415: Dirty bedlinen

Greldo stretched himself, looking around the small bedroom. A contented sigh came from his lips.

"So… any idea whose bedroom this is?" he asked as he looked at the woman lying against him. 

She was partially covered by the blanket that had been on the bed, but it couldn't hide her muscular arms and shoulders. Before Dahlia, he would have told everyone he preferred his woman a bit on the softer side. That was then. However, a tiny part of him was happy that she wasn't bigger...

Irwin's Journey 414: Gifts, suprises, and shocks

Scariander hummed as he felt the presence of the ancient one's offspring pass over him. One of the calves was prodding him in his side to get his attention, sending a barrage of questions in the form of rudimentary concepts and images. The core of the question was whether it would learn how to use its presence like that.

Scariander hummed again as he responded, trying to keep the detailed meanings to a minimum so the calf would understand. Over the last few soulforce ebbs of the great ...

Irwin's Journey 413: How will she react?

Trimdir ran. 

He couldn't remember the last time he had, and he could fully understand the startled cries as he raced into Basil's keep. 

"He won't be leaving or anything," Clarish exclaimed, out of breath as she ran beside him.

"You can teleport ahead if you want," Trimdir grunted.

"No teleporting into the exit portal area, remember?" the younger woman managed in between her ragged breaths.

Trimdir just snorted as he glared at the guards ahead. He was ...

Irwin's Journey 412: Long overdue reunions

Daubutim shot up from his seated position, his natural calm shattered as he stared in wide-eyed disbelief at Lisbeth. It lasted for only a moment before he let out a calm sigh.

"So… he is back," he said, looking around the stacks of neatly arranged papers on the table. 

He had a lot left to do and to decide, and as the sounds from outside seemed to slow down, he quickly made plans for how to catch up later. From his perspective, it took a few minutes, but when he finished a...

Irwin's Journey 411: Familiar Soulforce Resonance

Annoying bastards, Greldo thought as he moved along the length of the portal gallery branch, searching for a place with less of the Oculithar. Some areas had far fewer of them, but there wasn't any with so few he dared make a run for it. 

Every time he'd tried, he'd felt …. something… observing him. He had no idea who or where it was coming from where. Initially, he'd thought it had to be the Oculithar, but as he flew around, he didn't see their eyes trail him. And wit...

Irwin's Journey 410: The final stretch

"Sixteen…" Pelin grunted as he struck the metal before him.

The resonance he felt with his cards was still far from perfect, but he knew he was going to beat the record and retake the number one spot. Even better, he had a chance to fulfill their teacher's objective, to purify some Lurast Ore in under thirty strikes!

He ignored his aching muscles and the pain in his hands, focused fully on resonating his cards while softly counting as he struck the metal again. The ore shudder...

Irwin's Journey 409: Students

Pelin stood at the window of his small room, staring out over the town at the only ship still hovering in the air, high above. It was the ship of the plague, as most people had begun to call it: that, or the ship of the dead. He watched the giant version of their captain fly away from it. 

He's finally done for today, the twelve-year-old thought, nodding as his hands clenched and opened nervously. Today would be the day, but just because he'd finally found the courage to a...

Irwin's Journey 408: Dragging your shadow around

Irwin felt the horrid headache fade away as his soulscape recovered. It was a slow process, and half a day after he'd begun his journey on the back of the Chaos Whale, the pain was still enough to make him wince.

At least it won't take as long as I'd initially feared, he thought, sending calming thoughts to his ride. 

The Chaos Whale was too young to know normal communications, and it didn't have a name yet- or if it did, it didn't know. It reminded Irwin of talking ...

Irwin's Journey 407: Ourbrach

Greldo gnashed his teeth as he paced the deck of the Nocturna. He kept glancing at Irwin, propped with his back against the mast, right where he'd put him. Eyes closed, and breathing calmly, his friend seemed peaceful.

"Come on, you stopped changing fifteen minutes ago… what are you doing in there," he muttered.

As he spoke, he couldn't help but frown at his friend's new look. He'd grown slightly, but more in width than in height, and his skin had become just slightly less gleam...

Irwin's Journey 406: Another call, another message

Pellin stared at the gigantic smith and captain, wondering if he was sure about what he'd just asked.

He wasn't the only one, it seemed.

"Uh… Captain? Are you sure you want us to use all our abilities like that? Wouldn't that put a lot of pressure on you?" one of the Ignitzian blademaidens asked.

Pelling grimaced. Isn't she afraid of just asking him like that? 

He watched to see how Captain Irwin's soulscape giant clone would react. He knew the man was ...

Irwin's Journey 405 : Question marks

Author note: The first bit of this chapter was the old final bit from chapter 404. But because that was closing in on 7000 words I had to move it out after the edits. It has also changed, but still, if it looks familiar, that's why. The completely new part is beyond the --

Also - Chapter 404 was edited this morning, so make sure to re-read it or the notes above so you understand the changes.

---

Greldo jumped forward with worry-filled eyes as Irwin reappeared on the Noctur...

Four edited and more fleshed out chapters

So, it took way longer than I'd expected, but I'm actually pretty happy I went back to these chapters. So, a quick explanation

I have moved a small bit from chapter 399 into what is now chapter 400. So, you don't have to reread 399. 400, however, has gotten some new things.

I have edited or inserted the following chapters 400, 2025-03-29 22:15:05 +0000 UTC View Post

Irwin's Journey 403 (edited): Food... food!

Irwin took a step back, staring excitedly at the card that slowly crystallized on Ambraz's back. The quartz border shimmered before setting, and he knew it was a success. 

"It worked," he said, grabbing the card and letting out a soft laugh. "It's like making two cards from one!"

"Sure, one card and more of your own soulforce than most people will ever have," Ambraz said.

Irwin shrugged as he looked happily at the card. "It's… ninety percent?" he asked, trying to sens...

Irwin's Journey 402 (edited): Riding the whale

Scintilla looked at her daughter, not sure if she scolded her or not. Then she looked up at the Chaos Whales, and she knew it wouldn't matter if she did. They had listened to her daughter's call and were coming if she wanted them to or not.

"Nim'dor, if that Oculithar starts attacking us, how long can the shield hold?"

"It depends on how much soulforce Dahlia can put out," the Ganvil said.

Scintilla shook her head, looking at the female smith.

"Let's hope it doesn't se...

Irwin's Journey 401(edited): No sleeping in

"Heatmom!"

Scintilla groaned as she rolled over, almost wanting to push some sand in her ears. Couldn't they just let her sleep for-

"Mom, heatmom! You have to see what Mia and Flux did!"

Of course I do, Scintilla thought as the door to her private room was shoved open.

A pitter-patter of feet raced to her stone bed as Zan and Soot sprinted inside, the latter jumping up and down as he ran, which made him look like the Hazy Rabbits from back home. Just as she c...

Irwin's Journey 400 (edited) - Painful hands

Irwin had only a faint idea of the shocks their departure had caused, and he had his own trouble to take care of.

He glared at the young boy, filthy and with matted hair, staring back at him defiantly. Seeing as he was standing beside the ship in his soulscape, his giant self large enough to stare on the deck without flying, he was impressed the boy hadn't started trembling.

"How did you manage to sneak aboard my ship without me noticing?!" he snapped.

"People don't pay atte...